Sue Corcoran
artist / designer / educator
VISUAL ART
| Current
My current work is experimental, exploring new mediums and ideas in a two-dimensional format. Generally, the construction is relatively simple with the richness and depth emerging from the actual process of making. This occurs through multi-layered surfaces of mixed media that have been abstractly created through exploration and investigation of space, structure, line, colour, form, and texture.
| Previous
2012
This short animation was constructed very simply, layering techniques and technology as opposed to using one editorial programme. I used a series of images from visual culture, which I sourced on the Internet (gathered in a manner comparable to how I approach the initial stages of research) embedded in a mundane photo sequence from my current daily journey to my classes, studio, and home. The individual stills were developed in Photoshop, marrying text, images from my art journal, and various effects. These were then compiled in a sequence reflecting my journey in every aspect of its meaning and then finally filmed using an 8mm camera effect to further enhance and distort the imagery with the intent of giving the sense of reflection on movement.
​
I sought to reveal private elements of this journey from the many different angles within. Such as fleeting thoughts one experiences when travelling through a landscape in a car subconsciously sparked by passing imagery to personal visual highlights while also reflecting on myself as an artist/teacher/researcher in these different landscapes. Background music is 'A Nest of Stars' by Iarla Ò Lionàird.
2010 - 2011
​This series of work has evolved around observations of grass and wind, predominantly through the use of video camera and subsequent mark-making. The finished artwork references its source (the grass and wind) through multi-layered surfaces, which have been abstractly created through exploration and investigation of space, structure, line, colour, form, and texture. Sometimes the imprints are translucent and hazy while other times dense and heavy-handed but all capture a moment, a movement, or a frame in time.
The paintings are build-up of one layer on another continually adding strokes, marks, and structure - starting out with one blade of grass and building on that until there is a crowded meadow reflecting the vibrancy and energy of the wind. Initially, the canvas is washed with drips of paint applied by a syringe, later these are worked over using unorthodox implements such as household paint-scrappers, icing bags, and odd pieces of timber. The work is very physical, laying card, or canvas on the floor and working on a number of pieces at a time so as to encourage a free-flow dialogue between them. This impedes decisions driving the process and rather promotes the doing and creating to happen seamlessly.​
The Installation piece in contrast is a lot lighter both physically and aesthetically although the approach is similar to the paintings. This is a moving piece reflecting the vulnerability, gentleness, and transparency of grass and is paradoxical to the paintings, which are symbolizing the more robust and durable nature of grass. While the source is everything it has been deconstructed to symbolize a simple shape and thus has taken its own journey through the various mediums explored. ​