This is tio…

Continuing on the subject of portraiture this portrait is of my uncle taken in 2010.

Tio, 2010. Colour Print.

Portraits and time

 

I have finally got round to organising my room this weekend and in the process managed to gather all my work from the last 5 years into one tidy space. Looking back I realised first of all that I should let glue dry properly before storing away my sketch books, pretty obvious I know, but according to my ruined contact sheets it wasn’t too obvious to me back then.

It was nice to see my work again with fresh eyes and with a new perspective that only time can give you. Perhaps the works that stood out the most were the self portraits that I made over the years. Self portraits are strange because though in your head you think you know who you are when somebody tells you to show it, or you are faced with a situation were you have to present an aspect of yourself you freeze. This is how I felt whenever we had an assignment we had to do a self portrait. I look at the work I created in my first year of university and though the images look like me they are highly controlled and over symbolised, attempting to show over explain poignant situations in my life that influenced who I was or so I thought. This however was not only prominent in my portrait but also in that of my other sitters. To tell you the truth the portraits looked confused and unrealistic, and the work I submitted would probably be my last choice now if I had to submit them again. It’s weird that with time I now look at those portraits and can quickly pinpoint which ones are the realest portraits, and have more going for them. Strangely enough is the ones that are the simplest that feel more honest and interesting, the ones that in the past I passed of as boring. It makes me happy and sad at the same time looking back at them.

Here are a two of my favourites. Sorry about the poor quality.

 

Self Portrait, 2010.

Zahra as Frida. 2010.

I will be posting more soon.

Dear London 2:

Quick Sketch

Black cats

 

Tired of perfect

and bikes

Mermaids

 

Trapping movement

Run, 2011.

Summer Exhibition Wish List

Summer has finally arrived in London! And how do I know this? Because my nose is runny, my eyes are itchy and I have developed a small amount of agoraphobia, damn you pollen!!!!! If it wasn’t for this indicator I think the whole concept of summer 2012 would have been lost on me.

But fear not London’s grey skies and rainy days are not completely bad, one of the good things about the rainy weather and cold days is guilt free roaming around museums and galleries (there’s something about a sunny day in London that makes me feel guilty staying in a covered place).

For this months of June to July I’m especially exited about the following exhibitions:

• Christian Louboutin at the Design Museum in London 1st May-9th July 2012
• Doris Salcedo at the White Cube located in Mason’s Yard 25th May-30th June 2012
• Tom Stoddart at London South Bank 25th July-11th September 2012

For now until I have a chance to visit the exhibitions I will leave you with some of my favourite works by the selected artists.

Click on the images for more exhibition information.