Application Portfolio

table of contents

Artwork

Exploring Drawing Technique and Textures

CRUMPLED PAPER

OLD MAN

MICHELLE

SIMON

HOW TO MAKE paINTINGS MOVE

FILM: A SMALL CREATION

FILM: AWAKENING EXPERIENCE

PEN DRAWINGS etc

MURALS AROUND THE WORLD

Expressive Art

Relating to Society

TRUMP CHAIR

SCHOOL HARASSMENT COMIC

ONGOING PROJECTS

A SHORT FILM FROM NEPAL

EXPLORING DRAWING TECHNIQUE AND TEXTURES

These works are created as an investigation of textures, light and shadow. I work with a grid technique, deconstructing a photograph into unrecognizable blocks, until I each block is merely a strange abstract combination of shapes, texture and highlights. This painstaking process of pulling apart a perceived image and reconstructing it (without the brain interpreting its contents) is the only way I can render a high level of realism. As soon as the brain recognizes it's subject, an unconsious process of simplification begins. These images not homages to their subjects, but simply use them as material for this investigative process

HOW TO MAKE PAINTINGS MOVE

I have always found it fascinating how a static painting, in it's wide brushstrokes, splatters of paint and undulating lines, can contain so much movement. And yet it sits demurely on the wall, not quite condescending to interact with the viewer. Film, in contrast, with its smoothly flowing frames glues us to our seats, pulling the viewer into the medium. Always experienced separately, they appear to have little in common - but I wondered, can the immersive flow of film, and the sense of movement in a painting be totally incompatible? 

A small creation June 2016 (attached sourcebook shows preperation and Physical excerpts)

My first experiment can be roughly described as a type of animation - although it doesn't truly fit into any category. I filmed short segments of footage, extracted the individual frames, printed, and repainted them, tallying up to over 100 A4 acrylic paintings - These were the basis for my short film. I scanned and reassembled the images at 15 fade-in frames per second, creating a choppy painterly effect, rich in expressive textures. 

In response to a brief 'Readers are Leaders' this project originally showed the symbolic lighting of a candle, a woman reading, and as she read, her brain beginning to glow. The original lyrics in the audio, which I produced myself as piano and vocals were

An old man told me a story

He said he'd been to sea

and he sailed and he sailed until he slipped off the edge

and fell down and came back free

At a later stage I reworked the audio, and cut the project to it's current 19 seconds, removing weaker sections and preserving it as an experiment with this aesthetic style.

awakening experience october 2017 (see attached Sourcebook)

Created in response to the brief Mayhem and Movement, this short continues my investigation. In A Small Creation I tried to paint a recording - here I try to record paintings - well not quite normal paintings. I used three-dimensional space, painting every inch of my subjects. The background set was constructed from 42 square meters of fabric, painted with acrylic dying techniques, and suspended in a circle in huge hall. My human subjects were painted with a layer of latex and acrylic paint, and worked through a choreographic routine in which the main character slowly changes colour as she passes through different colour environments. 

Ongoing Experiments

In 2017 I continued to experiment with stop motion and paint, this time using a mounted camera, a white plastic panel, and diluted black oil paint.This allowed me, with a rag and cardboard, to paint quickly, capture one frame, and then then move the paint around into the next, slightly altered composition. While promising, this never reached the stage of creating a final product. The mixed aesthetic of paint and film continues to fascinate me, and I am still seeking a technique which allows the creation of individual frames to be fast enough that longer projects would be feasible. 

PEN DRAWINGS

Murals Around the World

Most art projects don't integrate particularly well with the chaos of travel, but site specific projects are the exception. I paint for a few weeks in exchange for food and accomodation; and these weeks are often the most beautiful.

WORK RELATING TO PEOPLE AND SOCIETY

Ongoing Projects

A Short Film from Nepal

I had the privilege to spend April and May in the high Himalaya and rural areas of Nepal. I have a deep love for film, and for the first time, was traveling with a DSLR with video capability. In place of photographs, I started to take video of simple beautiful moments occurring around me. The clouds rolling in a valley at sunset; the curling smoke of incense; the hectic rush of powerful mountain rivers carving stone, dancing flames in a temple. I plan to compile the resulting collected footage into a short film of 3 - 7 minutes focused on immersive aesthetic and feeling, concentrating ancient elements together, in a way suitable to this ancient country: water, fire, air, earth.