Michael Palmer

Continuing the theme of using recycled or unwanted items and materials I chose to use 6 Demi Jon home brewing jars gifted to me from a friend. After much posturing I decided on a theme of good verses bad or heaven and hell. The Three Graces.

I settled on the religious term used in both Christian and Catholic faiths, Faith Hope and Charity. This would account for 3 of the jars, the remaining 3 would be juxtaposed with Meth Dope and Chastity. Obviously just a comical play on words at this stage but I went with it.

The main purpose of Faith Hope and Charity being displayed in alcohol brewing jars was a critique on religious virtues and abstinence as preached in the bible and latterly in church. To symbolise these ideals I made a cross, an anchor and a heart out of foam and suspended them by string from the neck down into the jars. With the cross high near the top, the anchor half way down and the heart on the bottom of the jar. This was a critique of the fragility of these ideals in a modern society, they move and swing around with the rest of the jar being empty and vacuous. The second set of jars named, Meth Dope and Chastity would be the antithesis of this. Meth was depicted with crystallised salt, rolled up baking foil to help with its use. This is reminiscent of a faith as the addict needs the drug so much and they are so dependent they almost worship it and crave it. Dope, although not an actual drug more of a term commonly used to describe any illegal narcotic was represented with surgical needles, baking foil and a bag of brown moss and grass collected from the campus grounds, this looked like ‘weed’. Chastity was represented with a dozen condoms sealed in the jar with a rubber bung sealing up the hole.

To display the work I chose to display it on the floor and build up the back row, the good jars, with 3 books under the cross and house bricks under the other 2. The books represented knowledge truth and understanding, and artists’ bile, a book on photographs displaying hope and a book on fundraising and charity. The house bricks were symbols of a firm steady foundation and moral safety. The front 3 jars were just sitting on the floor, lower in order and propriety.

During the peer Crit the work was well received for its theme and depth of understanding, however, that was only after I had given a full explanation of the ideas and detail. The anonymous Crit was quite different, I did not receive a single comment or any feed back in writing. I was later told that although the work looked visually interesting it was also confusing and needed a lot of thinking about which most other students were not prepared to do. So although not a good response for the work it was a very valuable lesson learnt about presentation and subjectivity.

 

Continuing the Uncensored theme we were asked to make 40 individual art works within a 2 week time frame. The main idea behind this was to work as fast as you can, it was all about creation and the process of making, not spending time sketching or researching or simply procrastinating, just make. This is not as easy as it sounds and was indeed a challenge. I decided to use as many different types of media as I could in the given time and to use a large variety of materials.

I already had several new unused canvas’ 300 sheets of gold silver and copper leaf and a whole rage of old paintings I could start with. I also purchased a few old framed photos from a charity shop and set to work. Rather than list every piece I will attached a selection of images.

 

For the small public show a small work was chosen and displayed in the Linear gallery for a week. It was a charity shop water colour painting of flowers which I hated and completely covered with a photograph of 2 wine glasses then gave it a gold leaf ground. I used the original frame and glass and due to its small scale worked very well on the large white wall of the gallery.

Another part of this project was to produce a second work that was based upon a response to the first piece. Instead of painting over and existing work I chose to make a work using found or discarded materials.

A piece of board out of the skip measuring approximately 3ftx4ft was painted over in grey emulsion paint and had stuck to it fragments and strips of the bed sheet which covered the original Uncensored painting during is completion. Multiple layers of emulsion from the studio were then applied over and over again building up texture. Gold leaf was added in several places to give a reflection and also as a comment on the preciousness of material and found art. With the addition of paper cut outs from a free newspaper added in 3 places trying to give the work a little context and scale. This was meant to be a work in a state of flux or evolution. The 2 works were related in the idea of using similar materials and palette, a similar size and also the ambiguity of the image.

 

During the Uncensored project we were asked to produce in secret a postcard. This post card was to be hung anonymously on the corridor wall amongst all the other postcards. The theme would be of our choosing but the initial premise is that we would do it in a style or fashion that would not be instantly recognisable as being by that individual.

I based my idea on film censorship. Using the small 5×3 white paper postcard supplied I decided to make a collage. This collage was constructed from cut outs from the autumn 2017 ‘Tate etc.’ magazine. The main image was that of a young boy which was a still  from the 1961 film ‘The Innocents’ by Jack Clayton. The Russian propaganda insert is from a poster by Nina Vatolinas called ‘Don’t Chatter Be Alert!’ (1941). The rest of the Russian text translates as ‘In days like these the walls have ears, its a small step from gossip to treason’. I entitled the postcard ‘The Rapist’. The title has the French spelling of ‘the’, trying to give the poster a foreign subtitled feel about it with a black and white picture and possibly an independent film quality about it. The font and type face for the title letters which were also cut outs from the same magazine have a punk rock, edgy feel about them reminiscent of the sex pistols music posters of the 1970’s, the first two letters being in the RA font giving an alternative feel of the establishment or the elitist quality associated with the Royal Academy. The idea of putting the poster credits across the boys face also hits at censorship of the under privileged and that of political and cultural cover ups.

 

 

 

 

This project was designed to explore ourselves. To explore the range of pressures imposed upon us from a variety of sources whether it be our own educational context with in the art school, ourselves, our parents, upbringing, class, aspirations, belief, culture our desire to be accepted or included and of course our own internal criticism. All these factors can sometimes prevent us from working, from making art we want to make. In the first instance we will deal with ourselves. We can constantly censor ourselves in both good and bad ways, how many times have we said ‘ I cant do this’ or ‘I’m terrible’. This is obviously unhelpful. Censorship can revolve around some basic principles, Desire, prejudice, ego, morality, faith and fantasy. What is socially acceptable? who decides what is unacceptable and therefore by definition ‘acceptable’?

The things I want censored as a parent differ from what I want as an individual or to have imposed upon me, why? Is it out of a sense of protection? Censorship is designed to protect an individual or a population from harm or influence or infection, is to uncensor to unprotect? This obviously a huge philosophical question and we all have our own thoughts but to try and create an art work which is Uncensoring myself is very difficult. If I produced a work that was offensive I may be happy with it but would I wish my son to see it or my family? if I produced a work which was sensationalising an issue am I not just getting on a band wagon or using it as a shameless form of self promotion? Equally if you simple write ‘FUCK’ on something what does that actually say about you? shallow weak and devoid of actual talent I expect. To explore further some of the key words mentioned before helped me to go in the right direction, well the right direction for me that is.

Ego – or egotistical. self centred, selfish, egocentric, self interested, self seeking, self regarding, self absorbed, self obsessed, self loving, narcissistic, vain, conceited, proud, self important, boastful or bragging.

Morality – principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour. Virtue goodness righteousness rectitude uprightness honesty integrity propriety honour justice fair play justness decency probity chastity purity moral code ethics conduct standards ideals.

Desire – A strong feeling of wanting or to have something. wishing for something to happen. wish for want long for yearn for crave for set ones heart on hanker for pine for thirst for itch for be desperate for have need for to covert aspire to have a fancy for feel like in need for.

Prejudice – Preconceived idea or opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. bias influence sway predispose make partial or partisan colour poison warp twist slant distort bigotry intolerance discrimination preference unfairness inequality inequity racism anti-Semitism chauvinist sexism ageism classism ignorance.

All these powerful words made me think that what I found disturbing was the lack of care over what other people found to be precious. their culture or religion, material wealth or personal experiences. What ever I made had to be precious to me, not deliberately creating a discussion on what I found different about others or highlighting something ‘wrong’ with them or even involving or commenting on other people ideas at all, this is about my own thoughts and inside my head. Uncensoring what I found precious.

A famous Shakespearian quote and a famous Caravaggio painting put me in mine of what I wanted to create. ‘Narcissus’ by Caravaggio (1599) and the Shakespeare line from ‘Venus and Adonis’ …’Narcissus so himself himself forsook, and died to kiss his shadow in the brook’…

Being so precious about an image that you want to look at it for ever being to scared to look away, not ever wanting it to change or deteriorate. As a painter I have many paintings which I created and love now keep, others I worked on but were less impressed with and therefore their importance or preciousness is less defined. I chose to take a previously completed painting and reuse it, to deface it, destroy it. To others the original painting underneath is worthless and unknown but to me I will always know what is there hidden away. I chose a large landscape oil painting completed in 2008, a depiction of the London skyline at night with red skies and dark buildings in silhouette. The canvas was turned to a portrait orientation and using house hold decorating emulsion and brushes painted over the cityscape in think but fast strokes creating a large face peering out again reminiscent of the Caravaggio figure staring. The palette used was from my sons bed room redecoration and is a metaphor for his beauty and my love of him but also the utilitarian nature of the emulsion as an art material, it is designed to cover up large areas in a simple plain fashion. whilst leaving a portion of the original red sky on show marking out the facial features. The impasto of the underpainting still showing through in its texture but hidden from gaze from a far.

Part of the project brief was to keep our work private until the big reveal a couple of weeks later so the work was completed under a white bed sheet which was also a way of censorship as it did not allow others to know what I knew.

On revealing the work it was generally received very well, without the full explanation it looked like an odd portrait with bizarre lumps and bumps but with the explanation the critique was much improved.

 

 

 

September 2017 week one inter year group project. Carnival is a traditionally seen as a means of public celebration which utilising masks, costumes and floats allows a sense of everyday individuality to slip away so that participants can enjoy a stronger form of social connection.

My assigned group consisted of 13 students from across all 3 year groups but included only 3 other second years. Each group randomly picked a scenario from a hat, this was to be our title and theme for the project. Our title was ‘ Amnesia Island’.

Amnesia Island would be a place were memories did not exist only the present, every day was the first day every feeling was ephemeral, everything learnt that day would be forgotten. The theme as a little to close to my heart after my previous project which had occurred only a couple of weeks before but was quite keen to explore it. The group decided to go with the idea of making a giant brain which would be mounted on a wooden palette and be pulled in the public procession later in the week. The brain was to be large and colourful but empty of knowledge or self awareness.

Unfortunately half of the group decided not to be part of the project as they felt it wasnt their thing…. Whilst one group concentrated on manufacture of the float the others were designing the brain. The brain was constructed from cardboard boxes then covered in layers of plastic and paper to try and make a recognisable shape. Once constructed it was spray painted pink with additional colours for detail. Attached after that were dozens of glow sticks representing the brains neural pathways. The brain had been designed to be place upon one of the students heads when it was going to be displayed. Alistair chose to be that person, he would sit on the float and wear the brain and wave his arms around as the procession occurred. Meaning the float had been constructed and covered on black sheets to hide the wood. surrounded with cotton wool representing the fluffy nature of an empty brain and skirted with blank post it notes. The post it notes were to symbolise blank thoughts or reminders that had not been made, why do we use post it notes??

To make the carnival even more elaborate each student was to create a costume to wear to coincide with the theme. Three of us made fabric poncho’s with blank post it notes covering front and back witch a few having a question mark drawn on them. Two of the group crafted large cardboard question marks and wore tem as outfits whilst covered head to toe in black. The final student (6 in total) made a dream catcher out of a wire hoop on a long pole and wool to walk behind the float catching the bubble that were being blown by myself at the front of the float. This did in fact work rather work and added to the theatre and acted as a fleeting ephemeral metaphor for thoughts floating away.

Despite on 6 students actually taking part in the final procession it was rather fun and colourful together with all the other floats it was certainly a spectacle.

I had several ideas for this project at the start of the summer break but none seemed particularly interesting or meaningful. Unfortunately on 17th August my mother died rather suddenly which changed my summer and indeed my life. She had been suffering with Dementia for a while which turned into a rapid decline and rapidly took hold and caused her final departure.

Due in part to my own grief and coming to terms with such a significant loss I was angry and frustrated and felt I needed to protest and shout about the injustice and also to make it public rather than keeping it a private battle within my head. However, it is a disease that at present has no cure and strikes thousands of people every year so a loud protest seemed futile. Then I thought it is a rather silent, quiet killer, the loss of memories, physical function and Motability with most sufferers forgetting they even have the disease altogether.

I came across the idea of a silent protest but not about the cause of the disease but about my actual loss, my private feelings not the headlines. I had lost my mum, not just in her death but in the weeks before hand, her personality had changed beyond belief, her conversation and sense of humour had all vanished. She had forgotten so much of her life and who she was, but in a remarkably twist she still knew she was a mother and had a loving family that she loved.

Being a traditional Londoner mum would have recognised a simple sandwich board advertising a traders wears or a simple protest from times past so I decided to make this the focus of my own silent protest. I collected two cardboard boxes and painted them white and with black paint wrote on them. Two simple straps held them together but also for attaching them to myself. As for location, I chose Chichester as it is a cathedral city and has a very large elderly population, it is also very conservative in its thinking and I hoped a protest of this nature would get noticed.

With the words ‘ DEMENTIA KILLED MY MOTHER’ printed on the front and ‘IF I HAD DEMENTIA WOULD I REMEMBER?… WILL YOU?’ printed on my back I started walking around the cathedral grounds. Most people just looked without comment, others seemed embarrassed or looked the other way and even change direction as if I was about to attack or even worse infectious. Some people simply nodded or gave a thumbs up. I ended up in Prior Park, a public park with a play area, open green space and a coffee shop. In one corner of the park stood a statue of Moses, it had seen better days, one arm was missing and had not been cleaned or touched in a long while. In deference to the meaning of the statue and its own demise I chose to place the banner on Moses as a memorial.

 

Culina Artem Flyer

‘Culina Artem’ (Kitchen Art) Contemporary Art Exhibition

The forthcoming group exhibition curated by second year BA (hons) Fine Art students studying at the University for The Creative Arts in Farnham is to be held in the Gridshell at the Weald and Downland Living Museum near Chichester, http://www.wealddown.co.uk between 13th December and 17th December 2017, these dates include the install and take down.
The title for the exhibition is ‘Culina Artem’ Latin for Kitchen Art. The initial premise for the exhibition is to interact with the museums rich history of domestic and agricultural heritage through the language of contemporary art. The context in which we aim to deliver this principle is the idea of the domestic kitchen and the usage and contents as used over the last 950 years of the museums remit.
Our curatorial project is based around the writing of Michel Foucault. The focus of this project is Heterotopia. Foucault uses this concept to describe spaces that have more layers of meaning or relationships to other places than immediately meet the eye. In general, a heterotopia is a physical representation or approximation of a utopia, or a parallel space, such as a museum, museums enclose in one place objects from all times and styles. They exist in time but also exist outside of time because they are built and preserved to be physically insusceptible to time’s ravages.
This will be a collaborative exhibition showcasing between 4 and 8 artists. We ask each artist to create or submit an existing work in response to the domestic kitchen paradigm, this could be to create a discussion, a comment or a critique on the utilitarian nature of the kitchen as a space or simply a response to a specific object found within the space such as a bowl, a cooking pot or knife, a utensil or tool which would be equally recognisable to an 11th century cook as a 21st century one.
The Gridshell is a very large award winning contemporary venue which fully lends itself to all aspects and mediums of contemporary art including painting, sculpture, performance, film and sound. The exhibition will use approximately one third of the available space. The Weald and Downland Living Museum is looking to increase its diversity and inclusivity of contemporary art and with full support of the Cultural Development team the anticipated attendance could be between 500 and 1000 people, this includes all age groups due to the Gridshell being open to the public visiting the museums other attractions.
As this is a student lead exhibition the funding unfortunately does not allow for artists fees to be paid, however art works may be available for purchase.

Michael Palmer
BA(Hons) Fine Art Student
Uca.ac.uk

 

Can moving image be a physical or active form of research? Does film act as a tool to test, map out and trace our shared architecture and social environment? A short project to explore and make a series of short films. One film was to be a joint project with a fellow student and the other two were to be solo independent films.

The first piece was made in conjunction with Noelle and was a playful attempt to show the life of a piece of blue tissue paper from a brand new roll. The narrative was simple, a single piece of tissue would be used multiple times for increasingly disgusting things. The tissue was relocated each time to its home with the mother roll. Instead of tearing off a new piece of roll for each subsequent use the little piece was used over and over. Was this tissue abuse? or was it a serious comment on sustainability and the importance of protecting our resources? Noelle was the actor whilst I operated the camera.

 

The second film was an independent one, It follows the tragic and brutal attack by a hammer with a nail on a defenceless piece of wood in a dark alley way. The hammer stalked, trapped and mutilated the wood and left it for dead, bloodied and impaled.

The exercise was to practice macro images and to try and build tension without sound. The narrative probably shows a lack of imagination but the final piece was acceptable.

 

The third film also an individual piece explored editing using premier pro. There was not a specific narrative but an exploration of subtle movements and quiet sounds which can be edited. This 5×5 film ( 5 shots for 5 seconds) repeated sequences and overlaid images to ‘drift’ between shots. As an editing practice piece this was very simple but I did learn a few of the most basic skills. The workshop was only a couple of hours long after all.

 

These film projects were difficult and I did struggle with the technical side but as an exercise they were important.