But what is a joke? 

OUR ANSWERS

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Thomas Holland:

1. my works for this exhibition are all about Essex and the Essex identity, where it came from, how we can reinterpret it, and where it’s going 

2. my main inspiration behind this entire project has been Sarah Perry’s book Essex Girls

3. i have used photographs from those movements to influence my own image making

4. i was asked by Tu if i wanted to join her group and after reading the brief i decided it fit my work the best as my work tends to incorporate humour and has a tongue in cheek element to it

5. write a to do list and a schedule, stick to your schedule as best as you can but allow for changes and to relax, take a day off!

 

 

 Tu Pham:

1. My work revolves around mental health, advertisement and consumption. By using my own customised emoji stickers called ‘the Awakened Inner Child (A.I.C)’, I try to bring attention this new form of communications (that’s only been around about a decade) which is dictating our sense of identity. 

2. My inspiration for this project came from my own daily usages of emoji and chat messages, especially during Covid lock-down when messengers become our most common form of communication.

3. This piece that I’m exhibiting is not directly influenced by Dada or the surrealist movement, but my practice this year has been looking into automatism.

4. My joint collaboration with a fellow artist called Thom Walker led me to think of making a group exhibition dedicating to humour.

5. Think in the big picture about the trajectory of your art practice or your career as a whole, then do what you need to do while remember that we’re all gunna die :D - better enjoy it ~

 

 

Xuke Lin

1.My work is about my own reflections on existentialist philosophy, and incorporates traditional Chinese culture. (The concept of ancient musical instruments, Taoist culture and Zen)

 For the final work I am simply exploring the value and self-perception of the self and making something interesting.

2.My work is influenced by existentialist philosophy, of which the books of Albert Camus is a major source of inspiration.

3.My work is less influenced by these two movements

4.I read Tu's presentation about the group on miro and I was very interested in it. After emailing with Tu and subsequent communication on whatsapp got me to join the group.

5.Choose a group of like-minded students to communicate and interact more, and do what interests you most.

 

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Fenglong Li

1.Through my work, I try to explain the challenges we face that this era gives to us when contemporary society is trying to "rebuild our spiritual homeland with nostalgia in mind".

2.My main motivation comes from the spiritual aspirations and social phenomena of contemporary society, while Marx's "Capital" and "Communist Manifesto" books provide me with plenty of entry points and inspiration for my thinking.

3.I don't refer to a lot of Dadaism and Surrealism, but as I used to produce Surrealist style paintings and Dadaist photography as well, I believe the influence of Surrealism and Dadaism on me comes from my subconscious.

4.I think I am a person with sense of  dark humor and at the same time, I like to satirize things through my work, so I chose this group.

5.Everyday life is the best teacher of creativity, try to enjoy life and pay attention to it. Art is a journey of exploration of truth, it is so real, try to be honest with yourself and explore your true spiritual pursuits.

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Lola Delourme

1.My work within this exhibition looks at the moment between obsession and disgust. Primarily looking at disordered relationships with food, when the feeling of desperately needing something rapidly changes to guilt once food has been consumed. 

2.The basis of my work this year has been influenced by early 2000s tv shows like super-size vs super skinny, The more recent YouTube Mukbang phenomenon, and Vanitas paining’s. I’ve been interested in how food has been used as a moral tool to control society and the way we view each other. 

3.The main influence from the DADA movent for me is the process of making. The quick unprecious style of the collages is something I have been doing in my making, for me, this represents a vulnerability and truthfulness also an act which can only be done through a large amount of confidence. 

4.I joined the group after Tu reached out to me, I was intrigued by the similar themes of food and morality in our work. 

5.Try and have fun with it, it’s easy to get swept up in the whirlwind of stress and pressure of it.

 

Jiuming Liu

1. for the graduation exhibition, I have chosen to present three pieces from my current project as a group, three pieces that exploit the potential artistry of plinth in different ways.

2. Antony Gormley's analysis of the artwork gave me a way to think about my work in a more holistic way.

3. I hadn't thought about it, at first I saw it and subconsciously I thought it wasn't there, but then I thought about it and Dada's surrealism had mentioned that the anti-logic was part of the style of my current work, but I wasn't sure if he had influenced me, because he was one of the pioneers of contemporary art and he had influenced the future direction of part of contemporary art, when I already had a direction. After I found out that my style of work is partly compatible with Dadaism, so my answer is, I don't know, haha.

4. The genesis of this project was that I saw plinth as a companion piece in large numbers in the gallery and I saw its hidden potential. It was Lily who saw my work and said, I see the humour in your work, you should join the humour group, and I came.

5.  my advice is to enjoy the time you end up working at csm.