Research

Artists

Michael Snow - AV / Film

Michael Snow's La Région Centrale influenced several aspects of my film. His use of continuous movement and camera rotation over long periods of time stood out to me. The moments where the camera is rotated fully upside down created a dizzying yet hypnotic effect, which inspired me to experiment with similar camera movements in my own filming.

While Snow's film made me feel slightly uneasy, partly due to the audio and constant, intense movement, I chose to take a different approach by creating a calmer and more peaceful atmosphere. Despite this contrast, the constant movement present in La Région Centrale influenced the subtle motion within my film. The movement in my film emphasises the passage of time and encourages a slower, more reflective experience for the viewer.

Rebecca Warren - 3D / Clay

Rebecca Warren's artwork focuses on the human body in abstract and distorted ways. When I first came across her, I was drawn to the unique quality of her work. The way she leaves surfaces rough and unfinished challenges traditional expectations of sculpture which is usually associated with smooth and refined surfaces.

The piece Crocciono particularly stood out to me, as the unstable form and exaggerated calves emphasise gesture and create a unique shape. In my interpretation, the figure's high heels and enlarged calves emphasise the physical strain that heels place on the body, highlighting the stress that aesthetic standards that society imposes.

Her work sits between abstraction and figuration, where the body is suggested rather than neatly presented. This encouraged me to reflect on my own instinct to refine and neaten my artwork, and to consider how texture and imperfection can communicate emotion more effectively.

Tomma Abts - Painting

Tomma Abts' paintings explore abstract, geometric forms and subtle colour relationships. In her artwork, she reduces painting to simple shapes, lines and colours, while still creating depth through shading. Her colour palette is often simple, using limited colour options, which allows subtle changes in shades to be more noticeable.

I am particularly drawn to her piece Uphe as the lines and colours blend well together, and I find the gradual shift in tones and shading aesthetic and interesting to look at. Despite the neat results of her work, her working process differs almost directly. Abts does not plan the final outcome of her compositions in advance, and develops them gradually throughout the painting process. This approach encouraged me to work more freely with abstraction and to trust instinctive decision-making, rather than working towards a perfectly planned outcome.

Lorraine Molins - Painting

I discovered Lorraine Molins through researching artists who have created artwork with multiple canvases, after completing my painting induction piece. Molins' work is often abstract, using multiple panels to display her art. I discovered that diptychs, triptychs and quadriptychs are pieces of art displayed across multiple canvases. Her approach to presenting her work this way encourages the viewer to view the pieces together rather than as an individual work as there is no gap in between the canvases.

Two of her diptych pieces in particular, Chrome Revolve and Electric Pink, stood out to me. These pieces demonstrate how colour, form, and repetition can be used across different panels. Molins links each piece through colour, shape and through the canvas itself, which helped me to think about how individual elements of a piece can work together to create a single composition.

Her use of diptychs and other formats has influenced my thinking surrounding future projects, particularly the different ways that paintings can be connected. This has given me ideas to further explore linked panels and repeated forms in my own work.

Bridget Riley - 2D / Printing

Bridget Riley's work focuses on creating optical illusions through repeated shapes, strong contrasts, and careful placement. I am interested in how her work is extremely precise, as small changes in spacing can completely change how the image is perceived. In the piece Untitled [Fragment 1/7], the placement of the lines create a sense of movement, and make the piece look like it is almost vibrating.

Looking at Riley's work made me more aware of how important accuracy is when creating optical effects. In my own prints, the slight misalignment and irregularity softened the illusion, which helped me realise how the lack of precision can affect the overall visual impact of the work.

Artist Talk - Jessica Ashman

As someone who loves to play and listen to music, Jessica Ashman's artist talk was particularly inspiring to me. What resonated with me most was that she is both a musician and a visual artist. She spoke openly about the ups and downs of her career, which made the reality of having a creative career more relatable and less idealised.

I also found her talk inspiring because she has experience with performing music, which is something I find very intimidating. She showed footage from her performance at the Supernormal Festival, and I found her work, Those that do not smile will kill me: Decolonising Jamaican Flora, fascinating. Her paintings on silk were my favourite as each piece felt like entering a different world.

Although I am unsure whether I would ever want to perform myself, I related to her honesty about how nerve-wracking performance can be. Even though I also do not plan to follow an animation-based pathway, her story was still very inspiring to me.

Gallery Visits

Juliet Klottrup - Lakeland Arts Windermere Jetty Museum

During my visit to the Lake District in October, I explored an exhibition on Juliet Klottrup at the Lakeland Arts Windermere Jetty Museum. I was captivated by her photography work as it has a soft, delicate tone and picturesque quality. Although not many qualities of her work can be seen in my film Temporary, I tried to capture clips which convey a similar gentle and atmospheric mood, and her art was an inspiration during the making of my film.

Klottrup's paintings have a childlike technique to them in the sense that she focuses on the colour rather than the shape. Her paintings resemble natural landscapes; in the painting In a calm 1786, the colours resemble a sunset over a body of water, and a few of her other paintings resemble landscapes with bodies of water represented by colour.

Although her work did not directly influence my own work, the abstract way in which she manipulates colour made me think differently about how I use colour in my work, and that I can use colour to suggest something rather than explicitly show it. This visit helped me understand how subtle tones and abstract colours can create an impact on a piece overall.

La Galerie d'Art

I also visited La Galerie d'Art. Although this space may not be considered a traditional exhibition gallery, the architectural studies and pieces inspired by music interested me. The work by Susan Brown reminded me of my A-Level art work, as I looked at many architectural paintings in this style throughout my A-Level Art course.

Several works by The Northern Line and Karen Reavill also caught my attention. These pieces surrounded music, such as Top of the Pops, Discover the Sounds of the 60s, Greatest Brits and Oasis - We Were the Last of the Rock Stars. These pieces are modern and contemporary, which encourage me to think about different ways that music can be turned into visual art. For my future work, I am considering incorporating vinyl records into my art as I find them fascinating, visually and practically.

Castle Fine Art, Brighton

On a visit to Brighton, I explored Castle Fine Art, which displayed a range of contemporary art works. Many art works shown were inspirational to me, especially paintings by Johnny Depp, where his loose and expressive brushwork stood out to me. His pieces Add The Light and A Rose Is A Rose Is A Rose are my favourite. The loose brushwork inspired me to think about making art in this way in the future, and as I have noticed before with artists like Rebecca Warren, mark-making and gesture can enhance the quality of an artwork and convey more emotions.

Another piece of art that intrigued me was an interactive artwork by Joseph Jones. His series of X-RAY pieces require the viewer to look through a transparent red or blue lens in order to see two separate pieces of work in one. The blue lens allowed you to see the human face, while the red lens allowed the viewer to see the skeleton behind the face. The painting can also be viewed as a whole, and I think it is interesting how it looks fascinating in all three scenarios. This method engaged me more with the work and encouraged active participation rather than passively observing the artwork.