Studio Practice: OUGD406 - Studio Brief 01 - Final Designs and Critique

A range of final designs that were presented in the final critique to be considered for submission:

In the style of David Shrigley, this phrase is a comment on using art competitions
as a platform purely to gain exposure and recognition for oneself, and
not for the sake of winning prizes or helping a cause

An ironically intended submission in the style of David Shrigley

An ironically intended submission in the style of David Shrigley

An ironically intended submission in the style of David Shrigley

A mock-up of an exhibition label - 'donated in memory of fluxus' in

reference to the fluxus art movement, the inspired for this piece

A mock up of an exhibition label - 'in memory of Félician Marboeuf' in reference

to Félician Marboeuf, an author who famously published nothing in his lifetime

and was the inspiration of many anti-art works during the fluxus art period

An ironically intended submission influenced by Damien Hirst

Feedback from the final critique provided a very interesting reaction to the work presented. Almost every reaction was positive, with most commenting that the sarcastic and humorous nature of the phrases inspired by David Shrigley were very effective. Overall the most favoured design appeared to be 'If It Gets Me Famous I'm In', as it was felt that the phrase summed up out generation's approach to not only the art world, but also music production and many other creative outlets. The 'See Dee' design was also popular as many enjoyed the simplicity and irony of the handwritten words. One or two people found the designs to be cliché (unsure which ones, it wasn't specified ?) but if they appeared this way then that view actually works in my favour, as recreating works by an artist who is well-know will often have this effect.

Despite this feedback, the reaction to this project left me with something of a dilemma - the work that was created in the style of David Shrigley was received far better than I had imagined within the studio, with both students and tutors leaving positive comments, but if I were to submit this work into the competition under David Shrigley's name as I had intended (and have it be well received there too), I run the risk of not gaining any recognition for myself. This is perhaps a rather selfish view of the work, but I know how important it is for young students such as myself to get both their work and their name seen by other creatives. If I were to submit under his name, there is also the possibility that my designs would not be accepted because of copyright. Although this was the entire point of my project (to use another artist's work to my own ends) it would appear that even without this, my work could still be successful in this competition if I were to remake the designs using a similar style but with my own handwriting.

After various discussions I concluded that I would rewrite these pieces in my own handwriting, as I would not be allowed to enter his handwriting into the competition. The designs were still heavily influenced by David Shrigley's work, and therefore still true to my original intent.