Collection is very broad. Initially I dint understand and thought it was quite a limited title to work with, however after seeing examples I have realised that many things...almost everything can be classified as a collection as long as you are able to find a link between items.

for me the hardest thing will be the presentation~ I had the content and the way I want to display and the method is simple however my pieces uses a lot of words and i hope ppl will be to lazy to read it as it is simply just a “collection of thoughts”.

I want to display my work in almost the style of a museum ... this style highlights the differences in the work making comparison easier for the audience. 

I have left a lot of empty space. About 60% of my page is blank, the black in my piece has just as much importance as the words and images especially as they are not meant to be read. 

I have a strong feeling of repetition as the pages are all from the same note  book. The slight variation is in the use of colour and imagery. 

the 3 sculptures that had the biggest impact on me where Doris Salcedo , Untiled , Sterling Ruby, BASIN CDCR and Robert Rauschenberg, Black paintings. I think both the white shirts and the back painting have the shuttle intensity and a strong hidden meaning. There is nothing obvious is them. I also love the lack of colour it increases the intensity. I think these sculptures hold the most emotive power. They are very hostile and unnerving to look at. You have to read into them yet somehow get the imidiate feeling of the event they represent. 

BASIN CDCR has the same emotional effect, it’s very grotesque and unnerving to look at however unlike the others it imidetly demands attention. It’s all encompassing you can’t take your eyes off it. There is such a strong sense of anger, and hated behind it. Red definitely plays a key part in this. 

The news articals that i wanted to explore where either HONG KONG roits , police brutality and the trade issues between North Korea and China. These are all very political subjects that are/have a huge impact on the world. For my sketchbook I was inspired by the sculptures in the lecture so started with the use of colour and the connotations. I don’t want to make my image taken obviously and pictorial as I had originally planned to use a helmet however I want to take a more abstract angle.

i have decided to go with the North Korea China training issues. The materials I use are all from the skip. I will use wire cardboard wood and tape mostly and use spray paint to get the iconic communist red. 

I received feed back that I should have an abstract outlook and make sure not To make my sculpture to obvious. Make so the audience feel it rather than see it. 

My sculptures is trying to, represent the issue of trade between North Korea and China that is happening on the boarder.

the key aspects of my work will be trying to convey the sense of power and dominance that China has over North Korea as it is the only country left currently trading with NK. The most effective way to show this would be t9 use a material much stronger and heavyweight for China such as concrete and wood for NK.the positioning is also important, i want it to be recognised as a boarder between the two countries so I will try and mimic the geographical landscape as best I can. I also need to show that the objects I chose to use represent the country. For China I will us red as it is iconic and immediately  recognisable. 

I decided to spray paint a large block of concrete red and place it on top of a smaller piece of painted ply wood. The wood that I used to represent NK I will paint with acrylic and try and mimic the photos I took of the scenery of NK, very bleak, empty and dark. To add the supposed hostility between the 2 countries I will add rusty wire to represent the wire wall put up along the boarder. To show the leaking of Chinese money and triad I will have red seeping into the dark colours of NK. 

The problems I will face will be trying to get the concrete to sit on top of the wood without falling. Ideal I need the concrete to be on top t show the pressure and strength of China as well as mimicking the geographical boarder between the 2 countries. 

My goal is for my sculpture to represent the power and pressure between the 2 countries in an abstract way and also 2 show how vastly diffent they are even tho they both share the communist regime. 

The word I chose t search up was “origami” because I had been using this technique on Wednesday and so wanted to investigate it further. I was inspired by what I saw in the books. I love the use of lines and how clean the drawing are. 

Book 1: secrets of origami by Robert Harbin, this had very technical line drawings instructing one how to make origami. This book could potentially be very useful in the future. 

Book 2: 紙のフォルム (paper form). This book had some particularly beautiful images of folded paper and I was inspired by how the light worked with the paper to creat new shadow forms and enhanced the tonal ares of the paper. 

Book 3: The art of Japanese paper by Dominique Buisson. This book was the least inspiring to me however so of the images inside where very beautiful and it gave me an on-site into how many uses paper ha sin Japan. 

after deciding on the initial idea of my painting I wanted to explore the use of black. In my peice black will be the key component to creating that austere unwelcoming feeling. I rarely use black in any of my work as it’s such a strong tone that makes everything bleak. I tend to use either dark blue or browns. I didn’t want to rush into the use of black so I did a lot of experiments with what paints to use. I put them all in a book. I think the book looks really effective bc you never see black pages bookes it’s defeates the point of a book ? You can’t effectively write over black paper and what’s yhe point of a notebook you can’t write or draw in, i think there is something beautiful in taking away an objects purpose and giving it a new one. 

The paints that I used where acrylic with different volumes of water, traditional chinese ink, spray paint and water colours. All of them had very different looks and feeling to them. I was able to get a better understanding of the various tones you can get in black. 

I am really intrigued by the lack of presence. I am drawn to spaces that should be bussy but arnt such as an empty train or street. My 10 images that I was inspired by where all around this topic. The photo that I was most drawn to was of an empty traditional japnese house. I found the darkness and showdoes particularly beautiful. I found the same with empty train. The spaces that I am drawn to are most usually empty at night I think this is what leads to the dark colour pallet - the night. I wanted to creat an abstract version of the image that emphasises the hostility of a dark empty area. I did experiments where I removed the windows and replaced them with bazar morphed flesh like shape. This counterbalances the desire to leave the space. If you leave there is worse waiting for you outside. After some trials I found that shapes that mimicked explosive grotesque flesh. 

MY PLAVE IS DARK AND BEAUTIFUL. I WWAS THERE IN 2014. I ONLY EVER VISITED ONCE BUT I REMBER THINKING THIS IS A PLACE ILL REMEMBER FOREVER THIS IS A PLAVE ILL VISIT OVER AND OVER AGAIN IN MY MIND. ITS THE PLACE I GO TO THINK AND FEEL THE WARMTH OF SILENCE. IVE VISITED IT SO MANY TIMES IN MY MIND I HAVE PROBLY DISTORTED THE TRUE LOCATION SO MUCH THAT IT HAS MORPHED INTO SOME PLACE NEW BUT STILL MY PLACE. 

I REMBER EVERY TINEY DETAIL. THE WIND. THE SMELL. SEARCHING FOR MY OWN REFLECTION IN THE. ARK. IN THIS PLACEI FEEL SOMETHING REAL. ITS A SPIRITUAL PLACE WHERE I DIDN'T FEEL ALONE AT ALL DISPUTE TOTAL SOLITUDE. I WAS HELD BY SOMETHING INTANGIBLE. FROZEN IN THE MOMENT. EMBRACED BY THE AIR AND MOON LIGHT. I PAUSED FOR WHAT FELT LIKE AN ETERNITY ON THE RED BRIDGE THAT CROSSED THE LOTUS POND. RAIN WATER HAD BEEN CAUGHT BY HUGE THE HUGE LEAVES THAT ERUPTED FROM THE EBONY WATER.  THE WATER  MOULDED EFFORTLESSLY WITH THE SKY BOTH AS BLACK AND UNNERVING AS EACH OTHER. REACHING MY HAND UP TO THE SKY I FELT THE WATER RUSH THROUGH MY FINGERS. SOFT LIKE SILK. ITS SO COLD YET WARMED MY SKIN. I DONT REMBER THE STARS BUT THE MOON STOOD STARK LIKE A STREETLAMP, ARTIFICIAL BUT SOOTHING. THE MOOD WAS A BROTHER TO THE HUGE WHITE LANTERNS DECORATING THE SFT EXTERA OF THE BUILDING AND GUIDING YOU TOWARDS THE GATES THROUGH THE CONCRETE FOREST OF STONE LANTERN. THEIR SHILLOUETS ERIE DUE TO THE GHOTLY LIGHT CAST BY THE COLLISION BETWEEN LANTERN AND MOON.

THE STONE LANTERNS ARE COLD AND HOLLOW. I WANT TO CRAW INSIDE AND REST. JUST LOOK OUT TO NOTHING. SEE IF THIS PLACE LOOKS ANY DIFFERENT IN THE LIGHT. WAIT AND SEE IF HE SUN WILL BLESS IT WITH A NEW LIFE AND PERSONALITY. I HOPE IT DOES. I DONT WANT TO SHARE THE ONE I KNOW WITH ANYONE. THI SPLACE IS MY COMFORT. IM ALONE BUT NOT LONELY HERE. ITS WARM ENOUGH THE ONLY EMBRACE I REQUIRE IS THE WIND.

THE MAIN TEMPLE COMPLEX LIES I THE SHADOWS OF THE MOUNTAIN BEHIND IT. I FOUND A LARGE PART F MYSEL IN THOES MOUNTAINS BUT IN EXCHANGE I LEFT A PART OF ME TOO. THIS PLACES TOO BEAUTIFUL NOT TO TAKE WITH ME. 

THE DELICACY OF THE CARVINGS AND DETAIL OFTHHE BUILDING IS LOST TO THE DARK LEAVING BEHIND ONLY A STARK SHILLOUET.

WIND-CHIMES CLANG ALMOT AGGRESSIVELY IN THE SILENCE. THEY ARE SINING A SAD SONG I NEVER WANT TO END.

DIGGING HOLES BY AMAZARASHI PLAYS ON REPETE IN M MIND HARMONIZING WITHT HE CHIMES. I FEEL THE TEMPERATURE DROP WITH EVERY NOTE. ONE LAST NOTE TO REMBER. ONE LAST LOOK TO NOT FORGET.  I HOPE I DID A GOOD JOB I WILL NEVER RTURN. 

Alone but not lonely. Lonely but not alone.

This was my final piece for the place project and was definitely my favourite part of the course so far. Due to the longer time frame, I was able to use materials such as plaster and casting that otherwise would have been impossible to use. I was also able to fully develop and arrive at an idea I was pleased with. The process of finding a way to convey my place was very important to me as it holds a significant part of who I am. I did not want to create a work that did injustice to my focus. 

My chosen place was a temple in Nagano, Japan. I visited it only once at night yet this place has remained in my mind ever since. It’s the headspace I visit to think and focus. In that place, I felt ‘alone but not lonely’. This feeling contrasts to my current stage in life, moving to a new city with new faces where at times I have felt ‘lonely but not alone’. 

My piece represents not just my own experience but reflects how many others go through life, with these fleeting or more permanent emotions. I wanted to represent people who are just looking for someone to call a friend and experience the everyday with. I was really inspired by Ai Wei Wei; in particular his sunflower piece. It highlighted the impact that the repetition of the same object on a large scale can have. 

To show my place I chose plaster as the media of sculpture. I tied up 42 plaster rocks and left them pure white, with the exception of one, which has a tiny red dot. The red dot is the rock that is lonely. I used 5 different rock moulds. The rocks I brought up from the Isle of Wight (my home) thus putting a little of myself in each cast. Then using vinamold to make the moulds, I cast 42 rocks with plaster of Paris and tied it. A rock tied in this particular way is called a Sekimori and is used to tell you a path is closed in a delicate subtle way. The Sekimori stone is also used as a metaphor to stay on the right path in life.

During the course, I have struggled with the 4D aspects as I have never really used any form of video or photoshop in my previous work. However, I found the process and outcome of creating art in 4D really interesting and it opened up a completely new window of how to approach a subject. One of my videos I ended up making on Snapchat with a soundtrack of just me making munching noises. I actually really liked how this piece came out; it’s somehow endearing.

Recently I have been interested in the urban environment and vandalism. For the Material News project, I decided to explore concrete and rusted wire, both materials which I have never used before. I really love the raw feeling that concrete has and definitely want to explore it further. I am also drawn to the subtleties and crudeness of spray paint and street vandalism. I find it satisfying how deliberately wrong and out of place it is, nothing is put there to be destroyed but everything is destroyed in the end. I find artists like Gustav Metzger and his Auto-destructivism movement really inspiring. I want to combine oil paints and spray paint as it feels wrong. Oil paints are generally seen as refined and reserved for canvas; for paintings with time investment. I want to turn this concept around and create something messy and spontaneous using a mix of spray and oils. I have an interest in forcing things together that shouldn’t be forced together. It’s almost like you don’t realise how wrong it is until it's done.

Origami has also been a recurring theme in my work. I’m drawn to the delicacy yet strength of folded paper. It would be interesting to combine concrete and origami as they are opposites. One is so strong and used to build, the other so delicate and crumples under pressure. I experimented briefly with origami fish and tried making them out of materials such as gaffa and masking tape.

In the future, I want to explore provocative art. I think all art eventually comes back to an emotional attachment or reaction, whether it is elicited from the viewer or the artist. It’s unavoidable. To me, it is the purpose of art. Political art is something I have never really explored before, yet I think the most powerful pieces and artists are a product of it, such as JM Basquiat, from whom I draw inspiration in everything I do. I hope to create art that can move people to such an extent.

I want to provoke my audience, whether it be challenging them to open up their minds outwards to the world, or inwards to themselves. I do this by choosing quite touchy subjects that people may not always feel comfortable openly talking about and expressing. Through my art, I aim to offer them an outlet in which they can see themselves and relate to. I want my work to first tear someone’s mind apart, force them to see and confront what they have hidden, and then to comfort them and tell them ‘you are not alone’. However, to do this I myself have to display some of my own vulnerability. 

The foundation course has opened up a whole new way of thinking to me. I am much more expressive with my work and display my thought process in a much more cohesive manner. I really love how conceptual and personal the course has been and I think I will only continue to grow, both in technical skill and mentally.