I progressed from an earlier version of this piece. I cut it down after rubbing out the pencil marks and mounted it on black paper, leaving a downward slant along the bottom.

I wrote ‘you are here this is happening’ with my left hand. This allowed me to let go. This act felt natural, I kept focusing on how hard it must of been for 5 year old me as I first grabbed a pencil and began to write with my right hand. I have no memories of learning to write, but using my left hand for this piece was the closest I’ll get.

Because it was my left hand instead of right, I began to think about the 2 sides of my personality. One side tells the truth and doesn’t back down from difficult situations. The other takes a different approach and deceives me, it tells me things it can’t possibly know, things that can’t be true. This side hides things, feelings and emotions and truths.

I was thinking about this as I tried not to focus too hard writing with my left hand.

My left hand wrote the phrase with no fear, with no experience, it had never written this phrase before.

I think being honest with yourself is very hard.

This projects theme began with the intention of visualising how protection is the ultimate outcome of lying to the people you love.

Can I be one of these 'people’?

Because, I AM one of these people..

You Are Here, This Is Happening

Radiohead are one of my favourite bands. When I found out that the lyrics ‘I’m not here, this isn’t happening’ were actually words of advice that were given to Thom Yorke by Michael Stipe of R.E.M. - the song got so much cooler…

Anyway, I thought I would reverse those words around and write ‘I’m here, this is happening’ over and over and over again. I did this because the song those lyrics are from - ‘How To Disappear Completely’ - is very comforting for me to listen to, like a lot of Radioheads songs. I see it as a kind of mantra, repeating a phrase over and over and over again and achieving comfort from it.

Since the role of ‘Protection’ (the theme of the project) plays a part in lying for positive reasons (the focus of my work) I figured that being honest with yourself is a key factor.

When we find ourselves in difficult situations, one technique we consider helpful is to deny the truth, the discomfort and the pain by convincing ourselves everything will be okay. In a sense, we are lying to ourselves, we recognise the status quo, admit discontent then deceive ourselves temporarily (sometimes longer).

I recognise this behaviour in myself, I’ve been doing it for years. How else would we make it through the day?

So, the point I’m making is that I wanted to keep it positive. This work is a development piece and I wanted it to deal with honesty, and being honest with yourself.

Sometimes we need to face up to reality and say..

I AM HERE AND THIS IS HAPPENING

Look it right in the face and get on with it.

(forgive me Mr. Yorke, Mr. Stipe)

Oh and the handwritten text in the piece was completed using my left hand. This way I felt less precious about how it turned out.

Barbara Krugers work has always interested me. I love working with text and typefaces. The direct communication is a beautiful and clear way of evoking feelings. Placing a strong phrase on top of an appropriate image is so effective.

‘I Shop Therefore I Am’ is such a powerful commentary on materialism and our need to indulge in consumerism. We are all under the guise of this phenomenon and this work addresses that clearly and distinctly. The visual aesthetic alone comforts me in a way that no work has ever comforted me before. The hand placed behind the box and text is in black and white, creating a strong contrast. The sharp corners of the bright red box almost poke into the fleshy background.

Owning things and purchasing material items is something everyone has in common. We all fall victim to consumerism and the way Kruger has executed this in a straightforward art work is just sublime.

‘Your Body Is A Battleground’ is another piece of Krugers that I like very much. Referring to the female body, I feel this is a very empowering piece of work. Not just to women but to men as well. While it doesn’t refer to men directly, I personally get feelings of pride, confidence, power, strength and happiness from this piece.

I am a firm believer in civil rights and human rights. I see men and women as equals and I support any opportunity that raises awareness of equality, especially in the art world. Calling myself a Feminist would make sense, but I would feel like a fraud because I don’t actively do anything about inequality. I need to educate myself on the history of it. Whenever I am in a conversation or debate about gender equality I will fight my corner and air my views like any other Feminist - I just need to read more about it all so I feel justified. I hope that doesn’t sound naive. We see discrimination every day in many forms and whenever I witness it I feel ashamed on behalf of the human race. People I call my friends and even relatives are racist and sexist at times - what should I do? They would make homophobic comments and when I call them out on it they would label me a kill joy and brush it off as joke. I can take that, I can take their ignorance in small doses.

This is why artworks like Krugers make me feel positive. She cuts the bullshit and gets straight to the point.

'A Minimalist Guide To Lying (or is it?)'

Is revealing too much, too much?

I was talking with fellow students earlier about a piece of work that evoked the feeling of being vulnerable. We were discussing whether it was because the subject the work was based on - the subject of sex - was a taboo, a topic that some people aren’t too comfortable with talking about.

It is a taboo.

I’m a pretty open minded, laid back guy when it comes to talking about my feelings. I like to think the person I am bearing my soul to appreciates that.

When it comes to expressing ones sexuality through art, it can have many effects on the viewer. I know some people that if confronted with an intimate Tracy Emin confessional, after one look they would turn and run a mile (and some of these people claim they have taste…). 

Although, I also know some people who would embrace how they felt when they experienced one of her works. I know some people who would begin feeling things and would question why they felt these things, and why this piece of work has made them feel that way. 

This is why I think it is worth exposing your vulnerable side. 

And if that makes someone else feel vulnerable… GOOD

Spacial Awareness & The Senses

Edinburgh Colleges’ artist in residence Pavlos Georgiou gave us a talk about his work on Friday morning. I was very interested to hear about how he carried out researching and developing his ideas. His whole focus for his degree show when he was at ECA, was the relationship and history behind various objects. Pav displayed photographs of his pieces along with documentation of the final works at the degree show. He talked about how he worked tirelessly to make sure no light passed through into the space. This rendered the room holding his pieces completely black, except for the lights above the pieces, illuminating them for the viewer.

Pav explained how much freedom and space he got to work with at certain points in his education. I felt inspired to think bigger and branch out my ideas. Thinking about the space that a piece of work can be displayed in is interesting, on one hand you might not consider this, but on the other the piece might not work without it.

Working delicately with fine liners and felt tips. I like to spend a lot of time making sure the white page is clear of any smudges. Clean lines and sharp marks on the page are nice to look at.