Jemma Brown
Barker College
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR LIFE IN ART
Drawing
Graphite, pen, ink, photographs on paper
My body of work investigates how humans are both physically and mentally reactive to time's inevitable consequences for all living things, including its effect on our ability to remember visual images clearly. The four portraits represent ageing as a shared physical experience, with the development of wrinkles and blemishes. The scattered background works symbolise the pursuit of describing a memory: when trying to do so we are unable to recall an image clearly due to cognitive decline over time. Distorted photos convey this visual confusion and interference between memories.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Derek Overfield, Caleb Cole, Cindy Steiler, Oldrich Kulhanek, Mark Powell.
Marker's Commentary
Tell me about your life in art showcases composite panels, with dominant drawn portraits appearing as family ancestry, cleverly linked with photographic evidence and the symbolism of nature. The found photographs and montaged postcards emphasise and build connections to the four portraits. However, the depictions in this mixed-media practice do not appear to create sentimentality, warmth and empathy as the body of work provides the audience with a deeper investigation into the inevitability of aging, memory and loss.
The portraits appear disconnected, together but apart, from birth to old age. The arrangement of the smaller mixed media works set up the dialogue, communicating the consequences of the human condition, living and aging. The informed drawing practice showcases the sophisticated use of pencil, with refined mark making, exquisite in the realism depicted in the sophisticated portraits. Areas are not overworked, and details engage the viewer, reinforcing the changing lifespans while disparate gazes and gestures strike at the cognitive associations and tensions.