Beyond The Book; On the Wall.

'Turning Point' Lino print, hand mounted and framed.

Toward the end of Beyond the Book we were given the opportunity to prepare our work as a semi-professional show, taking into consideration selection, presentation and limitations of space. Personally I think this was a great idea and should be done for every project assessment. It allows you to see you work from another angle and consider elements of the development prior to the final result, more critically. Presentation is everything and I found choosing suitable frames to reflect my work and myself, much more difficult than I thought possible. Even after deciding on frames, mounts, wall fixtures and additional shelving there was the wall plan, the summary, mounted name plaque and then actually deciding which work was good enough to exhibit, far more than I originally planned for. And of course you have to account for everything than will inevitably go wrong. Which in this case, was almost all of it.

'Four Sharp Knocks: A Visual Interpretation of The Outsider.' by Charlie Heselton.

Close up image of supporting material, shelved underneath frames.

Entitled, Four Sharp Knocks (based around the line; 'And it was like giving four sharp knocks at the door or unhappiness.' right at the end of chapter 6, part 1.), I decided to use a series of lino prints as the main focus of the show that reflected this chapter. My sketchbook, supporting material and film negatives are shelved just underneath (as shown in the photograph above) and the laser-cut key-rings relative to the theme are pinned just to the right of the central image to restore balance from the shelf.

In The Outsider, Mersualt acknowledges that the action of shooting the arab will cause him to feel unhappiness yet the clinical symbolism of attaching his emotions to a solid object like a door, instead of describing them. Throughout the entire scene he focuses on tangible, physically felt senses e.g what he can feel, see, rather than emotion. For example, he can describe the murder weapon in surprising detail but cannot portray remorse or regret at the fact that he has killed another human being.

Mersualt also eludes to his weakness to the weather and unpredictable surroundings, and remarks that if the sun hadn't been so hot, maybe the murder wouldn't have happened. The way that the beach is described in this chapter is extremely vivid which is why the series of four lino cuts are printed in yellow, orange, red and black, the portray the blinding hot sun.

In accordance with moral nihilism; killing someone, for whatever reason, is not inherently right or wrong. My focus on the beach scene illustrates how the 'turning point of the book' is only central in relation to human morality. I wanted to portray my work in a sequence; linear and almost repetitive, to reflect the regimented mentality of Mersault (focal character) and project his descent through the subtle variations of a singular symbol.

My opinion of my 'miniature exhibition' has changed drastically over the course of the last week. To begin with I was happy with what I had produced and how it was hung, in hindsight feeling proud was a confidence boost and although after receiving feedback and looking at my work through much more critical eyes changed my feelings on this body of work, I've tried to not let it affect my confidence. Looking at your own work through rose-tinted glasses can be dangerous and even though I remain pleased at the presentation and framing of my pieces I realise that the work presented was subsequently not as high quality as it should be, especially as the focus. Not only that but I didn't consider variation when selecting pieces, I wanted the series to be shown as a repetition but the central image looked far too similar and the surrounding material lacked aesthetic 'oomph'.

Another important lesson I learned the hard way was to do with hand-cutting your own window mounts. I learnt this lesson about an hour before the show was meant to be complete, I was lying on the studio floor brandishing a craft knife and a mounting tool, I was not smiling. There's a knack to it that I just do not have, one to be left to the professionals. It was an eye-opening experience however and in my defense it could have gone a lot worse.

Four Sharp Knocks: Lino, Ain't It Lovely.

Lino print over oppositional photographic material.

 Ok, the picture above, was a second thought when experimenting with lino. In hindsight I now regret not delving deeper into using photographs as the foundation when printing, especially when adapting the actual lino cut to reveal or disguise elements of the photograph.

Daily Carry.

You do the math.

In regards to the process, I couldn't seem to get my head around the back-to-front preparation when cutting the design into the lino, at least not without spending a good half an hour studying incoherent doodles from the day before. Once I'd made enough initial copies to reassure myself nothing could go wrong, the repetitiveness of the printing procedure was actually cathartic. Using separate lino plates would have made more sense for my design as the colour palette had to remain limited because of the reductive technique in forming the image.

Although I spent a fair amount of time experimenting with lino, and would be happy to use it again maybe in conjunction with other media, I was disappointed with the resulting prints. They lacked the precision they needed to work together as a series.

The Beach.

A visual interpretation of The Outsider by Albert Camus, focusing on the beach scene as the critical turning point.

'Beach Exposure 1'  35mm,Panoramic, Self-automated aperture.

'Beach exposure 2'  35mm, Panoramic, self-automated aperture, exposed.

"Since we're all going to die, it's obvious that when and how don't matter." - Albert Camus.

In accordance with moral nihilism; killing someone, for whatever reason, is not inherently right or wrong. My focus on the beach scene illustrates how the 'turning point of the book' is only central in relation to human morality. I wanted to portray my work in a sequence; linear and almost repetitive, to reflect the regimented mentality of Mersault (focal character) and project his descent through the subtle variations of a singular symbol.

'In the midst of winter...invincible summer.'
2 X 35mm film, hand processed, ink.

With everything aesthetic; photographs, paintings and drawings, the tone is set and atmosphere changed by the lighting or colours used. I took the time to spend a day at Thornby beach taking test shots on a Panoramic 'Sprocket Rocket', stupidly without a tripod so a fraction of the photographs didn't turn out how i'd hoped, although the majority of the time this can make the photograph interesting. The first two photographs (Beach Exposure 1 and 2) were rigged on a spinning roll and taken identically, aside from the shutter speed which I managed manually. Decreasing the shutter speed by just over 5 seconds can darken an image by over 50% and completely change the aura emitted from the photograph.

Film strip developed from 35mm camera, sections cut and edited together.

I wanted to cut and edit film strips into a narrative, using seemingly unrelated film roll and everyday objects to portray the beginning, middle and end of the story. Selective use of chairoscuro would help to illuminate how Mersualt's physical needs got in the way of his emotions, which is easy to emphasise with film.