Drawing Project statement

Drawing Project Statement Joanna Webster

For this project, I wanted to think of a way to visually communicate the things we are missing while absorbed in a world of technology and looking at the world through a screen.

One of the best quotes I have seen on the internet that sums up what I believe is,

“We’re living in an era where capturing moments using our phones is more important than actually living these moments with whoever is beside us.” - Source Unknown

The whole idea for this project struck me while in a situation surrounded by people and nobody was talking. Every single person around me was looking at a mobile phone, messaging other people or browsing social networks rather than interacting with the people sitting right next to them.

I, myself have been a culprit of this but since this realisation I began picking up on other situations where this happened. Whether it was at a gig or out in a restaurant people are more focused on keeping up to date with social networking and taking photographs, looking through a lens than actually being consciously aware of the people around themselves.

One of the main things that I studied while working on this project is the philosophical study of phenomenology. To describe this basically, phenomenology is the study of the structures of consciousness and experiences.

I began by making observational sketches of people and things around us that I either knew or didn't know and just happened to be near on the train or at a station. Most of these people were alone or in small groups. During the time I was sketching the people I didn't know I found that I would consider who these people were and what their lives were like. In this day and age, unfortunately people would rather not interact and be left alone than socialise with a complete stranger.

The final outcome is a collection of snapshots of people in social situations and the things we don't really think about because we are too busy on our mobile phones to notice that we are surrounded by people. They are small line drawings created on the go but as a collection build up as a piece that shows all the peoples lives that we are apparently too busy engaged with a screen to interact with. When the screen is taken away we are forced back into consciousness and awareness and thats when we start to notice these things.

Artists I have looked at include David Hockney, I looked at his line drawings and decided to use a similar style as it was efficient to quickly draw things while I was standing or sitting in a fast paced environment,

Overall, i'd like to think that my project is a rebellion against the technological world and removed the screen to pick up a pen and paper and become consciously aware of my surroundings and appreciated what is around me. I have shown this through small sketches that make up a collection of unknown faces that make people wonder who they are. I think that given more time and travelling around frequently, this could grow into a larger piece of collected snapshots of life around us.

Drawing Project Contextual Research

One of the other huge things that influenced me on this project is this video i came across a while back.

I think that it shows a lot about todays society and relates a great deal to my project. 

It shows that people are too busy looking through a lens to appreciate life and take in the real experience. 

This basically depicts the idea of phenomenology and the way we experience things around us.

video from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OINa46HeWg8

Self Directed Project images

All images created using satin black metal and wood paint, gloss white paint and crimson emulsion.

All Approx 5 1/2 ft x 2ft on Fabriano Paper

Approx 5 1/2 ft x 5 1/2 ft

Approx 5 1/2 ft x 5 1/2 ft

(complete HIGH QUALITY images of final work COMING SOON)

Drawing project Notes

After Searching for a LONG time, i have finally found something that i've had in mind since thinking about the inital idea's for this project. 

http://www.tellyads.com/show_movie.php?filename=TA2216

image: http://www.pocketropolis.co.uk/blog/uploaded_images/vision.jpg

(the caption is a joke already placed on the image. Sometimes comedy is the best medicine right?)

This simple Vision Express TV advert made me think a lot a few years back. Everything we look at really is like taking a photograph that lasts for a second. Whether its something scenic or a glimpse of somebody you're passing on the street.

The advert always inspired me as it made me consider all of the things that we see that we don't really take in because we are too busy or not paying attention,

I think that this relates a lot to my project as the subjects in my sketches are similar to these snapshots that we see but might not think too much about. Instead i have captured them and taken note of the details in order to create the drawing itself.

Thinking about it, this tv advert made me think about the things i wanted to show in this project before i even started thinking about the project itself.

Drawing Project Development

For my final pieces in my drawing project i want to sketch as many observational 'snippets' of life as possible. Wherever we are, the people around us go ignored because of the way society has grown to communicate through technology and people have grown into a world where we speak more over social media than to the people we are next to on the bus or in a class. 

The entire object of the work is to show the things that we are ignorant to while we are looking at our phone or looking at a screen. 

I used the inspiration i got while exploring David Hockney's work by using the simple line drawings. Although still incomplete, i believe that in a collective piece it will look like the small moments captured by the conscious and subconscious mind all in one bulk piece but separate moments.

I also thought about when i read that an artists sketchbook is very personal and unique, i believe that this is true with this work as not one person sees the same as another. These pieces are things which i have personally experienced and noticed myself in my own life.

Self-Directed Project Research

Anger Management and Art Therapy

Art Therapy has been known to treat a number of things including anger management.

When we suppress anger we push it away and ignore it. This overwhelms us and only makes it manifest into a force that can lead to become destructive and worse than the initial feeling.

I personally find this to be true in my own life experiences. I find that the more i try and contain how i feel when i am stressed or angry, the final outcome is everything i bottled up let out all at once. 

My work is to show how the feeling build up into one manifested reaction. 

While creating my paintings, i felt like i was letting out the anger i felt in a juxtaposing way. Painting is sometimes such a calm and well thought-out process that it counteracts the feelings of irrational behaviour. 

This works as we focus all of our energy and thought process by channeling the anger into one source. 

While creating my own work, i tried to paint while in a situation that angered me, people pushing past while i was working or if i was having a bad day. During the process of painting, i found that concentrating on only the direction the paint was flowing and watching it fall from the brush to the canvas, it was extremely therapeutic. 

By creating my work while experiencing the emotion directly, i feel that the work is more truthful and expressive.

It also proves the theory of art therapy in the way that it channels the emotion into something creative, ultimately creating positive energy.

ref:http://arttherapyreflections.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/using-art-therapy-to-release-anger.html

Self-Directed Project Development

The above are all experimental pieces from my self directed project sketchbook. I began looking into the subconscious and the way the mind reacts to our emotional environment. I liked the use of the watercolour to reflect the dreamy state of mind but i felt that the use of material wasn't very successful. 

I wanted to use a different style which was expressive and bold. After i looked at the Emotionally Vague survey i found that the dripping paint style looked well to copy the scribbled marks on the paper. I think that using my chosen topic of rage/anger/frustration the black paint created the right marks depending on how they were applied to convey the emotion i wanted to explore. 

I also liked the way which Johan Van Mullem uses spiralling patterns to create his work, i think that the way the paint drips onto the page has the same effect.