Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
Arts University Bournemouth
Joint Exhibition: Black Mirror, held 13 May to 16 June 2012
This was a joint exhibition with John Stark, held at Ambacher Contemporary, Munich, Germany, which collects and promotes the work of emerging contemporary artists. Shepherd exhibited 7 paintings.
Research Imperatives
The research questions focused around the idea of painting as a mirror; an object of occult or arcane singularity? Can this singularity be built into an artwork? What are the historical imperatives behind such concepts and how does the painting as a mirror affect the audience and their reading of the created work?
The research draws on the work of a number of different artists in the late seventeenth, eighteen and nineteenth centuries including Claude Lorrain (c.1604 - 1682) and William Gilpin (1724 – 1804) who used the Claude Glass (or Black Mirror) as a frame for drawing picturesque landscapes. Black Mirror is also a scrying tool used in occult circles for seeing into the spirit world. The research process included the studying of occult texts, imagery and writings and the use of occult objects and landscape features as catalysts for the creation of the art works.
In Chinese myth another world exists on the far side of the mirror, here the ‘Fauna of mirrors’ live. All colours, shapes and forms are not as of this side of the reflection. There they wait, searching for the opening that will let them through.
In his work Shepherd aimed to portray the fauna and flora that inhabit this other space on the far side of the mirror. Like reflections of reflections they are recognisable but the perspective and scales change from here to there. The painting of a frame adds to the conceit of a looking glass, the misty world unfolding beyond. It is the reflection that they create in our minds that gives them true form, allowing them to step through the mirror to our side.
Portfolio
CD:
(i) Images of the exhibition
(ii) Date of dissemination – press release Kuntsmagazine/invitation
http://blog.re-title.com/features/2012/05/ambacher-contemporary-munich.html
