2022
matt emulsion, sand, stones, driftwood, leaves, spray paint on (found) wood panel
My approach to the Topographies series is a far more invigorating one in comparison to how I sit down to work at the Anthropomorphisms. Topographies demand a lot more movement, energy, and endurance as well as resistance to heat and cold.
All my works are created lying flat on the ground, so that I am always working with/against gravity. The density of materials as well as scale means all the works in topographies are physically very heavy and move away from considering the surface as a face to paint and move towards considering the entire support and whatever materials and techniques are applied to it, as an embodiment of an idea and a progression made through a period of time. Atmospheric conditions also play a large role in the process of making Topographies. In the case of winter, I began this work at the turn of autumn into winter. I incorporated organic materials from this seasonal change into the body of the work and being left outside, it was imbued with the atmospheric changes that took place in the transition from autumn wetness to winter frost. It is an approach to art experimentation that I feel removes the ego from the act of building an object to function in different contexts; allowing uncontrolled variables to have an impact on the outcome. This curiosity-led approach to art-making is what I hope to refine through design thinking and ideation.
- non aqueous spray paint reacts against water soluble matt emulsion and high humidity-
- first signs of dispersal after spraying over wet emulsion-
Materials/techniques:
Matt emulsion mixed with sand and stone is the base of the work. A piece of driftwood from the Thames and fallen autumn leaves are embedded into the emulsion over which neon red, emerald green, yellow, and brilliant blue spray paint were applied.
The intention behind this work was to capture the environmental conditions as they occurred and interacted with the chemical compounds of the emulsion; its dynamics when mixed with solids as well as the dispersal of spray paint colour. This work follows up on techniques used previously in bublgum, earths surface and caribsea.
In the weeks after I had completed my intervention, moisture and rain altered the composition despite the work being securely covered with tarpaulin. Subsequent to this, when the surface of the work was hardened enough, I left it exposed to the sky and it received the frost and snow of early to mid-December. Ice formations became embedded in the surface in unexpected ways.
- pigment and texture-
the impact of heavy moisture in the air, on the reactions of the emulsion and solids it was combined with is demonstrated by the way the white shades of the emulsion seem to crowd out the colour of the sprays, which would ripple and sink into the denser emulsion as dew would loosen and expand the water-soluble paints
- ice block found in garden alongside painting on dec 17/ 22-
- painting after lying for a week in frost and snow-
- ice formations embedded in face of artwork-
Conclusions:
By embracing the impact of environmental changes on the result produced, topographies and particularly winter document changes and interactions between chemicals and conditions.