I have been looking at the way the Snapshot aesthetic has affected the work of many contemporary photographers and painters and will be posting blogs about some of them later. Now I am going to talk about the work I am preparing for my degree show.
It seems to me that the primary aim of painting and photography is not necessarily to make bold statements or overtly ask deep, meaningful questions but to reflect the world through the artists eyes.Just as a conversation with a stranger can be rewarding by acquainting you with a point of view that you don’t necessarily share, but adds to the overall tapestry of life so too can paintings.
For these images I am drawing on my life so far by means of my collection of photographs, films I have seen, that I feel had an effect on my subsequent life, television programs, advertisements, books and anything else that appeals to me.
I consider these images to be snapshots as they are Painted quickly and I have endeavoured to only paint what is necessary. I don’t want to create masterpieces, even if I could.
Each one of these images has a significance to me that people viewing them have no way of knowing. By hanging them close together and in no particular order they react with each other and suggest narratives that will change from viewer to viewer. Hopefully they will inspire (maybe too strong a word) the imagination.
A question that occurs to me repeatedly when i am painting these images is “Why bother painting them?” I already have them in photographic form, why do I feel I need to make paintings from them?
I don’t know but I feel that people react differently to paintings than they do to photographs. Everybody has a collection of photographs taken through their lives often in rows of albums that are rarely, if ever, looked at or lurking in their envelopes at the bottom of an unopened drawer. Many people have libraries full of images on their I-phones, too many to recall. by spending time painting these images it is almost as though I am bestowing a legitimacy on them;They have the right to be looked at often and by many.
By making paintings I also try to select what needs to be in the image,(either by selective painting or by cutting relevant pieces out of bigger works) and reject the rest. They are in effect distilled versions.
There is a concept in Japan known as Wabi-Sabi which is closely connected to Zen Buddhism. Wabi is the stripping away of everything apart from that which is vital. Sabi is the passing of time. According to Wabi Sabi a misformed pot of rough clay that has been broken in the past and repaired has more significance than a perfect highly decorated piece of expensive porcelain. Haiku are Zen poems pared back to only seventeen syllables and, to be true haiku, they must reference something; a type of leaf or flower, snow, melting ice, that indicates the time of year or day that the Haiku was conceived.
I know what time of year my photos were taken, I was there, so by stripping them down I am using my own form of Wabi Sabi. Other viewers who are not familiar with my life will not necessarily be able to place them in time.But by hanging them close together perhaps time frames can be implied or imagined.
The Idea of hanging my paintings close together in groups is not a new one. I recently had to do a presentation, in order that I will be able to access a suitable space for the exhibition which says more on this subject. I will be adding this as a blog in the near future.
