Through my art practice I aim to take back the power of representation, reclaim my body as my own and present an image of myself from an internal point of view, showcasing the flesh, aches, physical and emotional strains often left out by the distanced artists observing and representing woman in the life room.
My current practice, works with issues of the female body and ‘the gaze’. As a woman living in contemporary society, and particularly as a life model, I often find myself under the scrutiny of others. Viewed from a disinterested or disassociated position the female body becomes idealized, objectified, and statuesque. However, this is rarely how a living person thinks of themselves. Rather than whole, we often experience our bodies as fragments of disproportioned feeling, discomfort and pain through strained, stretching or aching body parts. Disproportionate awareness of body areas felt through the knowledge of being looked at causes a persons view of their physical being to become fragmented and enlarged. A woman’s own knowledge of herself also comes loaded with physical, abject connotations, of menstruation, sweat and blood which is at times ignored in contemporary art and media. Particularly in the context of life modeling, the ideal image projected onto me jars with my sense of self as a reality.
Through my painting I aim to focus on;
- The fragmentation of the body as the true way we experience ourselves.
- Expressing the feeling of being inside a body, through representation of visual, emotional and physical sensation.
- Exploring the potential of evocative textures in paint, material and form as a means to invite the viewer to relate to the work and experience empathy.
- Investigating the use of space which my work occupies. Giving careful consideration to the context which I create, the kind of environment I would like to situate my work within.
My objectives are therefore to;
- improve and hone skills in using colour and form.
- To make my work subtle while still maintaining its emotional, abject and viscous content.
- To investigate use of texture, materials and their evocative qualities.
- To make work which the viewer can further identify themselves with.
- To improve use of sculptural space.
- To find a new way to contextualize my work within an environment, created or assumed.
Through referencing my own body. I will explore different forms, shapes, textures and colours that can be used to describe fragments of the body. Beginning with representations of a set of poses and the physical feelings which these create. By narrowing my input I hope to give myself the opportunity to hone a singular set of artistic signs, for the visual, emotional and physical sensations of the body.
I intend to investigate my own body and those of others through a wide range of materials including photography, sculpture, sketches, paint, and written/spoken word. I will collect and create my own life drawing images and interview artists and models about their view of representation of the body to inform my work. I will use a combination of sketches and photographs to draw from along with my bodily experience to inform my final sculptures.
Other sources I intend to use will include the work of other artists in representing the body or using their medium to display more than the obvious visual aspects. This will come from books and websites, museums, galleries, public places and life classes. I will also look to the coverage of the body in the media, medical references and how figures portray themselves in different situations. Along the way I expect to find many other sources of inspiration. Artists who I am already associating my work with are figurative expressive artists such as Francis Bacon and Jenny Saville, for their expressive use of paint to evoke unidealised, fleshy, figures. Along with other female artists working on the body such as Nathalie Djerburgh, whose use of textures and shape in her animation films inspires me and Sarah Lucas and Kiki Smith for their experimentive use of materials and the abject.
Feminist artists and theorists observations on ‘the body’ and women painters also inform my practice, particularly work involving the gaze or power within representation, which I will draw from my contextual study. The nude and naked within art has impacted my work greatly, particularly when informing different kinds of ‘gaze’ belonging to artists, my response to this impacting my own treatment of the body. My work also exists within a history of sculpture and installation, immersive or powerful environments, such as that of Louise Bourgeois and Karla Black.
Research is always an important aspect to my practical work for as I explore aspects within the theme of the body which interest me. Recording and progressing ideas will be important in helping me to understand what it is I am developing in my work, where it is going and where focus is needed as well as emphasizing strong and weak areas.
Making work, as a form of research will be even more vital as it is through this that I’ll develop ideas and knowledge of my materials and subject. Writing is an important aid to me to understand and find out the intrinsic themes and ideas which inform my practice and I will continue to use this, incorporating regular evaluations, aims, interviews, diary like memos into my research and development. I will investigate technical approaches through a wide range of experiments and investigations with different media, evaluating this at the end of each week will allow me to make sure I am on target technically and find improvements and new ideas for technical approaches.
Rebecca Lois 