Fields & Frames: Hand of the Artist

It came to my attention that artists such as Grayson Perry are commissioning other people to create his tapestries for him. On one hand, the tapestries he designs are extremely elaborate and beautiful. Perhaps it is a little too ambitious for one person to work on alone. On the other hand, can he really call it his own work? What if his way of embroidering differs slightly to his assistant's? Taking a purists's approach towards this: it means that Perry's piece is no longer truly of his own expression. This question made me ponder on the idea of authorship and the process behind creating Fine Art.

Bearing this in mind I decided to approach Melissa Dodd, a mixed media Artist. By approaching her I hoped to achieve some kind of understanding about the approach and process of surface-orientated works (I am more of a conceptual and performance artist in my own works). After our multiple discussions about the philosophy behind Fine Art, we concluded that the act behind creation is quite an intimate and irreplaceable notion. As a result I thought it would be interesting to observe and document her painting.

The cinematography was inspired by Tony Hill's "A Short History of the Wheel." It showed a wheel being framed at the centre of every shot, whilst the background would rotate in its circular motion instead.

I was inspired by how this challenged the viewer to pay attention to every part of the frame instead of what was in focus, as the focused subject matter was static. By doing this in my video I was challenging my viewers to watch every part of what was framed, as it is all important. The development of the painting and the hand of the artist were both significant in the creation of this piece of Art.