ba fine art - degree show 2015 cambridge school of art
contents
Foreword–6
Eve Baldry–8
Lee Blyth–10
Christopher Brown–12
Laura Brown–14
Kateryna Byerdova–16
Leanne Dawson–18
Mehan Fernando–20
Georgina Gerrard–Cook–22
Francesca Goodman–24
Joshua Hall–26
Penelope Harrall–28
Michael Irwin–30
Lucy Loveridge–32
Jacob Lucas–34
Isobel Macniven–36
Lesley Nicholls–38
Chelsey Noto–20
Alice O’shea–42
Ben Patel–44
Mary Pegasiou–46
Sarah Pooley–48
Jodie Prendergast–50
Laura Ramanauskaite–52
Georgie Ross–54
Salley Stenton–56
Rachel Twelftree–58
Man Ding Wan–60
Holly Warrener–62
Ian Wolter–64
Acknowledgments–66
foreword
Welcome to the 2015 BA Fine Art Degree Show at Anglia Ruskin University. As I write the Fine Art studios in Cambridge are being cleaned and decorated prior to the installation of artwork by graduating students. This exhibition is a crucial part of the course, being the culmination of a sustained period of study, with both the assessment and public opening placing great emphasis on the presentation of work. Art education and influences upon art students change decade by decade. One could highlight the rise of social media, the prevalence of digital art, the popularity of pseudo–scientific approaches, or various archival forms of art being shown in the Turner Prize. However, in this year’s show tactile painting and sensual object-based sculpture feature prominently, alongside immersive installation, kinetic art or performance– related video. It is clear that the influences on this exciting group of artists are too varied to categorise, and may be rooted in earlier art forms that have been reappraised, whilst bearing little evidence of fad or fashion. As a group of students this 3rd year have been great to work with. They have been committed to the study of art, whilst pursuing extra–curricular projects to further their experience. Cambridge School of Art will miss their good–humored presence in the studio. We wish them well in their future careers. Benet Spencer Course Leader in BA Fine Art
ba fine art - degree show 2015
eve baldry Dissociate (Detail), (2015) Dimensions variable Installation; mixed media, projector, chair
Through different modes of representation, Eve Baldry explores the photograph as object by taking found family photographs and incorporating them into immersive installation environments. Memory is a key concept of the work; by drawing on images that are relevant to the viewer, particularly those from childhood, the work prompts our own memories even though we have no personal attachment to the subjects portrayed. Decontextualised from the family album aesthetic, the social connotations of these images are brought to the fore and family relationships scrutinised. Her work explores this state of absence and presence, lost and found. Within the installations, Eve displays objects that act as visual metaphors to reinforce the mortality and ephemeral qualities that are captured through these photographic manipulations of ‘reality’. eve.baldry@googlemail.com www.eve-baldry.com
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
lee blyth During his studies Lee has become deeply interested in the way society views gender and their stereotypes. He uses his own body as a material to portray a range of characters: male, female or ambiguous, and to challenge the stereotypical roles presented. He becomes a type of canvas, from which any gender or personality can be shared with the audience. A–Sexual Spectrum shows this in particular, with a kitsch aesthetic that overwhelms the viewer, while exploiting the inequality found between the ‘masculine’ and the ‘feminine’. Leeblyth93@btinternet.com http://l-a-b-art.tumblr.com/
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A–Sexual Spectrum (2015) Various sizes Photographic Installation
ba fine art - degree show 2015
christopher brown Chris’s practice concerns the influence of digital and new media on
Our need is greater than anyone else’s (2015) (film still) Multimedia Installation
contemporary culture and fine art practice, and in particular time and space through the use of still and moving images. Issues addressed include image saturation within a new media landscape. The photograph is a starting point, which is used as a tool for capturing images that can be manipulated in different ways, often feeding into other areas such as time-based video. Generational issues surrounding technology’s global influence are important, and the transience of modern society. The use of still and moving images can be viewed as an extension of painting, as a means of creating visual experiences, which extend into screenings, installations and live audio-visual performances. cmkbrown@outlook.com www.cmkbrown@squarespace.com
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
laura brown An exercise in drawing, thinking through issues and ideas. Visualisation of passing thought. Hand, lines. Repetition of form. Language / information. Producing, reproduction. Human, machine. Abstract, gestural lines and modernist visual language. Transparent aesthetic. Function. Masculine-logical, systematic, geometric. Feminine-fluid, organic, personalised. Materials, organic / industrial. Natural. Veneer. Layers and lines. Boundaries. Predictability / disruption to an established order or pattern. Ephemeral. Composition, ability to change. Translation, transference. Information carried through materials. Illusion, grids / moving beyond what we can see. Motion. Concept of time and memory, physical space, absence. laura.e@btinternet.com
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Untitled (2015) (detail) 308mm x 428 mm Ink drawing on paper, mounted on plywood
ba fine art - degree show 2015
kateryna byerdova Kateryna’s work Summer is a piece of abstract art, which has been inspired
Summer (2015) 14 x 14cm Acrylic on cardboard
by the natural world and the onset of summer. The warm colours used in this piece represent hot sunshine, whilst abstract shapes represent the natural landscape. Kateryna works with a variety of textures and forms taken from nature, transforming them into abstract pieces, in painting as well as photography. kateryna-byerdova@hotmail.co.uk
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
leanne dawson Leanne has deconstructed simple domestic packaging and in doing so these every day items take on new forms, which can be interpreted in a multitude of ways. The viewer is invited to visualise the imaginary fold lines to reconstruct the forms. One realises they are not ambiguous forms but the every day packaging so commonplace in our daily lives. Leanne’s artwork is playful and experimental, diverse and expansive, drawing on real world concerns as her subject matter. Coming from a domestic point of view, Leanne comments on socially-related issues of political, cultural and environmental import. Leedaws@hotmail.co.uk
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Forms of Organisation (2015) Installation Mixed media: card, stitch, print, household paint.
ba fine art - degree show 2015
mehan fernando Collective Reflective Reminiscence (2015) Various sizes Oil on Polished Steel, Lead, Zinc
Mehan’s current work investigates a dialogue between how the work is made and the subject matter portrayed. These are often in stark contrast, with a distinct methodology and context for the work established through the combination of a miniature painting process and the intimacy of the Northern Gothic tradition, with iconography that is violent or disturbing. Mehan is particularly interested in how material, scale and image can function as complementary elements that can be fused or taken apart. They also explore a collaged aesthetic that can be traced back to an artist such as Hannah Hoch, where the components of synthetic images are disruptive. mehanlfernando@gmail.com
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
georgina gerrard-cook Georgina’s work ‘Mother’ is a photographic representation of the form of her own mother. The work highlights one of the most natural changes the body can encounter, in particular the skin. By confronting the viewer with this image, the social ideology of beauty and body image are taken into question. The way that the body can mould itself with the changes that come in our lives is of interest, as is the personal relationship that she has with the sitter. The abstraction of the body reduces the suggestion of human form and leaves you with a close inspection of the scars, with the intention of highlighting the intriguing beauty within. gglc@live.co.uk
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Mother (2015) 119 x 168cm Photograph
ba fine art - degree show 2015
francesca goodman Pictorial Slab, Pictorial Slab Neon and Substance as Surface (2015) (Detail) 122 x 83 x 5cm (x2) Plaster, paint, water, photograph
Francesca is an artist working within the expanded field of painting; she is a conceptual painter exploring interdisciplinary practice. Her interest is paint and its relationship to surface. Two distinct aspects of her work are exhibited, the material and the ethereal. She is exploring the question: How far can a painting be pushed and can it still read as painting? ‘Material matter’: Pictorial slabs are used to explore the notion of painting through structure and a physical process. Ethereal work: ‘Paint as Surface’ and ‘Cave to Cube’ both use new media to explore painting’s possibilities within an expanded practice. The former looks at paint as a fluid surface. The latter echoes a technique of cave painting, exploring the properties of paint and air, whilst posing the question “where is the surface?” fran.goodman1993@gmail.com http://www.francescagoodman.co.uk
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
joshua hall Joshua Hall’s practice combines the processes of analogue photography and oil painting to create a body of work that embodies a resistance to - and a reaction against - the new technologies and virtual formats that have infiltrated the chasm of contemporary art throughout this modern digital age. A renewed attachment to what are considered obsolete processes and traditional crafts (i.e. analogue photography and oil painting) provide the foundation for this discourse. Contemporary architectural motifs that convey a sense of modernity as well as embody a Utopian ideal, provide the imagery and substance for the photography and painting. In an age of relentless technological progression “What does it truly mean to be contemporary?� (What is apparatus? Agamben, G. 2009) an archival attachment to the past offers one intrinsic way we can attempt to comprehend, and dialogue with, the present. Joshall126@gmail.com
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What is the contemporary (2015) (detail) Paintings 42 x 60cm, Photograph 30 x 37cm Photography and painting installation, one photograph and five paintings
ba fine art - degree show 2015
penelope harrall Happy Birthday Sweetie (2015) (film still) Video Installation
Sugar is as addictive as cocaine - David Gillespie Through the medium of video and performance Penelope Harrall explores the issues caused by sugar consumption in society. By creating videos which explore kitsch and excess, she bombards the viewer in an enticing extravaganza of sugar and sex. With the prominence of the female body in her video Penelope also scrutinizes the objectification of the female body in the media. In combining these two issues she creates comical yet disturbing works that expose a potential interplay and exchange between these two positions. penelope-harrall@hotmail.com https://vimeo.com/user27980440
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
michael irwin Michael Irwin’s work engages with issues around the individualisation of social space in contemporary society, whereby we have become increasingly connected to the world through technology, and where the social (independent of technology) is in the demise. Irwin incorporates this ultimately Foucauldian stance (also vividly suggested by Peter Halley’s writings) throughout his practice. Using VHS tape as a visual representation of digital networks moving data from one point to another, connecting and partitioning space simultaneously, his work explores both media and systems. Another mechanism that exists within the work is the use of geometric frames. The heavy implication of the frames signifies the negativity of Foucauldian confinement: suggesting that instead of being connected, the outlined space is overtly alienated and individualised. michaelrwin@outlook.com www.michael-irwin.co.uk
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The Falsification of Interconnectivity Unspecified Size VHS Tape, Timber, Plywood
ba fine art - degree show 2015
lucy loveridge Vicky (2015) 100 x 80cm Oil on Canvas
Lucy Loveridge’s work comprises a visual response to the portrayal of the female body seeking to communicate the idealistic specifications of beauty in popular culture. Through an approach to realism and utilization of the medium of oils, she paints images of the women she surrounds herself with on a daily basis. Painting from photographs (which, unlike the present media environment, have not been altered by Photoshop) that attempt to depict a more honest and truthful representation of women with a hope to re-appropriate the painterly traditions of the female nude. Luc_lue@hotmail.co.uk
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
jacob lucas Through the process of painting with oils on canvas, Jacob Lucas creates vibrant and otherworldly landscapes that appear both playful and expressive. By using collage, water colour and pencil as a starting point for his landscapes, surprising juxtapositions of plants, trees, animals and other structures are pieced together allowing Lucas to construct his own landscape experiences through the process of painting. Lucas also plays with ideas of seduction and paranoia within his landscapes. By using dreams and nostalgic memories, as well as inspiration taken from both traditional and contemporary landscape paintings, his paintings can appear artificial and alien in that features of the natural world are transformed and applied in strange and unfamiliar territories. Artist@jacob-lucas.co.uk www.jacob-lucas.co.uk
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Space inhabitant (2015) 152 x 102cm Oil on Canvas
ba fine art - degree show 2015
isobel macniven Shell (2015) Dimensions variable Brick, cement, plaster
Isobel Macniven’s practice explores the relationships between the constructed everyday, installation and sculpture. Working from a processled investigation using building materials she transforms the original familiar object into an unexpected sculptural object; through this process a trace of the original remains in the new material. This transformation plays on the functionality of the object culminating in a tension between the original function and the reproduced functionless object. The repetition of material process is evident in the prominent physical presence of the objects. This forms an ongoing narrative with the repeated industrial production of the everyday object. Isobel translates our constructed everyday surroundings underpinned by sculptural processes into an aesthetic, and asks the viewer to look at the unnoticeable isobelmacniven@hotmail.co.uk www.imacniven.tumblr.com
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
lesley nicholls Lesley Nicholls practices as a conceptual artist so her work is multimedia and eclectic. She is interested in the ideas behind a work of art, particularly in relation to art theory. She uses film, installation, sound, performance and psychogeography to investigate themes concerning the environment, institutional critique, appropriation, luminal spaces and the interzone while playing with conventions in order to collapse space and time. Lesley is most interested in the period starting in the late 1960s when modernism was being challenged by theories of post-modernism which led to “art in the age of the post-medium condition� and the plethora of art practices that we see today. She sees this as reflecting the fragmentation and fracturing that has occurred in all aspects of our culture and therefore regards discursive theory as an important part of her artistic language.
lesley_nuk@yahoo.co.uk www.lazilydarkchopshop.tumblr.com
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This is not art (2014) 49 x 69cm (4) Digital image
ba fine art - degree show 2015
chelsey noto The Butterfly House (Detail) 2.3 x 2.3 x 3.7m Mixed Media Installation
Chelsey Noto is an installation artist, whose practice derives from the recent hybrid synthesis of ‘art- science’. In this context she combines the discipline of art along side the scientific discipline of Lepidoptery. Within her practice Chelsey uses a variety of media, from ink to actual butterfly specimens, as this allows her to convey her concerns with conservation to an art audience. This includes how, for example, as a nation, we do not fully understand the delicate entity of the Butterfly or appreciate the startling decline in many butterfly populations. The work of naturalist and scientific illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian is also referenced in some of her installations. All butterflies within Chelsey’s work die of natural causes and are not harmed in any way within the process of her work. chelsey.noto@outlook.com www.facebook.com/chelsey.noto.artist
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
alice o’shea Investigating the subject of Incarceration, Alice O’shea uses personal letters from her pen pal currently on Death Row in Florida, USA as the foundation for her work. Daniel Lugo has been on Death Row for 21 years, and in contact with O’shea for the past two. Drawing inspiration from Lugo’s day-to-day experiences she aims to explore and convey the life of a man living with impending death and confinement. O’shea’s pieces aim to confront questions and conflicted emotions when approaching the matter of Death Row. Working in collaboration with Lugo’s correspondence, she has explored many processes including painting, printing and photography in order to experiment with this challenging subject and the responsibility that comes with it. osheaalice@btinternet.com
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Freedom, Liberty, Justice and Equality (2015) 41 x 59cm Photograph
ba fine art - degree show 2015
ben patel Refrain (2015) 100 x 100cm Acrylic mastic, spray paint on canvas
Ben Patel’s work is concerned with the relationship between painting and sculpture and seeks to challenge the apparent dichotomy between the two mediums. The work references Clement Greenberg’s Medium Specificity, which states for a work to be considered successful it must adhere to the specific stylistic properties of its own medium. Through the use of non-traditional materials such as spray paint and acrylic mastic sealant, Ben’s work seeks to challenge this notion by emphasising the object-hood of painting, combining sculptural forms with the painterly surface of the canvas to create a cohesive fusion of the two. benpatel5@hotmail.com
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
mary pegasiou Mary Pegasiou’s sculptures are a response to theories of the male and female gaze. An artwork projects an image through the eyes of its creator; for example, a painting of a female nude by a heterosexual male artist creates an involuntary observation by the viewer from his perspective. Mary’s work aims to deconstruct this idea of ‘the gaze’ and divert the attention of the audience through distraction. The sculptures allude to an abundance of sexualised male and female body parts attached to household objects. The work uses humour, eccentricity and familiarity to challenge the theory and distract the onlooker from the gaze itself. m_pegasiou92@hotmail.co.uk
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His and Hers (2015) Dimensions variable Stuffed Tights, Stools
ba fine art - degree show 2015
sarah pooley Finale (2015) 101 x 152cm Oil on canvas
Sarah Pooley’s paintings can be seen as a study of artificial simulations through the exploration of social spaces and their use of industrialised technology. The creation of consumerist social space deliberately aims to manipulate experience through the use of architecture, elaborate interior design and artificial lighting to affect visitors. Technology is increasingly present within these social spaces. Sarah’s work depicts this as a type of simulation of both experience and socialisation. The compositional elements within the paintings consist of geometric abstraction examined through perspectival and spatial illusion, amplifying the artificial colour harmonies in order to describe this experience of hyper-real environments within the space of the canvas. Sarahpooley30@btinternet.com www.sarahpooley.co.uk
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
jodie prendergast Throughout second and third year Jodie focused on the idea of travel and how it relates to time, memory, and commotion. The decision to pursue this idea stemmed from feeling homesick after moving to Cambridge from Caerphilly, South Wales. Through the use of film and photography Jodie has captured moments in time that create a sense of nostalgia that everyone can relate to at some point in their lives. Creating her own Polaroid frames Jodie captures key points of her journey to and from University and through the use of film takes the audience along with her. This year’s work specifically focuses around the chaos and the sentimentality of travel. jodie.prendergast@outlook.com
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Moments in Time (2015) and Time Warp (2015) Dimensions variable Photography, Film, Plywood and Perspex
ba fine art - degree show 2015
laura ramanauskaite State of ‘21:32’ (2015) 180 x 150cm Oil on linen
Translating digital pornographic imagery into painterly techniques, Laura Ramanauskaite’s paintings aim to explore the nature of human sexual desire. Considering pictorial space, colour relationships and form, the paintings investigate the sexualised body through the language of abstract painting. Her works create a heightened viewing experience; the sexually explicit content invites the spectator to be immersed in the seductive flux of fragmentation. The paintings transform pornography into aesthetic sensation with striking colours and ambiguous collage. The oscillation between concealment and revelation is the key for this celebratory approach to sex. Aiming to arouse and seduce the psyche, and make otherwise sanitised and desexualised desires come to one’s awareness. lauraramanauskaite123@gmail.com www.lauraramanauskaite.co.uk
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
georgie ross Georgie Ross creates minimal and seductive sculptural compositions. Objects reminiscent of the home or retail display are inserted into a transformative process of abstraction, in which they become vessels for combinations of richly textured fabrics and materials. Georgie combines a concoction of vibrant and pastel tones, inherent to the selected materials and display modes. The intuitive merging of object with material gives rise to an alluring form of display, while an underlying tension, among the often tightly retained compositions, disrupts the work’s professed poise. Georgie’s practice seeks to address, and in some way obscure, the historic boundaries that exist between the gallery exhibition and the department store display, while challenging our expectations of a contemporary fine art exhibit. georgie.ross@ntlworld.com georgierossartist.tumblr.com
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Chrome Series (2015) (detail) 17 x 51 x 16cm (x 3) Chrome, foam, felt, suede, mesh
ba fine art - degree show 2015
sally stenton Tide (2015) 60 x 38cm Photograph (detail of an installation on Hunstanton beach)
Beneath the work lies an uneasy relationship with digital technology – a constant pulling away from, and returning to, the comfort and convenience of the screen. It is like an ongoing navigation between two spaces; sometimes they appear to coalesce into moments of stillness, and then they separate again into their different realities of time, identity and gesture. The illusory potential is played with and ultimately revealed. Digital photography and video jostle with physical materials and processes, so that the work itself can take a variety of forms including that of moving image, sculpture and site-specific installation. sally@stenton.me.uk www.sallystenton.com
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
rachel twelftree Rachel’s work studies the little known relationship between artist and astronomer. Astronomers work with artists to help create the scientific digital images we see today. Rachel has used findings from NASA and the Cambridge Institute of Astronomy as a base for her art work she has stripped back the digital age and looked back at the historic approach of hand drawing each image. She has chosen to draw in an obsessive way in which she draws in tiny black dots. These back dots signify the particles that are found in the universe. Each signal hand drawn dot makes up the images and each scientific particle makes up the universe. rachel.twelftree@yahoo.com www.facebook.com/racheltwelftreeartist
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Cosmos series; Artists interpretation (2015) 12 x 12cm 0.05, 0.1,0.3, fine line pigment pen on 12 x 12 paper
ba fine art - degree show 2015
man ding wan Tidal (Blue) (2015) 150 x 300cm Oil, alcohol and spirit on canvas
Drawing from inspiration from western and eastern abstraction, as well as philosophical texts, Man Ding Wan investigates mark making as a mediation of his own abstract sensibilities. Wan’s work rely on a continuous and repetitive process of creating layers of small marks collectively onto one surface. Repetition and action have always been important and central to Wan’s practice as well as having a restricted set of rules applied to its process. The density of the images alludes to the excess of which it’s made that in return resonates a particular condition upon it is viewed, to each it’s own sublime and reflection of the modern condition of art and painting. jonathanmdwan@gmail.com http://www.jmdwan.com/
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ba fine art - degree show 2015
holly warrener Holly Warrener explores the aesthetic qualities of materials when used in a sculptural form. For the Major Project she explored the issues that can be associated with a sculpture when displayed, and how the method of display can change the viewer’s interpretation of the work. Her piece consists of a three-part, self-supporting structure that is created through casting plaster in bubble wrap. Through casting the plaster the work takes on an impression of what was around it, permanently making the material immortal in a sculptural manner. The reproduction is fake, but through display can appear to have value. The piece becomes a fossil of the moment it was created. hollywarrener.hw@gmail.com hwarrenerartist.wix.com/hollywarrener
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The Coming Archaic (2015) 178 x 127cm (x 3) Cast plaster and bubble wrap
ba fine art - degree show 2015
ian wolter Spin (2015) 60 x 60 x 70cm Steel, Polystyrene
Ian Wolter makes interactive, political works of art in such diverse media as polystyrene and engine oil, video and the human voice. His repeating motif is a focus on the human, often represented by the bust, and viewers are often presented with kinetic works that they are expected to operate themselves. Inspired by Renato Bertelli’s 1933 ‘continuous profile’ portrait of Mussolini, the Spin series considers the rise of the extreme right across Europe. Grossly oversized busts of Marine le Pen and Geert Wilders are built into industrial scale spinning tops. As the viewer plays with these grotesque toys, their spinning profiles create contemporary, continuous profile, political portraits. ian@wolter.co www.ianwolter.com
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acknowledgements
We would like to thank many people. Without a collective effort, it would not have been possible to produce this catalogue, or realize the whole degree show. We sincerely apologise if we have inadvertently omitted anyone below: Graphic Designer Elliot Walker who kindly invested his time and expertise in the production of this catalogue. Photographer Bronwen Prosner and her assistant, James Foard who together captured the images to a high and professional standard. Francesca Goodman, Leanne Dawson and Ian Wolter for giving so much of their time to organise the design and production of the catalogue. We have been encouraged, inspired and supported, during our three years at Cambridge School of Art, by our tutors. Our thanks to Benet Spencer who is also the course leader, as well as David Ryan, Rosy Greaves and Rob Holyhead, Sergio Fava and Veronique Chance and artists Tom Dale, Jamie George and others. Thanks also to Chris Owen, Head of Cambridge School of Art and technicians and assistants across the school including Malcolm Evans, Alistair Burgass, Chris Payne, John Williams, and Dan Jagger, including the CSA administrators Cassie Lynch and Claudia Walls. We would also like to thank Debbie Lauder and Jo Miller who have enriched our studio practice throughout this year. Our thanks and warm wishes to everyone else who may not be mentioned but played an important role in our time at the Cambridge School of Art.
ba fine art - degree show 2015
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