Gabriel Lester pt. 1

Melancholia in Arcadia, lace curtains, textile hardener

'Installed at "I am Not a Studio Artist" on the occasion of the opening of SALT in 2011, an exhibition dedicated to Huseyin Bahri Alptekin, a dear friend who passed away in 2007. The title of the work is identical to a series of photographs by Huseyin shot in Odessa, showing curtains blowing in the wind. These images inspired an installation of hardened lace curtains, frozen in time and space. The work refers to the gesture of opening the windows to set free the soul of the deceased, as well as the idea of a spirit present in a room, mysteriously lifting the curtains to reveal its presence.'

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- textile hardener??
- at first I thought this was just a still image of curtains actually blowing in the wind and perhaps the artist had installed a fan behind them or something, interesting that you can't even tell by looking that something is holding them in that position
- this work was how I found the artist, I was originally drawn to it by the curtains and lighting, similar to my own work
- it also reflects on memory, or rather remembering in ideas about presence of the deceased
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Night of the 24th & 23rd & 22nd, lattive, MDF, props

'The ongoing series of installation “The Night of…” is an interior scene set inside a cube made of lattice. The angle under which the lattice is placed proposes four views onto a scene. Furthermore, the angle of the lattice is such, that de room appears as a solid, closed space from the inside and outside. The lattice functions as a shutter, in the cinematographic sense, creating a motion picture from still images. The shutter framework directs the gaze and suggests the perspective. Each scene shows a moment frozen in time, a moment when something has happened, is happening or is about to happen: a chair up in the air, an office cleaned out, a bedroom abandoned yet inhabited. Together the successive scenes form a narrative.

“The Night of…” refers to a specific line of dialogue familiar from film noir and crime movies. The complete line is: “Where were you on the night of the 24th”? The dates may vary, but the line is always the same, implying that the answer should explain someone’s whereabouts, an alibi, an explanation for where one was when something else happened.'

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- I like that this is a fully set scene but the viewer is only allowed a glimpse at certain angles of different parts of it

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Chance Encounters, 2011, ongoing MDF, wheels, paint, props

'On tour since 2011, twenty-two objects on wheels form an ever-changing installation consisting of artificial tropical plants and odd shaped pedestals. The pedestals are mostly left empty but occasionally display small sculptures and objects or have evolved into clear sculptural shapes. Much like pawns of a board game, a collection of decorative elements found in a casino, the ingredients of a hotel lobby or an assembly of large-scale architecture models, the installation is never fixed in its form, changing its configuration, moving on its wheels sooner by accident than by decision, as if subjected to an invisible tide.'

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Carlos Bunga

Additive Subtraction?, 2008

“The creative process is a mix of emotions. We don’t always have answers to things. We have more doubts than answers, and those same doubts make us search, question and move forward. Impermanence is always active and allows enquiry into things. In an ever more complex world, a variety of things allow the existence of ‘universes’ – (inter)disciplinary, (multi)cultural, (inter)net or multi(national)– to reach our ever-changing mutant world.” 


- when I see this i think of the inside of walls. I remember at the beginning of second year in Installation art I was really interested in the insides of things - what makes up structures - particularly industrial materials; where a finished product would be formal and geometric, the materials are kind of organic or biomorphic. I think that's definitely persisted in my interest in the materials I use. 
- these structures though, are of interest to me in regard to future work (most likely), which may present itself in some kind of diorama. But it's also interesting to me because of my continuing interest in the domestic. and this could be the inside of walls in an apartment, house, or bedroom.

Ross Manning

Endless Sheet,  2011, 4 Overhead projectors, electric motor, brown paper, timber

link to video [x]

- in interesting way to use overhead projectors
- makes me think of astrology 
- it's very atmospheric (geddit?)
- have used overhead projectors previously in my work, would be good to think about other creative ways to utilise that particular kind of light

Being out in society feels like publicity

Image by Kevin Tadge [x]

Invertuals 3 by Dutch Invertuals (group)

[x]

relevant to my fabric restraint idea. actually quite similar to what I would like to do with a larger area of stretched fabric (as it is at the moment I'm having to make do with a small square. I'm not sure of a way to stretch it over a door frame?)

- I find this far more eerie because of the semi-opaqueness of the material and how that controls how much of the figures is visible

Cornelia Parker

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'Cornelia Parker’s early installations brought her a great deal of attention and for good reason. They are ambitious in every way. Imposing in scale and visually stunning, the punch they pack is delivered upon the realization of what is being viewed and how it came to be. Politically and culturally astute, Parker’s work always offers layers of discovery, prompting thoughts that the initial, highly visceral encounters actually delay. Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View of 1991 is a collection of charred building fragments that appear to float as they hang from the ceiling to reconfigure the garden shed that they once were, prior to being exploded upon Parker’s request by the British Army. Before reading the museum label or hearing about the origins of this piece the viewer is confronted with a beautiful but daunting form floating in the center of the gallery with a single light bulb, suspended from the ceiling in the middle of the piece as a source of light that casts dramatic shadows across the gallery wall. Enchanting yet frightening, like the monstrous shadows of a child’s room at night, the shadows expand the already impressive form to fill the room. Then the layers begin to peal away and the light becomes illumination as the viewer works through numerous implications from a humorous cartoon-like explosion that evokes the absurd; to the inference of violence and military force; to the philosophical, as the shadows bring to mind Plato’s cave and notions of reality.'

Video self reflection

a screen shot from the video where I try and force myself through stretched and bound curtain material. It didn't convey what I wanted it to and ended up looking pretty ridiculous overall. But the lighting is really nice. Maybe a larger area of fabric really would be best.