Narrative/Memory update

So Sunday afternoon I began painting the wall white
for my installation piece. My intention was to use a 4m x 2m wall in my carport which is a plastered, brick wall for the location of my installation in the style of Dan Perjovschi.
However upon preparing the wall as the base of my artwork, I encountered some problems; to begin with, (due to my budget) I used some white interior paint which I had stored in my shed. The issue with this, was that as the paint is intended for interior use, and I had obviously began to use it on an exterior wall - I didn't think this would be a problem as the installation would have been temporary anyway, so after creating the work, I would have been re-painting over what I had done, with the correct paint roughly a week later. However, to my surprise the affects of using the interior paint on an exterior wall was instant! The initial layer of paint which I was painting on top of in order to clean up to create a bright, white, actually began to flake and peel (the same effect a steamer has on wallpaper!). This was obviously pretty messy and caused the paint flakes to attach onto my paint roller and then transfer over the next area I was painting - not to mention the mess that remained where the paint had flaked off!

As an alternative to painting on the wall (which posed other complications such as the edges being difficult to reach and perfect, even with an extendable paint roller and also paint splashing back even if I reduce the amount of paint put on the roller and reduce my speed), I decided to use boards as an alternative to walls. This way they can also be stored and I can keep the work. First I looked at purchasing MDF boards so that I can paint my white base onto them and found some competitive options:
The first and cheapest being at the UAL eStore (LCC 3D workshop).
I was considering the "3mm - Full sheet 2440mm x 1220mm" option at £12.
The second option was from B&Q: Metsäwood MDF Board (L)2.44m (W)1.22m (T)12mm at £18.

I was considering purchasing one or two of the full sheet MDF boards from the UAL eStore, however I would have had complications with transporting the boards home, thus I would have to work on my project at the UAL LCC campus which would exceed my budget as it would mean that I would have to pay £12 everyday to travel into the university. I ended up taking a trip to B&Q to view the board options for myself, and then if non of them were suitable, I would resort to using the MDF from UAL.

Upon browsing through the satisfying collection of boards at B&Q, I came across a white coated board priced at a little over £5. As these were smaller in size, I purchased 3 panels. I decided to go with this option as the board was already coated in white, thus I wouldn't have to paint the board and possibly deal with the problems of an uneven surface, at least this way my surface will be perfectly smooth! This also means that the white is even and perfectly opaque and will create a much nicer contrast when I use my black marker pens which I purchased a pack of four for £1 from The Range.

I am a little bit disappointed as I would have liked to work on a seamless surface as opposed to three panels, however the smooth, brilliantly white surface makes up for that. I will now begin to draw my designs in the style of children's drawings onto the boards, in order to complete my piece!

Narrative/Memory

Jacqueline Wilson exhibition

Following the theme Narration (memory), I decided to research different forms of storytelling - this included primary source photographs from places that I have visited which depict a story. Examples of these places are: Casa Di Guillietta (house of Juliet in Verona, Italy) where loved ones from all around the world would share their love stories via writing on the wall, or on a padlock attached to the gate, the Bayeux Tapestry in Normandy, France, which depicts the conquest of England by William Duke of Normandy, and also engravings under the Great Clock of Rouen, in Rouen, France.


During my research I visited the Museum of Childhood where I was inspired by the Jacqueline Wilson exhibition, and also visited the Tate Britain where artists John Martin, Francis Danby and Joseph Mallard William Turner intrigued me with their visual, biblical storytelling. Post viewing the Jacqueline Wilson exhibition, I discovered that I was much more interested by the overall presentation, as opposed to the individual works on display.


I was then encouraged to look into installation pieces and remembered Phyllida Barlow’s installation “Dock” exhibiting at the Tate Britain - I decided to revisit the Tate Britain to investigate Barlow’s piece. From previous knowledge, I remembered installation artist, Dan Perjovschi. His works are drawn onto either black or white walls in a child-like appearance, to portray ‘adult’ topics such as politics. Something that I particuarly like about Perjovschi’s work, is his ability to communicate such an in-depth meaning to  the spectators through a more ‘simplistic’ appearance. I have now decided, that I would like to create an installation piece depicting my memories to help to narrate my life, just like the presentation of Jacqueline Wilson’s exhibition narrated her life and journey to creating her stories. The overall appearance will be inspired by Perjovschi, by using ‘child-like’ drawings. 

Dan Perjovschi installation

In order to do this, I will find drawings that I created as a child, along with other children’s drawings, in order to mimic the mindset of the age that I will be communicating. As memories are very broken and often forgotten, I will follow the rules of Epic Theatre narration, and thus use an Episodic dramatic structure as I can cover over a vast period of time through episodes, and each episode will have a beginning middle and end, while the overall piece as a whole, will not be in chronological order, and thus will not have a typical structure - this way each scene can jump, and there can be missing information, just like the memories in our brains.

Structure: Hybridity

Have you ever wondered what the world would have been like if evolution took a different route? If our primitive ancestors mutated a slightly different way, if selective breeding had been a lot less shallow/intelligent and if different organisms were formed? Humans, as we know ourselves today, would have looked completely different; thus so would our perception of beauty. Who knows, in a different world where all these changes could have taken place, 'humans' could've considered 5 heads to be beautiful, holes for ears to be sexy, or even a long nose all the way to the floor, to be most desirable. Think, how would our fashion magazines differ?  

I began by using primary photos and magazine images to create photo manipulations of animals and humans, and then illustrated them freehand. I used Derwent Graphic Soft pencils in H, 4B and 9B, also Uni Pin fine liner in 0.05, 0.1, and 0.4 . 

After taking this image into Photoshop, I then decided to play around with effects, inspired by artist, Vinz. To see if I would like the effect, I used Nate Strombergs collage of 1940's newspapers in the background, and luckily, it was a success. 

Following the success of Nate Stromberg's collage in the background, I decided to go to the library and collect some photographs of old art and design journals from the  1960's. I wanted to create the 'old' effect, so I thought that the best way to do this would be through collecting old journal pages. I think this adds interest, as personally I found the articles interesting which we're used in my own collage, and I think combining modern day art with work from a previous era was a nice hybrid. Some of the illustrations came out well and some did not. I feel like I should have created more photomanipulations to illustrate from so that I had more choice, as some of the visual appearances of my illustrations are not too great, and this my lack of enthusiasm shows in my ability. On the other hand, some of the illustrations came out really well. I believe that they all work well together and depict my idea.  

I also responded to the theme 'Hybridity' in multiple ways, as my illustrations were created using a hybrid method - combining different medias (pen, pencil, fine liner etc.), combining eras (work created today, but with elements from 1960's) and also combining freehand illustration with digital art.  

I think that all of my research artists inspired by final works as there is suggestions to each of them throughout my creation method. I also kept the idea of the Cabinet Of Curiosities in mind, as to me a Cabinet of Curiosity is a collection which provokes question; thus I do believe that my works provoke a question about our perception of 'beauty'. Also, by merging humans with animals I created my own chimera and exquisite corpse. I cut out images of animals, and placed them onto a models face, creating my own series of hybrids.  

Overall I am pleased with the outcome, but if I could improve, I would create more of a variety to chose the best illustrations.