Introduction
I will be creating a
body of work together with Nottingham based artist David ‘Stickman’ Higgins to
produce a multi media video, which will be taken on location in and around the
artist’s home, the city and in his studio. The video will be posted on websites
such as Youtube or Vimeo so that it can be easily sent to potential clients and
future employers. It will encompass a
day in the life theme.
David ‘Stickman’ Higgins
is a spoken word artist, drummer, performer and educationalist. He gains
inspiration from used found items such as masks and fabrics. He believes that
every object he finds has its own unique story and background and can be
re-appropriated to give it an innumerable amount of new meanings and stories.
He uses these items as props for his performances educational tools as well as
arranging them into sculptures.
The nature of his work
is hard to capture because of the intuitive nature of his instinctual
personality the work he produces is created in a sporadic manner. As a result
of this I will be required to document the work in a very similarly organic
manner. Higgins does not plan or prepare his work in fine detail and works
spontaneously consequentially the process of this documentation has to follow
the same path.
Aims & Objectives
To photographically
document our meetings and collect short video clips that range from a few
seconds to a few minutes. These clips
and photos will then be edited into a short video piece that will be suitable
for the Internet. It will describe the artist and his unique skill set. I am
going to strive to represent the Artist’s work and environment as accurately as
possible whilst retaining his personality. The primary aim of the video is to
tell a story how he works in a narrative format showing his open personality
and environment. In order to do this I will be travelling to Nottingham
routinely to meet in his studio. When we are unable to meet I will ensure to
communicate with him through email, or telephone on a weekly basis. This will
help me to build on my strong professional practice and real life observational
skills.
External brief
The brief comes from
the artist himself, but it has a fluid and collaborative nature. When we meet
he often launches into his work in an unpredictable manner. I am shadowing him
as he goes about his daily routine in order to learn his personality and
strengths so that I can represent everything I can in the video. Because the
video will be Internet based and promotional we agree that it should only last
for a few minutes, 5-6 at most. As well as offering my skills to David
‘Stickman’ Higgins, he has offered me a wonderful opportunity in which he is
taking a role similar to that of a mentor. He is teaching me more about the
world of the arts and performance and has even offered me more work in the
future, he is also teaching me much about Caribbean and black culture which is
an incredibly valuable experience.
In the video I will be
documenting many of his already completed works many of which are centred on
his personal racial background and heritage, other works make statements about
modern and past British culture. His works are expressive and educational, they
have a raw quality that gives them a very genuine nature.
Normally when David
makes a piece he has to create something that can remain a permanent and stable
fixture that he will be able to move to an exhibition space or gallery, however
now that I am there to photograph him and contribute ideas to his works he is
able to work in a more impulsive manner. Creating temporary sculptures that are
then made permanent by the medium of photography. This style of sculpture is
reminiscent of the style of Erwin Wurm who creates absurd and bizarre
sculptures that adhere to themes such as balance, satirical humour, social
statements as well as making statements about the ‘Zeitgeist’.
Historical and Contemporary Context
Involved in his works
are an undercurrent of semiotic messages. Including the British class system
and how society manufactures greed in people. He believes that there is enough
for everybody, but we are distracted by materialistic goals.
Experimental Development
Much of my own creativity
and experimentation will become apparent in the editing stage of the production
where I will show ability to frame, compose and pace a strong video piece. It
will be somewhat difficult to plan this stage of the work until I have
collected all the required footage.
The project will
develop naturally as we work together, the main focus will be on David and how
he works. Throughout this process I will
document the various stages of his work and his working method. During meetings we often will discuss ideas
and compositions together. I bring my knowledge of good composition and
lighting to the work and David utilises his found objects and knowledge of the
subject matter.
