We were given the task to research Simon Birch. We needed to research and create visual outcomes from the influence of his work and the way his work is presented. I found this research task exciting, I really enjoy looking at artists and do enjoy writing about, however it always takes me a long time to complete this research and fully write an analysis. Therefore, only having around six hour to complete this deemed a new way of working for me. Of course, I had to start with some basic research, I created a simple mind map and jotted down interesting facts about his life, and anything I personally believed would have influenced him and his work. I then went onto to studying his pieces in more detail, making sure I viewed a variety of his work, understanding the mediums he uses and the way in which his applies these mediums to his pieces of work. What I found distinctly interesting about his work was the way in which his captures movement. I wanted to focus on this to begin with so I thought using photography would be the best way to achieve this.
I began by using my phone to take some low quality photos on a slow shutter speed, I wanted to just capture movement more than anything else, such as the quality of the picture. This went really well, the shoots were interesting and related to the pixel like effect running throughout Birch's work. However I wanted to develop and modify the photography, therefore I decided to use a better camera.
I headed to the photography room with two other students, and using a slow shutter speed began to capture movement such as facial movement body movement and the movement of objects. This wasn't working for me. Whilst the picture quality was a lot better, the actual blur and movement, the emotion I saw within Birch's pieces just were not coming through. Therefore, we decided to play around with the IOS and the slow shutter speed until discovering the perfect combination. Then the photos started to get interesting. The photos I like the most are of the head shots. I believe they show anger, and pure passion in a sense, which relates to the passion within Birch's work.
The final way I wanted to represent Birch's work was through drawing and mark making, I began by looking at the human form, drawing quick marks from the people I saw around but as I began to draw more, I began to draw thinner, weaker people. Looking at Birch's work, I saw two things, the first being expression, expression of marks, expression of emotion and expression of passion. The second thing I saw when looking at Birch's work was the bones highlight in pieces, and the suggestion of weakness within the people he drew. Most people are covering their faces, hiding, and this is something I wanted to develop, I wanted to develop the weakness I saw. Therefore, I continued with drawing in such a style and I'm happy with how they turned out. I dislike drawing, but as I start to study things which interest me, and come more into my own style of drawing I feel I am happy with the development and progress I am making. However, I do want to revisit some of the pieces and add colour and sparks of shape and line, relating to the forms Birch creates.
As well as drawing, I tried out another medium within the half an hour I had left. Oil paint is something which really interests me however I had always avoided using it. So I decided in a sort of "now or never" sense to use oil paint to capture the form of the body. I really enjoyed painting with this medium and I will definitely be creating more of these studies.
Overall, I had a lot of fun researching this artist and creating visual responses to his work, this is something I have never done before therefore it challenged me, especially with the time limit involved. In addition to this, I was introduced into an artist which has both inspired me and led me to drawing more and using a variety of mediums.
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