During a change up of our lessons we were given the task of venturing off onto a virtual tour into the new York gallery spaces via websites, links and videos. The task was to explore the artworks, try and find some that either are inspiring to you or link to your own work and then go away and create a piece as either a response or continuation.
By the end of the day I had created collection of experimental digital collages/ edits combining the admiration/ appreciation for my natural personal environment with my personal environment. In an attempt to create an immersive space that emulates the feeling of an installation in a gallery. Inspired by the works I viewed as part of a virtual tour of New York galleries. Specifically inspired by the installation ‘Tropicália’ by Hélio Oiticica. An engaging installation comprised of plants, colours, sands and birds which looks to celebrate and share Brazilian culture. The artist in fact coined the the name ‘Tropicália’ which became a leading movement in the 1960’s in which artists celebrated the true source of soul and culture in Brazil and looked to play into the ‘Tropical paradise’ stereotypes.
the piece was comprised in A maze like fashion with sheds mixed along the plants, encouraging people to explore. There where also black and white TVs showing images, sounds and clips from local stations. All of these things Combining to give an atmosphere that embodies the beauty and feeling of Brazil’s tropical world.
I began creating this digital collages by exploring my own natural environment that surrounds my flat. Just walking through, photographing and experiencing the plants and beauty of nature was enough to emulate for me the feeling I experienced while looking at ‘Tropicália’ which was a complete appreciation for culture but more specifically the plants and colours and nature involved. I took photographs and then walked around my apartment and took photos of the bare almost clinical walls. My goal was to use the plain brick walls as a substitute for the plain walls you tend to see in galleries. a plain environment ready to be covered or moulded into whatever the art needs it to be. I then played around with editing the images on top of each other in order to create a feeling of growing, spreading and allowing the nature to ‘take back’ the urban environment as it’s own. Over all a really positive number of experiments and the result is something I want to continue to experiment with.
The work by Hélio Oitcica was really inspiring me in terms of creating an immersive viewing experience that shows and allows others to experience a deep appreciation for local nature. and that’s something I want to try and emulate within my own work. Moving forward I hope to experiment with combining the images with sound, and perhaps experimenting with creating video pieces. To see the piece “Tropicalia” click the link below.
