Douglas Gordon

Since seeing '24 Hour Psycho' as part of the Generation exhibit at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art I have made an effort to look at more of Douglas Gordon's work.

I am interested in how people perceive certain movements and in particular hand gestures. This specific concern was unearthed why I discovered Gordon's video piece titled 'A Divided Self I and A Divided Self II'. Displayed over two screens it consisted of 2 hands interacting with each other. The two screens were near mirror images of each other.

I felt a sense of un-ease and intrigue during, and afterwards. While some would acknowledge these feelings as negative I realised that this reaction can only be a good thing, the visuals had evoked a reaction that made me feel uncomfortable and because of this I was filled with curiosity.


Why did it affect me?

How exactly did it make me feel?


These questions that I asked myself, and the mere fact I was asking myself questions is the main reason I want to create film work. I want to make people feel, and question. Whether it be negative or positive or neutral - I want a reaction. To be honest, the more negative the better!

Below are two pieces I created with 'A Divided Self I and A Divided Self II' in mind. I am pleased at what I came up with and realise that at this early stage of experimentation I have a lot to learn, but for now I wanted to see what I was capable of.

As I mentioned earlier I am interested in how people react to visuals such as these ^ and so I asked my family and friends careful questions about how they felt during and after watching these pieces. The general feedback included phrases like "creeped out" and "it scared me" or rather candidly from my Dad "arty farty". I made an effort to observe their facial expressions whilst the videos were playing and they pretty much matched up with the feedback. 

All of this helps me so much as I prepare for my first session of filming for my Final Major Project this weekend. I am constantly aware - both during filming and editing clips - of the audiences attention span and patience. 

I made sure I never asked them if they liked the pieces. I only asked how they felt. 

I don't care a bit if they liked it or not.

Grayson Perry: Who are you?

Grayson Perry has always been someone I've wanted to discover more about. I think it was last year I listened to his Reith Lectures that were broadcast on BBC4 and the way he spoke really engaged me. So until I go out and get his most recent book, I thought I'd follow my lecturer Niall's recommendation and give Perry's Channel 4 series 'Who Are You?' a watch.

Episode 1 down and I really enjoyed it! It's great that an artist like Perry has the confidence and drive to connect with people and join them in exploring both their true and 'second self'.
Throughout the meetings with his 4 subjects, I got the impression he managed to gain their trust and gradually allowed them all to open up. With a vision like this, and having the means to create a series documenting it, I believe one would require a certain amount of compassion to follow through with the process. I found Grayson Perry's investigative behaviour very necessary, yet compassionate.

The exploration of former Secretary of State Chris Huhne interested me the most. It was clear to me from the off set that Grayson Perry's methods of dissection as it were, seemed rife with intent. Perry sat with a pen and paper in front of a positioned Huhne and posed a number of questions.
In this case, Grayson was trying to uncover any signs of vulnerability in Huhne's identity particularly siting his resignation from office and perverting the course of justice. All he seemed to uncover was a brick wall, a somewhat 'indestructible' politician dripping with positivity and compliance. After a 2 and a half month prison stint, Perry was again eager to investigate and observe the now ex-prisoner Huhne. Perry kept this theme of vulnerability and created a pot inscribed with repeat patterns referencing different parts of Chris Huhne's life up to this point.
He then proceeded to smash the pot with a hammer and seal all the parts back together, thus symbolising a crack or at least a visible clue that what he has been through is beginning to show.

I'm not going to go and review the whole episode, that would be pointless. I just wanted to say how impressed I was! Identity is very important and is always at the forefront of our lives. The way Grayson Perry spoke of this highlighted it's diversity and through his four subjects managed to explore some very different identities, and the struggles and transitions of the people behind them.

Personally, my opinions on identity and how artists express themselves through their work has dramatically changed over the past weeks. I feel more open to discovering why we as a human race have this urge to express ourselves and possess the intentions of 'finding ourselves'.
I have truly understood through my time on this course that asking questions is the only way we find answers! I've always known that, but until recently and probably due to my exposure to more and more exhibitions around the country and speaking to my lecturers, I have been able to begin thinking about things in a different way.
I feel like the only way I will be able to appropriately produce my own, more personal work, is if I explore, discover and allow myself to be open to as many different kinds of art as possible.
More specifically, I'm looking at a lot of contemporary and more controversial work such as instillations.

I'll continue watching the series and if I feel the need to post again about it I will.