TRANSFORMATION

Genius is the recovery of childhood at will - Arthur Rimbaud

VSW11 Projec t 1 | I ntroduc t ion to Book binding

VSW11 Projec t 2 | Group Projec t (par t 1)

Ar t ist and Web Based Research

Concept Development and Notes

Submission 1

Author: Craig JAMES- 15036320 Convenor/Tutor: Kate McMillan Due Date: June 14, 2010. 9am

1 Craig James - 15036320

ConCept Development The Golden Spiral, has fascinated philosophers for thousands of years and is still

the subject of inquiry in the field of art, architecture, music, botany, biology, astron-

omy and physics. So far science has documented its existence, yet no one has fully

penetrated its mystery. Spirals appear in seashells, pine cones, animal horns, plant

growth, galaxies, and the rendering of a DNA strand. (Asher, 2007) Basically it is vir-

tually within everything in existence, and what is to come, ‘IT’ for me, is the perfect

transformational symbol.

post anD sCrew ConstruCtion notes

Not being able to go straight out purchase everything due to lack of funds, I found

a number of items in my shed, decaying leaf matter out in the yard and also sourced

a few things from the local recyclers. I covered some matt board using primed 8lb

canvas offcuts. I knew the feeling that I needed from the diary from the theme that

I had explored and set about sketching the design onto the primed canvas surface.

What I wanted to achieve was an old style, alchemical style of look and feel, one

that would give the impression that it held some type of knowledge.

Once drawn onto the surface and I has happy with the overall dimensions that

would accommodate the spiral I then began to use different shades and tones to

arrive at an acceptable colour scheme. Using the decayed leaf matter I did a few

test samples (fig 1) to make sure that it would be durable enough and withstand

constant usage. This was finally achieved by using damar crystals and gum turpen-

tine, (fig 2) something I had never used before.

Using Atelier acrylic I managed to transform the cover into a leather look and feel.

This was achieved by applying 5 coats of paint and using different methods to age

the final finish; rubbing, sanding, and applying different tones of undercoat. (fig 3)

continued.....

TRANSFORMATIONVSW11 Projec t 1 | I ntroduc t ion to Book binding

Project 1: Post & Screw Diary

Figure 1 . Leaf matter test sample

Figure 2 . Damar cr ysta ls & gum turpent ine

Figure 3 . Methods used to age diar y cover

2 Craig James - 15036320

Post and screw documentation continued

I arrived at the point where I added the textural finishing touches which included

adding the decaying leaf matter and also constructing a gold spiral. After the

excess leaf matter was sanded and damar applied I found that the overall colour

scheme didn’t quite look the way I had hoped, even after completing colour sam-

ples. (fig 4) The diary was then instinctively highlighted using white mixed with the

original paint which brought the overall look back to how I had envisioned it to be.

Using brass for the spiral I couldn’t get it to bend in a perfect spiral and after a

number of attempts I chose another option. Using small rounded rubber found at

the dump I applied to it a high gloss acrylic gold spray paint. With thin wire inserted

down its centre I was able to bend the rubber in a more truer spiral and glued it into

position. Pulling the wire out after drying the result was as close if I had heated the

brass and bent it by hand. (fig 5)I then applied gold cardboard to the inside of each

cover inserted the brass inter screws with 10mm extenders and brass corners to

protection and added asthetics. (fig 6)

additional thoughts on the diary

I am unsure as to the paper processes involved with different methods of printmak-

ing so I have not properly filled the diary with high grade paper. I will purchase this

once I have read more on the paper types. I am not entirely happy with the gold

cardboard cover inserts and will be replacing them with something more appropri-

ate and hopefully adding to the overall look and feel of the diary.

Lets see where this goes in relation to further additions of prints, research, docu-

mentation, my personal style of working and also subtle changes that will take

place to the inside and outside of the visual diaries cover.

TRANSFORMATIONVSW11 Projec t 1 | I ntroduc t ion to Book binding

Brief: To Construct a Visual Diary

Figure 4 . Before the change of colour scheme

Figure 5 . Rubber coated in gold paint

Figure 6 . Fin ished cover of v isual d iar y

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Transformed Image (parT 1)As I delve deeper into the theme ‘Transformation’ I am finding myself going back

35 years to the only time I ever felt emotional contentment. So many things have

happened over the years yet nothing has ever filled a yawning gap that has been a

hindrance in my ability to know myself on a deeper level.

I am going to speak of something that is personal to me and is the very thing that

shaped my views on the world and how I interact with people today. When I was

only 10 years of age I experienced what some would pass off as a dream. It wasn’t

a dream, it was a nightmare for I am yet to awake from it. It may have some imagi-

nation attached however what I felt could not come from a childs imagination. I

speak with sadness for I had no one to hold me, to save me from what I fell into. All

I can say is that something brushed pass me that night and attached itself. I lost the

ability to be a child and became continually fearful and anxious, I became an adult.

The image that I transformed is my attempt to calm those fears, to take away the

darkness, that gravitational inward push, that indescribable silent scream that I

have held inside me for over 35 years. IT stands on the threshold and I now have the

ability to meet it, learn from IT and see where IT comes from. I have finally stopped

long to leave the darkness and step out into the light to meet and begin to under-

stand my inner psyche. I sit here and weep silent contentment for I am about to as

Arthur Rimbaud was quoted as saying “learn how to recover my childhood at will.”

“The whole visible universe is but a storehouse of images and signs to which the imagina-tion will give a relative place and value; it is a sort of pasture which the imagination must

digest and transform.” - Charles Baudelaire

Project 2: Group Project What could ‘IT’ be in Hermetic terms?

• The principle of mentalism.

All is mind, the universe is mental.

• The principle of correspondence.

As above, so below; as below so above.

• The principle of vibration.

Nothing rests; everything moves; every-

thing vibrates.

• The principle of polarity.

All is duality. Everything has poles; every-

thing has its pairs of opposites; like and

unlike are the same.

• The universe is Rhythm.

Everything flows out, and in; everything

has its tides; all things rise and fall. There

is always an action and a reaction, an

advance and a retreat.

• The principle of causation.

Every cause has its effect; every effect has

its cause; everything happens according

to law. Chance is but a name for law not

recognised. There are many planes of

causation, but nothing escapes the law.

• The principle of Gender.

Gender in everything, everything has

its masculine and feminine principles.

(Carty, D 2007)

Figure 7 . Transformed image of Homeland f rom

Col laborat ion I mages4 Craig James - 15036320

Art21 SeASon Five oF Art in the twenty-FirSt Century.ART21 http://beta.art21.org/ Art21 was founded in 1997 with the belief that con-

temporary visual art is of real interest and value to a broad audience. By making

contemporary art more accessible through public television and the Internet,

Art21 affords an intimate encounter with contemporary art and the people who

make it, encouraging creative thinking and self-expression.

Web Video and TV programs on Transformation

www.pbs.org/art21/series/seasonfive/transformation.html

Paul McCarthy www.pbs.org/art21/artists/paul-mccarthy www.hauserwirth.com

Cindy Sherman www.pbs.org/art21/artists/cindy-sherman www.gagosian.com

Yinka Shonibare MBE www.pbs.org/art21/artists/yinka-shonibare-mbe www.

jamescohan.com

ArtiStS - trAnSFormAtion

After viewing artwork and biographies on a vast number of artists Brett Whiteley

was the most unusual and most identifiable. The most compelling reading was to

be found in a book written by his sister Frannie Hopkirk. While I thought that she

wrote too much about herself, this book gave me a personal insight into an artist

that was haunted and tormented mentally for most of his life. Also reading about

Whiteley it introduced me to Rimbaud and Baudelaire, intereting to say the least

and a source for further research.

Further research included artists such as Fontenot, Ginsberg, Bernardi, Johns and I

found the supplied name Beuys another artist to read more on in the future.

CollAborAtive ArtiStS

Collaboration is something that I had never considered before I started this unit.

Interesting possibilities are opened up by working along side others, being reclu-

sive and a loner I would consider this if the opportunity arose. My reason for saying

that is I now understand by having more than one artist working on the peice, the

impact is increased by the diversity that is obtained.

eSSAyS on CollAborAtion within Art

II found a website that contained a multitude of essays soley written about col-

laborative practice. Being so varied as to the topics, there was so much information

that I have saved for further reference. (cite website) Collabarts.org was established

in December 2005 as a resource and platform for artists, theorists and art students

setting out to offer a source of information, dissemination and discussion about

collaborative art practice. http://collabarts.org/

The fine art of painting, which is the bastard of alchemy, always has been always will be, a game. The rules of the game are quite simple: in a given arena, on as many psychic fronts as the talent

allows, one must visually describe, the centre of the meaning of existense. - Brett Whiteley

Artist and collaborative art web based research Artists - Transformation

• Brett Whiteley

• Robert Fontenot

• Allen Ginsberg

• Claudia Bernardi

• Jasper Johns

• Joseph Beuys

Collaborative Artists• Pilar Mata Dupont and Tarryn Gill

• The Kingpins

• Healy and Cordeiro

• Peter Kennedy

• Mike Parr

Other Web Research• Collaboration and Originality

Dr Nancy Roth

• The Global Need for Collaboration

Nikos Papastergiadis

• Co-operating Then and Now

David Barrett

• The Odd Couple

Claire Doherty

• Collaborative Circles and Creative Work

Michael P. Farrell

5 Craig James - 15036320

Tr a n s f o r m aT i o n

Further Reading & Visual Aids

Visual Artists

McGrath, S 1979, Brett Whiteley, Bay Books

Film

Difficult pleasure: Brett Whiteley painter,

Creative Spirits Series I,

51 mins VHS documentary, producer/

director: Don Featherstone,

Australian Film Institute 1989

Online Broadcasting PBSSeason One (2001)

Place

Identity

Spirituality

Consumption

Season Two (2003)

Stories

Loss & Desire

Humor

Time

Season Three (2005)

Power

Memory

Structures

Play

Season Four (2007)

Romance

Protest

Ecology

Paradox

Season Five (2009)

Compassion

Fantasy

Transformation

Systems

References

Asher, R 2007, Bridging “The Two Cultures” through Aesthetic Education: Considering Visual

Art, Science, and Imagination. Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table.

Cengage Learning, Gale.

Carty, D 2007, The Emerald Tablet: And the Alchemy of Spiritual Transformation. Personal

Development Institute, Georgia pp. 12 et al

Starkie, E 1961, Arthur Rimbaud, Faber & Faber, London, p 159 et al

Hopkirk, F 1996, Brett: a portrait of Brett Whiteley by his sister, Random House, Milsons Point.

Pearce, B 1995, Brett Whiteley: art & life. Thames and Hudson. London

Barrett, F 2000, The Magus: a complete system of occult philosophy, Weiser, York Beach.

Jung, C 1968, The Collected works: Volume twelve, Psychology and Alchemy, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

Transformation www.pbs.org/art21/series/seasonfive/transformation.html

Paul McCarthy www.pbs.org/art21/artists/paul-mccarthy www.hauserwirth.com

Cindy Sherman www.pbs.org/art21/artists/cindy-sherman www.gagosian.com

Yinka Shonibare MBE www.pbs.org/art21/artists/yinka-shonibare-mbe www.jamescohan.com

6 Craig James - 15036320