Completed Paper-Based Piece: 'Flagging 10'

'Flagging 10', Acrylics, Paper Collage, Ink, Spray Enamel & French Polish On Paper,
45 cm X 60 cm, 2018

Ten it is, then.  Here’s the tenth - and last, of my series of paper-based, flag-derived pieces.  It has extended my scope for doing violence to the flag still further (even if some of that actually occurred beneath the top surface).  However, it definitely seems time to conclude the series here.  I can feel myself starting to default to the same, familiar solutions, with these, now – and that’s rarely a good thing (once you become aware of it consciously, at least).  Anyway, I think there’s just enough variation and progression there to let them stand as a self-contained series, so I’ll probably put them all together in a following post, to offer a final overview and let you judge for yourself.

For months now, I’ve been presenting these as ‘work in progress’. That indicates that I’ve always had a sense that these might mutate further – and for a long time I assumed this would involve the inclusion of text.  At another stage, I also had ambitions to start physically abrading, eroding and generally abusing them with power tools, washing machines, chemicals or flames.  Such extended periods of “What if…” reflection, are a perfectly healthy component of any creative process – but perhaps there was just a little too much  procrastination and indecisiveness last year too.

So, in the interests of breaking that cycle in 2018, and just bringing things to a more assertive conclusion - I’ve made some decisions regarding these particular pieces.  The versions I’ve already presented over the last few months, without text, are going to remain in that form - as physical, paper-based artifacts, at least.  Within the overall ‘This S(c)eptic Isle’ project, text will continue to be a vital component of much of the work, and so there’s definitely room for at least part of it to function on pure image alone.  I’m increasingly coming to an understanding that there’s no imperative for each individual piece to be trying to do everything at once.  It may be a reason for some of my output feeling a bit clogged or overworked, in the past.

For the same reason, the (admittedly seductive) notion of employing destructive physical processes, just feels like a step too far for images that are already dense with visual distress.  Were that idea to play out – I think it would make more sense to start with a much ‘straighter’ rendition of the flag, and let the physical attack do more of the heavy lifting – both in terms of process and implied meaning.

In fact, there is a clear intention to combine these images with text, but to do so by recycling them through a completely different medium.  I’ve alluded several times to my idea that my related ‘Below The Line / Beneath Contempt’ text piece might be presented in video form, and I’ve decided to definitely forge ahead with that plan this year.  Any further mutation of these flag images should occur in the digital realm, as a component of that.  As that particular piece of writing is quite deliberately constructed from found sources, it seems quite appropriate that I should continue the theme by recycling and translating my own material too.  It also squares with my growing interest in the repurposing of original content, and the wider issues of authorship and appropriation, over the last couple of years.  The intention to follow through on my oft-expressed desire to make more A.V. work does, of course, release a whole new tranche of unknowns (and new skills to be acquired), but I’m already in the process of taking the best photos I can of each piece, and recruiting some much-needed technical assistance, to that end.

There are a couple of final points to make, while we’re at it.  Firstly: These pieces are no longer untitled.  I’ve decided that the series as a whole is now called ‘Flagging’, and so - for want of a brighter idea, these works will be known as ‘Flagging 1 -10’.  Titling has already been a bit of a thorny problem within this overall project, and I've also learned (from bitter experience), that the whole 'Untitled' thing can cause real problems when cataloguing/exhibiting work - so it's good to get that nailed down.  And finally: yes – I’m well aware I’ve got a right cheek accusing Damien Hirst of plagiarism or ideas theft (in my last post), in the light of some of the above - and when I’ve already ‘flagged up’ my own debt to Jasper John’s in these pieces, more than once.