Teonna Elliott

These images show the process of preparing my piece for exhibition. i went down to the work shop to have wooden planks cut that allow me to screw my wallpaper to the wall and allow the length to drape down the wall. I initially thought i would need a baton length 20x4x2" (LxWxH). However, a conversation with Dan Pickles made me realise i was over compensating and the dimensions were a little excessive for holding single lengths of wallpaper. instead I went with 2x1" planks - this reduced the cost and was more convenient as the size didn't have to be ordered in.

I then lined layer my wallpaper out and marked where needed to be cut to ensure that the pattern matched up and the lengths were the same size. I used a guillotine to cut the paper which helped me to achieve a straight right angle.

I the stapled the wallpaper to the batons. the staples blend in well with the wallpaper and look very discreet.

When doing this, i also had a look at my studio space and noticed metal hooks at the tops of the studio walls that are securing them in place. These could cause some issues when hanging my wallpaper, as it may prevent the lengths from hanging closely together. For this reason, i used separate planks for each length rather and a continuous bar, this makes my art work adaptable to circumstances that may occur during the hanging process.

Another option would be to screw the planks to the top front of the wall instead of on top of the wall. Due to the height, i don't think the screws would be distracting from the work. (See diagram below)

Group crit with Renee Green

I recently contacted Renee Green to arrange a group crit. I thought it would be beneficial for us to talk as we are looking at similar themes from different points of view.

Renee's work explores her family life through the replication of family photos using coffee as a painting medium. This semester, she has also explored Black history, the slave trade and the Windrush generation. We are both using our practice to better understand our history. She mentioned being referred to as coffee coloured in the past and the negative connotations she felt it held - this is something i explored in my short sculptural project at the beginning of this semester. In contrast, when i received negative comments as a child for my skin colour, my mum explained to me that i was coffee colours to shed a positive light on the matter using my love of coffee. The same word had such a different effect on two children - myself who embraced the term and Renee who tried to redefine the term. . As a mockery of food fetishisms and the fetishisms of the black body in art, i depicted the black nude female form as chocolate sculptures. This conversation made me reconsider how my sculptures may be perceived, more often than not, art work will offend someone regardless of the artists intentions.

In ancient Rome the Latin word adlocutio means an address given by a general, usually the emperor, to his massed army and legions, and a general form of Roman salute from the army to their leader.

The research of adlocutio focuses on the art of statuary and coinage aspects. It is often portrayed in sculpture, either simply as a single, life-size contraposto figure of the general with his arm outstretched, or a relief scene of the general on a podium addressing the army. Such relief scenes also frequently appear on imperial coinage. The adlocutio is one of the most widely represented formulas of Roman art. The convention is regularly shown in individual figures like the famous Augustus of Prima Porta or can be put into a narrative context as seen in the Aurelian panel.

Gestures and body language are crucial for the study of adlocutio in ancient times, as addressing to thousands of soldiers was less penetrable by voice compared to body language and gestures which were more powerful, infectiously raising the army's enthusiasm. Characteristic of the formula is the outstretched hand of speech as well as the contrapposto pose with the weight clearly shifted to one leg.

This particular pose—showing a person outstretched and extended on a couch—is called an ODALISQUE pose or a reclining pose. An “odalisque” is a French word that means a woman slave or a chambermaid in a harem. The reclining pose is one that early Greek and Roman artists used. They used this pose to decorate funeral byres or coffins.

This pose was applied exclusively to depictions of the female form.

The pose gain popularity in the 18th century when people began to disregard the idea of the odalisque Venus to depict real women. At this time, artists such as Ingress began to portray Turkish harem chambermaids, therefore, the Turkish terming absorbed different contexts and connotations, and no longer stood for a maid of a lower social status, but, instead, any eroticized Eastern woman reclining on her back. Though she wasn’t a goddess, the odalisque was still considered “other” enough to sexualize the figure without reproach.

An example of this pose is Manet's Olympia.

When the painting Olympia premiered at the Salon in 1865, it shocked its audience for its reversal of viewer-subject dominance. Here our subject finally owns her sexuality with an outward gaze towards the viewer.

The Hidden Power of the Reclining Nude | Explore Meural's Permanent Art Collection | Digital Work (netgear.com)

In 1989, the Guerilla Girls famously drew attention to this trend by creating a poster of an odalisque with the provocation: “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum?”

Figura serpentinata is a style in painting and sculpture, intended to make the figure seem more dynamic, that is typical of Mannerism. It is similar, but not identical, to contrapposto, and features figures often in a spiral pose. Early examples can be seen in the work of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo.

With the loosening of the norms of the Renaissance art and the development of the "Serpentita" style, that style's structures and rules began to be systematised. A style of form began by which figures showed physical power, passion, tension and semantic perfection.

Unlike other poses from art history, this one is much more unnatural. The twist of the body in two directions suggests movement rather than still life. Artists did this in attempt to make the subject look more dynamic or to capture an action scene.

The Pudica Posture The Venus Pudica is a classic pose in Western art. In the Aphrodite of Menophantos, the statue features an unclothed female with her left hand pulling a cloth over her genitalia whilst her right covers her breasts. The goddess stands on her left leg while her right one is slightly inclined.

pudica is etymologically related to pudenda, meaning both shame and genitalia.

Contemporary critics have voiced that the origin of the pose, the idea that it is alluring or beautiful when a woman protects her nude body from unwanted eyes, is unsettling. It is difficult to view these works without attaching notions of beauty to the “damsels,” even if the viewer understands the disturbing nature of the pose’s implied narrative.

The above quote comments on a recent revelation by critics that the pose can be perceived as unsettling and intrusive. Throughout art history, there seems to be an allure to the female nude, particular on in which the model is trying to disguise herself from the audience's view.

The Renaissance era offers perhaps the most mainstream use of the venus pudica pose in the form of Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus.

@Aphrodite: Tracking Women’s Objectification from Venus pudica to Instagram — REMAKE (wustl.edu)

I found the above essay really interesting. It highlights the relevance of the classical posse in todays society and how the female form continues to be objectified by both the viewer and the subject encouraged by the development of social media. The essay recalls the story of Aphrodite.

The mythological story behind the statue goes that Aphrodite stood undressed as she stepped from her bath and heard someone approaching. The goddess’ reach to conceal herself dominates the viewer’s impression of Aphrodite, creating a “sexual narrative of protective fear.”

The placement of the hands attempting to cover, instead draw the eyes of the viewer down to see what the subject is doing / hiding. The subject is further objectified by her vulnerability, being nude in front of strangers. Her body language expresses discomfort with the situation and an indecency. A modern audience would feel repelled by this pose now, however, throughout art history, the pose has been intended to be gazed at. When we consider that the likely audience of the paintings were men, the idea of the male gaze is imposed.

I have been taking inspiration for the poses of my paintings from art history. For this reason i thought it would be nesscasry to know and understand the poses adopted by artists throughout history.

Contrapposto is an Italian term that means "counterpoise". It is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot, so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the axial plane.

Contrapposto may be used for draped as well as nude figures. The Greeks invented this formula in the early 5th century bc as an alternative to the stiffly static pose—in which the weight is distributed equally on both legs—that had dominated Greek figure sculpture in earlier periods.

This was considered the perfect pose because it’s a very natural, very “human” stance.

Michelangelo's statue of David is a prime example of this pose.

in the following article in artsy net 6 Art-Historical Poses You Should Know - Artsy , they note the conceptual artist Bruce Nauman's attempt to recreate the pose while moving through a narrow passageway in his 60-minute video performance Walk with Contrapposto (1968). The writter comments on unnatural awkwardness that doesn't relate to the effortlessness the greek's hoped it would have.

Jennifer Packer is an American painter living and working in New York City. In 2020, she won the Hermitage Greenfield Prize and the Rome Prize. Packer won the Rome Prize at the American Academy in Rome 2020-2021.

"But my paintings are not trying to draw out some idea of my subjects’ “authentic” or quintessential selves. I don’t have access to that. I have access to surface, and to social dynamics. I used to say that I don’t trust representation. I’ve never seen a painting that looked real to me."

The above quote from the artist herself justifies her abstract approach. In depicting people, she explains that she is aiming to translate what we see on the surface rather than the personality of the person. This could be viewed as objectifying, the person becomes just an aspect of the painting (as seen in the painting below, she doesn't focus too much on the of the skin tone and instead allows the background and clothing clothes to merge within the skin). This is a reflection of the artist rather than the sitter. I really like her approach to depicting people from her point of view rather than trying to show the world what the subjects want you to see. it makes her paintings much more personal and allows her to have control.

Jennifer Packer on her changing approaches to painting - Artforum International

Barkley L. Hendricks was a contemporary American painter who made pioneering contributions to black portraiture and conceptualism. While he worked in a variety of media and genres throughout his career, Hendricks' best known work took the form of life-sized painted oil portraits of Black Americans.

Barkley L. Hendricks (barkleylhendricks.com)

The subject of Hendrick's paintings are friends and acquaintances he has met in his travels around the world. They are exclusively black and exude personality. He aims to capture their personas with exquisite detail through clothing and piercing outward gazes that confront the audience. They are a direct engagement with art history, the tradition of portraiture, and a confrontation of institutional portrayal of the black subject.

Beyond his portraiture, he also made distinct works on paper and painted landscapes and still lifes, including an early series of Basketball paintings that explored abstraction and color theory. Throughout his career, Hendricks refused to be boxed into a medium. His creations are bold without limitations.

Carte De Visite at Hollybush Gardens Gallery – Making Histories Visible

I applied to the cotton on Manchester open call on 25/03/2021 after seeing an advertisement on Instagram. What appealed to me most about this open call is that it is offering prizes to both successful and unsuccessful applicants. If you are not chosen for the exhibition, your artwork is still displayed on their website and Instagram providing an opening to the art world and giving the applicant the opportunity to be seen by audiences, other artists and galleries. Its good exposure and there's still opportunity to sell your work. They also offer feedback if requested which can help improve further applications.

I recieved an email response to my application for the cotton on mcr open call exhibition. I was informed that my application was unsuccessful this time but will still be exhibition in their online exhibition and not the physical exhibition. I have responded to their email asking for feedback on my submission to see where I could improve in the future. Although my application was unsuccessful, this was still a valuable experience as I will be able to improve on the feedback and my inclusion in their online exhibition on their website will help me to network and add to my artist CV.

I chose this piece because it is a sample from my larger collection of wallpaper hangings and therefore met their size and sellable requirements for the submission.

I requested feedback on my submission to help me improve on future submissions. The following screenshot shows their response...

I appreciated and agreed with the feedback. It was helpful to know my subject matter and concepts are of interest to audiences and currators. I agree that the piece I submitted didn't fully reflect the themes of my project and I could have better tailored my accompanying statement.

My 1st draft degree show proposal put forward the above idea. I had hoped to exhibition several lengths of wallpaper that I had painted on, forming an imersive installation that transports the audience into the artists home and reminding them of their lockdown confinement. However, working with a limited supply of cotton flower wallpaper and taking into consideration the excess loss of matching up the pattern, means that I don't have enough wallpaper lengths to cover 2 walls.

https://testlivesalfordac.sharepoint.com/sites/Uos_Students/SitePages/Mental-Health-Awareness-Week-2021.aspx#showcase-your-work-for-mhaw

19/05/21

This week I have helped to clean the studios for the degree show.

This involved: moving all art and equipment and furniture, sanding the walls, gum stripping gaps, filling holes. We have still yet to finish filling holes, sanding, cleaning the floor and painting before the studios are ready for exhibition. It has been messy, hard work but alot of fun.