Two Figures in Dense Violet Night,
A conversation between Becky Beasley and John Stezaker,
Lido Projects 17/09/2011The talk Between Beasley and Stezaker centered mostly around the theme of materiality and the act of looking. Stezaker is obsessed with the possibilities of the 'image' as a channel for pure looking and not as a readable signifer. He finds looking at Becky Beasley's work to be a visceral, optical experience due to the quality and subtlety of her photographic prints.Stezaker's use of Photography is very different to Beasley's. He uses found photographs to act as material for simple decisive collages. Because of an intense dissatisfaction with any mark he made when painting or drawing, he discovered the only way he could be happy with an image was when it almost happened itself, by accident, and collage gave him that possibility.The pieces in the show were chosen with the horizontal and diagonal cut in mind, which make a strong link between the works. Stezaker's collaged prortraits nearly always have a vertical cut and his landscape's a horizontal cut. Beasley's Curtains, although drawn pertain to the verticle cut and the floor sculpture, Stumbling Block has a horizontal cut.Becky Beasley said of Stezaker's work that she found it intensely physical to look at, the act of looking at the work registered on her eyeball like a cut itself.
A conversation between Becky Beasley and John Stezaker,
Lido Projects 17/09/2011The talk Between Beasley and Stezaker centered mostly around the theme of materiality and the act of looking. Stezaker is obsessed with the possibilities of the 'image' as a channel for pure looking and not as a readable signifer. He finds looking at Becky Beasley's work to be a visceral, optical experience due to the quality and subtlety of her photographic prints.Stezaker's use of Photography is very different to Beasley's. He uses found photographs to act as material for simple decisive collages. Because of an intense dissatisfaction with any mark he made when painting or drawing, he discovered the only way he could be happy with an image was when it almost happened itself, by accident, and collage gave him that possibility.The pieces in the show were chosen with the horizontal and diagonal cut in mind, which make a strong link between the works. Stezaker's collaged prortraits nearly always have a vertical cut and his landscape's a horizontal cut. Beasley's Curtains, although drawn pertain to the verticle cut and the floor sculpture, Stumbling Block has a horizontal cut.Becky Beasley said of Stezaker's work that she found it intensely physical to look at, the act of looking at the work registered on her eyeball like a cut itself.
With Becky Beasley's work we are hovering between looking at, and seeing the materialty of the form. In her photographic prints, such as Curtains there is an opaic quality which acts as a filter, removing the form from it's solidity, which enhances the minute subtle terrain of the print itself. Very understated and reflecting their actual dimensions with-in the real world Curtains are rendered mute of their potential symbolism or narrative possibilities to become pure visual matter.
Two Figures in Dense Violet Night
Over four consecutive weekends,Becky Beasley hosted four conversations between two artists and two artworks. The artists included Michael Dean, Anne Hardy, Claire Scanlon & John Stezaker. The event took place at LIDO, Electro Studios, Seaside Road,St Leonards on Sea.
