thetreesaboutme

[thetreesaboutme]

Floating under a mirror (the trees about me), acrylic paint, metallic craft paint, rose leaves, mesh fabric, kraft paper on cartridge paper, 42x59,4cm

When starting this project, I had no idea I would have ended up exhibiting the very last piece of my work I would make before the deadline. I definitely could not expect it to be an A2 mixed media artwork inspired by automatism and spirituality, as it all began with large scale, immersive experimental sessions with new materials and processes. I was originally planning on taking my practice towards installation art that might have included video and performance. The themes I was investigating were light phenomena and concepts such as introspection and duality, chance, unpredictability and the unknown.. and I think that’s quite ironic. 

The presence of nature was consistent throughout the evolution of the project and in most of the contextual research that has somehow inspired or supported my choices. Particularly flowers, from the daffodils that I used in the dark room, to the daisies and cherry flowers I picked on my quarantine walks and used as printmaking stamps; from Cerith Wyn Evans’ Still Life (In course of arrangement) VI to Anselm Kiefer’s works such as Johannis Nacht. My fascination with trees and flowers might lie in subconscious associations between nature and automatism. They’re both forms of expression which are free from human thought structures. 

The way I could perceive this new kind of reality as a dream-like dimension rather than a nightmare was fundamental to my personal and artistic development over the past few months. I believe that it’s what allowed me, without frustrations, to take my practice from the original gallery-orientated goal to a more private, intimate sphere. I find that this change is an expression of my adaptability and also proof that it is not strictly necessary to pursue gigantic challenges, in order to achieve satisfaction. 

Floating under a mirror (the trees about me) was made rather “automatically” and carelessly, in a playful way, in which all the elements of my previous practice spontaneously came together on the same sheet of paper by means of association and experimentation. In fact, it includes the transparent mesh fabric (that I got for the dark room), flowers, shadows and automatic drawing. The first part of the title, “Floating under a mirror” is a sort of analogy of walking by a flower wall. “(The trees about me)” is the first line of the poem I wrote in an automatic writing exercise during a workshop, linking the apparent nonsense and the real nature of the piece. 

It is the title I came up with that gave me the idea for the exhibition, whenever that may be. I’m going to create an installation in a corner of the gallery space. The painting is going to be framed and hung upon one of the walls. There will be a rose bush hanging off the ceiling and a copy of the poem written in reverse, as if reflected in a mirror, on the other wall. 

https://whitecube.com/artists/artist/anselm_kiefer

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dubuffet-leaves-with-bird-p77184

[thetreesaboutme]

Fahrenheit Fair Enough I and II, acrylic paint and graphite on paper, 42x59,4cm

I made these with a similar process as the one used for Automatic Drawing 22, listening to Telefon Tel Aviv’s album Fahrenheit Fair Enough, hence the title.

https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/18/wavelength-on-drawing-and-sound-in-the-work-of-trisha-donnelly

[thetreesaboutme]

Cups and Glasses, acrylic paint and graphite on paper, 42x59,4cm

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dubuffet-hopes-and-options-t01575

[thetreesaboutme]

Lavender, acrylic paint and graphite on paper, 42x59,4cm

[thetreesaboutme]

Automatic Drawing 22, acrylic paint and graphite on paper, 42x59,4cm

I made this while listening to my friend Ale’s live DJ set streamed on Fango Radio, in Rome. 

https://vertufineart.com/action-painting-subconscious-revelations-change-abstract-expressionism/

“Using sounds to distract my conscious self to let my subconscious out

Like when I was in school I needed to distract my subconscious by constantly drawing to be able to listen to my teachers talking

(yawning is my consciousness’ attempt to take control again)” -from my notes

[thetreesaboutme]

I started a new playlist while I was lying down in the middle of a field in Ruislip today. I was skygazing and got absolutely lost in the clouds, in fact the title of this playlist is what I saw in them, I thought it was extremely poetic and couldn’t force myself to find a meaning to it, so I just held on to the emotions I felt and put a few songs together that seemed to express it in sound.

[thetreesaboutme]

I finally overcame my fear of making playlists and finally made one! It really puts me in the sweet contemplation state of mind that inspires my creativity, without having to leave the garden.

[thetreesaboutme]

The first four cards of my custom tarot deck.

[thetreesaboutme]

My cherries and Wine, acrylic paint and graphite on paper, 15x15cm

Ruislip, April 2020

The second photo is the finished piece.

I showed it to my mum and told her that I made it by printing cherry flowers with black acrylic paint and she said: “cherry flowers are white and pink and are a symbol of rebirth.. but here they express something diametrically opposite to that concept.” 

I don’t need a rebirth, I’m embracing this dark yet dream-like atmosphere that I’m living in. 

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/lee-krasner-long-lines-for-lee-krasner

[thetreesaboutme]

Tracey Emin’s isolation diary

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/tracey-emin-self-isolation-diary/

[thetreesaboutme]

Sketchbook page (detail), Ruislip April 2020

I went for a walk yesterday and picked some daisies, I had an idea for a performance piece, but since I wasn’t exactly sober, I’ve forgotten everything about it, except that it would include daisies. It probably wasn’t that good, and I didn’t get frustrated about it. I used the daisies anyway; I “printed” them and then left them in the thick blots of paint, they’re stuck in them now that the paint is dry, I quite like the result, I’m gonna use flowers more. Their beauty as well as my own which I’m trying to preserve by refusing to wear any loungewear, are what’s keeping me sane. I think I’m going to focus on this.

[thetreesaboutme]

automatic drawings from my sketchbook, Patrick’s room April 2020

I just thought of the words “movement” and “sound” which are ironically the same words that inspired the first major change in my approach to my practice years ago and inspired Granny’s Splatter Tales (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1Db-et4I1U). However, rather than film, today they suggest performance!

[thetreesaboutme]

I guess that I just love life more than its individual components and way too much to limit myself to only love one of them at a time. My soul feeds on change, on the thrill of novelty, the excitement of adventure and experimentation. I refuse to accept boredom, pressure and sadness.

from my sketchbook

[thetreesaboutme]

Ruislip Woods I, II and III, acrylic paint on paper, 18x13cm 

Ruislip Woods, 21st March 2020

The university has closed down, Boris Johnson will probably be announcing the lockdown soon, I expect it to happen tomorrow, exactly two weeks after Italy. 

I’m not sure what I’ll do, but I’m not worried, because I feel more creative than before. I made these looking at the light coming through the tree branches and sticks that the little tent I was sat in was made of. 

[thetreesaboutme]

Lockdown’s definitely happening in the UK as well, the university is going to close down soon, I’m experimenting with some small mirrors I found. 

I was trying to make a miniature of how I would’ve liked the dark room to be, with reflective walls/floor, but I obviously can’t have a miniature of a working projector or of myself and my tools for that matter. I don’t really know what to do now.

[thetreesaboutme]

Exorcism of the last painting I ever made (1996) Tracey Emin

https://www.christies.com/features/Tracey_Emin_Exorcism-5639-1.aspx

https://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/artpages/tracey_emin_painting_6.htm