2010 - 2013

alexander dodgson

~For Nan~ This body of work stands as a comparison between two different aesthetic judgments: one hand focuses upon the beautifully aesthetic nature of painting and portrait photography, the other, a discomforting insight into the harsh actuality of the process. This book presents a personal conflict centered on the sacrifice of identity. The comparisons between the reality of the performance and the falsehood of aesthetic outcomes acts as a blurred metaphor of an anxiety towards an over-saturated media culture and as an experience that reflects the inherently subjective nature of perspective in contemporary art.

alexander dodgson

# 1 2011 A play of colour 1-4 # 2 2012 The mark maker 5-6 # 3 2012 Aesthetic anxieties 7-8 # 4 2012 The consumer of nothing 9-10 # 5 A testament to witness 11-12 # 6 2011 I could never see it coming 12-13 # 7 2011 The consumer of something 14-15 # 8 2012 The experimentation of an explanation 16-17 # 9 2012 Monitored areas 18-19 # 10 2012 Painted portraits 20-21 # 11 2012 Painted portraits 22-23 # 12 2013 Oh my transgressions 24-25 # 13 2013 The artists body 26-27 # 14 2013 A self-abdiction of Terms 28-29 # 15 2013 Never trust a madman in a box 30-31 # 16 2013 The deception of your perception 32-33 # 17 2013 Painted portraits 34-35 # 18 2012 Painted portraits4 36-37 # 19 2013 Painted portraits5 38-39 # 20 2012 Colour your minders 40-41 # 21 2013 Painted portraits6 42-43 # 22 2013 Post-operatic representation 44-45 # 23 2013 The betrayal of the self 46-47 # 24 2013 The matter of the mind 48-49 # 25 2013 A need for the other 50-53 # 26 2013 I could never live without you 54-57

contents

A play of colour

Art is experience; the audience surrenders their passivity and becomes their own markmaking tools.

The mark maker

The artist should understand the principles of process; they make for a better understanding of narratives and journeys.

Aesthetic anxieties
Where do we find the artistic value in a work? Is it in the aesthetic outcome of the final piece or is it found in the process of creation?

8 3

The consumer of nothing

The notions of interaction, participation and performance have remained vital, as methods of exploration and experimentation.

10

A testament to witness

This work asks the viewer to consider the power relationships between audience and artist, who in this situation is truly in control?

11

12

I could never see it coming

The juxtaposition of the passive and defiant nature of this performance is an attempt to define what role the artist holds within society.

12

13

The consumer of something

In order to represent a self-reflective experience, the artist must take time to step back and consider the contexts and relationships of the world around them. Art making is consistent failure after failure then instant success then failure again.

14

15

The experimentation of an explanation

In questioning our collective understanding of artistic practice and the valuable art object, we begin to see the breakdown of barriers between high art and the public.

16

17

Monitored areas
In comparison to aesthetic anxieties, this work contrasts the nature of the artist through a physical representation of the boundaries (or lack of) between the process and the outcome.

18

19

Painted portraits

20

21

Painted portraits

22

23

Oh my transgressions
By losing purpose, one can lead to certain miss-understandings. This is a reaction to development of an unwanted aesthetic and the loss of the self.

24

25

The artists body

The artist must suspend his own specific purpose in order to represent the heros sacrifice, by doing so, finding himself on equal ground politically and influentially.

26

27

A self-abdication of terms
The combination of applied paint indexed through gesture and self-representational mark making authenticate the process of creation and establish a transcendent sign of presence highlighted by the artists body.

28

29

Never trust a madman in a box

The artist is no longer confined to limitations of traditional mediums and application of aesthetic is a secondary concern. Instead, the artist considers the social bonds of civilization and navigates their own personal trajectory through it.

30

31

The deception of your perception

The artist must demonstrate all the quality of poetry, acting, writing and artwork in so far as he is publically enacting the surrender of his egotism, his isolation and his supposed authorial autonomy.

32

33

Painted portraits

34

35

Painted portraits4

36

37

Painted portraits5

38

39

Colour your minders

Situating around ephemeral performances with an alternative agenda, the realm of human inter-action, to highlight the prominence of issues in between the social dynamic

40

41

Painted portraits6

42

43

Post-Operatic representation
This mirrored assortment of objects and the paint stained body were used to create a stylization of social form that compliments the complexity, seriousness and consequences of artistic sacrifice.

44

45

The betrayal of the Self

These Artworks consider the audience as an integral element to its creation, without participants in this social experiment, the work would cease to function and therefore become obsolete.

46

47

The matter of the mind

48

The artist should not become an icon of his own making to be revered by a separate and distant audience, where the celebrity of art is more important than the product of thought surrounding it.

49

A Need for the Other

This paradoxical self-abdication into the masses the artist room to directly control the audience will, giving them an equal stake in the creation by removing them from their passive and detached the viewer.

has allowed at his own of an artwork, position as

50

51

The artist must consider the body as a medium to challenge authorial ideology and present the audience with innate psychological dilemmas about their own experience of an art event.

52

53

I could never live without you

The final public performance, its subsequent documentation and exhibition are the culmination of a desire to unite the artist and the audience collaboratively in the art making process. This narrative is representative of the artistic sacrifice of identity, the need for passing over from egotism into communism and the celebrated death/birth of the artist.

54

55

The interpretations of colour can prove somewhat distracting from this context; the deliberate desaturation of the documentation emphasises the intrinsically transgressive nature of the events unfolded, and creates a dialogue between the audience/artist that might function as a metaphor for a wider experience of life and its artistic struggles.

56

57

Photographers
Alesandro De Besi pg 36-37 Declan Gerharty pg 32, 33 Joseph Mayers pg 1-4. Karen Rangley pg 52-53, 56-57

Assistants
Katie Hoskin Kendle Topping William Gasdby Peet William Leeming

Designer
Chris van Niekerk

Many thanks to all the tutors and staffing at Leeds College of Art for their help and patience throughout university.

Aknowledgements