Title Forgotten
** I know I gave this piece a title, I just don’t remember what it was**
acrylic on wood board – cracked gilded frame made from airdry clay and spray-painted gold – 2022
Washing Machine Head
Washing Machine Head – 2022 – Acrylic on Wood Panel
The Puppet and The Puppeteer
The Puppet and The Puppeteer
By Jesse Bullen
Acrylic on wood panels and mixed media
The Puppet and the Puppeteer is a diptych painting that features one realism work and one abstract one. The top painting (realism) depicts a dark hooded finger whose hands have been sculpted to pop out of the panel. Attached to its hands are strings that run down to the second panel, connecting to the figure on the bottom.
This work represents that feeling that you are being held back. Specifically by yourself, or your more logical and cautious side. The side that is happy in the comfort zone. I wanted the top figure to be represented through realism because it was meant to represent the more rational side of yourself. Also the more overpowering side in this case. Hence the use of clear imaging. The bottom painting is meant to represent the adventurous side of yourself, that wants more from the world. The side that is being held back from becoming its true self. I used bright colours to show that this figure is more expressive and ‘fiery’. My choice to make this the abstract piece was because I wanted the figure to look semi-formed. Not quite complete or clear because it has not yet discovered its true self. The strings are the symbol of restriction. They are meant to appear like they are controlling, but also undoing the bottom figure.
The Grounding Tree – for when you feel stumped
The Grounding Tree is a site-specific installation piece that I created for my Visual Art 1o1 class.
The Grounding Tree was built as a place for you to sit down, relax and clear your head. On the ground in front of it sits a sign with a QR code. When you scan that code it links you to a google form where you can write down something that’s been on your mind or bothering you. Anything you wanna get off your chest. Good or Bad. Sometimes we don’t always want to talk to others about what’s going on in our lives. The goal with this project is for you, the viewer, to reflect on your own and hopefully feel at peace with whatever was on your mind at the time.
Creation Process
Public Display
Vancouver Art Gallery Visit: A Reflection
The Vancouver Art Gallery currently has a grand array of art by many different artists. Most notably is Yoko Ono’s exhibit, Growing Freedom; the instruction of Yoko Ono and the art of John and Yoko. On October 27th my visual arts 1o1 class went on a trip to the gallery. The gallery featured a lot of art so I’m mostly going to be talking about the ones that stuck with me after having some time to reflect.
Yoko Ono
Most of the main floor of the gallery was dedicated to Yoko Ono’s work. With a section dedicated to the art, she made with John Lennon. I’ve been a fan of the Beatles since I can remember. I grew up listening to them with my dad. I always knew Yoko as “the
one who broke up the Beatles” but I had never seen any of her art before. Pretty much all of her pieces were interactive in some way. My favourite one was this chessboard where every piece was white. It was called ‘play it by trust’. As you got further into the game it became very hard to remember which pieces were yours. You simply had to trust that your partner wasn’t gonna lie to you.
Another work that I really liked was this wooden board on the wall. Beside it was a hammer and a box of nails. There weren’t any instructions, just a bunch of nails put into the board. So my friend and I added our own contribution. It was cool to see the pattern that people started to follow!
Painted Tapestries
Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of this series or the artist that created it. But it’s the first one shown in this video from the VAG website.
This piece was one of my favourites in the exhibit. The tapestries were hung in a way that required you to walk around them. You could get up as close to them as you wanted, but since they were an art piece you also wanted to keep your distance. I really liked the abstract designs on the tapestries. The artist put shoes on the ground with these mixed media legs coming out of them. From behind the tapestry it looked like there were people on the other side and as you walked around you realized it wasn’t real people.
The Vancouver Art gallery is a great place to go for lots of art in one place! There are always very cool exhibits going on and i really enjoyed visiting this time around.
Polygon Art Gallery Visit: A Reflection
On November 17th, I went on a trip to the Polygon Art Gallery to get a sneak peek of an upcoming exhibition by Vancouver artist, Steven Shearer. My class got to experience what a gallery looks like during the setup of a new show and talk with the gallery’s curator.
Steven Shearer
Shearers solo exhibition features a large array of his works produced over 25 years. It features a monumental archive of photography and print material. There are many books filled with snapshots of strangers’ lives. Giving you a glimpse into what life has been like over the years.
His collection offers a real and personal perspective on the lives of others. Many of the images are candids of friends or family and the series even features a section dedicated to pictures of people’s Christmas trees. What I liked most about this work was how personal it felt. It shows how powerful photography can be, even in the hands of an ordinary person, taking pictures simply because they can. By collecting all these images, Shearer turns that simple art into art.
The Potter
The Potter is a painting by Shearer that was featured in this exhibit. The Polygon usually focuses on photography so seeing a painting there (more than one of in fact) stood out to me a lot. The painting depicts a long hair man sitting at a potter’s wheel wearing only pajama pants. In the background, he is surrounded by completed works of pottery. But if you look closely, Shearer paints patterns in the pots that have you questioning whether they are really pottery or instead, jars filled with organs and creatures. I really loved his use of colour in this painting. The painting is realistic but he utilizes colours in an unconventional way. It’s one of those paintings you can look at for a while and keep finding new details.
Our visit to the Polygon was insightful. It felt like we were VIPs witnessing the show before anyone else. But it was also a great opportunity to see what putting an exhibition together is like. Since I was there last, a whole wall to the gallery had been removed and the space became a single open room. It made me realize that the space the art is displayed is just as important as the art itself.
GIF Animation
GIF Animation Series
by Jesse Bullen
TW**** Mention of drugs and use of prop drugs
“SOMETHING FOR YOUR MIND”
“LSD”
“PAINT PROBLEMS”
“Hollowed” – Drawing Series
“Hollowed”
Jesse Bullen
Charcoal on Drawing Paper
“Hollowed” is an exploration of expression. I wanted to make a series of faces with strong character. The dark and dense charcoal lines give each face the perfect intensity. The figures in each drawing are not meant to represent specific or clear emotions but are rather intended to highlight the smaller expressions humans are capable of. Specifically, I dove into the subtle differences in this sad and hollow expression. Each face is meant to make the viewer feel something different without the expressions shifting a great amount.
The process for creating these pieces was loose and somewhat random. I challenged myself to scribble on the page and find the face within the lines. Not thinking about the final outcome brought a very natural feel to the expressions that were created. I made more than 10 images using this method and in the end, I picked 6 of them for my final presentation.
I chose to display the series in a symmetrical grouping (shown in the first image) because I want the audience to focus on the drawings altogether. When viewed all at once, the faces look like they are all staring at you. It brings an eerie feeling to the series that wouldn’t be achieved if you viewed them alone.
I was really inspired by the work of Josh Hernandez when creating this series. His work combines realism and expressionism and often features unfinished faces. I experimented with those same elements in my drawings but found my style leaned away from the soft airbrushed realism that Josh’s work features.
Creating this drawing series was very fulfilling. I enjoyed focusing on a repeating style and watching it evolve over time. They say practice makes progress and this project was a great way to see that in action.
SFU Audain Gallery Field Trip: A Reflection
From October 14th to December 11th, the SFU Audain Gallery has hosted the work of artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan. Two of his works are displayed there, both of which explore reincarnation as a medium for justice. On October 20th my class took a field trip to the art gallery to view his work. This is my reflection.
Once Removed
Once Removed is the first work of art you encounter when you walk into the art gallery. It is a set of two screens suspended in the middle of the gallery. You are completely in the dark as you watch the 28-minute video, isolating yourself from any distractions that might be around the space had you been in the light. I really liked the way the dark room narrowed your focus to the screens and made it looks like they were floating in front of you.
The featured an interview between Hamdan and Bassel Abi Chahine, a writer and historian who has been collecting a comprehensive collection of rare objects from the People’s Liberation Army during the Lebanese Civil War. Chahine’s started this collection as an attempt to contextualize inexplicable memories he was having from the war he was not alive during. His memories are from a PLA fighter and thus Chahine claims to be the reincarnation of this soldier.
Although I enjoyed the video presentation greatly, I felt it was more of an artistic documentary rather than solely an art piece. I believe there were many artistic choices made in how the film was shot and presented, but not much was left up to the imagination. I wish we got to see more of the artist’s take on reincarnation.
For the Otherwise Unaccounted
For the Otherwise Unaccounted is the second piece you encounter. At the back of the gallery, there are 3 sheets of paper. Each of them has several accounts of reincarnation stories among other people. This again felt more like documentation rather than an art piece. Each account was told in about 1 paragraph of very small print and it felt like I was reading an essay. The pages were displayed in a room at the back of the gallery. It had big windows that looked out onto the street. To me, it seemed strange to have such a small display in an area where passersby on the street would be able to see it.
Overall I really enjoyed the exhibit for the topic it was presenting. It was a great chance to think about a side of spirituality that isn’t part of my own life. Each story that was presented in the exhibit was very intriguing. I would love to learn more about the subject and how it changes the way different groups of people live their lives.