Category Archives: October

Natalie: October

Anonymous (R)

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Textile, 17 x 19 cm

This is a response to Patricia’s Rejection of identity (September). The piece was so powerful that it could not be ignored. In my response I wanted to tackle anonymity which I wanted to represent in the most symbolic manner as possible. The subject of anonymity has two sides and could be controversial, i.e. it could equally be used for protection and for damaging actions at the same time. I used red block to represent two signs in one presentation simultaneously, i.e. ‘’hiding the identity’’ and ‘’not allowed to hide the identity’’.

 

 

Gold fish (R)

october-6
Watercolour and soft pastels, 21 x 30 cm

This is a response to Patricia’s Fantasy Aquarium II (September). It reminded me of a children’s story called Gold Fish by the Russian poet, novelist and writer Alexander Pushkin (18th century). The story is based on the moral of ‘’stop being so greedy’’. It’s about a poor couple, where the man went fishing  and caught a Gold fish who promised to fulfill any of his wishes if he would let it go. He let it go free, but his wife was not amused and sent him back in order to ask for a new washing bowl (translation for the 21st century – a new washing machine!). The bowl was delivered, but the wife was not happy. So, long story short, she sent him a few more times… keep in mind the fish gave her a huge palace, made her a royal, but the woman was still unsatisfied! This time she wanted to become a Queen of the Sea and demanded the Gold fish become her servant forever… i.e. so she doesn’t need to send her husband for requests anymore. It was too much for the Gold Fish to deal with and it decided to teach her a lesson. So, it asked the ma, at this point no less abused by his wife, go home in peace… the end of the story… it gave back his wife her shabby house and broken bowl asked her to get lost. The moral is obvious, one needs to know when to stop and appreciate what one already has. This is Pushkin (!) and the longest description ever for my response! I guess I got a bit carried away…

 

 

White forest 2

october-5
Hand embroidery, 8 x 13 cm

Once I finished White forest (R) it sparked the whole range, which naturally turned out to be a series of different forests. I love when such moments occur as they turn out to be the most productive and exciting times.

 

 

White forest (R)

october-4
Textile, 18 x 19 cm

This is a response to Patrica’s Landscape with Tubular Elements (September). No moral story, no symbols this time just a reponce based on pure visuals. Perhaps “I just felt like it” would be the closest and best description. Now looking back, the three birds I guess were a subconsciously driven need to represent pure freedom.

 

 

Dark forest

october-3
Textile, 14 x 17 cm

This is part of the ‘’Forests’’ series that was completed in one day. With this piece I let myself to be as relaxed and experimental as possible combining textiles that I wouldn’t even think to sew together for a garment. The element of being surprised paid off (well, for me anyway). However, it wasn’t an absolutely chaotic procedure. I kept in mind a representation of the deep forest with some sunshine fighting through mature and thick tree trunks.

 

 

Consumerism or Merci de Votre Fidelite

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Textile, 17 x 19 cm

…It’s a vicious circle… it’s emotional… let’s talk about shopping… I hate it… full stop.

Patricia: October

The fish

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Materials collage on cardboard, 22.5 x 30 cm

I continued with the “Aquarium” strand of ideas started in the September submission. Here I made use of leftover paper machée which I had spread out to dry in the shape of a plate. I cut them into triangular shapes to represent the skin, arranged like shingles on the support. I wanted the fish to be a bit glittery and wrapped it into a shiny, transparent little cloth. The fish face, some bubbles and sand for the ground was added for decoration.

I’m quite happy with the symbolism of the image. The shingles could point to the rich interior life of the creature which is covered, at the same time revealed, by the transparent skin overlay.

 

The woman

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Painted materials collage on board, 35.5 x 28 cm

An experiment with textured ground: I glued a piece of a knitten sweater onto board and used it as my painting ground. It’s an imaginary portrait and I recognize myself in it, the quiet observer. The style reminds me of Marc Chagall’s poetic phantasy worlds full of longing for something far away.

 

Bottles

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Charcoal on paper, 35.5 x 27.5 cm

A still life made in my kitchen.

 

The high bed (R)

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Mixed media on canvas, mounted on board, 38 x 51 cm

This painting was inspired by Natalie’s ‘Old ship structure’. I made a simplified composition with an imaginary object standing in a landscape to experiment with paint quality: Plain, textured, and heavy body. It’s a painterly alternative to my materials collages.

 

Keeping things together (R)

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Painted materials object, mounted on board, 49 x 39 cm

A piece that’s hard to explain – I followed an intuition which I did not really understand. Technically, the piece is two layers of Kozo paper around a piece of chicken fence, connected with double-faced stiches in red band. The paper is painted with blue and green watercolours. The entire structure is three-dimensional – I shaped it into several waves and bumps, so that it’s lifted from the support and only connected to the board at three points. It was inspired by Natalie’s ‘Imaginary trees’ for the stitching and additional painting of the surface, but otherwise the piece is a mystery to me.

 

Who is Charlie Sheen, actually? (R)

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Mixed media on paper, 35.5 x 27.5 cm

This drawing was inspired by Natalie’s ‘Catching a lamb’ – I started with the concept of ‘people’ and set out to sketch some folks. Currently I enjoy watching ‘Two and a half men’ which features Charlie Sheen, and chose this for a start. I tried sketching from television, but this very difficult because of film cuts every few seconds, and my first two sketches remained very vague. Then I switched to a photo for a third sketch on the paper. To bring out more clearly the portrait from photo which has more likeness, I dimmed down the initial sketches by overpainting them. The resulting composition conveys how I perceive the lesser known, difficult parts of Sheen’s personality, they are like demons luring in the dark. I imagine being with Charlie Sheen, you never know who you’re actually talking to.

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