Exhibition

This is my final piece that's on show at the end of year exhibition at Camberwell. 

The work itself is made up of plaster, latex and clay model smartphones that have an NFC chip placed under the small painting that links to the relevant blog post. I've used the materials as they pick out the fine detail of smartphones, allowing me to create replica's that hold on to the detail and precision of each smartphone.

I've done this to reflect how we share and connect with each other. NFC sharing has become more common with the introduction of Android Beam, S Beam and smartphones from manufacturers like Samsung, Sony and HTC. This idea of me sharing these intimate images with the public is play on the idea that we share things much more easily and without as much care. We embrace ourselves and the images we take and share them with friends, social networks and the internet as a whole.

My work, which is based around intimacy, acts as a way for me to share with the audience a more personal insight to my work and lifestyle. The images, which are of gay men portrayed in an intimate way, represent my life and my love. I don't only reveal the images, by using NFC I link the audience to a blog post with added text. A way for me to communicate my ideas in a clear way.

Unusual You

This painting, together with #1 and #2, make up my final three paintings. I've chosen them because they work well together and solidify my concept. 

There's a certain fragility to be found in the aesthetics of each painting, but there's a strength to be found in the context. The connection between the men in the images is clear and powerful.There's real emotion in the images and that's the reason I chose the use them.

Up in The Air

This painting, one of the final pieces of my current work, is about embracing your partner and ignoring everything else in your life and throwing it all "up in the air".

You get lost in the moment, and something as simple as a hug can be the most important part of your day. It may only last for a few seconds but it can capture your entire history and be filled with intense passion, love and trust.

My Immortal

The series of photographs I've been working on for a couple months now has developed into a collection of abstract, bold, sexual and subtle images that I need to bring together under one coherent message.

As I've photographed each person I've taken the time to study the male form and capture different images that explore the movement, shape and style of each individual.

After reviewing all of my images I've decided to stick with images that lean towards the more sexual. There's a deeper connection with the rest of my work and the message is clearer to the audience. When I've shown people the abstract images they're confused by the image at first, but then start to pick out bits of information and seem to associate the image to a wider variety of things.

These two images are ones I've taken this week and, for me personally, capture the concept of my whole project. They reveal the male form in a way that's sexual but also intimate.

Heal

As my work has progressed throughout the project I always thought that I was working towards a resolved painting. After all the paintings I've done, and the different experiments, I feel like this is only the first stage of my project.

After having a few tutorials and hearing people's opinions about my work it seems there are a lot of concepts being touched on in my different pieces. The photographs and paintings work in the way I wanted them to, but they're also saying so much more to people. There are many different factors playing parts within my work and I need to identify them and explore different ideas and outcomes.

As for my paintings, they seem to have come to a natural end for me and I need to explore other mediums such as film, photography and installation. Some artists that I've recently researched have influenced my thought process and practice to the point where I need to reflect on myself, my work and continue on.

Open Letter

In this set of photographs I decided to have the model sitting upright as most of the photographs I'd previously taken the model was led down.

Doing this allowed me to get shots that included more of the body. It also created more angular images. Having the profile was interesting to work with because the light wasn't visible on the body so there was a contrast between a dark figure and the bright light exposing a kind of silhouette. 

My Hands

As I said in my previous post, the lights in the image make the shape of the body. With the second lot of photographs I wanted to take this idea forward and really explore the different shapes I could make. What was produced are these photographs that are almost landscapes of the body. The subtle tones, shapes and lines all work together to create an image that your eyes read.