Monday 23 August 2010

Artist Talk



I will be giving a artist talk on 18.09.10 at 1pm at PAD, on my current work, Shredding Paper

Sunday 8 August 2010

Monday 2 August 2010

In conversation with Gavin Osborn


Below is an extract from recent email exchange on concepts/ideas/thoughts on my current practice. Dialogue with Gavin started after BUILT in response to the installation at Rogue Studios [01 - 08 April].

Lisa- I am much more interested in body as object rather than a subject. Exploring the reciprocal relationship between the materiality of objects and body. I want my body to be seen as material , moving in response to the other objects/materials and not an act that takes place with psychological motivations. I know that I can't help what the audience read into it, especially if a lot of the performance is left to chance or 'is of the moment' but my interests do lay in body as a material. Matter alongside matter or in combination with other matter, another object in space, I suppose this foregrounds materiality and process?
Gav- I think that's a great idea - particularly the succinct expression of it as 'matter alongside matter or in combination with other matter, another object in space' - it reminds me of certain types of dance. I think, as far as audience perception goes, it probably has to be established over a certain amount of time through how you interact with your materials - it seems to me that most of the things people tend to interact with accustom them to reading overtly psychological & narrative into things to start with, so maybe it takes some time for them to forget about psych 101 & see what's going on - what did you find from comments you got from the BUILT performance? Maybe I'm totally wrong & people lock in straight away!

In speaking of the artists body as a material, I also think that it could relate to the types of materials that I choose to work with, envelopes, thread, sticky dots etc. The materials I use, I like because I don't see them as anything precious. I am not afraid to damage, rip or tear them or do experimental things to them and obviously they are cheap and easy to source but another reason could be [and this relates back to how the artists body is seen within the performance as material object or subject etc] that they don't have instant 'bodily' connotations. Envelopes, cellophane windows and sticky dots on viewing - out of context - don't reference the 'body' automatically, so as a result the viewer doesn't see them as having a bodily relevance so when the body is on view [ the artists ] it could be seen maybe as a separate object - matter alongside matter
there's also the fact that they're 'universal' in the sense that most people will have handled them & will be able to imagine the sensations of your interactions - and perhaps in doing this, this is how they stop trying to read a psychological narrative or whatever into it, becuase as they watch you move & manipulate the material, they can imagine what this feels like - as if they were doing it - and this then removes any personal narrative they're trying to read, because actually they're there with you in the moment? and although the materials may have personal reading for them - opening an envelope, sealing one, using thread etc, even their own personal projections onto the materials fall away, because they're with you at that present moment?
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Whereas if I used materials and objects that where of bodily reference, say for example water, clothes, food items etc I think the viewer would conceive of these items as having something to do with the body and this is even further emphasized by the fact that there is a body to viewer [the artists] responding and working with the materials, so the reading(s) from the audience would be more as 'subject' in the first instance - feminist readings etc? 
well, I guess if anything I suggest above is true, it might be possible to do it with other, more bodily related material (although I do think your envelopes etc are quite body-resonant, because of how we have to physically interact with them to use them); as far as feminist readings go, there's the usual business of people reading 'domestic' materials etc, and also how they manifest in the space, but how would you want it read, if you want it read as a body as material with other materials? is it gendered, or not? just 'a human'? just materials, other molecules that happen to be phuysically arranged as 'human body' not 'thread' or 'cellophane'?

Sunday 1 August 2010

Exhibition - Shredding Paper

31.08.10 - 01.10.10


Lisa Gorton will present new works at PAD, Preston. 


Lisa’s work deals with the nature of drawing. It has evolved out of an enquiry into the relationship drawing has to sculpture and asking whether sculpture can be seen as drawing. Recent research has dealt with material tensions: the dependency of material on material, the reciprocal nature of support. Small, intimate installations generated through fragile everyday materials and the role of the body in this intervention.

New work at PAD will focus on small performative situations, exploring new materials through drawings and installation, focusing and responding to the specific idiosyncrasies of the gallery space.  

Preview - Thursday 9th September 6 - 8pm