ARTISTS
STATEMENT
ROSELYN CLEARY
K00132412
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
My work is based on the idea of
memory and identity but in a more expanded
View in which I am investigating
the notion of absence and presence, the
Passage of time. It is very
personal work but yet I aim for it to resonate in a
More universal manner. My home
place and environs, in particular my father,
Act as a springboard for my work.
I want to show my connection with
my father through the use of different
Processes and materials. My
intention is to capture the human presence that once gave a place and objects
meaning and elevate them back to this significant level,
While also enabling the viewer to
associate facets of their lives with my work.
I work with Printmaking,
Photography, Film and Sculpture.
My objective is to create a
strong body of work that effectively communicates my concept.
RESEARCH
I am guided and informed through
the process of contextualization. I am working within a broad cultural setting
and placing my work in relation to contemporary artists and writers who use the
concept of memory, loss, vanishing and changing times, informs and influences
my direction. Analysis of their theories and concepts is pivotal in informing
my own. Their methods and practice of utilizing their ideas in order to form
their art, plays an essential and fundamental role in how they place themselves
in the world. This in turn helps me as an artist to contextualize my practice,
evolve and become more knowledgeable and responsive towards contemporary
practice.
Secondary research is a very
important component in my research methodology.
Throughout my studies I have
encountered many inspiring works and lately a number of new artists have been
introduced to me. Library books, magazines, online databases, websites, gallery
visits and exhibitions provide access to various artists’ work while opening up
my mind and my opinion towards my own.
It is the work of Amelia Stein,
Miyako Ishiuchi, Philip Toledano, Patrick Fitzpatrick and Ori Gersht my path
this year. Amelia Steins’ project
‘Memory and Loss’, Miyako Ishiuchis’ ‘Mothers’ series, Philip Toledanos’
journal ‘Days with my Father’ and the exploration of memory by Patrick Fitzpatrick.
They all utilize the validity of personal relationships and the importance of
objects in the lives of their loved ones, within their work, a notion very
evident in mine. Their style, a certain aspect or perhaps just the idea and
concept behind their work has opened up my own mind relative to my own.
Artists I have also looked at:
•
Louise
Bourgeois
•
Amelia
Stein
•
Christian
Boltanski
•
Miyako
Ishiuch
•
Anselm
Kiefer
•
Elizabeth
le Court
•
Tracy
Emin
•
Kevin
Cosgrave
•
Patrick
O Reilly
•
Jim
Dine
•
Mona
Hatoum
•
Daphne
Wright
•
Felix
Gonzales Torres
•
Sam
Taylor Wood
•
Ori
Gersht
•
Philip
Tollendona
•
Susan
Hiller
•
Doug
Keyes
Artists I saw and
admired at the Venice Biennale:
•
Richard
Mosse- Irish Pavilion
•
Antti
Laitinen who represented Finland with Forest Square.
•
Sarah
Ste- America
•
Konrad
Smolenski- Poland
•
Antoni
Tapies.
FYP
My FYP disscusses in the form of a critical review my
current practise
I analyse the role of photography in generating memory
and experience.
To consider how this relates to and is applied in my
own practice.
To contextualise my work in relation to contemporary
artists who use photography in their practice as a means of conduit for memory,
loss, vanishing and changing times. Writers who influenced my work include
Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, Elizabeth Edwards and Martha Langford.
PRINTMAKING
I work mainly with Etching and Aquatint. Early in the
Semester I was working on a large screenprint of my Dads tools. I felt I needed
to push my printmaking to a higher level of experimentation and ability. My
current work consists of prints pulled fron etched plates that show the
soundwaves of my Fathers voice. I recorded him repeating my name and the
resulting soundwave represents in the form of a ‘visual manta’. The second
soundwave is of him relaying a story to me from his childhood. The prints are
accompnaied by text. These plates were very successful and are a work in progress.
My second project in printmaking consisted of plates I
made with my fahter.
I wanted to involve daddy in
making the plates. Since I had created his sound digitally I wanted to create
it visually too. By attaching zinc plates to the back of his wheelchair I got
him to drive around outside at home and relay stories of the place to me .The
resulting plate has the markings of the journey and the story I also got daddy
to scratch into the plates while speaking. Again these plates are accompanied
by text.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Digital
Developing on from taking photos
of my fathers’ belongings and eager to make my work more collective and share
other people’s experiences and memories of their loved ones I am creating a
body of photographs with accompanying texts. Strong images of my fathers
shaving brush and watch encouraged me to aim on
Improving my photography skills,
become more confident in the studio and complete a solid complete body of work.
Objects furnish recollection and
stimulate remembering, bringing back experiences that would have remained
dormant. With the help of some of my
peers who kindly accepted to bring in objects which belonged to their loved
ones, either their mother or father, I was able to fashion a series of images
which are imbued with the memory of the person.
The viewer is allowed to first
take in the photograph and the separate accompanying texts elucidate the image
and give a description of the associated memory, which the object holds.
This project is on going and I am
working on how I will present them. It is a body of work I feel may be strong
enough for the end of year show.
Dads chair has always played a
part in his life. I wanted to remove the chair, a piece of furniture in all our
lives, out of its context and bring it on a journey.
I photographed it in all the
places we would have frequented on our Sunday drives and also out on the farm.
Places laden with memory for me.
At first I made the chair evident
in the scene but I have now began to make it less obvious so it blends in with
its surrounds. Once again this is a work in progress.
Analogue
My analogue images consist of double
exposed panoramic photographs taken with my Lomography Camera. Black and white
images create a sense of old and time passed.
They are thought provoking and
give the viewer a chance to unravel the mystery in the meaning of the
photograph.
Polaroid
Polaroid photographs have no
separate negatives that can be manipulated and it cannot be altered like a
digital image. Therefore it is an authentic record of reality.
They are inherently memory laden,
to look at one you are reminded of the past, even though it is a new picture.
Being part of the process of the
photo becoming an image, the whole thing becomes more valuable and to me they
have uniqueness due to it being a one- of- a- kind photography. My Polaroid
work is on going and I am building up a collection of snap shots.
FILM
Ticking
Watch Time Lapse Piece
The strong images of my
father’s watch led to the
idea of making a stop motion video piece of the hand movement of the watch.
The minute hand is slowed
down and speeded up at different intervals representing the passage of time in
our lives. This piece is not just about my father’s time instead my intent is to represent everyone’s time, a common link
between us all.
I toyed with the idea of
adding sound, a ticking clock, however, for me the silence allows the viewer to
become preoccupied and engrossed with the hand movement.
SCULPTURE
Woodturning
I have continued using the
element of wood and develop the woodturning skills that my father thought me. Inspired
by Louise Bourgeois’ ‘Personages’ I am creating totemic like
pieces that represent the person. These four pieces signify my family.
They have a sensibility about
them and are a visual representation of what my father has taught me.
Casting
Representing the tools of
the trade a lot can be told from by a person’s hands. My father’s hands have the
marks of a life time of hard work and I wanted to capture this.
I made a cast of his hand
using acrylic resin. I plan on developing this further and experiment with
different types of resin and materials.
SLOW MOTION VIDEO PIECE
This semester I will be making a slow motion video piece of a clock
falling to its destruction, exploding. This piece is inspired
by the work of Ori Gersht and will represent the destruction of time.
It will start as real time, the clock ticking and then
it will stop and fall from a height in slow motion.
I purpose to challenge people’s perception of time and
capture the emotional elements related to the passage of time. It will be a
visual portrayal capturing the termination of time.
CONCLUSION
I feel my work has progressed, especially my
printmaking and photography. I have developed my concept to a more universal
level and pushed my abilities and ideas.
All my work is in progress and I will continue to experiment, improve
and expand my practice in preparation for the end of year show.
