Our #CamberwellClassof2020 graduating students have spent the summer busy, working from home preparing their final projects for The UAL’s Online Graduate Showcase.
Paul Waters, a BA Fine Art: Painting graduate, found the circumstances of making work in lockdown has resulted in a more sustainable practice. We spoke to him about the piece he has submitted to the UAL Graduate Showcase, which draws on nostalgia and Americana to create a proposed mixed-media installation.
Can you please describe your practice?
My work is rooted in nostalgia, Americana (‘the West’) and grand narratives; holding the past to account whilst also using fantasies of the past to escape the ‘now’ and define future realities. This is brought into material and physical effect through a range of different mediums, from painting to photography - my practice is multidisciplinary.
How have you adapted your practice for working outside of the studio?
Limited by the constraints of lockdown, being furloughed and with the inability to access certain facilities such as a screen-printing studio, my work has perhaps become more sustainable.
I have adapted by reusing and recycling materials around me, focusing on what I can do with what I have rather than continually sourcing new materials or things to generate new work. it is great - an introspective approach.
Have these circumstances resulted in any unexpected opportunities?
I have started to showcase more written work and expose myself more to conversation and debate which is great. An example of this is my work with Quarantine Gallery, an online gallery dedicated to globally showing work from around the world during this period.
Please tell us more about your UAL Graduate Showcase submission:
My main Graduate Showcase piece, The House (and its four walls), is a proposed four walled/screen video and sculptural installation, inspired by notions of longing, possession, connection and transcendence; all of these themes are examined and relayed through the token symbolism of classical American suburbia, through film, photography and sculpture.
A lot of my inspiration came from growing up in 90s suburbia, an inherent nostalgic longing for a time pre 9/11 and from the American films and pop culture on which I was raised; a time of youthful naivety, happiness, fantasised moments and memories coalescing. In a sense, it’s escapism from the now but also a meditation and reflection on growing older.
As a result of lockdown, a lot of the materials I have used are from ready-made objects: flowers, a model car, a TV/monitor. The process was a mixture of improvisation and playing, just working with what I had around me or could easily get my hands on because of Covid-19. I used my iPhone and the editing apps contained within it to document, express and explore.
Do you have any tips for students – what has helped you remain positive and keep creating during this time?
I have remained positive by retreating into my work, into fantasy, narrative and memory-holding onto memories of a future in which the light still shines. Though this may be considered as escapism and avoidance of the issues at hand it helped me. I often find that through the re-enactment of fantasy I inadvertently process and subsume any issues I am facing.
One of my main pieces of advice is to remain active, even if that’s just active in thought such as making boards of visual and aesthetic research on Pinterest. If that’s all you manage to do in a day that’s great, it’s something, it counts. Keep moving forward no matter how fast or slow, you’re getting there.
You can view more work by Paul on the UAL Graduate Showcase
You can view Paul’s video pieces on his website
Find out more about BA Fine Art: Painting