Hannah cook journal

Finding Abstraction in Everyday Life

Ba (Hons) Top-up Photography ADPH 31 Research, Experimentation and Development Hannah Cook

Introduction/starting point After completing my last project, I defiantly discovered that abstraction is the route for me. I have always enjoyed other disciplines of art, and I found there was a lot of cross over between fine art and photography to be had with abstraction. This reinvented photography for me and made it vibrant again when I began to feel that the discipline wasn’t for me. Abstraction has led me to enjoying and being proud of my work again.

Although I understand that this project is about exploring something new, I still feel there is a lot to be learnt when it comes to abstraction. As of yet I have only really explored one technique which evolved slow shutter speeds and movement which produced images inspired by and reminiscent of Rothko.

I feel the body of work pointed me in the correct direction, but with only one style and one technique under my belt I realise how much room there is for development and exploration. I want my photography to be solely abstract; I feel it is a contemporary and unique way to use a camera. I want to move away from the technique I have already learnt and try something which could be seen as more basic, but I feel it can sometimes be quite a challenge to discover beautiful interesting frames within everyday life, in ignored places and standard objects we tend to ignore.

I have found the genre to be a relative niche, not only within the course, but also I know of a handful of photographers who practice this way. I also aspire to have a career in relation to interior design, so it is another reason for sticking to this quite atmospherical and abstract look.

Hannah Cook

Finding abstraction in everyday life Moving away from abstracting a constructed scene, I want to look at finding small areas of abstraction in everyday life, things and places that normally go unnoticed. I feel I have a natural eye at picking out small areas of interest in the world around us, I have always preferred looking at a rusty pole than a glorious landscape. I like the way that an area can be abstracted by taking it out of context by just showing small areas of interest, still recognisable, but could also be compared to other known things with the possibility of it being not what you think it is on first glance.

Potential areas to home in on could be decay, which I will use as a starting point. I have always enjoyed the gritty, worn down look which has become popular in recent years with the ‘shabby chic’ trends at its height. This is also readily available to me, yet I feel when seen in the everyday landscape it is greatly under-appreciated and should be showcased.

Another reason I am drawn to this idea of decay is I am a very tactile person and I really love textural items, I feel that a piece of rust can sometimes look like a very textured and intricate oil painting and this is also something I could like to exaggerate in my images.

Initial ideas on what to look out for Rust Crumbling wood Graffiti Fading paint and colours Driftwood Stains The bluey-green colour that metal turns Dripping paint Natural growth on man made

Hannah Cook

Aaron Siskind and his relation to my own practises Aaron Siskind is an American photographer mostly known for his work in the abstract expressionist movement in New York (post WWII). His focus is on the details of nature and architecture in a similar way to what I plan to create. He creates flat images solely of the details that he has discovered and claims that they stand independent from the original subject, which is what I described previously as a way of removing the detail from its context and showcasing something new and perhaps unseen. “When I make a

photograph I want it to be an altogether new object, complete and selfcontained, whose basic condition is order (unlike the world of events and actions whose permanent condition is change and disorder)” This quote I feel is really relevant to me as I really want to showcase the beauty of ‘ugly’ things and ignore the fact it might be in a pile of rubbish or somewhere unpleasant and remove it from such an environment and just focus on the elements I feel to be beautiful and intriguing, giving it new life and identity.

“First and emphatically, I accept the flat picture surface as the primary frame of reference of the picture. The experience itself may be described as one of total absorption in the object.

But the object serves only a personal need and the

Hannah Cook

requirements of the picture. Thus rocks are sculptured forms; a section of common decorated ironwork, springing rhythmic shapes; fragments of paper sticking to a wall, a conversation piece. And these forms, totems, masks, figures, shapes, images must finally take their place in the tonal field of the picture and strictly conform to their space environment. The object has entered the picture in a sense it has been photographed directly. But it is often unrecognizable for it has been removed from the original context, disassociated from its customary neighbours and forced into new relationships.�

I can very much relate to the notion that Siskind is talking about, when I look at an image, I look at its formal and aesthetic qualities and the social and historical context come secondary. For me, I feel that if I want to learn about a social or historical idea, I will read about it, and I don’t look to images for this knowledge, I look to images for colour, form, its appearance and the way it makes me feel about these qualities. This is just what makes sense to me.

These quotes have given me a bit more direction and understanding when it comes to decontextualizing an image. I find it refreshing than an image doesn’t have all the pressure of holding and conveying an idea, other than that of a visual idea for your eyes and subconscious. I feel that looking at an image and analysing its theoretical context and meaning should be done separately to its aesthetic qualities. Too often I have found an image that has a strong theoretical concept, yet it lacks any awe when you look at it. To me, this seems ridiculous, if you are going to practice in a visual medium then aesthetics must come first, and concept second.

For the reason mentioned above, I will be focusing on the visual qualities of the images I make, and not get overly hung up on deep meanings, I want the images to convey colour, form, line and structure.

Hannah Cook

My experiences of exhibiting ‘Transcendent’ at The Trerise Gallery 5th-11th October We heard from Rita that there was an opening at the Trerise gallery where we had previously exhibited in March. Having sold work both at Trerise and the summer show, I had the confidence to invest in a week of exhibiting multiple pieces, both with the hope of selling and just showing off the work that I am most proud of. Rebecca Brown and Tony Fitzsimmons had shown an interest in exhibiting also, and due to the three room layout, having three of us to share the cost was the perfect opportunity to make the most of the stunning coastal space.

In July we contacted gallery manager, Paula, and began to plan our exhibition scheduled for October. The space cost £150 for 6 days for the three of us, which I feel is very affordable. We found it difficult to name the exhibition as the three of us have such diverse styles, Tony with travel, landscape and animals, Rebecca with environmental landscapes, and my own style of abstract expressionist photographs. We decided on the name of Transcendent, meaning ‘beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience, or surpassing the ordinary’ which we feel is applicable to all our work. Mine in the way it is emotive and can extract different feelings from different viewers and the way that it is quite ethereal. Rebecca’s in a way that it describes the effect of man on the landscape and the extraordinary power nature has over the land.

In Tony’s work it represents an other-worldly account of places he has visited.

Unfortunately, due to us being in Jersey, Plymouth and London separately, planning reached a lull period. Because of this, during this time we just worked individually on what work we wanted to display and thought on pricing and layout.

Once we arrived back in Plymouth in September, most of the organisation took place. Press releases went out through Leanne Daw and the SU, which we wrote together about our own work, our backgrounds and our experiences at the art college. Rebecca created the posters that were posted around college, the university and the city centre. Rebecca also emailed several companies and associates of the college notifying them of the exhibition and the private view which we have planned to be on Tuesday 8th October 7-9pm.

The next stage was selecting the work that we wanted to display. I chose work from my final major project which is based on how abstract expressionism painting of the 20th century can be translated through the medium of

Hannah Cook

photography. The work is made from fabric and movements of the camera on a slow shutter speed which create unique tones and patterns that represent the changing moods of the seasons. I got my images printed on pearl through Creations at the college, which came to just short of £40 for 9 images. My frames were only from the Range as I needed to keep my costs down, which cost me £62 in total. Over the summer I also ordered an acrylic print from Picanova via Groupon for £27 which I am really impressed with, the quality is excellent and I think this style of display really suits my work as it is so contemporary. Had I had the chance, I would have liked to display all my work in this way. In preparation I also updated my website and business cards to suit my new style of work.

One of our main issues with putting the exhibition on was that it clashed with out timetable so we had to find stewards for the days we were in college.

We approached the first and second years and were quite disappointed by the response, as only 3 people volunteered to help us out. This may be an issue for us as we have to keep the gallery open at these times, but equally do not want to fall behind with graded work.

On Friday 4th, Pracis, the previous exhibition at the Trerise was due to be taken down so I met with Paula to collect the keys and find out procedures for selling, opening and closing. If work sells, Trerise ask for 30% commission, which I have factored into my costs. I have chosen to price my work at:

£20 for 12 x 16, £5.50 spent, £6.60 commission, leaving me £7.90 profit a piece. £60 for 67 x 47cm, £17 spent, £20 commission, leaving me £23 profit a piece. £110 doe the acrylic print, £30 spent, £33 commission, leaving me £47 profit.

I am aware that my prices are quite low however I really want to temp buyers with a low price in an attempt to shift the prints and allow me more opportunities in the future.

I have chosen to print my works relatively large as I think they work well in this format and the abstract nature of the photographs allow them to be enlarged quite easily. The smaller ones act as more of a filler in the spaces that I cannot fit a larger one, I also think it makes the space look quite dynamic.

Hannah Cook

My room in Transcendent

Hannah Cook

Tonys Room in Transcendent

Hannah Cook

Rebeccas room in Transcendent

Private View – 8th October 2013 We had planned the private view to be on Tuesday 8th as it allowed us a few days of having the gallery and getting a good feel of the place before we were ready to show it off to our nearest and dearest, as well as some important people. In regards to drinks we all clubbed together and purchased 12 bottles of wine, some juice and I made some flapjacks which went down well. Although the turnout wasn’t as great as we had hoped, the night was steady and there were always people around to give a great atmosphere. I received some lovely

Hannah Cook

compliments from not only my own friends, but also tutors and people I had never met before. Martina Rooney commented on my progress in the past year and was really impressed at seeing how far I had come which was a great confidence boost and made all the stresses and frustrations of not only the exhibition, but also the past 2 years seem worthwhile. Other notable guests included Tim Gundry, our programme leader who seemed really impressed with what we had done. Also Martina Rooney and Teressa Grey who are our contextual tutors, who bought photographer Robyn Woolston to the private view which we were most grateful for. We discussed many things with Robyn and it was a really valuable experience to speak with a practicing photographer about our work, it’s usually the other way around so it was a special experience.

Another notable guest was Norman Holmes from the Kaya Gallery on the Barbican, who already represents Tony in his gallery so we had already met, but it was great talking to him surrounded by our own work and gave us a great confidence to hear compliments from someone who see’s art every day and still valued seeing our work.

Feedback and comments on my work    

Unique and don’t look like photos.

Amazed that it was just fabric and a camera.

Bright, colourful and uplifting.

Acrylic print looks really professional.



‘The one with the red stripe is the one I could tolerate the most on my wall, but it doesn’t mean I would by any means be happy with it there.’

(Not realising I was the artist)

Feedback and comments on the exhibition as a whole     

Great space and that we made the most of the layout.

Although our work is very different, it all works together and there is a flow throughout.

Really well executed.

Something for everyone.

Makes people want to go out with their camera and take their own



photos, even if they are only snapshots Great to see students taking the initiative and getting their work out there.

Hannah Cook

Guest Book

Total Hours In Preparation: 15 and a half hours At Gallery: sat-fri 57 and a half hours Work sold:

ÂŁ100 framed

Hannah Cook

First Shoot For the first week of the project I was quite tied to the area around the Trerise Gallery on the Hoe whilst I found a few minutes here and there. Thankfully due to the tide, many areas around the Hoe have a lot of erosion and decay, and there were also lots of fading and slightly shabby signage for me to photograph.

Just out of ease I only used my Canon 500D with a 18-55mm lens as it was all I had available to me at the time, however I plan to expand and experiment in other cameras and lenses over the course of the project.

These two images are close up of an arrow spray painted onto a wooden sign.

In the way that it is quite horizontal and structured, it is quite reminiscent of my last project which I quite like. Although this kind of image and composition is right up my alley, in this project I want to get away from the Rothko style I

Hannah Cook

picked up during the end of last year and develop a more textural style. However I do enjoy the simplicity of these images and find it very aesthetically pleasing. I find the bright orange colour very refreshing when you consider its bleak location; however I feel that this element becomes lost as I am trying to take it out of its context. As an image alone I find it is great on appearance alone, is this enough? Or should I be conveying more than just beauty? I don’t know yet, however I hope with more research and exploration this will become clearer to me.

Although I feel that the composition of the image below is more dynamic, I feel that the portrait image on the previous page to be much more aesthetically pleasing because it is simpler. I feel that this is more due to personal taste and my liking of straight up and down composition though. During the critique this was one of the most talked about images because of its vibrancy and boldness, with comparisons drawn to the work of Ciro Totku’s work.

Figure 1 Ciro Totku

Hannah Cook

Perhaps comparisons were made between our work purely because of the bright colour orange on a wooden surface, however I feel it is also the way that Totku transforms banal objects into an abstract composition drawing on colour and texture in the same way I hope to. He tends to use similar striped compositions like I usually do as well. I Figure 2 Totku feel that if the colours were not as bold then the work would have far less merit, but once again this could just be personal opinion.

This image has more of an industrial feel to it than the others, which I am undecided if it is the direction I plan to do in, although it displays the decay through the chipped paint and the rust on the bolts, to me it expresses more on the topic of industrialisation and harsh man-made items than the beauty of decay and weathering. I also feel that this is one of the weaker images as it doesn’t contain the rich textures and colours I am so drawn to that can be seen in the other images. Perhaps I need to use a macro lens and revisit the chipping paint and pull more of those textures out, or with a macro lens focus more on just one bolt and its orange hues and the textures found within these instead.

With all these elements combined I feel that it detracts from the aesthetic I am

Hannah Cook

aiming for, I intend to revisit this and define more my areas of specific interests.

With all of the elements found in this image combined I feel that it doesn’t take the subject matter out of context as well as some of my own images or indeed Siskind’s own work. Although still abstract, it still looks too much like an abstract scene and not enough like an abstract fragment.

What strikes me most about this image are the flaky textures and how I want to touch it. I like how delicate the textures are contrasted with how industrial and sturdy the structure is. I didn’t want to get in any closer as I felt it would be too similar to the other photos I took of rust, yet I feel the object is still recognisable and doesn’t stand alone from its original source which is what I was aiming for.

However the richness of the colours I find very attractive and summarise everything I enjoy about these hidden fragments of beauty. I think the image also describes decay quite well with the varying colours and the blue tones of the rust.

Hannah Cook

Besides the orange stripes, this is one of the brightest in colour, however lacks the amount of rich texture seen in some of the others. But sometimes simplicity can be the focal point of an image as I learnt in my project last year. As you may have noticed from my previous project, I quite like vertical and horizontal stripes, possibly because I like logical simplicity, or it could be because of my love for Rothko’s work. But it’s these types of compositions that drew me to this fragment. Although the composition is simple and logical to me, interest is added by the stripe of colour being broken up with the cracks and imperfections. It is only slightly removed from what I was producing before; I still feel it is not of the same standard to it and not as enjoyable. I need to find a way of manipulating this idea to be as successful and enjoyable as my last project. Although it enhances the blue colour, I would have preferred the grey of the concrete to be highly saturated in another colour to create a bolder and more striking image.

Hannah Cook

This image contains more of the textures that I was enjoying so much in other images however the saturation is not strong as other images, for me these experiments need to combine the rich textures and bold colours and this image only ticks one of those boxes. I have found that the textural qualities become lost when the colours aren’t as strong. Perhaps it is just a matter of personal taste and that I am attracted to bright colours with alluring qualities and these less saturated grey tones have no appeal to me, however in other forms of photography these washed out colours are all the rage, like the ‘Taylor Wessing’ aesthetic. I just don’t think it suits my style and tastes, especially in this project where I only want to showcase the colour and texture independent from its source.

Figure 3 The Taylor Wessing style

Hannah Cook

I feel this is one of the strongest images from the set as it ticks the colour and texture boxes that I mentioned before, however also incorporate an interesting use of focus and composition. I find it amazing how one man-made object can create such diverse colours through a natural process, you usually only see this type of diversity in entirely natural circumstances so this amalgamation of natural and man-made really interests me. I don’t want the project to be solely on nature reclaiming as I feel it has been done too many times before, even if not in this style. Perhaps this odd diversity of colour is something I should pursue, the relationships between 2 different colours.

Hannah Cook

This image is quite similar to the previous in terms of colours, yet I do not feel I captured them as well as before. In the previous shot the blue is more prominent from where I got in closer and showcased them through the use of depth of field, where here the image is quite flat and includes too much that the small details and colours become lost and all mixed up. However I do like the half and half type of composition, but it doesn’t work as well with this subject matter. The image is quite draining and doesn’t have the vibrancy and interest like the others, no matter how much I like the composition. I am really enjoying these images that juxtapose blue and orange though, I can think of no other form of nature that can combine these two colours and perhaps this is why I find it so exciting.

Hannah Cook

I feel that this image is the most removed from its original subject in that it is not overly obvious what it is and can be comparable to other things, lava has been suggested to me. Although the relationship between the colours are not as intriguing and diverse as seen in the images of rust with blue, I feel there is a more closer set of tones which is still bold, but more soothing than excitable.

The textures and patterns are organic and spontaneous which is one of the reasons I am so drawn to images such as these.

Hannah Cook

This image follows a similar composition as I have previously spoken about with the strong vertical lines, however here they are not as clean cut and show the raw, rustic look that I am also very fond of. These are also the kind of colours that I love to see, they are rich and both display tones seen in nature and in industrial structures, which encapsulates the look I am going for. However this point makes me wonder if I really am removing the image from its context if I am using colours and shapes that can easily be representable as rust and metal, if I were to find more unusual looks, then would it be harder to identify, therefore making it more abstracted? I think the same applies to the narrow depth of field used, it allows you to understand shape and form, and I want the eye to not understand these things and pull it more from its context making it harder to recognise.

Hannah Cook

I feel that this image is probably the most comparable to Siskinds work, with the natural surface (rock) with man-made material haphazardly covering it.

Although I took this image to emulate his work, I am not as happy with it as I am with the others. Perhaps this is because of the way I am drawn to rich colours and textures, and this image does not contain those elements. And although it does tick the boxes of what I was looking to photograph, I do not feel it to be anywhere near as strong. Yet, peers seemed to be fonder of this one than I had imagined, maybe they just don’t appreciate rust in the same way that I do! But saying that, it shouldn’t be a matter of liking or disliking the subject matter as I am aiming to remove it from its subject matter and letting it stand alone. On reflection, I think that this is where this image succeeds, it is removed from its context because it isn’t as easily recognisable as the rust, yet lacks the interest that rust does. I need to find a balance of removing it from its context and colour/texture/detail interest..

Hannah Cook

I feel that this is a kind of midpoint (regarding the dilemma mentioned on the previous page), it contains the texture in the rock and black stripe, and the colour (which is enhanced by being cut through with the black stripe) yet is quite removed from the original subject matter, maybe because it contains a rock, plaster, paint and graffiti that this mixture of elements confuse the image (in a good way). I have once again fallen back on the stripes. . . I understand that this project is about experimenting something new, but stripes are something I refuse to leave behind!!

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

Peter Fraser- Material 2002 Peter Fraser is a contemporary photographer who has played a key role in colour photography, alongside Martin Parr and Paul Graham. His work features his obsessive approach to the ‘stuff of the world and all the matter and materials that make up the universe and everyday life. After discovering this I was instantly drawn in and considered how his work relates to me, I want to showcase and appreciate all the little things in the world with its own unique beauty that can be ignored in our everyday lives where we tend to focus on the beauty of people and shiny, highly consumed objects.

His photographs are all still and non-constructed scenes of enigmatic objects he finds and wants to show the beauty and strangeness that these objects possess. I am particularly concerned with his 2002 series called ‘Material’ which is a study of industrial and man-made surface material. A regular theme of his work tends to be observations of all the ‘matter’ in the universe that makes up the world we know. He comments: “everything in the universe is made up of

small things, so small things are critical to why and how the universe actually exists. I think small things are the key. They’re the absolute key to everything.”

Which I think is a very valid and important way of looking at things, many of us seem to only consider the bigger picture and we consider final outcomes to be critical, but often forget without all the small elements, nothing is possible. I also agree that every small fragment has its own identity and qualities and it is important we consider these as well as the bigger picture.

Hannah Cook

“In around 1998, I was sitting in my studio in London on a brilliant sunny day, looking at the top of my shiny black coffee table which I had cleaned a week or so before, and couldn’t believe how covered in dust it had become in such a short time. I began to think about dust and dirt and material we try to keep at a distance in everyday life.

This became a new obsession, photographing the ‘stuff’ of my world that suddenly seemed very important. This then became the proposition of ‘Material’, that all matter ‘everywhere‘ is equal in status because of its equal improbability and beauty.”

This quote really interests me because during this project I have also suddenly started noticing these things and began to really start appreciating them. I am also trying to achieve this equal status for all of this ignored material that in, albeit small ways makes up everything we know and see. The following quote on the series also reconfirms this.

“Everything in the universe is made up of small things, so small things are critical to why and how the universe actually exists. I think small things are the key. They’re the absolute key to everything.”

I really respect Fraser’s use of colour; however feel that his work does lack the vibrancy and intensity of colour that I crave in my own work. However these tones fit the overall aesthetic of the rest of his work, so I assume this is just a matter of taste or the film he uses. I also feel that form has become more important than texture in his images, whereas I am trying to remove the form and focus on the surface area and texture to make the object more detailed and ambiguous.

Hannah Cook

Chloe Sells ‘Senescence’ Exhibition Review – Michael Hoppen Gallery Chloe Sells is an American who lives and works between London and Botswana, but has lived in 4 continents in recent years, this unusual lifestyle has led to much of her work being concentrated on culture and how each place is defined. The arrangements are based on the European tradition of still life in painting, and started integrating photography into her artwork in 1993. Her focus is not solely on the act of taking the image, but possibly more so with the post production which is done entirely in the darkroom.

The unusual look comes from her intense experimentation with C-Types in the darkroom. She intricately looks at texture and the layering of detail upon detail with colours and patterns, with each image accounting for many negatives.

Each outcome is entirely unique due to this labour intensive process.

Linked to collage, within the process itself but also the arrangements and framing of the work, the prints are often cut into irregular shapes and then framed; this could be viewed as a collage within the frame in its own sense.

The layers within the work make them interesting for the viewer to explore and discover a new element each time.

I really enjoy the contemporary graphical look of her work, which really amazes me is not done digitally and I think her work is a really asset for 21st century darkroom processes, as it is something that I thought I didn’t really have any

Hannah Cook

interest in, but after seeing this I can see how the darkroom can make a revival from the last century and reinvent itself as a contemporary art form.

Having never been to the Michael Hoppen gallery before and also having never seen Sells work. I was going in with an open mind. The first thing that struck me was the bright intense colours, I did instantly feel out of place though, with the gallery office in the main reception room where the exhibition was taking place with multiple staff pottering around and talking amongst themselves. I feel that the exhibition space should be separate from this kind of work environment, but perhaps this is just personal preference.

The works are printed relatively large, perhaps A0 in size and framed. I agree that the work works best on a big scale as it gives you more of an opportunity to look closely at all the small intricate details included in the image, and also because of their graphical poster like quality that just wouldn’t have as much emphasis on shape and colour if on a smaller scale. However I do disagree with the use of frames, the work is so innovative and vary in shape, no necessarily complying to rectangles, and the work would look much more contemporary and with the ‘unfinished’ aesthetic. I very much enjoyed being introduced to this artist, however I do not feel the space overly inspiring or with the correct atmosphere.

Hannah Cook

Ciro Totku Having previously mentioned his work earlier on, I am noticing more and more similarities between mine and his work. Ciro Totku is a Russian abstract photographer living in Cambodia. Much of his work is very minimalistic and focuses on similar subject matter to me, he says: "The dirtiest places are the most inspiring� which I feel is really very relevant to my own work as I really dislike polished, new looking objects and would much rather direct my attention to decaying, dirty surfaces.

He photographs these kinds of scenes for a similar reason to me, to preserve what is there and appreciate it whilst it still can be appreciated, "All subjects of images will

rapidly disappear with time and will never be decrypted. All multicolour walls will be repainted soon." This constant cycle will eventually wipe out styles of the past that will be forgotten, and this is why it is important to capture it now.

Using tightly framed shots to tell larger stories, Totku’s main focus seems to be colour and texture. In the photo above he features only a tiny fragment of colour which is a refreshing change in comparison to his usually quite bright, verging on garish compositions. I find his work a nice balance, it can still be recognised as a photograph, but it also lends itself very well to fine art abstraction.

Hannah Cook

Images from Saltash boats I visited Saltash as I need to look at things with fresh eyes in order to notice these details, and thankfully I discovered all of the old decrepit boats on the shore, which are perfect as they offer an array of colours, with rustic textures and patterns in a context that could not be as easily guessed as a rusty pole like in my last set of images. I feel I achieved an abundance of varied, vibrant and intriguing shots from this shoot and am very pleased with the outcome.

I really like this image, which is also reminiscent of Siskinds work; perhaps I think this because of its lack of colour or the scrubby, dirty texture. Although I usually prefer the images with much more and brighter colours, however I still really like this one. Although the bolt does slightly put it in context, I like it being there with the colour radiating out of it with cracks coming from out of it and through the composition. I like its simplicity; so far I feel I have been focusing too much on finding complex colour combinations and flaky textures and ignoring opportunities like this which focus more of shapes. Although mostly black and white tones, this image subtly contains blue hues which I think really enhances the white tone and adds more dimension to this otherwise flat image.

The small elements of brown are almost, if not more effective than large plains of colour as seen in some of my other images and is enriched due to the white.

Hannah Cook

This image is quite bold from both its flatness and its high contrast between the black and white and the burst of horizontal colour. I find the shape of the coloured section really interesting because although it has my typical stripe, it is not so clean cut and the colours are layered on top of one another in a chipped, spontaneous style. It in some ways reminds me of a sunset the way the black goes to shades of blue and the red fading to orange. Had this stripe of colour been on white, I don’t think it would be as strong and bold. Also without the white scrubby paint, the image would have little merit and the black too dominant; the white breaks the black background up. Although I like this image I do not feel it is as sophisticated as the others and the more I look at it, the more it reminds me of a colour by numbers and is too blocky, lacking texture.

However this image I feel stands very individual from the subject matter which is what I set out to do. I think this is because of its abstract and unusual elements and also because it is not easy to establish the surface material. I have realised that flatness is one of the keys to removing it from its context.

Hannah Cook

Obviously I was drawn to this shot because of the stripes! However due to weathering the surface has gained the rustic flaky texture I was drawn to with the rust, but I feel that these kinds of surfaces offer more. If I was only taking images of rust, my project would be much of the same, I’m not sure how much variation can be made on images of rust. But by searching for similar textures in paint on metal I think I have achieved something much stronger. I am a fan of stripes, but clean cut ordinary stripes can become a little tiresome so here I have focused on an area broken up with lines and cuts in other directions to break it up to make the shapes more dynamic. However I am not as pleased with the colours in this image as they are too washed out and I favour the more vibrant ones with a punch. I would like to achieve a similar composition, but with more exciting tones and not this de-saturated style that is too common with scenes of decay.

Hannah Cook

Although this image is one of the most simple styles, however I do like it.. Most of the composition is made up of horizontal stripes that are quite clean and straight, unlike a lot of the more rustic images I have taken. However, these red stripes are contrasted with the more textured blue stripe at the bottom. Once again though this image is a bit too de-saturated for my liking, and if I am going to showcase images of decay, I would like to do this in a way that exaggerates these beautiful colours that we wouldn’t normally appreciate on these objects.

Hannah Cook

This is easily one of my favourite images from the batch because it is simple, colourful, textural and very aesthetically pleasing. Once again I am drawing upon the blue and orange colour composition, but through entirely man-made material. Both colours complement and enhance each other. I find the fine lines in the orange very intriguing, without them I think the orange would fall into the background, instead I like how the orange is almost competing with the blue and makes for an excitable image. I feel that this image is a progression from the orange stripe on white that I achieved as one of my first images, only enhanced through textures. I still feel that to remove from contexts, creating a flat image is one of the most important features, if this image was not taken straight on with a certain area of focus then form and dimension will be given away and the reader will be able to tell more about the surface. Yet when the image is flat it can be compared more to an abstract painting, which rarely focuses on the form of the surface.

Hannah Cook

This image is similar to the one before, be I wanted to see how it worked with most of the composition made up of orange without the fine lines. I don’t think it works anywhere near as well as the previous image; the textures make all the difference. The importance of the vibrancy of colours is really clear when you compare this image to the previous, here the colours don’t have the intense relationship that can be seen in the previous image. Here the blue is too subdued by the orange and the orange is too plain and dominant.

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

The images on the previous page are also an extension of the image I took back at the start of the orange stripe on the white. I tried various compositions, and although I do like quite horizontal/vertical composition, it lacks the rich textures seen before.

The simplicity of these types of images lead it to fall into a different kind of category and do not display the decay style I have previously been achieving. Although contemporary and a great bold composition I am unsure how to feel about these. I don’t feel that they fit as well with the other images I have taken, they are too clean and polished and not decayed enough. Yet they do fit in with the striped theme that has also been running through my work. I like the above image with the inclusion of the slight shadow underneath the white block, it creates a more moody gradient to the orange and also adds depth and dimension to the image. For some of my other images dimension has been something I have been trying to avoid, yet I think without dimension here, the image would be completely boring and any merit gained from the bold contrast in colours would be irrelevant and tiresome.

Hannah Cook

I have tried to take quite a clinical and geometric approach to this image as I have found that being quite logical and orderly fits quite well as a contrast to the decayed look. You expect to see jagged lines and an unpredictable composition with images of decay but I feel that creating geometric shapes brings something new to the table and can make something quite old have a contemporary edge.

I think the reason why this image works so well is the yellow and blue being complimentary colours and becoming enhanced and intensified by the black and white additions to the image. I do feel the image would have worked better had it been the other way up so it is more grounded and bottom heavy rather than all the weight being at the top leading down, but the shadow underneath the blue causes the image to look very odd when it is flipped. If I am trying to remove it from its context then perhaps upside down is a good way to do this, yet my head just can’t get around seeing a shadow the wrong way around.

Maybe this is because I have got used to seeing the image in its original state so much so that I can’t adjust to seeing it in any other way, or maybe it does just look really very odd.

Hannah Cook

This is by far my favourite image of the bunch; it just encapsulates everything I enjoy about decay, with the inclusion of rust, natural matter, bright colours, rich browns, flaking paint and weathering. Allthough it is still recognisable I think it does showcase it in a way that is not often seen. There is such a diverse range of textures and surfaces within this image, which in real life is only about 10x20xm. I like how the edges of the yellow paint can look slightly burnt and pulled away from the surface contrasted with the soft delicate texture of the moss and mud towards the bottom of the image. I think this sort of diversity is why the image works so well. I believe this image could be an abstract painting (in content) without the context of rust, which is an important quality when considering how far removed it is from its original context and setting.

Hannah Cook

This image reminds me of landscape in some ways with the quite natural colours running in horizontal stripes across the image. After looking at my more bright and vibrant images, I can’t feel overly enthusiastic about these kinds of images with the de-saturated look, now I’ve had a taste of these bright bold compositions, I just can’t sink my teeth into more cold ones. I think without the green moss, I wouldn’t have chosen to take this image, it completely makes the image and adds more tone to the blues which would have been practically solid clocks of colour without it. The more I look at this image, the more I see it looking like a painted mural in a school (in a bad way). I think it is simple, but not in the same way that some of the other images have worked because of their simplicity, here there are too many elements to make this image the same kind of minimal look, but all of these elements just lack detail and intrigue in the same way my other images do.

Hannah Cook

I really like this image, to me it looks like two separate images juxtaposed together and it really works. I find myself wanting to rotate it on its side again to create more of a Barnett Newman simple, delicate striped style, and I think it can also work this way. It takes the image more out of context and can look a little confusing with the orange dripping in the other direction, which it would not naturally do. I think by making the decay look impossible and unrecognisable, it abstracts it more, giving you less clues to the original object and scene.

Hannah Cook

This is another simple composition, with the interest instead coming from colour and texture as opposed to shape. The texture is the real asset to this image, without it, it would simply be two block colours, but with the addition of the wood grains running horizontally though, it complements the line of colour dividing the image in two. I really like the peak of raw wood poking through on the right, revealing more texture from behind the peeling paint. I would have preferred if the blue wasn’t overcast with the grey tone as it dulls down the blue a lot. But at the end of the day, this journey is about finding the beauty, abstraction and colour in these scenes, and not manipulating or constructing it, just observing what I find, so I can’t expect it to be exactly as I would have liked it every time.

Hannah Cook

As soon as I had taken this image I was instantly reminded of the work of Mondrian, where the focus on the composition is line and colour. However my work differs in the way that I intended to favour the textures in the image, and Mondrian’s work tended to ignore this element and instead work on block colour. Without blowing my own trumpet too much, I think my image works just as well, with the variety of textures adding more and more to the image. Without the flaking paint I think it would still be a strong image, I just think with the textures becoming more abundant the further down the image your eye goes, the more complex the image becomes. In this case I don’t think less is more. I think the most important quality of this image is the red on the left, it draws your eye over from the solid line, but not in a dominant way, if you can imagine that it wasn’t there, the image would not resemble Mondrian, and instead like 2 photos juxtaposed together that just don’t work together, this little piece of red ties everything together.

Hannah Cook

Although by no means my strongest image, I liked this one because of the great contrast between the white and the brown, emphasising the paintbrush mark pattern even more so. The horizontal line through the middle of the composition ties it all together and completes the image, without it the image would look unintentional and a mistake, but here it looks purposeful and brings an element of logic and structure to an otherwise clumsy image. I find the hints of blue and dark brown/black important in this image, without it, it runs the risk of being too monotone, but with them included it brings it back to being a colour image and adds more depth to the image. I think this image achieves the removal from context that I have been thinking about and exploring quite well as it is still aesthetically pleasing, but through abstraction, colour and its formal elements and not its subject matter.

Hannah Cook

If you couldn’t tell already, orange is seeming to be a theme that’s running through a lot of my images so far, which I think is a positive thing as this more bold colour is just a different tone to the rust colours, which can work well together. I was really attracted to this scene because of the strong directional lines going through the image, abruptly stopped by the black horizontal stripes. I think with the inclusion of this black line it adds more structure and a more purposeful composition and picture, rather than just simply an observation of pattern. I think the hints of white on the edges of the slashes are important as they freshen the image up, and without it the black would be too dominant. This is probably one of my favourite images, although it doesn’t feature intense detail as is the case with some of my other images, but instead it has a strong and structured composition and also contains an interesting and repetitive pattern which I think really works over the large, relatively empty space.

Hannah Cook

This is a slightly different image which has white instead of black, which makes the image much more fresh and happy looking, however I don’t believe it carries as much of a punch as the previous image. The black causes the orange to look more vibrant and moody, whereas here it doesn’t do that. Due to the angle of taking the image, the slashes in the paint aren’t as exaggerated and I don’t feel that the pattern is as effective when it is not as overstated. As an image I like the area of focus on one part of the slashes; however I don’t know if it fits the idea of creating more flat images to keep it out of context and make it more reminiscent of paintings, which seldom have areas in and out of focus.

Hannah Cook

I wanted to look at the relationship between blue and orange that seems to be working its way into my pictures more and more. This is not only witnessed in more natural rust, but also a common combination in man-made objects to.

This could just be because they are complimentary colours (opposite one another on the colour wheel). I like how this image is more heavy towards the bottom in terms of composition with a lot of empty space towards the top, on reflection of some of my other images I am finding that the images of intense detail can look a bit overwhelming and busy, and I am favouring more simple patterns and textures, such as this one. Although the image does not look completely flat like I am hoping them to be, I feel the 3D effect of the flakes are effective and add dimension against the blue.

Hannah Cook

This is probably the least colourful of all my images, with no bright colour running through, because of this I do not feel it fits as well with my other images, but saying that I still appreciate it as an individual image. I like the quite centralised composition with the slash forming both vertical and horizontal shapes. The way the paint is drooping off like fabric really interests me, as it is starting to form drapes and shapes you would expect to see in quite an opulent object, but instead can be seen in this quite austere scene. I also appreciate how the wood is not a wooden colour and is instead quite a charcoal colour which highlights the grains in the wood with a subtle white. Small cracks and fractures give more detail to this otherwise simple composition and bring the element of texture to the series that I had hoped to do, without making the image too cluttered or complicated.

Hannah Cook

This image interests me as it has many layers of decay in it, the first state of decay I image would be the orange vertical stain. This is so dramatic and I imagine it comes from water dripping down from rust that is out of shot, however I have never seen it this extreme, I think the fact it is seldom seen does help in de-contextualising it from its original subject. The next stage of decay would be the flakes and cracks forming on the paintwork, breaking up the orange and offering quite a unique pattern of blue against the orange. Like many of my pictures this blue and orange colour combination has cropped up again, but this time in a much more subtle way. I like the large area of paint that has flaked away on the right as I feel it balances the composition and doesn’t make it too symmetrical which I think would look quite dull in this image. The third stage in the decay would be the dirt climbing up from the bottom of the image which adds more tonal variation to the image and creates this gradient type of effect. This is another image that I wanted to see upside down as I think it would look quite intriguing to see the stains moving upwards like a flame.

For the first time I think I actually prefer it this way up and I think it does help bring ambiguity to the image as you don’t expect drips to move in this way.

Hannah Cook

Although probably the least ambiguous of the bunch, I find this image very aesthetically pleasing, with the perfect circle and the perfect stripes, yet the complete imperfect nature of the object. Although I do like the look of this image, I feel that it looks too commercial and polished to fit in with the rest of my work, too clinical.

However this image does look at form in a different approach to the other images, the lines are sharp and clean cut without the typical signs of decay that I have shown previously. I like the contrast between the circular shapes of the pipe opening and the screw heads to the horizontal lines, it breaks the image up and allows it to be more of a balanced composition.

I am unsure of how most of the image is made up of blue, in a lot of my images I have featured 2 or more main colours that add contrast and on some occasions, clash. Which I think can work very well. I find this image lacks punch, mostly due to this.

Hannah Cook

I find this image strong because of the bright blue broken up in places by the contrasting brown of the wood. Although the focus of this image is on the wooden grain lines that are visible, I think this could be exaggerated in some way, because other than the colour, I feel like this image lacks intrigue and more texture would have given it that. I would have also enjoyed if the blue had weathered in a way to have given multiple shades of blue so it isn’t as much of a solid block.

Hannah Cook

This is another image I feel can be compared quite easily to Siskinds work as it has this washed out, gritty look to it, and with graffiti which can feature quite heavily in his work. I am unsure whether I like this image as I feel the rust is too different a texture to the rest that it looks false and put in separately. However I do like the organic and spontaneous shapes created by the rust and the separation from the background only enhances the shape, so there are both pros and cons to this quality.

Hannah Cook

I feel that this image resonates a lot with Siskind, it is what I imagine his work to look like had it been in colour. I like the range of colours, surfaces and textures in this image and also the range of decay. It kind of looks like a collage. I like the line of new looking metal with an industrial look to it which lines some of the most heavily decayed areas to give quite a diverse feel to it. I think this image has a lot softer look to it as the colours are complimenting one another and not fighting for attention (not that that is a bad thing in some cases) and the overall look is more delicate, despite that the subject matter is not. The orange adds real punch to the image but I wish I hadn’t made it so central as it looks more of a clinical photo/observation rather than a piece of abstract art, if it was off centre I feel it would be more inclusive of its surroundings, which are of equal interest and not make you feel like you are only looking at the image to see the orange. I also don’t like how the metal curves away, giving away that it is of cylindrical shape, which is helping to add to the context, not take it away which is not what I am aiming for.

Hannah Cook

This image instantly reminds me of Barnett Newmans ‘Concord’, which I guess is a good sign… if I am going to draw any connections, I would like it to be to abstract painting as opposed to subject matter. I really like the delicate nature to this image, it is quite refreshing when compared to some of my other, more brash images. Although the image is not sharp all over (intentional, not me being lazy), which in other images leads to the eye starting to define dimension and form within the object and adding context, here I feel that it doesn’t do that and instead adds merit to the image by keeping it subtle and soft.

The soft lemon yellow colour works really well with the grey and is a colour combination that is really fashionable within interiors at the moment and has a very contemporary feel to it. I am still unsure as to whether I think the orange rust at the top of the image adds or detracts from the overall atmosphere of the image. If it were to not be there then I think that the image could look quite bare and lack lustre, yet when it is there I feel that it looks out of place and takes away the delicate nature of it.

Hannah Cook

This image is similar to the previous in terms of colour yet the effect of the metal makes it look much more industrial. I think that the texture is really odd; you don’t often see relatively new metal (new in comparison to the dense rust I have been looking at) peeling in the way you would expect paint to. This is still quite a delicate image, but not as much so as the last, yet I do enjoy the composition of this one more. This image has a much wider depth of field than the previous, and like I said, for this surface I do not really feel that it makes much of a difference in regards to adding dimension. I think the subtle yellow colour in some areas is a refreshing change to the rest of the images and I think it complements the grey and the flaking texture very well, still speaking of decay and hidden beauty, but in a more feminine and gentle manner.

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

Hannah Cook

Review of progress so far I am very pleased with the images I have achieved, I think my technical abilities have grown and I have learnt more about aesthetically pleasing abstract compositions. But as much as I like the images, I am unsure if I have had that great of a journey, if I was to go out and shoot again, I fear it would only be much more of the same. This was not the point of the project and I don’t want to create a huge body of work just for the sake of it, if all the images becoming samey and lose their impact surrounded by so many other images of the same nature.

I feel I am making some progress towards the de-contextualisation of the image, by focusing on pattern, texture and colour. Yet I feel I may have taken a wrong turn by choosing to focus on areas of decay which are so easily recognisable, no matter how they are shot.

At this point I am considering formulating a way in which I can take these images I have already taken and abstracting them further, either by manipulation or by processes to the print.

At the moment I feel at a dead end and hope that by further considering what I have researched and my own images I will come to a conclusion as to how to use this collection of colours, texture, pattern and shapes to create something that doesn’t immediately look like rust and decay, but instead an aesthetically pleasing piece of contemporary art that stands alone from the original subject matter.

Hannah Cook

Contemporary Open 2013 Review – Exeter Phoenix Although not solely photography, I visited this varied art exhibition to witness the level and style of work entered into this international competition. I hope that in the future to be at a standard to be judged alongside artists across the board. I also feel that visiting mixed discipline exhibitions is as important, if not more so as visiting photographic shows for me as my work lends very well to fine art, with most of my inspiration taken from painters.

The Exeter contemporary open is an annual exhibition and competition, open to all disciplines and media from contemporary artists internationally. The intentions of the exhibition are to create a platform for emerging artists and to display current themes and issues within contemporary art practices. Selected artists receive cash awards to enable their practices. This year’s judges consist of artist and curator Kevin Hunt, independent curators Day and Gluckman and the Phoenix Gallery curator Matt Burrows.

Although there is not a set theme for the show, there was a clear interest in materiality throughout the exhibition. Texture, surface and the physicality of objects, images and subject matter under pin much of the work. At first I was disappointed with most of the works complying to a house style and was hoping for more varied approaches, however after spending some time in the gallery I got over this disappointment and realised the show would be too eclectic and no continuity, after all, the outcome of the competition is an exhibition and the curation of such an exhibition must come into play when selecting finalists.

I became confused by the layout almost instantly, with 9 artists exhibiting and their work scattered all amongst one another. It was difficult to identify whose was whose, especially with such a house style running through. Even the name tags were irregularly stuck to the wall and difficult to identify who’s corresponded to the work you were looking at.

I was disappointed at the under-representation of photography in the exhibition, with only one photographer and one video exhibit. This could simply have been the tastes and preferences of the judges and curators and not represented the entries made though. None the less, I did enjoy what little photography that was on display.

Hannah Cook

Rebecca Ounstead displayed a series of 4 images of handmade and hand painted objects in still life compositions. It was a little disheartening to discover that much of the photographers merit came from her varied skills in sculpture and installation that she had then photographed. The work was displayed printed in what looks to be pearl paper to the size of A3, pinned to the wall neatly with drawing pins, with the images next to each other. I liked the method of display as it was not only a cost-effective way, but I feel it can lend itself to its surroundings more, many contemporary paintings are no longer shown in frames, so why should photographs comply with this dated tradition? However when choosing not to frame, I feel she could have considered her choice of paper better, I would have gone for a more textural, fine art paper to fit with the handmade aesthetic, however I feel contemporary art can sometimes be quite clean and clinical so perhaps the sleek pearl was an informed decision.

The subject matter of these images were to convey consumerism, construct, trend, pattern and material association. I like the tactile materiality seen in the images that show potential for physical interaction when displayed amongst other sculptural pieces. I enjoy the fact that the objects have been suspended and constructed and not added through digital manipulation that I feel is used too much in contemporary photography. I think because she constructs and creates sculptural pieces enhances her skill of understanding shape, form and material. I would have liked to have seen her sculpture also displayed also in the exhibition to have been at least in the same room as her photographs as you would have been able to make associations and appreciate her skill in a greater way.

Moving onto the videographer (who also practices in collage and drawing), who displayed 2 videos side by side, one of a horses feet, the other of her legs in high heels. In both videos the same movement was made which made it quite

Hannah Cook

intriguing to watch as neither video looked particularly odd, but when compared and witnessed that they are the same, the comparison does suddenly become very strange. Her work is said to explore the urge to be a success, but accepting that there is a success within every failureusually humour. The video is described as a ‘tragi-comic’ (which I have never heard buy does seem very apt) entitled ‘Try walking in my hooves, you poser’ and is a reflection on how she perceives herself walking in a pair of high heels, she says “I may pose, strut and trot as gracefully as I possibly can but at the end of the day- I walk like a horse.” Although only perhaps 15 seconds long, I felt that the video (displayed on a mounted TV) had a surreal, magical quality to it when both legs are still, but made small twitches and movements. It was more like looking at a photograph from Harry Potter that can move, rather than looking at a video. Eventually both sets of legs simultaneously walk off and it sets to loop again. My only criticism of the piece is that it should have been longer, even if it was only a few minutes of the same stillness as described above.

The remainder of the exhibition was not as relevant to me, and mostly made up of installations, however I found these small installations and 3D art to be quite intriguing in regards to the way I should start presenting my own work. When it is not hung on the wall and instead in your way on the floor, you begin to interact with it more, you can walk around it, see it without glass and begin to understand its form and other qualities in a very different way.

Overall a worthwhile exhibition and something which I feel has motivated me to push my own photographic work into a similar environment and hope to see my work in similar exhibitions/competitions in the future.

Hannah Cook

Abigail Reynolds talk – Exeter Phoenix Overview of Reynolds work I went to this talk on whim, after seeing her work exhibited in the college gallery in March, not really understanding the work or feeling particularly engaged by the work. But as soon as she began talking I was instantly drawn to both her work and ethos. She made it clear from the start that she has no interest in nostalgia, but instead in time and how it is continuously present. She draws this inspiration from quantum physics and how she feels we are all trapped in time and the nature of how it keeps moving and scenes and structures outlive us.

She does not use her own photographs and made it clear that she has no intentions to do so in the future and instead uses imagery from books that she sources second hand. She also has yet to work with digital imagery, but also has no intentions to do so in the foreseeable future due to the joy that can be found in tangible books. She likes paper as it is organic, manipulatable and unstable, which pulls into the idea of time. The books she uses are typically printed between 1890 and the 70’s, because before 1890 the imagery tends to be etchings, which hold no interest to her, and that books during or after the 70’s tend to be bad quality paper, printing, colour and imagery. She blames these factors on the introduction of TV which led to neglecting printed matter.

She enjoys using 40’s and 50’s books as this was when England was at its height of the book industry, when libraries were becoming more and more accessible and manufacturing could be done well very easily, also she favours more golden age photographs. Her processes involve combining these images from books to reinvent the context, question the social change and the photographer’s agenda and to look at the nature of time.

Universal Now 2005 In this series she would take two images from books, generally guides to London which are made quite redundant now. She will locate two images made in different eras but from almost the same position and combine the two, trying not to show more validity or importance to one photograph over the other, presenting them of equal worth. She uses geometric patterns that allow each image to be folded out and flattened to reveal more of each image, if all the flaps are

Hannah Cook

folded down then the entirety of the 40’s image will be visible and vice versa.

This image contains a photograph from 1946 in which the photographer’s agenda was to show London as an industrial hub with the inclusion of the barge worker, combined with a 1979 image from almost the same position. The images work almost simultaneously together. To me this image speaks of the long-lasting structure, and the inclusion of the man reinforces the idea that we have short lives and the world progresses and can remain unchanged generations on. It is likely that the man in the image is no longer alive, but there are few changes to Tower Bridge. The technique used in this series involves cutting flaps and inserting the image very precisely.

This series mostly looks at London monuments because images of them are in abundance and also because she was living in London at the time.

This image of the telecom tower shows a technique that she usually isn’t comfortable with using, but does feel it works in this image. The blue of the more modern image has been extended by using blue card to pull the blue out and extend it around the image to make the colour more dynamic. I find this use of colour and material exciting and feel it a shame she has not chosen to use it in more pictures from the series. Something that she mentioned regarding photographers agendas I found really intriguing was the inclusion of the kebab show window on the right. The older photograph was taken to display the tower, yet in the newer image the tower is just in the background and the shop and street are more the focus point of the image. I enjoy that you cannot work out where each photo ends and extends to, this makes the image quite interactive and engaging to the viewer.

On some occasions she duplicates images, as there are often multiple matches for any one photograph of London. She mostly buys her books in person as she likes to feel the book, and won’t know if the paper and print quality will be of any use until she has it in her hands.

In 2008 she left this technique behind and moved onto finding 2 images that talk to each other, as opposed to being the same location. She also says this

Hannah Cook

was because she had run out of guides to London! She turned to guides of England instead.

In this image she was very much concerned in shape and line like I am and wanted to form a relationship between the vertical lines of the trees and the lines of the buildings.

Although she does work in a mostly aesthetic way instead of conceptual, she did say that this image was about building a story as well as its formal elements. She used the cuttings to in some ways resemble a speech bubble emerging from the men as if this is what their work is contributing towards. She also formed a relationship between the masculinity of the men to the robust nature of the building.

In this image she was concerned with the relationship of form, the lines and patterns found in tudor buildings compared to Centerpoint. The geometric shapes she creates also contribute and enhance this nature. I do also enjoy the contrast between the garish 70’s Technicolor and the black and white which further highlights the lines and shapes found within the buildings.

Hannah Cook

Paper Exhibition – Saatchi Gallery Although not directly relevant to me, I wanted to visit this exhibition as I have always had a strong interest in craft and paper craft; no matter how much it can be belittled in the art community. This exhibition hosts a whole range of art that centred on paper, I mean I have paper in abundance, it’s totally accessible to me, I must be able to find some kind of connection to my work, or just inspiration, surely?

Something I enjoyed most about the exhibition was the tactile nature of the exhibits, how they were not restricted by tape and barriers, how you were free to wander around and get up close to the art which was often suspended from the ceiling and pinned away from the walls.

Although this style of installation I do not feel achievable in the time remaining of this project, it is something that I would like to bear in mind and possibly work into my practices and I find the interactive nature of installation worthwhile and intriguing. I found it important the way the gallery was set up to house these often bright and structural pieces, Usually I find these clinical spaces too bland to enhance art, but for an exhibition like this I really think anything other than clean white walls and floor would detract from the art on show. I also enjoyed the lighting, which you can see in the left image was bright and although clinical, allowed these sculptural pieces to not be underappreciated by shadows and ill light.

Hannah Cook

Review on progress made Having visited the Abigail Reynolds talk I feel all fired up again and full of motivation. After hearing the talk it suddenly rounded everything together for me, and made nothing I have done or researched irrelevant. I suddenly saw merit in the way Chloe Sells combines images to create a semi-abstract look and thought that I too can combine multiple of my images within one frame to abstract it more and pull on connections I have made between my images. I have seen relevance in the Paper exhibition at the Saatchi (which I did think would be wholly irrelevant to me) as I have seen the potential for me to take a more tangible approach to manipulating the images in a similar way to Abigail Reynolds.

Although the work I have seen is a very labour intensive handmade process, I would like to experiment digitally, as I am wary of my work becoming too craft orientated, and also to save myself time and money, as there is only a week and a half remaining for the project. I do also intend to take a more hands on approach, but I think it important to iron out the creases digitally first and start to understand which images lend well to one another.

Hannah Cook

Experimentation Digitally I know I want to experiment in a more hands on way with actual paper, having been influenced to do so

by Abigail Reynolds and the Paper exhibition at the Saatchi, however to save time and money I thought I would try and iron out some of the inevitable creases digitally first and get a few ideas out. This was so much harder than I expected it to be. At this stage my experiments were just a case of 2 layers, with areas removed from the top area to reveal parts of the image underneath. My thought process behind this was that by breaking up the image and throwing in elements of others, it would create more of a pattern than identifiable image decay. I knew I wanted a contemporary look so chose to use geometric shapes, having seen such shapes in my previous research.

I don’t think I succeeded in my first attempt, it looks staged and like there was a glitch in Photoshop that caused this mess. The images are just too different to look effortless together.

Hannah Cook

I think I succeeded much more with this image, I choose to pull out the blue on the right of the top image and match it with the blue of the second image. The hue was almost identical and I thought it might work (in the same way Reynolds did with the Telecoms tower) if I were to extend this blue across the image. I think that they work better together but it still looks a bit forced and fake, although it has that graphical feel, it doesn’t look to a professional level or work as seamlessly as I had hoped.

Hannah Cook

In the same way as my first experiment, I feel that these images are just too different to ever work together in this way; I think I need to stick to what I was doing before by pulling a common colour out and pulling it through the image.

The orange image has quite a selective focus on the blue area, this means that the triangles nearer the top are not sharp, which when separated from the rest of the image looks very off and just doesn’t fit in. I need to use the areas of images that are sharp, or better yet, the images with quite a wide depth of field that allow the whole image to be used.

Hannah Cook

Aside from the blue based image previously, I think that this is the next best image. Although there is no relationship through the colours like the blue one, I do feel that the images talk to each other, perhaps this is because the flaky paint texture is shared by both, but the white/orange picture is much softer and delicate, whereas the background image is much more robust and masculine. I was however hoping for a much successful outcome than this. I didn’t think that finding images to combine that work well together would be so hard.

Hannah Cook

This image is probably the one that works the most seamlessly together, but that is only because it is just the same image, but sections in black and white.

Although this image doesn’t convey the idea of abstracting the image more and combining textures, it does make me question if it is the textures that are making it difficult to match and not the colours. When the colour is removed and the texture is the same, it works. When the colour is the same/similar and the texture is changed, it doesn’t. I hope this doesn’t mean that my idea of combining textures hasn’t led to a dead end.

Hannah Cook

I feel that these manipulated images look even more awkward than the previous examples. I wanted to go for quite a clean cut and modern pattern, but it looked like my computer glitches and made an awful mistake on the screen. I am finding it more and more difficult to find which images work alongside each other, and which areas of the image to slice out and replace with others. I thought that doing this activity digitally rather than by hand would be easier, yet I am finding it increasingly difficult. I hope when I take out a pair of scissors this combining will feel more natural and fall together easier, but I do feel I underestimated this task.

Hannah Cook

I tried the geometric shapes again and tried to pull on what I had learnt from Abigail Reynolds, who follows the lines created within one of the image. I tried to create a swirl from the end of the pipe which seems to be the focus of the image. However, once again it just looks really awkward. I feel I need to leave this idea behind as it is something which I feel can be quite limited, even if I could get it to look good. There is only so far I can take this idea and I don’t have the time for it to keep going wrong in the process. I will now try to do some samples by hand and put photo shop on the back burner, yet I don’t have high hopes for these either. Abigail Reynolds got me out of my dead end, yet I feel like I have just reached another.

Hannah Cook

Experimentation with paper

Admittedly, I did still find it very difficult to piece my images together in a way that complimented both, didn’t look forced and was still relatively original. I now see very clearly that there is not much further I can push this idea and need to start finding alternatives.

The above image consists of physical prints and coloured acetate, which to me looks very childish and strange and doesn’t convey the de-contextualisation I wanted, and barely scrapes by as abstract. Back to the drawing board.

Hannah Cook

I think there is more of a success in these images, however I do not feel like it is a great success. The images consist of laser copy prints of various images collaged together and then scanned. They work, but it is just not of the quality, creativity of refinement you would come to expect from a degree student.

Hannah Cook

Inspired by Abigail Reynold, I created this example in a similar way to her. I do think that by allowing the object to become less flat, the relationship between the two images used becomes more relaxed and less strict. I think it helps that the colours are complimentary, but I think most of the merit comes from the shapes that are created. I found this is interesting only due to the fact it was 3D and not from the colours and textures.

Hannah Cook

Tutorial Notes with Tim Based on the quote about all the small things making up the big things by Peter Fraser, Tim suggested I look at the book ‘Heaven and earth’ which looks at images at a microscopic level and from a satellite, and between these two relatively abstract images you can begin to draw comparisons between pattern and texture, despite the varying techniques used to create them. Although fascinating, it is something I might wait a week or two for, and begin my new project properly looking into this as it feel it is a bit too big of a jump for me to work with at the moment.

I have been thinking about the use of varied materials eg matte and textured paper to see which works best for my work and to try and incorporate them all within one image and see if this adds to the aesthetic quality of the work. Tim has prompted me to look at the printspace and output options available to me. I have also booked in to see Tim before the deadline to look at printing on textured fine art paper in 2.26 to add this element of outcome into the mix as I think textural paper would enhance the textures I have already found/produced.

Tim bought up formalism, a movement that solely focuses on the visual and formal qualities of a piece of art, and allows concept and context to become of secondary importance. This idea is so relevant to what I have been trying to achieve and can’t believe I didn’t find out about this sooner. Leading on from this I was prompted to look at former PCA lecturer, Marcus Davies work, who practices formalism using found objects and lightboxes. I feel that this is a technique I can dip my toe in this project, but also has potential to be continued into the next project.

It was agreed that there is only so far I can take the observing textures thing, and after a while it just begins to be more of the same. I think I am more of a creator than an observer so I need to step away from taking these observation images and start creating my own textures and patterns, Tim suggested I use this an opportunity to improve my photoshop skills by layering images to create and enhance my found textures to create something new.

Hannah Cook

Digitally layering images Although not what I had initially imagined, I spent some time experimenting with layers on photo shop using some of the options such as multiply, overlay, darken etc. This combines the images in a way that just would not be possible by hand, I would combine as many layers as necessary and would then make adjustments to certain colours using the selective colour tool.

This image could be verging on garish, but I think that that’s a good thing. The colours and pattern has been transformed into a mash of college, leaving the original photographs unrecognisable. I find that it no longer looks like flaking paint and rust, and now more as a piece of abstract art- this ambiguity was what I was hoping for. Using selective colour, I changed the areas that were yellow to a more orange hue to work well with the blue colours that already existed in the image; this was drawing on the colour combination I was seeing so often earlier in the project. I still think the combination looks good here, but nothing can compare to the way it looks naturally in rust.

Hannah Cook

This image was edited in a much more subtle way, with textures added to look as though they had been embossed into it. I think this is one of the most successful, it adds some dimension to the image and breaks up some of the empty areas of block colour, without looking too different to the original.

Hannah Cook

This image is the combination of 3 images. I pulled on images with strong vertical lines. I feel that this image is a bit too much and looks over complicated; I think the previous image works better as there are still some empty areas which balance out the textured areas and the frame doesn’t become cluttered. I also don’t like how the colour has become de-saturated, it looks so drained and anaemic compared to the original photos which are busting with bold colour.

Hannah Cook

In this image I wanted to see if I could trick the eye into thinking metal would behave in such an odd way. You would never see metal drape and hang like fabric or paper like this. I don’t think it looks that realistic in all, and I don’t think the top and bottom metal images match, one is warm toned, the other cold. I should have matched two of the same type of surface instead.

Hannah Cook

I went a bit crazy with this image and started inverting layers whilst combining them. It gives an interesting effect that doesn’t really resemble a photograph.

But this level of editing does not interest me much and it has become too far removed from its original surface.

Hannah Cook

I feel like the images included in this digital collage are still recognisable and not edited too heavily. I like how the studs give an area of focus, and although a recognisable object and not abstracted, I do not feel as though it puts the image back into a context. Although this form of experimentation has worked in some respects, I feel that the original images are much stronger than any of these edited versions.

Hannah Cook

Formalism Formalism is the study and practice of creating and analysing art in regards to its formal elements and aesthetics. This places the emphasis on colour, line, shape and texture and away from iconography and its context within social matters and history. Some formalists would say that everything necessary to comprehend a work of art is contained within the work of art. Elements of the piece such as the reason for its creation, the artist’s background and its place in art history are not important, only what you see in front of you is important.

Without knowing what formalism was, I found I have spoken about it multiple times previously.

Formalism has been discussed by art historians and theorists since the 1600’s, but formalist artists have only gained momentum in the 20th century during the abstract expressionist movement where the artists would react to colours and emotions to create pieces that can only be read and reacted to in an aesthetic way.

Often work is analysed in a formalist manner, but also in a conceptual manner, however I feel I have been analysing my work in a purely formalist manner, describing how the colours and shapes contribute to a visually pleasing image.

In 1890 the post-impressionist painter Maurice Denis wrote that a painting was ‘essentially a flat surface covered in colours arranged in a certain order’ arguing that the painting/art itself gave pleasure to the mind and not the subject and context. I definitely agree with this statement, as I can find images with a great context and message unappealing as there are no formal elements that grab my attention, and equally, I find myself liking images that conceptually talk of terrible tragedy because of their visual aspects that I find appealing. I am also very much a fan of abstract, in particular abstract expressionist, which is not intended to convey anything, other than colour, line and form.

Sometimes I feel as though to describe work as formalist, can sometimes be used in a negative way, as I feel many artists, particularly photographers find content and context more valuable than making it pleasing on the eye. Before WWI, the soviets treated the word ‘formalist’ as a dirty word and to describe ‘art for arts sake’, which although I can understand why some might say that, if I wanted to learn something I would look to a book or an expert, and not look for it in a visual way. I look to visual art as a way to please my eyes with what I cannot see in everyday life.

Hannah Cook

Marcus Davies Following my tutorial with Tim, it was suggested that I look at Marcus Davies work, former PCA photography lecturer who practices in the idea of formalism.

Looking at shape with various media and light boxes, I was intrigued if I could work his style into the idea of combining images.

The above set of images forms the series ‘Elastica’ (2013) consists of elastic bands arranged on a light box. Davies in concerned with how photographs can have little or no artistic intention, but still has a strong artistic outcome. He finds it refreshing how an image can investigate form rather than meaning, as do I. Much of his work is inspired by the activities his autistic son partakes in to break rhythm, in the following series he took acetate shapes and found objects (in this case, marbles) to a lightbox to observe the formal shapes created. He introduced reels of film to the images. The film reels were of football games, and the colours corresponded to the colours of the winning football teams’ shirt. To me, this notion breaks away from formalism however he states:

‘Despite the inclusion of these personal objects their primary function is to aid the formal harmony of the image, there is no political or social meaning. The only interest I have outside the actual visual balance of each individual composition is the historical precedent for this sort of imagery. To a certain Hannah Cook

extent one of my concerns for both contemporary fine art photography and, consequently, photography in education is the dismissal of work that does not have at its core a socio-political message or an investigation of personal narratives.’

I wholeheartedly agree with this message, as I have conveyed in the section here on Aaron Siskind, how too much of photography is concerned with its conceptual message, but as Josef Albers said “You young people believe that art should

talk about society or politics. But that is wrong. Art is to dance!”

I believe Davies has a similar ethos to mine (during this project anyway), that photography doesn’t have to be ‘about something’; it can just be beautiful, colourful and happy. There have been some points in this project when talking to peers about my work and have felt that my work is lacking because it lacks it’s ‘something’, but I just have to remind myself that that is the nature of the beast that I am exploring and experimenting within.

Hannah Cook

Varied surfaces I think seeing your images in a physical form as opposed to just digitally can be a very important exercise as paper and printing quality and variations can either make or break an image.

As suggested by Tim, I looked into the printspace at some of the papers available at a professional level. I knew the textured paper and the metallic papers held a lot of potential after seeing peers work and samples in this format, however when looking online, I felt the prices were just too high for me to afford for this project, at about £10 per A5 print, I just couldn’t justify it at the moment. However this is something I feel I really need to look into and might just put it on hold until the following project.

I made use of the resources available to me and got a set printed on the canvas available in creations, which cost £6.80 for 6 A5’s, which was both a relevant output and cost effective. You can see these samples in the corresponding sample sketchbook. I think the textural qualities of the canvas enhance the textures in the image, but most of all, I like the tactile quality that it holds, it is flexible easily manipulated. It doesn’t feel as clinical and precious as a super gloss or more traditional photographic outputs. Some sharpness and image quality is lost, but I do not feel that this is a pressing problem as I am more concerned with the interactivity, colour and pattern of the images, not its potential in a commercial context, Potential ideas for a canvas printed image: -Sewing/stitching -Fabric decays, what would happen if I left it outdoor to weather?

-Getting the fabric wet and letting the ink run, spread and fade Another surface I was investigating was the fine art textured paper available for the printer in 2.26, I saw potential for the textured paper to correspond to the textures of my images in a similar way that the canvas does, however there was un-expectantly no ink in the printer, meaning I was unable to explore this avenue. However I know this experimentation is going to overlap onto the next project and I have plenty to get on with as it is.

Hannah Cook

Another format that was available to me within college was printing onto a transparent surface. I know this can be done at a professional photographic level at focal point in Exeter, but for these experimentations (that I was unsure if would even work) I went for the more basic option of printing onto acetate and overhead projector transparencies. I first went to the screen printing room in the college to get a few done, however I wasn’t informed they were only able to produce them in black and white, which at the time was disappointing, but you will see in the following pages that it was actually a happy accident. I was able to get colour ones done a few days later at a printing shop in town. Although a lot of the image quality is lost by doing this, as I have said before, this doesn’t really concern me at the moment. When/if I begin following up on this technique I will invest in better quality, but at the moment it is adequate.

I had intended to use these transparencies on a lightbox, however when I was packing them all up to put in my bag I noticed a few layered ontop of a paper image and saw a lot of potential in layering them. At the moment I have just been using a scanner, but I would like to branch onto the lightbox at a later date.

Hannah Cook

This is the combination that fell into place by accident that sparked the whole layering idea. Although I didn’t want the transparencies to be in black and white, it made it easier to find combinations, as problems I have been having recently with combining photos is the colours and tones just clash (in the bad way) and just don’t sit right together. By allowing one of the images to just consist of black I can focus on the shape and form of the image to start creating and enhancing textures as opposed to fighting with colours that will never look right together. I began to see links between the shapes like the black/orange band at the top of the image; I think by layering these it gives it more of an effortless graphical quality in a not so overly complicated manner. I think the colours are made more intense by the introduction of the black, which is just what I had hoped for.

Hannah Cook

Most of the other combinations I created were just through trial and error, I found it easier to find combinations when I had various prints and media in front of me and I could hold things together and get a better sense of them, this is something that I was really struggling with when combining digitally.

In this image, rather than creating an entirely new shape, I played on the shapes already created within the image and played on the vertical lines. Before the inclusion of the black transparency, the image had quite a soft, fragile look.

Now I can see a more structured and robust image, which is much more to my tastes and fits in much better to what I have been working with so far. It is also a bit of a play on the original image, which had a yellow bar down the middle, and the streaks in the bottom image in some way resemble this and bring a new textural quality to what would be a metal bar.

I think this is effective at removing the original subject from its context, as it now looks one more step removed from a photograph and leans more towards graphics. Also by being turned into a solid black and white helps remove from the original surface and material, and helps to confuse over what it actually is.

Hannah Cook

The downside to using the scanner over a lightbox is you don’t get the same luminosity and the image can appear a bit too dark, however to get the general idea of the potential of my images will stick with scanning for the time being.

This image reminds me a lot of a stained glass window, how there are so many colours that are quite solid and ever so lightly outlined. Although both images are of rust, I think the combined image makes it look less like rust, which is what I was aiming for. Colours are introduced in an ever so subtle way that add texture and just makes the image pack that little bit more punch. Although this isn’t the more graphical style that I was enjoying before, it is a style I now want to investigate further.

Hannah Cook

I feel that this image has become too complicated by applying a complex and detail intense image to one that is also quite complex; this doesn’t work unless just areas of the background one are showing through to give hints of colour, as in the previous image. I chose not to crop the extra image where it isn’t all covered by the acetate as I quite liked the effect; it has a candid, scrapbook feel to it.

Hannah Cook

I think this image worked well, as the bottom section of the acetate was quite clear, so the yellow of the image underneath really bought it to life, with hints of blue that lead further up. I think the textures match in some ways, but not as well as in other images.

The following image embraces the mix of textures in a much better way, see on the right where the pattern joins up and ties the image together. I think the links in the orange rust colour work harmoniously together in this example.

Hannah Cook

I just wanted to highlight the differences between the scanned acetate and the original image. The top image is the scanned acetate, and the bottom is the original. The acetate does lose a lot of its vibrancy and gives off a more desaturated tone. This could just be due to the fact it was from a different printer, or something could be lost in the process of scanning it. I also think it holds more of a gritty texture, but at the end of the day i am layering these with other images so the differences are not as noticeable when combined with other images.

Hannah Cook

Evaluation What did I set out to achieve?

I wanted to decontextualize an image, and without knowing it until recently, practice in formalism. Making and looking at an image based on its aesthetic qualities alone, with disregard for its social/historical context and concepts. I wanted to continue to work in an abstract manner and develop my own style more, but through observing scenes rather than creating them, like I have done so much of in the past.

To what degree have I achieved this?

I can’t help but feel I have so much more to do, although this is intended to be an open ended project, I feel I have only brushed the surface. However saying this, I feel I have made great progress in all the things I set out to do, and if I could have achieved this in 4 weeks, then I would have been missing the point of this whole module. I think what is most important to note is how enthusiastic I am to continue this. Usually getting a project over with cannot come quick enough, but as I type this a day before the deadline I do not feel as though the project is coming to an end, more that it has just sparked interest into a project that could (and should) be experimented with and explored for months on end.

What have I learnt?

I think the most important think I have learnt was what formalism was! I am kicking myself for not knowing sooner as I think the whole notion of it is completely critical to my practices. It has also given me reassurance and confirmation that my photography doesn’t always need to be about something, it is okay to just be beautiful. I feel I have developed a more acute eye to spotting areas of interest within a scene. It was something I felt that I could do before, but I feel like that this skill has become more refined. I feel I have stuck my toe a bit deeper into mixed media, which has always interested me, but I have never properly explored it. It has given me a taste of what is possible, including, but not exclusive to photography.

Where did I come across difficulties?

Without a doubt the most difficult element of my project was matching pairs of images to combine, it was earlier when I had the images physically in front of me, but it was really hard to find relationships between images. I believe this was due to me spending too much time looking at them, and becoming too

Hannah Cook

accustomed to them. Had I looked at the images with fresh eyes, I feel that making these links would have been much simpler. Perhaps this is the reason Abigail Reynolds uses photographs she has found in books rather than her own, as I have found you can be over-critical of your own work and often not sees the potential in images because you have just spent too much time thinking about it. I can completely understand why some people are just photographers and others are just curators.

What more is there to do, and where can I see this developing?

I can easily see my next project being a development of practicing in formalism as I feel it is the exact ethos I have been thinking about for the past year, but haven’t quite wholly achieved. I can see myself working more in mixed media and making use of alternative equipment, such as the light box. I also feel I should think about displaying my work in a more interactive manner, such as through installations. I do not feel that this is the end of the project and feel it can be extended on for months and months, and this is what I intend to do!

The things I still want to do, but have run out of time to:   

Cutting the acetate into pieces and reconstructing an image.

Use of a light box Combining different media of the same image e.g. matte, glossy paper, acetate etc.

 

Following the idea of ‘it’s all the small things that make up the universe) Getting more involved in practicing in a formalist way.

Hannah Cook