Experimenting with Layers

My visit to Prescription Art Gallery in Brighton was a very worth wile visit. Along with other pieces (which I will be adding to a separate blog) I found this piece by Adam Neat. 

'Boxed In' by Adam Neat. "3D cardboard painting from his Elms Lester exhibition in 2006" £20,000

Firstly I think this piece appealed to me with its use of cardboard. I often like to use ephemera and recycle materials to make something new. I also find cardboard gives a texture that is sometimes hard to control depending on the other materials used. 

Neat has managed to create the illusion of a person without over working the cardboard and with minimal use of colour. He has also worked with the idea of relief, creating depth by layering. It is not apparent in this photo but Neat has used large staples to attach some of the parts together with reminds me a little of Frankenstein's monster. He has used this to give an illusion of form to some of the features. 


This piece have me some ideas to create some work. The use of the cardboard as well as the act of layering fits in very well with my project. 

The act of layers remind me of the way mountains are formed and even how the earth crust is made up of layers. Layers layers layers. The fragility of the cardboard also reminds me of how mountains are susceptible to erosion. If we are thinking in ecological terms, the card might have even come from the trees growing at the foot and on these mountains in the rainforest. Maybe thats's a bit of a stretch but I quite like the idea of exploring materials and their history. 

Cardboard layered to form the mountain.

Mountain after painting. 

This was incredibly enjoyable to do. Ripping the cardboard into pieces allowed the material to create a natural forms. Layering from the top down has created a feeling of depth with is heightened with the use of paint.

Valery Koshlyakov

Just after experimenting with card I was introduced Valery Koshlyakov's work.The work is large scale and on cardboard. I love these. They are layered both with the card but also with the paint and other materials. This sort of thing has been something I have been interested in doing. I think cardboard is a brilliant material, it has this sort of "throw away" feel to it so you are not so precious with it as you might be say with an expensive or hand made canvas. It is organic.