Untitled 2010 - Castle in spain

Recent exhibition at Lawsons hair dressers was a big success! Just like before it was right down to the wire and we where still setting up come 5:45, but that's just the way it goes. Drinks were flowing and again had a turn out which came to over 100 people. A big thank you to Ruby Burman and Josephine Fairbrother who were a massive help in setting up the exhibition, your help was key on deadline day. Enjoy the images and description of my work to follow.





Untitled 2010. Such a formal title, i genuinely think that if i could i would ban the act of giving an art work a 'name'. My work is crafted in the vision that it speaks for itself and does not have a colour or creed suggested by the act of naming.

The work consists of a hanging page with a face cut into it with a sharp blade, the work is hanging with thin Nylon and bulldog clips, a small light is positioned to shine light through the work and onto the wall behind and to the right. Being so interested in vagueness and ambiguity the really interesting element to this work is the shadow opposed to the paper, the tangible element to the work is essentially redundant. I feel that this work is only completely on display with the light and correct position, displaying it in any other way would be destroying the integrity of the work. Generally received well I’m pleased with ‘Untitled 2010’ and will probably continue making work in this fashion, experimenting with light and form. More on the other works featuring in the castle in spain exhibition to come!

Castle in Spain exhibition

Hello everyone.

Just wanted to let you all know that I have another collaborated exhibition coming up on the 24th of November. There is a poster going around up at the university but unfortunately i'm not yet able to post it on here although i promise i will get around to it post haste.

Given the relative success of the last exhibition me and Bobby Sayers have decided to put on another big show before christmas. Despite being in the same venue, we have been granted the use of a quaint little downstairs area; we're hoping to continue the professionalism we tried so hard to achieve in the last one. The significant deifference is that first, second and third years are exhibiting thier work. This is a really exciting prospect because we will be showcasing work from various levels of completion and in various stages of development. We we're lucky enough to have our show featured on the Nottingham Visual Arts website, you can have a look here.

The name itself was chosen because we felt that it reflected ambition and purpose. We also feel that the artists exhibiting in the exhibition reflect a positive outlook and attitude towards thier work and practises. I hope to see you all there.

Location:
207 mansfield road
NG13FS
Nottingham

Ps. I've recently been posting some reviews on A-N reviews. You can read them through this hyper link! Or if you would like to reamin in the relative comfort of blogspot instead of navigating away you can read it here on my reviews only blog.

Forest fields firework Extravaganza!

Remember, remember the 5th of November. Not because many of you are 5 days into Movembering but because it's the day Guy Fawkes was foiled in his attempt to blow up the house of lords. So what better way to remember this event than a firework display! Really enjoyed this one and thought that you guys might want to see the photos.









Keep posted.

'Face (Untitled)' 02/11/2010

Face (Untitled)

Since the relative success of the 'Youths Dead' exhibition' i began to review the finer elements of my practise. Without getting too wordy, i decided to start experimenting and really trying to branch my practise out from first year. I made a series of decisions at the start of the first year, from refining my organisational techniques and 100% studio commitment and attendance to keeping a regularly update blog giving my practise in its entirety complete coverage. So here is a sample of the documentation of 'Face (Untitled)', a completed work displayed on the 02/11/2010.



This work was critiqued by my tutor group at university, a diverse group consisting of members from 1st, 2nd and 3rd year. The Feedback was both unsuprising and astonishing. How you ask? I will divulge.


Initially the group started by pointing out on simple observations, for example one student noticed only one of the eyes had a set of eye lashes. The head had no shoulders attached to it, there are no pupils and also that it was darker on one side; obvious i know but these simple observations are often what leads to greater more concrete realisations.
Then with the help of the tutor the conversation manifested, another student said, 'I don't know if I get it, but i don't know if I’m meant to'. The holy grail indeed, the mother ship of all comments when you make experimental work relating to ambiguity and vagueness, specifically removing the context from something. In this case, simply leaving the eyes out, removing the shoulders creating a bust look and leaving out a set of eye lashes begins the process where the viewer is having to construct and apply the context themselves.


The group encountered my work and immediately commented on what wasn't there and the way that made them feel and think. If i was to be as bold as to make comment myself i would say that this was a success for an experimental piece of work. Although to call it a complete success would be a falsity. As I’d hope for and expected there where elements of the work people would have liked to of seen differently. (Being a conscious human being i am a complete advocator of the fact the different people have different opinions. Also looking to further my developing practise it's important to get negative constructive feedback.) The presentation of the work was raised, in several contexts; the first of which being the frame, someone suggested that because of the 'coming out of the wall element' perhaps the frame should be wall mounted card or at the very least white to maintain the neutral atmosphere the work promotes. They referred specifically to a concept of 'camouflage'. The other presentational link was an array of comments regarding the proportions of the drawing, this is a perfectly just comment and fully expected in the world of art critiques. HOWEVER. I had to personally raise the issue that the face came across out of proportion because i had cut along the headline making the work deliberately distorted depending upon the angle you look at it from.


Now the fact that the gap behind the head and the reason for it's existence wasn't discussed is not the fault of the group. It obviously didn't strike people as something particularly important to comment on. This for me was the astonishing part, it has directly informed the next few steps i will be making. No doubt i will keep it from you. Read this space! Overall a very exciting group crit of my work, it's given me fuel and direction regarding the next thing on the agenda regarding my practise. Thanks’ for reading.

Youths Dead Exhibition

A highly successful exhibition at Nottingham hair dressers 'Lawsons' located on mansfield road. Myself and fellow fine artist Bobby Sayers, co-curated this start of term exhibition. We wanted to suggest to the public that fine art can be viewed in places other than a perfectly white and pristine art gallery. We wanted to show the world that you don't have to pay a hefty admission price to enjoy a relaxed atmosphere, a casual drink and provocative conversation with people who appreciate art.

Above 'The cahv in the iron mask' by Joseph Cerski.

Above: 'Live change die' by Bobby Sayers.


Above: 'Icarus v.2.0' by Ruby Lloyd - Burman.

Above: 'Chromadepth Experiment II' by Darren Ralphs.

Above: 'Silicone' by Emily Johnston

A statement from the artist.

This is the most up to date copy of my statement of intent completed on the 17/10/2010. Despite several other tries and attempts to write specifically what i'm interested in i still feel this rather formal attempt best describes my current practise.

Joseph Cerski
Second year Statement of intent.

My area of exploration is vagueness and ambiguity, although my specific interests lie in ‘removing contexts’. My practise centrally involves mark making in the freest sense possible, I aim to remove the context from drawings and images by erasing, crossing out and destroying certain aspects of the images; to me the act of removing information, written or visual, is a physical manifestation of ‘removing context’. I consider the words erasing and crossing out to be quite loose themselves, ’crossing out’ doesn’t have to be with a line, but perhaps another image or word. Previously my practise revolved around drawing faces then erasing parts, sometimes all of the face. These images have no ‘hidden‘ narratives or back story, their significance lies in how successfully these drawings can inflict a sense of obscurity and doubt. For me, eliminating recognisable elements of an image or device constitutes as removing context. The result often leads to the viewer having to work to make sense of what’s in front of them, whether it be an incomplete drawing or dictionary with the words blocked out leaving only the definitions. The act of removing context lends itself towards creating a vague and ambiguous environment for the viewer

The skills I intend on utilising during my continuing exploration of the unknown lie in two sections. Having an organised professional attitude to experimental work and deadlines whilst continuing the pursuit of additional context to my practise. The second section includes more practical skills such technical drawing, presentational techniques, assembling and deconstruction objects and images. To be too specific with my skill set would inhibit my ambition to experiment with media and methodology. I intend on using the skills which best suit the idea, allowing for maximum experimentation thus giving my practise breadth and room to expand naturally.

I believe that the work you make defines you’re practise; a practise constitutes as an ongoing, living, developing always expanding body of work. The ideas which hold the practise together should always be evolving meaning it’s easy to pin point a specific idea that a practise revolves around but not always so easy to describe an ongoing evolution of work. However an artist I believe has a similar theme of work to my own is Christian Holstad, his work involving the removal of parts of the face leaves a sinister alien like character on the page, this work links well to my theme of removing context’s. Matt Bryans works similarly to Holstad, using an eraser as his tool of destruction he removes sections of the face leaving very little information for the viewer. The work presents a disturbing, alien like quality because of it’s lack of context through the removal of what’s familiar to us, in this case everything bar the eyes and mouth.

Initially I intend on continuing my study of faces and the body, I want to really experiment with ways to remove context in a face. Cutting, sticking, ripping, covering etc. Ideally I want all my work to be framed although as I’ve previously mentioned the ideas dictate the skills and requirements of the piece. Currently my works involve drawing a whole face then using a scalpel I remove the key lines to the re-create the image over a basic pen line drawing. Whilst keeping the recognisable elements of the face the reconstruction itself removes the context giving the face the ambiguous quality my practise tries to emphasise.