refelecting back on the lost works

So, I will be going into my second year of Fine Art within 2 weeks. Scary stuff. Exciting stuff. Unfortunately, my work had been ruined from year 1 from a boiler leak so i feel lost! Feel like I'm starting over again. It is quite ironic as for my first term, I was working on the theme of good and bad, so for this i destroyed the bible and remade it. It feels like if God exists - that it is a punishment. 'how dare you destroy my book, i will destroy yours'. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But maybe, it was destroyed for a good reason? Maybe something better was going to come out of it? Who knows...maybe i should go back to this? I created a video of myself tearing the bible up. It took me over an hour to do so. During this time, it felt like i was being punished for doing this; my hands getting cut and aching etc This video seemed to be a finished piece and unfortunately, i believe it also to be destroyed with the leak.

Destroying things: having no recollection of something apart from one thoughts? or perhaps through word of mouth from people talking about the work - a rumour, a myth? Take away that source of information, will it be lost? I am only going on my memory of this; take away my memory and it may be lost. Did that thing exist if nobody talks about it anymore? Does it exist if nobody knows about it anymore? Does it then start to exist if a theory about that object was said? Does it exist if someone believes it exists? Does a tree fall if know one is around to hear it fall? Existence... what is this?

Going into term to of my first year - I was unsure again. I had just had a break from work - maybe mentally i feel like i should start a fresh every time i have a break, where i should continue on existing ideas? Allow the context to evolve? In term 1, i also started to look at alchemy.

I have luckily got photographic evidence of some of my work and did a huge spider diagram of my thought process during this time.

I will post this diagram on here. but a written explanation for my sake is as follows:

I continued my ideas from term 1: Alchemy, belief, trusts, artists truths looking at Miraslow Balka, Anthony Gormley, Charles Avery.

This made me look at interventions and audience participation and trying to build this trust between spectator and spectacle. With this, i created 4 boxes of which you can place your hands inside, blindly going in to touch what is in the box. A game play i guess. This lead to ideas of seeing art using other senses other than your eyes. ( listening, touching, smelling etc). I created a sound piece of children playing in a box. Charles Avery created a whole belief of another world. This lead to me doing performances of escapism. We blindfolded an audience and created a soft sound piece around them. This allowed them to hear the art instead of see the art. in some cases, the art was see through their imagination. We did about 3/4 of these performances, trying out different ways and experimenting. i liked the idea of using the imagination to trigger art in your head. I liked the idea of being able to escape to places using your imagination.

Michael Craig martin was another artists i really admired for this, with his work 'the oak tree'.

Statement from the Tate website

While this appears to be a glass of water on a shelf, the artist states that it is in fact an oak tree. Craig-Martin’s assertion addresses fundamental questions about what we understand to be art and our faith in the power of the artist. The work can be seen as an exploration of Marcel Duchamp’s declaration that any existing object can be declared a work of art. In his accompanying text, Craig-Martin provides the questions as well as the answers, allowing the simultaneous expression of scepticism and belief regarding the transformative power of art.

So the idea was this - the imagination of the viewer would be the art the

at see, with the art i create to inspire this.

So i was to create this place to escape to.

I looked at meditation, escaping society by camping in a forest away from human apart from 1 friend who i collaborated with. We created our own Manifesto:

Encounterism.

Encounter 1

Karys and I went for a walk. We did this by dropping a pen on a map of Farnham and then going there.

We did this three times.

On these three times we met many people.

· a lady with a blue jumper and a puffer jacket

· Steph

· Hilde and Hannah at the entrance

· a big grey cat

·

Lots of people smoking outside

· Blue car

· Blue car

· Red fiesta

· My car

· a man walks past we say thank you

· We have a coffee and a man smiles at us

These are just some of the encounters on this encounter part A, B and C.

From Louise Patey

Encounter 2

Went to a site where we decided to get away from everything. ‘Escaping’.

We went for 2 days and 1 night. We had no contact with anyone, no phones, no Internet. Just ourselves. Each others company. The two of us; Karys Munns and Louise Patey.

Many people saw out habitat but not us. They just saw someone was living there. We heard children ask the questions. ‘What is it?’ ‘Look, a tent’. No faces to the voices that spoke. We saw nothing, like we were blind to that part of the world. We just imagined what they looked like. I do regret not seeing what they look like but not knowing allows them to look like what I want them to look like. That voice has a different face. What we imagine people to look like never looks like that person. Just features we remember of that person.

“look, there is a tent there”

“Hello? Hello?” another child said. We shouted hello back.

From Louise Patey

Encounter 3:

Going home.

I left at three today, after my lecture. Karys and I are doing this until we are both home.

16:00 , an hour later and Karys is not home. So I continue to document. It is impossible to write during the time I am driving. I do remember the licence plate with the word JAM in it. It was driving very slow in front of me for a very long time. It was a blue car. Not sure what make though, ; not very good with cars. There were roadworks on the A339 which took me an extra 20 minutes to get home. I have the song ‘its raining men’ in my head. That’s all I can remember about my journey apart from me being bored and wanting to be home. Oh I also needed the toilet. So I'm outside my house writing this and am just about to look in my post. I have a message from Priscillia. She is in Canada at the moment. She tells me her boyfriend has surprised her with an apartment so they can live in their own place together. How lovely. ‘when will you visit?’ she is asking. I hope soon.

I have just eaten a salad and will now be going to work for 4 hours. Speak to you on my break.

So, its my break now. 19:30 and has been a very long day. I have manages to do three cages with Connor. I like Thursdays as the managers are not in. it is very quiet on the shop floor tonight. Oh I have a text from kiwi. It says ‘ i love you’. How sweet. I love him too. For break, I'm eating an apple. A little peckish. Back to work.

karys has text me. She is home now. Only 10 minutes and we will both be home. Better drive now.

21:10 we are both home

Encounter finished.

From Louise Patey

Encounter 5:

Disposable camera

Karys and I are both taking photos today. What I like about this is we are both doing the same thing on the same day but in two completely different places. People may encounter us but they will never realise that it is happening let alone that it is happening in more than one place.

From Louise Patey

Encounter 6:

Writing to Karys

Karys and I have written to each other over two weeks. Her being in Devon and I in Newbury. Two very contrasting and far apart places. I send her a small stamp sized letter and the postman gives it to her. He carried it in his pocket so he didn’t loose it. It was the talk of the office.

Sent: five letter

Received: three letters and one postcard.

From Louise Patey

Encounter 7

Message in a bottle.

I placed a letter in a bottle. It was a poem. In a plastic bag in a blue bottle. It read:

When the world crashes down around you,
and the surroundings lose all color
When the harsh words cut right through,
and your vision begins to grow duller
When a knife seems so appealing,
and all you can do is scream
When you start to lose all feeling,
and you disappear into your dreams
When no matter how hard you keep trying,
and feel you can't get yourself out of this pit
When you can't control yourself from crying
and all alone you sit,
When you lie there hurt and tattered,
and all your hope has gone,
When your heart has finally shattered,
and the darkness goes on and on
I will be there to pick up the broken pieces,
and mend them back together
Because my love for you it never ceases,
and we can escape reality forever

From Louise Patey

Encounter 8:

Message on a balloon.

It said: My day today I went somewhere wonderful, Left this place and went somewhere I didn’t know. My body was left my soul continued My heart felt warm and my body glowed. I was flying peacefully through and through To a fantasy island I never knew No body to carry, just air to flow No hatred, no feeling sick, hurt or sorrow The world can be a horrid place With society corrupt and a way we must be Not to stand out, be judged be wrong With this we must close pour eyes, escape and finally see We must close our eyes, escape and see the good in the world Maybe not be with society but with people we love And be cared for and care for and not be troubled And to forget the people so cruel and corrupt. So I tell you I love you And for you to see: Close your eyes if need be To escape this reality when your feeling down Even for a moment, just come with me to this fantasy We will go somewhere wonderful We’ll leave this world, go somewhere we don’t know We’ll leave our bodies and our souls will grow Out hearts will feel warm and our spirits will glow To a fantasy island we’ll always know. Love Louise Patey That is what it said and it floated high. From Louise Patey

Encounter 9:

Same as encounter five.

From Louise Patey

Encounter 11:

We took photos every ten minutes. Well tried too.

There are photos of me and my day and Karys and her day. I managed 88 photos in the end.

From Louise Patey

So, these were our works to show our manifesto we created.

ENCOUNTERISM ART MANIFESTO, 2010

ENCOUNTERISM

Not for an audience.

Public art not intended to be watched.

Experienceing life and everyday happenings and places in a different way.

1.Not a performance - not intended for an audience, not made to be watched.

2. not an installation - space made is for the artist where others maygather and create a community. Artist is present.

3. Not a sculpture - not made to be observed, it will always be changing.

4. Not a painting - the workis th artist involved and the encounters they experience.

5. going into the unknown, spontaneous, to see what will be encountered. Lack of planning or time to decide. Each time is never the same.

6. the documentation is normally word of mouth, but realisation may occur at a later date.

7. Items are normally collected for each encounter.

8. Everyone met along the way is part of the encounter and affects the way it turns out, unknowingly.

9. the artist then brings the items back and any audio, the the audience can try and imagine the encounter and expereince.

10. there is no limit on the amount of times an encounter can take place or how long it may go on for, it will always be changing.

11.The artist takes something from that environment and then puts something back, so part of the experience of the encounter can be shared in a differnt environment.

Karys Munns and Louise Patey

I think the problem was for us is that so much was going on. We had installations, performances, sculptures, encounters etc. So, this is a brief (and i say brief) statement on what i did in the first year of my art degree. The question is, where do i go from here?