Christian Boltanski

I have always been inspired by Christian Boltanski, his work is mainly focused on life, memories and death. I visited his exhibition in the Grande Palais, Paris in 2010. The exhibition consisted of a large pile of clothes surrounded by several other square sections of neatly placed clothes. The room was filled with a overpowering, thumping heart beat that echoed around the vast space within the Grande Palais. As I sat and watched the giant red piece of machinery creep down and pick up the selected pile of clothes and then just drop them back down again, i began to think about human life and death, it was a very moving piece as i looked at the clothes in the pile as representing life and each item represented a person. As i walked around the space i noticed that the square sections had there own individual heartbeat again representing human presence, the idea that this is someone, although the person is not there in physical form, they are there in different ways.

Tracy Emin

I feel that this piece by Tracy Emin allows the viewer to engage on some level with the piece, it has qualities within the piece that allows the viewer to relate to the unorganised items across the floor. The bed covers flung back suggests a hectic lifestyle. A bed is quite an intimate place and some people may be vulnerable to show their messy side so over all I feel that this is quite a personal piece that everyone can relate to. The piece represents a human lifestyle, the objects around the bed indicates to me that its a woman's bed or a woman's 'side' of the bed, possibly the life of a working woman too, the unorganised objects around the bed maybe suggests that they have no time to clean or keep tidy with a hectic lifestyle. I have begun to focus on the lifestyles of people and the everyday and continuing to link tea with human presence. Thinking about working people, busy parents or even students use tea and coffee to relive stress and worry, the idea that having a tea of coffee allows people to 'fix' things in their lives.

Tina Modotti

I Like the simplicity of the photographs yet the intensity of the thin wires running through the photograph. In my eyes i began to think of this piece again as a metaphor for human presence, everyone uses telephone wires signify human communication. They represent people interacting over the phone. I imagine when I see this piece a audio piece to support it, all different conversations happening overlapping each other so it sounds almost like white noise and you can hear different pitches of voices different tones all blending together to represent human presence.

“And speaking of my ‘personal self’: I cannot – as you once proposed to me ‘solve the problem of life by losing myself in the problem of art’ – Not only I cannot do that but I even feel that the problem of life hinders my problem of art.

Now what is this ‘my problem of life’? It is chiefly: an effort to detach myself from life so as to be able to devote myself completely to art -

And here I know exactly that you will answer: ‘Art cannot exist without life’ – Yes – I admit but there should be an even balance of both elements while in my case life is always struggling to predominate and art naturally suffers -

By art I mean the creation of any sort – You might say to me that since the element of life is stronger in me than the element of art I should just resign to it and make the best of it – But I cannot accept life as it is – it is too chaotic – too unconscious – therefore my resistance to it – my combat with it. I am forever struggling to mould life according to my temperament and needs – in other words I put too much art in my life – too much energy – and consequently I have not much left to give to art – ”

Tina Modotti, July 1925

Nele Azevedo

'Melting Men'

I am beginning to see a trend with my research being focused around ephemeral art, in a away i am focusing on an ephemeral act of a human being even a ephemeral emotion. Tea is also an ephemeral act of human behavior. The melting man consisted of several small ice sculptures of male frames. Puddles formed as a result of the sculptures melting away, it was like another piece was being formed as the sculptures were melting away in the sunlight.

Antony Gormley - Blind Light

I like the mysterious quality to this pieces, the people behind the smoke create shadows and silhouettes that look dazed and disorientated. They look somewhat like they are vulnerable and need rescuing from the smoke. I like how the smoke creates mysterious human presence and a dark and eerie shapes and movements through the smoke. I have been looking towards the dark side of everyday life and human presence, this piece shows emotions and vulnerable side to the human being.

Anthony Gormley - Another Place

Gormley's Another Place is currently situated on Crosby beach which is not far from my house. I get the chance to see them and observe them whenever. I have always been intrigued by these ghostly sculptures that are dotted all along the beach. When they were first placed along Crosby beach there was some confusion and panic as the onlookers watched the human figure get battered and consumed by the waves as the tide came in. However I have always been interested in the sculptures and over the years of them being along the beach I have learnt to love them more. I feel that the piece is quite a Dark piece, being that each sculpture is isolated alone all the time. The idea that the sea and the sand are trapping the sculpture and they cannot escape from their fate. The sculptures are looking out towards the sea, I often questioned, what are they looking for? Are they looking for freedom from the world they are trapped in at the moment? The sculptures are all looking out towards America, could this mean they are seeking freedom and looking for another life elsewhere.

For me this is a very emotive piece of work by Gormley. The piece evokes human emotion and human presence. As I have said it is a very Dark piece, the sculptures are alone and vulnerable to the elements and also other human beings. Depending on where each sculpture is placed along the sea front determines how much they actually go under water. When the tide is out the sculptures that are further out are laced with barnacles and seaweed that have latched on to the sculpture over the years. This shows the piece aging and deteriorating just the same as humans do if we are consumed by something that traps us.

Goldsworthy - Rain Shadows

For me these pieces of 'Rain Shadows' are very intriguing. I find them almost haunting to look at. They remind me of a crime scene of a murder or something, were the police or forensics draw around the body to mark its presence. For me these 'rain shadows' evoke a lot of human presence. However it is more of an obvious human presence than his work I've previously mentioned. I like the eeriness again of these pieces by Goldsworthy and the ephemeral aspect to them also.

Andy Goldsworthy

Goldsworthy is another artist that works with the environment in an ephemeral way, All his works are preserved only by using photography. Looking at Goldsworthy's work he also uses the circle format to create most of his pieces. I can relate to these pieces again with me tea stain work as they are also ephemeral pieces of art. I think the format of Goldsworthy's pieces is really beautiful and delicate. I don't necessarily feel the eeriness with these pieces like Long's circle shapes because of the warm colours and delicate leaves used to create the pieces. However I have been inspired by the way he captures his images with photography and that is what I'm going to experiment with through this project.

Richard Long

I like the images above and below because they look somewhat eerie, they have been made by a person and they allow the viewer to see the human presence within the piece. They are a similar format to the 'tea stain' mark and have similar qualities such as the circle shape and the fact that a human can only create these marks.

I visited Berlin last year with the university and we visited a gallery with Richard Longs work in it, i like how he uses the 'circle' format within his pieces. I have always been fascinated by the idea of the circling action, that is also a mark only humans can make and I asked myself why do we circle things, similar to what I was looking into with my previous project, the idea of circling is to pin point something, to draw your attention to something. For me the circle withing Richard Longs work represents someone being there. Richard Long uses pieces of the environment to build up his work such as mud, stones, wood etc. This makes his artwork somewhat ephemeral. Which is what I think the 'tea stain' is to me.

Human Presence

using the idea that a ‘tea stain’ represents human presence is a metaphor for a human having been present.

- The idea to document the tea stain, different places and different times, using photography.

- use the tea stain as means to communicate different emotions. E.g. splashed everywhere – anger, small circle – calm, happy??

- Documentation of emotions different types of stains. Represent how you feel on different day, about different situations.

- Eeriness of tea stain, the idea that someone has been there someone is or was present.

- play with scale, is a certain persons presence too over powering?

- could evoke unsaid feelings or emotions. isolation, violence(eerie theme) almost like a crime scene? Instead of finger prints its tea?

Only a human can make that mark!

My next project is based around the idea of human presence and the everyday. How often do we hear or see people talking about having tea or coffee? For me i feel its an everyday occurrence in a humans everyday life. I began by linking the physical mark of a 'tea stain' to the presence of a human being, the idea being that only a human can make such a mark.