Laurence Philomène created a series of work titled ‘Me vs Others’ which is a collection of self portraits shot through the use of other peoples bodies. All of the images are highly saturated with colour and include Philomène’s Iconic orange hair. I find the concept of a non-self self portrait very interesting, in contrast to such work as Gillian Wearing where she would produce a self-portrait in costume of another person.
Quarles’ work is highly relevant to the development of my studio practice, her work displays multiplicity in such a beautiful and complex way. When I look at her work my mind draws thoughts of parallel universes colliding wherein the same thing exists in multiple versions at the same time with no single one being the correct state of existence. I really like the vibrancy of the colours that she uses, especially in combination with the more muted fleshy tones of many of the apparent limbs. It’s also interesting to note how some areas of the paintings appear to be a lot more ‘finished’ followed by areas of sketchy and less finessed sections, this brings the viewers attention to come in and out of focus and allows for some discrepincies as to where our focus should lay. Upon first glance at the work, seeing the entanglement of limbs and vague body parts, it would be easy to assume that the work is sexual in nature, however upon discovering Quarles’ creates work about gender and other identities it portrays a much more succinct message. I feel like I understand it on a more personal level as the subject is something which I have a lot of personal experience in, the way her work depicts somebody coming away from themselves and peeling away the layers to continually release new and surprising elements.
I absolutely adore Cahun’s photography work, the way that they would transform into a completely different person with each photograph and create a deep sense of unnerve. It is also worth mentioning as part of my research that Gillian Wearing did an homage to Cahun making use of masks.
Laurence Philomène is a non-binary photographer who uses highly saturated imagery to tell the narrative of their relationship with their own body as a trans person undergoing hormone replacement therapy. Their work depicts vulnerable and cinematic scenes that honour the existence of trans bodies, including their own, and ‘studies identity as a space in constant flux’. They pose questions of why trans people must define an end point for their transition, rather than just accept it as a journey with no fixed end point.
Below are some photographs from their project titled ‘Huldufólk’ also known as ‘Hidden People’, this collection is based off of Icelandic folklore about spirits of the nature. In these photos, Philomène draws parallels between the Huldufólk and their own physical body, comparing the changes they are experiencing whilst going through a second puberty to the ever changing landscape of Iceland. I find these images hauntingly beautiful, they feel so grounded in reality and I feel like they normalise transgender bodies so effortlessly as they combine with landscapes to create a natural image.
‘I often say that my paintings are portraits of living within a body, rather than portraits of looking onto a body’
Upon reading Christina Quarles in conversation with David Getsy, I found that it gave me tremendous insight into the ways in which identity of the self are represented within Quarles’ work. Her paintings often come in and out of focus, allowing pieces of limbs and bodily representations to be fragmented to the point of being multiply situated. Accompanying these figures are patterned planed interjecting the bodily space and creating a setting that brings it in and out of focus with the planes being representations of both interior and exterior spaces simultaneously. In her paintings, generally the most determinable feature is hands and feet attached to a confusing tangle of vague and obscure representations of skin and breasts and stomachs and sometimes faces. The hands and feet are often more discernible as these are the parts of our own bodies that we are most familiar with, they are our outermost extensions compared the rest of the body which is more vague and murky to us, not to mention you’ve only ever seen your own face in a mirror never in person. When we see other people it’s easy to imagine they’re a whole person and have a complete sense of their own identity whereas when dealing with matters of the self it’s more vague and messy due to the ‘unknowability of our own face’.
‘fluidity implies that everything is constantly in flux. Your paintings don’t propose fluidity. They model a stance in which each element can be more than one thing simultaneously.’
I find this idea of multiplicity really sophisticated and I’m a big fan of Quarles’ work because of it, she perfectly represents the non-perfect and the messiness and uniqueness of everybody’s individual self identity.
Frank Stella’s work is of great interest to me, he focuses heavily on the physicality of an artwork as an object rather than a symbolic projection into a three-dimensional story. His artwork went from minimalism to maximalism when minimalism had finished being of use to him. I find that I’m particularly drawn to his ‘Moby Dick Deckle Edges Series’ from 1993 and also ‘Jundapur’ from 1996. I like his use of overly bright colours as I feel like this catches the eye, I also like that his work contains a lot of layers and collaged elements. I particularly like Jundapur because its contained to a rigid shape, the circle, but it breaks the frame and goes beyond this at times.
Rauschenberg’s cardboard series of work has always been of interest to me, I like that it’s so basic and yet 3 dimensional and has a rawness to it. He doesn’t attempt to hide the original damaged surface that he is manipulating, leaving every dent, stain and scratch to be involved in the work. I have been using cardboard in my own work as a surface since Studio Practice 3, I like it not only because it is so readily available in large quantities but because it has so many uses and there’s something really physical about it. Cardboard is somehow both strong and fragile. Rauschenberg’s cardboard compilations feel like a mutated net of something that isn’t easily determinable. These have encouraged me to play around more with found cardboard and how something done being useful can take on a new form.
I bought this post over from my studio practice four research because I still think Chase’s work is highly relevant to my developing practice.
Chase’s large scale paintings feature queer black curvaceous bodies intertwined and overlapping in a number of intimate positions, they feel very personal and almost private in the way they tell stories of intimacy and relations. At such a grand scale the paintings demand attention. These relations are often played out within ‘abstract interior spaces’ allowing for the human subjects to be the main focus for attention.
‘A certain generative energy between people—the desire to feel one’s physical boundaries melt into another—is perhaps the strongest thread through all of Chase’s work; it’s also one of the aspects of their paintings that drew collector Mera Rubell’s eye. “For me, there’s a lot of action and sensual moments within the canvas,” she says of their paintings. “There’s a communication that is private and loving. Within each painting are humans trying to find each other.”’ (Thackara, Tess. 2018)
Chase is one of the artists I focused my studies on for my extended essay and I don’t regret this one bit, the more I read about their work the more I found myself fascinated by it, I am particularly a fan of their Solo Exhibition titled ‘Big Wash’ at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia as there were large sculptures and installation work combined with paintings and all using a running visual theme of some fabric that Chase designed, this show was about the lines between public and private in queer lives and queer bodies.
The film rocky horror picture show continues to be of relevance to my practice. I believe its outrageous and flamboyant depictions queer culture were ground breaking. I feel it captures this dark and burlesque sense of queer macabre in a way that no other film would be able to replicate. I have included some screen caps and GIFs from the film as this is the kind of imagery which inspires and steers my visual vocabulary as I try to capture its essence in my own work.
I find that my creativity is heavily inspired by queer videography and musicals such as Rocky Horror, Rent and The Book of Mormon. These films, through their messages and outrageous depictions of all things camp and their celebration of it, make me feel a sense of community and creativity that is difficult to put into words hence finding a more visual vocation for these feelings.
