This week we had artist and lecturer Steve Lovett talk to us about his practice. I really enjoyed Steve's talk and was really impressed by the professionalism of how he presented himself and his work. When listening to him explain the ideas behind his works, it is quite clear that there is a strong relationship between the work itself and his own personal experience. You can also see that Steve’s great enthusiasm is rooted in the enormous passion he has for what he does. He makes works with incredible depth of meaning.
In general, Steve's works deal with the way in which we move through the world as historical subjects in space, as well as time, transition and loss. His practice seems to express his personal thinking related to role and identification in the society as well as history and storytelling.
It is more so in Steve's earlier works that he comments on social, political, moral and physical relationships in relation to the human condition. These earlier works are definitely more content driven and personal than later works. They speak of a personal history, as well as 'James Baldwin's' idea that we are all part of a historical process.
For example,
'Holding the Man' (1996), is a piece of work that speaks about the HIV crisis of the 80's and 90's. Steve spoke on a very personal level about how this work came about and how it relates so personally to him. I found it interesting that when purchased initially for a local health centre, it was removed from public display after complaints from the centre's clients and staff, who found the content objectionable. I was inspired by the angle that Steve took in relation to this kind of situation, he mentioned that he doesn't mind if his work get much publicity or not, because his work is made out of strong personal conviction.
"
Much of my work is printed, Printed images are nomadic by nature. Uprooted and un-homed (if not un-homely) they are about the processing and transmission of information. At some level they conform to the way I have developed an understanding of the world." (Steve Lovett - http://emit.manukau.ac.nz )
One artist that Steve mentioned that I found really interesting was the work of Glenn Ligon. Steve and Ligon are similar in that they both adresses social and political issues that relate to them personally. Ligon often uses language in his paintings to address the position of African Americans (especially men) in contemporary America.
The messages that he uses come from texts by African American writers and he often intentionally blurs the words to illegibility in order to oppress the image, much in the same way the words he uses have oppressed African Americans.
In the image
'Untitled (Two White / Two Black)'1992, by using stencils, Ligon is directly referencing shipping crate labels, such as those used to transport slaves, as well as political and civil rights signage.
In his works Ligon challenges mainstream Western Culture by merging text and image to illustrate the breakdown of language and the absurdity of cultural and racial prejudice.
In Steve's digital work his particulary interested in researching questions of origins, destinations and the nature of belonging both for the individual and for the printed image itself. In his collaborative works, he mentioned that he wanted the works to be about the people that his works are actually about and not just the work itself.
'Mother and Daughter What can we say?' (1997). This image was built around the notion that can we know ourselves only in the second person through our dialogues and interaction with our friends, lovers, families and colleagues. And although focused on pairing defined by each collaborator, this work speaks about flexible notions of community and attachment.
Steve then began to show us some of his works that involve elements of sound and voice in dealing with ideas of history through story telling.
For example,
'Speaking Parts' (1998-2000), contained speakers and a single channel sound track of forty voices. This installation was built around portrait images but the constant archive of voices is what draws the viewer in. In this work, Steve got each person involved to speak about home, belonging and presence. The voice of each person present in the work asserts their presence, which crosses a boundary between private and public space and intimacy. This piece also addresses the space between fact and fiction because each voice is a first person account, therefore you get stories that no one can argue with.
'Trespass # 17' (2005) is a six colour digital print and speaks about seabed, foreshore debate. It address the issue of accessible coast being passed into private hands and becoming beyond the reach of the everyday public. I found this work really interesting because it affects us all and we all can relate to this in some way.
'Intersection 1214307845' (2007) is a work that features the observation of a single location at different times of the week, looking at a different usage of a single site.
"
I am endlessly fascinated by the ways in which we organise ourselves in relation to others and the spaces we move through and are able to inhabit or are not able."(Steve Lovett - http://emit.manukau.ac.nz )
Some of the more recent works Steve has been producing are a little less laden with meaning and are more about the aesthetic, abstraction, the colour and the density of the work. These are mostly prints of dynamic scribbles, sometimes over images, with round holes cut out to display colour underneath. In these works he is not so much concerned with the message so much as the materials and the look.
At the end of this weeks session we watched Patrick Keiller's film, '
London' (1994). This film documents a journey undertaken by the unseen 'researcher' Robinson and his similarly unseen companion, the narrator. Robinson's aim in this film seems to be to traverse, by foot, the length and breadth of London, in search of some sort of understanding.
I found that this film was neither a feature film nor documentary but a type of provocative essay in the form of a journal, or letter recording fictitious journeys through a very real city. This film was shot during a low point in the history of London, 1992, a year which witnessed the re-election of John Major, the continuation of the IRA bombing campaign and the beginning of the 'fall of the house of Windsor'. There is lots of detail concerning literature, history, and architecture.
Seeming to be obssed with French poets and Romantic English writers, Robinson strangely declares London to be a series of monuments to these writers and their adventures: Canary Wharf's tower becomes a memorial to Rimbaud's wanderings in the London docks, and Bus route 15 is sacred etc. London is not only an explanation of London as a failed city, but it seemed to me to be an attempt to re-imagine the city and reinvest it with all the values that Robinson feel to be missing.
This film related to some of Steve's work because the film 'London' is a public record, idea and archive of how Robinson sees the city.
Overall, I learnt a lot this week, and found it extremely interesting learing about Steve Lovett's journery of discovery and experimentation with different ideas, methods and materials in his practice.
Bibliography:
http://emit.manukau.ac.nz (Steve's Powerpoint)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Ligon
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film
