Week Two

Dérive Theory

The dérive was a critical tool for understanding and developing the theory of psychogeography, defined as the "specific effects of the geographical environment (whether consciously organized or not) on the emotions and behavior of individuals."

Myself and Constance decided to buddy up and dérive together, starting from the DJCAD entrance and seeing what factors would influence where we ended up.

The Little Elephant That Could

Found this babe chilling on the statue outside General Foundation. The note on his side reads “Find me? Hide me again” so although we didn’t hide him, he did accompany us on our venture

L’art de street

The Butcher The Baker

The Spanish meal deal makers

“Got surfed on”

Community garden basket

… and just like it’s community the basket has little to offer

The church of shaming it’s members

For as long as I can remember thus church has hosted slimming world, Zumba and weight watchers groups - what is it about this particular spot that wants to make it’s people lose weight?

1lbs of fat = 1lbs of debt?

Would have taken it home but there was clearly blood on the box and I didn’t want to risk a disease

Cat Slug

Cat Slug

(Inverted)

Sketchbook Pages

I chose to record our conversations as I believe stories can tell us so much more about a place and the people who live there than any geographical or scientific investigations. I’m reminded of the Gaeltachs during the clearances who passed on tales of their homes and their myths to generations who hadn’t even stepped foot on the continent were they the original Dérivers? A friend of mine and filmmaker Andy Blackford made a film on a similar concept called “Eternity Knocker” (2019) that focused more on the relationships between select members of the community that would otherwise be forgotten and how they fit into the changing landscape around them. I believe he made a similar film, Dàn Fianais, as a commission for ATLAS Arts (Black, A. 2021) but I’m yet to see it myself.

So what next?

Research

The colour yellow reappeared quite frequently during the Derive, and particularly the image of the cone with dog shit on really made me think again of how yellow can be such an attractive yet disgusting colour. I looked into some articles:

• The importance of colour By Emmerson, A. J. B. and McGettrick (2006), A. Shares how, the colour yellow when found where white is expected can trigger anxiety.

• A game of colours, changing emotions in children: a pilot study By Karmakar, S. ; Mathur, S. ; Sachdev, V. (2019) says yellows and pinks can ease anxiety in toddlers compared to colours like black. Although this conflicts the old wives’ tale which says it can cause frustration and increased crying. Are babies just fussy or is there something more to it?

  Illustrations

  What I can conclude is that certain shades of yellow (low in saturation or luminosity or when found unexpectedly) causes unease. Yellow sheets? Snow? Nicotine tinted wallpaper? Hard pass. But a magnolia wallpaper holds you like a hug, the piss tint of an energy drink keeps you buzzed and a post it note holds your attention. Some colours have such a strong psychological complexity to them that I fear spending too much time on it it will slowly turn into it’s own project but it is something that I will bear it in mind as I continue my practice.

David Shrigley - ‘A Jar of Piss’ (2020)

As discussed with my advisor, Mark, I tend to only illustrate as a means to an ens but maybe I should try create works that I’m keep that sketchy quality so I want to spend more time looking at David Shrigley. His combination of combining text with illustration to create a short narrative is so humorous and simple and has fascinated me ( and the world ) for years.

“He is one of those unique artists, like Andy Warhol or Keith Haring, who is recognised within the art world but whose reach extends far beyond to impact our wider culture.” - Shrig Shop (About Shrig Shop, No date, Para. 4)

My sketchbook development of text and image composition

I’m hoping to develop the composite sketches where I explore the impact of combining text and image below into prints and look into various printing methods (screen printing?) because although I’ve loved using riso for previous projects, for a limited run, it seems counter intuitive.

I also have to think about scale too, how would this look billboard size compared to an A5 postcard? Would it change the impact of the conversation?

Reference List

Black, A. Dàn Fianais, (2021) [Community film] Scotland: ATLAS Arts and Skye Climate Action

Black, A. Eternity Knocker, (2019) [Community film] Scotland: CCA Glasgow

Emmerson, A.J.B. and McGettrick, A. (2006) ‘The importance of colour’, Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition, 91(2), pp. F154. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.2005.078063.

Karmakar, S., Mathur, S. and Sachdev, V. (2019) ‘A game of colours, changing emotions in children: a pilot study’, European archives of paediatric dentistry, 20(4), pp. 377–381. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-018-0403-3

Shrigley, D. (2020) A Jar of Piss [Postcard] Denmark: Narayana Press

Shrig Shop (no date) About Shrig Shop, Available at: https://shrigshop.com/pages/david-shrigley-about-shrig-shop (Accessed: 29/10/22)