I feel my project has been very successful. I set out with the aim to explore overlooked art in all its forms, researching a range of overlooked art including outsider art, high and low art, bricolage, and intervention art. I successfully carried out my research, which developed my understanding of overlooked art contextually, historically, and socially. I found the contextual and social aspect of Ben Wilson and Charles Bronson's work inspiring, however it is the historical aspect of this research that influenced my project the most, as upon exploring cave drawings I discovered the vast history of artist intervention, which intrigued me. This led to me researching intervention further, which I developed into particularly focusing on modern interventions. This is when I began researching the Chapman Brothers, as from previously visiting the Tate Britain I was fascinated by their deceiving, humorous, intervention based work. The brothers greatly influenced my work, as I began experimenting with creating inauthentic work to fool viewers, such as my Holy Water bottle design. Through my further experiments (creating miniature figures/scenes), I started to consider how I could juxtapose old with new like the Chapman brothers had done, as I found the effect created by this very interesting. I developed my interventions into modern interventions, choosing old forms of art and subject matters (stained glass windows, bible stories) as my base to juxtapose this. I feel this created an effective result as it is thought provoking and engaging. The viewer is encouraged to interpret the work in their own way, perhaps being shocked by it, or finding it humorous or insightful. This is an effect that I aimed to create, inspired by Antony Gormley who I researched and analysed for my previous project. I feel this effect contributes to making the work all the more engaging, enigmatic, and personal to the viewers.
Throughout this project I have utilized many different processes and techniques, which have all helped me generate and explore my ideas, and develop and focus my work.
I have developed my Photoshop and Illustrator skills through creating a bottle label, stained glass design, and leaflet. Without these programs I wouldn't have been able to create such polished, professional outcomes. I have also explored wax carving, which is something I had never done before. I found this a great technique to use as the wax was very easy to work with, and created a neat and effective result. I learnt a lot about the process of carving through getting straight to it and doing it myself. This is a skill that I can take forward with me and possibly utilize in the future.
A process I spent more time exploring was manipulating architectural models and painting them. I found this enjoyable however time consuming, and so had to ensure I planned my time effectively (which I did). The process required me to focus on the positioning and small details of the figures, as these were very important aspects. The positioning had to be perfect to communicate the correct message and represent the true nature of the scene. The small details were important as they portrayed the identity of the figures and in some cases the interventions.
Another process I enjoyed exploring was drawing stained glass windows onto acetate with permanent marker pens. This process was quick and easy and produced convincing, aesthetically pleasing results. Stained glass windows have a fairly distinct style (which I discovered from my research). Drawing in this style was new to me, and so this was a new skill that I leant that may benefit me in the future.
Other processes that I found less successful were bricolage, wrapping objects (like Christo), and doodling. I felt they were unsuccessful as they produced ineffective results that I wasn't happy with. These results didn't develop or lead the project in any direction, and weren't aesthetically pleasing or interesting in any way.
If I were to do this project again, I would try to focus on particularly themes in a more clear and organized way, as I feel my project can appear slightly confusing unless explained properly. With more time I would have explored a wider range of techniques and processes, such as screen printing or carving with a wider range of materials.
I came across many obstacles throughout this project, however successfully overcame them all. An example is when I came to a seemingly dead end near the beginning of my project, once I had started experimenting. I felt that none of my experiments had enough depth in them, and wouldn't lead to an interesting project. However despite this I carried on exploring every idea I had, whilst having tutorials in between. Leading on from a short tutorial with Lorna I began exploring the historical side of overlooked art, which led to my cave drawing experiments. In a tutorial with Justin we discussed ideas based around this experiment, which is when my project really began to develop and move forward with the focus of intervention art.
For all of the above reasons I feel my project was successful and went to plan. My planning and recording was effective, as it helped me to use my time as efficiently as I could, ensuring everything was complete on time. My recording helped me keep track of all of my thoughts and ideas, which I could revisit and develop quickly and effectively. My tutorials with my lecturers aided me in continuously developing my ideas and moving forward with my project, and also helped me to overcome any obstacles I faced.
