One of the requirements of the Central Saint Martins’ MFA programme, is selecting a research subject – i.e., an avenue of intellectual and artistic enquiry that will be the subject of one’s dissertation and body of work produced while on the course. Broadly, the topic I have chosen is water. I am particularly interested in humanity’s relationship with water, be it historical, religious, emotional, practical, political, or future implications etc. I have swung my net wide to begin with but, eventually, I will likely focus on a particular aspect.
For this reason, my focus this week (as in the coming weeks) has been water related. Practically, I have been experimenting further with the rain painting technique I employed for last week’s assignment (as below).
I found this week’s experiments very frustrating. I like some of the results but, overall, I prefer the original painting (above). I used the same techniques this week, all except leaving the paintings out in the rain. Instead, I painted on some old pour paintings (where I’d poured watery acrylic paint on paper). I am now wondering if leaving them in the rain is the missing ingredient. So, before abandoning this line of enquiry completely, I’ll continue with the experiments next week and include the rain aspect – fortuitously, it is due to rain every day! So, we’ll see what happens.
Here are this week’s offerings:
As far as research is concerned, I am reading a wonderful book about water at the moment – Elixir: a human history of water by Brian Fagan. It is proving to be a brilliant starting point for my research, and I am finding it utterly fascinating. Here is a particular nugget I liked:
“History teaches us that the societies that last longest are those that treat water with respect, as an elixir of life, a gift from the gods. We seem to have forgotten this compelling lesson.”
pg: xxvii
bexODESSA 