Unite 2 Reflection
Having come from China to England, I often marvel at the unfamiliar, appealing, and dreamlike surroundings and wonder what it would have been like to live in China. Two images are then superimposed on top of one another. As a result, transparent images appear in my painting. In Vaccum, there is the element of creasing, but it is not intended to trick the viewer, but to evoke a common experience of visual space.
I have taken one more step in the 'Fake Landscape' direction with Exile. As if I were shedding my skin, this piece was inspired by the act of removing my pants in my room. In my mind, I imagined myself as a man living in his pants, crawling toward the beach like a hermit crab. The beach is calm and hot at midday. But the folds of the paper suggest that the entire scene is merely an advertisement. There is an additional portion at the top of the frame that is intended to convey the idea of space. A playful way of adding extra parts to paintings can also be found in 's work.
In Plank To Pee, a man and a woman are trapped in a tile, staring at each other but unable to see each other. It seems that they are at a standstill, but this will end in embarrassment. This work presents my understanding of intimacy in an exotic relationship. I am fascinated by the volume and physicality of the wooden box, which provides a sense of the object. I can either hang the picture high up or place it on the ground where the viewer will notice it unintentionally.
The Warm Centipede is my material experimentation with plaster, which gives a rough surface to the painting, simulating the sense of the wrinkled paper. Plaster, however, is heavy and fragile, so it is not an ideal material for me. In addition to wood and plasterboard, I have also worked with fabric and cardboard.
I created an anthropomorphic creature using a second-hand coat, cardboard, and canvas. The abstract elements of fur, teeth, and eyes suggest to the viewer: Could this painting be an uncanny creature?
Below is the outline of the preliminary ideas in Unit 1 that inform my current painting research and practice.
1. For me, how are objects in our everyday life perceived?
2. How to explore the visual experience of space through painting?
In the last Unit of work, I morphed everyday objects, anthropomorphising them and giving them characters. These appeared in sketches and paintings. However, as my understanding of human-object relationships deepened, I became increasingly aware that narratives about objects are not a reflection of what they are based on, but a reflection of how we understand them.
A. "Objects speak of human intention in ways that we usually ignore"—Richard Wentworth
Understanding that things are wrapped in their atomic fact, they are not simply material entities but also contain the possibility of being connected to other things. It may be a way of narrating.
Wittgenstein's theory about the understanding of objects is very much descriptive of the subject of my current practice. Despite being hard to read, his book Logico-Philosophicus is the most exquisite book I've ever seen. Since the whole book is layered with logical organisation, each sentence is numbered and cannot be taken out of context. 'Everything is, as it were, in the space of possible atomic facts.'（Wittgenstein，1974，p26）[1]By knowing an object, we also know its atomic fact, that is, all possible circumstances. Moreover, we cannot think of any object apart from the possibility of its connection with other things. I drew a rough image below based on what he said to better explain his ideas.
When I see water, I know how it flows. Even if the cup falls over, I can predict where the water will flow and where the drops will fall. The way we anticipate various things in life comes from this narrative. "That is why we read the world narratively all the time" (Richard Wentworth 1984， P9）[2]. I finally understand the words by putting Wittgenstein's comprehension of the object back into the interpretation of Richard Wentworth's work.
These possibilities behind things also remind me of Stuart Sherman's Personal Spectacle performances, which often take the form of fast-paced interactions with everyday objects on the table. He proposed new bodily interactions with objects. In his performance, He engages the audience in a shared experience by constructing the narrative present in our daily objects. "In one way or another, we all attempt to order our experience, the principle by which we order experience is not unique to any one of us."（Stuart， Spectacle）[3]These shared experiences become the discourse of communication between Stuart and the public.
Understanding things in context becomes the basis of how I perceive them, and it also connects with the optical dispersion I mentioned in the last term. In this Unit, I have made a series of works in relation to each other, which explore the theme of Room 33. In most of my works, the object remains in its original state. But my perceptions of things and the context in which they exist are constantly changing. Combined, these paintings depict my own bedroom, where I am constantly distracted by a radiator, a shower, a tiled floor, water and containers. As a mediator in my work, the shared experience of people is explored through various media and the changing arrangement of space. Through my paintings, I serve as a translator between the object and the viewer. I interpret the language of things while bringing a sense of instability that the events behind everyday objects can happen at any moment.
B. Material&object memory
Home is the place where people erect their security. Room 33, the student apartment where I live, is my fortress. Despite carefully cleaning and decorating the room, the uncontrollable elements kept seeping out everywhere. When the heating stopped working on winter evenings, the electric heater became all I had to fall back on. I would wear socks under the covers and close my eyes to hear the ticking of water dripping from the shower onto the tiles. In the far hallway, I heard the water running down the drain, doors opening and closing, and foxes playing in the garden. I soon became aware of these little things between square inches that constantly distracted me.
In the darkness, I imagined myself to be a primitive man, warmly warmed by a fire, living deep within a cavern. These all became my first impression of home in London. The figure in Lion On The Heater is the epitome of me as a primitive. It is both me and a strange me. In the meantime, I am an intruder in the room, constantly in sync with my surroundings. The room is a womb where my emotions brew. The boundary between the internal and external worlds collapses as my emotions are constantly flowing into the objects.
Hegel's theory of alienation discusses how the spiritual world of man corresponds to the external world. Alienation is not mutation or deformation but the externalisation of human consciousness, according to his theory of alienation. "It is the externalisation of self-consciousness that establishes thinghood(Dingheit)" [4](Hegel，1910 ibid. Vol. II, p.258, translation altered). Whenever we know an object, we tend to project our consciousness onto it. We then perceive the object, and at this point, it is the form of our consciousness. However, every Individual is self-aware apart from the form of consciousness. So we have to establish an 'I'relative to this object. Reification is the recognition that it is the 'I' that sees the object.
My work invokes a dialogue between my memoir and the everyday objects. I infused my notions of personal history with memories, cosmology, and feelings. Through the way of reorganisation and displacement of things, a sense of absurd emerges.
The relink of objects to the human body is also mentioned in psychoanalysis. One of the indisputable achievements of psychoanalysis is to have identified the object as more than a thing in itself' lying statically outside of the subject, but as a dynamic element in constant flux, mediating the subject's inner and outer world. And coercing the subject into a varying configuration with itself and (other) object. [5] (London: Karnac Books, 1973，273-6.)
In Lion on the Heater, a strong figure crawls on the heater to feel the heat. To enhance the sense of shot, I did not use the full radiator image - it is just a fragment of the whole story.
Tala Madani's work also features a camera narrative, which always puts the spotlight on the background. This creates a cinematic screen effect. All of the characters in her painting appear to be in a larger space, a theatre. Her brushstrokes are dynamic, giving the painted figures a vivid quality but also adding to the liveliness of the whole painting.
In Vacuum, I used multiple thinly layers of colour to paint the repetitive structure of the heater and the tiles.
The fact that I only had to paint the edges of these objects to render the thing itself fascinated me. As the layers of colour are further enriched, from acrylic to oil, things gradually come to light. My repetitive portrayal of an object emphasises repeated physical movements.
C.The subjectivity of the painting
"Painting promises the existence of an imaginary place where labour (also in its form of nonlabor) actually remains private and concrete, detectable in the concrete materiality of its surface and the gestures it displays."[6] (Isabelle Graw, 2016, p10) In the passage, Isabelle Graw draws on this one assumption that painting can be regarded as a trace of activity, that it evokes subjectivity.
In addition, this reminds me of Andrew Grassie's lecture on reproduction and repetition in painting. Painting, as we know, is a constant reminder of the ghost of the artist's presence. However, he makes his work transparent by reproducing other artists' works in the gallery space. At the same time, he became invisible. He said. "Visitors look at my work and talk about the work in my work. it is just like my work is transparent." His work is a successful Trompe-l'œil, an eye trick, which brought the subject's unconscious gaze to light. The attempt to undermine the authority of the artist-subject with the help of various anti-subjective procedures, nevertheless, allowed the artist-subject to enter through the back door. Moreover, in the process, the painting seems to have painted itself—agency shifts from the artist to the painting.
He dissolves the meaning of the image. But emphasises the act of face in looking to show us what we cannot otherwise perceive. In his lecture, he talked about the act of duplication in painting as an act that adds layers of reality, but more importantly, how do we view painting as an object with subjectivity?
I made this piece from a cardboard box in my room. The unfolded lines of the box reminded me of the composition of a comic. After finishing the painting, I hung it on the wall was attracted to the box that transformed from an object in my room into a painting, and then I painted the picture the way it appeared on the wall. During this process, it transformed from a painting to another object in the painting. The repetition of a particular image nested time and space. Through me, the painting seems to undergo this series of transformations on its own.
It was this kind of agency which I perceived in 's exhibition. Her exhibition is more of a group show than a solo exhibition. Allison's exploration of seemingly separate subjects in her paintings in order to reduce the trace of the artist's authority has given painting subjectivity to narrate in a highly organic way. Doors, car windows, mouths and frames continually appear in Allison's paintings. Whether it is the realistic lift space at the entrance to the gallery or the various spaces and objects within, the world Allison seeks to create is one where chance provides access to poetic order inside life's chaos. Within this illusionary space, the boundary between inside and outside is blurred, and the viewer is unsure whether they are inside a human body or outside the building. The artist enhances visual playfulness by constantly changing the viewpoint of the viewer.
Vacuum illustrates the reality of a range of textures through the layering of images. The transparent structure of the heater is similar to a giant building built on water. Sky, clouds, and the virtual landscape are nothing more than decals on tiles. Although beautiful images are attached to the paper, underneath, there are fears and uncertainties.
D. Moving out of the studio - Rehearsal
How can a painting become an autonomous object? I continue to emphasise the physicality and subjectivity of painting in this Unit by experimenting with various materials and exploring the exhibition space. In addition, I arrange all the works in relation to one another in and outside of the studio, as though they were actors on a stage.
The works in my series are often derived from one another. The Warm Centipede and Plank to Pee are derivatives of Vacuum. The paintings that I make will be like the 'stand-alone complex' concept described in the ghost in the Shell, independent of one another and constitute a whole. And the materials I used for the work are relevant to the series as a whole.
The curation session this term was my first rehearsal, and it mainly focused on helping us to build connections through different pathways. When I stall my work, I found they did not create a sense of narrative space according to my plan. Although I emphasised the materiality of the paintings by adjusting their height and location, they still could not fix well with each other. I wondered if it was because the composition of the painting itself was too complete.
So I began to change the composition with the subject in the centre of the image to create an open relationship with other paintings. The Holey Shoe is the work I have done since then. A dark shadow looms above the green space, and the football goal hides behind it, which is my everyday window view.
The It's All Fun Until exhibition is my second rehearsal. The dilapidated structure of the Safehouse and its unique appeal as a "home" drew me in. At this time, I have prepared two works with the same elements in the picture for the exhibition. By considering the relationship between the artwork and the wall, the two works are able to form a narrative connection. However, I, however, believe that there are too many distracting elements in the exhibition space, such as the nail holes in the walls, the gaps in the staircase, and the scratches on the windows, which detract somewhat from the dialogue between the work and the audience.
Perry, Dan and I set up in the empty classroom in D209 for the third rehearsal. Initially, we held a group exhibition, followed by individual exhibitions one after another. We attempted to intersperse our work during the 'group show', but this did not work well. In my individual rehearsal, I selected only one large work along with several smaller pieces. Comparatively to previous attempts, the present works have created a visual playground and a space that has successfully conveyed a sense of uncanny and unease.
My curatorial practise gravitates toward the idea of making a room out of public space. One that is abstract, fluid, and intimate. As a way of enhancing the fluidity of the entire environment, I intend to construct a dynamic installation containing a blue liquid that will interact with the water elements in my artwork.
E. Cultural and identity&futrue
Does this illusion also apply to images? During Unite3, I believe the exploration and perception of identity can continue. Furthermore, in the next Unit, I will continue my research into the Theory of Objects, exploring how the way people perceive things is reflected in art? Specifically, how do paintings interact with installations? How can people's visual experience be used to create a narrative space around a particular image? What is the process by which painting becomes a subject? As far as practice is concerned, I will continue to examine the man-made objects in our lives and take a more flexible approach to the integration of dynamic installations and painting.
My awareness of identity is the background of my work. In many ways, my memories of China overlap with my life in London and stimulate me to compare the cultural values of the two places. As I am suspended between experience, memory, and reality, I feel a sense of awkwardness, strangeness, and dismay. This feeling can be seen in the layers of images, the obscured vision, and the broken structure of the Chinese strokes in my paintings. Additionally, I would like the viewer to be able to experience my feeling of being confronted with an unknown.
My untitled and ongoing project is a result of my six months in London. For me, the unreadable characters serve as symbols. Each letter of the alphabet corresponds to western films, music, and pop culture I have seen in China. The characters have become a visual ornamental decoration on shopfronts and streets so much so that I believe the feeling of being in the UK is an illusion created by them. This illusion can also be seen in the field of the image.
The text was translated directly into Chinese using Google Translate. I then used Photoshop to convert the text in the photos into Chinese. These city scenes changed qualitatively only after changing the words. The extent to which words create an illusion is unknown.
Personal Spectacle, Stuart Sherman
The Lion on the Heater
Tala Madani, Chandelier, 2016
Vaccum(In process)
Box in box
Exile(unfinished)
Vaccum
The Holey Shoe
Exhibition Plan.
Book and references
[1] Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. (C. K. Ogden, m.a., Ed.) London: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD.
[2] Richard Wentworth, 1984. Making do and getting by. Hans Ulrich Obrist ed. London: Koening Books, Lisson Gallery.
[3] Robin Deacon, 2015. Spectacle: A Portrait of Stuart Sherman. [Online]Available at: https://vimeo.com/70058334
[4] G W F HEGEL , 1910. THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF MIND . J. B. BAILLIE ed. London: SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO..
[5] See Jean Laplanche and Jean-Bertrand Pontalis, The Language of Psycho-Analysis, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith.
[6] Isabelle Graw, 2015. The Value of Liveliness: Painting as an Index of Agency in the New Economy. [Online]