Cambridge School of Art degree show 2016 Fine Art catalogue

FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

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BA Fine Art Degree Show 2016 Cambridge School of Art

Cambridge School of Art

BA Fine Art Degree Show 2016 Cambridge School of Art

Contents Foreword

5

Silja Eystberg

28

Aurora-Rose Auty

6

Cathy Faithfull

30

Monica Bilbao

8

Hanna Hallinan

32

Rachel Birkett

10

Mandy Horsefield

34

Kate Blowman

12

Justyna Latoch

36

Emma Boakes

14

Sandra Mann

38

Elise Brown

16

Michalina Paveley

40

Jack Brummitt

18

Agnieszka Rams

42

Katie Burge

20

Helen Sabey

44

Asher-Marie Cater

22

Sophie Townsend

46

Andy Christophi

24

Fraser White

48

Eleanor Louise Dodwell

26

Aknowledgements

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Foreword A commendable engagement with materiality characterises much of the 2016 Fine Art degree show at Cambridge School of Art. While it is impossible to summarise the work of all 23 graduating students, it is interesting to note that the physical object, or the physical production of a 2D image, is evident in the working process of many exhibitors.

Whilst each student has worked through a methodology that creates an identity for their practice, there is also a strong critical context driving an exploration of the new. In the late 1960s Richard Serra used his ‘verb lists’ to help define his working process: to roll, to fold, to cut, to dangle, to twist. This focus on material production resonates with contemporary artists – Anish Kapoor, Thomas Hirschhorn or Sarah Sze to name a few. It should perhaps be noted that Serra related his process back to drawing, as an activity that signifies the presence of an artist through the act of making.

In this context, and perhaps as a means of combating the prevalence of digital technology or the photographic image, one has to read the evolving language of contemporary art, where physical production and an emphasis on process remain at the forefront of cutting-edge practice. These diverse influences have informed the work of this 3rd year cohort.

It has been great to see the development of these students over the course. A high level of commitment as well as risk taking has been increasingly evident as their practices have evolved. I wish them good luck with their future careers.

Benet Spencer Course Leader in BA Fine Art

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Aurora-Rose Auty My current work has been influenced by my interest in the roles of women in society, especially over the last 150 years. I document and celebrate the strength and durability of the female form through various media, including acrylic spray-paints, resins, and natural materials, such as outdoor organic structures. My preferred mediums are photography and print, mainly onto a variety of fabrics – emphasising the tactility of my work. The objective of my recent work is centred around pregnancy; in conceiving, growing and giving birth to life. Through my work, I hope to provoke an emotional reaction from the viewer, as I believe that art should be relatable to all. Art is universally understood and should unite us. As a woman, I believe art is key to raising issues that need to be addressed. I aim to represent the liberation of women in the new age though revealing something that is usually out of sight. Sometimes my work is romantic and whimsy, playing up to societies expectations of femininity, at other times it is graphic, more uncomfortable, and truthful. I enjoy the juxtaposition. rosiemercer@live.co.uk

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Anonymity Digital Photograph

AURORA-ROSE AUTY

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Monica Bilbao I am interested in critically addressing the ‘nature of being’, through the defragmentation of cultural, political and religious symbols, to construct a new meaning and a common ground. The language of geometric abstraction, inherited from Constructivism, allows me to enter a world of possibility, and to explore the relationship between colour, pattern and form. The discipline of painting forms part of the sculpture and installation process, through experimental processes such as collage. The work is informed by a diverse contemporary landscape, in which the evidence of modernity, that of development and technological progress, is reflected upon. zagutxubilbao@yahoo.com www.monicabilbaoartist.com

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Babel Recycled everyday materials: cardboard foam, spray painting and acrylics (1) 356cm x 50cm x 50cm (2) 83cm x 52cm x 8xm

MONICA BILBAO

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Rachel Birkett I have made a series of monochrome portraits of people connected with or from Sierra Leone. The first seven years of my life were spent in that country.

All of the paintings are produced from photographs and include images of my family from the 1950s, an anthropologist who worked in Sierra Leone in the 1970s and 1980s, political figures and a pair of Mormons currently based in Freetown.

The series acts as a narrative, each portrait being a fragment that connects with the others like the pieces of a puzzle to make a whole, informing us about memory, the passage of time and how individual histories intertwine.

The paintings demonstrate how original experience is lost, supplanted by and remembered solely through the photographic images that remain afterwards.

The work also confronts my conflicting feelings about colonialism and my family’s part in it. The conceptual use of the monochrome is to unite the images and to simplify the series. rachelbirkett@gmail.co.uk

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Sierra Leone Portrait Acrylic on canvas 51cm x 34.5cm

RACHEL BIRKETT

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Kate Blowman My work focuses on and is made by process; this conceptual method of making is employed to manipulate the materials I use in the production of the work and to generate a final outcome. This outcome is a result of applying different techniques, which are usually spontaneous and rely on chance. My process is structured around traditional processes and materials and how these are evolved through experimentation and manipulation. Architecture and interior design have been key reference points throughout my degree as I am driven by the challenge of reinventing a solid/static structure into something unrecognisable. As a result I combine both exterior and interior space within my work that has led to the creation of fragmented, angular shapes, which allows for ambiguity and distortion. My aim is to create imagined spaces from recognisable places. kate_blowman@hotmail.com www.saatchiart.com/kateblowman

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Interior: Invented Collage, paint, mixed media 60cm x 42cm

KATE BLOWMAN

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Emma Boakes I work within the field of expanded painting, creating abstract geometric relief pieces, exploring an interdisciplinary practice. I combine shapes in the form of separate constructed elements, bringing the pieces together through installation, to create large assemblages. Following a set of rules, I simplify the work into fundamentals elements of form, line and colour. Using Perspex, wood and paint, my work focuses on the relationships between form, materiality and space.

I use processes of addition and reduction, by manipulating surfaces – layering and removing. My sculptural pieces are created from photographs or sketches of references; drawn from Modernist architecture and design and applying technological, computer-assisted design processes. This allows my work to be thought of as representational, taking something on a transformative journey, from 3D, to 2D and back.

My practice sits in the balance between two contradictory ideas, placed in juxtaposition, in particular order and chaos, aiming to create order from the chaos of modern life. My personal experience of dyslexia means my mind is constantly a cluttered jumble of words and images whilst structure is difficult for me to maintain. This disarray is removed when I create artwork, as I aim to take control of this chaos, creating order and a feeling of calm. emma_boakes@yahoo.co.uk www.emmaboakes.format.com

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Architectonic Knowledge Mixed Media- Perspex, MDF, household paints, stainless steel fixings 185cm x 180cm

EMMA BOAKES

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Elise Brown My work is a reflection upon the fast moving, ever evolving world we live in and how the demands of modern life restrict our ability to look around us and take a wider perspective. We lack connections and relationships that distance us from the society we live in.

I make paintings that capture moments in time, faces that I pass, that otherwise would have been forgotten, the face in a crowded place. By painting these faces I am bringing attention to that moment in time, I am taking time to represent the unknown face, the stranger in a justifiable, caring way. The process of this representation allows us to form some sort of relationship with this nameless person, an opportunity that otherwise wouldn’t occur. My aim is to allow time to be spent, even subconsciously, with those unknown to us. For us to focus on the face of another, even for a few moments, in an attempt to bring human contact back to basics in the busy scenarios of everyday life. eliseyb@talktalk.net

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A Passing Oil on slate 20cm x 30cm

ELISE BROWN

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Jack Brummitt I am a conceptual / installation artist who uses various forms of digital technology, integrated with geometric sculpture. Minimalism is a key inspiration for my work. I hope that by combining new media processes with the physicality of sculpture, the difference between these two will become apparent. Working with a digital image that doesn’t exist in the same way as solid objects, has lead to a consideration of ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ worlds, as represented within these contrasting media. I work with projectors using simple repeated shapes, to force the viewer’s eye to engage with the work as it changes, and where you can lose yourself within an immersive atmosphere. jackbrummittart.tumblr.com

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Virtual Perspective Sculptural and digital installation

JACK BRUMMITT

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Katie Burge My work resides in the virtual world. Processed through computer programs, and a deconstruction of my source footage. The political content of the work informs a conscientious and precise editing process, holding the work to a political framework even once abstracted.

I am interested in the abstract potential of moving image. I like to bend programs, reducing the precision, creating something abstract through something so exact. Discourse (2016), is an exploration of language, delivered in a visual form. By doing this; I want language to be reduced to something that is objective. Manipulating the figurative, removing all layers, leaving only the base; reducing and erasing to a point of building something new. katieburge16@gmail.com

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Discourse Video Still

KATIE BURGE

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Asher-Marie Cater My recent work challenges universal issues around the unspoken ‘Fourth Trimester’, or life after birth – by reinterpreting fabrics and personal objects, which correspond to ‘The Transitional Object’ – an item used to provide psychological comfort, especially in unusual or unique situations for small children.

‘The Fourth Trimester’ (2016) is an ongoing series of works, consisting of mixed media installation artworks. The work takes it’s form using a wide range of media including, jelly, water, balloons, muslin cloth, plaster, metal, paint, dye, salt and scent. It uses a combination of three senses (sight, smell and touch) to allow the viewer to experience the work. The combination of sight, smell and touch draws the viewer to use their limbic system, provoking memory and experience of childhood and their own transitional object. ashermariecater@gmail.com

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The Fourth Trimester Muslin cloth, plaster, metal, paint, dye, salt and scent 200cm x 150cm

ASHER-MARIE CATER

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Andy Christophi I am an artist who works across various disciplines; painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, installations and conceptual art. My current body of work includes a conceptual installation entitled Comfortably Unaware, inspired by my stand as an ethical vegan and anti speciesist.

Influenced by abstract expressionistic, narrative paintings my aim is to create a dialogue between self-reflective processes and spontaneous acts. My main interests lie in issues that affect our lives as thinking, feeling beings; our choices, environment and future. My practice is inspired by anything and everything that moves me, concerns me, and that pushes me into thinking, evaluating and needing to articulate a comment on life.

Painterly concerns are central to my practice, considering a diversity of movement across and within the space of the canvas; this creates an overall atmospheric and shallow spatial depth through which areas of contrasting density, complex layering techniques and openness are allowed to play themselves out. Although posing as one element of the installation, every painting that I execute is also in this way an entity in itself. andychristophi@hotmail.com www.andychristophi.wix.com/fineart

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Untitled Oil on canvas 200cm x 150cm

ANDY CHRISTOPHI

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Eleanor Louise Dodwell Working along the boundaries of ceramics and sculpture, I look at the way in which human beings react to traumatic experiences, focusing on our abilities to cope and heal. My work is autobiographical, however, opens up the possibilities of self-exploration and interpretation from those who witness it.

My work is a reflection of self-discovery, a journey through my own healing.

Having suffered an extremely traumatic experience in the form of losing my older sister in February 2013. I have explored the way in which my mind and body have grieved and ultimately healed by using sculpture as an outlet for transformation.

The act of using my own body to create the fragmented forms within my work is one that embodies the moments of vulnerability and exposure when suffering such a sudden and very public trauma. My work explores this vulnerability, juxtaposing it with the strength-of-mind required to recover, which ultimately results in my experience with the emotions of strength and empowerment. The struggle to regain ones balance and equilibrium is personified by the fragmented forms of my body and the act of piecing myself back together. ellydodwell@yahoo.co.uk

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Stability Ceramic sculpture balanced on wood 50cm x 15cm x 15cm

ELEANOR LOUISE DODWELL

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Silja Eystberg I come from a family of traditional artists, but have come of age in an era of digital art. As a result I draw reference from both these art forms on my artist journey.

Inspired by digital art and programs such as Photoshop I create work using the idea of transparency and layers; but translate these sensibilities onto the physical form that is the canvas, using a mix of traditional mediums such as oil paint together with unconventional man made industrial materials such as plastics. I allow my work to be open to interpretation by the viewer as each piece avoids specific categorisation in terms of its content by concealing the identity of the people I paint. The figures in the paintings are static in their poses; I want to avoid dynamic poses as I am not attempting to demonstrate the body in motion or the qualities of movement. Neither do I want to draw attention to the figure, as I see the figure as just part of the painting, part of the space it inhabits. siljaeystbergArt@outlook.com www.siljaeystbergArt.tumblr.com

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Traditional Photoshop Spray-paint, oil on plastic, mixed media 170cm x 120cm

SILJA EYSTBERG

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Cathy Faithfull My work comes from an interest in materials, organic and man-made. I explore these materials by stretching, shaping and manipulating them both manually and digitally and in so doing become familiar with their properties.

Many of the materials I choose to work with are linear in form and often have a drawing quality about them therefore I see my work as sketches that manifest into sculptures, wall hangings, installations and digital images.

My enquiry is to consider how materials respond to one another and how they perform in my hands, which are my tools, touch being fundamental to creating, and I see space as the medium. I work in a performative style that is associated with process art, which isn’t focused on the end product but is more concerned with the formation of art and the actual doing; a creative journey or process, rather than an end product. My current work is about the displacement of nature and how it sits inside the gallery space. cathyfaithfull@btconnect.com www.cathyfaithfull.com

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Entanglement Hanging installation organic and manmade materials 220cm x 200cm x 180cm

CATHY FAITHFULL

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Hanna Hallinan Predominantly I am interested in distortion, and how it affects the viewing experience. My work is a type of documentary process of my illness, Fibromyalgia. An invisible illness that effects the nervous system and leaves the body in wide spread pain. Whilst creating awareness for invisible illnesses, I want the viewer to really experience my daily struggle. Distorting the work to create the feeling of being medicated and confused reflecting my experience, whilst using base imagery to show elements of my life that a healthy person would not have to go through.

I use digital mark making to distort any representation within the work creating a sense of confusion. Using layering and repetition to create depth and manipulate the way the eye travels around the work. I am interested in how different visual techniques impact and physically engage the viewer, whilst also exposing my own personal experience to them. Allowing others to see through my eyes and experience being in an in-between state, revealing a loss of sense and creating an unsettling instability through my work. hallinan95@live.com

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Pill Box Photographic media 600cm x 240cm

HANNA HALLINAN

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Mandy Horsefield I am a kinetic installation artist that uses older forms of machinery to describe our relationship with technology in the present day, such as clockwork and the automaton. The constant need to rewind a machine doesn’t seem as prominent today as it did in the past, however it is still there; every time we charge our phones or refill our cars there is a underlying reliance on one another to continue this symbiotic relationship. The systems I have constructed using cogs and pulleys recreate this need to rewind and reset. These chaotically ordered systems that need to be manually wound up create a fear of chaos, the fear of what will happen if the system is not reset.

I have found intriguing the line between order and chaos; what if striving to keep order is more chaotic than chaos itself. mandyhorsefield@hotmail.com

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Resistance II Installation Dimensions Variable

MANDY HORSEFIELD

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Justyna Latoch My work considers the concept of space in constant development, the question of different models of collective or social space and the presence of the Other. Exploring the potential of collaborative and communicative power of art based on a belief that art can impart social change. Through performative interventions in public spaces I seek for new ways of experiencing reality by interrupting it with art actions and by relocating contexts. I communicate these concepts through diverse media such as: performance, happenings, video and installation. jlatoch@yahoo.com www.vimeo.com/142491373

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On-Site (2015) Film still

JUSTYNA LATOCH

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Sandra Mann My process begins with an organic form before the painting takes place.

The paint is not applied but ‘placed’ within a controlled space; this normally occurs as a process of application, which may be marbling or printing, or whichever style I choose at that moment. The variations of style and paint are different each time, but always have an element of chance and surprise.

My process uses ‘Post Painterly’ expression and abstraction as a language to convey my ideas. Using the past as inspiration, the colour palette evokes memories of days gone by. I prefer to use the monochrome as a base for my paintings. I also use colour fields and play with sepia-based patinas, fading the image until it is almost unrecognisable, whilst hinting at the original form. dargsan@aol.co.uk

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Redox Series Linen, acrylic, pigment ink and peroxide 114cm x 75cm

SANDRA MANN

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Michalina Paveley My work has fluctuated and evolved throughout the Fine Art course, ranging across many disciplines, however sculpture has continued to play a constant and key role in my practice.

In my final year I have been exploring the formal language of abstract sculpture, informed by an interest in nature and energy. This has led me to produce a series of abstract, organic forms in my current practice. My process is hands-on and tactile, I always feel a need to insert my presence into the work by physically combining and manipulating the pallet of chosen materials. I instigate contact between the materials and allow them to react to each other to form a relationship unique to their collective properties.

Balancing between elements of control and unpredictability – much like life itself – my work aims to simplify our often fast-paced attitudes, inviting the viewer to experience a moment of immersion and peace. mimi.paveley@hotmail.co.uk www.facebook.com/mimi.paveley.artwork

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Organic Relations Mixed media sculptural wall installation 100cm x 100cm

MICHALINA PAVELEY

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Agnieszka Rams Placing emphasis on both formal and conceptual attributes, my work is largely autobiographical. Working between two artistic models, one leaning towards a semiotic reading (looking for messages), and one leaning towards formal experience, relative to embodiment.

My sculptures, installations and photographs are currently concerned with the relationship between psychological and physical space. I believe for a fragment of space to become a place, time is needed. It is crucial for an impersonal set of material and immaterial values, located in a given area to remould itself into a familiar, close, tamed and intimate one.

I’m inspired by the forms, which accompany the body throughout life.

Especially those, which stay in the closest relation with my body, for example: walls, furniture, and bed linen. In constructing the works I use dimensions of my own body, which attempts to show specific ways in which the body shapes and constrains the space. My ability to manipulate the materials, assembling, installing, depriving them of, or adding to them details, which are unnecessary or the contrary, of high significance, defines the limit of the space. When the art object is introduced to a space, the space gets a character of its own. When this character becomes so strongly reinforced in the mind, the space transcends into a ‘Place’. agnieszkarams9@gmail.com

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Non-Place Mixed media installation 121cm x 185cm x 187cm

AGNIESZKA RAMS

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Helen Sabey Representing the un-representable and experiencing the intangible are challenges evident within my coloured light installations and projections.

Light is both the medium and the concept; it is one of the most revealing elements of life and a spectacular sensory experience.

These installations of coloured light take their precedence from the ‘Light and Space Movement’ of James Turrell and Robert Irwin. Here, the experimental use of colour departs from the painted image, as found in Abstract Expressionist painters such as Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman.

The coloured light within my installations offer an experience that challenges our perception. Here there are no objects, nothing is represented and there is minimal perspective. The contemplation of light can be mysterious, disorientating, unsettling, and yet fascinating at the same time. Coloured light functions as a transcendent tool within the environment, offering a potential encounter with the sublime; an opportunity to encounter that which is ‘other’.

It challenges us to consider if anything lies beyond the human, beyond the physical, and evokes the concept of spiritual light; a light that shines in the darkness.

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Colourfield Photograph 50cm x 60cm

HELEN SABEY

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Sophie Jade Townsend “By wisdom a house is built and by understanding it is established. By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.�

Proverbs, chapter 24: verses 3-4 My current work is a culmination of ideas processed over time, asking questions relating to identity, memory and the true meaning of HOME. The narrative of this piece evolves from autobiography and an inward therapeutic experience. The use of materials such as cracked concrete in its raw state and more recently, wood, reflects a personal approach to materiality and its psychological implications. These materials reflect my expanded point of view: the sense of memory inherent in recycled soft wood and in found or reclaimed materials, and the metaphor of unfixed objects relating to the idea of home.

Memory is itself glue, therefore no permanent fixing is required. Working with chisels on the reclaimed wood softens the material even further, and parallels my emotional reaction to welcoming others into the idea of HOME. sophiejadetownsendART@gmail.com www.tumblr.com/blog/sophietownsendthings

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Support: Part One Reclaimed materials 120cm x 76cm 140cm x 79cm

SOPHIE JADE TOWNSEND

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Fraser White My work heavily relies on the language of subversion in order to convey a message, often becoming tongue in cheek; I try to mix the different visual languages of contemporary popular culture with older, more traditional values. I use humour as an important component of my work, as I enjoy the idea of engaging the audience through laughter but underneath having a serious message that may take a little bit longer to reveal itself.

I sometimes stray away from using humour in order to cement my position before I creating a parody. As my work focuses on popular culture, the media’s role becomes more and more apparent. My work tries to question and expose the complex forms of communication the media utilises.

Advertising is a very easily accessible way of showing society a mirror, either showing us values that we have already determined, or how easily they can be manipulated and changed. I think it’s very important to look at the media through a magnifying glass, examining how it can alter perceptions and create stereotypes.

For the final work, I have decided to challenge the subject of alcohol, because within media advertising, it is something that is marketed in both a positive and a negative light. Often associating a glamorous image so as to obscure the negative, chaotic effects that it can have on us. fraserahwhite@hotmail.co.uk

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Cravings Collage 42cm x 60cm

FRASER WHITE

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FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2016

Acknowledgements We would like to thank everyone for helping produce this catalogue and for putting on the degree show. If, inadvertently, we have omitted anyone, we sincerely apologise. Our thanks go to: Thomas Driver, from BA Graphic Design, for kindly dedicating time, expertise and patience to the design and production of this catalogue. Jac Williams first year photography student and the staff from the graphics department for their help in supporting catalogue production.

Anglia Ruskin University and the Cambridge School of Art for providing a stimulating and encouraging environment. Our special gratitude goes to all tutors for inspiring and supporting our study over the three years. To Chris Owen, Head of School and Will Hill, Dept Head of School; John Clarke as Degree Show co-ordinator, as well as Claudia Walls and the marketing and admin team.

A special thank you to all teaching staff associated with our three years at ARU – for helping us achieve the very best: Benet Spencer, Rosy Greaves, David Ryan, Rob Holyhead, Ed Dimsdale, Jamie George, VÊronique Chance, Sergio Fava and Juan Bolivar. To technicians, assistants and support staff across the school, in particular Dan Jagger, Malcolm Evans, Alistair Burgass, Katy McDonald, Chris Payne, Jon Williams, Debbie Lauder and Jo Miller.

3rd Year Fine Art Students Cambridge School of Art

Kindly Printed by

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