In this technologically advanced age it's become a lot easier to record and immortalise a moment. Through photography and film we can ruminate and reminisce past events. The recording of an event starts to take precedence over the enjoyment of a moment. Not a day goes by where we don't see people taking photos of their meals for instagram or looking through their phone at a live performance to stream it online.

I do not exempt myself from this as I am equally as guilty and ask myself the question "is this really an issue or just how things are now?"
During my second year of university I was painting portraits on synthetic material when my tutor asked me "Why are you not painting on canvas? Your paintings will last longer and will be less likely to fade and flake off." I simply explained to him that I wanted a certain kind of effect that can only be achieved by using synthetic fabrics. For him it must have been maddening to see paintings on such a material that will not do any favours to it's longevity.

Another question he asked was, "How will I sell a painting that will fade and possibly crack in 20 odd years?" The answer is I have other means of selling the work through photographic prints. I can now allow the original to be an impermant piece of artwork and let the recording of it help with it's longevity in order to sell the idea. Like a pre-recorded live performance. I'm sure many who love the beatles but are too young to have ever been amongst the crowd wish they could have been. I don't find this a pity but exciting.

It's exciting to know that you will always be living and experiencing impermant moments in life. There are times when you're the only one who will experience an event take place as no one is around to see it. I have plenty of these experiences like the time I walked down a canal and saw a kingfisher drop down from a tree and snatch a fish from the water. Or sometimes you will have an isolated experience with a friend or family member. At times you may feel like living vicariously through another person as they seem to have a more exciting life than you but just take a moment and think of times that only you have witnessed and ever can as the moment has gone.

At the end of my degree show I based my exhibition around this idea of impermanence. At the time I was looking at a lot of Zen buddhism. I'm not religious and I find a lot of the ideas around buddhism very inane and troublesome. However at the time I was looking at the Buddhist ideas around suffering and imperminance. I also looked at paintings by Ken Currie about sickness and health aswell as the video artist Bill Viola who had work in the same vein as Currie.

Impermanence, that's what the work at the top is about. I may do another more in-depth post about my degree show work at a later date as it involves notions and ideas about the corporeal and incorporeal.