NOTES

-Branch out by exploring different materials e.g. disgusting things, high fat content or mouldy materials.
-Explore scale moving forwards
-start working on one big piece or several smaller pieces
-Concentrate of compositional/background elements
-Splice elements of work to create new compositions and new body parts – creating new creatures
-Try to mix up approach for the rest of the project
-Could you paint directly onto the body, hidden layers?

REFLECTION

-I need refine how I am going to convey my theme, what imagery best shows my theme.
-Explore different mediums and different scales, get out of my sketchbook.
-Experiment with collage to create compositions.
-Find artists that I can learn from using the medium I am using.

Mid Project Written Evaluation

At the beginning of this project, I wanted to explore imagery derived from humankind’s capability to find the human form disgusting, and the influence society has had on this. Francis Bacon and Jenny Saville were two artists whose work inspired the initial aesthetic I sought to emulate. Nearing the beginning of the project, I gravitated toward a more personal approach to communicating my theme. This possibly being a result of my own body being my main source material. I used acrylic paint, ink, coloured graphite, charcoal, chalk, and oil pastels to capture form and tone in atmospheric drawings. As the project evolved, I have experimented with flash photography, and mixing the media previously mentioned.

So far, I have created careful analytical drawings and some faster more expressive works, ranging from A6 to A3 in size. My experimentations with colour have aired on the side of too colourful, and through being too vibrant lose the disgusting aesthetic I am aiming for. This was spoken about during my crit. My peers and lecturers advised on working further with scale, this could mean lots of small works as well as larger ones. By working on more smaller pieces, collaging works together to create new forms could have interesting outcomes. Another development could be branching out with the materials used, using disgusting materials like mould and foods or liquids with fat content. I think what was lacking from my work was its shock factor, whatever it is about something disturbing that makes you unable to take your eyes off it. I need to find a means to create uneasiness in the viewer through further experimentation with the medium used, the source materials and the presentation.

The feedback from my lecturers and peers helped me hone my attention on what my next steps in this project are, and what I am working towards (the effect my final piece should have on the viewer). I began this project with the intention of painting. Throughout this course I have pushed myself to explore new and exciting materials and methods, so in my final project I thought it fitting I worked in mediums I am more comfortable with. After my crit I have realised that this comfort should allow for further experimentation rather than holding me back. The feedback I received from lecturers and peers has challenged my approach to this project from a more radical standpoint. I Will take the feedback I received and explore scale, collage, and materials to develop my practice into a disturbing and successful final piece.

Moving on from this crit, I believe I have a better understanding of where I am in this project, my shortcomings, and where I have succeeded. I feel I can take this information into the rest of the project, and create some work I am happy with, and feel excited to present at the end of the project.