I’ve just had two weeks of intense making at DEMO. My aim was to make one very large work, re-make a previous work, and attempt to make a work with as few pieces or ‘gestures’ as possible.

First, the large work. I had pre-made several core pieces so that I had options for the spine of the work. I had tried to make these cores different from previous ones because if they’re different then I’m forced to approach the work differently, as these cores will only hold additional pieces in certain ways. The large piece required two cores, using the bendy plywood to link them together.

Making this work was really physically challenging. The largest pieces are at the limits of my wing span, and although they’re not super heavy, they’re very awkward. The latest batch of plywood I purchased is much bendier than usual, so each piece became particularly reliant on the next to support it, or I had to use it against the grain to give it some structural integrity. I used some off-cuts to act as another pair of hands to hold the large piece up so I could insert another piece. I didn’t have many past pieces that I could re-use at this large scale, so this is almost all made from new ply. They all have to start somewhere.

I let it sit at this point while I looked at it over the next few days. It felt like it hadn't quite landed yet, particularly from the angle in the pic on the right hand side. Eventually I added an old off-cut and suddenly that side came to life.

I parked it here while I worked on re-making Blonde Ambition Hits the Glass Ceiling Version III. These are the first two iterations of this piece.

I wanted to see what would happen if the piece that curved over at the top could curl all the way over. It was something that was mentioned in September crits. I made a new core piece that would support it.

This work now contains one piece from each of its previous iterations. I don't think the painting on the surface is right just yet. The white mark looks too deliberate. It was an accidental mark that I accidentally on purpose extended, and you can tell that I've let my aesthetic override what's right for the work. I'll see how it looks when it's with the others in the final install and adjust accordingly.

Then back to painting the big one. I wanted to call this one Kamala Wore A Burgundy Suit, thinking about the way that even a powerful woman who is running for the role of President of the United States is still under constant scrutiny about her choice of attire. In almost every article I read about her public appearances, her clothes were commented on. Trump's weren't. So I knew this piece would have one burgundy element.

Here's where it landed.

I'm not sure about keeping the back panel plain ply, and the painting on the white panel feels again a little contrived. In the true spirit of agonism, it's finished for now until I get it into the exhibition space and I'll see what I think about it then.

And while I was working on these two, this third piece was humming in the background. My attempt at fewer gestures.

Bam. But it didn't hold the gaze for very long. The curve was interesting, and the small moment on the bottom right where the back corner of the sheet shows. I thought it had tension but it lacked precarity. I played with adding some pieces from older works, but they masked the interesting parts of the original piece.

If I was going to add anything it needed to be at the back.

I got it down to two pieces.

More on Titles

I decided to call this Pamela Goes Make-Up Free. Further to the thought process considering the way that the appearance of famous women makes headlines. Pamela Anderson of Bay Watch fame attended a show at Paris Fashion Week last year without wearing make-up. It became a massive story around the globe, putting Pamela back in the limelight. So, she has continued the no make-up look and she's still getting publicity for it, recently appearing on the Drew Barrymore show where Barrymore interviewed her about it. I find this astounding and ridiculous in equal measure.

I've revised the titles on the works from September as well. There was a comment in crits that my titles could have more contemporary references (hence the nods to Kamala and Pammy Anderson). I've been looking at Millennial and Gen Z language descriptors for women.

This used to be called Girls Can Do Anything, in reference to the 1980's campaign promoting women working in more diverse occupations. Now it's called Girl Boss, a "neologism that denotes a woman "whose success is defined in opposition to the masculine business world in which she swims upstream".

And this one used to be called Ladies, A Plate, but now it's Soft Girl Energy, Soft Girl is a rejection of the Girlboss ideal . "Soft girl or softie describes a youth subculture that emerged among Gen Z female teenagers around mid-to late-2019. Soft girl is a fashion style and a lifestyle, popular among some young women on social media, based on a deliberately cutesy, feminine look with a "girly girl" attitude."