Everything is Yours

I began this project with the idea of critiquing the inaccessibility of fine art. With galleries charging high entry fees and many important artworks still
held in private hands, I wanted to express the view that art is for everyone. I have found that I enjoy many characteristics often associated with opulence – radiant gold, rich warm colours and expensive materials. Indeed, this aesthetic has connotations of historical wealth and power or nouveau riche “poor taste”. However, in this project I have sought to incorporate these visual motifs within an artwork that comments on the accessibility of fine art, whilst also being made available for anyone to appreciate. Moreover, taking inspiration from artists such as William Kentridge, with his etchings in
books, and Amikam Toren’s “Armchair paintings”1, I have chosen to continue my work with found objects.
My piece Everything is Yours contrasts the opulent aesthetics of 14th century Italian renaissance art with the monochrome collaged pages from the free
Evening Standard newspaper. I cut out images of posing figures from the newspaper and then painted bold colours onto these figures, specifically over
the clothing and hair, in order to transform them into depictions of saints. In this process I also learnt to gild and added golden halos and other details.
By creating religious icons within the pages of a free newspaper, I have sought to foreground the idea that art should be accessible to everyone rather
than viewed as an elite pursuit.
In my research, I looked at zines, such as the Rock Against Racism collective’s Temporary Hoarding, that presented ideas in new ways and disseminated
them to the public. This inspired me to incorporate my series of collaged paintings into a zine. This format allows me to distribute my work to people
who can interact with it outside of a typical gallery context. I digitally collaged the newspaper paintings together with photos of newspaper articles and
arranged them together. I screen-printed my zine onto newsprint paper to evoke the familiar appearance and texture of newspaper. I learnt through
screen-printing that I could make every zine unique, moving the paper around each time and using different colours to create an intentionally
fragmentary aesthetic.
I incorporated text in order to imitate bold newspaper headlines and focus the viewer’s attention on to the ownership of wealth. The text is fragmented
throughout the zine forcing the reader to focus on each word and image separately. I used selected quotes such as “everything is yours”2 from Paris is
Burning3, a 1990 documentary about New York ballroom culture that discusses how marginalised communities in New York use the aesthetic of wealth
without affluence. I have appropriated the phrase “it all ends up the same way”, a quote from Venus Xtravaganza when she describes how men are
reimbursed for their time and money in sexual favours. This is reminiscent of the Christian phrase “Memento mori” (“remember that you will die") a
symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death. This ties into the religious imagery and acts as a reminder that material wealth and possessions are
ephemeral.

1- A. Toren 2013 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/toren-armchair-painting-untitled-wallbound-t13669
2- Junior LaBeija, Paris Is Burning, Documentary 1990 Dir. Jennie Livingston
3- Paris Is Burning, Documentary 1990 Dir. Jennie Livingston