Group Crit...

The acetate images I produced before the group crit:

I made three copies in the style of my drawings and edit previously. the first is a simple outline, the second I have coloured it in with acrylic paint, carefully filling the lines but not worrying about the thickness or smoothness of the paint application. For the third I roughly coloured it in to give a suggestion of where the colour would be.

Before making a discussion on which one to show to the group I trialled each copy on the over-head projector to see which would best on a large scale as shown below:

Unfortunately the acrylic paint wasn't thin enough to let the colour be projected onto the wall so my choice was made for me. I went with the plain outline which projected clearly onto the wall (not shown as clearly in these photos). Although the colour wasn't clear on the wall, it was illuminated on the over-head projector, the best in my opinion being the solid colour. In the future, if I didn't want a projection, I could light a piece of acetate/perspex/glass etc with my image on the front. 

Whilst setting up I noticed a chair that was similar to the one I had drawn, so I put it in place and hung my coat on the back in the hope that this would add the illusion or installation in the studio rather than a 2D image hung in a gallery:

So for the group crit. Without explaining what my work is about this is what they got from the piece and their thoughts when looking at it:

• Is it my room?
• Is it personal to me?
• The projector makes you think of your own personal space that you can pick up and move around.
• Seems to have a light context/not too serious.
• Not cold.
• Cartoony/has an animation feel to it.
• The soft lines suggest a hand drawn quality.
• Reminds them of illustration in a magazine cartoon, like the Daily Week
• Telling them a story?
• The chair gives the illustration a fine art quality.
• Different fields of design (graphic, illustration, art), the chair makes it hybrid, fine art and into an installation.
• Bit of an illusion, with the chair it looks like you could just 'pull up a chair' and sit down at your desk/ inviting.
• Brings the virtual (the illustration) into real space.
• Could do some work on the chair to make it look more like an illusion?
• The drawing of the chair on the image is noticeable behind the actual chair which made them realise that was the place it was intended to be in that position.
• My everyday.
• Snapshot of my studio space.
• Mundane/everyday.
• Site specific.
• Works with the other things around it/ fits into the environment with the other studio space being around it/ could be walked past/ ignored.
• The natural vibration of the old projector makes the image move a bit.
• Noticed the blank posters, book and laptop.
• Could be a flat pack desk that is ready to use.
• The objects in the image make it busy yet the blankness of personal object make it empty.
• The chair is empty to.
• Everything is there ready for someone to use it.
• Part of my life in the most simplistic form?
• Projector feels childish because of the memories of it being used in primary school or at a young age.
• Could paint the chair white with solid black lines to look like it's part of the image coming out from the wall.
• Two people in the group (of five) liked the fact that I had used a real chair as it makes it seem more like real life/ brings it into reality/ painted would be too obvious.
• The busy yet empty feel could be a comment on life in general/ everyday life.
• Ignorable image/ ignorable spaces?/ in between spaces?
• Everyone has this space, a desk, chair and their belongings, but arrange it in their way/ easy to relate to.
• Tate Modern had an show a scale model of a fashion office which felt like a behind the scenes/ transitional space?
• Empty space is evocative.
• Artists that relate to it; Michael Craig-Martin, Paul Caulfield, Michael Landy (illustrator who draws mundane situations).
• If it had a title would it be called 'Everything I own'?
• The over head projector showing the acetate talks about the process of it's own making/ construction of the image/ projector is a blurring of the boundaries.
• Hand drawn quality juxtaposes with the sharp lines of the chair.

In conclusion I was very pleased with comments, without any hints or being provoked they seemed to understand what the piece was about and get a real sense of what I was trying to achieve. I agree with the people that said they prefer the chair being real but I think it could be interesting to try it out. Also looking at light up clear pieces instead of projecting. I also want to research Michael Landy and Paul Caulfield.