Now, it is there, the result, how I did at assessment. I couldn’t quite believe what I saw: an A – 75%. I am flattered, and outmostly proud of myself. Did life took the right turn for me and rewarded back what I was starting as a small kid before starting to talk? To be […]
This is my penultimate entry in my learning diary of this blog. It will be updated begin/mid December after getting my assessment results My submission for assessment arrived today on time for the deadline to meet at Barnsley. My critical review was received on time by assessment team for plagiarism check. So far, so good. […]
Parallel Project – Staging dislocated and disruptive narratives Parallel Project – Editing visual materials
Our main focus in the last tutorial for assignment 6 was the review of my discerned assessment portfolio and supporting works. There was not much to change or adjust. During the tutorial I came to the conclusion that I will take out assignment 3 completely as they would not fit that well with the more […]
After feedback on my revised draft, I pulled up the key items that I need to consider in my final draft less dense and less informative more reflective and critical engagement more emphasis on materiality, process, and visual aesthetics to relate strongly to my practice and interest of materiality transformation and vulnerability of the body. […]
How am I doing against the assessment criteria? Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills Looking at my proposed assessment portfolio, it looks more convincing with regards to material choice. However, mostly earlier made work selected, do show some weaknesses related to edges and color. I decided to keep them as such as it is […]
Living through the skin of materiality How medical imaging becomes materiality for transformation in my practice Developing assignment 6 meant to look back at the body of work created during this course. To step back to see and discern whether there is a red thread, a theme, a common interest, showing through. […]
From start to … Time to look back, back on my works produced, time to fine all of them, displaced in various locations (do I sense my subject matter coming through as my way of living?). Also about my failures, the ‘real’ one, my struggles, but also my highlights. Last not least, all about my […]
This course is now coming to an end, and I am quite satisfied with the way of working with my tutor through tutorials, from which I take the notes she is amending afterwards. I am very pleased to hear that my small intimate series of Be Small was considered as one of my strongest works […]
Living through the skin of materiality transformation – crossing boundaries vulnerability – fragmentation transparency – materiality From repetition and failure from a bodily performative process towards a performative materiality Dear assessment team, Below, in a different format, the parts of my submission for assessment. Further below the links to the respective six assignment […]
Critical Review link to final draft: PDF (link to previous older revised draft: PDF ) My pre-assessment portfolio: A6 – Independent Pre-assessment Review Parallel Project – Staging dislocated and disruptive narratives Please, see see also the supporting materials The work (stage 2) was prime viewed and screened on July 20th, 2019 at Toynbee […]
Backstage imagery – Raw visual imagery edited out those imagery that one could not experience on 20th July 2019 at Toynbee Studios, London
How am I doing against the criteria? Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills I continued exploring my favorite actions of stretching and pulling on other materials. Considering the ephemeral nature of latex from my previous I was looking into stretchable fabrics and other products, e.g. Parafilm M®, leukotape® bandage, Tyuvek®, that has some connection with […]
My last assignment 4 on materiality and skin and my critical review on medical imaging and ambiguity were the two most crucial sources that informed my assignment work. How medical imaging and skin are related. The transparent body, the disembodied medical gaze, visual images derived from transformed and machine code. The body as vulnerable object […]
My submission for assignment 5 consists of this page and sub-sections of the blog menu ‘Assignments – Assignment 5‘: Development of work: Assignment 5 – Beyond the Skin Assignment 5 – Contextual Notes: Considering a wider context and artists informing my assignment work. Assignment 5 – Reflection: Self-evaluation against assessment criteria (for a full list […]
Skin – Sculptures – Disciplined Material – Stretching Latex was my material of choice in assignment 4. I was fascinated by the response of material -acting and reacting on my actions, at times quite strong forces: pulling, stretching and folding. Actions upon material matter, to feel, to see and to experience what happened and what […]
amended: for the sake of avoidance / self-plagiarism: I do thank all who gave me their feedback and comments on my revised draft. The final draft is the current one I am considering here the discussion on self-plagiarism at OCA discuss forum and input from OCA librarian Helen at: https://discuss.oca-student.com/t/should-i-publish-my-essays-on-my-blog/10737?) and the mitigating the minor […]
On Ethics Medical-ethical issues are media-ethical concerns – (van Dijck, 2005:14) Alongside writing my critical review and working on my parallel project informed by my own MRI scan in 2018 and the obtained medical imagery footage. I was concerned about ethical questions and the purpose us those medical images. Images of media culture and evidence […]
Text as subject and vehicle Titles: for me a reflection of the making, or my emotional or cognitive response in the aftermath. I am never intrigued by either naming it what one can see (visual language is equal to verbal language), nor to name them ‘untitled (what goes into brackets?)’ what some are doing (see […]
Author personal statement As an emerging artist and a professional art therapist and counsellor, I am concerned about how identity and the self-image is mediated through a media culture informed by medical instruments and informing a disciplining medical gaze that makes the human body and psychical states appear a disembodied and displaced state of the […]
I was asked by my local art community to participate for next year’s calendar, for each month one artist would provide an original piece of work. I choose the month august. The idea would be to make 91 calendars. Pondering what I could do, whether to make one piece a day, or one painting and […]
Artist Statement I am concerned about how medical technology inform our self-perception, shaping disembodied and displaced visual images. My practice and own experience in healthcare informs my exploration of painting as a physical and psychological encounter of space through a material expression. My approach is inter-medial, looking beyond conventional forms and perception of painting. My […]
The title of a work might act as a portal. Going to a museum or gallery, visitors tend to look at the name tag (often accompanied with listening to the audio guide at their ears). What always irritates me, first a surprise, then annoying, is how artists name works ‘untitled’ just to add another title […]
After my previous reflection with more focus on my collaboration with music student Vicki Downey, here my wider reflection on this works sits in my practice and the course ‘Studio Practice’ as such. Feedbacks received: in key words Some voices (permission to quote was received) – link to PDF I very much […]
Suggestions on art practitioners that could inform my working practice Alexis Harding (b. 1973) – at: https://profdocfineartuel.weebly.com/-alexis-harding.html => Harding is an abstract painter, exploring paint materiality and physical properties by combining oil paint and alkyd resin. He explores the incompatibility between both, resulting in some dynamic compositions. His method consists of: ‘pouring gloss paint through […]
I enjoyed the online time spend with my tutor to talk through some aspects on materiality and body during the tutorial on my assignment 4 submission. As before, I wrote down the notes and my tutor amended. This way, I do feel more ownership of the development of my art practice. Overall, I do feel […]
Wondering what text of words to use? I wanted to take text with some relevance to my personal project, considering ‘cut-up’ technique as an analogue to my recent assignment 4 paintings related to skin: fragmentation, vulnerable, distorted, disruptive, unsettling Text input: Reflecting on practices of text related to MRI, one example is Nicoleta Colopelnic (2013) where […]
Words, text, literature do have a long history as time-based, linear narrative against visual arts as spatial art, the latter considered as unable to convey a narrative. This dilemma was explored by Lessing in his book ‘Laocoon’, 1766; or ‘on the Limits of Painting and Poetry’), an old time fight between both art forms. Time […]
Outline of my argumentation, based on my earlier brainstorming and draft outline around the subject of medical imaging / MRI and art. Especially, considering more the work for my parallel project and assignment 4 works around materiality of paint as malleable and vibrant as skin through which the gaze is intruding onto us. link to: […]
// Making – Connections // => a visual encounter and drawing line to connect, my previous work (see microscopic color circles at: Project 4.5: Colour) and ideas of sculptural paintings How scale matters (estimated 1:300 – my paint circles versus large scale street installation) How found objects, ‘canvas’ like, could be considered as urban […]
‘Writing on the Wall’, an exhibition at at Waddington Custot, London Before going to the exhibition, I was wondering what to expect: graffiti, scribbling at the wall, ancient signs. Considering contemporary art and my coursework for part 5 on words, I had mixed feelings about it: would it inform my work? Would be distant me? […]
What is Art? What is Fine Art? What is Fine Art education? This question is certainly a question with will no final answer. And to embrace this uncertainty is fine to me. At the London study day in May, Emma Drye asked us to reflect on the question what research means to us and what […]
While being in London, searching for galleries open on Monday, and eventually went to Cardi Gallery, London for a mono-ha exhibition: ‘Tribute to MONO-HA’ (13 March – 26th July 2019). I had some idea about mono-ha, in the Western World often related to ‘the School of Things’. Another view on this Japanese art post-war art […]
a combined version (This is Oxterly, audio-video, 2:59 min) at: https://vimeo.com/350718770 Title of the work: Underground poetry, take a pen, move on the paper from left to right back and force while moving, at station make circles till moving again, change the pen, each second station rotate the paper continue till your final destination […]
Oscar Murillo (b. 1983) is shortlisted for this year Turner prize. He went through an amazing painting career with global single shows at major places and fairs. His large paintings were on show titled ‘Manifestation’ at David Zwirner Gallery, London (June 8—July 26, 2019). Entering the gallery was a fab experience, as most works are […]
Frank Bowling (b. 1934 in Guayana) is an abstract painter still working today from his London studio at the age of 85. My tutor suggested to visit the currently major retrospective of his 60 years of work at Tate Britain (31 May – 26 Aug 2019) At the beginning , I was not sure whether […]
This was going a bit different than just a straight forward parallel project. The outcome was realised and performed aka screened in a private viewing event at Toynbee Studios, London E1 6AB on 20th July 2019 with the support of OCA (Caroline Wright and Carla Rees). The work consisted of an approx 10 min visual-music […]
How am I doing against the criteria? Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills During this assignment I was more concerned to move away from mere experimental testing of materials and to explore more certain features of one material, through combinations and through action onto the material. But also to see the performative aspect of the […]
My submission for assignment 4 consists of this page and sub-sections of the blog menu ‘Assignments – Assignment 4‘: Development of work: Assignment 4 – Painting through Skin Assignment 4 – Contextual Notes: Considering a wider context and artists informing my assignment work. Assignment 4 – Reflection: Self-evaluation against assessment criteria (for a full list […]
Vibrant Matter of Skin ‘Vibrant Matter -Touching my Skin – Stretching my limits.’ Latex: a material full of cultural connotations, derived a rubber from the rubber tree, used as latex-skin in erotica, as medium for latex paint, as material for medical gloves (what mostly are replaced now by nitrile gloves due to latex […]
In my prior reflections, I articulated my aim for this assignment: To explore latex as material, as paint, and as performative subject. To find a balance between material feature, physical characteristics, composition, and aesthetics. Departure I started to work first time with latex, considered it either as material for disposable gloves, as latex paint for […]
Reflecting on my recent works on materiality, I can discern the following main aspects and learnings. Painting What started out as a seemingly modernist critique of deconstructing the canvas and the stretcher turned surprisingly into a more insightful interrogation of materiality, especially of liquid versus solid paint. I found it beneficial to explore some linguistic […]
Colours & Names George Szirties listed in one section of his ‘Bad Machine’ – ‘Colours’ all sort of poetic names for colors, often related to flowers, natural situations, feelings, or attitudes. I feel reminded of Serra’ verb list as transitive verbs for acting on materials, to transform. However, Szirties’ list is more a description without […]
Color – Mapping a Space My chosen location was the garden of the South London Botanical Institute, that I visited as part of the ‘Art & Environment’ study weekend with OCA tutors Melissa and Dan (see my reflective account) Two aspects fascinated me: The varieties of color of plants and flowers (Fig. 1), with a […]
What does painting without paint mean? In previous parts I looked at painting without brush, painting without gesture and control, painting without a ‘stretching’ support. Painting without paint could be looked at from multiple perspectives: paint as a material not consisting out of pigment and binder, and with conventional purpose of being used as paint, […]
Building up the surface of a painting using unconventional art materials. Creating and extending a material surface of texture, tone and/or colour, to transform the canvas. – Course material Selection of materials I feel that I should stay focus and not to browse wide openly in an experimental manner all sort of things around me: […]
Relationships with materiality (contextual focus) ‘What does it mean to give agency to the material, to follow the material and to act with the material?’ – Lange-Berndt, 2015:13 Why do I choose what I choose for painting? What are the qualities I explored and perhaps could explore deeper? My favourite ‘traditional’ painting material tend to […]
I’ve seen Frank Auerbach‘s (b. 1931) works some time ago in a museum during my Drawing 1 course. At that time being more interested in his bodily back and force approach to drawing – with the same sitter ‘E.O.W-‘ he made the drawing Head of E.O.W., 1959-60 (Schaffeld, 2015). The extremely thick painted portraits (e.g. […]
Traditionally, paint is considered a material to be used to create illusive shapes onto flat surfaces – as a surface application even when applied to sculptural object. Paint, especially through its characteristics of color and tone, creates perceptual forms and spaces. Good example for space creation are the works of Katharina Grosse. She considered earlier […]
With some time to digest my recent week or art in London. It has been a full packed week of study days and gallery, museum visits, meeting good friends and working on my parallel project in a different location. While thinking how to capture best the essence of it (see reference list with links to […]
Art practitioners did re-visit the canvas as a stretched and framed picture since Modernism, e.g Barnett Newman, and especially in the evolvement of Minimal Art with Donald Judd or Richard Serra. The canvas as a surface dictated by it’s relationship to the stretcher was perceived as contrived, also at a wider visual cultural discourse. A […]
From my pre-reflection , I got a sense that the ‘stretcher’ in any form or material does act as a holder, ‘container’ for the ‘canvas’, whatever this could be. The opposite would be a ‘canvas’ turning into a container, the holder for the stretcher, like wrapping paper or a table of objects (see combines and […]
Background and reflection This part of the course explores the surface of painting, the canvas as considered traditionally the support for painting, especially oil painting. Today, I do see ‘canvas’ bifold: as material and metaphorically as a conventional flat base giving space for perceptual pictures. I thought it would be good to look back and […]
We’ve met at the Tabernacle in Notting Hill, London with all being present. Emma Drye led us through what research in art and what research through art could be, what critical engagement and what research& information skills requirements are there. As research in and through art in academic setting, Emma highlighted that reading texts need […]
This time quite a different experience, having a tutorial with my tutor in London who also lives in London. I captured notes of our tutorial and she acknowledged my ‘thorough and detailed notes’ with adding only a few comments and references to art practitioners. We went through the coursework and assignment works that I submitted […]
How it feels when one gets into the sanctuary the British Museum, the drawing and print room on the 4th floor, behind doors, accessible only by appointment, with a collection of around 2.5 Mio items. Drawing is research, Drawing is thinking, Drawing is seeking, Drawing is exploring. We were guided by the British Museum Project […]
Having booked me onto the ‘Art & Environment’ weekend April 28th/29th with Melissa and Dan, I was not really sure what to expel or what to get out if it. I guess one thought was to get after my digital-material-screen paintings a fresh and different perspective on things. We do have have a larger size […]
After assignment submission, I do feel reliefed with new energy to discover new things and reading some of my short listed items. In this case Flusser’s exploration, at times spiced up with humor, and description of mundane objects in our life (Flusser, 1993:7-32). It resonates strongly with my ongoing interest in objects as fetishes (Schaffeld, […]
My online submission of assignment 3 consists of this page and sub-sections of the blog menu (Assignments – Assignment 3) category: Assignment 3 – Gesture Painting: The evolvement of my assignment work through multiple cycles (several blog posts in chronological order by scrolling down) Assignment 3 – Contextual Notes: Considering the wider context and artists […]
While playing and painting with gestures and masking stencils alongside striations, I also post some images on Instagram and yesterday it happened that one work (see featured image of this post) triggered a response by fellow student Sarah who felt reminded of Louise Bourgeois. This didn’t crossed my mind at all. I looked up works […]
How am I doing against the criteria? Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills I explored new materials resonating with my sensibility of screen-based images: Perspex, Rhenalon, Mylar, and last not least moving images through recording and projecting. These materials are quite challenging from a technical perspective (how to paint, transfer paint onto, very long drying […]
Another spif-off idea from working on my assignment, playing with paper, paint, and stencils. Animation as narrative – painting as performance A short animation video in nine still images (0:05 min)
My assignment work started with Richard Serra’s video work ‘Hand Catching Lead’ (Serra, 1968). Knowing, that he made it from a sensible position of exploring video as a rather new media in combination with his ongoing work on a metal sculpture ‘House of Cards’ (1969). It is about performance and perception. Additionally, it was the […]
Based on my developing works (TIME-SCREEN I and TIME-SCREEN II as well as the spin-off idea), I decided to develop following aspects further: gesture : the human presence and its dissociative (dis-)appearance frame / screen : the disruptive plane projection / performance : the fragmented reality I’ve noticed that visual elements can add strongly to […]
Medical imaging // layering – scanning – transparency Informed by my work on assignment 3, a masking, layering approach, framing, using stencil technique, spray paint, and reflective surfaces. Fig. 1 – 3: Looking through Matting with black board. Reminding me of some kind of medical images, e.g. X-Ray images placed on a flat lightbox or […]
Working title: // Dislocated Image – Dislocating Self // Ongoing interrogations – a chronology // blog category ‘Parallel Project’ at: https://ocasp.stefanvisualart.com/?cat=126 // // this information will be amended in a word doc – accessible at: chronology log (455 kB) // sketchbook aka notebook pages for my parallel project – accessible at: sketchbook pdf […]
This is my (parallel) development and reflection informed by my assignment work: Screen installation / Spatial gesture. It occurred as kind of boredom-phenomena, related to the long drying and waiting times for my assignment work (TIME & DISSOCIATION) and inspired by my spin-off idea, I decided to develop it further – as one idea for […]
SHOWCASE: Moving images as painting ? Request for peer feedback
Establishing my chosen area of research Medical imaging techniques as MRI scans do support various aspects informing artists to explore and embrace this technology, as: an intrusive medical gaze below the skin a post-modern multiplicity of viewpoints of reality an aesthetic image through a contemporary representation an embodied encounter with the invisible a rhythm and […]
Moving images, animated paintings? A struggle of a Fine Arts student trying to push painting. // projection and reflection // // surfaces and screening // // performance of light and color // The edited work – ‘Moving with Shifting Colors‘ (01:02 min) Questions that would support my further development: Could this […]
Narrative gesture painting While working and developing my assignment work experimenting in my sketchbook with various paper support textures, and creating a series of stencil approaches, I became aware of how a series made from ‘hands’ as gesture does strongly inform a narrative. Especially, as my work-in-progress was a time-based process evolving through pages and […]
I am quite excited to work with fellow music student Vicky Downey on a collaborative project under the lead of Clara Rees and Caroline Wright. It was fantastic news to hear in my first call with Vicky on March 18th that she is excited to work on MRI as a project and to explore together […]
After part 2 of my assignment development work I sketched down some further ideas of gesture and ambiguity – informed by one of my previous works (Fig. 1). Fig. 1: Sketchbook – gesture and ambiguity. Can this be done on two surfaces? Both hands to be in-front as well as behind one surface? […]
In my first round in developing my assignment work (Time-Screen – Part I) I explored the process of my initial box-performance as a painterly enactment and the subsequent recording and projecting images that eventually led to screen-based artefacts that reminded me of performative elements in itself, similar to my ‘dissociative’ hand. What worked well use […]
Mona Hatoum (b. 1952) works often in the realm of psychological encounters of the familiar, with common objects for daily use from home, with the experience of architectural structures. All that in order to instabilise experiences with reference to Surrealism and Freud‘s conception of the un-canny and the un-homely (White, 2017:19-25). She works with opposing […]
Four paintings posted for vcrit session on March 5th (part of the Regional Group Europe activities) Four paintings derived from my previous performative enactment in and around painting through moving images, staged TV set, frames and double projection. All a kind of screen based viewing, a surface for mediation and reflection. Either to break through […]
My assignment work is a development of what I started with in projects 2 and 3 – see blog entry on narrative. Fascinated by the video work of Richard Serra ‘Hand Catching Lead’ (1968) and the repetitive action as kind of failure, rising a desire to continue. Over time, I became more sensible to the […]
More in context of my other work as art therapist and finding out how to communicate artistic approaches to the public, I got hold of a book called ‘Complementary artistic Strategies’ from a series called ‘Transformation’ published by the MSH Medical School Hamburg (Freygarten, Strunk, 2017). The interesting aspects brought forward by the authors are […]
Helen Chadwick (1953 – 1996) is a fascinating artist and the more I dig deeper into her work the more I could relevance. After my first exploration of her work (Schaffeld, 2018) I wanted to understand more of her approach. Many of her works can be seen on ArtNet. The advantage is that many of […]
One of our aims as a newly founded regional group is to get together at least once a year in a physical location for 1-2 days (visits, workshop, making, connecting, socialising) I took over the role to find possible venues in Switzerland, the country where our core team resides and travelling across Switzerland, I learned […]
Mirror a stage staging performance a screen of actions acting through cutting space a virtual in physical reflective identity a state of place placing in relationship. Prior Reflection The mirror as an object is rarely seen as such – similar to the surface of a painting – it is ‘within’ the mirror where the […]
Since Dec 2018, a small group of four fellow students incl me based in Switzerland, are busy with setting up and organising a new OCA regional group Europe. Currently we are 23 students across Europe, beyond UK. Quite some efforts it has taken so far, time that I didn’t spend on coursework, resulting in delay […]
Black Mirror Arcade Fire I walk down to the ocean After waking from a nightmare No moon, no pale reflection Black mirror, black mirror Shot by a security camera You can’t watch your own image And also look yourself in the eye Black mirror, black mirror, black mirror I know a time is coming All […]
MuDA – Museum of Digital Art, Zurich In context of our newly founded Swiss based regional group, three of us (Emma, Jane, and me) got together rather informally in Zurich to meet f2f for the very first time, to visit some shows and to have a nice lunch together. We visited the very first Swiss […]
I worked from my previous work for ‘Body as Canvas‘ , the stage-box, appropriating a TV set and Serra’s hand through my painterly performance. The question how to incorporate a narration into this work. But moreover the question, what narration could be, besides ‘telling a story’ in an entertaining or didactic manner. In my parallel […]
I do feel as if Jacqueline Humphries is becoming one of my influential artists, from whom I could learn at a deeper level how to approach art and painting. Jutta Koether is another artist whose approach I find fascinating, not necessarily the final visual outcome, more the approach and attitude towards painting. After my visit to Modern […]
Ideas from visual inspirations: I do wonder how my approach for project 3.3. (the Narrative) could inform further my parallel project. More by coincidence, I discovered the work of the Syrian artist Sara Naim, consisting of photographic sculptures as abstract objects. For her current series Building Blocks , on show in Dubai at The Third Line gallery, […]
Narratives in visual art ‘It is the ‘visual’ that functions as the purest form of sequential art,’ – Jason Lutes (Eisner, 2008a:136) I find myself struggling with narratives and visual art, especially painting. Narratives and stories. Maybe, because I am not a good story teller, and prefer visuals, images that can speak, but can a […]
Paint – Catch – Move – An intermedia Box asking for peer feedback on the following animation – an embodied painterly approach (at forum wide hangout) Some ideas received: (after the hangout and through other channels) The overall feedback was that this was a powerful work with great potential through its “juxtaposition of the […]
Already seven weeks passed since my contribution to SHOWCASE with OCA (Fig. 2). Today, I had my second exhibition opening (vernissage – Fig. 3). This time a local show with local artists from the area (German, Dutch, partly Russian), most of them making art for leisure and pleasure without a degree. What did I learn […]
Today, I received an email from OCA office saying that one of my works (from a sketchbook that was in display at Showcase at oxotowerwharf (24-28 Oct 2018) has been chosen as featured images for the OCA website (main title) and their social channels. It made me very proud and I felt honoured . What […]
Train stations can be quite fascinating – strolling along with eyes open even more. What started today with looking at things on a construction wall on platform 16 of Zürich’s main station, followed by sharing it on the FB group ‘Found Paintings and Sculptures’ went eventually into a gestural public art event (drawing a frame […]
During my stay in Bern, now as a visitor and not any longer as a resident, I went to the current retrospective of the Bern born Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853 – 1918). The best exhibition covered 10 rooms on two floors, and one focal point on the ground floor was ‘Parallelism’, the art theory […]
This part of the course is not only, but also about working from images, appropriating images or others, to make new works, to add or to subtract something. Would this be a copyright infringement or the way art works? Some further insight reminded me of my previous exploration on Flatland and abstract narratives, where I do […]
