Influences

Pastoral Interludes Ingrid Pollard 1987

At the moment this blog has been a bit of a back track, I’m not sure if I feel sorry about that - its not ‘hot off the press’ just yet but there it is. I chose this space, as I feel there is some room to manoeuvre. The rules don’t seem all set out as yet, and it’s accessible.

Anyways Influences… they are inevitable, the kinds of influences I’ve had are varied and sometimes contradictory. I’ve have had many influences over the years, here’s a few formative ones for starters

'Big Womens Talk' Sonia Boyce 1984

Franz West Etude de couleur 1991 (its a piss pot init)

'A to Z Breeding Unit: for Averaging Eight Breeds' 1993

Andrea Zittel

I can’t say that I am or have been a complete fan of any artist (I’m a bit mean like that) but certain works, and certain ideas have appealed to me very much at particular moments. The nearest to fandom I got is with artist Lygia Clarke. I came across her work years ago at a women’s art show at the Whitechapel, ‘inside the invisible’. I felt a great sense of admiration for her use of the object as a therapeutic tool, sharing the visceral relationship she had with materials with others. At times it seemed a touch too mystical for me, but I enjoyed the awkwardness of her practice, it wasn’t easily definable or locatable. It was very inspirational, looking further into the history and context of her and her contemporaries; Brazil with its extreme political situation in the 60’s and 70’s; the will of its artists to have a ‘positive affect’ to make art for ‘everyone’.

With Clarke’s later work, I see an acceptance of the impossibility of art for everyone. The potential is there, but the transaction between the artwork and the viewer involves commitment. Certainly from the testimonials I heard in Suely Rolnik’s ‘From Object to event’ the commitment paid back in dividends.

Lygia Clarke Diálogo: Óculos 1968