As my ideas for responding to "hidden" progressed I got really into the concept of hide and seek.
This was part of my reasoning for painting the doors black - hide and seek is all about delving into the dark hiding places where no one will find you so I wanted my whole theme to feel very dark and almost spooky. The 'face' in the clouds is creepy - kind of like a ghost - which for me, reminded me of when I was little and I played hide and seek and I'd be in a really good hiding spot but once you have been there a while it starts to feel a bit creepy. When I was painting the top scene, I had Katharina Grosee in mind as the 'clouds' spread. I worked outwards from the 'face' and decided to extend upwards quite a bit more than I originally had planned. I felt compelled to embrace the existing hole that was in the wall and my periscope added to the idea of peeking and something being hidden. Once the periscope was made I had to think about what people were actually going to see when they peered inside. I liked the idea of a poem, as it seemed kind of child like - tying into the concept of hide and seek - but it also allowed me to add another element to the periscope of having the "hidden" text at the entrance. I had to keep the safety signs accessible/readable which didn't quite work in with my theme, but I added in a Banksy inspired surprise which I will reveal on Monday the 13th. When I was painting the doors, I purposefully didn't use tape around the edges of the glass etc as I don't find masking tape actually ends up giving the best clean line but I was also curious to see how it would look with rough edges. When I stood back, I personally wasn't sure about the rough edges but all other comments I received were positive towards the rugged edges, and their relation to the blotchy/dripping/roughness of the painting above.
The discussion with my lecturers and classmates highlighted a few points for me;
- the periscope felt too high, whilst the taller members in the class could see in perfectly, for most it was a stretch which meant they couldn't fully interpret what they were seeing because they weren't on the best angle. Maddie suggested creating a step stool which would become a part of the installation.
- there was discussion around the signs and the glass and whether the rough paint was good or not. Many agreed that it related well to what was happening above.
- We were asked to consider how our work relates to the work around us. Courtney's bird with the exposed anatomy actually ended up working really well next to mine as they both had a dark feeling to them and there looks to be some potential as to how these pieces could work together.
- One suggestion from my classmates that I liked was the idea of extending the darkness.
- If we were allowed to use spray paints etc I would quite like to rework the cloud scene and have it extend and wrap even further like Katharina Grosse's installation at Ikon.
