AA2A etc

My tenure at UCBC is coming to an end in less than two months and I still don't have access to the computer system which is both stiffling and extremely irritating. I believe I have been short changed here as it took at least four months to have a college to card so I could get access to the library, workshops and other places within the establishment. With the unavailability of the computer system I can't email, do any research, screenprint or use the computer packages that was supposed to be ready for me to use.

With these restrictions put upon me I have had to revert to using the tools that was on hand which was the pencil and paper that I could find. I started to study folded paper which accumulated in 42 studies of said paper, which will have a second life soon. The main focus was on two projects. The artist statement/artist studio project and my 8-Bit matrix computer paper drawings.

With my degree in Interactive Arts, and focuses on networking and events, I have been able to secure an exhibition within the town centre. This will be my first solo show and is in my home town. The show will be in a disused jewellery shop and will be an office based installation set in the 1940s, hopefully. I will be showing the 12 Statements work which total at least 24 framed pieces and 8 of my 8-Bit drawings together with the 42 studies of folded paper and my Succinct Corporate Poetry, which was shown at the Queer Art Show in Manchester.

I have been working on my Edited-Prose project for a few years now and will be using the office installation, which will be dressed by the local dramatic society, where I will be typewriting my results. I have a local tearooms called Liz n' Lils supplying the refreshments on the opening night and they will be serving afternoon tea and slices of cakes.

It has taken me quite a bit of time with the organisation of venue but as I am going on my honeymoon real soon, I have a little amount of time to get everything sorted. I need to design and print the posters and hopefully get the UCBC to print them for free. I have been given a bad deal there so I hope they recompense with the printing costs.

I am away for three weeks and I have three weeks to get everything framed, printed, advertised and installed. The AA2A ends in May/June and the exhibition is on the 8th May.

Back to assemblage

I am inspired by the shifting and almost transient aspects of the urban landscape and have started to draw again this interest. The assemblage as a hole left me when I finished my degree and now the bug is beginning to bite back.

I am working small-scale because I see these pieces as shelf material. I find hanging them on a wall a bit to presumptuous and I want to keep in mind their origins.

Assortments

Matrix Computer Punch

New version of the MCP series.

new work - Feb 2014

I have been experimenting with computer dot matrix paper print and these are branches from the same tree. I have been given some chintzy card with watercoloured scenes on and this is what I have come up with. I quite like the invasion of the dat matrix upon the bucolic scenes.

new project..12 statements

Artist:
Sonny J. Barker

Blog:
organicrobotix.blogspot.com

Title:
Twelve Statements

Medium:
Twelve typed-written artist statements in A4 found frames and twelve photographic prints in A4 black frames.

Intention:
My work is primarily installation and assemblage based where I integrate found materials such as paper, wood and objects into collage; I also work with digital and Polaroid photography. The work that I am concentrating on at the moment is the dialogue within computer punch print out paper. I am making pencil drawn compositions based on the syntax within such medium.

As an exhibiting artist that regularly composes artist statements and having recently graduated from Manchester School of Art, I have become interested in how the artist statement could be transformed into manifestos for creative means. I am intrigued how the written word can be used to assist the reader in visualizing the creative’s concepts.

As part as my residency at UCBC at Blackburn College and working within the second year BA (Hons) Fine Art students studio space, I aim to facilitate through discussion and workshops their artistic manifestos/statements and then establish an exhibition to present the work. I wish to illustrate through a gallery setting the grounding of artists that are currently in their penultimate year before graduation where the decision is made in what could be their future career as artists. All work will ultimately comprise of the written word and an image of the student’s studios.

Screen-Print compositions

I have recently been working on the computer punch paper idea and now need to find a composition that I am happy to screenprint at the UCBC in Blackburn. The only problem is that each set of compositions take at least three sittings to complete because they are labour intensive.