Pauline

Curatorial Rationale

I was initially inspired by the ocean on vacation, where my initial intent was to explore the concept of flow and iridescence, which I saw in the clear water. Therefore I further investigated the topic of flow which lead to a lot of different concepts such as reflections, vibrancy, speed, perspective, shadows etc. I always tried to incorporate a aspect about reflection which can be seen in both the composition and the materials I have used in my piece to convey a symbolic message. Through my body of work I intend to create a space of where one enter a more nostalgic space to be able to reflect in. I wanted the audience to be able to connect a concept within the piece to their own life. I want to create a space that reflects the idea of flow, thus I hope to arrange my body of work in a way that darker shades of pieces transition into vibrant pieces. Through this I hope to display my inspiration of the initial concept of flow iridescence. This would depict different elements that can be reflected in both nature and in the physical world.  

I often found my inspiration through nature and the concepts of the 4 elements. I could further expanded these to different ideas linking to perspective and reflection. Based on this, I have chosen the liquid and manipulatable materials, allowing me to displaying the concept of flow through my materials. Flow has a lot of conceptual meaning which certain materials such as watercolor or acrylic paint which are able to create fluid figures and are less controlled. Therefore I want my materials to support the symbolism and meaning of my pieces. I have been exploring different types of strokes and patterns that can be created using these materials and their effect on different textures. 

However I liked to create contrast between the pieces which I have chosen which I often did by swapping materials. It is through the materials the audience often finds a link to reality or realism. The message is merely enhanced through what is being displayed in the piece. I wanted to link abstract pieces to a realistic concepts, which one can find their environment to make it more applicable to the audience. 

The artist Hokusai lead me to experiment with a lot of different materials, which drove my approach in creating different pieces with a lot of mixed media. Exploring different textures allowed me to explore the flow within materials and the smoothness versus roughness in different materials applied to different surfaces. Walton Ford’s skill of watercolor and realistic details and compositions, inspired me to perfect a technique. Both artists explored the scale, perspective and layers in their composition, creating a symbolic meaning, which I intended to incorporate in my pieces.

I chose the works which best reflected the theme of flow and which had a more meaningful impact on the audience to enter a reflectional space. I also chose the pieces which best showed the development of my skill of using different materials throughout the process of exploring iridescence. Therefore I chose not to display pieces from my first year as they did not match my intent. 

Some of my pieces have a lot of different layers to them, so only the symbolism could be interpreted when acknowledging the composition of my pieces. This being part of my intention the exhibition set up should reflect this too. I want to display my exhibition as a transition, which supports the transition between my intended mood of moving from realism to expressionism. This is where the audience is able to connect with the piece and reflect on their own life in respect to the concept displayed. I hope that someone from viewing the exhibition is moved in way or another, even if it is not personal but rather understanding the conceptual message of my piece. I chose the space close to the mirror, to promote the reflectional thinking. I chose to arrange the pieces with more reflectional aspects in them and more abstract pieces in front of a solid color. To capture the audience’s attention I want to create a walk a half circle walk through space to replicate a journey through expressionism.