Transition stage
The beginning of Term 2, I try to find some inspiration in the materials that I used a lot in Unit 1.
1. Making a world map through outlining the ocean with salt.
2. Observe the record of a skyline in sequence shot of the landscape in Richmond Park.
3. Drip some drops of saltwater on a fabric-like paper
4. Use modelling clay to mimic lotus leaf
I love the texture and colour of this kind wicks, so I try to make a new kind netting of wicks and wax but it did not work that well that I expected so I don't want to do more of it and I leave it in the studio.
the centre of it is three pieces of the moon in different phases: new moon, waxing gibbous, first quarter. They are representatives of a time circulation and somehow it makes the moon have a variety of meanings to human, especially in China. A lot of Chinese still used to calculate the time with the lunar calendar which is closely connected with the phases of the moon changing. It is like the Chinese traditional lunar calendar is sealed by the moon.
At this stage, there is a quite challenging faced me and I had no idea how to keep going - I thought I tend to use domestic material and they look like a bit subjective and cannot create a resonate sense to the viewers. I was also keen to expand the use of different mediums to a more wide-ranging level.
I remembered that in a 1-2-1 tutorial, Ian said that I tend to keep the materials I used in the way that they look like and I should build my own artistic language in terms of the form of my practice.
At that moment I realised that I use raw materials and manicure them a lot to build a some kind of system or base. Even though I remain the original texture and colour of them, still see my work a bit pale and distant. Although the original features of the materials are still preserved, their form has been artificially changed.
Knowing that this could be the reason why some unpleasant stiffness can be seen in my work, I thought why not just pick up some materials from the natural environment. It could be a solution to remain its natural feature in the way it looks and meanwhile it can also reflect on the system of daily life. So I made a schedule for parks in London.
First, I chose Richmond Park, which is my favourite one, then Holland Park and Greenwich Park. Wandering in a park, keep my mind blank. I asked my mate, why we would not feel tired when we spend two hours walking in a park but feel so exhausted in a gallery or museum?
gradually, I have collected a series of natural objects, including wood in different shapes, thin or thick branches, leaves and seeds, bird feather and so on. they seem to a kind of fragments of nature, if nature can be regarded as a giant tree, those materials are the leaves of it, and they also can somehow reflect on part of my own life experience.
Daily/natural objects collection
-Nature can be seen as an archive of time- from the departure point of this concept to explore and find a way of the active interaction with a certain moment in daily life
I also take some pictures of the landscape I found impressive with an instant film camera, which can produce some physical and tangible photographs.
In the process of playing with these photographs, I found there is a certain kind pocket where I see those landscape from my perspective, from human's eyes. They permanently stay in the moment I shot the pictures.
So those moments that I built a dialogue with time become tangible and can be held in hands.
This is a tree standing in Theo Angelopoulos' night, weeping and roaring
At least I see so
This is a tree with passive-aggressive strength to fight against the blankness
At least I see so
This is a tree knowing something about 'Einmal ist Keinmal' and refuting it 'Keinmal ist Einmal'
At least I see so
This is a dialogue between me and the tree
At least I see so
The process of product-producing
I really enjoyed the process of making something solid and concrete from fluid and flexible materials. It is like there is something can be extracted from uncertain chaos.
These bricks are all made of paraffin wax, containing some bits of wicks and red food colouring. The colouring cannot be well blended in wax fluid, like oil cannot be blended in water, so the drops of colouring remained its own shape in liquid. After the wax turned to solid and I left them to cool down to room temperature.
A few days later, the red colour came out the surface like it was being squeezed during these days. So the bleeding blood makes the wax brick a kind of power of life. Some of them stored the 'blood' very well, and some of them look like scars on it. Those skin-like effects can be seen as part of the flesh and blood, fat and other human body's elements.
The eggshell, a semipermeable membrane, which means that air and moisture can pass through its pores, can be regarded as the skin of eggs. Split the eggshell in half and use a cotton string to link the two halves together, they are still one. This attempts to emphasize the moment of 'break'. The texture and colour of eggshells with silk stocking give it a kind of sense of beauty, like thin, slight, uncomplete pieces of skin. So slight that it can move with the wind, like a part of a mobile.
Some novelties I collected from vintage or art shops
Those afternoons in series seminars/ reading groups
I still remember the first lesson of the series seminar of Arts and Tale, quite impressive. Dr Stephen Wilson presented a short documentary I Remember: A Film About Joe Brainard (2012) directed by Matt Wolf. The film is an elliptical dialogue about friendship, nostalgia and the strange wonders of memory.
After that, we were asked to discuss the role of friendship in our artistic practice in groups and then to share our opinions among other artists across disciplines.
The second lesson is about a book Shy Radicals from Hamja Ahsan and to think about what shyness could be in our own art.
The students, staffs, all the UAL, were facing the Strik event at that time, so in order to keep the academic activity going, Dr Wilson arranged and decided to deliver the rest of the series seminars off-site. That was the beginning of our 3-week reading trips.
The schedule of the off-site plan
A list of recommended reading materials
We went to see different shows in ICA, Hayward Gallery, Marian Goodman Gallery, and Frith Street Gallery and at the end, all of us were doing a reading session. Reading a page of a book each participant for around one hour and then sharing with each other our understandings of the contents, that is the whole lesson of the off-site venue in every afternoon.
I found those and visiting and reading quite beneficial and helpful to gather and develop our thoughts. Because this could help me to keep my mind broad and constantly thinking about how to tactfully interpret my ideas and understanding into a textual expression by this practice of input and output.
Some fragments of the venues - (left to right, top row) Img 1: a page of Claudia Rankine Don't Let Me Be Lonely; Img 2: First reading gathering; Img 3: William Blake's Under Milk Wood; Img 4: Second reading gathering; Img 5: An exhibition at Heyward Gallery Among the Trees; Img 6: A poster on a building near Thames River
The record of my one-day group show 3.10
Playing with the bricks on the floor at home and try to find out a plan to present them in the little show (like a flash) on March 10
A sketch of the plan in presenting the wax bricks.
I tried to pile them like a ladder or a pyramid and see how they work. There are many ways to play with these products but I can't find the most ideal one.
Maybe next time I would make loads of them again and try to combine them like a carpet. I made almost 70 pieces of them and run out 5kg wax , but I don't think it is enough for a proper scale.
Playing with the instant films and eggshells. I cut some bits from the film, they turn to like badges or brooches. I put them in eggshells like kindle chocolate eggs I had had in my childhood, when I open the chocolate eggs there is a small piece of toy inside. That kind of thing could totally make my day.
Shot in studio
Playing with the materials in the studio several days before the one-day group show
A curating plan of the show (Although it was not adopted at the end)
I was planning to arrange those objects like this but I did not have enough time to make a bigger scale photograph like the size in this sketch, and also, it is necessary to fit the condition of the site and other artists' works around mine so I adjusted quite a lot in the final showcase.
The day of our group show (March 10)
Outside the building is the Walk Out Strik action
Inside is the opening of our showcase. I even got a buyer!! The buyer, actually, is a mate from MA Painting. He paid me £5 plus €5 for a single wax brick. That is a very interesting experience!! :D
