Project Proposal: Can sexual expression be positively portrayed through artwork?
Section 1: Review
Since starting the FAD course, the most important thing I’ve learnt is that I produce the best results when I can find a personal connection to a set brief and explore issues that are personally relevant to my life. Through keeping a self-reflective journal/sketchbook, maintaining detailed records of my progression and thoroughly researching artists (specifically their motivations and deeper connotations to their work) I feel that I can produce work that is both personally expressive and has a deep contextual understanding.
I have learnt to critically evaluate the work that I produce, to ensure that I am continually improving both my technical skill and developing a deeper understanding of how I want my work to progress.
Section 2: Project Concept
Whilst in Berlin, I saw an interesting piece by the artist Paul McCarthy. “Saloon Theatre” (Hamburger Bahnhof Museum) was an installation, which used a negative portrayal of sex to provoke a strong reaction from the audience. This piece of artwork has lead me to question the place of sex in art and specifically whether it can be portrayed in a positive light. Contrastingly, I have also researched artists such as Hamish Blakely, who paints very soft, sensual works of his wife that portray a loving and caring relationship. Both works of art feature the female form and both explore relationships between the subject and the viewer.
During the last 10-week project I began to explore my own sexuality and (non-standard) relationships through my artwork, as it is personally relevant to me, and something that I have a long-standing interest in. I feel this was just the beginning of a journey that I want to explore in a lot more depth. I am curious about the line between artwork that is sensual and erotic, yet publically acceptable and that which is deemed generally inappropriate, especially amongst people of different backgrounds and beliefs (for example, contrasting the views held by my Christian family with those of people within the kink/fetish scene). I would also like to look at censorship within artwork, especially drawing from my experience in Florence to influence research into cultural and religious views and practices, along with my own experiences as a model and female artist. Whilst I don’t intend to create sexually graphic work, I am interested in implied eroticism and exploring my own sexual desires through art.
For my final major project, I aim to create a body of artwork that tells a story about my sexuality and relationships, especially with women, in an erotic yet sexually positive way. I intend to experiment with a range of media to find the most appropriate for expressing my emotional and physical connections to the women in my work.
Section 3: Evaluation
I plan to evaluate my work at various stages through the creative process. Assessing whether or not I feel the work I am producing effectively expresses the things I want to explore.
I also intend to create a questionnaire that explores people’s perception of “art” and “indecency” and compare it to my own beliefs. I can then use this as a benchmark to evaluate whether or not the majority of people interviewed would deem my work artistic as opposed to inappropriate. This would give me a starting point for thinking about the longer term goals of my artwork what kind of audience I intend to attract.
I would feel I have been successful in this project if, on taking into account the questionnaire, I feel like I have produced work which would be artistically valid yet expresses the various emotions and feelings that I want to portray.
