Omen wallpaper

Abstract

This paper brings together past and contempary elements that play a role in the body of work, I prepared in the Master's project and which I call, 'Omen Wallpaper'. The title draws on the idea that 'omens' as signs and 'wallpaper', as a decoration somewhat on the periphery, surround us in the urban environment. The paper begins by describing the influences and historical movements from which I have drawn. These range, for example, from. Duchamp, Schwitters to Rauschenberg, Warhol and Basquiat. Many of these traditions share the idea of 'anti-art', particularly 'anti painting', manifested in the use of found materials, text and 'unpainterly' techniques like printing and collage. The paper then moves in to ideas more local to me and this body of work, as for example, graffiti. I explore styles of graffiti and some of the most significant artists of this movement. Artists such as 'Misstic' from Paris and 'Banksy' I also investigate some of the problematics associated with that territory, by describing the conflicts I encounter in my research. I also consider another type of' street aesthetic' that operates in a different way, exploiting the general decay and wear and tear of posters. I focus this part of my enquiry, on the French Nouveaux Realist, Jacques de la Villegle who has worked with this medium since the 1950's. Villegles work began central to my research in Paris as well as becoming a inspiration for adopting the technique of 'affiches laceries' or 'tom posters'. This technique allows one to capture a moment culturally, stylistically and randomly amoung many other things with minimal mediation which became a significant turning point in the development of my own style