EXPERIENCE

This was an impromptu visit as I walked past the gallery. I have previously looked at their exhibitions online because I was researching the work of an artist that they represent – Kojo Marfo, a Ghanaian artist who is now working in London. So I went in to have a look when I came walked past them by chance.

I only spent a short time there so I’ll capture some quick notes here on works that caught my attention and I’ll state the reasons for my interest.

Thoughts: I often use animal or bird faces on the characters that I depict in order to anonymise the story and not make them too personal. I really like the way this artist blanked the face, I think it’s a possible way for me to achieve the anonymity that I was looking for in my story telling. So I’ll consider this approach.

Thoughts: This was a close to photo realistic painting of a sculpture. I thought it was a digital image to start with then I saw that it was an oil painting on canvas. What I liked is the idea of making a sculpture or 3D work then making a painting of that. Something to bear in mind as an idea.

Thoughts: I liked the semi-abstract nature of this painting. There is chaos on the canvas but it’s also very well thought through. I want to make semi-abstract work but not in this way, nonetheless, this was an interesting example for me to ponder over.

There were two Kojo Marfo paintings, both large scale oil on canvas – sizes were not specified for one of them:

Thoughts: I once did some research on this artist as part of an essay about transcultural artists. I like his use of colour, intrigue and the way he expresses his transculturalism and uses symbols in his work. Although it’s not the kind of work that I want to make, I have been inspired by his use of symbols and have at times incorporated that into my work.

Thoughts: Out of all the works in the gallery, I was most inspired by this one. It reminded me of once seeing a video of a Chinese artist using a very large paintbrush (the size of a floor mop) and painting on the floor in black in a highly charged way. Seeing this painting reminded me of that and I want to experiment with painting in that way.

Next steps: I’ll research what can be used as an extra large paint brush and what ink or paint I would use. Then I would either use a plain background or a digitally printed canvas with a digital collage and then use the large brush to do Chinese calligraphy on the the canvas, with just one or two large characters.