Bums on Seats Part VII - Artwork Review

It might have taken five months to execute but “Bums on Seats” is now finished. Five months you say?! That’s ages! Well, let’s be glad that it wasn’t twelve as the concept points out - a year of analytical data on canvas that represents the weirdly obsessive nature of being a virtually present artist. Parts one to six of this essay series cover the original ideas, developments and other such matters (so start there if you’re new to this) but this one is a review - so was it all worth it?

I think it certainly looks good; it’s quite close to what I had imagined back in August (gallery image 1) but the main observation would be that it now sits in a curious place between statistical exactitude and layered abstraction. The balance between the monthly colours was planned to flow from green back to green again (each one being a slightly different tint from the last) but threw up some difficulties in getting the right levels of medium transparency. But that’s just technical really- the overall effect is in keeping with its purpose.

The negative space works well and certainly reveals some patterns as to how my website is working. It has been perplexing to see people going mad for it one day but quieter than Hillary Clinton’s victory parade the next. One regret is not introducing some indicator of geography for “Bums…” which could have added extra meaning to it but nevertheless, it’s evident from this work that the site is at its hottest in the middle of the month. Do bigger numbers make you a better artist? Do lower ones make you a bad one? It’s a very modern dilemma but one that I hope that this work raises.

Working on canvas again after such a long time would be another positive that I can take from this piece. In fact, to have one hanging on the wall makes a refreshing change (gallery image 7) and producing a more subtle yet varied colour palette was fun (as opposed to “First Past the Post”, which was a straight from the tube affair).

I’m also happy to announce that “Bums on Seats” will be exhibited at the upcoming Fourth Edition of the Virtual Art Fair. Opening January 29th Curated by Lucy Fiona Morrison

Web link thevirtualartfair.co.uk/

Instagram @thevirtual.artfair

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Bums on seats Part VI (Killing-time based work)

Many artists that I have spoken with would have heard me state that work needs to be finished quickly in order to avoid stagnation. Any protracted length of time allows your visual certainty to slowly escape like air from an unattended bike tyre, leaving you with more questions to answer than the singular one that got you started. This is something to be avoided at all costs. Yet there are some who embrace it, making time the essence of the work; the photographers, for example, that take the same kind of image every day for ages, portraits of themselves or their kids or whatever. In most cases, it’s some banal activity that represents a period of controlled creation, the length of that period usually being the most interesting thing about it.

“Bums on seats” is lazily drifting into that category. I’m at the mercy of the system that I myself produced and it now feels like more of a ‘killing time’ based work than anything else. The data from October is in and transferred to canvas but nothing can be laid down until the end of the month- it would skew the results if I did. Coming up with a time based work halfway through the period that you intend to record puts you in a ridiculous situation when you catch up with yourself. It’s similar to when you exceed the allotted skips per hour of a certain audio service and then having no choice but to endure whatever dross they give you.

In any case here’s a review of the work month by month. It’s interesting that each colour is still largely discernible, even if the layers have started to blend into each to form a brownish blue. Schematically speaking, the plan is to paint the December results in a colour close to the bright green of January; thus representing the Internet’s never ending stream of information.

Bums on seats Part V (goodbye base camp)

It seemed a shame to ruin it really, this satisfyingly square first attempt at a canvas. Last week’s fear over what to do next turned into what I can only describe as a modernistic inertia, as it sat in the studio waiting to be defiled. I had built it up too much; that first gestural mark felt like it had to encapsulate everything that I’ve written about so far: the internet, attention culture, the old theatre crowd, colour theory and the death of interest. All things considered, this reluctance is the down side of having a clear concept in mind, there could never be anything spontaneous or automatic about this work, otherwise it would be a stab in the back- if only with a paintbrush. Yet, working to a plan gives a visual idea some semblance of intention and meaning, especially when something as flippant as colour comes crashing into the room; such a thing can throw you completely. A plan honours the original idea; if something stuck out in your mind as being better than something else in the beginning, then why not try to stay as close to that moment as possible?

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I have said many times before that my work comes from the concept, a contextual version of base camp if you will. The best route, potential hazards and the appropriate equipment all depend on what’s decided over bacon and eggs- how do we get to the top without dying or losing sight of why we’re even here? They say each mountain climb is different and that goes for making art too but to continue this ‘lofty’ analogy would give you altitude sickness sooner or later so let’s get to the point- the interesting thing about “Bums on Seats” (working title) is that it carries on from “First Past the Post” and “Straight from the horse’s ass” in the sense that they are all rigorously planned, painted abstractions that represent a system. I say interesting because producing three examples of similar work in close succession is strange for me- I should be bored with it by now.    

Onto the painting itself- I have started out with the data that relates to January and February. The composition relies on each edge of the canvas serving as the original x axis and the centre as the void that the subjects try to reach into. I’m looking for some balance within the painting so the matching colour spikes (relating to page views, visitors etc) will mirror each other from opposite sides. After conducting some experiments recently I am choosing colours that worked, or at least complimented or blended into each other to form a range of darker tones. As the layers become more complex I hope to see some colours either dominate or fade at first glance (in the same way that visitor hits from earlier this year barely seem relevant to what’s happening now, even if was an impressive statistic at the time).

My knowledge of oil paint is sketchy at best so this piece is being made with gloss medium and acrylics. Using the former would be like going up K2 without any decent boots…

Straight from the horse's ass (part 2)

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The concept took prescedence last week in part one, so I thought part two should contain some more technical details on the work but include some more insight as to how it is being made and why. The photos in the gallery (click to enlarge) are of the first piece in a series of five. They show the progression from the initial photograph to colour study and then full scale.

Speaking of scale, I found it essential to get as close as possible to a 1:1 (from the view at street level at least) to convey the uniformity that the chosen subjects have in the real world. Seeing as the concept is based on power, I found the decision to replicate and repeat entirely fitting.

The material is polythene, each of the five sheets measuring 2100x1500 mm. As painting on plastic is damn near impossible I had to experiment and produced a formula which I cannot disclose for obvious reasons.

When it came to the colour scheme (as you can also see in part one) the work relies heavily on the complimentary scale to represent duality. Contrasting colours such as blue and yellow speak of a number of different things, high on the list being political parties, moods or even personal preferences. However, the very nature of a clash, presented on two sides of the same object emphasises what people in power are inevitably conflicted by; that human nature often derails a principle.

The composition of each piece (as aforementioned) is based around the front and back of each monument. Due to the subsequent narrowness, each side makes an abstraction of the other (see part one for a better example) and the combinations sometimes give no real clarity on what you’re actually looking at. The blank areas on one side render the base layer of the other entirely visible and create an interesting dilemma on where to shift your vision.

In light of recent events in the UK; once the last part of this work is underway, the further political context of the work will be explored next week.