Simon Morris - Pause paintings

Artist Simon Morris is interested in geometric abstraction. This covers object based paintings, installations and collaborations with other people. Within the context of the paintings, it allows him to think about how to make a geometric image in a way that allows him some opportunity to set the parameters of what these paintings are going to be but also let him make a painting where a system or formula helped him make decisions about what to do next.



He enjoys the unpredictable nature of this way of working. He uses black because it is a reductionist colour and focuses the attention on the pattern as opposed to the colours. I also enjoy working in this way - perhaps because I feel confident that I know that I am producing something even if I do not know what I am producing! Getting a balance between chaos and control is the challenge.



Pause 4.5 (2006) and Pause 5.5 (2006), are part of an ongoing series of paintings that have been produced by following a mathematical system.

Film and video production workshop

Cecilia Stenbom lead a film and video production workshop which I attended today. Cecilia is a Newcastle-based artist filmmaker who is currently undertaking a PhD at Newcastle University. 

“My work is focused on media saturated, consumer driven everyday environments and how they affect human response, notions of identity, behaviour and interaction. I examine collective experiences through moving image content by reinterpretation and appropriation, using narrative and plot as tools.I examines anxieties and desires, reinterpreting scenarios within entertainment, mass media, retail, and domestic life. I work predominately with moving image content through film and installation by re-contextualize narrative for the gallery space or adapting it for the cinema screen.”

Cecilia Stenbom

The workshop covered all aspects of film and video production from preproduction, fundraising, casting, legal requirements, through the types of equipment (video cameras, microphones, lighting) and to postproduction.



Cecilia began by showing us SYSTEM, a short film shot in a shopping centre featuring two sisters, each with their own neurotic responses to everyday life. Through the experiences of these two characters, SYSTEM explores collective anxieties, irrational behaviour and the quest for control in public space. The plot is loosely based on a number of one-to-one interviews that Stenbom conducted with people about everyday behaviours and habits in communal spaces.

Throughout the workshop we referred back to the SYSTEM footage to demonstrate how certain results were achieved, or to explain a concept or technique when put in practice.

When we were discussing how to achieve the kind of image desired, Cecilia showed us a very useful diagram to illustrate the relationship between the ISO, the aperture and the shutter speed.

For more information about Cecila's practice visit 

http://www.ceciliastenbom.se/index.asp

https://systemthefilm.wordpress.com



Artist Films 2014 - Cecilia Stenbom from CVAN, North East on Vimeo.

Systems, contingency and intuition

Today I had a wonderful discussion about my work, making process, my ideas and artwork by other artists that I am interested in.

During the conversation, three words kept cropping up that seem central to my practice.

Systems

an assemblage or combination of things or parts forming a complexor unitary whole:
any formulated, regular, or special method or plan of procedure:
due method or orderly manner of arrangement or procedure:

Contingent 

dependent for existence, occurrence, character, etc., on something not yet certain; conditional;
liable to happen or not; uncertain; possible:
happening by chance or without known cause; fortuitous; accidental:

Contingency

dependence on chance or on the fulfillment of a condition;uncertainty; fortuitousness:

Intuition

knowledge or belief obtained neither by reason nor by perception;
instinctive knowledge or belief;

a hunch or unjustified belief;















































































































































































































When considering my recent installation 'Zing', this is how these words relate to my work

System

I applied a system to the choice and order of colours for the sculptures. I followed the  colours used in a bedrock map of the Cheeseburn Grange to illustrate the layers of what is below the ground

Contingency

The plaster form on the ceiling was dependent on the prop being underneath it to hold it up

Intuition

The way that I positioned the various components and decided what to include and how to display them was based on my own 'gut feeling' or instinct