The end of year two seems an age ago and the summer has flown by with many life issues requiring attention, least of all to actually have a break and do some recharging. However, an inquisitive mind doesn't rest for long and also the looming final year is fast approaching so the creative juices needed to be stirred. And shaken.
With this in mind Jo Dunlop came over here to my studio and we just in the simplest of terms 'did some making'. There was no brief, no direction, just play and see what happened. We both felt rusty and decided to create some rubbings from the immediate environment to see what happened and what it might inspire. Off we went with paper, pastels and an open mind.
I wasn't sure if I had anything that I could develop on, these seemed quite random and unconnected but thinking back to my Year 0 experience and with the Tutor's comments of 'do stuff', 'make something', 'make some more' echoing in my head I plodded on. I decided to cut them up and see what happened if they were re-arranged, re-organised and re-imaged. By using sections of similar marks and palette they started to want to be together.
As I had used oil pastels to create my rubbings I wondered what would happen if I started to see if I could add a solvent to them and change the image or even get a print from them. just more playing really, by using a mixture of turpentine substitute and linseed oil the pastels did start to dissolve and I could get some sort of print from them I then started to transfer the ink onto another piece of paper and although the image wasn't really transferring the texture of the kitchen roll I had used to dampen things did. It also managed to replicate the embossed pattern from the paper.
Turning to 3D
For the next session Jo and I started to look at how we could create some more sculptural pieces, looking at found objects, clay and liquid latex. Again, no real pre-conceived idea or intention, just look to see what happens and what reaction we got back from the material.
I started to play with some orange fluted board that had come as packaging for some building materials. I started with a few sketches to see what came to mind and what patterns I could create. They had a slightly organic feeling and even with using manufactured material the outcome could be seen as something that any reader might recognise. With this in mind I decided to use the shapes I had thought about using and seeing if I could make it more abstract.
The material looked promising, as it was bright easy to cut up into shapes, so I cut a pile of triangles looking to construct something. I then found some bright green strimmer wire and pierced the pieces and started to combine them to see what happened. I couldn't get any height without hanging it but it did start to form its own shape on the surface as a collective group.
This then lent itself to being photographed as the complimentary colours and shadows started to work together. Also depending on how I photographed it I could crop in close and play with the depth of field.
It is quite a small object and sometimes these sort of experiments are left as just that, experiments but I wonder if this became larger, five or ten times larger, something that is free-standing on the ground as a pile heaped together becomes a complicated arrangement of colour and shapes and is the size of a small shrub or tree or maybe even a termite mound!
Connecting and playing with liquid latex
Jo had brought a selection of up-cycled cardboard and plastic and along with other materials that I have hoarded we went about seeing what other items, connections, shapes and interactions we could come up with. I started to cut up some packaging cardboard and attached pieces together, almost immediately it started to resemble a building block or Le Corbusier inspired piece of architecture, function over form.
I have had a bottle of liquid latex for a while but never really known what to do with it, so I started to apply some to the structure to see how it would affect it or change the structure. Initially it just looked like dripped PVA glue but as it dried it did start o give everything a coat.
A complete 'happy accident' from this was that the object was placed on some large bubble wrap and the excess latex ran off onto this and ran into the places where there wasn't any bubbles... this looked promising.
I also have kept a box of shattered glass from a window smash as it looked to fascinating to throw way, so I scattered that in a shallow container and poured latex on that to see whether the latex would encapsulate the glass, which it did!
I decided to make another piece of the bubble wrap latex and see what I could do if I started to combine them with one of the creations once it had set, whether it be by wrapping, encasing, twisting or just placing over.
These combinations meant the original structure had lost its uniformity and suddenly become much more organic, the honeycombed latex offered spaces to see elements of the structure underneath and stopped the structure becoming viewed as a whole shape.
The latex, with the multiple holes harks back to some of my previous explorations into networks and punctuations with acrylic and strimmer wire (https://carldurban.wixsite.com/website/post/time-to-turn-to-3d) as well as the Braille work which originated as holes cut into MDF to create the template for the message to be punched into. (https://carldurban.wixsite.com/website/post/can-you-read-me)
Having shared these images with a fellow artist they saw a feature in The Times that struck a chord. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/move-by-parag-khanna-review-well-all-move-to-scotland-or-siberia-qsg8vj7pg
In the feature titled 'We'll all move to Siberia' the article discussed the rise in temperature and how migration may change the world. The piece focusses on the idea by Parag Khanna in his book 'How Mass Migration Will Reshape the World - and What It Means for you'. It was the image that supported the feature that had many similarities to my material exploration...
Brave new world: homes may have to be adapted as the climate crisis bites
ANDRIY ONUFRIYENKO/GETTY IMAGES (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/move-by-parag-khanna-review-well-all-move-to-scotland-or-siberia-qsg8vj7pg)
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