Harry Board
Newington College
SEARCHING FOR PLANES IN THE SEA (AN EXERCISE IN SELF PORTRAITURE)
Drawing
Biro and ink on paper
My body of work examines ways of representing the many faces of an artistic identity. My portraits are of my key influences, both in my personal life and in the public artistic and literary spheres. My work is a form of self-portraiture which investigates the convoluted nature of introspection, conveyed by the unrefined aesthetic, the erratic diagramming and annotations. Making this work was an exercise in looking inward, into the very foundations of what comes to be a person’s unique creative self.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Julie Rrap, Body Double; Vernon Ah Kee; James Gleeson; Franz Kafka, A Hunger Artist.
Marker's Commentary
Searching for Planes in the Sea (an exercise in self portraiture) is a sophisticated resituating of the genre. Conceptually, the student has progressed the fixed notion of a representation of a person. Instead, diagrams, annotations and footnotes are employed as tools to guide the audience in an understanding of a type of portraiture that reflects many insights and sometimes opposing qualities within the one persona. The nine highly realistic drawings are completed in experimental tonal blue biro pen, washes of ink and charcoal, representing the layers of interests, personalities and psychologies in each of the portraits.
A successful and sustained reflexive approach has been achieved in the series of portraits that are supported in the title, which suggests an emergent approach to the artwork, not a finite or singular framework, but one of research and a process-driven ‘exercise’ in portraiture. The effective mark-making brings a physical dimensionality to the unique character within each of the faces. This is paired with faint writings receding into the background, reminding the audience of personal diaries or an artist’s sketchbooks and supporting an intimate portrayal of the faces. This student has created an original approach to portraiture that is comprehensively synthesised in the style, material and title.