ponder: Research - Laura Provoust's work
Im trying to regularly look at other artists’ practice and the way they work, what they make, variety of ‘mediums’ used, content, form etc. The Tate Channel site was good for this as it has videos/audios featuring the artists rather than just reading straight blurb from the artists website etc
I came across Laura Provoust’s work at the Turner Prize show last year. Her work is mainly centred around filmmaking which is a medium I’ve never used myself and am trying to challenge myself to look at other ways to make and the forms it can take. In her work, the films extend to environments so its not necessarily 'a’ film projected onto a wall etc but sits within or as part of a bigger installation. I suppose it reminded me of Pipi Lotti Rist’s sculptured film pieces. One particular piece was the 'Far from Words’ work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42SpZ88QdXg
The idea behind it was really simple which was inspiring in the sense that I often feel that 'I must have a very heavy idea which is very intricate' a wrong presupposition of 'conceptual work’. Of course lots of work might be like that but I suppose it doesn’t always have to be like that. The simplicity of the work (ie trying to find a way to show feeling/sensation/emotion of things like feeling the sun on your face, like it was taste. Laura extended the idea of how to feel the pleasurable sensations of Italy for the tourist.
I like they idea that she used the film to show this but as part of other works to form a cyndrical installation. So she was able to perhaps engage with other mediums like collage/montage painting. It was very cleverly interweaved with nods to fresco style work as well 'interactive’ work with the viewer, eg the raspberries positioned on top of car mirrors which viewers can take to eat. Aesthetically it worked as well as interacting with the audience to 'experience sensation’ first hand. I was thinking that its a multi media-ed piece but very well intertwined, something I would be very interested in doing. The work also embedded ideas of technology and that in reference to sensation….ie that we rounded, organic beings and the sensation of touching technological, hard edged objects…hence the raspberries on the car mirrors.
She generally tries to create stories and trying through the work to make the viewer question what they see. The collage was also a way to do this as parts of it you could tell whether it was painted or from a secondary source.
