Artists’ Books

Final task of semester 1 was to create artists’ books continuing from the Place project.

My aim was to make a book which would display the experience of going through a tunnel.

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Assessment – Semester 1

65 = highest mark in the course (5 students in total got it). Still there’s lots of room for improvement.

my space set up for assessment

triptych required in Place brief

tunnel: night time (dark outside, light inside), day (dark inside, light outside) and out of ordinary – filled with stuff

paper cerated out off duck tape reassembling the tile grid and industrial aspect of an underpass

all pieces of triptych are double sided to represent the tunnel being open at both ends

Semester 1: Sketchbook

Sketchbook for the Place project: exploring 3 places and recording observations/memories/fantasies in different media.

1. Docks – found it quite boring in general → started focusing on boats; the domestic objects on them attracted my interest.

2. A secondhand shop – lots of stacked up furniture and other pieces, interesting arrangement and layout of things.

3. Underpass – the most fascinating place because of its simplicity and emptiness in contrast of the other places. When observed during day and night time, noticed the positive/negative, light/dark, white/black relationships.

Docks: cranes, sails

Monster-like bridge

Things on boats

Boat details/Underpass

Secondhand shop stock

Uni: first week in studio

the bottom one’s mine

First task was to cover a A1 sheet of white paper with charcoal, make it dense black and then erase to create a rectangle. Inspired by Richard Serra. It was quite interesting to observe how the blackness rubs outs and creates a soft-edged shape.

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OO

Photo from last summer (2011) back in Latvia. Found the picture, edited and realised what words come from de-constructing ’tomatoes’.

Summer Sketchbook

: stretching legs

: pegs

: connecting bridge

: flower baskets | outline of mum working in the garden

: ~ | plant pot

: triangular ruler drawing | …

: … | chimneys

: pen cap | arm

: how to dry hands | _

: connected dots from other side | flag tracking

: garden shadow outline | …

: garden stuff

: toes

: _ | collaborative drawing

: line connections

: stairs, spindles triangle scales

$/\ | roof umbrella$: /\ | roof umbrella

: moving to bristol

At the Drive-In @ Brixton Academy 28/8/2012

I saw At the Drive-In last Tuesday in London. It was kind of shit, however, didn’t expect anything spectacular, so enjoyed it anyway.

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extracted shadows

Extracting shadows from their original environment. The cast shapes are cut out so that they can be observed without being distracted by the objects. Without the surroundings the shadows seem to adopt new identities.

circtangles

Experimenting with circular and rectangular shapes, combining them into one. Playing around with colours, textures and layout.

garden drawings

…..

surreal

Done

“Lee lived now in varying degrees of transparency… While not exactly invisible he was at least difficult to see.” William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch.

In a practice that shifts between illustration and fine art, Dace Kruger’s current work focuses upon invisibility and transparency. Physically expressed through a process of puncture, the work conceptually reflects on the subtle dissolve of space and time.

In Barely There (2012) a roll of tracing paper is pierced multiple times; the flat space of the roll is transformed into three-dimensions. Tracing paper is now truly transparent; the other side has been accessed through puncture. Each poked hole is a passed moment of time: not possible to get back like the paper puncture is not possible to heal.

Influenced by the cut-up novels of William Burroughs and the use of repetition and variation in the work of Brion Gysin, Kruger‘s practice draws equally on process and concept.

In Junk-bound Ghost (2012) 636 entomological pins pierce an acetate sheet, each pin representing the words ‘junk’, ‘junky’ or ‘junkie(s)’ found in Burroughs’ novels Junky, Queer and Naked Lunch. The entomological pins that are meant to go through dead flesh and hold it in place, resonate with the hypodermic needles that poke the addict’s skin taking them from here to there. Just like the punctured roll in Barely There casts a veil from one side to another; a junkie’s needle draws a line from life to death and from death back to life.