Pages Research
Research Proposal November 2005 – May 2006
Kelly A Drake
Background
The initial focus for the beginning of my research journey will be on women artists who I can identify as, or who do identify as lesbian or queer artists and who are specifically examining questions of sexual identity, gender and sexuality through artistic practices including painting, sculpture, installation and photography. I am aware from the outset that this is a very broad field (UK and world wide) and that my goal is to either to directly identify a number of artists that I would like to suggest are part of the Pages show in 2007, or as may happen suggest a way forward to ensure that lesbian artists or artists dealing with these issues are represented. I am keen to identify artists who are contemporary and current, and at the beginning of the research I will not delineate my research to just UK based artists, although again I think it would be preferable for Pages to have UK based makers and practitioners. The goal of the initial stage of the research is to decide upon a number of strategies about the ways in which I may identify artists who I would like to research in greater detail, most probably because they interest me because they are dealing with notions that reflect my practice or notions I am dealing with as a painter who primarily uses an abstract genre.
I am interested in considering how recent history (10-20 years), sexuality theory and social change has impacted on the ways in which lesbian artists not only do, show and explain their work, but what also what themes there maybe in the work, if any, across the board. I am interested in the ideas about self identity and labelling given the changes that the LGBT community may be experiencing given recent legislative developments. Is there a need to reference the artist as LGB or T, and if so how does this manifest itself.
A prevailing idea that has been posed in this post-modern moment by Cherry Smyth, poet, critic and curator, is that artists who are dealing with issues related to sexuality and/or gender have ‘subverted issues of visibility, explicitness and explanation that once were the prevailing practice and replaced these by a probing, subtle and indirect approach’ to the subject matter – perhaps instead aiming to embody such issues within the actual materiality of the work. I want to use this research to explore this and gain a snapshot of the issues that a range of artists are dealing with and how they are dealing with them. Again, once I have identified a number of artists that interest me I may focus in on a limited number.
Research Proposal November 2005 – May 2006
Kelly A Drake
Background
The initial focus for the beginning of my research journey will be on women artists who I can identify as, or who do identify as lesbian or queer artists and who are specifically examining questions of sexual identity, gender and sexuality through artistic practices including painting, sculpture, installation and photography. I am aware from the outset that this is a very broad field (UK and world wide) and that my goal is to either to directly identify a number of artists that I would like to suggest are part of the Pages show in 2007, or as may happen suggest a way forward to ensure that lesbian artists or artists dealing with these issues are represented. I am keen to identify artists who are contemporary and current, and at the beginning of the research I will not delineate my research to just UK based artists, although again I think it would be preferable for Pages to have UK based makers and practitioners. The goal of the initial stage of the research is to decide upon a number of strategies about the ways in which I may identify artists who I would like to research in greater detail, most probably because they interest me because they are dealing with notions that reflect my practice or notions I am dealing with as a painter who primarily uses an abstract genre.
I am interested in considering how recent history (10-20 years), sexuality theory and social change has impacted on the ways in which lesbian artists not only do, show and explain their work, but what also what themes there maybe in the work, if any, across the board. I am interested in the ideas about self identity and labelling given the changes that the LGBT community may be experiencing given recent legislative developments. Is there a need to reference the artist as LGB or T, and if so how does this manifest itself.
A prevailing idea that has been posed in this post-modern moment by Cherry Smyth, poet, critic and curator, is that artists who are dealing with issues related to sexuality and/or gender have ‘subverted issues of visibility, explicitness and explanation that once were the prevailing practice and replaced these by a probing, subtle and indirect approach’ to the subject matter – perhaps instead aiming to embody such issues within the actual materiality of the work. I want to use this research to explore this and gain a snapshot of the issues that a range of artists are dealing with and how they are dealing with them. Again, once I have identified a number of artists that interest me I may focus in on a limited number.
posted by Anonymous at 1/30/2006 03:16:00 pm
1 Comments:
Hi Kelly,
Don't know if this is any use to you:
http://www.dykestowatchoutfor.com/index.html
American cartoonist, visiting the UK at the moment.
(she was on Woman's Hour this morning)
Annie
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