Outliers (2018-2019) [single-component output with contextualising information]
- Submitting institution
-
Bath Spa University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 3371
- Type
- M - Exhibition
- Venue(s)
- No. 20 Arts, London, England.
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of first exhibition
- -
- Year of first exhibition
- 2018
- URL
-
https://doi.org/10.17870/bathspa.c.4709246
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This research investigates the boundaries of paint’s ability to represent nature. Endeavouring to capturing the dynamic forces at work in Greenland’s surreal icescapes required the medium to be tested to the limits of its possibilities. Weak layers of paint sit between more stable ones to allow the paint itself to move under pressure; a brittle paint layer is applied over a flexible one to cause the surface to crack. Using traditional and less traditional painting mediums and additions of glass wax, resin, and modelling pastes, the paintings themselves emulate the instability and impermanence of their subjects. This experimental approach continues through the drawings and watercolours, where the paper is cut and torn to replicate the pressures experienced by these volatile landscapes.
The Greenland works are complemented by others inspired by a previous research trip to Switzerland, when a project to document military bunkers brought the chance to witness Alpine avalanches first hand. Working with the defence Academy in Shrivenham and a local gun club, Snell explored the possibilities of starting avalanches through explosive force. These paintings link the latest series with earlier explorations of man’s passive yet profound impact on the planet, from the conflict zones of the Cold War to the frozen extremities of human existence.
This work was discussed in public lectures in Norwich and Trowbridge as well as with students within Bath Spa University. The primary exhibition, which occurred from 23/11/18 – 06/01/19 at No 20 Arts, 20 Cross Street, London, was viewed by over 400 people, and a catalogue was produced and distributed to the public, galleries and art institutions.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
