Some inspiration

Artists that have caught my attention recently:

• Hannah Hoch, after visiting this exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery. I have another post in draft about this visit.

• Ice Age Art after seeing this video with the curator Jill Cook talking about the Female Gaze...a subject that is potentially a key area of study for me at level three.

• Ed Fairburn who makes unusual but strangely beautiful portraits out of the contours of maps.

• Rob Mullholland who makes brilliant mirror sculptures and places them in the landscape. The mirror is something I want to explore further at level three.

• Rebecca Dagnell's Paradise in Suburbia series that overlaps and mirrors part of the image.  Reminds me a little of my Her Eyes On work and suggests a direction for my own work.

• Early on in my studies with OCA I came across one of Manabu Yamanka's images from the Gyahtei series  (no. 17, November 2000) that is found on page 100 of Train Your Gaze. It made a big impression on me at the time. Since then, I have viewed many thousands of images, yet this one remains in my mind. I think of it often. I couldn't say it was a favourite as such, and it isn't a 'nice' image. I never saw the series, but felt that that one image, in its own right, without seeing any others, or any context, artist statement or hyperbole was, for me, a very important one, on so many levels. And it still troubles me greatly.  It is only recently I looked further at his work (a google search will bring up a few of his images, or try this website). It is not for the fainthearted. Given the general criticism to our increasing societal impunity to shocking or harrowing images, Yamanka's work sliced through that ambivalence, with ease, in my case. I found both the general content of his work and subject matter extremely harrowing and difficult to deal with. I didn't loiter too long I must admit, but feel that given the impression no. 17 has made on me, I need to make myself look at his work and approach in more detail, and will in due course write a separate post specifically about it.