'Yup' @ Wimbledon College of Art Interim Show 2015

On Thursday 29th January I showed a wall collage (titled 'Yup') as part of group 2 of 3 groups showing on consecutive Thursdays for our main show leading up to our summer degree show. Our group's show was titled 'murmurations' and my wall collage was right next to the table of drinks (nice). My work was also near a projected video, some backlit 35mm negatives, and some cool multicoloured plinths with creepy little figures on top of them. There was also a bathtub of bright blue gin and vodka cocktail in the sculpture space and a 2nd year with a stonking playlist but that was over in the sculpture warehouse.

my finished piece

I wanted to make a wall collage because it's quite an easy and convenient thing to construct and install, which is important to me as a person who is small, used to occupying a small space, dealing with shyness and particular anxieties, and also as a little bit of a collector and someone really into the ideas behind stuff like Michael Landy's 'Break Down'. I also think it's a great format for my work because I love cutting and sticking and combining, and I tend to work on quick and little things over long periods of time and greatly value the smallness of everyday activities, extending to art practices!

my materials spread out on the studio floor

This is probably the first show across the whole of the course (which started in September 2012) that I feel really involved with wholly in that my presentation really worked, didn't look tacky, rushed, or unfinished, and I felt it worked well with all the installations around it. I had planned, some time ago, to exhibit a book I'd worked on bit by bit across the year for the degree show, but I couldn't figure out how to make that into the kind of vibrant, sprawling, ME object/installation that I wanted it to be. I wanted to find a way to show work - a form that would be visually appealing, bright, representative of my creative philosophies and methods (sort of  simplistic but quite intense?), and simultaneously appropriate in a white-wall gallery style setting. All of that together was what I'd been struggling to achieve in previous assessments and with this I think I've made a big step forward because I have finally represented myself in a way that feels very rich and whole. I feel like I'm really unwinding into showing my work in this context now. I think I've finally gotten the right energetic spirit for exhibitions, and that's so exciting!

Detail:

my collage half installed