23rd October 2020
Introduction
As part of assignment 5 we are asked to think about our work and how we would present it. I have already begun to do this as some of the final images will be in my solo exhibition next year.
As already seen, I have work in an exhibition at the moment and the work in situ can be found in the Lockdown Art Exhibition 2020 post. These works look at how I have presented my work three-dimensionally rather than just printed and framed for the wall. I had the work produced as acrylic prints and Fujifilm instax square images which were attached to an acrylic block by metal pole and peg.
Carrying on with researching into different ways that people display images within our environment I am beginning to look further afield to a variety of ways to show my images.
The glitch series will have the same title as the one on show at the moment and that is ‘Life’s a Glitch’ and will form only part of my exhibition. The exhibition will take a look at the topic of mental health and focus pre-dominantly on my experiences within this area.
My focus audience will be pre-dominantly sixteen+ because of some of the themes within the exhibition. The concept of mental health is a varied one and I approach some important areas such as eating disorders, body image and low self-esteem all of which are quite relevant to teenagers and adults alike. The target audience would also be those with a mental illness and those caring for or working within the field as well as those interested in art and photography period.
The images for exhibition
Below are the images that I have produced for the final edit of Assignment 5 and therefore for exhibition. There will be others from my work on this assignment as well as drawings, sketchbook, photobook and flags to view.
Sketches of possible exhibition layout
Due to the fact that all exhibitions are running late or have been postponed until further notice, I now do not know which exhibition room I have been allocated and when the exhibition will be. It was scheduled for March next year but it has been postponed with a possible closure due to the exhibition rooms loosing money. Many of the galleries that I have used or fellow friends have used have actually shut down and with the latest Government slogan of ‘get a proper job’ things are looking bleaker as time goes by.
Therefore for the presentation planning I have just used a standard small rectangular space to build the exhibition pieces into.
Layout 1
As you can see from the labelled pieces below, this layout takes into consideration three-dimensional presentation for the glitch work. However instead of the Fujifilm Instax prints being held by peg and acrylic block so that they stand up, I have opted for them to be placed side by side on two individual shelving units. Showing the Instax prints in rows means the viewer can move from one to another in a line which will give the theme some solidarity in that the viewer can see they are part of a series. I didn’t want them broken up and placed onto different plinths with other works like I had with the Lockdown Art Exhibition. The reason behind the change of presentation for the images is because they are now part of a larger exhibition and will be lost within the other smaller artworks that I will be showing.
Although I quite like the layout of the work I have decided that the size and style of the acrylic blocks does not do the images justice. The blocks are far too small and being placed low on plinths their dark and dynamic visual effect would be lost. I therefore tried a second layout which can be seen below. This layout uses the more conventional print but without a frame. The reason that I do not want these images framed is because of their size and that the frame will add a defining border to the work. I do not want the images to end but become one with the wall space.
Plan 2 takes a more linear approach to viewing the work where the viewer can move from one end of the series to another. I have placed what I call ‘stop locations’ where the viewers will need longer viewing times. The two stop locations can be seen above where I have drawn the figures in the plan.
These locations slow the viewer down so that they do not just wander by quickly when viewing. The first location is a glitch video that I will be creating and it is here the viewer will stay for approximately three to five minutes. Once they have seen the video they will move onto the second stop location which is in front of the main body of photographic images.
While looking at the above plan and thinking about the works placements I am not sure if the flag would be actually far better hung within the corner so that as the viewer moves towards it the flags angle will turn the viewer eventually onto the next viewing wall.
To make Plan 2 clearer I have created it on my iPad using the actual works.
As I was designing the above plan, I added a title poster on the far left to begin the series and altered the placement of the Fujifilm Instax square prints to the left side of the sculpture. The reason for doing this is there is less information to take in on the left hand side as there are fewer images and they are also larger.
Sizing and reproduction of work
The sizes of my work would need to printed out in standard sizes. The reason for this is due to purchasing the prints separate to the frames. In the past I have designed work, painted and drawn in non-standard sizes, this practice may have made the work look interesting but it makes framing a little more expensive because the frames are made to order. By not framing my work and only selling copies in poster format those buying the works to frame at home would simply be put off if they were having to have made an appropriate frame rather one that can be bought ready made. Having been down this road before I also know that the larger works are less desirable for people to buy due to spaces on walls in many peoples homes being small.
Taking the presentation style into consideration I have opted for planning my work for print in A sizes. These frames are readily available in many shops from the cheapest B&M style outlet to the more expensive designer outlets.
Now, because I have taken the reproduction of the images into account I have realised that some of my images are indeed in non-standard sizes. Luckily for me because they are all surrounded by a black border, in order for them to fit the A sizes chosen for them I can literally just add more black to any negative spaces that have now cropped up in the unconventional print sizes.
I have learnt by mistake that really the sizing of my images should be standard sizing. It is difficult for me to remember when I am cross-apping or designing with my photographs. I really should make sure in future that all of my images are completed in photoshop so that the sizes can be altered appropriately.
For the reproduction of my work I have decided on the following sizes depending on the final destination that they are shown.
- 47″x79″ Anxiety Spikes The Feeble Flesh
- A0 – Depressed in Bed
- A0 – Dissociation
- A1 – It’s A New Dawn Again
- A1 – It’s That Negativity
- A2 – Broken
- A3 – Sadness
- A4 – Simply Depressed Again
- 2.4″ x 2.4″ – Instax Square photographs
- A1 – Glitch description
- Video screen depending on the size the gallery has installed
Other presentation options
Books are one of my favourite ways of keeping a series of work together. I enjoy designing the books, their layouts, font types, text to use etc… they also look very good on you coffee table when people come to visit. However the main reason that I produce books is to keep my collections alive rather than hiding in a box of prints or digitally in the computer or cloud.
Another way of presenting my work which I have produced before is postcard format. I usually produce work on postcards when exhibiting my work for purchase and on the back of these they have my artist statement. Postcards are a cheap way of producing affordable artworks for people and their smaller sizes mean that they can be presented in different ways for exhibition.
Apart from showing my work in a couple of professional galleries at great expense, I have chosen cheaper venues which are more cost effective. As part of Centrepieces Mental Health Arts Project, the types of venues we use varies from artwork to artwork. This is a list of possible venues that I have used before:
- Café
- Train station waiting rooms
- Libraries
- Art lending schemes for business waiting areas and stairways and waiting rooms in Drs surgeries and hospital corridors etc…
- Specialised sale fares where we take our exhibition boards to place artworks and photographs on
The newest presentation format is online exhibition galleries which have become even more popular since the lockdown and the covid-19 outbreak. With people unable to attend exhibitions due to the guidelines with numbers and safe distancing many artists and photographers take part in online exhibitions. You can also design your own exhibition space with the appropriate software and load it onto your website.
The problem I will have when I begin to do this is that three-dimensional viewing and even gaming make me ill and give me migraines. However I have asked someone if I designed it with them would they create it for me as I would look at the completed exhibition once and then upload it the web. This way I will not be ill and I will be able to present my work professionally online.
There is quite a lot for me to think about and to prepare for exhibition. This exhibition however will need more work than usual because of the new problems arising due to the covid-19 outbreak. Until I know the details of where I am to show my work I cannot really begin to plan accordingly on how the work should be shown.
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