The idea for my chosen theme for Studio practice and my Dissertation happened while reading David Batchelor’s Chromophobia. The book mentioned The Wizard of Oz in relation to colour and as I had decided that I wanted to talk about colour already, the idea of the film became my starting point. I looked at stills from the film and the different colours; I thought about re-colouring a scene with neon colours and I also looked at nude models for inspiration (images from Pinterest)
I took an image from the internet (Wizard Of Oz) and drew it on an A6 piece of card using neon acrylic paint.
These are the images of the models taken from Pinterest that I have used as inspiration.
This is my own interpretation of the images and I have used neon acrylic paint again and neon highlighters. I’m interested in this beyond reality (Surrealism) idea but also maintaining within reality as if two worlds living harmoniously alongside.
In The World Viewed, the philosopher Stanley Cavell writes: ‘Recent films in colour, when that fact about them goes beyond the necessity of luxury or amusement and becomes a declared condition of a medium, also allow colour to create a world. But the world created is neither a world just past nor a world of make-believe. It is a world of an immediate future. (Reed, 2007, Cited in Batchelor, 2008, p.226)
I have continued to draw a series of the female figure on a small scale, to help me think of bigger ideas and where my work can lead on to. I see them as a creative doodle to get my creativeness flowing, keeping my drawing skills active in the meantime.
This painting is on an A3 canvas; I like the colours and lack of identity of the figure (the idea of not having importance but being the focal point). I have re- worked over this canvas several times so a nice texture has been built up from previous paintings. I have stuck to limited colours and created a bold outline of the figure, only creating a simple image. By looking at this painting I have thought about not only the use of bright colours but also incorporating lights into my work (physically and photographically) I have been inspired to add lights, as an element in my work because of the influence of going to the circus as a child as well as helping my brother with his entertainment business (Discos) and working at a nightclub. From growing up til now I have been in environments where I am surrounded with bright lights of various colours. Going back to the painting, I think its like a person at a nightclub; under the spotlight, being surrounded by glowing strips of colour (lights) It’s another world, a nightclub is one of the only places where its acceptable to drink alcohol, dance with loud music on and have these magical lights flood an area (essentially it’s a disco for grown-ups)
I decided to then go back and make a smaller work on an A4 canvas, using coloured thread and paint.
Above is the outcome, the thread looks like hair and again this partial representation of a person has an anonymous identity. I would like to add a light (LED) inside the ‘face’ and have the thread up so the light shines through. I have still to figure out how I am going to achieve this.
