When I first saw Soile's print, I thought it was strong, conceptual and interesting. Soile's use of text which reflects the imagery is striking and as a viewer, definitely made me reflect on the current situation of Melbourne and the world. I like her use of line over the text as well, the chaos of it really reflects the chaos we are going through. The figures are strong and provoke as sense of anxiety as they appear to be quite intimidating. However, I really didn't know what to do with it since it is very different from the work I would normally create. I decided I just needed to start and improvise as I went along.
I started with warping the background and taking elements of the work to collage over the top, but I wasn't happy with the way it turned out. I don't have documentation of adding layers on top! :(
After thinking about Covid from the obvious themes expressed in Soile's image, it got me reflecting on an exhibition I saw recently at PhotoAccess Canberra. The particular work i drew inspiration from is called Split (http://www.gallery.photoaccess.org.au/split)
Chris Bowes is a multimedia disciplinary artist from Melbourne. In the work he sourced CCTV footage of a naked cowboy parading the streets of New York during the covid-19 lock down. The work depicts the lonesome cowboy in the empty streets, playing his guitar in loops to the pigeons as the once busy city has suddenly become barren. A once best known character of the city, is alone, in this eerie apocalyptic setting. The image of the cowboy is also inspirational to me as I am going through a huge country phase (I'm not sorry).
Starting to play around with layering. I wasn't feeling inspired by it as it isn't my style at all.
I wanted to make it colourful and similar to previous digital collages that I have done, while still embodying Soile's strong theme. So, I decided to change the colour of her work and make the background completely different. I wanted to embrace automatic thought process, and approaching art with no particular end result. From now, I got excited as to what I could do with it! With a covid cowboy theme in mind. The artists and processes which inspired me are very similar to what I have expressed in my blog post about Kat's remix.
From this, I played around with better quality images I found of the cowboy.
I also played around with stock images of hand sanitiser and tissues, but the colours and shape of the images didn't work too well with the composition. I also had an automatic thought to add the snake, so I just added it. No hidden meaning behind it other than its role in the overall aesthetic and the fact that it just came to mind randomly, which is what I like to convey in my works - a sense of wackiness, confusion and general weirdness.
In the end, I ended up with this. I'm honestly really happy with how it has turned out, and it might even be my favourite work I did for the remix series. I really like how I am able to turn something that first I found challenging, into something that I'm really inspired by. I think the work conveys the craziness of 2020, and clearly depicts themes covid-19. The craziness of the work is a metaphor for the craziness of this year. It also reflects a few personal aspects of my life as well, such as my current country phase and a response to a recent exhibition I attended. My interests and involvement in these things are really showing through in this piece. There isn't anything I want to do different in this particular work, but it has inspired me to challenge myself more in my creations, and take inspiration from work that I normally wouldn't. I want to keep exploring these weird aesthetics, as I believe I have somewhat of a gift in this area.
