Research task: 365 projects

How might you produce a similar daily project?

I like the idea of creating a drawing every day. I find Bryan Eccleshall’s project very interesting. He started the project without knowing what the outcome would be and concentrated on the process and the act of doing something. He said it himself “If I just do something, and keep doing it, something will happen”. In his case, he noticed how he improved his drawing and created a collection of sketches that, taken together, had an impact that he might not have expected.

What could the subject or content be?

The subject would have to be defined with clear boundaries as, otherwise, it can become confusing and it might be hard to keep the motivation to carry on.

When I researched some of the suggested artists, I noticed how the subject of the study does not have to be something extraordinary. Bryan Eccleshall selected elements that are often overlooked such as the features in the room. In his film The Clock, Christian Marclay was interested in the little moments in a film when time is mentioned (https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/marclay-the-clock-t14038). When Alfredo Jaar decided to convey the horror of the genocide in Rwanda, he concentrated on the eyes of a 5 year old child who had witnessed the genocide. His eyes are featured in a huge number of slides gathered together to evoke mass graves. Such a tragedy is difficult to comprehend, so in a sense, he brought it back to one element in order to make the public understand: the sadness in the eyes of the child (https://contemporaryartsociety.org/wordpress/news/friday-dispatch-news/alfredo-jaar-25-years-later-goodman-gallery-london/).

Douglas Gordon’s film about Zinedine Zidane consists in filming the footballer in real time during a football match (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zidane:_A_21st_Century_Portrait). The film shows how considering something from a different angle changes everything. The artist did not concentrate on the highlights of the matches, but on all these moments when apparently nothing happens. As a result, we feel that we can see the match from the footballer’s point of view.

When I looked at the project of Bryan Eccleshall, the series called Today created by On Kawara (https://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2014/july/14/on-kawaras-date-paintings-explained/) or Christian Marclay’s film the Clock, I noticed how their work all have an element of repetition to explore an aspect in depth. There could be a temptation to just create a drawing a day about any subject, but the outcome might not be so satisfying.

I would consider choosing a theme such as nature around me. I live near Greenwich Park and I have sometimes thought that it would be interesting to concentrate on the botanical aspect for instance and draw flowers and vegetation. There are also amazing trees with intricate trunks and branches that tell a story. I sometimes take pictures of them. it could be an idea to create a collection of sketches around that theme.

Another option could be to illustrate the same subject with different media that could include photography, sketches and collages to see what happens.

Think of things that happen regularly but might change slightly, like going to the shops, or reading a newspaper, or a domestic routine.

Nature changes all the time. Sketching the same spot everyday would create an interesting collection.

I also like how the atmosphere in a high street changes depending on the time of day, the season or the weather and I think that I would enjoy illustrating these changes.

How could the way you record it vary, or what form might your record of it take? Could it be drawn in a diary, or as a calendar? Could it be 365 photographs of the view outside your window, or a series of collages from the daily newspaper?

Sketches or other forms of illustration could be gathered in a sketchbook. Alternatively, I could use a series of cards, all in the same dimension (A5). Or maybe the support could be totally different, such as a roll of paper, where new sketches on the same theme would be added everyday, a bit like a tapestry. This idea was inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry).