Polyphony Portrait: Dual histories?
Page Published – 17.09.2014
New work in progress – Polyphony Portrait: Dual histories?
Combining two stories of processes in one image also relates to the new works I am in the process of researching and making based on the life and artwork of Arshile Gorky. Here I aim to explore and recognize quietness that can be found in the time of remembrance, in particular looking at Arshile Gorky’s memories of his childhood.
The work I am making will be a book made up of different artworks creating four different senses of one character /one portrait through multiple different perspectives. Each perspective is based on time spent with the character and captured in different styles and works by different artists, building an open and moving portrait across time and place. It is how I imagine this story to be from historic artefacts, an open and moving ongoing portrait that continues as long as the work is made.
I have been very influenced by narrative found in books, and in particular the structure for different perspectives for the work I am at the moment researching has been inspired by Coetzee’s book Summertime that was based on the different perspectives of a group of individuals who knew a famous writer. I have also been influenced by the work of artists Gillan Wearing and Gerard Richter. – See more at: www.josephinelyons.com
These new works follows on from ‘Love in palimpsests’ which looked at how we share the world, share our histories and the difficulties and joys that this brings. I believe image dies after it is made, imagination lives, and thus art never dies.