Grey Areas part 2

whether the weather, originally uploaded by me-jade.

Some more thoughts and theories on the greyness of my work…..

Sometimes others (and sometimes me, too, just to make life easier) refer to my work as monochromatic. But I don’t think about it that way at all, to me all the colours are there. Just in a very toned down, washed out form. You just need to look closely.

The lack of colour provides visual relief from the multicolours we are bombarded with in everyday life……so many colourful things compete for our attention!

My feeling is that art almost always involves the past, and is an act of preservation. It is the product of an actual event, the remains of an experience or process, somewhat removed from ‘real life.’ By using the colouring that I do I feel I am amplifying the sense in which the viewer is seeing the remnant of a living thing. Probably this idea needs a whole post on its own.

It is both organic and industrial, just as many of my forms suggest body and machine.

It makes things look old, a bit jaded, I like this play on the meaning of my name. (I am only half joking) So it is a signature colour scheme…

grey areas

diorama thing, originally uploaded by me-jade.

Often I’m asked about the limited colour I use in my work. I have many explanations for why it interests me, I am unsure if any are really true, maybe it is just personal taste.
But then I do like many artworks that use strong colour, I just don’t like to use it myself. I tend not to wear it, but I much prefer to wear it than to use it…..

Anyways here are some thoughts and theories;

I often work in a way that is detailed, even elaborate. Lack of colour is a counterpoint to this, it makes things simpler.

It looks like the work has been subjected to the natural processes of aging and decay, yet it is a selected and contrived appearance. I love a bit of paradox.

Lots of stuff I make is vaguely festive in form…….it is much more interesting to have the counterpoint of sombre colouring, otherwise it might be a bit, well, yuck, if you know what I mean….just too nice and pretty and that’s not what I’m interested in.

I enjoy tricking people. It’s true! I like the way that from a distance my artworks can look like some old relic, an outmoded device or aged ephemera, but on closer inspection it is clear that they are products of the present. Often my work uses recycled materials, so something old becomes new…..but is made to look even older. Tricky, huh? Or maybe just baffling…

I see my work as exploring the meaning of the phrases ‘shades of grey,’ and 'grey areas' etc. Ambiguity interests me.

Part 2 coming soon!

Desolation Row (part 3)

There are quite a few references to textiles within the Desolation Row lyrics; some overt, others implied.

Of course there is the hanging, mentioned in the first line...and you can't have a hanging without some rope...or something like rope...at least not that i'm aware of. Then, a couple of lines down, we find '..the circus is in town, here comes the blind commissioner, one hand tied to the tightrope walker, the other is in his pants':- two there! (and that's if you don't count a circus tent) Perhaps the hanging rope and the tight rope are not so different? It seems to me that Dylan is drawing a subtle analogy here...the hanging is like a circus?

Then there's a verse on cinderella. Now in the story of Cinderella that we all know, Cinderellas ball gown, bestowed by her fairy godmother, is a key part of her transformation. But not so important to the story, of course, as those glass slippers. And of course that is a soft thing (slipper) made into something hard (glass). And i reckon this is an interesting parallel to Ophelias 'iron vest,' mentioned in the song.
I am sure by now you will think i am mad, but i considered it my duty not to make my desolation row sculptures illustrations of the song, and i am always finding what are, to me, strange and interesting connections between things...i suspect everyone has there own.
Anyways, this was kind of relevant to the sculptures because of the way i used textiles and paper, layering them with glue to form something quite hard. Often in my work i am making hard things into soft things, like little fabric stuffed scissors, so this seemed a logical step. And there is an interesting play (in the song) between the forces of authority and restriction, and what we could call poetic or creative realities, for want of any better terms.

Anyways, there'll be more to come on Desolation Row...it is a long song, but it is also a whole world, or three.
And there's plenty more textiles and paper to talk about yet!

Desolation Row (part two)

The arabic bible(new testament)i mentioned in desolation row part one seemed particularly relevant for a few reasons....of course for the biblical references in the song, (though most are old testament, except for the good samaritan...and there are veiled references to crucifixion, well i think so anyway) but also for the sense of displacement. The arabic seemed interesting to me in light of current world events, and for the sense it which the characters in the song are 'outsiders,' perhaps rejected by the mainstream.
In my mind it kind of fit in with the stuff like 'praise be to Neros Neptune, the Titanic sails at dawn......which side are you on?' partly because of the history of the book itself (see part one)and even the line 'painting the passports brown'....connecting to the issue of asylum seekers,(where identity and official papers are all-important) and even stuff like David Hicks in Guantanamo bay (and becoming a British citizen)........so of course we are back to the boats, at least if you can follow my train of thought!