Student profiles: Angus Denham

Angus Denham
VCE Studio Arts

In my work I aimed to communicate to the audience not only the theme of destruction, deterioration and erosion, but also the feelings associated with this theme.

I started to look at the digital photography of Jeff Alu. His work showed strong contrast. A bold use of line to accentuate the desert subject was also inspired by David Hockney’s photomontages, leading to a combination of both techniques.

I chose to work with photography for the piece, but also with the sculpture. I believe the realism engages the audience and that was the main aim of the piece. Through the use of sculpture I aimed to bring out the theme of life.

 

I began by painting silver gelatine photographs using high filters for maximum contrast. This led to experimentation with montage work. Through exploring montage with high contrast I established and successfully communicated the theme of my work.

 

The biggest challenge I found was time. The printing of the photos was very time consuming, with about 90 prints used in the first stage. Having to then re-print some images for scaling was also very time consuming.

My work had no political agenda or comment behind it. It was art, for arts sake, influenced by the use of media to prompt feelings from the audience. By aiming solely at effectively conveying my theme, I was able to explore different approaches and find the media and techniques that fully engage the audience.

 

By looking at gallery spaces, websites, films and newspapers I gained an insight into techniques and mediums I hadn’t previously considered. I viewed Top Arts 2001, visited the Potter and the National Gallery of Brisbane. The Top Arts exhibition helped me to develop a unique piece.