Mx.D.P

This is becoming a bit of a working document so I’ve put the link for the blog post about how this project started.

HU COW: Titty milk dairy rebellion

Kye Rowan is a Non-binary blogger who designed the non-binary pride flag in 2014 to symbolise individuals who identify beyond the traditional male/female binary.

The flag colours are yellow to represent those outside the cisgender binary,

white for individuals with multiple genders,

purple for those who identify as a blend of male and female,

and black for agender individuals who do not identify with a specific gender.

It is not always well-liked, as it’s not seen as a pretty flag like the rainbow pride flag.

But this work, alongside the Pretty Pussy and Censored Dick sketchbooks I made to take down to the Feminist Network Workshop, has given me a new appreciation of its colour scheme.

The categorisation of art techniques can be subjective and fluid, and the line between printmaking and painting can sometimes blur. Printmaking typically involves creating multiple copies of an image using various methods such as etching, lithography, or screen printing.

I am using a Gel plate alongside direct printing off my body.

Gel plate printing is often seen as a ‘hobby technique’, but in reality, it is my pushback against access to printing spaces and techniques where the disabled artist is asked to direct an assistant as opposed to getting down and dirty with a technique we can use.

I am using these techniques to paint.

Applying acrylic paint, watercolours and handmade pigment paint based on historic Turner era paint making along with traditional oil pastel.

I am painting using brushes, fingers and other assorted tools to the surface of the ripped-out pages of William Gaunt’s A Concise History of English Painting.

As well as defacing Gaunt’s book, I’ve been reading it and finding out more about him.

I have a love/hate relationship with art historians/art writers/critics; I suppose most artists do!

This reading has dramatically and surprisingly affected my Dada defacement painting practice as I reflect on the techniques that proceeded my era…

These techniques are starting to blur the line between printmaking/painting/artistic commentary to develop a unique conversation between the writing of Gaunt and my practice focus on gender identity, ableism, and the geo-political climate crisis.

In a Contemporary Dada practice, categorising art techniques becomes irrelevant.

Traditional Dadaism is known for its rejection of artistic conventions and its embrace of absurdity and randomness.

Artists working within any Dada framework start to prioritise the concept and message of our work over the specific techniques used.

My exultation of ironic materiality is becoming a solid aspect of my artistic intentions.

Irony in art often involves using materials or techniques in a way that subverts their traditional meanings or expectations. It can be a way to challenge conventional notions of art and provoke thought and discussion in itself.

For me, it’s becoming a meditative need to guard against the daily onslaught of climate science and emergent technology data.

Ultimately, the categorisation of art techniques and the use of ironic materiality are subjective choices as much as artistic goals.

The sublimity of the ‘in limine rejection’ of art’s definition has evolved more to my taste …

The gloss acrylic varnish was a bit of a cock up!

I’d used it on the charity shop rescue painting that didn’t go anywhere see Its P*ssing Me Off: https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2023/11/01/its-pssing-me-off-the-frustrations-of-an-artistic-journey/

On that piece the varnish looked great! Of course, I’d forgotten that the calendar was a printed plastic-coated textured paper, so the varnish didn’t soak through!

Not so the ripped-out pages of a 1970s paperback; even with six layers on each side, there were pockets of virgin paper as was the torn edge just waiting to soak up and through the varnish to stick to the painting bench!

I had been debating wether or not to trim the torn edges but this added a new and unexpected issue and one that looked great.

Displaying the boob paintings for the mid-term show at CSM has been an exciting conundrum. As soon as I worked both sides, it eliminated a traditional display.

I did think a bale string suspended from the ceiling with the paintings pinned to it with cattle ear tags. Still, after listening to the Peter the technician’s Zoom call yesterday, I began doodling a different option to keep the painting at eye height, standing or in a wheelchair as I’m mindful of discrimination. I also thought about robustness, pinned paintings are going to be very vulnerable in a large group exhibition. I’m visiting a friend’s cattle farm in a couple of weeks, and she is going to collect plastics that I may use in my staging… this net display looks interesting from my doodles… so I’m going to construct a plastic laminate window net experiment as per my doodle!

I have started to laminate my paintings. I’m using old lamination pouches and my even older laminator, which has a tendency to chew up anything put into it! I like to live on the edge…

I use laminated pouches as they are composite plastic, and as I already have them, they are better as art to raise awareness of climate chaos then go to the tip where they will remain, completely immune from decomposition…

Laminated composite plastics have an unlimited life span, so now my windows into the Eco-mindfulness of the Hu-Cow Network may last longer than the human race…. Get away with you, climate-controlled art storage facilities!