Cocksure ( is anything ever what it seems? )
Cocksure ( is anything ever what it seems? ) | 2016
Manifestation (1): Digital C-Type Print on Aluminium | 127 cm x 64 cm (50” x 25.3”)
Manifestation (2): Virtual Reality Installation
Manifestation (3): Neon 620 cm x 9 cm (244" x 3.5") + Corner + 40 cm x 9 cm (16" x 3.5)
Manifestation (1): Digital C-Type Print on Aluminium | 127 cm x 64 cm (50” x 25.3”)
Manifestation (2): Virtual Reality Installation
Manifestation (3): Neon 620 cm x 9 cm (244" x 3.5") + Corner + 40 cm x 9 cm (16" x 3.5)
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Extract from Interview with Adelaide Damoah, Artist, Curator, Blogger and Vlogger at Thames-Side Studios on 21st June 2016
AD: … let's move onto your new piece Cocksure ( is anything ever what it seems? ), tell me about the experiences you had that led to you make this piece? RA: I was recently at a conference about technology in the arts and one of the panelists was speaking on a subject that I happened to have a specialism in. What he was saying was absolutely riddled with errors - it was simply uninformed and incorrect. I was also very aware that he was delivering his talk with such unquestioning confidence. I then started watching the audience, most of them were very engaged and some were writing copious notes. Without consciously thinking, I wrote down this sentence, [Bullshit said with confidence becomes the truth] on a post-it. It made me think what the consequences of this misinformation would be. Would this become the new truth that students include in essays, people would publish, that would become historicised and other speakers would disseminate ? I don’t think this is an issue just in education, but rife in Politics and the world around us … just look at the debates we’ve had on the EU referendum… peppered with incorrect facts and untruths, some simply from lazy research and reporting and some more divisive and manipulative - but usually delivered with unbounded confidence. It was only after going through my conference notes that I rediscovered the sentence and decided I’d like to do something with it. |
I would like to thank Render Solve, Hollywood's full service render farm, for their amazing customer service and patience in loaning their CPU's to render this image which took and incredible 17 hours to render !
NB. Render times were incredibly long due to the high resolution and displacements I had on my materials... |
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Unveiling the truth
AD: .. we’ve got to do the title … where does that come from ?
RA: If you look at the etymology of Cocksure .. it was a quaint old English word meaning quite assured and confident - I think it's defined as being something like “sure of one’s own mind”. I would imagine that the interpretation of it over time has probably veered into a more arrogant and misplaced use of confidence. It also plays nicely … and not very subtly ... into gender stereotyping.
The second part of the title “Is anything ever what it seems?” is a frustrated remix of the infamous quote from Phaedrus, “Things are not always what they seem [the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.]”. Frustrating .. because misinformation is rife, misleading and so very frustrating when it could be avoided .. but the will has to be there, the quote mirrors the way the first reading is very different from a considered one. The work is also not what it seems at first.
AD: Tell me about your choice of materials for the work.
RA: I thought the most suitable way to realise this was in Neon, particularly as it is an overused trope in the contemporary art world that often gives gravitas to the artist and/or the narrative. It’s also a medium that is not accessible to all given the costs involved and/or method of production. So I guess you could view it as an elite (ish) medium.
AD: Neon is traditionally a red colour which you used in your last piece …. why blue ?
Neon lights were originally named after neon gas which gives off a orangey/red light. You can use other gases and chemicals to produce different colours. I liked the idea of using mercury, that produces a bluey light, as exposure to mercury vapor leads to serious adverse health effects which I think was quite appropriate given the narrative. Mercury was also the winged messenger. Again you could take the reading as a literal reference to gender.
AD: …. there’s so much layering of meanings in your work. I like the way the sentence is so direct and especially how you’ve bent the “Truth” at the end!
..the sentence was word for word what I wrote on the post-it. I did think of rewording it to make it more poetic or profound … but I liked the honesty of the direct translation . No word intervention. I like to use the presentation and materials to take the work in a different direction.
I initially had a problem using the term “Bullshit” as it seemed a “lazy” word but then I started researching it and found that TS Eliot had written a poem “The Triumph of Bullshit” at the start of the last century - which is a Neon sentence in itself and quite applicable to the political system!
.. reading from sketchbook
One definition of the word is that "[Bullshit] is commonly used to describe statements made by people more concerned with the response of the audience than in truth and accuracy, such as goal-oriented statements made in the field of politics or advertising” and another is “It is mostly a slang profanity term meaning nonsense, especially in a rebuking response to communication or actions viewed as deceiving, misleading, disingenuous, unfair or false.”
AD: I know it is important for you to make or have a hand in making your own work. I remember you telling me how difficult it was to blow Neon well, did you actually make all the Neon in the work?
The artwork as you perceive it does not exist! There is no Neon. If you look carefully at the image, there are tell-tale artefacts that show you the work has been totally computer generated.
As a maker I constructed the work in CAD. I modelled the installation down to screw level i.e. I even modelled the screws! If someone wanted to construct the Neon, then the scale plans and construction plans exist as they derive from the model so if I wanted the scale plans are ready to go to the neon blowers tomorrow. As well as a visual model it’s also a working one.
From a practical point of view ..... I didn’t have the funds readily available to construct the artwork, plus if I had where would I store it ? This is another issue facing London artists who make large scale work. Therefore making it in CAD made sense, it allowed me to view the finished piece and live with it. If you think how many people only see the artefacts [documentation] of exhibitions or artworks .. it may be a cost effective route to pursue just the creation of the artefacts and forfeit the actual exhibition! That’s a route I’m currently exploring further.
You could perceive the work as untruth in itself. In a literal sense the work is itself bullshit - but uncovering the layers is an intrinsic part of the reading.
RA shows AD how the model is constructed ...
AD: Wow, that's amazingly complex … tell me more about the pieces of wood in the foreground.
RA: The sculpture in the foreground is Carl Andre’s “The Way West”.
AD: I think the connotations there are quite obvious - you also make reference to his work in your D.O.A.M [Death of Ana Mendieta] series.
.. moves on to talk about other work
RA: If you look at the etymology of Cocksure .. it was a quaint old English word meaning quite assured and confident - I think it's defined as being something like “sure of one’s own mind”. I would imagine that the interpretation of it over time has probably veered into a more arrogant and misplaced use of confidence. It also plays nicely … and not very subtly ... into gender stereotyping.
The second part of the title “Is anything ever what it seems?” is a frustrated remix of the infamous quote from Phaedrus, “Things are not always what they seem [the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.]”. Frustrating .. because misinformation is rife, misleading and so very frustrating when it could be avoided .. but the will has to be there, the quote mirrors the way the first reading is very different from a considered one. The work is also not what it seems at first.
AD: Tell me about your choice of materials for the work.
RA: I thought the most suitable way to realise this was in Neon, particularly as it is an overused trope in the contemporary art world that often gives gravitas to the artist and/or the narrative. It’s also a medium that is not accessible to all given the costs involved and/or method of production. So I guess you could view it as an elite (ish) medium.
AD: Neon is traditionally a red colour which you used in your last piece …. why blue ?
Neon lights were originally named after neon gas which gives off a orangey/red light. You can use other gases and chemicals to produce different colours. I liked the idea of using mercury, that produces a bluey light, as exposure to mercury vapor leads to serious adverse health effects which I think was quite appropriate given the narrative. Mercury was also the winged messenger. Again you could take the reading as a literal reference to gender.
AD: …. there’s so much layering of meanings in your work. I like the way the sentence is so direct and especially how you’ve bent the “Truth” at the end!
..the sentence was word for word what I wrote on the post-it. I did think of rewording it to make it more poetic or profound … but I liked the honesty of the direct translation . No word intervention. I like to use the presentation and materials to take the work in a different direction.
I initially had a problem using the term “Bullshit” as it seemed a “lazy” word but then I started researching it and found that TS Eliot had written a poem “The Triumph of Bullshit” at the start of the last century - which is a Neon sentence in itself and quite applicable to the political system!
.. reading from sketchbook
One definition of the word is that "[Bullshit] is commonly used to describe statements made by people more concerned with the response of the audience than in truth and accuracy, such as goal-oriented statements made in the field of politics or advertising” and another is “It is mostly a slang profanity term meaning nonsense, especially in a rebuking response to communication or actions viewed as deceiving, misleading, disingenuous, unfair or false.”
AD: I know it is important for you to make or have a hand in making your own work. I remember you telling me how difficult it was to blow Neon well, did you actually make all the Neon in the work?
The artwork as you perceive it does not exist! There is no Neon. If you look carefully at the image, there are tell-tale artefacts that show you the work has been totally computer generated.
As a maker I constructed the work in CAD. I modelled the installation down to screw level i.e. I even modelled the screws! If someone wanted to construct the Neon, then the scale plans and construction plans exist as they derive from the model so if I wanted the scale plans are ready to go to the neon blowers tomorrow. As well as a visual model it’s also a working one.
From a practical point of view ..... I didn’t have the funds readily available to construct the artwork, plus if I had where would I store it ? This is another issue facing London artists who make large scale work. Therefore making it in CAD made sense, it allowed me to view the finished piece and live with it. If you think how many people only see the artefacts [documentation] of exhibitions or artworks .. it may be a cost effective route to pursue just the creation of the artefacts and forfeit the actual exhibition! That’s a route I’m currently exploring further.
You could perceive the work as untruth in itself. In a literal sense the work is itself bullshit - but uncovering the layers is an intrinsic part of the reading.
RA shows AD how the model is constructed ...
AD: Wow, that's amazingly complex … tell me more about the pieces of wood in the foreground.
RA: The sculpture in the foreground is Carl Andre’s “The Way West”.
AD: I think the connotations there are quite obvious - you also make reference to his work in your D.O.A.M [Death of Ana Mendieta] series.
.. moves on to talk about other work
Cocksure ( is anything ever what it seems? ) | Galleries within Galleries | 2016
Video of Digital C-Type Print on Aluminium mounted in a Gallery
Video of Digital C-Type Print on Aluminium mounted in a Gallery