Completed Painting: 'Untitled (From The New School) 4'

'Untitled (From The New School) 4', Acrylic & Paper Collage On Panel,
30 cm X 30 cm X 106 mm, 2017

Here then, is ‘Untitled (From The New School) 4’.  These little paintings seem to be coming fairly thick and fast and, as already mentioned, it’s pleasing to have something tangible to show for several months of groundwork (on several projects), but relatively few actual ‘outcomes’.

I’ve come to dislike that O-word with a mild passion, over the years, - associating it with the edu-babble of theoretical jargon that besets the school system.  It’s not an objection to the idea of something tangible resulting from all that investment of effort by teachers and learners alike (tick), but possibly something to do with the current assumption that it must always be predictable and measurable.  However, in this context, it actually feels highly appropriate.  As the title of this painting series suggests, an oblique reflection on various competing ideologies and theoretical frameworks at play within education, is an overarching theme within this work, (‘overarching’ – tick, there’s another one).

 

Andrew Smith, 'The New School', Acrylic & Digital Print On Canvas, 2016

As also previously mentioned, all this was ignited by the evocative title of Andrew Smith’s painting ‘The New School’.  However I also earn my daily corn in a supporting role in a secondary school which has, in recent years - been extensively remodeled under the BSF  programme [1.], reinvented itself as a Teaching School [2.], and become the flagship of an expanding Academy chain [3.].  The rate of systemic change I’ve observed bemusedly from the sidelines, over the last decade, has been breathtaking.  It seems inevitable therefore, that there’s something of a personal, as well as a theoretical resonance to all this.

It’s now clear that the distinctly architectural motif from Andrew’s original painting is becoming a repeat-carrier for a series of consciously selected modes of painting, as the series develops.  The idea is that this might imply, in a non-specific sense, the imposition of different theoretical, philosophical and political orthodoxies upon institutionalised schooling, over the decades.  I’m old enough to remember the scrapping of the ‘11-Plus’ system, to have been educated in a purpose-built 70s Comprehensive, (and to have been surprisingly committed to the ideals it espoused – even at that tender age), and to now witness the imposition of an ever more rigid business model, and talk of a return to selective schooling.  I feel moderately qualified to comment, if only on the grounds of age alone, (“I’ve seen ‘em come, and I’ve seen ‘em go…”etc.).

The first three panels display a gentle progression through a distinctly sunny mode of hard-edged depiction, which could suggest a kind of utopian optimism – but equally, a bland, PR-driven corporatism, I suppose. In ‘4’ however, things seem to have taken a somewhat more dystopian turn.  In fact, it’s actually a return to the largely monochrome, hybrid form of painting/collage that characterised last year’s ‘Vestige’ paintings.  If that evolved in a fairly organic manner previously - here it’s been employed more consciously as another potential ‘style’, in accord with the greater intentionality of this current series.

If this is a revisiting of the ‘Vestige’ aesthetic, it’s illuminating to recall that it was also incorporated into the ground of Andrew’s ‘The New School’ piece.  Indeed, this whole process began following a proposal that we should enter into an on-going process of reinterpreting or reworking each other.  It seems then that, in this latest painting, not only am I in conscious dialogue with Andrew’s work, but also my own.

'Vestige 2', Acrylics, paper Collage, Adhesive Tape, Ink, Spray Enamel & Misc. Solvents On Panel,
60 cm X 60 cm, 2016

There’s one last point worthy of note – relating to the modest scale of these panels, and the methodical manner of their production.  To date, each one has actually been produced in installments on school premises, during my lunch breaks, or at the end of the working day.  That situation arises out of logistical convenience, rather than any deliberate strategy – but it does mean that aside from their inspiration, these paintings are quite literally ‘From The New School’.



[1.]: 'Building Schools For The Future':  The most recent concerted attempt to renew Britain's school infrastructure in recent years.  Begun under the previous Labour administration, and continued by the Tories.  Many new builds have certainly been carried out - although exactly to what standard is debatable.  Some have questioned its apparent role in diverting vast sums of much-needed public money into private hands.

[2.]:  Similar to a Teaching Hospital - in that an institution aims to become a centre of excellence in training new teachers at the same time as educating children.  Whilst the undoubted pressure-cooker effect of a one-year PGCE-type course still apply, there would certainly appear to be some valuable synergies under this model.

[3.]:  Current political orthodoxy decrees that rapidly-expanding consortiums of increasingly autonomous educational institutions should assume the role once played by local government in the provision of state education.  The pros and cons of this are complex and way beyond the scope of this blog post.  Suffice it to say, cynics might argue that certain business imperatives must surely win-out over democratic or utopian ideals, under such a model - to some extent at least.  Proponents doubtless see this as no problem at all.