Response to Assignment 4 Feedback and Final Version

Assignment 4 reflection on tutor feedback

Assignment 4 reflection

Having mulled over my tutor’s feedback and comments made on my assignment 4 draft, here is my response and revised version. The first point was that he thought my choice of artists was appropriate and I had handled it with confidence, so that’s good, I was on the right track.

In terms of improvement:

• The main comments on the draft itself were suggested simplifications of the language, mainly getting rid of unnecessary words and casual remarks to give a more professional tone.
• The critical aspect of the essay could be improved with the inclusion of comment from additional reviewers.
• Then there was a section on how typography can be used by artists in different ways using different medium. I’m not entirely sure if this related to this assignment or others where I have indicated that I would make handmade books for assessment, or maybe the next where I also want to include a text element.
• There was also a suggestion that I could have included more or my own work in the essay.

The first point was straightforward, ish! I know this is something I have to work on, particularly when/if I progress to level 3.

Taking the last point next, I don’t see how I could do that within the word-count bearing in mind I have tried to use 3rd person as advised throughout, and resist from making personal observations. Unless I could somehow thread it into the discussion of Hamish Fulton’s work. I understand it is appropriate to include an image on the front cover though so have included one of my own there.

My issue with the 2nd and 3rd points is twofold. Firstly word count, as I was within a whisker of the 10% upper margin when headings, quotations and references were excluded, whatever I add to address theses points needs to be removed from elsewhere. The second point was that my choice of artists was deemed appropriate, not too many, not too few so I couldn’t see how I could include further artists using different medium such as film without a major rewrite. In any case, the medium used by Tacita Dean, Jenny Holzer, Martin Creed and Douglas Gordon are all different from Karen Knorr and Hamish Fulton, the only two whose main medium is photography.

I totally agree with the need to beef up the critical tone of the essay, this was my main concern from the beginning. In the main I have found available reviews to be fairly samey, usually prior to or on the opening of an exhibition or sometimes, in the case of Tate, for example, a little background on the artist and explanation of the artwork on show. However, again mindful of word count, I have included further comment from additional reviewers on the work of Jenny Holzer and Douglas Gordon. In the case of Gordon, I found a slightly quirky review by Nick Barley, editor of The List at the time. This one will stick in my mind because of its tone and phases like ‘Why should you believe what I have to say about Gordon? I’m the wrong person to give a balanced view because I know the man’. (Barley, 2006)

To compensate for the additional words, I have removed the first part of the section on Tacita Dean, starting with her work on ‘The Roaring Forties’ rather than ‘When I first Raised the Tempest’, which adds little extra to my essay. I have also removed the discussion on Martin Creed because his work has similarities to that of Jenny Holzer and some of Douglas Gordon’s.

I am still within that tiny whisker of the upper word count margin (3 words I think)  but am happier that this is a more robust and professional critical review. I will continue to look for reviews or comments on the artists discussed but unless I find something that challenges what I have already included or conforms it in a different way and subject to checking online references prior to assessment, this is now the final version.

Assignment 4 final version.docx

References:

Barley, N. (2006) Douglas Gordon. At: https://www.list.co.uk/article/333-douglas-gordon/ (Accessed on 31 August 2019)

Assignment 4: Reflection on Tutor Feedback

As always my tutor’s feedback on my latest assignment was prompt despite him emailing to say that he was going to be away for a week – and I was very pleasantly surprised.  I had feared having re-read both my essay and the brief, that my critical review was more narrative than critical and expected to have to make fairly major changes.  There are of course some alterations suggested but it is not as bad as I had feared.

Positive points:

• My essay tackled the subject with confidence
• My choice of artists was relevant to the topic and connected to some of my previous work
• The tone is well set, with relevant illustrations
• There are elements of developing a critical framework by the inclusion of remarks and comments of others
• There are some good elements in terms of noting how typographic elements can be important.
• Reflective commentary is evident
• Learning log is becoming well rounded and fully developed
• Good research
• Referencing is good

Suggestions for improvement:

• Critical framework could be expanded further by more comparative analysis by other reviewers or critics
• It is also worth considering the relationships between how an ‘artist’ might use text and how those others where their work is interdisciplinary might also be relevant
• Inclusion of some of my own work in the text would help further and he gave following the example from my first assignment
• Beware of using too many casual remarks – and gave the example‘that frankly leaves you scratching your head’.
• Think about putting more recordings/visuals in my learning log
• Think about using smart phone to record impressions from exhibitions

And regarding Assignment 5, many of the artists I have already researched are relevant to my proposed topic which involves walking and at the same time incorporating text.

I’m not entirely sure what it meant by this:  ‘The format you might choose is worth thinking about, at this stage then its good your are making connections between formal technical apparatus and the final work. Best set yourself an achievable aim rather than presenting to yourself the lack of any particular kinds of equipment. If you choose film or digital then you can still make the work which is relevant and resonates with your planned area of interest’  In my initial mind map, here, for assignment 5, I was thinking about which equipment to use, bearing in mind I was going to be walking and as yet have very little experience using my newly acquired TLR. I concluded that my ‘mirrorless’ camera was probably the best option because at this point I am not entirely sure what my focus will be. Having initially read my tutor’s comments, I thought he was suggesting that I was taking the easy way out and in fact had come to that conclusion myself. Now I’m not so sure though, maybe he is saying I would be wise not to take too many risks.  On reflection, I have decided to take the Rollicord for specific subjects, such as the ‘hulks’ in the ships graveyard at Purton, or the bridges along the canal. That way I may have some mini projects within my main project whilst still having a digital backup.

Useful reading/viewing which is related to the exercise on ‘print on demand mock-ups’ but also a comment I made about which font I might use in a book I plan to make for assessment.

My tutor also attached my essay back with some highlighted comments for consideration, mainly to do with my waffelly language, which was really useful.  So, still some work to be done, but not a disaster by any means.

 

Reflection on Assignment 4

My Assignment 4 Critical Review Final draft has  been sent to my tutor for commentand and I will await feedback with some trepidation! It is my normal practice when completing an assignment to use the assessment criteria as a format for reflection but it doesn’t really fit for assignment 4 so this posts stands as my reflection.

My critical review or 2000 word essay, has been something of a long haul. I spent what seemed like months but was probably only two or three weeks, reading and researching artists who use text in their work without writing anything down other than the sources I was referring to but at least that stood me in good stead for when I wrote the actual essay.

Background

Over the past months I have become increasingly aware of photographers and other artists’ use of text, not just as titles, captions or artists’ statements but to add context, show their source of inspiration or incorporated into the art itself.  In some cases this intrigues me or adds another layer of meaning but in others it leaves me totally perplexed and questioning if this can seriously be accepted as art.  When I came to choosing a topic for my 2000 word essay, this seemed the natural route.

My starting point was to take note of any artwork I came across that included or comprised text and then to seek out further artists who use text as an integral part of their work.  I compiled a list including Fay Godwin, Tacita Dean, Lynda Laird, Douglas Gordon, Martin Creed, Shirin Neshat, Barbara Kruger, Hamish Fulton, a young Brazilian couple called Angela Detanico and Rafael Lain etc., etc. Other artists were recommended by my tutor and OCA peers so I ended up with a huge list that needed to be reduced.  My other issue was that although plenty of people use text in their work, not too many people seemed to have written about it, however two books were recommended,  ‘The Writing on the Wall’, written by Simon Morley (2003) and Hal Foster’s ‘The return of the Real’ (1996).  The former has proved very useful but I struggled with the Foster book.  I also found some books in the University library or the work of Douglas Gordon and Hamish Fulton, an interview with Hamish Fulton conducted by Jesse Alexander for the Spring edition of Source magazine and of course the world wide web.

In the end, my thinking about which artists to focus on came down to different ways in which text is used and artists using different mediums, not just photography.  I didn’t want too many people doing the same type of work, I needed people about whom I could find some comment in the resources I had found and in amongst all of that, I had to remember that this is a ‘landscape’ assignment.  I was also keen not just to choose too many artists whose work I knew or whose art I liked or intrigued me, although I have included some of the latter in my essay.  I also felt that a good starting point was to define art and was surprised to discover so many definitions from Tolstoy to Alain de Bottom to definitions devised to suit the artists themselves, Hamish Fulton for example.  The one I liked best and I think is probably the truest of all is Douglas Gordon’s, ‘art is a good excuse for a conversation’ (Gordon, date unknown, cited in Brown, 2004, p7)

In the end the artists I chose to explore further were Karen Knorr, because I did not know her work, Jenny Holzer for the same reason.  Martin Creed, whose LED, ‘Everything in going to be alright’, I saw in Edinburgh earlier in the summer but knew nothing of him, Douglas Gordon for the same reason, Tacita Dean because I really love her work, my little bit of self indulgence and Hamish Fulton because I didn’t get his work at all.  I omitted Fay Godwin and Lynda Laird because I have reflected extensively on their work in earlier posts and several others including Shirin Neshat and Detanico and Lain because whilst I find their use of text really intriguing, it bears no relationship to landscape and the same applied to a number of other artists.

Having started with the question, ‘What is the place of text in art?’ or even ‘Can text be taken seriously as art?’ I made a conscious effort to keep an open mind as I really struggled with some of the purely textual pieces, such as Fulton’s, Richard Long’s and to a lesser extent, Martin Creed’s and Jenny Holzer’s.  That said, I fully expected still to dismiss text pieces as not being art but what I found was that the further I explored these artists and what underpinned their practice, the more I started to see where they were coming from.  A turning point as far as Hamish Fulton was concerned was viewing his work on his website, here, (flash player required to view this website) because rather than just seeing his description of his walk, I could hear the birdsong and Fulton’s feet tramping across the land.  That is not to say that I don’t still find some of it quirky and self indulgent but I can begin to appreciate it as a different form of art.

What went well

• I was pleased with the research I had undertaken and the essay I produced as a result.  I have been meticulous in my referencing following UCA Harvard Referencing protocols with the help of ‘Zotero’, including referencing illustrations appropriately.
• I have tried to be as objective as possible particularly with art I would not previously have explored, as a result of which I can start to appreciate different forms of art.
• I have explored art using different mediums, such as Tacita Dean’s drawings film inspired work, Jenny Holzer’s projections and Martin Creed’s LED displays.
• I can see ways in which I can carry some of this work through to assignment 5 – more thought needed on this though.
• On a purely practical basis, I have stayed within the 2000 word count excluding headings, quotations and references.

Areas for improvement

• I question whether or not there is enough ‘landscape’ related focus in the artists I have chosen
• I wonder if the ‘critical’ element of the essay is robust enough
• Did I need to explore the historic background to the use of text in art more than I have done?
• I was late getting this assignment to my tutor – again!

References:

Brown, K.M. and Gordon, D. (2004) DG. London: Tate Publications.

– Hamish Fulton : Walking Artist ——- (s.d.) At: https://www.hamish-fulton.com/index.htm?detectflash=false (Accessed on 14 August 2019)