love me as i am

This is the first completed artwork that I intend to display for my Practice and Publication module. I've chosen gold, gaudy frames for a kind of "living room" aesthetic, and the work is in blue biro, which I think plays quite well off the gold. This should hopefully function quite well in drawing viewers' eyes in a gallery space. I suppose framing the work also heightens the sense of conflict between the lowbrow and highbrow aspects to my practise. I like the idea of putting drawings that are sort of crass, ugly and degenerate into frames that are sleek and a bit kitsch. Balancing the images between pop and fine art, and not letting the works become either too explicitly, is a constant concern.

Second work, slightly smaller scale.

Edit, 1/3/11: I decided to darken the red background of this piece so it would fit with the other works I plan to display better.

a family portrait

A video piece by Joseph Pierce

cat

black magic fuck beast

freelancing in the creative industries

The thing I thought this day of lectures highlighted most was the large disparity between the very safe, university art environment in which I'm practising now, and the much more business-oriented creative industry that I'll find myself in at the end of my degree. I think it reinforced my suspicion that I'll be more likely to find a niche or output as something like an illustrator much more easily than I'll successfully find my way onto gallery walls. It's made me further think about how I'll eventually have to pitch and sell my skills and artwork, and how I'll have to stand out in what seems to be a very large, competitive market. Ultimately though, I found the experience very tedious, and felt it was better suited to students in the more practical courses.