MOMA Tibilisi
Art 23 Genesis
What a great evening!
All finalists painted live in front of an audience.
There was a lot of interest in my work and I have received plenty of encouraging comments.
This is a portrait of a young, beautiful and idyllic-looking Haitian girl
playing with butterflies. I met her during my travels through Haiti,
where most people survive on less than 1$ per day.
She is totally oblivious of her origin.
She does not understand, why she is consistently ostracised and
bullied. Her skin is white, and her eyes are baby blue. She definitively
stands out!
She has never heard of Poland. Her home is on a little island called
Petit Goave.
She is a descendent of Polish legionnaires, who were sent to Haiti by
Napoleon to suppress an uprising of slaves. However, having realised
the extent of exploration and abuse, the Poles changed sides and
fought in support of the oppressed indigenous people. Subsequently,
most of them were punished and slaughtered. A few lucky ones
managed to disperse to the islands.
Porn Star is Born, Hope Dies Last
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
New Porn Star Is Born
I am working on a new screen while developing and discussing alternative possibilities for further investigation.
My new concept titled after a primary source photograph of a drink: “A cocktail called Porn Star”.  It is a symbol of the ultimate wealth and opulence, top-of-the-range experience of celebration, delectation with a complex flavour and a high class degustation experience. It is also a metaphor for a false high social status, meaningless aspirations and an empty desires.
The sandwiching of unnecessary wealth and absolute poverty may appear to be relatively crude and obvious. However, life is full of “right-in-your-face” contradictions and contrasts, which frequently amuse, shock and overwhelm witnesses. The layering technique, which I am trying to experiment with, allows for a smoother blending of both contradictory perspectives, while initiating a moral dialogue and forcing the element of questioning. Subsequently, any observer is forced to reflect on the most crucial dilemma of human existence: what is right and what is wrong . It is a form of the ultimate appraisal of human morality and breakdown of the bases of our virtuous spine of social rules, doctrines and principles.
Low Res – Experimental Printmaking 2
Low Res – Experimental Printing
I have really enjoyed etching a piece of Lino with caustic soda and immersed myself in printmaking experimentation.
Low Res – Rinsing Ink
HYPNOTIC REPETITION 