I started my second week of FMP by doing some contextual research around my theme. I began by reading a local article (Metcalfe, 2019) about crime in alleyways, because I was interested to see if crime rates were increased in concealed areas. The story was about what happened when the gates were left open to an alleyway- criminals used the backstreets as escape routes, there was lots of fly tipping and vandalism. This research was interesting because people often find concealed areas safer, as they feel protected, but they can actually be crime hotspots, so I could use this juxtaposition in my work.
^ Local alleyway
Then, I looked more into the psychology surrounding concealment, starting off with lying. I found a National Geographic article (Bhattacharjee, 2017) which explained that lying is ingrained into human nature and that most people lie at least 1-2 times per day. Most of these are to protect other people's feelings or to cover up inadequacies, but people often lie to project a false image of themselves. This means that we may not know people as well as we think we do, and they are concealing parts of themselves. I feel like this is an interesting concept that I could explore in my future work, especially portraiture to expose the subjects' true selves.
Finally, I researched the psychology of secrets, and read an article in the New Yorker (Burdick,2017) about the effects of keeping big secrets. A study found that secrets can affect the way people see the world- they overestimated distances and steepness of hills, perhaps because they felt overwhelmed. I looked at another article from Psychology Today (Degges-White, 2019) to find out the most common types of secrets. They are: extra-relationship thoughts; sexual behaviour; lies; romantic desire; trust violations; theft; emotional infidelity; ambitions and goals; family details; and finances. I was most surprised by the ambitions and goals, so I could create work about how people feel they need to conceal their goals, so they do not appear overly ambitious.
^ Photo from the New Yorker article
Firstly, I built on last week's concept of concealing your identity in public, but this time I chose an empty street rather than a busy crowd. I wanted to make the idea more relevant, so I painted my scene onto a mask, which conceals part of the face. The pandemic has meant that people must cover their faces and that places are less crowded, so there is even less chance of someone recognising you- it is far easier to go unnoticed. I looked at Marisol Escobar's portraits (Escobar, 1967-8), as she worked onto wooden structures rather than just paper. I thought that painting onto the mask itself would help my work be more eye-catching and link back to my theme, because you can use the painting to conceal your face. For the painting itself, I was inspired by Doig's landscapes (Doig, 2001), with their clear separation between the sky and the ground etc. I decided to use the creases in the mask to mark out the horizon, to try and replicate the universal feeling of Doig's paintings. Although the mask worked well, the painting itself could have been more simplified into various levels to make it more defined.
^ 'Portrait of Sidney Janis Selling Portrait of Sidney Janis' (1967-8), Marisol Escobar
^ '100 Years Ago' (2001), Peter Doig
Continuing my experiments about empty spaces, I decided to build on my research into alleyways. I used a local back-path and created timed studies in charcoal, soft pastels, and gouache. Gradually giving myself more time allowed me to focus on the important parts of the drawing- capturing the depth and energy of the surroundings. By the time I did the 15 minute study, I managed to add a lot more detail but maintain the energy in my marks. Overall, I preferred working with the dry media as I found it easier to layer, and I will use timed work in future to focus on the whole drawing rather than all the details.
Following on, I looked at more remote locations (the local woods) and I wanted to present it as cut-off from society. I looked a Seonna Hong's landscapes (Hong, 2021), which almost seem suspended within the rest of the painting. I was also influenced by the curves of her scenes and thought back to my research of how people who keep secrets tend to image steeper hills. In my own painting, I isolated the setting in the middle of the page and made the banks of the stream steeper. I used high-contrast tints and shades to exaggerate the curves and make the landscape seem more dangerous. I then thought about how I could link this secret setting to my research into lyingand decided to make copies of the image. I folded and burned the image, as if I were trying to hide it and I liked how this process linked back to my original theme. I also liked the style of my painting and would like to develop it to be more unique from Hong's work.
^ 'Here I Go Again' (2012), Seonna Hong
I then wanted to look more at hiding places and took this more into a domestic landscape. I looked back at Mathilde Tinturier's work from last week and I was inspired to use objects within my work. I created a charcoal pencil drawing of my sister poking out from a hiding place, and I stuck this around the house. I really like how the images turned out, especially because the drawing is so small it is intriguing when you realise it is there. In future, I might do a similar intervention in a public place, to explore the playful side of hiding.
Finally, I continued my work in the domestic location and thought about the secrets that might be told in private locations. I made an oil pastel study of 2 chairs and a table, which is a relatable set up for conversations. I then looked at the work of Ivana Carman (Carman, 2020), and was really interested in her painting of different rooms, especially with the different perspectives in the one image. I used soft pastels to draw my own living room, and used a different perspective for the dining room, which could be seen through the doors. This could have been more exaggerated, but I like how the whole drawing feels like a CCTV image. I might similar locations more often, because they give an insight into a personal space that is often concealed.
^ 'Living the Surreal' (2020), Ivana Carman
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