Year 12 Erin C Art as Alternate Phase 3
IA3 Project — Inquiry phase 3 Art as alternate (General syllabus) Inquiry question: How can artists communicate the idea of afterlife through personal connections? Context/s: Personal and Contemporary Media: Acrylic on mirror
Contents • Focus — Inquiry phase 1 • Annotated illustration of IA2 resolved work • Resolved work • Artist statement • Resolved work — display • Resolved work — details • Annotated illustration of resolved work • Supporting evidence
Focus — Inquiry phase 1 The strong reactions to Abdullah’s work truly inspired me and made me think how I can resonate with people more and force them to connect with my art. So, for my focus, I will be exploring more ways to connect with my audience through different styles and even using elements of popular culture to communicate more ideas of afterlife in even more cultures to expand my audience and their understanding of my messages.
Annotated illustration of IA2 resolved work
Resolved work
“A Message From the Cosmos” 3 Panels (52cm x 75cm) Acrylic on canvas and origami
Artist statement “Reflection of Death” Acrylic on Mirror Glass 30x30, 30x20, 18x12 and 40x15 cm Panels These painted mirrors are representations of what my personal afterlife could look like. I was inspired by the concept that dreams and afterlife are interconnected. In the subconscious mind, familiarity is paramount which is why I chose to paint familiar landscapes of places I had travelled. In theory, these places would be what I would see when I die. Continuing with familiarity, nostalgia is an often reoccurrence in dreams. The reflective pieces in the panels and the other strange imagery are elements from movies I loved watching with my parents. My wish is that people will see these paintings and are sparked with ideas about what they remember fondly from the past or where they feel most comfortable as these memories will become the essence of our afterlife. This work challenges the way death is seen. It emits a wistful peace and contentment proclaiming that the unknown can be beautiful.
Resolved work — display
“Reflection of Death” 11 Panels (30x30, 30x20, 18x12, 40x15 cm) Acrylic on Mirrored Glass
Resolved work — details
“Reflection of Death” 30x20cm Acrylic on Mirrored Glass
Resolved work — details
“Reflection of Death” 30x20cm Acrylic on Mirrored Glass
Resolved work — details
“Reflection of Death” 30x20cm Acrylic on Mirrored Glass
Resolved work — details
“Reflection of Death” 30x20cm Acrylic on Mirrored Glass
Resolved work — details
“Reflection of Death” 30x20cm Acrylic on Mirrored Glass
Resolved work — details
“Reflection of Death” 18x12cm Acrylic on Mirrored Glass
Resolved work — details
“Reflection of Death” 18x12cm Acrylic on Mirrored Glass
Resolved work — details
“Reflection of Death” 30x30cm Acrylic on Mirrored Glass
Resolved work — details
“Reflection of Death” 30x30cm Acrylic on Mirrored Glass
Resolved work — details
“Reflection of Death” 40x15cm Acrylic on Mirrored Glass
Resolved work — details
“Reflection of Death” 40x15cm Acrylic on Mirrored Glass
Annotated illustration of resolved work Developing o I began to expand on what afterlife could mean in a more personal context and decided that I would focus on a positive theory o To explore alternate methods of art related to my new focus, I explored symbolism in dreams to identify an opportunities o The imagery of portals and doorways often appears in visualisation of dreams and also afterlife which lead to reflective surfaces as the new canvas Researching o For this new focus between dreams and afterlife, I determined that surrealism style paintings were a good starting point looking at the work of Dali, which initially inspired the child like, nostalgia aspect of my body or work o I then moved onto research Abdul Abdullah and took inspiration from his use of two different styles in the same painting. This is reflective of the contrast in my own work of natural landscapes and childish film symbols. Reflecting o The main contrast of colour in this piece is reflective of my interest in contemporary surrealism and chaos aesthetics which often have many clashing colours and contrasting objects digitally manipulated together o The semi-realistic style of the landscapes, similar to another inspiration Euan Macleod, are kept somewhat ambiguous as to where they are to remind the audience that the afterlife is still an unknown and nothing is clear about life beyond death.
Supporting evidence 1 Research on Afterlife and Dreams o At death, the conscious mind disintegrates together with the body but the subconscious is not dependent on the physical realm. Therefore, it continues to exist after death; in the afterlife. o Death would be like the most realistic, intense dream you've ever had, except you never wake up. o This means death can be beautiful or terrible depending on the content of your subconscious. o The subconscious mind bases its scenes based on only things its witnessed or close enough that it can fill in the blanks making your afterlife consist of familiar subjects and places. Further Explanation From Brainstorm For Body of Work Painting on Mirrors o The symbolism will be related to how in the afterlife it is theorised that the subconscious mind takes over. So painting familiar landscapes and nostalgic memories on a reflective surface, it will act as a reflection of what my afterlife may look like. Landscapes o The landscapes painted have been photos that myself and my family have taken and travelled too. Nostalgic/Dreamscape Elements o These were chosen based on what was most vividly reminded me of when I was little and what I used to do with my parents. Primarily, old movies and TV shows came to mind so familiar landscapes and familiar symbols from each show was combined.
Supporting evidence 2 Euan Macleod o Macleod’s work is very enticing for me in the way the landscapes are painted abstractly but still realistic enough for it to feel familiar. o I am intrigued at how me leaves the figures in his paintings ambiguous and unidentifiable because for me that relates to the dreamscape quite closely. o Often, I find that my dreams are hard to remember or if I do, they are difficult to understand or recall a vivid picture of them. It makes me wonder how often I don’t recognise familiar things just because after I wake up my brain erases it. Macleod, Euan, Solo Exhibtion Figure in a Dissolving Landscape (Pull Up), 2020 Dimensions: 84x120cm https://kingstreetgallery.com.au/artists/e uan-macleod/
Abdullah, Abdul, Everything is Fine, 2016 Dimensions: 96.5x96.5cm https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/ sulman/2016/29781/
Salvador Dali o This early work from Dali is quite different from his later, more well known pieces. It interests me because of the definite change in medium through his career. o I like that the watercolour and gouache can create many layers on top of one another and that to me has meaning in itself. o The building of paint on a surface over and over again replicates for me the depth of life and how we have so many memories to recall. But the further back the layer of painting or memory, the more ambiguous it becomes. Dali, Salvador, The First Day of Spring, 1922-1923 Dimensions: 20.8x15cm https://www.wikiart.org/en/salvador-dali/thefirst-day-of-spring-1923 Abdul Abdullah o In this particular Body of Work from Abdullah (Everything is Fine) images of people or objects that have serious connotations are semi covered with childishly drawn smiley faces. o It is an interesting juxtaposition that I think relates with the mixing of dreamscapes and afterlife. Dreams are often happy, especially when nostalgia is involved for me personally whereas afterlife is serious and something that makes me personally uncomfortable thinking about. o His work makes me ponder about coping mechanisms and how possibly thinking of happy childhood memories is a way to escape thinking about how scary the thought of an unknown death is.
Supporting evidence 3 Experiment 1 o In the first experiment I completed, I decided to mess around with gouache painting and replicate some form of ambiguous figures similar to Macleod. o Using light-handed techniques and holding the brush near the end to relinquish control over the stroke worked super well o However, this medium is too water based to work on mirrors as when I tried, the water and paint balled together and wouldn’t paint on properly.
Experiment 2 o The experiment below was trialling how colour can affect the mood of a landscape. o I was thinking about how some dreams feel familiar but you are in a place that you have never seen before. I think is because of colour. o It was almost like a filter how the same image can look so different just from colour changes. o However, This technique would I think make the line of familiarity to blurred especially with the style already being abstract.
Experiment 3 o In this experiment I was playing with morphing childhood memories in their opposites. This was playing off of Abdullah’s work trying to blend serious and not together. o In the first panel, it is a picture of the hand from the Addams Family movie which I watched every Halloween with my Parents. It is a fond memory so I tried to make it creepy. o The second was inspired by an old picture book I read frequently: The Wide Mouthed Frog, Another fond memory flipped. o Every Sunday my Dad cooks bacon and eggs for us which is lovely so once again I flipped it into a surreal image. o The last is a painting from the Care Bears Movie which was already quite surreal so I changed the colours to intensify that feeling. Experiment 4 o This experiment was the last I completed before moving on to my body of work. o I decided to try out painting an abstract landscape I was planning on painting for my BOW as well to try some brush techniques. Using fan brushes and thinner brushes to create different shapes in the paint. o This worked well and the landscape turned out nicely. When compared to this picture, you can tell it’s the same place but it is still vague and abstract. o The dinosaur was a reflection of Abdullah’s work with the childish drawings and line work. o I was not a fan of this technique because it made the message blurred for me and rather than seeming like the two aspects of my work were blended together they seemed like two different ideas that don’t work together.
Supporting evidence 4
Painting on mirrors o Painting on mirrors was the final decision and acrylic paint was to be used. o Once I started the first panel, I realised that the layering techniques I was using to reflect Dali’s work and the techniques I practiced with gouache were too rough for the mirror. o Eventually, the paint became too thick and would start to lift on the surface revealing the mirror underneath in odd patches. o To fix this in the later panels, I simply added a touch of water to the paint for it to not be so rough and thick and I also used softer brushes and light handed techniques especially when painting trees and grass.
Photographing of the BOW o Revealing the mirror was still the best idea but there was an issue of how the panels were to be photographed. o In the image below my camera is completely visible which does not aid the artistic style. o So, to combat this issue I thought about what should be reflected. o I came up with the idea to make the link between these panels and afterlife more clear so in each piece of mirror, I held a skull over the camera. o This symbolism perfectly links the two focuses together and is an alternate method of art.
Scratched away elements o Once I began painting more panels, I realised that unless you were told, you couldn’t tell that it was a mirror. o So, I decided to make whatever nostalgic element was being incorporated into the landscape to be scratched away to reveal the reflective surface. o This was very alternate I thought as it is not a common surface to paint on and therefore revealing it, brings out the alternative nature of the Body of Work further.
References • Archibald Prize Sulman 2016 finalist: Everything is fine by Abdul Abdullah. (2016). Retrieved 24 July 2021, from https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/sulman/2016/29781/ • Do dreams have any connection with the afterlife? - Quora. (2018). Retrieved 24 July 2021, from https://www.quora.com/Do-dreams-have-any-connection-with-the-afterlife • Ehlmann, B, (2016). Retrieved 24 July 2021, from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/131210069.pdf • Euan Macleod - King Street Gallery on William. (2020). Retrieved 24 July 2021, from https://kingstreetgallery.com.au/artists/euan-macleod/ • The First Day of Spring, 1922 - 1923 - Salvador Dali - WikiArt.org. (2016). Retrieved 24 July 2021, from https://www.wikiart.org/en/salvador-dali/the-first-day-of-spring-1923