paintings & sketches

  

reclaiming the space online exhibition

Recently my work from my Pages project was featured on an online exhibition, Reclaiming the Space. Initially the little A5 book was intended to be a private journal, but soon found the collages filling the pages had very little to do with my own life, and were becoming more and more impersonal as I gathered images from found books, magazines and postcards, rather than including my own memorabilia. The images used span from the 1940s right up to the modern day, and with this in mind I came to think of it as a sort of social commentary, one influenced from a feminist perspective.

The work is tied together under the description "a collection of contemporary art submitted by women and female identifying artists in attempt to claim a space for women's voices in art. The artwork featured in this exhibition directly relates to feminist issues as a whole, but also the experiences of women artists and the space they inhabit in the art world." I'm very proud to have my work featured alongside so many talented women - below are a few of my favourites from the collection.

 

Riley Fields

Love At First Sight: Her Hair, 2015

Mixed Media, The Artist’s Hair, Glue on Wood Panel

12”x12”
&
Love At First Sight: Her Smile, 2015
Mixed Media, Resin Denture Teeth, Glue on Wood Panel
12"x12"

Louise Connor

Pudica I, 2015

Cut paper

 21 x 29.5 cm

Olivia Johnston

Lot’s Daughters (Clara, Emma), 2013

Photograph as inkjet print, 

16" x 20"

Rossana Taormina

Sequenza #5 (the lady), 2011

Mixed Media, Old photographs and thread

11.5 x 17.5 cm

collage journalling scans

Mindfulness is kind of a buzz-word right now: western individuals seem to be looking once more to Buddhist practices seeking refuge from the relentless stress of modern living. Adults are reaching to their colouring pencils with no shortage of 'colouring for mindfulness' books on the selves, or maybe taking up recommended meditation and yoga. Unfortunately for me, I struggle with even the most basic of asanas (even as a child I could not touch my toes) and the colouring book I bought is far from completion, as any time spent on it is a guild-ridden activity when I almost always have outstanding art deadlines. 'Mindful walking' is one thing I came across that suited me - I've often pretended I'm a cinematographer when observing on walks (I'm not sure if that's sad...I'm a photographer, I do it with everything?)

Anyway, I found that collaging, something I had only touched upon in the past, was something I could do regularly, dedicating a small amount of time to every day and feel productive about. It's not that these other things aren't productive, just that I find collaging especially so; cutting up magazines and books is strangely therapeutic and distracting in that your mind is occupied with the aligning of images and what you can say with them rather than whatever stressful rubbish you've got going on. I feel obliged to say don't rip up books until you have assessed: whether this book was expensive, whether you will want have this book intact at any point in the future, and whether this collage will be making better use of the book's page. 

Here are some of the pages so far in the order they come in the journal.

Orly Cogan & her personal mythologies

Orly Cogan is an artist based in New York who works primarily in textiles, using found tablecloths as a canvas. Her intimate, story-like pieces seek to challenge feminine archetypes - drug and cake consumption are some of the unsuspected gems that hide in plain sight within the girlish patterns. Evolving "from the personal mythology of my memories", her use of vintage fabrics extend this mythology back to women in previous generations and give her work a thought-provoking collaborative aspect.

Currently in the stage of moving into a new home and studio, I was able to speak to Orly and ask a couple of questions about what I found to be an interesting characteristic in her works.

I saw your interview at Volta 9 and you said something interesting about "telling a narrative story through the eyes of a child", that they see the world "uninhibited, reliant on the senses"; it reminded me of that quote from Picasso: "it took for four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child". What do you think draws artists to this point of view? 

There’s an immediacy and innocence to a young child’s art making.  There is also a purity of joy and complete lack of self-consciousness.  Children don’t dwell about the outcome and the need for approval hasn't kicked in yet so their artwork is often more about the journey and less about the destination.  It’s that kind of honesty that Picasso was probably referring to.

The "intimacy and vulnerability interchanged with fantasy and fairy tale" you spoke about, would you say that these are attributes of childhood, and do you think these get lost as we age?

Fantasy and reality is mixed for young children. There is a very thin line that separates fairytale from ordinary life and that is a wonderful thing for a child to hold on to for as long as possible. Difficult as it is I think as adults we try to get back to that kind of place through readying, movies and art.  Much of my art has dealt with this dichotomy in portraying the banal domestic realm versus the fairy tale narrative.

Spin Cycle

Wonder of You

You can see more of Orly Cogan's art on her website, orlycogan.com.