Going B I G
It's been one wonderful thing after another her at Happiness Central.
Complex Simplicity Exhibition 2.0
Originally my Complex Simplicity exhibition at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery was scheduled for 9 weeks. However it was quickly decided to extend this by another 9 weeks. To celebrate the second half of the exhibition the video was moved and I installed a site specific painting/mural on the wall of the gallery last week, just in time for The Festival of Happiness.
‘Memory Jogger’ by Jan Allsopp 2022, part of Complex Simplicity exhibition
The team
How exciting would it be to work on a huge scale with studio assistants! Well I now know exactly what that is like! It's amazing. Three gallery staff, all artists themselves helped me create 'Memory Jogger' on the big wall opposite the entry of the gallery. With ladders, fold up tables, trollies and more we worked on a day the gallery was closed.
Jan working with Chloe Waters, Toni Southwell, and Zoe Golding (not shown) to create the mural
The plan
I had no plan to follow other than relying on my usual process, only scaled UP. To cut down on drying time (24 hours minimum between layers) we began with commercial vinyl printed with my colours and textures. We used this for the first big shapes. The placement and colours of these shapes were determined by what we had and instinctively placed.
Make it stand out
The process
With that starting the 'conversation' between the shapes, colours and me, we played with my other shapes and colours, this time on my usual plastic sheets. We taped them up with masking tape to see where they belonged. "Move it a bit more to the left," was a commonly called direction along with, "Oh, no. That's not right there."
Once placement was decided we used my usual mono-transfer process - using acrylic binder to adhere the painted plastic sheets to the surface, in this case the wall. These had to dry until the next day before we could remove the plastic (the paint remains on the wall) and put another layer over that. We had to be a bit cunning to keep the time we needed to wait down. And slowly it grew.
Where does this go? I like it. I want to add it. But where does it fit?
When is it finished?
The next day we started in the time before the gallery opened. There was a tense moment towards the end of that where I guess I was feeling a bit time pressured. And it was that crucial stage where I needed to find the perfect placement for the last elements that would finish it. I was fixated on one particular area that I felt certain I needed to 'break it up' with other shapes. But no matter what we tried it just looked worse. Thanks to some insightful comments from another artist friend, I realised that what I had thought needed breaking up was fine and it was an adjacent shape that really needed it instead. A simple white circle added to overlap it and viola! It was finished.
‘Memory Jogger’
The outcome
I'm happy, really happy. I'd said 'yes' to the request for a mural believing in myself, but doubting the process. I'd had trouble working on my 1.2m x 1.2m scale because increasing the size of the transfer sheets brings its own set of problems. But we did it. It would have been impossible without my skilled and persistent team of helpers, but team power allowed it to happen easily.
‘Memory Jogger’ 2022
Another outcome is that having something of this grand scale in the gallery along with the huge wall of small paintings has changed the way we view them. Big/small versus small/big is very intriguing. I hope you will get to see it.
The exhibition continues
You still have time to see it, or see it again, as the exhibition is continuing until 28 May. If you do get there please let me know what you think and more importantly, how you felt while you were in the gallery.
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Stay happy!
Jan.