Thursday, 25 June 2015

New Paintings

'The Simulacrum is never what hides the truth- it is the truth that hides the fact that there is none. The simulacrum is true.'  (Baudrillard, 1994; 1)

Hyperreality is a term used in semiotics, consisting of the inability to distinguish reality from simulation. Reality and fiction are blended together so there is no clear distinction between them.

The interface between the scanner and the printed photograph manifested within my ink drawings represents a blending and fusion between reality, representation and technology. The end result becomes a hybrid of both with gliches from the scanning process combining with recognizable areas from the landscape. 

Dan Hays, The Clearing, 1999, Oil on Canvas

Dan Hays' anti-romantic paintings make use of nature as his subject matter but the method is derived from imitation and technology.
Looking at a Hays' painting is not to experience a communion with nature but instead a sense of separation. The work is not really about the landscape, but seems to be more concerned with 'second nature' or the overlay human beings have imposed on nature via their technologies.

'The project is collectively titled Colorado Impressions, as digital image compression has striking formal associations with the Impressionist imperative to capture the essence of a scene as quickly as possible with a restricted palette of colours... this is a special relationship, where we can see digital photographs as proto-paintings, abstracting visual information, creating painterly effects several removes from the world.' (danhays, 2015)

Dan Hays, Colorado Impression 9c, 2002, Oil on Canvas


My recent paintings carry a strong influence to Hays' work via the process of simplification and the reduction of the composition as well as the influence of technology via the process of scanning and the subsequent interference and conflict with the picture plane.

In creating these paintings I chose to move away from the places that I had used in order to inform previous work: Mousehold Heath and the North Norfolk Coast. As a reference for these paintings I used a walk that I have regularly undertaken close to my parents house which takes the walker alongside the banks of the river Wensum for a stretch of around five miles. As with the previous two locations that I used to reference my work this is a space that I have regularly visited as a child and a young adult and therefore my intention was that it contained within it memories and associations from my past.





Photographic panoramas taken during my walk along the river.

River Walk, 2015, Oil on Canvas, 35 x 60cm

River Walk I, 2015, Oil on Canvas, 50 x 75cm

In creating this recent series of works I chose to experiment once more with the medium of paint in order to move away from the work that I had previously created using drawing and silk screen. I attempted to utilise the distortion via the process of scanning that I felt had been very effective within previous experimentation. 

In analysing my intention for the work and the outcome I would come to the conclusion that although effective in part, overall I would say that the results achieved via drawing and printing were more effective. Once more within this work as with previous works my overriding propensity to use bright colour has meant that I am no longer referencing the places which I am depicting within the paintings, the bright colours taking precedence over the other aspects of the composition. Similarly the crispness and graphic nature of the drawing and silk screen provided some way of unifying the compositions not present within these pieces. Although I feel that the fashion in which I have handled the paint is partially effective on account of its smudged and blurred nature owing something to chance process, I feel that overall the pieces would benefit by subduing the colours used a well as referencing them back to the original landscapes and places from which the imagery was derived.

'For me there is no difference between a landscape and an abstract painting.. I refuse to limit myself to a single option, to an exterior resemblance, to a unity of style which can't exist. A colour chart differs only externally from a small green landscape. Both reflect the same basic attitude. It is this attitude which is significant.' (Antoine, 2004; 1)


Gerhard Richter, Landscape near Koblenz, 1987, Oil on Canvas
One of the trademark styles of the German painter Gerhard Richter  (1932 - ) is his use of the form of blurring within his work. The blur serves as a perfect general metaphor for memory, its degradation and corrosion that is wrought by time, as well as recalling camera movement and errors of printing. 

'I blur to make everything equal, everything equally important and equally unimportant.' (McCarthy, 2011)

Gerhard Richter, Apple Trees (sketch), 1987, Oil on Canvas.
 

Like many other German artists of his generation, Richter references romanticism within his paintings. However road signs replace church spires within his landscapes, waves and clouds become fragmented, isolated, collaged and inverted. The fascination with the scene he is depicting is retained, but it is a fascination voided of sublimity, wedded instead to repetition and reproduction, an interrogation of the act of looking and the technologies through which this takes place. 

'In principle, the work of art has always been reproducible. Objects made by humans could always be copied by humans. Replicas were made by pupils in practicing for their craft, by masters in disseminating their works, and, finally, by third parties in pursuit of profit. But the technological reproduction of artworks is something new.' (Benjamin, 2008)

In the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction, (1936), Walter Benjamin discusses the shift in perception and its affects in the wake of the advent of film and photography. In particular Benjamin discusses how the manner in which we look and see the visual work of art is different now. Benjamin discusses the loss of aura through the act of mechanical reproduction itself. The aura for Benjamin represents the originality and authenticity of a work of art that has not been reproduced. A painting has an aura while a photograph does not; the photograph is an image of an image while the painting remains utterly original.

If in Benjamin's eyes a painting contains within it originality and authenticity whilst a photograph does not then how does this relate to a painting, print or drawing that has been subjected to technology whilst simultaneously referencing photography. My project began as an investigation of memory and the interface between the landscape and the walker passing through. A photograph is regularly used as a way of capturing a moment or a memory in time. A scanner may be used as a way of copying, recording and storing information therefore acting as a vessel in order to transfer and store virtual memories. By creating paintings which have been informed via photographs and scans I am curious to know how this would fit into Benjamin's ideas concerning authenticity. In my mind the process of technology would somehow create a simulated or inauthentic aura when it acts upon a painting. 


Antoine, J.P. (2004) 'Gerhard Richter: Landscapes.' New York: Zwirner & Wirth.

Baudrillard, Jean (1994) 'Simulacrum and Simulation.' translated by Sheila Faria Glaser. Ann Arbor: Universtiy of Michigan Press.

Benjamin, W. (2008) 'The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction.' London: Penguin.

danhays.org (2015) Dan Hays (internet) available at danhays.org/coloradointro.html

McCarthy Tom (2011) 'Blurred Visionary: Gerhard Richter's photo-paintings.' The Guardian 22nd September 2011. 

Wednesday, 17 June 2015

New silk screen paintings

'When the word 'hallucination' first came into use, in the early 16th Century, it denoted only 'a wandering mind.' It was not until the 1830s that Jean-Etienne Esquisol, a French psychiatrist, gave the term its present meaning- prior to that what we now call hallucinations were referred to simply as 'apparitions.' Precise definitions of the word 'hallucination' still vary considerably, chiefly because it is not always easy to discern where the boundary lies between hallucinations, misperceptions and illusion. But generally hallucinations are defined as percepts, arising in the absence of any external reality- seeing things or hearing things that are not there.'  (Sacks, 2013; 1)

Following on from the pen and ink drawings that I created, I was hoping to create a series or works combining both the linear, graphic and controlled qualites of the drawings by turning them into silk screen prints alongside a much looser and spontaneous aesthetic via the introduction of paint. As well as marrying the printed and painterly surfaces I was also intrigued as to what the introduction of colour would do to the look and the feel of the images. 

I was interested in various accounts of walking that I had been researching which culminated in the walker experiencing hallucinations creating a distorted perception of reality, place and the landscape. The account of John Clare escaping from his incarceration and walking back to his home resulted in him hallucinating due dehydration, exhaustion and a lack of food. In 1991 the artist Hamish Fulton whose work emphasises the action of walking in the landscape walked all 120 miles of the Pilgrim's Way without sleep in midwinter: 'I started to hallucinate,' he says, 'A small blue bag on the path suddenly turned into a turkey.' 


Hamish Fulton, The Pilgrims Way, 1991, Black & White photograph and text. 

In keeping with my research aims concerning memory and the interface between memory submerged within the landscape and those of the walker passing through I felt that it would be appropriate to re-use and utilise the large ink drawings as a way of expanding upon this process. I liked the idea that by subjecting a visual rendering of a landscape to a number of processes both digitial and manual including photography, drawing, scanning and printing, the subject matter changes, becoming dislocated from it's original anchoring within reality instead starting to represent something else more abstract and less defined, this tied into some of the research that I had been undertaking in relation to a hallucination as something arising from the absence of any external reality. Using bright, non naturalistic colours which I mono silk screened onto the paper as a starting point, I repeated the process of moving whilst scanning the pen and ink drawings, which I silk screened on top of the coloured base. 


Transcendental Experience, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Untitled, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Untitled, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Trace and Apparition, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Figment of the Imagination, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Hallucination, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm
Diffuse, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Turbulence, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Memory, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Fragmentation and Deconstruction, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Sub-Conscious Process, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Dissolution, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Following on from a group critique in which I presented these pieces there were a number of observations that was generated. A number of comments centred on the fact that the prints appeared to resemble a series of sound waves, or seismic waves, defined as waves of energy that travel through the earth's layers, resulting from an earthquake or volcano that gives out low-frequency acoustic energy. 



A seismic wave generated from an erupting volcano.

Comments included the fact that the the colours referenced did not appear to connect to the place from which they were being referenced and that it would be interesting to see what the visual outcome would be if the colours were linked back to Brancaster Staithe in order to see whether this enhanced the sense of that place. The use of non naturalistic colours was noted as creating more of a decorative feel. 

On another level it was also suggested that by using non naturalistic colours alongside the black printed marks it had a repellant and disruptive feel generating the visual effect of a migraine. It was also noted that it would be interesting to see what the effect would be of exhibiting them all together in one seamless line without gaps between them, in order to create a sense of a loop so that they could be interpreted as a continual stream or sequence of information.

Mock up of work displayed as a continual sequence.


Another interesting observation related to the fashion in which the spaces within the compositions were being utilised as a way of representing either the land or the sky, and the fact that it would be useful to attempt to manipulate this space in order to see how the pieces might look if either of these were removed or their proportions were adjusted. 

One of the final points that was noted in relation to my work was about the particular space of Burnham Overy Staithe and the idea of attempting to go back in time or revisit a place containing memories from the past. It was suggested that via the process of revisiting and reconnecting with a particular place and the memories stored there attempting to physically depict this would be more effective if it was done in an abstract, hypothetical fashion, rather than in a figurative and representational manner.

'With the painting the inspiration comes from the process of the work itself... like music (making the work) is an emotional experience. It's a visual language and it's almost impossible to put words to it.' (huckmagazine, 2015)

An artist, whose works deals with ideas around dislocation and alienation who subjects his imagery to number of different processes as well as working across a variety of mediums is the artist Christopher Wool. Christopher Wool's recent paintings address the experience of bringing us closer to an understanding of the creative dislocation we share with a metropolis we know we can neither inhabit or escape. A sprayed line of enamel covers a canvas, while on another canvas the same looping line recurs as a screen print. The painting is always relocated or dislocated and systematically amputated from the moment and the place of work. Wool photographs a line in order to create a silkscreen that repeats it however many times, the colours in higher and lower resolution, introducting an additional level of disorientation. 

Christopher Wool, Untitled, 2009, Enamel, Silkscreen, Spray Paint on Paper

 This systematic repetition across mediums creates the effect of dislocation and alienation, allowing for any number of transformative possibilities. Via the use of printing Wool exploits the print's power of repetition meaning that new and different marks and gestures are created from the middle of the work. As the work builds up and accumulates it is simultaneously lost, buried and decomposed. Images of painterly information are cycled through a process causing gestures to drift and return outside of each other, recombining elsewhere with others. 


Christopher Wool, Untitled, 2009, Enamel, Silkscreen, Spray Paint on Paper.
The use of the digital camera in the process affects the sharpness and the grain of the source image as this information is cycled through a process involving a camera, a screen plus other means of mediums the original gesture becomes dislocated and resituated from its origins.
Christopher Wool, 2001, Minor Mishap, Enamel and Silkscreen on Linen

huckmagazine (2015) Christopher Wood (internet) available at www.huckmagazine.com/art-and-culture/art-2/christopher-wool/

Sacks, O (2013) 'Hallucinations.' London: Picador; Main Market Ed. edition.

Saturday, 30 May 2015

New pen and ink drawings on paper.


'The past lives on in art and memory, but it is not static: it shifts and changes as the present throws its shadow backwards. The landscape also changes, but far more slowly; it is a living link between what we were and what we have become. This is one of the reasons why we feel such a profound and disproportionate anguish when a loved landscape is altered out of recognition; we lose not only a place, but ourselves a continuity between the shifting phases of our life.(Drabble, 2009; 270)

 Having reflected in a previous post on the relative successes of 
the silk screens I produced as a direct response to the changeable and ever shifting landscape of the North Norfolk Coast of Burnham Overy Staithe's sand dunes and salt marshes I was keen to experiment with alternative ways and processes in order to depict the subject matter. I experimented by rendering these images on a much larger scale of 70 x 100cm. I was keen to see how this would compare to the silk screened versions and whether the much more labour intensive, hand crafted versions added anything to the process of experimentation which related back to my original research interests.


Photographs of the coastal landscape after being subjected to distortion via the process of scanning.
In order to inform these images and as subject matter I used the same process of manipulation that I used in order to inform the imagery for my silkscreens, which involved re-scanning print outs of photos taken during a walk at Burnham Overy Staithe which I moved around during the scanning process in order to create a sense of movement and distortion. The three images I have posted directly below are the results of rendering these images using black rotring ink on fabriano paper.


Tracing the Archetypal, Pen and Ink on Paper, 70 x 100cm

Counterfeit Landscape, Pen and Ink on Paper, 70 x 100cm



Simulacrum, Pen and Ink on Paper, 70 x 100cm


Claude Heath (1964 -) questions the relationship between the world of sensation and ourselves within his work. Heath's wall drawings move between being the subject and object of the artists and our imagination. 


Claude Heath, Waterfall 2013, Installation Shot, Wall Drawing.
  
   Claude Heath, Waterfall 2013 (detail)



Claude Heath, Waterfall 2013, end wall.

Heath drawings look like various things - high-density doodles, computer printouts bearing multi-dimensional information. But you don't need to look at them long to see that they are, at least, not free-form abstractions. These intense, hairball tangles of spidery lines, often in several different colours, seem to grope their way towards some kind of legibility or materialisation.

Yet they remain phantoms of the forms that they represent; firstly in the sense that they have a ghostly yet still recognisable relationship with the object they are based on and secondly they are born from an absence (the artist's gaze onto the page which he is drawing). There is as a result, a purposely unresolved and awkward fusion between that which is real and that which is imagined. 

I felt that there were many positive and some negative factors emerging from my recent drawings in relation to my earlier silk screens. Whereas the silk screens were executed on a scale of around 26 x 40cm the pen and ink drawings are operating on a considerably larger scale. When combined with their hand crafted quality alongside the length of time it took to execute them, they felt much more finished and resolved and alot less like experimental pieces. As with Heath's Waterfall wall drawing I am interested in the interplay and exchange between the reality of the scene being depicted alongside the changing and shifting nature of the image as something that has a dreamlike appearance, a few steps removed from reality.

One of the positive qualities with regards to the silk screens was the fact that although executed relatively quickly they created an impression of spontaneity and crudeness which combined effectively with some of the marks and mistakes from the silk screen process as well as the movement and distortion created as a by-product of the scanning process. This contrasted with the graphic imagery created via the use of pen and ink, with the potential for it to be interpreted as more formulaic with less room for spontaneity or errors. However the time taken to produce the drawings, the quality of the mark making and the ambiguity of the subject matter meant that they possessed a much more finished and satisfying quality in relation to the more sketchy nature of the silk screened images.


I took the opportunity to visit the Sigmar Polke exhibition: Alibis, 1963-2010 at the Tate Modern. I was particularly interested in the fashion with which Polke utilised technology within his work as a way of creating distortion within the imagery as well as the fashion with which he juxtaposes both painterly and printed marks.
Sigmar Polke, Untitled (Triptych) 2002, polyester resin and acrylic paint on fabric
From his earliest practice Sigmar Polke emphasised a dynamic tension between expression, gesture and mechanical reproduction. His paintings combined found printed images with more organically made painterly marks. Making use of half-tone photography from newspapers and magazines Polke enlarged and reproduced the imagery often corrupting the original beyond recognition. 
Sigmar Polke, Fear (Black Man) 1997, Synthetic resin and lacquer on polyester fabric
'Printing Errors,' were a large group of paintings Polke created between 1996-98 in which he examined, much enlarged, minute ink slippages and spillages that read as errors on the printed page. Polke made others by manipulating photocopies during the copying process to create distortions of the imagery he was copying such as the image above, Fear (Black Man). Some errors bore close resemblances to details in the images in which they occured. By making use of a half-tone printing technique he helped to convert the visual image into a pattern of even-sized units consisting of a dotted diamond pattern.

Perhaps most intriguing for me is the fashion with which Polke has created a sense of tension within his work by combining a number of opposing elements including the mechanical nature of the printed imagery alongside the more organic painterly marks. In moving forward I am interested to see what would happen within my own work by combining gestural painterly marks alongside the more structured, precise marks created via the process of silk screen printing. Similarly I am also interested in experimenting by re-introducing areas of colour into my compositions which would be interesting to juxtapose alongside the monotone areas with the aim of creating an underlying tension, dynamic and interplay between a variety of opposing elements. 

Drabble, M (2009) 'A Writer's Britain.' London: Thames & Hudson.

Tuesday, 12 May 2015

Circular tondos vs rectangular picture compositions.

In going forward, I am interested in addressing which is more effective in terms of my experimentation, the circular tondos or the rectangular compositions as a way of addressing my research interests. Although I have rejected the overlayed geometric patterns which were the product of my initial experimentation, I have included these in the mock ups below as part of my work in progress in order to critique the elements I consider to be effective alongside the elements that I consider to be less successful for each of the compositions.



Circular tondo vs a more conventional rectangular composition:

Circular composition:

Round, spherical objects in nature are considered to be perfect, complete and stable. A round or spherical composition is an effective way to depict another world, the circle helping to accentuate the otherness of the composition in order to give the appearance of looking through a portal or window and capturing a particular moment in time.

Rectangular composition: 

A rectangular or square composition is less ambiguous and open to interpretation on account of the fact that it has a top and a bottom as well as being read from left to right and vice versa. In the same fashion standing in a landscape is characterised by having the sky at the top and the land at the bottom. Similarly it functions in a different fashion to the tondo on account of the fact that it has been used regularly throughout art history and is therefore more conventional and easier to relate to.
 
How does this function in relation to my research interests:

My research to date has very much been about the experience of being in a place. The places that I have chosen as my subject matter are places that I have visited over an extended period of time throughout my life. I feel therefore that the experience is very much about being situated within the present day as opposed to the past! As a result the circular tondo composition which is able function as a portal and way of looking back in time is not necessarily applicable. The more conventional rectangular composition however I feel is more applicable on account of the fact that it is easily recognisable and able to contain a personal narrative on account of the fact of it having a top, a bottom and sides and therefore relating directly to the landscape. 

Observing the two mock ups above I feel that there is a much stronger sense of place attached to the composition containing the rectangular images due to the fact that the imagery is more recognisable as being derived directly from the landscape. This has also resulted in a stronger sense of narrative, which can be attributed to the pieces. The circular compositions appear much more ambiguous in terms of their interpretation which is accentuated on account of their roundness meaning they do not conform to how we imagine the landscape to be. 

Going forward....

I feel that my experimentation with the tondo compositions has been valid and worthwhile but in going forward with future work do not feel that they are a suitable format for the outcomes that I am aiming for in terms of the experience of being in the landscape. I feel that the rectangular more conventional compositions offer this in a much more effective fashion.

  

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

Experimentation with Silk Screen

As discussed within my previous post I created a series of images derived from the coastal landscape which I manipulated via the process of scanning in order a sense of disortion and displacement. In order to create more of a hand finished quality I experimented by silkscreening the images onto sections of board to see how this would change the nature of the imagery and what effect it had in relation to the landscapes that I was depicting.
Irregular Fluctuation, 2015, Silkscreen on MDF, 25 x 36cm
Slippage, 2015, Silkscreen on MDF, 26 x 40cm

Drift, 2015, Silkscreen on MDF, 29 x 40cm
Dunes, 2015, Silkscreen on MDF, 24 x 36cm
I was really excited by the results and quality of the imagery achieved via the process of silkscreening. In particular I found the interchange between the black ink and brown mdf to be very effective and compelling. The ink combined persuasively with the cheap quality and feel of the materials. In printing the imagery onto the board it was also an effective way of enhancing the quality of the smudges, blurs and other accidental marks created via the process of scanning, while the solid nature of the wood enabled more of a convincing case for them to be considered as art objects.

As a further consideration and way of experimenting with altering the appearance of the silk screens, I experimented by applying gloss paint to the surface of the MDF in order to see how this altered the appearance of the silk screens and whether this brought any additional dimension to the work.



Irregular Fluctuation I, 2015, Silkscreen and Gloss on MDF, 25 x 36cm
Slippage I, 2015, Silkscreen and Gloss on MDF, 25 x 36cm
Drift I, 2015, Silkscreen and Gloss on MDF, 29 x 40cm
Dunes, 2015, Silkscreen and Gloss on MDF, 24 x 36cm
One of the elements that I felt was particularly positive with regards to the addition of paint to the MDF surface was the fact that it added a degree of spontaneity to the images that was not present within the silkscreens by themselves. In a similar vein the addition of the painted areas meant that the images were no longer part of a series or edition but now functioned as one offs.

Although the addition of the paint to the MDF surface added something extra to the feel and the quality of the images I feel that further experimentation is necessary in terms of how the paint is applied as well as the choice of colour. Via further experimentation I aim to resolve the cohesion and interaction between the printed and painterly surface so as to create a unity between the spontaneity and liberal application of the paint alongside the more controlled and restrained quality of the printed marks.

An artist whose work I have been considering in relation to my recent experiments with silk screen is that of the French artist Roland Flexner, whose recent ink drawings I had the opportunity to view at the Massimo De Carlo gallery in London. 
         

Roland Flexner, 2012, Untitled, Liquid Graphite on Yupo, 9 x 12"
Roland Flexner, 2012, Untitled, Liquid Graphite on Yupo, 9 x 12"
Flexner's practice focuses around drawing with ink, his drawings appearing to resemble a series of uncanny landscapes. As part of his experimentation Flexner explores the fashion in which the element of chance influences the making of these drawings. Using the processes of manipulation which include breath, water and gravity Flexner attempts to document the potential of this material by pushing it to a pictorial dimension. 

Roland Flexner, 2012, Untitled, Liquid Graphite on Yupo, 9 x 12"

Roland Flexner, 2012, Untitled, Liquid Graphite on Yupo, 9 x 12"


The manipulations Flexner has used in order to control the flow of the ink from one drawing to another alternates from tilting (use of gravity), blowing (with or without straws), spraying water mist over the drawing, friction and pressure applied to the back of the drawing. 


Roland Flexner, 2012, Untitled, Liquid Graphite on Yupo, 9 x 12"

Roland Flexner, 2012, Untitled, Liquid Graphite on Yupo, 9 x 12"


'The idea of landscape is inseparable from time, as it is a recording of time itself. Time is a flow that is driven by events every single one of my drawings in an event in a state of becoming.' Roland Flexner (massimodecarlo, 2015)

In a similar fashion to the works of Christopher Cook which I discussed in a previous post Flexner's works created via chance processes has a strong figurative element to it meaning that when viewed they possess a strong affinity with the landscape. However in a similar fashion to Cook's paintings there is something quite uncanny and otherworldly about the pieces meaning that the longer one views them the more ones mind drifts off into an alternative reality or space that is neither situated in the real world or the world of fantasy but sits uncomfortably somewhere imbetween. 

I am intrigued by Flexner's use of chance processes and manipulations as a way of creating his work. By scanning in print outs of the landscape of the North Norfolk coast whilst moving the imagery upon the scanner bed I have attempted to incorporate a chance element within my work. I hope that this operates as a way of displacing and dislodging the viewers expectation as to how they envisage the landscape may appear, whilst simultaneously making the experience very much grounded within place and landscape. In a similar fashion to both Cook and Flexner definitive figurative elements begin to fuse, blend and merge with other areas that are drifting off into an abstract and subconscious realm.  


As part of the dialogues lecture series, 'Speculative Matters' I had three of my silk screened images chosen to be part of the exhibition. This was a good opportunity for me to showcase how the images looked within a gallery setting as well as an appropriate platform in order to devise a way for them to be hung (see image above). One of the overriding considerations emerging from this show was devising a way to hang the work on account of the differing levels of abstraction inherent within the prints. By placing the middle image, almost unrecognisable as being derived from the landscape between two prints containing more pronounced figurative elements was a good way to contextualise the imagery in a fashion which provided a strong grounding within the reality of place and the landscape. 


massimodecarlo (2015) Roland Flexner (internet) available at: www.massimodecarlo.com/exhibitions/view/119977?&lang=eng