We have started working as a group of three, staying within our tutor groups, on the theme of the city. We are all interested in exploring the ‘hidden city’ and decided on investigating one area of the city – exploring the different angles, elements and sounds that make up that part of the city. Our intentions are to stop, look and listen to the details of the city, exploring that which is hidden in sight, overlooked and walked by.
Looking at each of our individual styles we decided that a large scale painting/collage piece would be a good way of working. As well as this our intention is to provide an accompanying sound track of noises within the city. Our action plan is to individually go to the same place within the city, we decided on one of the main streets in Cardiff – Queen Street, and record the things that stood out to us the most. We will then come together with our images and sound recordings and come up with a mixed media collage and painting piece exploring texture and colour alongside the photographs that we have taken.
An artist that we have looked to in particular during our research is Robert Rauschenberg.
Raushcenberg was part of a small movement called neo-dadaism, alongside artist Jasper Johns, who is also an interesting artist to consider alongside our piece.
Jasper Johns
This style of working is definitely a reference point for us in our work. The use of collage and paint in such a playful and absurd way is interesting, I think the business of the works are something we would like to emulate in our work. I feel that it is an effective way to gather large amounts of information together, creating an intentionally overbearing piece of work that that does not give the eye much of a chance to rest. This idea is something that goes well with the concept behind our own work, the notion of highlighting the amount of  information that is present within a city – that within a space containing so much information, we often notice very little.
Other artists of interest:
Robert Mars
Stephen Croeser
collaborative work between Britt Bass and Morgan Blake
