A series of questioning and uncertainty: Conflicts of the mind in over thinking and second guessing
Paths weave through trees, people’s bodies disappear behind bends, rivers snake through the land. The calm waters rush by, chaos is present if closely observed. The over thinker.
chapter 1) How does anyone place them self into a fragile system built to look strong? What part do I play and how do I act this role out? Overthinking and over analysing my surroundings, my thoughts bring an understanding of the history researched, the history of colonialism, the history which is trapped in the trees and whenua. I’m just a visitor, I want to be respectful, if there is any way I can be?
chapter 2) Placement of self, revisits of revisits, I’m terrified of painting people, I’m terrified of painting me, but it feels right in the moment? I’m not showing me, it’s lurking over me like my thoughts, it’s what’s in the back of my head. Inevitably of expectation creeps up from behind, it’s stressful, all this overthinking feels like nails scratching on chalkboards ripping into me. Wood panels of old work hold the ground for new narratives, my stories are rewritten through new knowledge, my materials hold onto my thoughts, canvas is boring so I will use it, maybe I can change their minds, can it be good enough? Can canvas be not boring to me at-least? Fibers are covered with the white gesso, but protrude in familiarity.
chapter 3) A cluster of what goes on in my head, the drawings and planning’s feel lost scrunched up in my brain. Am I visiting for making or to get away? I feel a burden to discuss the materials used, bricks pulled from the river’s dirt, if observed closely remnants of left over dirt and moss is visible, even after a clean. For now I tread on small concrete bricks, like many others have and will have.
Chapter 1 – River walking, 2021, acrylic, liquid nails and old canvas, 230 mm x 230 mm
Shadow on the path, 2021, acrylic on wood, 230 mm x 230 mm
Chapter 2 – Revisits of revisits, large panels, 1850 mm x 910 mm, acrylic, wood panel and canvas
Chapter 3 – Bricks (left over), 2021, installation, acrylic and 5 bricks.
Feed back
The first crit was with Ngahuia Harrison, the focus and what came from the crit seemed to be more idea based focusing on the content of the work in relation to statement and other forms of research. A large question which I took from this specific crit was the ideas of erasure, how much of the old work was being covered up and how this this over painting interfere and play onto and against the ideas of the work. Is the covering up again a bad thing or was the consciousness of the work there.
The second crit with Noel Ivanoff, this crib felt more focused on installation and material in relation to ideas, how the materials played off of and with depiction and how the set up could influence these ideas and how mediums can help to elevate the contextual readings with in the work to help these ideas touched up on in the statement, drawn out into the physical space of showing. How depiction played with material and how much was being unravelled was an idea touched upon, brought up were the comparison of success within the smaller works on how much was working in relation to the larger work which felt a bit more forced and ‘not working as well’.
Other points of interest was how the figure was placed in relation to the observer and the observed and how this played out in the works.
Llenyd Price 