Category: Reflection

Reflection “in” and “on” action

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Uncertainties of Pomegranate

I have spend most of the day experimenting with the established process of continuously over-printing and blasting the newly applied colour  layer away with a strong jet of water.

While documenting the work progress, I have started to alternate the use of video material and photography of relevant stages and refinements.

The screen developed for this image is based on pomegranate. This fruit is a national symbol of Azerbaijan.  It is also associated with wealth and prosperity.  Most Azeris regard pomegranate as a culturally and historically established object of desire.

i particularly like the ambiguity of the composition of pomegranate seeds. The screen is mysterious and non-descriptive. This lack of exactness and visual identity make it more uncertain and, perhaps even nervous,

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My creative intentions were to make images, which are more ambiguous and undefined by avoiding using realistic colours.  I have experienced a lot of trouble trying to photograph these paintings. I had to bounce the light of a screen to avoids unnecessary reflections and other visual disturbances.  The idea was also to reject the use of Photoshop as a tool for enhancing images. I wanted to get photographs, which are untouched and unchanged – a la prima.

What is really important to me is the use of accidents, which are wholly unpredictable.  It is also about visualising anxiety and uncertainty of “things going wrong” and simply destroying my own work before giving it a chance to appear and develop.  I am fascinated by the layers of paint and ink, and the accidental tears breaking up on the surface.  Punhane has started to develop references to images of Madonna, or perhaps, coffin portraiture and paintings executed in encaustic..

The next stage will be to leave this piece to dry and than, prime its surface with diluted PVA in order to be able to restart the entire process again.

The stages of development are as follows:

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Process videos:

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Beautiful Stranger

I have finally started on a long planned experimentation with an image of an English girl. Hopefully, this will allow me to differentiate between my foreign inspirations in juxtaposition to a local character.

My creative intention is to continue with the painterly process before overprinting this canvas with a screen with a composition made using silhouettes of PornStar cocktails.

As previously, the interwoven blasting procedure should loosen the image and introduce meaningful drippings of great significance to the uncertain character of my work. The blasting and its uncertainty contradicts the premeditated and preplanned content of the work.

The initial painting is below:

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Punhane Means Secret. Anxieties of The Future.

I have manipulated the video to alter its format.  Most of the experimentation was undertaken with Adobe Premiere Pro CC2018 to achieve two main objectives:

  • make the video shorter (under 60 seconds) in order to be able to share it on Instagram.
  • the second, more important goal was to remove some of the unnecessary content, which has diluted and clouded the key message in the voice recording.

Additionally, I utilised a range of transitions and other editing effects in order to make the overall piece more holistic and cohesive.  The other quality improvement was to alter the tonation of the video footage. My creative intention was to make it much warmer and introduce a sensation of ageing.  This echoes the greatest fear of Punhane – she is terrified of getting old.

My final proposal has just been shared online and I am nervously awaiting commentary.

The painting itself will be revisited and developed further next week.  I am in the process of thinking the progress through, while trying to refine the idea and enhance painterly qualities of the piece. I have just developed a new screen with an image of a cross section of a pomegranate.  I took this image at a market in Baku. This is the official national symbol of Azerbaijan.  It was also Punhane’s favourite fruit.  I will be using the highly decorative and organised pattern of seeds while overprinting the piece with a range of layers, starting with vibrant crimsons and moving through the colour spectrum towards deep blues, while printing with Prussian Blue based colours.

I am moderating in Northern Ireland next week, but the plan is to take my work to the second stage of blasting it with a water jet.

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Anxieties of Punhane

My creative intention is to use the voice recording below to contextualise the piece, which I am currently trying to develop and refine.  There is a degree of hesitance, which is apparent throughout the talk.  The essence of what Punhane is trying to truly communicate is contained in the last sentence, as follows:

“I am a bit worried about being alone and getting old…”

The Blasting of Secrets of Punhane

 

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Punhane Means Secret

I have started with the painterly process, while preparing an under painting for a new piece. The inspiration has come from my experiences in Azerbaijan, especially in the capital Called Baku.

The image below is of a young Azeri girl, who was my guide around the “Land of Fire”.  We have spent a fair amount of time together, while exploring the local culture and became friends.

On the last day of my visit, I managed to interview Punhane.  She gradually opened up and revealed her secrets to me.  She was very nervous and hesitant.  I recorded her short monologue, which appraises her uncertainties and anxieties.

I questioned the concept of happiness. This somehow upset her.  She abruptly responded – “I have already told you – at the end”.

Ultimately, the recording will accompany and support the digitised version of a more refined version of this work.

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Punhana Dreams About A Family

Punhana means in Azeri a ‘secret’. I have got to know her as she became my guide in Azerbaijan. She was diligent, perceptive and intuitive. She made a very positive impression on me. Her outgoing personality was enhanced by a very natural look, reserved, introvert, beautiful young face with long hair and no makeup.

Despite her excellent education and current employment as an English language teacher, she told me that her main aspiration was to establish a restaurant with healthy and vegetarian food. She insisted that her main ambition was to become a manager of such an establishment.

We spent a fair amount of time together wandering around art galleries, museums and other areas of cultural significance. I felt privileged to be able to invite her for a drink and a dinner. This provided an excellent opportunity to open up and talk.

Having gained a little of her trust and friendship, I started to ask her probing questions about her uncertainties and explored the nature of her anxieties. I was eager to find out what she was really waiting for. What were the most precious dreams and desires in her life.

The true answer arrived with time.

Her main dream is to marry a man and start a family.

Punhana revealed her deepest secret.

She also told me that her faith is to accomplish this desire before the age of 25. ( in less than three years time).

I have, subsequently, started with the process of developing a range of ideas for further exploration of this avenue. To extend on primary sources, I have asked her to send me some photographs of her family and other images from her past.

Secretive Punhana with her dream family.

I would also like to set my line of questioning in the broader context of political, cultural and religious issues, which will have a substantial impact on my visual response.

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Heydar Aliyev Center

The form of the building of this artistic centre is based on the signature of the president of the country. The architectural design looks totally different from every possible angle and the overall effect is highly futuristic and very overwhelming.

The most distinct features are the fluidity of form and ambience of the space created.

The content of permanent exhibitions is dedicated to glorification of the achievements of the dictatorship as well as evidencing the historical and cultural heritage of the nation.  This is also supported by a number of displays by internationally renounced artists, including to my surprise, Tony Cragg and Anish Kapoor.  I would have never dreamt to think that both artists would have knowingly agreed to exhibit their work at the ‘cathedral’ of totalitarianism.

The key exhibitions also include a collection of cars owned by President Aliyev, a timeline of his family in power and a display of a range of memorabilia of personal and national significance.

I must admit that I felt quite guilty to enter this building and support the ambiguous ethos, purpose and function of this questionable monument. However, my curiosity was stronger and, on reflection, the exhibitions were very well curated and presented.

Overall, the main element of my learning could be summarised by the following thoughts:

The central principle of abstract art and non-figurative representations is the refusal to imitate visible reality in the process of creation. Instead of copying nature and recreating the surrounding world, the toolset of artistic creativity, such as composition, colour, texture, line and form themselves become the object of art, main interest and the subject matter.  Furthermore, the idea of the form replaces the subject.

All of work, which I have produced so far, consists of a bizarre conglomerate of abstract elements and those, which are somehow recognisable.  I am definitively interested in ambiguity through the creation of non-representational compositions and supporting their meaning and visual communication with readable components and fragments.  This combination allows me to create both a new space and new understanding.

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Porn Star is Born, Hope Dies Last

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Waiting is a complex and multi-dimensional concept. Perhaps, we could attempt our identity by using a metaphor to the dreams, aspirations and desires we are all hoping for.  In Haiti, it could be a few grains of rice to survive, while in the West…a cocktail called Porn Star.

This piece is on outcome of a collaboration between a painting and a video.

It question the idea of identity in the broader context of external dynamics and stimuli.

Our dreams, ambitions and aspirations are formed by brutal and vulgar contrasts between the opulence and status of the privileged and the suffering of the starving underclasses. This powerful contrast is charged with a broad range of associated high level emotions and feeling, such as jealousy, anger and a total lack of understanding of the reasons behind one’s faith.

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Waiting for Porn Star Part 2

The second image in this series has a much more realistic element of the actual Porn Star cocktail embedded into the overall composition.  The under images, which portray female faces have been almost totally covered up.  They now belong to the less important background.  The drink is in the sub light as the primary focus of the work.

The idea discussed here is to expose the meaningless value of a posed “image” and social status.  It is an attempt to trivialise the 5-second culture, which aims at the celebrity status and consumerism together with physical possessions become the key ambition, aspiration and desire.

The over-printing and blasting processes will follow with their true power and consistency of the method, which I am trying to develop.

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Hope Dies Last

My initial developmental focus on the element of ultimate hope for getting a few grains of rice to survive, has suddenly evolved and changed.  It was replaced by an urgent and loud urge to visualise the desire of a local young girl, who is impatiently waiting for a cocktail called Porn Star.  Therefore, I have decided to overprint her face with my newly developed screen titled: Porn Star is Born.

The new print is quite opaque, almost fully covering both: the under image and the portrait.  The red and blue colours mix well and create a sense of patchiness and randomness.  They also give a graffiti type effect, through layering and partial covering.

My plan is to allow this print to settle down before I attempt to blast it off again.

I have also gathered additional primary sources to process a new screen with a greater element of background detail, which reveals the context.

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Blasting Porn Star in Blue

I have continued to overprint this image with a newly developed screen portraying a cocktail called Porn Star.  I have manipulated a primary source photograph to make it more ambiguous and harder to read.  This openness to interpretation is totally intentional and desirable.  I would also like to continue to overprint this work to make the surface more distressed and tired.  The breaking of top layers gives a very sensitive effect allowing the viewer to question what is underneath. My creative intention is to create a sense of curiosity. I am hoping to experiment with a greater amount of blending of colours between individual layers and employing a range of secondary colours using more transparent inks, alternating warmer and colder tones.

The other accidental effect, which I would like to continue to explore further is the dripping of washed out colours.  This spontaneous process allows me to achieve an improved fluidity of colour and a more appropriate cohesion and bonding between the under and over images.

I am intrigued and inspired by the heavy texture scrunched up textures, which I have managed to develop.  This is opens up an opportunity to isolate and enlarge smaller sections of this composition to reveal their hidden content.

This is also significant through its metaphorical meaning and connotations.

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New Porn Star Takes Shape

The process videos below are a record of the development of my current idea.

I have started to experiment with combining a number of contradictory in meaning images and brutally blasting them with a powerful jet of water, while purposefully ripping and tearing the canvas under pressure.

Currently, the under image is almost ready for the next stage in the process of its development and progress. It is suspended somewhere between the forces of creation and destruction.

I am planning to continue with the overprinting and blasting at intermittent stages in order to increase effects of layering, juxtapositioning and, finally, stretching this piece to the edge of its physical integrity.  The concept is to echo the learning from critical analysis of my primary sources and field research findings.

Life is based on one brutal and vulgar contrast between the opulence of the privileged and the suffering of the starving.  Additionally, this powerful contradiction is charged with a broad range of high level emotions and feeling, such as jealousy, anger and a total lack of understanding of the reasons behind one’s faith.