joel-furniss-blog

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Here we are again.

5/5

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The aftermath of the aftermath. I had to clean up the mountains of mulch anyway, I thought why not record myself as well. So I guess this is the actual final note of my project. Taking care of my own destroyed work.

A little throwback to the ending of my first semester in which I bagged up my prints in a trash bag, representative of my feelings toward the project. The same extends here.

4/5

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Some photographs of the aftermath of my little rip ‘n, tear, just so yo can appreciate how much I mulched up.

3/5

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The catharsis didn’t last that long as I soon realized there were a lot of prints and they would take a while to all properly destroy, but I carried on regardless of it as I’d rather see this particular performance completed rather than half-arsed. It took so long my phone had to split it into two videos, which I wasn’t major on, I would have preferred it if it was one long video (I lack any editing software on my laptop so couldn’t combine the two).

Some paper was more difficult to rip than others, like the standard print room cartridge paper I used was tough and harsh on the hands to rip, while the newsprint I printed on to practically fell apart. I know which one I liked more. I also move off camera a few times during the whole procedure, by that was only to make sure the camera was still recording 

2/5

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As I near the end of my project the feeling of doubt and anxiety set in as I feel that I need some big, grand, destructive high-note to end on, a culmination of my project’s themes and physical works. Obviously this would have been reserved for the degree show, but given the circumstances that is not currently possible. So I decided to do my own little final piece, just me, a camera, my prints, and a self-destructive attitude.

I wasn’t exactly sure how many prints I tore up (A hundred or more, maybe?), but it started out as very cathartic, despite me spending a few hundred hours in the print room making them, it felt actually kind of good to be stripping them all down in the end. I created them and I destroy them, quite a nice circle.

1/5

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TRIGGER WARNING: In case you could not tell by where this print is stuffed, this video contains bodily functions/fluids some may find vulgar or offensive. You’ve been warned.

Continuing on my theme of bastardizing and destroying my own works, I thought I’d do at least one really gross one for the project. So here it is, one of the ultimate and immediate forms of disrespect I could think of.

I’m not sure where this idea originated, I guess from the splicing of mundane, everyday activities and my prints, and what’s more everyday than emptying the bladder? What’s more immediate and renewable than something everybody does? We all do it, its not that gross. What is gross is my toilet, sorry for staining your eyes with it I probably should have cleaned it beforehand.

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A rather good representation of my general frustrations. I took my largest frame to an abandoned industrial location to film, and made this. Wanted something very violent and brutish and also to look into some self-destruction methods, mainly smashing. It feels good to smash, you should try it.

Don’t worry I cleaned up all the mess after I was done.

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As I said the bleach-bath destroyed the papers integrity, and I thought what better way to display that than a quick video of me destroying them even more. It crumbled rather well, into many different pieces and particles. I’m wondering if there’s a way to use these flakes in the future, like some kind of papier mache.

This video has also given me another idea for my work.

3/3

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The end results and some quite unexpected effects. I thought that the bleach would cause the ink to run or fade, but that didn’t happen, I guess it didn’t react with the oil-based ink. The effect it had on the paper was most compelling however, it gave it an all-over bumpy texture which can vaguely be seen in the scans. Was not expecting that.

However the bleaching also had its negatives on the paper, as some chemical reaction between the two caused the paper to lose all its structure and integrity. It would rip, tear, bend, and snap very easily, you can even see some accidental rips above.

Another happy accident is on the last print, the bottom layered one had a rust stain on it, from where the metal cooking tray I used had rust before. It seems the bleach lifted the rust and transferred it onto the paper. I never knew paper could rust before, and I like its grunge/industrial implications. Very cool.

2/3

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Love the smell of bleach in the morning. Once again, another soak , with bleach this time. Bleach has pretty strange reactions with pretty much everything it touches so I’m looking forward to seeing how they turn out. 

I usually cut bleach with water but this time I wanted to see what it would do straight.

1/3

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Looking at the more sculptural elements of those weight wheels I made. Nothing special, and I feel like they’re lacking a proper visual language, they seem a bit thrown together (probably because they are).

3/4

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A little follow-up, this time more a pointless exercise.

2/4

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Figured it was weird I would use the bars without also utilising the weights. So I  rolled up or stuffed some prints into the holes int he middle and rolled them down my hallway. Basically just a little recording of me playing with chance, seeing how they roll and where they land, or just playing, you decide.

1/4

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The finished results, and some photos from the process of tea-dying the paper. Very happy with how these turned out. I think the loose leaf really soaked in, giving them a rather rich, dark brown color. I also love the way the fluid snaking of the stain interacts with the paper. There’s a real beauty in the natural way the tea and paper play, some places dark, some places light, some places looking like tie dye.

2/2

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More soaks, this time some loose leaf earl grey. Makes me nostalgic to when I used to brush tea over my art sketchbooks to make them seem rustic. Not sure whet the clumps of dried tea will do to the paper, if anything, but looking forward to finding out.

1/2

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The logical conclusion, although it certainly felt illogical doing it. It did not go as well as I expected, and I didn’t think it was going to go well at all. The paper of the print was considerably tough, tougher than the bread so when I really gripped it for a bite, the bread sort of fell off. I didn’t want to stop afterwards so carried on eating the paper. I decided not to finish the second one.

Was this ill-advised? Probably, the paper might pass through if I’m lucky or stay in my system, and the ink might be toxic. But to be honest I’ve put much worse things in my body, just don’t say I don’t suffer for the art

3/3

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My sandwich, looking delicious. You might have noticed there’s only one there, don’t worry you’ll see where the other one went.

2/3