Self Awareness

Gabriella Challis, Untitled (June 2014)

Gabriella Challis, Untitled (June 2014), detail 

We are constantly in a state of self reflection as humans. It is the capacity of humans to exercise introspection and willingness to learn more about their fundamental nature, purpose and essence.
Human self- reflection is related to the philosophy of consciousness, the topic of awareness, consciousness in general and the philosophy of the mind.

ST PAUL St Gallery Three, AUT- PILOT Project One- "Point to Point,"

correlation |ˌkɒrəˈleɪʃ(ə)n, -rɪ-|

noun

a mutual relationship or connection between two or more things:

• [ mass noun ] the process of establishing a relationship or connection between two or more things.

• [ mass noun ] Statistics interdependence of variable quantities.

• Statistics a quantity measuring the extent of the interdependence of variable quantities.[1]

Point-to-Point is an exhibition that explores correlation being the relationship between two or more things. The show negotiates the process of establishing a relationship between the spectator and artwork, relationship within the work itself, and relation with the artwork and artist.  This is reflected within the exhibited works through the varied media and intentions each artist manifests in conversation to this show. Artists Gabriella Challis, Eunbin Park, Eloise Worrall-Bader, Sally Bollinger, Mereama Matia and Evie Aldridge exhibit artworks pertinent to the theme of correlation, which is presented in several idiosyncratic examples.

Now faced to articulate what the thinking and ideas behind the exhibition were is concisely wrapped into one multifaceted word, which cohered within each artist’s studio practice. ‘Relations;’ being the way in which two or more objects, concepts, or people are connected.[2] These are relationships between audience and image, bodily relationships, relationship between space and time, relationship between viewer and perception, relationship between physical and emotional, relationship between form and reality and so on. Relation can be adhered to almost any conversation surrounding multiplicity, which is problematic when composing a cohesive show.  Taking in the fact that each artists brings their own façade of thinking and conversation to an exhibition, whilst also each cognitively illustrate their own interpretation of the theme. This clarifies reasoning to having a more defined and established theme to contextualise each artwork in having a cohesive viewing experience.

Two facades of analytical thinking where established from this umbrella idea. Firstly being perception and experiential within relations, and secondly a cognitive possibility was movement and sequence being the translation, location, and structure change within each of these artist works, although this second idea did not perpetrate as it failed to uniformly fit all of these artists and their intentions. 

Correlations was a word that immersed within critical research and analytical reflection into ‘relations.’ Originally noted for the potential and inherent elucidation of the word ‘correlation,’ being the connection or relationship of multiple things, emerged with more underlying ideas that correlated accordingly within each artists studio works. Correlation is a conversation between the viewer and the artwork, relation within the artwork itself and the conversation between the artist and the artwork. Analytical thought was also given within the statistical conditioning of correlation, being that two or more variables can be describes as a numerical value. These being ‘positive,’ ‘negative,’ ‘strong’ or ‘direct’ modifiers used before correlation in context. For example there is no direct correlation connecting the relationship that one viewer has with an artwork and the relationship another viewer has with the same artwork. They are separate events, which don’t rely on each other. This exhibition theme is clearly articulating the process of establishing a relationship or conversation between multiple components within each exhibiting work whilst also critiquing the interdependence of variable quantities. The following quote by Marcel Duchamp analytically illustrates that it is the audience who brings sense and cohesion to the exhibition theme as it is by audience these correlations and conversations within the work form. “The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.”[3]

Each artist illustrates various interpretations in responding to correlation. Some very literal whilst others remaining concealed or obscured.

In entering the flow of the gallery we firstly approach the artwork of artist, Evie Aldridge who exhibits biomorphic minuscule installation objects. These appearing concept free in their own cognitive abstract form, are suggestive objects that evoke living anthropomorphic figures.  Within their individual ambiguous shapes, colours, and markings, viewers are invited to project their own opinions and interpretations on them.  Correlating similarly to fellow exhibiting artist, Sally Bollinger, these idiosyncratic objects are very much about the relationship between the objects/artwork with the audience, as there is a searching out and projecting of connections and relations.

Intricate detail is given to these objects, which draw the viewer down into the installation layout. In the gallery context the forms were lost within the floor obscurity, which I believe did not perpetrate this idea successfully. The installation components I believe did not do the work justice; maybe more consideration to how the viewer approaches and identifies the artwork and how the forms operated in this space would have manifested a more cohesive installation within operating in correlation to the exhibition ‘Point-to-Point.’ For example maybe condensing the objects would have brought more cohesion into them having correlations/relationships within one artwork rather than having a spread out colony formality which gave tension between these groupings of objects.  Condensing the forms or a more appropriate space in the gallery also would change the way the audience approaches the artwork, being not installed in a point of passage would clearly define what the artwork was also.

Second exhibiting artist Gabriella Challis critiques the correlating relationship of perception within psychology and social cognation within sociology. The ‘esemplastic’ nature is shown by experiment: being an ambiguous image has multiple interpretations on the perceptual level. The work illustrates but also questions social perception, meaning we become aware of the unconscious impressions and inferences we fabricate about people and ultimately ourselves.

The work, which undeniably is an engaging piece on a multiple of levels, encapsulates the audience to be immersed within the work for sustained periods of time, as the viewer attempts to correlates the perception given with the images. There is a very literal Point-to-Point correlation within the idea, being how you think others perceive you, how you perceive yourself, and how others actually perceive you. Correlations are drawn between ‘their perceptions with your perception’ as the viewer identifies and correlates with the images. This Point-to-Point correlation establishes conversation with the audience to consider their own self-awareness.

The work appearing minimalistic in formality was bound with an extensive amount of effort and conversation within sociological encounters. The work I believe did not manifest itself in a way most successful, being rich in content but poor in execution. The work appears to have given secondary thought to the installation logistics of this piece.  The formality of the work could have been taken in numerous different presentations, being for example if the artist wanted multiple viewer access, identical banks of photographs and books could have perpetrated this successfully. Recorded conversations or computerized interactions are all possibilities they may have manifested the key ingredients more successfully.

Artist, Eunbin Park looks at the aesthetic quality and physicality of paint within its relationship to surface structure. The artwork responds within the idea of the experiential as the surface forms an idiosyncrasy drapery that has a provisional installation quality, repudiates any form of surface structure. Conversation between the relationship of painting and sculpture, and relationship to object are drawn, protruding within the very raw gestural way of responding to the paint and installation affects.  

Right of this installation the artist has installed three small canvases, which correlates an interesting consideration and conversation surrounding the aesthetics of painting.  These small artworks represent colour palates appearing in flat planes of contaminated pastel colours. They work effectively in creating sense and authority to the conversation surrounding the very raw painterly affect in the work to the left. To perpetrate the idea of the gap between something finalized and something in the process of being finalized, or the correlation between imperfection and perfection may have been more successful having given more detail to illustrating the ‘perfection.’  Being more attentive to details such as the canvas quality and having pristine planes of solid colour would have solidified this idea for me personally.

The forth-exhibiting artist, Eloise Worral-Bader looks at the transcendence being the existence or experience beyond the normal or physical level. An intimate relationship is conjured between the artist and objects forward of entering a metaphorical conversation; giving ‘souls’ to these inanimate objects. The energy field of relation unfolds and grows as it now speaks to an audience. As the viewer approaches these self effacing objects we are immediately liberated within a Point-to-Point impartial correlation as we search for a rational linkage.

The sculptural faced of the artwork appears neither functional nor comparable to reality although it denotes primitive relations within the construction.  Relations and correlations can be identified contiguously within this work as artist and object, viewer and object, or relation within the objects that are moving and changing together as we ‘Point-to-Point’ are interpreting these anthropomorphised objects. 

The fifth exhibiting artist, Sally Bollinger exerts the everyday mundane, which questions and plays with expectations. The mundane being at it simplest form conveys that content is less important than the affect.

There is an obscured searching out for connections or Point-to-Point correlations although it seems oblivious to what it may be you are searching for, be it be segments, lights etc. There appears to be no frame in the projection of this work, which eliminates any literal relation to size or form, rather it references the whole wall. Bringing forward focus to the images, light is drawn to an open platform for interpretations, which ultimately plays with emergence. Whilst some of the lights are revealed as faces it is not all resolved, having effect on the audience is more important than the fulfilment of a possible narrative.

The final exhibiting artist, Mereama Matia directly interfaced the socially constructed way of life with people’s perception to societal ways of living.  The political placement of the artwork correlated a very literal point-to-point relationship. Your eye is initially in a preliminary phase engrossed within the typology of animated writing conspicuously entering each screen.  Emotively charged spoken in a frank manner, we are given intimate details of living and how people feel living in such places as South Auckland. The writing is slow enough for us to coincidently observe the passes by in behind the text coercing us to connect these emotions of living in South Auckland whilst we are watching South Auckland.  There is a distinction to be made between the mental proximity and physical proximity that people’s opinions of South Auckland don’t actually correlate with how we watch South Auckland- they are two different things, which don’t rely on each other.

Each of these exhibiting artist has looked at conceptual and technical modes of researching and analytically responding to the exhibition theme. Taking in the fact that each artists has brought their own façade of thinking and conversation to the exhibition, illustrates reasoning why the flow of the show may not have been as cohesive as initially preconceived.  Whether it could be resolved in the change in layout of the gallery, as some spaces did not manifest the artwork to its full potential or a change in theme. It also is very hard to appropriate a theme to such diverse different bodies of work. In hindsight maybe an arbitrary theme that each artist responds to would have been more cohesive. A different gallery space or layout may have completely changed the flow of the show.  For example I believe that if Eunbin’s work were directly at the opposite end of the gallery to where the spectator enters the space, this would draw the viewer through to the end rather than her work being the centrepiece in the middle of the show dislodging the flow. In the end there are multiple possibilities to changing different propositions and logistics within the works, the theme, the layout and so on that may or may not have adhered more cohesion of the whole show.

Pilot is a supportive environment for experimenting and risk taking. Nothing was lost and all was gained.

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[1]             Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford Dictionary of English (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 1851.

[2]                   Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford Dictionary of English (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 4494.

[3]             Dalia Judovitz, Unpacking Duchamp: Art in Transit (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 149.

ST PAUL St Gallery Three, AUT- PILOT Project One- "Point to Point," 

Gabriella Challis- Photo Courtesy of artsdiary.co.nz

Gabriella Challis- Photo Courtesy of artsdiary.co.nz

Gabriella Challis 

Points of departure…. Points of connection

As a starting explorative work to continue to devolve in my on-going trajectories and practise this year, I initiated my first work on the bounds of a sociology experiment. The work is personified from multiple view points and perspectives of people describing bluntly and truthfully how they describe their appearances.

I had been interested in a commercial which a forensic artist would sit backed opposite to the sitter with a drafting board, also would the sitter be sitting back to the artist. The sitter would describe her facial features to the artist whilst he was conjuring an image she was describing.  The sitter would later spend time with a third arbitrary person who would eventually describe the initial sitters facial features which he would appropriate to a second drawing. The sitter would then following these two events be exposed to the two drawings which the forensic artist had sketched, one which the sitter had described of themselves and one a third person had described of the sitter. The one the sitter described of themselves would embody all the imperfections and negative emotions they carry on themselves, where as the sketch the third person described would emotively describe the person appearances accurately to there persona and visual identifications. It becomes acutely obvious that we are our worse critics. 

Something so emotively close to my own insecurities and imperfections, made me question how people describe their appearances and how close they really precede from the truth. 

So within this work I have asked a selection of people to describe themselves honestly and openly without any name to themselves. I then took a polarised photograph of their portrait.  Something I had not foreseen was how difficult it is to put how you think you look in words and emotions. So this became quite a time intensive work as people spent time with the work having forward conversation with themselves and the book describing intimately their appearances. The choice of book was obscenely arbitrary and completely bland of inferring motive’s. 

Presenting this work also became part of the initial experiment in our exhibition as I felt in no way was the work finished, maybe looking now it actually benefited the presentation of the work to have more potential and left open ended. The installation of the work was in two parts, the book sat flat and open on a white plinth approximately 1.5m from the wall which in order of the description, polarised photographs of each person were presented at directly appropriate to eye height with no further comment. 

The work and installation which i felt was a bases of experiment became entertaining and engaging in a multiple of levels, people felt they needed time with the artwork as conversations had already begun. Interests in the correlation between their perception and your perception were established and protruded. Critics felt that the work offered a much more intricate detail than what initially meets the eye. A relation to social work and sociology was made in how we understand and read photographs especially the format in which I choose and its approximate relation to Facebook, “selfless” and social media. Critics felt the participation of the work with-stands time as the simplistic work was very engaging and inviting the audience to become apart of the work whether there was a relation to the person or not. It was noted the the logic in how we read the work is opened up in a very elegant way being very post structuralist/ contemporary/ and outward. Lecturer Andy Thomson gave a few artists such as Andy Warhol and Thomas Struth to investigate portraiture, photography and their relation to reality.

2013-2014

Being in my final year of the BVA degree at Auckland University of technology I have new objectives in being able to operate as a critically aware artist. Making artwork and analytically reflecting conceptually and technically on the process and outcome of the artworks will become the developmental process of the foundation of insights, knowledge, and skills acquired to become a self directed artist. By extending, connecting and deepening into my on going practise as an artist I will become more so profoundly sensitive to visual language and critical perspectives.

With my previous trajectory of identity being a common manifest of this years direction and on-going art practise I wish to devolve in depth this idea.
In my final exhibition in 2013, my key areas of concern were identity as a state of becoming rather than a state of being. This was illustrated within the exploitative conditioning of repetitive means to illustrate change in ones identity. The contextual statement as follows illustrated an analytical understanding to the exhibiting works.

Within the 1950’s, identity immersed as a popular social science term, which was notably assigned to particular cultural, racial or sexual differences, but to the self-existential category.  Thus rather than critically suggesting a stable sense of selfhood, alternatively the term also was used to appropriate a problematic ‘identity crisis’ or a ‘search for identity,’ deriving from the individual’s alienation in the preface of a more profoundly anonymous society.  Its appears a search for identity along with an increasing self-reflexivity became more apparent in modern society, with the self being a common manifest within a contemporary art context.  Contentiously assuming that identity is a fixed, transparent concept, and somehow solidified within the mind, if not in reality, is far fixated from the truth condemning this assumption. Rather identity is futile, a construction of different layers and elements that are articulated through discourses and narratives.

Exploring identity through art underpins a tangible source of expression. Through exploring the human body we become engrossed within ones identity whether being notorious or concealed, we become oblivious to the problematic and contingent formality of identity.  Identity is always in a state of becoming rather than a state of being, with a multitude of elements always changing in time. A search for identity through repetitive means illustrates the change in ones identity through time. We become aware that this ‘search fort identity’ is an attempt to represent ones identity, which will not fully deem accurate at any given moment. 

2014