How's it hanging?

Hanging my space for third year degree show.

The gallery being an institution, work is curated to fit the gallery space. Abiding by certain rules that fit the institution and aesthetics associated with what a gallery should be. There are 'proper' ways to hang paintings, rules on how high they should be, what they should be hung on the wall with, and how far away they should be distanced from each other. By bending these traditions of displaying the work I am fitting the gallery space to my work not the other way around. Extending the work past the canvases by continuing shapes and gestures and making features of aspects that would be expected to be hidden. If continuing a career in the arts this could be a rare opportunity to show what going against institutional expectations can bring to a series of works. It may be one of the only chances I get to have an amazing space with complete control to design it specifically with my paintings in mind. Drawing inspiration from street art murals, graphic designers and set designers, who influence my work as much as painters. I

My degree show space is designed so that gallery and work blend into one, the gallery wall feels considered integrated into the works as a whole. The small details involved in hanging works and gallery spaces are highlighted, instead of being intentionally subtle. From the skirting boards to the mirror plates which being neon add a curiosity to them. Instead of being clinical, proper, trying to be invisible they become features in their own right and extend the formalist notions of the paintings throughout the whole space. Though the idea of a white cube space allows for full concentration on the works of art itself. I don't believe the walls and neon features take away from this, the neon red which runs through details of the hanging process provide more of a spectacle when viewing the room as a whole. They draw you into the space and allow your eyes to wander over the details in the paintings.

A huge part of hanging the works was the blue wall, the dark blue colour is an important colour in my practice because of the connections I feel it has to electronic screens. This blue features somewhere in all of my paintings and in larger sections can have a haunting depth. Though the colour I have painted the exhibition walls couldn't entirely match the ultramarine acrylic it has been tinted with a wash layer of the colour to link the colours of blue in the surroundings with the electric blue edges of the canvas the images on the paintings stand out from their surroundings like an image coming out a screen. The paintings are very large should be more spread out, however the nature of the sporadic collages and details makes the works so busy unbelievably they look better when displayed together, becoming reflections of the fast paced digital world around me which influences the formalist aspects of the paintings.

Because they are so busy, with strong colours and patterns I give my paintings a simple and basic composition. They feel performative in the way your eyes dance around the space making sense of the paintings and their surroundings. The paintings are fast paced and the viewing experience is quick, they do not need to be stared at for a long time to take in the image. They communicate a notion or character quickly and bluntly leaving exploration of the details to the end. I think this is why I connected to making 10 second GIF animations as they perform as paintings in a similar manner to this. Through the bust fast viewing experience the blue wall neutralises the paintings and helps the eye adjust to the bright neon colours, they still are neon but are more tolerable than if the paintings were on white walls.

By hanging the paintings in this way I hope that instead of being looked at my paintings to a certain extent be watched and experienced.