Frolicking Figures

This weeks fortnightly Kick About over on Red’s Kingdom is the ethereal painting – The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. I am in the process of a big DIY project at the moment, which is turning a shithole of a room in my shared house that is used for storage and discarded items into an artist’s studio where I can work on creative things such as the Kick-About. In the process, I happened to come across the box where I kept all my life drawings from uni; being the sentimental type I could never throw them away and I always wanted to create this project – so the kick about provides that drive yet again. 

I decided to focus on the busyness of Bosch’s painting with emphasis on the figures and go against my usual likeness towards landscapes. Realising I didn’t need to photograph every sheet of life drawing I dusted off my old hard drive that contains photographs of those life drawings and re-photographed a few that were otherwise of an abysmal quality. I then popped them into Photoshop and cut out each figure from the sheet of paper and collaged them together accordingly. A very sentimental feeling seeing all my uni life drawings in one place together and a fulfilling experience.”

Freezing Fog #2

This recent cold snap reminded me of these photographs I had yet to share taken in Ireland this past Christmas. The sun was setting and the fog was rolling in from the ether, causing my camera to struggle to focus on anything in particular, softening the gaze as if the clouds fell that day.

Waxworks #1

This weeks Kick About on Red’s Kingdom is the artwork of Ruth Asawa. I was reminded very much of the fluid melting magic of lava lamps and, in certain elements of Asawa’s creations, I envisioned eyes that reminded me very much of Hitchcock and Dali’s dream sequence in the film, Spellbound. My images were created from photographing melted wax accumulated on a wine bottle over a period of time, with a couple of videos of my own eyes overlaid on top to pay homage to that surreal dream sequence.

Plastic Forest #1

This weeks Kick About over on Red’s Kingdom is the perplexing art of Christo & Jeanne- Cluade. I wanted to make a miniature version of Christo & Jeanne- Cluade’s impressive uncanny installation art, but attempt to make it look larger as if I had the resources to produce something of that scale. So I did some deadheading of branches and flora around my garden, wrapped clingfilm around them and stuck the encapsulated snipings into styrofoam to keep them steady as I photographed the results. I loved how in certain shots of Christo & Claude’s pieces the sun shone through – it reminds me of poppy seed pods or Chinese lanterns. As I was taking photos, in spurts the sun broke through the clouds of the dreary sky and lit the tombs of these plants in spots and lines, another treat was after a slight sprinkling of rain, which made me focus more on the intrinsics of the composition rather than its initial scale”   

Freezing Fog #1

Although a dumping of snow or ice is yet to grace the landscapes of Ireland, I was treated to another phenomenon – freezing fog. I’ve never experienced fog like it – completely enveloping all the eye could see in a matter of minutes, swirling around the fields and transforming objects and buildings into milky soft nothingness, as my camera struggled to capture anything in detail it felt as though I was living in an oil painting.