Blank Canvas Prize

Clyde & Co.

Cat Madden
Wimbledon College of Art

The process and experience of making painting are fundamentals in my approach to my work. Continuously rearranging colours, composition and
layering up different painting media, as well as digital photography, the work becomes activated by my presence with it. The idea that the work is
ever-changing and has the opportunity to be thought of as permanent (by working on MDF boards), but also temporal by using the studio/gallery walls
from which the work must be removed at some stage, plays with and questions the life of a painting.
The work itself isnt an object but instead, through its transience and potentialised immateriality, the poignancy of an advancing cultural landscape is
reflected - with its constant change and impermanence. (A response and reflection to my own time living in London.)
By building up layers and working until the painting becomes resolved enough to be proposed as concluded, I then paint over it in white emulsion or
acrylic washes and allow the marks from oil paint and oil bars to expose themselves. This display of the traces of previous works and the subsequent
creation of new, fresh marks on top of this skin, allows the work to remain in a state of flux.
This work I am currently making will be a continuous work in progress up until I must step away for Degree Show; the work will then become a
proposed stop in progress, or pause, and then will continue to be worked on and reassembled afterwards.

Image 1 - digital collage on scaled drawing of wall.

The idea that the majority of the work has a white,

blank background gives an illusory feel to the work.
The colour white also references blank canvases and
that being the beginning is also interesting because
the process of the work involves always starting again.

Proposal
Title of work: Paused Impermanence
Due to the work I am making for Degree Show being intentionally inconclusive in nature, examining the notions of finish and the temporal, it is
important for me to retain this method in this proposal.
The Clyde & Co. offices sit in a building which has a lot of creative potential. From the curved windows looking out across Central London, and the
interesting space that is created from its empty core, where constant movement from elevators makes the place feel like a working machine; a piece
of artwork that brings a sense of calm, a sense of stopping, would be a contrast to the working atmosphere of the legal office.
The painting, Paused Impermanence, sitting within a fast-paced, high-pressured environment, with its soft, organic shapes and marks looking as
though they are dancing across the length of the wall, create a different dynamic within a building whose interior architecture is linear and industrial,
with its vast size and large amount of glass and metal reflecting the dramatic amount of light flooding in from the skylight above. With many layers and
visible evidence of the human touch, the piece of artwork through its reworked surface, giving depth in concept and in aesthetic, runs parallel with the
constant striving and research and relationships that are fundamental in legal work. Through the paintings constant cycle of change and starting from
scratch again, being a proposed pause, in some ways feels symbiotic with the pressures of working in a big city. The floaty, airy nature of the painting
having been paused, is a peaceful and pensive notion that can perhaps act as a counterbalance to the stressful side of working in Law.
As the work is seen from many different angles, due to the small, shapely and colourful details scattered over the length of the wall, seeing this from
afar will look hazy and ambiguous, and like little pops of colour against a lot of blank space. When up close, you then see the detail from the
continuous reworking, the drawing, and the texture from different materials and layers. This change in focus suits the dramatic lighting and space of
the building. From afar, it is not distracting or bold, when closer, the realities of the scraping back of layers, and under-the-surface grittiness are
exposed. The many panels of glass and empty space that fall between the surface of the painting and the surrounding offices, give additional layers
to the work, even in their transparency. Theres something of a connection between impermanence, transience, layers and transparency, which are
evident within the law, everyday life and human characteristics.
The inhabitants, through the honesty and light provoked by the work, will see that it comes from layers of hard work, uncertainty and perseverance.
Paused Impermanence will, through its reflection of contemporary societys constant state of flux, evoke a positivity and calm amongst everything we
get so easily caught up in. With the painting not taking a representational form through figures or ordinary objects, it will act as a catalyst for thought

and contemplation and in its abstraction, will be a different thought or contemplation for each individual, which is to be celebrated. If the work offers
any kind of reminder, it will hopefully be of appreciation for the now; to pause and just be for a second; to enjoy.
Practicalities
Due to the size of the MDF boards I make work on (8 x 4), I will cut these up into different smaller sizes and shapes to allow for their transportation
and my continued working on them. During the summer, I will continuously paint over the boards, building up more layers and creating new traces.
The length of the Clyde & Co. wall will work interestingly with the spontaneous sizes and shapes of the painted boards and will allow for a creative
response to the space when curating and assembling them.
The thickness of the MDF board is 12mm, so will not impose on the walkway.

Images 2 and 3 - details of painting in progress

Image 4 - painting in progress

Image 5- detail of materials, marks and layers

Image 6 - detail of working on boards and wall, with materials like masking tape, tracing paper and polystyrene

Image 7 - cropped and selected details of own work digitally collaged onto scaled drawing of Clyde & Co. wall.
NOTE: wall will not look exactly like drawn up examples, in colour, shape or composition; due to the nature of the work being intuitive and
spontaneous. These images are to show the style in which I approach work and the kind of scattered, disconnected composition I think would work
well with the vast length of space.

Ideas - Images 8 and 9 showing that some work will be on MDF painted boards and other work directly on wall, showing depth and exploring temporality.

Smaller panels
as well as larger
to create depth
and distance.

Materials to connect wall and MDF

boards (tracing paper in this
example); subtle connection where
difference in depth and material is
blurred/softened by the see-through
quality of tracing paper.

MDF painted boards

rearranged across length of
wall
Studio detritus like scrap
paper, scrapings of painting,
other materials - also show
history of what has been
used at some stage in the
making.

Image 10 below showing an example of how the many shapes and marks will look in conjunction with the surrounding architecture. The more organic movement
of the painting is a contrast to its geometric and linear setting. The inside of the building is dramatic and open with a lot of light, and the more delicate, floating
nature of the painting becomes a calming and contemplative balance.

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Materials Budget
1000 + VAT
As the work is approached spontaneously and uses a mix of high quality artist oils and acrylics, household paint and scraps of found materials and
studio/previous work, it is difficult to set out a budget with a breakdown.
Due to the scale of the work and the continuous process of building up layers, the majority of the materials budget will most likely go towards oil bars,
oil paint, acrylic paint and households paint, where I like to use the resisting nature of oil and water together to create texture and tension in the
layers. As a student, I havent had the financial opportunity to take full advantage of the range of colours and qualities of oil and acrylic based
materials, nor have I been very experimental in the brushes I use to apply paint. Clyde & Co. would present that opportunity through the materials
budget and the brushes and paint I could buy would not only allow me to experiment more, but would become an investment.
Other materials I use like different types of paper, card, plastic and sometimes metal, would also take up a percentage of the budget - I have always
tended to use MDF and papers in my work instead of plastics and metals, due to the price of larger sheets; this would give me the opportunity to
experiment and see how the work changes using different materials. I like to work and sometimes print onto acetate and depending on the size and
quantity, can get quite expensive. Under some layers of paint are also photographic images that I collage into the work; these are photographs I take
of things that interest me in everyday wanderings and I manipulate and abstract them before printing on different kinds of material. Whilst at
university, I have been able to use the digital suites to edit and play with my images, whether they are purely photographic or stills from videos; if the
opportunity came to be able to purchase a good editing software that I could use for the Clyde & Co. project, that would add a lot to the digital side of
my work.
adobe.com - Adobe Photoshop Elements 14 & Premier Elements 14, 119.14.
Since the end of January 2016 (when I began the work) until the end of March 2016, I have spent approximately 349.71 on materials for my work.

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