And finally to the last term at LSAD. After all the trials and tribulations, the endless wailing in the middle of the night, the gnashing of teeth, pulling out of hair....all no more.
First there was the relief of the thesis submission.
And then the work kept rolling in .....
Large ,demonic, toes rising above us. A satirical attack on the way consumerism / capitalism focusses our view on the trivia of life.....whether it be stubble, spots, the way we smell etc etc Approximately 1/3 of the world population lives below the poverty line.....< 2$/day earnings while we in the 'developed' world wallow in our own grotesque over-indulgence.
More 'freaky' toes , again a slightly gothic , sexy and definitely way over the top depiction in the same manner as above. Colours evoke the darkness of the subject matter , juxtaposed against the ordinary mundane lampooning of the everyday foot.
Artistic Statement accompanying the degree show.
'This Candy Store of Ours.....' and 'Kiss Kiss' . Anti - self -obsession ....with the miserable 0.5%
of our gdp to salve our conscience regarding the plight of our fellow human beings, (Ignorance of their plight and our maintenance of this divide is on our screens each and every night.....), reflected in the pupils of the eyes ....maybe truly 'seeing' for the first time.
Notions that this problem is in our hands and not in the hands of democratic governments who stand idly by while technological progression generates more 'stuff' that we don't need to fuel more and more demand and therwefore production at the cost of the planet as a whole. Only the people by virtue of their innate sense of right and wrong can bring this madness to an end and simply stop believing that the solution to some of life's problems can be bought.
Grotto in the moonlight. Iconographic portrayal of a thumb in the same iconic way that the virgin Mary is portrayed. The worship or idealisation of false gods, icons, messiahs is the inference here. All sense of ideology has been displaced by 'competition' and doing things better than anyone else!. Why?
Video in situ .....fronted by the spiky hair sculptures floating in space. Video depicts footage from microscopic camera glorifying and spectacularising the very small insignificant bits of our body in the same manner as the capitalist consumerist machine focusses our gaze in order to sell products to solve perceived problems and doubts, initiated by comparisons with ideal, air brushed perfection.
Need to ask 'And you will know Us by the Trail of the Dead for permission to use soundtrack on youtube. (approved for degree show...but this would be a step up)
And so it is that we emerge older, wiser, more skilled and perhaps a little more open after 4 years of looking more closely at the world around us....physically and metaphorically. Feel good.....but just like everyone else I need to rejoin the consumerist society to produce some money. There really is little option , for any of us.
Helped produce web page covering the degree show for the LSAD painting graduates of 2014.
http://www.lit.ie/lsad/DegreeShowcase/Painting/2014/index.html
