Well no art updates for now, I have been currently distracted try to write my Artist statement for my MA.

It’s hard work trying to figure it out, but I do not focus this way I will get nothing done. That’s not to say I have not been thinking about things as I have some pieces ready to go.

Best watch this space

Following on from yesterday’s post the gorilla glue seems to have done what it says on the tin.
Now to tidy up and then start carving.
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Having studied some photos of Neolithic stone carvings I found myself taken with this sculpture

This is the ‘Balıklıgöl Statue’ (nicknamed the ‘Snowman’ by the press) and is thought to be one of the oldest sculptures in the world.

He is carved out of limestone with obsidian eyes. But what interests me is the break lines and how he has been replaced together.

Can I recreate the same sort of effect by glueing bits of mortar together? Well there is only one way to find out and that is to give it a go

So off I went to Wilkos to get some gorilla glue. I have made an interlocking stack of mortar, now to let the glue set and to see what happens.

Watch this space

So this is a finished figure it has taken quite a few days to model this figure and yes there are some flaws in it but overall I’m rather happy with the results. I’m glad I took the decision to leave the front of the figure as it is, all I have done to enhance this is rub brown chalk in to it.

I have also been finding time to do more research and whilst looking at the work of Jan Krizek a Czechoslovakian outsider artist I came across this definition of Art Brut by Jean Dubuffet

“By this (Art Brut) we mean pieces of work executed by people untouched by artistic culture, in which therefore mimicry, contrary to what happens in intellectuals, plays little or no part, so that the authors draw everything (subjects, choice of materials employed, means of transposition, rhythms, ways of writing, et cetera.) From own depths and not from clichés of classical art or art that is fashionable. Here we are witnessing an artistic operation that is completely pure, raw, reinvented in all its phases by its author, based solely on his own impulses. Art, therefore, in which is manifested the. sole function of invention, and not those, constantly seen in cultural arts, of the chameleon and the monkey.

Excerpted from Jean Dubuffet L’art brut prefere aux arts culturels, Galerie Rene Drouin, Paris, 1949.

I feel now more than ever whilst in this period of lockdown that we as artists have to find new ways and materials to express ourselves, thus taking the working practice of the outsider artist with the freedom to use non-formalised ways of creating art I feel that I’m able to express myself. I wonder if I would have come to the conclusion of working and carving mortar if we had not been thrown into this situation? whatever the answer is I have found working in this way very liberating.

I expect I am luckier than most to have a purpose-built studio space within my house. It has taken many years to get this point, Before this space I had a small room within the house and a satellite studio, but due to the way that I work it became more and more obvious that I needed a proper space within my house.

Now that I have my studio I would not be without it, it is my place to escape to, a space to sit and think, a place to experiment and realise one’s ideas.

As Daniel Buren says in his article about the studio from 1971

1, it is the place where the work originates

2, It is generally a private place, an ivory tower perhaps.

3, It. is a stationary place where portable objects are produced.

I feel I can relate to these quotes as my studio is where I go to to create, I can spend anything from 10 minutes to hours my studio, throughout the day I dip in and out of it, the security of knowing my studio is there is important to me.

I expect that my studio is also an extension of my mind at times it can be cluttered at others it can be organised. Usually when I’m working on a project I let the clutter build around me once that piece is realised I tidy up so then I can start again. as you can see from the photos a lot of the clutter is due to reference books, materials, and actual work.

At times I would like a bigger space in which to work but in reality no studio is too big or too small, space can always be found and work can always be scaled down.