Final thoughts and selection

I hadn't realised that we actually had to present our work as if it was going to be in a gallery so unfortunately I couldn't organise what I would ideally want it to be presented like.

So ideally I would like a sole dining table in a room with one place setting, cutlery, wine glass, candle etc. and my finished book where the plate or menu would usually be presented in a dining experience, people would be invited to come and sit down at the table and flick through the book at their leisure, with maybe a 'waiter' there to offer them a drink as they read through.

For my selection though I have had to replace this with just a bog standard serving tray.

Even though the book as a whole is my final 'selection' for this project, I wanted to draw particular attention to this double page spread. It is the only one that I've managed to entirely complete unfortunately but I feel it shows my painting skill and portrays the ideas I have explained for this project. The writing on the left hand page was left intentionally hard to read as people will be so close to the piece anyway that it will be fine and also forces them to really pay attention and pick out the details of the piece, I feel more than they would if it was plastered clearly above the rest of the painting.

For taking this project further I have already talked about experimenting with the social aspect of this subject as it's something that intrigues me. If I was to do a book project similar to this again I think I would want to personally be with the people as they cook so I experience it more fully and also have a standardised plate for everyone to use. This would show the individuality of the person using their food alone and would also allow me to paint them all uniformly lifestyle which I think may be more impactful.

Process (book)

So I hand cut all the paper for the book and marked of the sections I will need for binding and marked up the the drawings using a classical grid method for sizing pictures up and down. I've arranged them specifically so that the dishes are as different as possible from one page to the next, separating sets of 3 with a dessert as the first picture in each group.

Process (test piece)

So I decided to make a test booklet for my book piece just to see how my images would work together on a 2 page spread and see what the impact would be.

I've included pictures below which show most of the steps that went into making this booklet, including the sizing up of images and the different stages to how I paint. Originally I had planned to make the collage section of my work a bit more rough and painterly but whilst I was painting I decided that I did want to stick more with James Rosenquist's semi-realistic style as I think it just suits the way that I work a lot more and this will give me a piece that I will be more pleased about in the end.

Unfortunately though, painting in this manner is going to take a lot more time than I had originally thought it was going to take, leaving me with not enough time to complete the book before assessment unfortunately.

Book binding

Planning how I'm going to bind my paintings together to form a book. This is the method that I'm choosing to use when creating this handmade book.

Japanese binding

It's a method that I've practised in the past and allows me to finish my paintings before binding them all together successfully.

Rirkrit Tiravanija- Untitled (free)

Again, this piece of work focuses on the social aspect of food and how people can be brought together by it. I really enjoy the idea of food being used to make people have these weird, unexpected encounters with people that they otherwise wouldn't have had. Taking this project forward, I'm definitely interested in experimenting with this aspect of food and documentation of an event similar to this, be that by photographs, sound recordings, video, drawing or writing. I think even by setting up a stall in a market (look into how possible this is money-wise etc.) and just spending the day serving other people food and maybe asking them some of the questions from this project ( instead of payment) would be interesting.

More artist research

I have had it suggested to read the extract 'Virginia Woolfe- To the Lighthouse (dragged)' by one of my tutors. I like how in the text food is used as a simple device within the text to bring, what I assume to be, the main ensemble of characters together to further the plot. It seems like the same idea and response I've gotten about food is mirrored in text like this, that food, at it's very simplest can bring people together, sometimes even in unexpected combinations etc. which brings an interesting dynamic to just what could be achieved using food.

Maybe in the future I could expand on this idea by experimenting with things like open-invitation dinner parties? Could have interesting results as there would be no way of knowing the amount of people coming, so depending on the space used it could be a very awkward, event in a large setting with few people. Or it could go the opposite way and end up with a crowd of people packed together in a small space. Obviously this would change the dynamic of the actions and depending on how the food was made could have an impact on the amount people get and how this would affect their perception of the event.
 Or simply setting up a table somewhere with the promise of food and seeing what kind of people would sit down and how these people interact.

After reading the following article (link) that begins by asking the question of 'is it art or is it just eating?'. I think that with the kind of events talked about and what I have touched on above with the idea of using food as a performance, the act of eating can be described as art given the right context. I would say the main goal of almost every artist, on a very basic level, is to affect people. And by using food in the ways talked about I definitely think that by making these 'events' and putting the spotlight upon the act of eating it becomes a form of art. Also, by using this information and either mirroring it or distorting it back to the viewer in some kind of way it can become a really interesting look into society as a whole, as this is something that everybody does. 

With my work I'm planning to look more into the individuals on a personal level but hopefully when I person flicks through my book of images they will maybe see something of themselves in the paintings or at the very least get them thinking 'what would my page look like?' or 'what is my relationship with food?'

I also found this article quite interesting (link), it involves the artist Jeanne Van Heeswijk and her involvement with the '2up2down/homebaked' project in the Anfield area of Liverpool. I found this personally interesting because Liverpool are actually the football team I support and having been to the Anfield area many times I've seen first hand just how run down and desolate it has been ever since the club and council agreed their deal. What I like about this project is that this idea, based entirely around food, seems to have really helped to invigorate the locals and give them some prospects, and more importantly hope for the future. This shows the kind of power that food can have on us, not just individually, but in society as a whole.

Interview recordings

Alex pt 1
Alex pt 2
James
Louise
Marc
Natalie
Oliver

So I've just added the recordings for the interviews that I have undertaken at the beginning of this project. I don't believe they're massively interesting by themselves to be honest but just wanted to have some context for where the quotes I'm planning to use in my work have come from. I also don't think it would add anything to the piece of work I plan to create by having these interviews actually be a part of the work either. This is just to show the process I have gone through.