This week, I focused on planning my formative assessment and adjusting my artist statement from the feedback I got from my tutors.
Selected works for my formative show:
Experimenting with different layouts, positioning pieces in different compositions:
Statement feedback:
Adjusted Statement:
Gemma Sly Statement
I am focusing on capturing farm animals within their enclosures, working from life as much as I can because spending time with the animals gives me a better sense of their personalities and capturing different perspectives can be interesting. Using photographs can be helpful in doing highly detailed drawings as animals move around a lot which means you have to work at a fast pace but often, drawings from photographs have less movement and are rather flat which I don’t want. There is an element of humour in my work, especially regarding my goat paintings as goats are considered funny animals. I believe that this evokes a positive connection between the subject and the viewer.
I use acrylic paints onto small scale board as I love the process of layering paints to create different textures. I have been using small scale to emphasise that animal enclosures are often too small, and the animals are trapped within a space. I have started to incorporate abstract colours in my work, even adding unnatural greens to my realistic paintings to show how unnatural it is to keep animals trapped for a show for humans, especially since they are the animals which are killed for food consumption. I am focusing on creating a large amount of paintings as often farm animals like sheep are grouped together in flocks so this, though unintentional at first, works well with my theme.
Within this work, I hope to make the viewer feel empathy towards the animals and make them consider how it would feel to be trapped within a space. Since the lockdowns last year, people will already have some experience of feeling trapped which could affect the ways people interpret my work. By focusing on farm animals, I want to demonstrate the fact that they are deemed unimportant, either being used for show or slaughtered for food for a large amount of humans. The animals featured in my work have different expressions and look directly at the viewer which is ironic as it makes the viewer feel like they are the ones in the cage. This also demonstrates how farm animals have become domesticated, relying on the presence of humans to be fed.
When presenting my work, I intend to have an irregular arrangement yet place them close together to emphasise the confined space that most farm animals have. Going to different locations of farms or animal sanctuaries to collect primary evidence in the form of photos and drawings is important as places use different materials for the enclosures, which is why my work features both standard wooden farm enclosures and wire enclosures. Although both create a sense of being trapped, the painting of the goat behind the wire enclosure is a lot harder hitting and menacing, creating a sense of isolation. My work effectively portrays the confinement that farm animals experience in their lifetime that the viewer can hopefully sympathise with.
I have done research into a range of painters including Henry Moore, particularly his sheep drawings as that subject is relevant. The works of Franz Marc and Andy Warhol were vital during my colour exploration stages.