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The Coat of Conspicuous Consumption is underway (see photos - work in progress)
materials: shopping receipts and thread
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stephaniesmart's journal
You are viewing stephaniesmart's journal
The Coat of Conspicuous Consumption is underway (see photos - work in progress)
Artists Statement (2011)
I am interested in representing history, memory, thoughts, feelings, visual impressions, ideas and imaginings as layered, collated, collaged and constructed works of art. I am interested in the idea that people and places, consciously and subconsciously, “wear” (that is, in some way display) collaged narratives around themselves. Sometimes such layers of narrative are purposefully donned and sometimes given off unconsciously but, like auras or second skins, they can thus be read by others. We all tell stories about ourselves and the world around us constantly and through various means. We write, talk and think about the details of life, utilizing language and visual information in many ways and we present this through our own personality, energy and actions. Thus one makes of oneself a miniature cosmos reflective of ones own beliefs, ones hopes and ones dreams. This externalized layer of narrative impression then influences and stimulates narrative in return. The layers of impression given off by any place or person are analogous to a microcosm of complexity and history. We all use such impressions, as they are given off by others, in order to understand and interrelate. We all manipulate the layered impressions we wear around ourselves. 
Inspired by the paper Kaftan of a Sultan I saw in a museum in Istanbul at the start of 2010 I have since transferred the primary focus of my practice and have chosen the most material aspect of external impression on which to lay and layer information. I have thus, since then, been producing items of clothing from paper, collaged from visual and written inner (microcosm) and outer (macrocosm) impression. I am interested in fitting together details and layers in order to capture visual narratives as (at least apparently) wearable garments. I then, however, choose usually to display these garments behind glass, in order to suggest the ephemeral, fragile and precious nature of such impression. Of the Turkish tradition of which the Sultan’s Kaftan was an example one commentator wrote that such a vestment was decorated with: "Verses from the Quran as well as prayers. It was worn not to get magical effects but…as a form of worship to put the mind in a particular mode of devotion. It was worn particularly in times of battle…to have control over ones own mind and to therefore not commit excessive acts… forbidden by the very words inscribed on the shirt one wore.” 
I find there is something of the hospital gown about the simplicity of the shape of the paper Kaftan, the garment shape with which I began. This and the fragile medium of the paper were immediately suggestive to me of the fragility of the emotional psyche I sought to portray upon it in each case. I have since begun to move onto other garment shapes but wish to explore this specific canvas shape further in the future as well as to extend my clothing range. By producing work that suggests that the body might be covered by a layer decorated with the impressions of the psyche I hope to suggest the ways in which we expose ourselves as well as the ways in which we keep ourselves covered. Since finishing my MA at the end of 2009 my art work has reflected my study of the cosmologies of ancient and modern man. The aura, Buddhist ideas such as Karma, the Taoist belief in there being eight radiating layers to the human energy body plus eastern meditation practices (which encourage the dissolving of psychological imagery) have been of particular interest. Stylistically my influences include: the Persian and Indian miniature traditions, Illuminated manuscripts and maps, Icons and Calligraphy.
'Born to be religious?'
Alternately called: 'Christening Gown'
materials: cartridge paper and thread
size: fullsize, length : 75cm
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
(John Keats, May 1819)
For Keats, ‘What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth – whether it existed before or not’ (from a letter to Benjamin Bailey)
It has been said that art is defined as: ‘a continuous expansion of our awareness of the world around us’ (Anon)
Dante claims to have written his Divine Comedy for the end of "removing those who are living in this life from the state of wretchedness and to lead them to the state of blessedness"
My Latest work is with paper collage.
Current work under construction...
How much of my sense of self is narrative?
The building blocks of story that construct my life.
Paper Gowns:
'Kimono'
materials: paper and thread
Like the kaftans (below) this piece 'Kimono' is produced from paper and thread. It is made of the words that would be used to describe it in both Japanese and English. For example both sleeves are covered in the words: 'A Sleeve.' At the bottom of the white sleeve are three buttons as words. At the bottom of the front of the kimono on both sides it says 'Long gown.'
This piece is designed to look half new and half old, half light and half dark, half cared for (unused) and half unloved (well used). This is a reflection of the Eastern idea of Yin/Yang. That is, that we all display aspects of feminine and masculine nature. Sometimes we look after our things and ourselves and sometimes we don't. We are surrounded by words everyday. Sometimes the descriptions they offer draw us deeper into the story of life and sometimes they alienate us from a sense of being that is beyond description and naming. By removing the buttons (for example) altogether and leaving only the word ‘button’ printed where the button might have been on this piece I hope to reflect this.
The following pieces each involve more writing and imagery than can be detailed here, they are each approx A1 in size
'Aura'
m
detail of writing includes: 'The prime secret of alchemical transmutation was an inner mystery - the purgation and perfection of the subtle embodiment. "Man is a little world (mikras kosmos). For just like the universe he possesses both mind and reason (nous and logos), both a divine and mortal body."'
- see 'The Subtle Body' by GRS Mead
'Man's subtle body is of a material nature but of a more dynamic nature than his physically sensible frame. Subtle bodies, subtle souls living inside one another like Russian dolls. Physical nature is found to be dynamic through and through. Intermediate between the intelligent soul and the physical body. The astral/subtle/dream body - is visible as the aura'
detail of writing includes:
'She wears her spirit as a dress, hitched up as far off the earth as possible, so as not to dirty it'
detail of writing includes:
'The human aura is: a body sized halo, the skin of the soul, a sense organ for cosmic currents, the bodies atmosphere, formed by our emanations, our energetic skin, a shield, an organ of exchange, an antennae for messages'
'The Aura is a(so)subtle book'
'The Aura is a vast and rich synthesis of all that is in man'
'The Aura is: colours, forces and emanations which escape from man'
'Each human virtue forms a colour which together form the aura'
'Physical, Etheric, Astral, Mental - Devachanic world, Causal, Buddic - Nirvana, Atmic, Body, Vibrations'
'Know Thyself'
materials: paper and thread
detail of writing includes:
'The ball bearings of death roll around between the layers of our etheric life offering us the chance to sink them in the pockets of our energetic potential.'
detail of writing includes:
'Is everyone so claustrophobic in themselves?'
'I make the opaque building blocks of my own delusion'
'Person - Latin (persona) = Mask (per = through, son = sound, The mask through which sound comes'
'When the (square) weight of outer speaking Bursts the (circular) bubble of inner listening one can only cry out for the voice of Soul'
'Mind is where soul meets matter'
'Can you love my unbeautiful layers?'
materials: paper and thread
detail of writing includes:
'There is a residue of water in all women, we are tidal! We swell with the moon. Can you ride the waves?'
detail of writing on left sleave:
'WHAT...do you think...I AM/AM I...Beautiful...to you...I have been swimming upstream all my life trying to get home!'
curved words say:
'happy, cheeky, sad, disturbed, passionate, emotional, self:protective/destructive, peaceful, melancholic, studious, curious, stubborn, mysterious, courageous'
detail of writing on right sleave:
'do you like my curves? What about when I escape my neat edges and fall apart? When I'm hiding inside myself will you still be there?'
'Where are you?'
materials: paper and thread
detail of writing, bottom middle:
'your footsteps tread into the other world, and the labyrinth that hides you from view, is threaded through by a cobweb of smoke, which hung from you hand and strangled your heart'
Image details:
'Buddhist Karma - Intimate Apparel'
Alternately called: 'The Karmic Kaftan'
materials: paper and thread
details of writing, knickers:
'Intentions are Intimate'
details of writing, bottom middle:
'Karma is formed by mental intentions: positive, negative or neutral'
'My Biological Clock - Tick Tock'
materials: paper and thread
Details of writing, left arm: I am not my emotions, I am the awareness of my emotions.
The more deeply we listen the more an inner space expands within us.
details of writing, middle:
'We grid time, as if we can, to sound we mime, it fits our plan. We box change, try to control, a perceived range, the loss of (our) soul'
My Sketchbooks: I use the concertina format because I believe it to be most condusive to displaying the natural way my mind works. That is, linear and continuous. This way I can intertwine one idea with another and spread from one page to the next without breaks. I document single words/thoughts/quotes/poems inc. haiku (of my own and others) patterns and images, one intertwined with/explaining/expanding on etc, the next.
