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YeZhang
So far, I have continued to explore spatial relationships and I am obsessed with arranging them, using a particular pictorial language that draws the viewer into real or imaginary space, depending on the context and memory of the suggestion. In my process, I rely heavily on colour cues for the expression of emotion, memory, and imagination for the selection of objects, and deliberate spatial arrangements that seem careless but are deliberate in their placement. In UNIT 2, I take a coldly observant approach to constructing false three-dimensional spaces, depicting objects that have warmth in life and finding conflict in the mundane.
washing machines came from an impulse to create this work, after reading a book by Sigmund Freud, a part of which described the 'uncanny', which sparked a childhood memory for me. The green washing machine is an ancient and frightening presence in my eyes. In my childhood I always hid in the washing machine when playing hide-and-seek, and when I hid in the washing machine, I felt nervous, scared, and suffocated. Through this brief narrative, I link the horror directly to the image of the washing machine, that is, to the physical sensation, 'Uncertainty whether an object is living or inanimate.' (p205), and in the process of creating it, I confuse the viewer by symbolizing the image of the washing machine, not being able to tell at a glance what the object is, some speculation, some uncertainty, a different pictorial language that transports one directly into an unreal space.
"The subject of the‘uncanny’is a province of the kind. It is undoubtedly related to what is frightening- to what arouses dread and horror. " p193
“This relationship is accentuated by mental processes leaping from one of these characters to another-by what we should call telepathy-, so that the one possesses knowledge, feelings and experience in common with the other.” （p210）
Through Freud's research, the existence of life in objects cannot be determined based on the conditions of intelligence. I have substituted my thinking with my childhood memories. Many objects around me seem to be alive in childhood, for example, dolls are given life to become friends who accompany them, and shadows reflected on curtains at night turn out to be the most frightening objects...
I find that with remembered images, I always look at them from a third perspective, but the physical sensations are always present, and can even interfere with present actions without pair consciousness. For example, when I am in a small, dark space, I feel fear and dread. I decided not to look at it from a third person's point of view, but to look at it as a "double", a process of mental reinforcement. It is when I enter into the other identity that I can feel the mysterious power.
I like the low-relief effect that appears in Peter Halley's work, the application of Roll-a-Tex, which makes the image more solid and can be associated with the building, and by doing so, adds realism to the space that I hope to feel in my images. The geometric images make the picture more rational and create a sense of order, which for me is powerful. I added this paint to bring the viewer closer, to awaken the desire to touch so that the visual and tactile needs are met at the same time.
I needed to create a strong sense that my objects were both in and out of the picture, so I used bright colours that masked the horror and used wooden panels glued to the canvas to create an out-of-place effect, giving the viewer the impression that they were objects from memory
acrylic, Day-Glo acrylic and Roll-a-Tex on canvas
90 x 147 3/16 in. (228.6 x 373.86 cm)
The poetic title, the Dada collage, in which I see a woman wielding a knife, a man standing on a roof ready to push a button, and a nightingale flying in the beautiful sky, all symbolize what he calls "a kind of farewell to technology", the different elements that add a sense of volume to the image, the three-dimensional collage standing in the two-dimensional image, making The three-dimensional collage that stands in the two-dimensional image makes the scene seem less real. His work connects childhood memories with dreams.
69.8 x 57.1 x 11.4 cm，Max Ernst，Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale
This reminds me of my work, where I chose to symbolize the object by gluing it to the canvas with a three-dimensional board to make it look unreal, but the feedback I received from the group discussion was that the cultural differences made it unclear what the object was and what emotion it conveyed. The poetic title of Max Ernst serves as a bearer of meaning for the image, and in my next work, I will think about how to make the symbols more relevant to the viewer, perhaps by using text to explain them, or by choosing objects that are more relevant to current life.
I will spend a lot of time on how to arrange things about the space, which is also important to me, I take imaginary scenes, present them dramatically and find a sense of coherence in the space. Real spaces and unreal collages, minimalist spaces, and symbolic objects, are completely different languages, providing enough information to shape a sense of atmosphere. Here I am reminded of Patrick Caulfield's work, what appeals to me most is the different language of drawing that appears in his work, his work looks more like illustration, and the distillation of space into a language of lines is his unique language of symbols, it is an extremely clean style, the lines give the image a bounding beauty.
I remember (Patrick Caulfield's) Sun Lounge as an important example of an interior space facing the sea, with its monochromatic palette and iconic deployment of lines, which reflects the complexity of the spatial arrangement and naturally draws the viewer's eye into the bright space, an inanimate space, but I can still feel the sense of loneliness and boredom in the image, which is entirely dependent on his dramatic imagery.
Patrick Caulfield, Sun Lounge，acrylic on canvas，120 x 84 in. (304.8 x 213 cm.)，painted in 1975.
The visible is a collaborative two-person project that combines painting and text to depict everyday objects in the medium of watercolor, with the text being an understanding of the images. The words heal the images, and the meaning of the images is blurred and reactivated. Yoko Ono mentions in Grapefruit: "An artist's idea is an idea, like throwing a stone into water to create ripples. Ideas are air or sunlight, which anyone can use and fill themselves with according to the size and shape of their bodies", Yoko Ono uses words to give instructions that make invisible, non-existent spaces possible, and it seems to me that the instructions themselves do not have meaning, the words give meaning to the images in the mind while giving meaning to the imagined artwork.
合作
hz
I wanted to express my suffocation, my nervousness, my fear, but Fangying Lu's feeling was that she was hiding in the washing machine like a womb, wrapped up, warm and comfortable, enjoying herself. I can't feel her feelings and she can't understand me. People don't share the same emotions, few people have the same experiences and feelings, and different upbringings can give birth to two completely different types of people.
The process of creation: making a plan - guiding - not influencing each other's judgement - creating together
I choose objects to represent figuratively. I choose objects that have influenced me in my childhood, such as coat hangers: I remember that when night falls, the things hanging on the balcony hangers always remind me of ghosts. Studs: probably due to a phobia of sharp objects, my eyes would sting whenever I saw a stud. Sofa: In winter, when my skin touches the leather sofa, I feel a bitter cold... These are all unpleasant memories for me. After creating these objects, Fangying Lu would describe them in her own unique words, but she did not know what they meant to me.
The way of viewing: pictures - some conjectures - words - a personalized artistic language - a beautiful presence
The viewer has his or her understanding and inherent impression of the object. most everyday romance is found in the limited pictures and words. The text has no rhymes, laws or harmonies, the words give the object a completely new life, a completely different meaning and more subtlety. Finding a trace of romance in a short interval of time, I selfishly wanted to be healed by such beautiful words, rather than a collaborative project, I forced her to heal my wounds without my knowledge.
‘This is an art not so much as self-therapy, but as a way of holding up a mirror to human behavior as it is tested and sometimes unmoored by desire and obsession – and indeed any rupture in the fabric of the public rituals we construct to mask our deeper selves. As our lives become more public on social media and the border between the private and the public ever more politically contested, Calle seems increasingly like an artist whose provocations are more like premonitions.（https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/mar/04/strangers-secrets-and-desire-the-surreal-world-of-sophie-calle）
Presentation of the work.
Anticipate1. Binding into a book 2. Hanging in glass for display 3. Sending it to the audience in the form of a postcard to generate an interaction 4. Putting it in a box for display 5. Turning the text towards the audience images are mapped out by a mirror (the mirror will have some distortion to give the audience a vertiginous and blurred feeling 6. Printing the text on the wall in the form of a slogan, turning the image into a sticker and giving the audience the freedom to arrange the sticker The position of the stickers will allow the viewer to freely arrange the position of the stickers, presenting the viewer's thoughts in the work, which will eventually become a new work again.
The most interesting part of the exhibition was the ‘Obliteration Room’ from Yayoi kusama, where the viewer could put polka-dot stickers in different colours on a white room. She believes that the earth, the sun, the stars and the moon are all dots, that these dots form the universe, and that everything that exists in time comes from these dots, which, when extended, contain infinite power. What appeals to me most is that there is audience participation, and the final presentation is completely unpredictable but also within expectation.
The boxes are displayed, and the viewer is invited to look through the work. This process of displaying, touching, and viewing encourages interaction. fluxes boxes insist on a 'non-linear narrative' and exist as a unique form of expression in which the artists collect objects from everyday life and pack them in a box. Through this act, the objects are re-energised, giving the work a double or multiple meaning and removing the boundaries between art and life.
Virtual Space， this works can also be seen as a whole, where I present objects from my life on canvas, minimizing the objects. Microwave ovens and stereos are products of this era, these objects have been in my life since I was born, a trace of the times, these objects are so familiar that few people pay attention to them, allowing these mundane images to persist symbolically. Anthropomorphising objects through childhood memories, looking at life in a cold, absurd way.
For the items I chose similar shapes because the items tend to be similar to meet popular demand and increase product sales, given the unified aesthetic needs. Perhaps it has to do with the memory of my childhood when most of these items were brightly colored, because of the change in aesthetics, most modern items are predominantly black, white and grey to suit the matching requirements. But I only want to give the objects the colors I remember, using subtle variations in color to express the simple spatial relationships in the objects, using the painting's unique syntax to create a false three-dimensional effect within a two-dimensional plane, used to confuse the viewer and selectively make a subjective arrangement of color and form. The use of recombinant arrangements and color variations enhance the decorative nature of the work, with seemingly lively, enthusiastic colors hiding some cold emotions beneath.
Why did you choose items like washing machines and microwaves? Directly appropriating these objects from life, because these appliances are feminine, associated with women, and in traditional Chinese families' women often take on the role of housework, doing the laundry and cooking; these objects associated with housework subconsciously make me want to portray them, I give them the impression of women in the family, with a life force, and at the same time with qualities that make me feel indifferent. In my childhood, these appliances took over the functions of my parents (cooking, washing clothes), so I wanted to express them, while they were also alive in my mind and had the role of parent/playmate.
According to my opinion, different styles and brands of goods directly give people different personalities, so the way they choose goods to define themselves seems very important, but this individuality is lost when the goods are used to define the difference between people. "Painting which appear to say the least are often paradoxically the most informed and eloquent."(p3) So I would enter the desired image directly into the computer, by subjective thinking, removing details and retaining the features of the items enough for the viewer to discern the content. The process of making these symbols is a programmed system that retains the unique properties of being a commodity, and I produce the work like a commodity assembly line production model. At the same time, I expect these symbols to be of a high class, a minimalist pictorial style that rationalizes the elegance of mundane commodities. Discovering the paradoxical conflict between the disappearing individuality and the elegant uniqueness.
I have been thinking about why the traces of brush strokes are erased. Flat things are always what one associates with animation, posters, and commercial works, which seem to me to be common and ordinary. Many elegant artworks retain traces of their creation, for example Vân Gogh's work, where every step he took was traceable, where one could always feel his character in his brushstrokes, and where he was recognized by his audience as an elegant artist. So, I wanted to break away from such secularized notions, to erase the brushstrokes and at the same time erase the boundaries between the everyday and the artistic.
I want to achieve the smoothness of an electronic screen, but the glossy feel of a screen is not what I need. Using real brushes and clothes makes my work more relaxed, the flowing paint leaves traces on the raw canvas and eventually erases them, which sounds like a complicated process, I will create some sketches with electronic painting, and ultimately the work will choose to be expressed in the most oil-based way. Oil as a material is traditional and elegant in my eyes, these appliances are popular and lived in, and the difference between ordinary and elegant is seen through my approach.
Reference
Sigmund，F. and Neil, H. (1997). Writings on art and literature. Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press
Suzanne, C. (1988).Gary Hume : door paintings. Oxford : Museum of Modern Art
Marco, L. and Caulfield, P. (2005). Patrick Caulfield : paintings. Aldershot : Lund Humphries.
PETER HALLEY. 2022. Interview by Henri-Francoise Debailleux — PETER HALLEY.
[online] Available at: <https://www.peterhalley.com/interview-by-henrifrancoise-debailleux> [Accessed 7 June 2022].
the Guardian. 2022. Strangers, secrets and desire: the surreal world of Sophie Calle.
[online] Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/mar/04/strangers-secrets-and-desire-the-surreal-world-of-sophie-calle> [Accessed 7 June 2022].
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