NEGLECT AND DECAY
-Neglect and Decay was the original title for my project, as I was intrigued by the book "Beauty in Neglect and Decay", where old, abandoned houses and buildings over the world are documented in a photography diary. As something my parents would label 'ugly' or 'disgusting', I wondered how these Photographers were warping the 'parental truth' in order to find the 'beauty' in neglect and decay. I decided that it was their own, personal outlook on the situation, and decided to try and find beauty in otherwise 'ugly' or 'neglected' things.*
As Human Beings, we have basic requirements and needs, as described in Maslow's Heirarchy Of Needs:
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, etc.
3. Love and belongingness needs - friendship, intimacy, affection and love, - from work group, family, friends, romantic relationships.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.
5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.
6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.
7. Self-Actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
8. Transcendence needs - helping others to achieve self actualization. [1]
But, as we have evolved, and seemingly in the western world, the ease at which we can acquire these has increased, and the needs for different levels of the system can be combined. For example, one could combine 2 and 5, by studying Law at University.
In my studies, I have chosen to look at a form of art that fulfills multiple levels in the Hierarchy. It provides Shelter, Safety, (in protection from elements), and fulfills some Aesthetic needs. But apparently only for some people, due to varying opinions as to whether Brutalist Architecture actually provides Beauty and fulfils the Aesthetic requirement.
Brutalism is the government response to a Second World War ravaged country. "Communities sought inexpensive construction and design methods for low-cost housing, shopping centers, and government buildings"[2], and Architects responded with raw, uncompromising structures that utilised the scarce amount of materials available at the time.
*For example a piece of black mount board with a clay-dust induced footprint on it could be made pleasing to my own eye with the careful use of a paint pen.
I then started looking at how these patterns could be used to my advantage in creating pieces that looked good. I carefully considered my use of materials to parallel with the subject matter concerned. I began working with and onto wood. The first examples of this are where I used some MDF board, recycled from office/warehouse interior, onto which I painted a derelict, unused, commercial building (which has now been demolished). Although focusing heavily on the detail and precision associated with the work, I didn't behave too carefully around the wood, as I wanted to hold onto the 'neglect and decay' starting point I had found.
In a similar way to which the original patterns had been produced- accidentally- I had left the water pot for my paint resting on the wood. It produced a fuzzy, predictable yet undefined and fuzzy watermark on the work- Just as an office worker would leave their tea cup on a desk. I dabbed away the excess water with a paper towel, and quickly traced the outline of the new-found 'pattern' with my paint pen. Of course, after the first few watermarks, these were no longer accidental, but instead I was embracing the pattern that evolved on the work.
*picture of long board*
In wanting to explore this further, I began searching for patterns that accumulated accidentally in my environment. I came across some cracked plastic on a bin label, and decided to combine this with a drawing of some houses on one of the pieces of board I had
*picture of bin pattern* *picture of houses in Gosport* *picture of black mount board blue/white*
I then began working on more of these little pieces, concerning myself with how to increase the skill level associated with them, which eventually resulted in me looking at artists that create deliberate patterns. I found Japanese Artist, Yayoi Kusama, who embraces pattern in the environment, covering objects, herself, and the surrounding area (in this case a room) in captivating patterns. This is a simple idea that creates a lasting impact on a viewer, and I continued to look through Kusama's work until I found her 'infinity net', a concept where a shape tessellates continuously over a page. Although a two-dimensional drawing, on mass they culminate to give a sense of depth, and as the name suggests, a sense of infinity.
To the artist, these nets were and still are "visualisations of hallucinations that have recurred since her childhood" [3] However, I read that she would sit, and relentlessly paint them until they were finished. Hence, to me, the patterns became very much about the process and the construction of them.
I began drawing my own nets, and decided that I liked the triangle ones best, as they connected in the easiest way, and like the brutalist buildings, were the most economically sensible to continue with. I found an artist that calls herself Marenbruin, and she draws these triangles onto pages in a carefully considered manner, making the viewer question what they are looking at. To me, the works look delicate, yet futuristic- a complete contrast to the heavily metallic dystopian futures we are all subject to.
I began drawing my own versions of this, and discovered the varying of the size of the triangles could result in an interesting piece. However, these are highly time consuming, and require little skill, and so I set about painting a silk screen with the tessellating pattern on, in order that it was reproducible.
While the prints were drying, I began to work on the initial ideas around buildings again, producing a pencil study of The National Theatre building, photographing some Brutalist tower blocks close to my home, and visiting the Barbican for further photographs. I learned that cheap Graphite pencils are perfect to draw the concrete structures, as they are arguably the rawest material an artist can use to produce images.
Whilst at the Barbican, I found a postcard designed by Margaux Soland that resembled my own work, and when researching further found Holly Would, who produces some similarly- orientated collages. The nature of these buildings seems to lend itself to collage, and I experimented with my own ones.
My own collages were done on painted acrylic backgrounds, always with intentions of being able to draw patterns onto them too, but this wouldn't always work.
From this, I could try and combine my interest in Brutalism with the patterns onto the black mount board.
somewhere along the line came buildings
then brutalism
then combining patterns and buildings to compliment each other
[1]http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
[3] http://www.victoria-miro.com/exhibitions/444/
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