Fine Art

Chris Evans, born 1967 and studied at Leicester De Montfort University. He has completed a degree in Graphic Design and a Masters in Fine Art. I am not going to lie I kept losing train of thought during this lecture as there was some personal issues happening at the time of this lecture so I am only going to write selectively about what did manage to grab my attention. His work was very atmospheric and created specific moods and this is something I could carry into my own practise. I know in order for a painting to create a mood you have to work with the soze, the color palette and the imagery. However, if I do not want to paint Chris Evans has shown me there are ways around introducing a piece of work into the space and creating a presence. My personal opinion is tht Evans drawings are one of the most successful works I have seen and I believe if he was to blow these up and looked  up more on atmosphere and tones that this could be q very successful ongoing practise.

I really enjoyed Mike Pratt's lecture as he is a relatable artist. He talked about subjects maybe some others tend to avoid such as financing and funding, how he overcame budgets and the struggles of over working a piece. One thing I found really interested about Pratt was that he did these amazing sculptures but he never classified himself as a sculptor just a painter which I found to be quite strange. I did question his digression of labelling himself as a sculptor but could not really give an answer other than he sees painting as his main practise.  Pratts work really inspired me especially his paintings because to they shown the frustrations of being a young artists and I loved it. I attended his q and a session and the atmosphere was great! Pratt said many great things and I will post below my notes I had taken. Pratt preached being able to push yourself and `I strongly believe in this attribution.  He talked alot about how themes and context can damage creative ...

Writing about my work What should I include in my writing? Theme and Subject matter Context of my work Referencing to Inspirational materials Materials and Processes How I used them and why? Did they work? How do I want an audience to view my work? Scale and space to take into consideration. Take #1 My overall theme of my painting process can have an umbrella term that will cover the variety of things that I take into consideration when I am producing my work. That theme would be Nature; Close up. The imagery in my painting is heavily inspired by the beauty in organic forms and materials that are often overlooked day to day. I am inspired by rural culture as it is an environment I grew up in and throughout the years explored extensively from being a kid playing in the outdoors and until now being an adult, going out and appreciating the magnificent scenes that lay on your own front door and beyond. My painting can be seen as a conservational act towards the ruining of ...

James Gardner is owner/director/gallerist of Frutta Gallery, Rome/Glasgow. Gardner is very much interested in textiles, not that into painting. From what I gathered from this lecture Gardner was very interactive and obviously being owner\director\gallerist his practise includes a lot of collaborative efforts. *image* Gardner's lecture helped me realise how much the space of an exhibition makes your work as much as a frame or the medium itself. It is important to change and or react to a space or gallery. This is something I have been doing when creating a piece of work for the Masonic Hall. It has a history that involves Masonry and I wanted this to have an element in my work. I believe I am going to incorporate some imagery, photographs I have taken myself of natural forms and slabs of stones to reflect upon the buildings history.  I have Gardner to thank for this element in my work as I really took the buildings history and the space I was exhibiting into consideration and th...

When visiting Castle Fine Art two artists work caught my attention. Robert Oxley was showing and selling his work when I was at Castle Fine Art. Oxleys affinity with nature is evident in every little detail of his paintings, from paint drip to brush stroke. Oxley claims that he likes giving natural history a 'psychedelic' twist. I liked his work because of the strong colour used, it creates a new approach to natural history painting bringing the art into a new direction. I find Oxleys work really inspiring as he takes a genre\ a style and places his own influence on it and that is what makes him a successful artist.  Dylan's work also caught my eye. Especially 'Man on a Bridge'. Again I appreciated the strong use of colour matched with the painterly technique. I like how raw the image looked with visible brush strokes where the paper was still visible underneath. This is something I have been trying to do in my own practise. Not over working areas and letting my...

 Maeve Brennan, member and co-founder of Sharna Pax ( a film collective working across the fields of anthropology, documentary and visual art) likes to look at the historical and political resonance of sites and materials. She usually brings this work together with the use of moving image and installation works. I personally did not enjoy this lecture. It is not something that caught my attention or wasn't something that I could not relate to my own practise at the time but now looking back as I write this I see a slight similarity where she incorporates materials of specific sites and I have been doing this recently. I have been taking elements of my home and agricultural environment and trying to add them into my work. Like I mentioned before Brennan examines the historical and political resonance of materials and places. Even though her work did not appeal to me I do appreciate how Maeve Brennan creates the intimacy through proximity with her subjects, gathering anecdotal evide...

Romero Britto was exhibiting in Castle Fine Art and I personally was very excited to see his work in person as I admire his pop art and cubist like approach to art. Not only does his work radiate a child like innocent, loving energy Britto himself is a very humble person and always recalls his pass as being not as fortunate and not wanting his art to be non accessible to those who are less privileged. I believe Britto has amazing values and it shows in his work. he is very inspiring as a person and an artist.  As a young artist living in the current world where there is change, alot of discrimination and hate I believe it is important to create work everyone can relate to and or enjoy. I have Britto to thank for these morals as he is the one that has made me realise this. I just want to create and the work I do create can be enjoyed by all with no judgement. Almost seen as an escape from terrible realities but also highlight the beauty in the natural world at the same time. ...

I visited Pascale Taura's work at Castle Fine Art and I was absolutely blown away with her work. She approaches figurative painting making her work universal. Inspired by fashion, a feminine universe. She is attracted to showing work how one expresses themselves using such things as clothes. The clothing in her paintings are just as important as the person in her paintings. I see Taurua's work as a way of showing culture and representation, expressing individuality. Pascale Taurua commented herself saying how there is relationship there between owner and the clothing piece and how different clothing items can inflict a certain feeling. I can not help but gather there is something deeper to he work however. I believe she paints beauty and emotions in a way that can not be described. My theory is backed up with her answered question from Saatchi Art. " It’s difficult to express through words things that are so beautiful that they have no words. I can’t explain it. I have to...

I always enjoy visiting the Tate, unfortunately when I visited this time there was no exhibition on and they were in the process of curating another one.  Instead I took my time and walked around their main collection. Even though I have visited before it is always refreshing going back and seeing art works that reflect upon many different art movements and work that is widely known. Visiting the Tate and similar exhibitions can inspire current practises and help inspire certain things but for me walking around galleries and admiring the craft as a hole motivates me greatly. Being in an exhibition/gallery is very comforting. I am surrounded by my hobby, interest and practise. I always find when I am stuck creatively that this one of the best things to do which is go and sit and absorb all the amazing work around me. It is a great reminder that most of these artists were in the same position as you at some point but look how far they have came. I do not have much more to say in thi...

Not long after giving her lecture at my uni I attended Louise Giovanellis  workshop and talk she did. The talk consisted off the sciences behind the art materials we use and I generally learned a lot as I am sure you can see in all the notes I have taken. She broke down the ingredients of the paints we commonly use but also the effects different oils and ingredients has on a painting after a while. I am not going to repeat all facts instead I will put pictures of my notes down below. After all this Giovanelli gave demonstrations on how she personally likes to use her paints and mixing techniques. This has certainly helped my practise and gaveme some tips and help generate ideas on how I can get maximum payment of pigment from my paints. Thank you Louise giovanelli! This workshop really helped me elevate my practise.

I don't have much to write on this one unfortunately. I recognised Billy Connolly from my childhood as he is an actor that I loved and I was unaware that he produced art. I find what Connolly said about his work to be very inspiring.  'My art is pure and unjudged: I am creating it for myself'. I strongly believe that art that is created with no meaning and rather for ones personal self is highly underrated. We live in a world where everything has to have meaning and have a complicated history to it. Of Course it is great when a piece of work hs context and is out to cause the greater good or raise awareness. I strongly believe though not everything needs to be that complicated though and that is completely fime to create art for arts sake because at the end of the day everyone will have an opinion on the piece anyway. As for Connollys pieces themselves I really enjoyed seeing his work up close and personal, I loved the minimalist style of his drawings and you can see fro...

While at home in Northern Ireland I visited the Locky Morris exhibition 'Once a Day Every Day All Day Long' at the F.E. McWilliams Gallery. Morris was born in Derry he used the language of international art to comment on the local realities of life during the Troubles.  This exhibition however, deals with and reflects on the transition in his practice from more explicitly political subjects to more personal everyday life themes. Not only did it reflect personally the change subsequently it shows the change with in Northern Ireland, post conflict.  He has created unexpected and some what humorous art out of his everyday situations.  I don't have much to say about Morris's work itself but rather what this exhibition showed. It showed that transitioning time in his life and in his environment.  I related with this exhibition a lot as that is what I have been doing! Taking my environment at home in Northern Ireland, the agricultural setting I grew up in and lo...

While back at home I also visited the Ulster Museum and the art they had to show there. One of the works that jumped out at me was that of John Latham. Latham liked painting with a twist adding found objects to his work created an unique style. The pieces where he added the books he would title them with 'skoob'. Books backwards. The reason this piece in particular appealed to me was use of found objects with in the work. This definitely inspired to incorporate more elements into my work. I was already inspired with Jasmir Creed and Mike Pratt but seeing this kind of work live in person is something in else. It makes an impact and leaves an impression. It has definitely left an impression on me. Hopefully I can incorporate more of these elements in my work next semester. I love the textures and dimensions it brings to simple painting. Depending on the history of the item too it could add a lot of context and that is something I struggle with sometimes but have been imp...

University of Atypical is a gallery in Belfast I visited it to see Richard Cannings work. His exhibit is called 'the space between'.  Canning is a graduated MA student from Belfast School of Art and is the inaugural recipient of the first Atypical Gallery Graduate Award. The work presented at The Space Between is a continuation of his MA work that looks at consistencies of construction and deconstruction.  He has created these large scale drawings. adding to the emphasis of emptiness with the negative spaces. It creates a weird tension in the lack of detail, frustration of the unknown. Blank spaces leave remind us that those spaces used to be filled with more intimacy. I think it is very refreshing having work from recent graduates and work that is hard to find these days.  I really enjoy line work and simple drawings and over the summer I hope to work on my drawings and build up a collection. My only criticism I have for Cannings work is to go big or go ...

When I visited Castle Fine Art there were some pieces that helped me during my practise. I needed the confidence and the inspiration to inject colour into my work. This gave me the push I needed. I am dealing with natural forms and processes. Specifically I have been looking at preservation and ageing processes. These artists I discovered exhibiting and selling their work at Castle Fine Art. Richard Rowan and Lawrence Coulsen both deal with naturistic subject matters and are inspired by a natural but saturated colour pallet and this is what I would like to achieve in my work.  Richard Rowan  Lawrence Coulsen In these images below you can see how going to exhibitions and seeing work such as Coulsens and Rowans helped develop my practise and give me that push I needed.  Before After

I visited the blue coat the other day and was quite interested in many pieces of work. Every piece of work I seen I had a positive response to. Certainly I had my favourites and those will be the ones I talk about today!  First off there is Rae-Yen Song. Born in Edinburgh in 1993 Song is a multi-disciplinary artist. She takes and draws on her identity and her position in society. She likes to look at alternative perspectives on social realness and uses elements from her cultural identity to further her work. Without a doubt her work talks loudly on race, culture, identity and belonging.  'Happy Happy Leaf' is quite impressive for its meaning, size and intricacy. It definitely is attention grabbing. I believe what Song wants her work to say and do is incredible but I am not going to lie. I was more attracted to the craftsmanship than anything. it is bold and makes a statement but the detail is nothing short than admirable.  Another artists work that I was drawn t...

Tom Railton Tom Railton was born in the city, central of England, Coventry.  However he is currently working in London. He has recently completed the Artquest Research residency at the Foundling Museum and joined the committee for DIY Space for London. To me personally I translated Railtons work to be very psychologically based. He has worked on many projects most of which he hasn't even shown but he likes the effects they can have. Tom Railton thinks of the why, the deeper things that are going on in your mind but also the long term affects of something especially with the constant use of technology. One of his works that appealed to me greatly was 'Entryism'. An installation consisting of bricks, steel, glass and mortar.  It comes across quite light hearted as it is reminiscent (to me anyway) of rainbows which is usually associated with a lighter emotion.  However, we see the coloured glass shards and suddenly the work appears more violent...