Xu Bing/ Eastern vs Western Attitudes
Over the past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about the cultural differences between East and West and the very different value systems the two have come to live by. I first started to think about this after reading Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s essay: In Praise of Shaddows (1933) a month or so ago. I…
Plastic Sheet
In the fleeting last few days before leaving Newcastle I began to use transparent plastic sheets. Placing them over rocks I found I could pour things over them without getting the rocks beneath them wet. I enjoyed the kind of tension/ strangeness this created. I really don’t feel like any of these works are successful…
Refining Shadows/ Trapped Water
This week I continued to develop how I could arrange the shadow works I had made before. I refined several of the shadow experiments into one more finished piece which I feel happy with. Also, after discovering some thrown out blue ink in the sink, I put it to use and filled a sealed bag…
Shaddows
At first for the shadows I tried using vegetable oil which I bought, however I found that it bled out too much and didn’t allow for the sharp edges I wanted (see above). As a result I went back to using liquin which I found worked best. I tried painting the shadows by hand however…
Oil and Paint
Developing on from my experiments with wet paper, I have been using different types of painting mediums. The image bellows shows four tests I have done using acyclic paint flow improver, liquin, glazing medium and linseed oil. I would like to do this with cooking oils, such as olive oil or vegetable oil, as I…
More Wetness/ Working on the Wall
Collecting the paper I used for one of the works I made in the life room using wood shavings, I found there was a nice remnant left on many of the pages. Using these as a starting point I experimented with making wall based sculptures. Return To Blog
Playing with More Space/ Using Project Space
Given the increasing scale of my work, I decided to book out the life room to experiment with something more ambitious. I am not completely satisfied with the outcome of the work I did in the space as I feel I needed longer that the two days I had. I also felt overwhelmed by the…
Bigger Rocks and Water
Recently while out on a walk I came across a huge pile of unused rocks in a construction site, a handful of which I have taken into the studio to work with. I intend to return the rocks once I am finished with them. During the week I have also began to experimenting with wetting…
Metal
This week I have working with found metal which I took from Steve’s scrap metal in Metalwork. I have enjoyed using materials that have a real physical weight to them. One of the things I took from Steve was a sheet of Copper. It had a layer of black coating over it all which I…
Tensions
Experiments using metal rings, tied rubber bands, polystyrene foam, sawdust among other previously used materials. I have started to try and work bigger to create more ambitious structures that create a different kind of relationship to a viewer. With rubber bands I have created free-standing structures, though these are very precarious. I would like to…
Paper, sawdust, rubber bands and wood
A small issue I was having was that a lot of the pieces of wood I had, though similar in thickness, were very different lengths. I found this was distracting and confusing for the work as I was trying to create symmetrical neutral structures. I subsequently decided to cut all these pieces of wood into…
Making Paper Sculptural/ Stripes
Quite unexpectedly I have started painting again. Largely done out of momentarily being stuck with the sculptures and an impulse to do something different, I made a huge number of quick A4 and A3 stripe paintings using blue ink. The process was intentionally very simple and repetitive. I would put the paintbrush to the very…
Rubber Bands
Developing on from the stone and elastic works I made at home, this week I have experimented using rubber bands with the materials within my studio, largely wood. There is something interesting about the precariousness of some of these structures, along with how this is perceived by a viewer. I discovered I could join the…
Studio setting/ Expanding work
For the first week of studio access I continued and developed my experiments at home, arranging the same and new bits of wood in response to the new spacious context of the studio. I was interested initially in trying to restage some the work I made at home, interested in the changes that would come…
Corners/ Crisscross
Building upon a crisscross form I had in a previous sculpture I made last week I have begun to repeat the motif in different arrangements. I would like to make some kind of movable corner piece which can fold in and out. I will talk to Joe in woodwork about this soon. I’m not sure…
Rocks and Stones
Recently I have been very inspired by an exhibition I discovered at the Nogutchi museum titled Museum of Stones (October 7, 2015 – January 10, 2016) which explored the use of stones across a range of contemporary art and ancient artifacts. Discovering the work of Isaumu Nogutchi (1904-1988) I started to consider how rocks, shaped…
Found Wood/ Starting to make
The past week or so I have been collecting and repurposing wood from skips around Newcastle. I have enjoyed the manual labour of sanding, measuring and cutting wood outside. I feel very eager to get more into making and building things in a professional and proper way as I feel it will give me a…
Where things are: The context of an artwork
Looking at the career of Donald Judd, I became very interested in his work outside of his art towards the end of his life. Late in his career, having relocated to Marfa, Texas, he began to create private spaces for himself where he displayed his collection of work from throughout his career. The idea was…
Thoughts on Minimalism: Through the Eyes of Judd
Its hard for me to fully explain the extent to which Judd and his contribution to Minimalism have fed into, and shaped, my thinking and making these past few months. Perhaps a good place to start, though, is the idea of the artists hand and the process of production of an artwork which led me…
Coloured Acrylic
While charity shopping during summer I found what I later learned to be a pan resting device. The piece of wood attached to felt allowed for a number of arrangements which I found very exciting. I filmed myself playing with it and also experimented arranging it with coloured acrylic cd cases which I also found.…
Context: Mono-ha
Many, if not all, my current interests and ideas can be traced back to an art movement I came across over lock-down called Mono-ha. The work I have made since then can, in many ways, be seen as an ongoing response and digestion of those ideas I started to pick over at the start of…
Oisin Stanley-Stephenson 