One of the areas that inform my work is the digital world and as an extension of that is the notion of “Truth”. My tutor posed the questions in my last feedback “Do we need a truth?” and “Is one truth an old fashioned concept now?” In my view, truth is an increasingly elusive beast. Its importance has diminished and has been replaced by perceived truth. Who now believes politicians? I have heard (is this a truth?) that the US candidates, Trump and Clinton, paid Facebook around $250 million in the run up to the election to push targeted messages to potential voters who had been identified as for or against the particular candidate. People receiving these messages assimilated them as truth which has become part of their belief system. Whether or not these messages are in fact “true” has become largely irrelevant as “belief” is much more powerful as religious leaders across the ages will testify. The Art community is also pondering the role of “truth” in the digital age with Colin Perry asking whether Twitter destroyed truth or created a greater appetite for it, in Art Monthly July-August 2017.
In this digital age we are bombarded with messages on an unprecedented scale from adverts on our public transport systems to online peer-driven encyclopedias and forums to news stories delivered through a phone, tablet or TV. Many of these sources are unchecked and it is almost impossible to discern truth from lies.
With the advent of printing, news, gossip and propaganda could be easily disseminated to the masses. My first piece was a simple lino cut with TRUTH and LIES. Then I put together a grid of famous people past and present who were known for strong opinions, truths and/or lies and overlaid with the printed words.
With the inked bray I applied some ink to plain lining paper and also to a sketchbook page. The softer paper gave a nicer texture mark. With the addition of the word “Truth” these were nice little, graffiti-like studies.
The “Vision” study red/green/black background was influenced by Gerhard Richter’s work and my idea was to apply a similar layer of transparent paint over a collection of appropriate news clippings, tweets and portraits and then cover everything leaving the word TRUTH.
I tried several techniques to replicate the coloured background and applying a layer of gloss medium between the newsprint which was too absorbent and then applying the ink on the bray. The ink didn’t apply well over the acrylic paint so the final version has black acrylic paint layered on top using a soft roller.
The word TRUTH is formed of the gaps in the top layer of “newsprint ink” hinting that truth is ephemeral and not solid or certain.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Perry, Colin: Art Monthly Magazine July-August 2017/ No 408
Richter, Gerhard: https://www.gerhard-richter.com/
OCA Mixed Media 