VL 27/04/19 Mike Pratt

Mike Pratt, Green Sleeves, 2016

The lecture yesterday was one of my favourites. Mike didn’t come out from behind the desk but as he improvised everything he said it didn’t matter. I have had much better responses when I have been so familiar with the work that I have been able to speak without using many prompts.

He showed work that wasn’t as successful, alongside the things he was proud of- I think this works within a lecture. It’s relatable and it reinforces the need to reflect and use every opportunity to learn.

There were pieces of work I didn’t like but for the most part, I thought the work was really cool and interesting. I was confused about some elements like the olives, grapes, and leaves. I also really dislike the chunkier, rounder sculptures as they seem inelegant and oafish. Some work reminds me of ornaments from home as they have a kitsch, mass produced and dated appearance. 

Mike Pratt, Swimming with Dolphins, 2014

Google image, similar to a plate at home

Kath and Kim still

I read from the information sheet and it said he employs a ‘scatological methodology’. I googled this and although I couldn’t find enough information defining what it is, I gather it’s using familiar or ‘bad taste’ imagery or objects...? If that’s the reason these things are in the work, then I understand it more but Mike made no reference to this so I still am unsure. 

I forgot somehow about the Q and A but I did take a tutorial which was very good. He was very down to earth which made me think about some of my other favourite VLs and artists like Ryan Gander and Mark Leckey who don't bang on about the intelligence and justifications behind/for their work.  
I am writing now after the lecture, so am able to remember some new things and have forgotten others. Notes from the lecture:

Mike uses material to think, here he began with guitars and used those as a physical sketchbook. He reinforced the value of doing to think, rather than thinking to do. The same way Louise Giovanni likes to work. I thought this inclusion of musical instruments was interesting and it is something Mike does in other work in the same The Baffled Chef show. To me, it brings low budget sci-fi, comedy, set design and the joy of the process.  

He uses ready made aspects and changes their identities. I am also mindful of musical instruments painted and depicted in the past, in particular, Picasso and guitars.

Mike said how there was a period where he felt work was finished when it had text over the top. I think it's important to be able to see all stages of your work and reflect upon them without too much emotion and be able to see how things are moving. I think this kind of reflection would help me feel more present and confident in my practice as I won't be as fearful of people asking me about it. I can justify every aspect of what I do but I find it difficult to communicate that easily. 

His earlier works are obviously without question, hugely successful. I love how broad his marks are and how gestural everything is. The scale isn't just seen in the size of the board/canvas/? The work is very bold and graphic. The amazing colours are down to being oil. During the tutorial Mike said that the paint is very important, he told me about someone he knows having to redo all his earlier work for people as it is disintegrating, the artist having used house paint like I did. I wanted to use house paint because 1. It's cheap 2. I can get it in greater quantities 3. House paint is easy to get hold of, it's the paint almost everyone will have used. It felt like a down to earth material and this became pretty important to me. He then showed me other artists who might inspire me, one who uses spray paint to create the vivid neon and the depth I have been pursuing. 

This last piece of work felt very familiar to me, as it involves crafts. I have access to willow branches and have so far only used them to create dream catcher guts. This is a copy of a water sculpture he has made in the past and even though it clearly isn't fit for the same purpose it still evokes water, movement, containment, spillage, etc. I think this is beautiful and so clean and right. The chain again loses it's intended purpose and becomes fluid, the high shine- reflecting water's relationship to the sun. It is allowed to fall naturally, a subject of gravity. But it is also rigidly secured, as is water by external forces. Again though, if I were in an italian restaurant and this was on the wall, would I look at it? If it was filled with bread and surrounded by pictures and in front of a busy wallpaper?

Mike thought I should think about how I display my work. As someone who is also hardly interested in finished work, he suggested to me that the presenting of work could be my last possible stage. The work isn't done until it's placed sort of thing. He asked me why it has to be hung. This made me see my work in a new light. The show at the Bridewell wasn't great for my large piece of work. I hadn't placed it correctly (L) and it changed when I left it on the floor after the show. (R)