The Degree Show

The above photo is a dramatisation of events, which may have occurred in a parallel universe 

The text below refers to the actual events, in our universe

So Don never did show up, and Kirk might not have beamed down from the Enterprise to seduce Betty, however alot of other people did turn up - I can say with great certainty I've never seen so many people mill about the studio floors. Initially I was running around, incredibly nervous - trying to make sure no disasters were occurring (I suspect to distract myself from working myself up), saving wine glasses and other pressing matters any self respecting gentleman would jump to in an occasion such as this.

So just how was it? Find out after the jump.

Preview to the Degree Show

If you've not heard about it by now, where have you been and how did you stumble across this blog? The De Montfort University Fine Art Degree Show will be opening tomorrow!

The dates are as follows,

The Preview

Friday 17th June

5.30pm - 8.30pm

The Main Show

Saturday 18th June - Thursday 23rd June

Weekends

11.00am - 4.00pm

Weekdays

10.00am - 5.00pm

Whilst there is a chance Don might not being coming, (he hasnt got back to me yet) you can be sure that I'll be there. You'd better be too, otherwise you'll be square (in some cases its actually hip to be square, not this instance however).

Final year Assessments, and the upcoming Degree show

Many, many weeks ago now perhaps even before we broke up for Easter, we had to produce a completed proposal form, for our upcoming Degree show.

So, I give you Exhibit A - one completed proposal;

Now, admittedly I dont actually remember scanning this in and yet, I found it lying around, gathering (pretend) dust in my final year folder on my Mac. There was a wonderfully scrawled sketch showing the  desired space on the back - however I dont seem to have scanned that in sadly, but what you may notice is that I asked for two walls, which were situated opposite each other - in essence a bay. This was for my planned triptych and (finished) diptych to sit. 

Things didnt go quite according to plan however and so instead of hanging the triptych, I painted and hung a tetraptych. A tetraptych, is basically four panels instead of the original three, found in a triptych. 

A wonderfully elaborate plan of its layout may be found after the jump, along with the trials of prepping the studio itself.

The power of the photograph

I think, in the age of digital photography, we often take for granted the curious ability to instantly capture images, and see whether its desirable or not. Facebook has transformed (to an extent) the way which we see ourselves documented in the world, people upload photos, the good, the bad and sometimes just the plain ugly.

To this end then, I think the power of the photographic image has been lessened, though in the right hands it can still provide a powerful polarising image. Eadweard Muybridge provided an invaluable source of extensive photos of animals, and humans in motion. These wonderful images go through  a complete range of actions and articulations and are a truly fascinating study.

My practice relies upon relics, the forgotten and abandoned images of our past, though this wasnt always so.

Last years work, revolved around the use of photos which had a personal connection to myself. They are, of course my Grandparents moments, their memories contained within a series of small processed sheets dating from the late 1950s, to the early part of the 1960s one example of which you can see above. I imagine in another 50 years time their delicate nature will seem absolutely absurd, as increasingly as I mentioned earlier, Facebook and its prevalence amongst my generation means we have little need for a hard copy, everything is stored digitally [More after the jump].

Hiatus/Return

My lack of activity since November has really been down to the fact that the past year, in terms of uni has been incredibly crazy. I've gone through periods where I feel like my work has progressed tenfold, and then times where I just fight with the canvas as if I'm banging my head against a wall.

As it stands, our degree show is coming up incredibly fast and it seems as though everyone has yet to finalise what we'll be showing.