This year we have decided to enter some of our fantastic work into the Saatchi Art prize for schools, more information about the competition can be found here:
http://www.saatchigallery.com/portfolio/
To see our Entries on the website have a look here, you can also see each individual entry on the website by clicking the students name:
http://www.saatchigallery.com/portfolio/SchoolInfo/Thomas+Rotherham+College/336.html
The competition can be entered by current students and students from the previous cohort, one student, Naomi chose to enter her coursework piece from last year:
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'Abandonment'
130 (inc dropped fabric) x 137cm
Mattress, plaster, coffee and blankets |
The
piece was initially inspired by abandoned bedding I found amongst a field,
which then lead me to the work of John Latham and Claus Oldenburg, with his
floppy sculptures. Such inspiration allowed me to explore various compositions
and techniques, however it was the abandoned landscape scenery’s, created by
David Tress that truly progressed my work. By arranging the blankets on the
mattress in a way which resembled a barren beach (that I had previously
photographed) it presented abandonment in both individual lives and the outside
world. The layering of plaster on top then added a rough and drained texture
which was then enhanced via darker tones painted within the creases. Overall I
feel this piece is truly successful in its message with the bedding
illustrating abandonment in personal lives, whereas the resemblance to a Tress
landscape portrays abandonment on a much larger scale. Not forgetting the
unique texture and bleak colour pallet that also convey abandonment.
LukeEmmott
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'Freeze Frame'
197 x 78 x 70cm
Burnt wood and glue gun |
My piece is called Freeze
Frame. It’s made from ordinary wood and I used a hot glue gun to join it
all together. It’s approximately 2m tall and 0.8m Wide. The story behind it is
that it’s based around the concept construction and destruction and seeing
things for a second and the next it’s gone. I wanted to reconstruct a piece
that would look like something we wouldn’t be able see as long as we want.
Imagine an explosion of a shed but freeze framing the explosion. That’s the
part I want to retell. I first built a ‘shack’ out of old wood found in skips
then set it on fire, this the ‘destruction’ part of it. During this process I
filmed the event as a time lapse which I would use later. After gathering the
wood afterwards I used it to produce my piece, the ‘construction’ side. I then
put the footage I got earlier over top of it linking and joining the two
opposites together, destruction and construction.
‘Freedom In all its Innocence’
100 x 132 x 50cm
Video projected onto printed sheet (Video installation) Although this has been entered as a JPEG
My inspiration behind this piece was looking at the freedom and simplicity behind the innocence of childhood, which I feel has no limitations. The cottons prints onto the fabric in parts so sensitive and delicate in contrast to the bolder parts in other parts are placing emphasis on how as a child things do not have to follow an order or be succumb to restrictions. Filming the material blowing in the wind slowly, is showing the peace found in this freedom and lack of limitations that children have due to their innocence, and the materials freedom of movement is meant to draw upon this idea. Finally projecting this footage onto the sheet is then showing how as a child something can be so clear despite its lack of structure. In this installation I am attempting to remind people how limitless and truly free a child can be, despite the simplistic innocence that childhood gives you.
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| Abuse is Written All Over Your Face |
162 x 110cm
Paper, electricians tape and biro
Throughout researching into the horrors of domestic violence
and the different effects that it has upon not only the victim, but also their
children, has truly shocked me. This inspired me to produce the 185cm x 130cm
piece, to raise awareness about the situation. I used electrical tape to create
the silhouette of the face. It is a household object that insulates, and binds
objects together things that are broken. The image is an extreme close-up of
the top half of the face, the mouth is omitted, symbolising the fact that
people in these types of relationship often have no voice. The eyes have to
tell the story as “window of the soul”. Across her face are thousands of words
– stories about their abusive relationship, different excuses that they give to
justify the situation, statistics, and the knock-on effects that it has for the
whole family. This led me to the title “Abuse is Written All Over Your
Face”.
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| Untitled |
50 x 50cm
Plaster
My
inspiration behind this piece of work was looking at different shapes and
patterns that are created within buildings. I began by looking at different
properties within modern buildings, for example Charles street car park building
in Sheffield. This building has lots and lots of squares which lay in different
angles and positions mean that you see different parts of each square; I was
very inspired by looking at this building. This sculpture which is 50cm X 50cm
consists of lots of different shapes created by plaster and can be assembled in
many different ways, as you can change the way that you place specific shapes,
this is because I wanted to portray that the piece can have different
properties from the different angle which you are stood. When you are stood
within different angles you are then able to see parts of the shapes that you
may not see from other angles for example the space inside of the full
sculpture where there is space that hasn’t been filled. Also each and every
shape is very different even if there is two of the same shape; with the
plaster they all have their own individual qualities.
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| Ticking |
29 x 39cm
Stitch and flower on paper
I was inspired by my Nan to create art all throughout my childhood which is why it felt right to include her within my work. My aim was to create a piece which portray her personality - she is a very positive character so I used photographs of her smiling. This piece is the size of A3; it's one photograph of her which I folded and scratched away at to show different layers and experiences she has had in her lifetime, a method inspired by Francis Bacon's development methods which were showcased in his book 'A Terrible Beauty'. John Stezaker was also a huge inspiration for this piece; I then layered the folded photograph on top of a different image taken at a slightly different angle to distort and obscure the face. A main theme in this work is age and aging, I sowed a flower into the layered images to show natures decay, as the flower slowly got drier and drier within the process, as well as the aging of humans.
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| Untitled, 56 x 43cm |
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Lost Poetry
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29 x 36cm
Intaglio print on fabric
My piece is an A4 intaglio on a piece of fabric with a variety of earthy colours overlapping and blending with different areas of text. The concept behind the piece was the exploration of decomposition, more specifically, decomposition of a prose. A prose or a piece of poetry or text is carefully and delicately assembled, and I wanted to capture how a prose can then be destroyed, decomposed and pieced back together. I ripped up different photos I took of text and ripped them apart, piecing them back together to create the chaotic template for my intaglio plate. I used earthy colours to relate to the theme of decomposition, where something returns to the earth through decomposing. Different areas of shadowing and different angles of text give the piece depth, and it reminds me a lot of cobwebs, yet looking at it from another point of view gave me the idea for the title, “Lost Poetry”, where a poem or prose is lost and rediscovered, pieced back together to form something new and equally beautiful.
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| Untitled |
42 x 29.5cm
Pencil on paper
Inspired by the tonal work of Robert Longo I created this A3 tonal study of my Mum I used 3B and 4B sketching pencils to create more tone within the face to create an almost 3D effect. The main theme to my coursework was covert and obscured and I focused on age and distortion of the face, I chose to draw my Mum because even with age she is beautiful to me. Her eyes carry so much emotion in my drawing and I chose an image to draw from that carried emotion as my Mum is such a strong person and doesn't always show her true emotions. But the way she is represented in this image almost shows that she has a totally different side to her, the one she doesn't show and almost makes her look as innocent as a child.
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| Distressed
Domicile |
25 x 30.5cm
Acrylic paint on cardboard
The painting shows the broken-hearted negligence of forgotten spaces, which inspired me to paint this 29.7 x 21.0 cm, worn painting using a mixture of mediums; this includes varnish to create a decrepit surface with a mix of Acrylic paint and charcoal to add chiaroscuro. I manipulated the image to create a piece that retains the aged, architectural beauty from within, using the technique of layering materials and paint.
The concept derived from my Forgotten Spaces investigation, which is an architectural competition focusing on the possibilities of reviving abandoned spaces using the input of creative people’s ideas. My aim of creating this was to create a failed, distressed building to reinforce the suppressed memory of its energised past. I used a palette of monochrome colours to maintain a consistency into abandoned, muted buildings.
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| Holy War |
82 x 100cm
Acrylic Paint on cardboard
Inspired by the idea of religious conflict trapping people I have painted this 80cm X 100cm textured piece in acrylic paint. I began by looking at religion and conflict, looking at the concept of a Jihad or ‘holy war’. A jihad can represent both an external conflict or war and an internal one. The latter is what inspired me the most, and I have looked at how individuals are trapped by religion itself and from the conflict surrounding this. This painting is from a scan of my body pressed against the glass of a scanner inspired by the collaboration of Jenny Saville and Glen Luchford. I have mixed my background layer of paint with mud to create a textured piece after looking at the work of and being inspired by Anselm Kiefer and Eugene Leroy. Kiefer’s use of natural materials such as straw is what inspired me to experiment with this to create thicker paint. I finished the piece with a layer of French polish to marry together the different parts of the painting and to add another layer of entrapment.
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| The
face in the shadows |
30.5 x 46cm
Intaglio on newsprint paper
My piece, entitled ‘The face in the shadows’, holds the idea that everybody has several layers behind them, with several meanings and ‘colours’. It’s like the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”, I tried to create a piece that if you was to peel away a layer, you would see the work in a whole different light. By literally peeling back some of the layers on my work I achieved a look that says ‘if you scratch below the surface you might find something more hiding away out of sight’. Giacometti heavily influenced me and brought me great inspiration through the use of his sketch work and paintings. I wanted to take his technique of delicate broken lines through to my intaglio printing In order to create a realistic face, not one that had a solid outline with the facial features drawn on afterwards. I admire Giacometti’s use of crosshatching and building up layers of lines as a unique way of creating shadows on the face, something that I found highly useful in the scratching process of my printing. I was also influenced by the work of Alexander Farto and the way he layers up his work to create depth and meaning, using his chosen background to his advantage. I really appreciated the way he carefully built up his work to his desired effect instead of rushing into it and running the depth he has achieved.
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| Untitled |
100 x 54cm
Plaster
Inspired by the theme of duplicating and overlapping I created plaster scaffolding poles which had an eroded feel to them due to the texture, but I included the aspect of subtlety so that the focus was on the natural destruction. The plaster makes the scaffolding seem pure and uncontaminated from rust, and they are very delicate which is opposite to normal scaffolding. I have overlaid them in a way that represents the assembly of scaffolding and shone a direct light onto them to create shadows. This contrast adds depth and contrasts the directions of the plaster poles and the shadows to make it seem like the patterns have been duplicated. I was inspired by the overlapping and meeting of scaffolding because the poles change composition from different angles, making it seem like part of the architecture. Idris Khan and Daniela Gullotta were my inspiration as they use the theme of distorting and overlapping to obscure the visual, whether it’s a painting or digital manipulation. These lines and directions that they create almost become part of the image itself, and they contrast with the detailed architecture in the background making both old and new work together in harmony to create a modern yet aged aesthetic.
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| Revive |
42 x 19cm
Stitch in photographs
When was the last time you stopped to smell the roses around you? As humans we are getting more and more dependent on advanced technology and losing our touch with the world around us; my piece represents how close we are to the nature that surrounds us every day, and yet most of us still need help to see it. Using photo manipulation inspired by Jon Duenas, I layered two photographs on top of each other, one of nature and one of a person. I merged both of the photographs together so much that there is no clear definition of what is the person and what is nature. I wanted to show how inside all of us lies something as innocent and fragile as what is around us. Being inspired by Maurizio Anzeri, I stitched on top of my photographs in a way in which I felt reflected the background of the photograph. Anzeri also has a really beautiful concept - adding something to a photograph to reinstate that which has been forgotten. This is what my stitching represents; pointing out the nature around us in a new way that cannot be ignored.
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| Untitled |
42 x 59.5cm
Paint and stitch on paper
The inspiration behind my piece of work was fairy tales and the idea of a fantasy world. When I began to look at fairy tales I realised that the characters are what make them captivating and original. My painting .which I have done using acrylic paints, shows a girl with rabbit ears, which expresses a sense of surrealism. My painting style has been partly influenced by Guy Denning, in the way which I have painted using big confident brushstrokes and encouraged accidents with the paint, as he said they are the “...source of greatest productivity”. I have also incorporated stitch into my painting, in a spiralling downwards sort of direction, to make my work more dramatic.
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Obscured Faces
46 x 46cm
Paint and photographs on canvas
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46 x 46cm
Paint and photographs on canvas
The idea behind this piece came from the work of David Schnell. His use of striking, vibrant lines and colours stood out to me and made me want to create a similar piece of my own. The concept of my work stems from the fact that although faces are an everyday occurrence, the people who we know best could still be hiding themselves from reality. I wanted to construct something that had a certain element of obscurity, which is why I cut photographs of faces into different pieces and then stuck them down in a random order, finally adding acrylic paint as a top layer to further heighten the sense of secrecy.
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| Broken
Mirror |
42 x 29cm
Paint and stitch on canvas
This is a self-portrait in which I collaborated my studies of broken mirrors and the artist Maurizio Anerzi’s stitch work. The stich work exposes the undercurrent of feelings and atmosphere of the piece and denotes the emotions running below the surface are broken, volatile and very raw, while the face can be seen as an empty palette. In this piece I have used Acrylic paint on a canvas for the underlying background, using it to create a base for me to build the face upon while I used Oil paints to finish off the piece in a choppy style using strong lines of paint to build up the face. I painted this way to create detail and draw attention to different sections in certain places. I then sewed directly on the canvas with vibrant threads to highlight and deconstruct the painting in places, which when combined with this rough and solid style of painting connotes that even the plainest of appearances when scrutinised can be an explosion of colour and vehemence.
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| We're all in the gutter but some of us can't see the stars |
Installation; Wood, paper, light
This piece is an instillation which consists of a body in a vulnerable position on the floor (which represents a homeless person) and then a house as the background (which represents a happy home to juxtapose against the body on the floor). The background is 130cm wide by 136cm tall and the body at the bottom is 130cm wide by 72cm length and this is to attract attention to the issue of homelessness. This installation is made out of different delicate papers to connote the fragility of homeless people and on these pieces of paper I got different people to write ‘what home meant to them’. These consisted of happy phrases such as ‘Home is where my family is’ and ‘Home is where I feel safe’. I used these papers on the house background to represent a happy home and then on the body at the bottom I wrote phrases and words which represent a homeless person’s life such as ‘Why does everybody ignore me?’, ‘Lonely’ and ‘Cold’. The concept of my piece was to raise awareness of the problem of homelessness in a unique way and to attract people to look at the installation because of its beauty, and then realise the serious meaning behind it.
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Untitled,
102.5 x 73cm
Brusho ink and egg on board |
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| Sudden Progression |
12 x 16cm
Printed photographs
To start my piece is called ‘Sudden Progression’ my inspiration came from my visit to America and how the culture of America is separate to the region or the place but the country is united under the same flag. To represent this I have found three different locations in the USA one in Chicago one in LA and the other in Santa Fe. These three different places are totally different in the culture but certain things stay the same no matter where you are, such as the sun rises and sets. I have taken this into consideration and I have taken two pictures at similar times that is why the pictures are moderately dark. In one of my Images it is in black and white this is a play on words literally because it represents how things in America aren’t always black and white and to the surface sometimes you have to become part of the culture to fully understand the people. I then cut geometric patterns out of the back of these three pictures and I overlaid one over the other so that I would know how they look. I got this technique from an artist called Lucas Simoes.
Good luck everyone!!
