Emma Howell
7 January, 2014
Jeroen van Dooren and Pauline Emond are two students from the Royal College of Art in London, a very prestigious PostGrad University for the Arts. They came to talk to us about their own experiences as Art students and what their work is all about.
First up was Jeroen van Dooren, a dutch guy full of bizarre and fascinating ideas. He was very keen about exploring identities and the presence of the artist in the artwork- very interesting concepts! He went on to talk about alter egos (a second self), pseudonyms (a second name) and heteronyms (one or more imaginary character/s created by an artist/writer/author/video gamer designer in order to write/paint/design in different styles). Jeroen has created many heteronyms overtime and considered himself the director of his characters- he uses his characters to make different types of art. He used the example of a construction worker- what would their artwork look like? He said that every person in society acts in a certain way, so everyones Art is different for different reasons. Jeroen emphasised his desire to play with the gap between fiction and reality- he likes to use script to close this gap. He also admits that he is interested in numerous areas of Art, so having different heteronyms enables him to channel all sorts of mediums in any way he desires.. (Through his characters!)
I think Jeroen’s way of thinking is absolutely crazy, but in a good way- its fascinating and a really unique way to express his creativity.
Next up was Pauline Emond, a Belgian young woman who seemed to be quite timid but very endearing. She studies Printmaking at the college and considers her work very classical and image based- she likes to draw! She thought her school back in Belgium was too small and she moved to the UK with the hope to find another way of thinking. She felt as though her work would exhaust itself, and wasn’t challenging enough. She gave us tips about what she’s learnt about drawing- she stressed that its very important to ‘draw what you see, not what you know’ (especially when it comes to life drawing)- stop making things up, draw what is ACTUALLY there. Pauline also emphasised her interest in things being in reverse (hence why she loves printmaking- prints are in reverse!) and traces left behind. She feels that printmaking fits her way of thinking. Her talk was heart-warming because despite the fact she was very shy, I could really tell that she loves what she does- she’s really passionate about drawing and printmaking!
After this talk, it’s made me excited and determined to discover my own unique niche within Fine Art..!
Some relevant links:
Jeroen’s work: http://iamacollective.com/
Pauline’s work: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/wipshow2013/8264797746/