This work is to explore the static performance of memory in dynamic time. My friend is the protagonist in the photo, and what is recorded is a conversation between me and her about memory. This is the memory of a conversation between me and her from my viewpoint, the expression and documentation of the memory in the present time. For her, it is the experience she recalled in the past, and the memories that happened in the past are recorded through her facial expressions. The feelings you have when you see this work are memories that happened in the future.
Duan, JX. (2021) I think what I think [oil painting].
150 x 140 cm
Camberwell, London
Sort of images of work in a gallery situation
Process
1.Introduction of my main idea:
My research will mainly use portrait painting to discuss memory.
My practice uses memory as an entry point to study memory characteristics in portraits. Portrait painting is the carrier of people's memory for the model in the painting, the painter, and the viewers.
The memory inside can be divided into two categories: implicit memory and explicit memory. Graf and Schacter (1985) formally proposed the concept of implicit memory. This stated, for the first time, that "implicit memory is a memory manifested by an individual's experience that automatically affects the current task without the need for a conscious or intentional recall.Explicit memory refers to the memory shown when the individual needs to consciously collect certain experiences to complete the current task."
Why does it seem like some things are so difficult to remember and other things so easy?
Where explicit memories are conscious and can be verbally explained, implicit memories are usually non-conscious and not verbally articulated.
From my understanding, explicit memories are the memory of things that are so difficult to remember and are conscious and can be verbally explained. On the other hand, implicit memories are the opposite, they are far easier to remember and usually non-conscious and not verbally articulated.
For example, let us consider the concept of déjà vu that I discussed in unit 2. The feeling of déjà vu is non-conscious and can't be verbally articulated, thus déjà vu is an example of an explicit memory. Further supporting this point is that we can explain when we have experienced déjà vu and we can discuss what it is about.
My imagination, emotion, and irrationality will provide the source of artistic creation. I want to use my artistic practice as a research method to respond to the two memory roles emphasized by Graf and Schacter. This will inform the discussion regarding the conscious and unconscious memory in the portrait painting. The memories will enable me to deeply analyse the relationship between portrait painting and model, painter, and audience.
2.Plan of Unit 3
In the process of studying memory in the unit 1 and unit 2, I discovered that memory has three characteristics:
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Firstly, memory has a sense of time, including sequential time and the disorder of the time.
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Secondly, memory can be divided into two different types of memory. Because the content of memory contains conscious and unconscious information, so memory can be divided into conscious and unconscious memory which are implicit memory and explicit memory.
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Thirdly, memory contains emotions and can change people's emotions too. When memories are initially constructed in peoples' minds, they have been subjectively given two different emotions - negative and positive. When memories are recalled by people in different environments and situations, people's emotions will be unconsciously affected and changed.
In unit 1, I used black and white acrylic paintings to present two different senses of time in memory.
Duan, JX. (2021) I think what I think [Acrylic painting].
150 x 140 cm
Camberwell, London
In unit 2, I explored different memories of déjà vu. So I discussed both conscious and unconscious memories and the difference between imagination and memory - both reality and fantasy.
Duan, J.X. (2021) Exquisite corpse game [Acrylic painting]
In unit 3, I am planning to continue the projects I began in both previous units, and simultaneously explore memory's emotion
Project 1 - Two different senses of time of memory
I will reference Pinot Gallizio's works, and I have decided to update my painting by displaying it in a different way for the upcoming exhibition. The canvas is rolled up around a wooden spool and can be unfurled for display to a minimum of ten metres.
Duan, JX. (2021) I think what I think [Acrylic painting].
150 x 140 cm
Camberwell, London
Industrial Painting, 1958, Monoprinted oil and acrylic paint and typographic ink on canvas, Overall display dimensions variable, purchased with funds provided by Tate International Council, 2015.
Project 2 - Conscious and unconscious memories
I will continue this series of painting by combining with different materials and mediums and painting more layers of them.
Duan, J.X.(2021) Deja vu [Acrylic painting], 170 x 150 cm
Project three-Memory's emotion
My practice is in the form of mix medium to tell the story of "the joker and the hero." The main inspiration for this aspect of my artwork comes from Ellen Gallaher. Through processes of accretion, erasure, and extraction, Ellen Gallagher has invented a densely saturated visual language in which overlapping patterns, motifs, and materials pulse with life. By fusing narrative modes including poetry, film, music, and collage, she recalibrates the tensions between reality and fantasy. I am also trying to find the best way to use portraiture to express my feeling of memory's emotions - both positive and negative; both reality and fantasy. This led me to choosing two completely opposite roles - the joker and the hero, to tell a unique story, in which our emotions are involved in different memories in the story.
Illustration
Duan, J.X.(2021) I am a Joker [digital painting]
Installation with painting
Ellen Gallaher, Bird in hand, 2006, oil paint, ink paper, polymer, salt and gold leaf on canvas, 238.3 x 307.2
Duan, J.X.(2021) draft of the installation of " Joker and the hero"
Ceramics
In my research and practice of units one and two, I discussed the differences and commonalities between digital painting and physical painting. It is a discussion between virtual and reality, and a discussion on the conversion between virtual and reality.
In the second unit, I found my partner-GriffinKoo, and we planned a project plan which combining digital technology and painting.
My partner has extensive experience in human-computer interaction. So, in unit 3, we plan to integrate his digital technologies into my traditional painting creation and exhibit our interdisciplinary works together.
I take this cooperation as an opportunity to break through the limitations of single disciplines; and break through the traditional painting mode, surpass the limitation of the previous single visual medium of art, and then switch to using sound, code, painting, space, people, events, etc. to communicate.