The Glasgow School of Art

Glimmering Realities, Hidden Objects: Rethinking material knowledge through the formative drive of art objects

Primary Supervisor: Dr Marianne Greated
Co-Supervisor: Dr Michael Stubbs

My practice as an artist-researcher is concerned with the materiality of painterly and sculptural substances, object-oriented philosophies and the spaces in and around objects. I use a diverse range of material languages to physically articulate ideas about visibility, accessibility and the remoteness of objects. I place my work in context with the strand of New Materialist philosophy called Object Oriented Ontology (OOO), a school of metaphysical thought that explores ideas of accessibility, potency and the relationality of all ‘things’. OOO proposes a framework that does not place human endeavour and understanding at the centre of its quest. My work connects to the New Materialist’s ‘turn to matter’ in that it explores the agency of organic and inorganic materials alongside their potential to exist and operate in a land beyond human perception. I am interested in this productive and creative power of things, and what remains hidden and inaccessible in these objects. If our meanings and ideas that we impose on an object does not exhaust its meaning, then objects have a life beyond the limitations of the human world.

My current research proposes a philosophic investigation into OOO and the phenomenology of what I call ‘Painting Plus’ – painting, sculpture, drawing and installation. I believe that an expanded notion of what painting constitutes spatially, materially and theoretically can answer questions about materials and their inherent knowledge and agency in the world. The overarching question at this stage is identifying how the art object itself is the location of new knowledge and the product of research.

PUBLICATIONS AND EXHIBITIONS

2020
'Becoming and Going' // 来来去去(lái lái qù qù), Solo Exhibition, Leith School of Art, Edinburgh
MFA Arts & Humanities Showcase, Alma College, Michigan, USA

2019
'Confluence: Tradition in Contemporary Art', 3-part Group Exhibition, Montclair State University USA, Dundee University and Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, China
'Elevations + Revelations', Solo Exhibition, Wushan Gallery, Chongqing, China
'a thread, a rip, a seed', Solo Exhibition, Dimensions Art Centre, Chongqing, China

2018
'Persevere' Group Exhibition, Oseana Arts Centre, Bergen, Norway

2016
MFA Degree Show, DJCAD, Dundee
'Oscillations', 2-part Group Exhibition, DJCAD, Dundee and Aegina, Greece

2015
'Winters Tales', MFA Group Exhibition, DJCAD, Dundee
'The Ruler and The Realm', Solo Exhibition, Leith School of Art, Edinburgh

2014
'Collective Ground', Group Exhibition, Patriothall Studios, Edinburgh
Artist in Residence showcase, Edinburgh Academy
Hidden Door Festival, Edinburgh

https://www.ginnyelston.com/