emma's notepad

2012-01-12T10:05:00.001-08:00

Pushing Moss,

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

56cm x 76cm, 2012.

Pushing Colour,

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

56cm x 76cm, 2012.

Sorting through the work!

2012-01-12T09:59:00.001-08:00

Untitled,

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 180cm, 2011.

There is a backlog of work - unphotographed - say, 200 drawings! Very slowly, I'm starting to go through them. Resolve them and upload them.

Initial Experiments Animating Internal Landscapes

2011-10-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

Looking Outside In,

digitised pastel and silkscreen (animated version),

Emma Neuberg,

2009-11.

Raining Stars,

digitised pastel and silkscreen (animated version),

Emma Neuberg,

2009-11.

(Is It) The Memory of Summer,

digitised pastel and silkscreen (animated version),

Emma Neuberg,

2010-1.

My continued pursuit of the trad/tech conjuncture

2011-09-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Nigerian Pattern 3,

Emma Neuberg,

digitised silkscreen print, 2011.

Nigerian Pattern 1,

Emma Neuberg,

digitised silkscreen print, 2011.

Nigerian Pattern 2,

Emma Neuberg,

digitised silkscreen print, 2011.

Experiments Begin with Neon Inspired Grounds

2011-09-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

Oh No,

Emma Neuberg, 2011

The trad/tech textile conjuncture

2011-09-01T06:06:00.000-07:00

Alison's Embroidered Skirt,
Animation by Emma Neuberg, 2011

Alison's Skirt#616,
Animation by Emma Neuberg, 2011

Co-design: some of Emma's thoughts out loud.

Alison's Target Skirt,

Animation by Emma Neuberg, 2011

Some slightly different thoughts..

Alison's Small Target Skirt,

Animation by Emma Neuberg, 2011

Alison's Plastic Bubbles Skirt,

Animation by Emma Neuberg, 2011

Henri Stephany Revisited

2011-08-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

Wheels of Fortune,

animated pochoir,

Emma Neuberg, 2011.

Vous êtes parti longtemps,
animated pochoir,
Emma Neuberg, 2011.

The artist has been reanimating Henri Stephany's pochoir techniques (perfected during the early twentieth century) through a digital format that relates to other work in progress; namely, applying kinetic prints to fashion textiles:

Pucci Vegas Look 1,
animated digital print,
Emma Neuberg, 2011.

Pucci Vegas Look 2,
animated digital print,
Emma Neuberg, 2011.

The Plastics Age

2011-08-15T15:03:00.001-07:00

When We Were Young (Homage to Simon Cook),
Emma Neuberg,
animated e-paper,

20cm x 18cm, 2011.

Polyvore Says Buy More,

Emma Neuberg,

animated e-paper,

18cm x 18cm, 2011.

Where Are They Now?

Emma Neuberg,

animated gouache, 2011

Experimental Work with Digital Prints

2011-08-11T09:20:00.001-07:00

Digital print animated, 2011.

Neon Myths III

2011-08-09T15:49:00.001-07:00

Light Change,Emma Neuberg,

digital animation,

25cm x 30cm, 2011

New Work On Cultural Transmission

2011-07-26T05:53:00.001-07:00

Susan Brown,

Emma Neuberg,

animated silkscreen print and plastic on paper,

25cm x 30cm, 2011

Design 745,

Emma Neuberg,

animated silkscreen print and plastic on paper,

25cm x 30cm, 2011.

Animated stripe test I

2011-07-25T10:10:00.000-07:00

Stripe Test 1,
Emma Neuberg,

Animated silkscreen print and plastic, 2011.

My recent animations have got me looking at Julian Opie's work and their connotations:

New experiments in analogue and digital

2011-07-19T11:29:00.001-07:00

Oxfordshire Landscape

2011-07-18T05:13:00.001-07:00

Resting Place,

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2011.

Recent Drawings III

2011-01-21T10:55:00.001-08:00

Snakeskin,

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 180cm, 2010.

Thoughts Made

2010-12-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

Ceci n'est pas impermeable,

Emma Neuberg,

acrylic on canvas, 2010.

Unchanged European Textile Activities

2010-11-16T14:08:00.000-08:00

The image depicts the age-old harvesting of saffron on Santorini, Greece.

The 'interiors' wall-painting dates between 2000 - 1500BC.

Here is the plant today, photographed by Greek photographer, Klearchos Kapoutsis, whilst out on the hillsides of Santorini with his wife earlier this month:

The Minoan (Greek) girl depicted is not so far removed from Klearchos Kapoutsis' wife 4000 years later..

An instructive account of Klearchos Kapoutsis and his wife searching for the plant can be found on his blog.

The Minoan girl depicted in this mural from Akrotiki, Santorini, is wearing a woven yellow top dyed by the saffron plant she harvests:

More coming soon..

Molly Dilworth

2010-11-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

Paintings for Satellites / 16 ManhattanMolly DilworthBrooklyn, USA

Rooftop painting at 16 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY by Molly Dilworth to be viewed on Google Earth. The light colors reduce the heat absorbed into the building - one small action to help reduce the heat-island effect.

(Photograph © Eura Chun).

Simon Cook Drawings

2010-11-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

Today, per chance, I stumbled across the work of a young British artist called Simon Cook and felt so moved that I have been compelled to share it.

V&A class research

2010-10-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at the Russian folk artists who inspired Natalia Goncharova before she embarked on her designs for Sergei Diaghilev's infamous Ballets Russes.

Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin (1876-1942).

A visual idealization of tsarist authority
based on the lines

"Our Tsarevich, much amazed,
At a spacious city gazed...."

from
Skazki by Alexander Pushkin.

To join our textiles workshops on these and related subjects go

here.

Some traditional folk tales here.

Recent Drawings II

2010-08-27T05:51:00.001-07:00

Raining Stars,

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2010.

There,
Emma Neuberg,
silk screen print and pastel on paper,
66cm x 50cm, 2010.

The Swirl,

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2010.

The Neuberg Family Textile Recycling Factory, Hannover, Germany, 1841 to 1937:

2010-08-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler's regime took control of the Neuberg Textile Factory.

On this site today are public gardens.

European history unfolds: a rich, deep-running, shared and complex history.

Matisse in his Studio

2010-08-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

In it we see a North African haiti hanging in the window. In the exhibition catalogue, Matisse, His Art and His Textiles, these are described as "pierced textiles made of pieces of colored fabrics mounted on a length of heavy jute" mimicking the intricately carved, light-filtering wooden screens commonly seen in Morocco.

Thought for the Day

2010-07-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

"The greater the integration of manifest and latent material, the more likely a satisfactory interpretation of powerful feelings produced by the object will be achieved."

Richard Kuhns, Psychoanalytic Theory of Art, A Philosophy of Art on Developmental Principles.

Recent Drawings I

2010-05-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Consequences Denied,

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2010.

Ravine,

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2010.

Crushing Fever,

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2010.

Quilts: 1700 -2010 at the V&A, March til July 2010

2010-02-16T13:02:00.000-08:00

Inheritance I,

Emma Neuberg,

mixed media, 2m x 1.5m, 2010.

Quilt of Life,

Emma Neuberg,

2011

Digital patchwork inspired by John Conway's Game of Life, 1970,

The Mold Gold Cape, UK, as featured on BBC Radio 4

2009-12-29T12:37:00.000-08:00

Food for thought

from 2000BC:

Billboard Skirts VI

2009-11-06T14:35:00.001-08:00

Material Actions: T extile Forum South West

selects

The Billboard Skirts for

Material Actions touring exhibition

6th September to 16th October 2010

The View Point Gallery, Plymouth and

23rd October to 9th January 2011

The Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, Exeter.

The Starmix War Skirt,

Emma Neuberg,

mixed media, 100cm x 70cm, 2007.

New work

2009-10-09T09:45:00.001-07:00

New painting.

Feeling Down at Heel,

Emma Neuberg,

acrylic on paper, detail,

one of the Equal Opportunities collection,

2m x 1.5m, 2009.

"Extended Life" Techniques for Plastics

2009-07-31T03:58:00.000-07:00

Plastic lasts between 400 and 4000 years.

How throwaway is that?

These postcards feature some of Emma Neuberg's work with Extended Life Textile Techniques applied to discarded plastic sheet with easy-to-replicate waste minimisation strategies in mind.

An overlap between product and textiles offers solutions for re-use, upcycling and imbuing plastic with emotion, durability and new life.

These may be re-interpreted in an infinite variety of ways.

To request further info, please leave your details on the Waste Minimisation Research page.

And here is the plentiful resource:

Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Vintage Plastic Samplers

2009-01-15T02:51:00.001-08:00

'Blobjects', a term coined by Aaron Betsky, are not the only plastic paradigm.

Their heralding of the smooth and shiny renders them tired and obsolete as soon as scratches appear.

Blobjects epitomise consumer society's lust for the new object.

Their form also tells us something about that need (scroll to 'Psychoanalytic Attachment Theory').

La Glycine ,

Emma Neuberg,

mixed media,

42cm x 30cm, 2000-08.

Sequin Rose,

Emma Neuberg,

mixed media,

42cm x 30cm, 2000-08.

Looking Outside I

2008-12-19T09:49:00.001-08:00

Artist working on triptych, (silkscreen print and pastel, 66cm x 150cm), Greece, 2008.

Looking forward, looking back. Extensions of this work are underway in stitch.

'Looking Outside In',

Emma Neuberg,

silkscreen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2009.

Simultaneous Shifts I

2008-11-12T15:52:00.001-08:00

Elements of The Hinged Series, 2007 - ongoing:

How Hard This Is

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2008.

Navigating the Boundaries

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2008.

More recent variations in 2010:

Transformation

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2010.

Here We Are

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2010.

The Making of a Picture,

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print and pastel on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2010.

Meanwhile, at 160,000 light years..

2008-09-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

While we're rummaging around trying to sell ever-proliferating products to ever-proliferating humans via ever-proliferating electronic transmission, out there, at 160,000 light-years, physics and chemistry continue their ever-shifting motions..

NASA: "Swirls of gas and dust reside in this ethereal-looking region of star formation seen by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. This majestic view, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, reveals a region where low-mass, infant stars and their much more massive stellar neighbors reside.

A shroud of blue haze gently lingers amid the stars. Known as LH 95, this is just one of the hundreds of star-forming systems located in the Large Magellanic Cloud some 160,000 light-years distant."

Notice the old guy with the beard. (Especially when you realise how far 160,000 light years is).

Neon Myths - Work in Progress

2008-09-10T05:22:00.001-07:00

'Insurmountable Bollocks - England'

Emma Neuberg,

silk screen print, vinyl, gold, plaster on paper,

66cm x 50cm, 2008 - 9.

'Repetitive Triangles',

Emma Neuberg,

silkscreen print and vinyl,

66cm x 50cm, 2008.

Semafore as code, a new adventure in communication.

Redundancy of the Same Signal, Baudrillard:

'Make Me Feel Good Again',

Emma Neuberg,

silkscreen print and vinyl,

66cm x 50cm, 2008.

'White Stripe, Silver Cursor',

Emma Neuberg,

digital print,

66cm x 50cm, 2009.

'Orange and Blue',

Emma Neuberg,

digital print,

66cm x 50cm, 2009.

Postscript:

"Survivalist Signalling for the Fast Object."

Plastic Rubbish Mining

2008-08-15T07:25:00.001-07:00

"High Price of Plastics Raises Prospect of Rubbish Mining in Dumps", The Times, 12th August 2008.

"The value of second-hand plastic has risen so rapidly that mining operations to dig it out of rubbish dumps are forecast to begin within the decade.

Waste suitable for recycling is already being dug out of landfill sites in the United States and it is thought that commodity prices are on the verge of making it a profitable option in Britain.

Rubbish dumps are regarded by the recycling industry as an untapped source of riches, with an estimated 200 million tonnes of plastic buried as landfill since the late 1980s. At today's prices of £200 a tonne the discarded plastic has a value of about £40 billion...

Peter Mills, of New Earth Solutions, a specialist in waste treatment and recovery technology, said that small-scale operations to retrieve discarded plastic from landfill were already being considered in Britain. He said: “In the States they have gone back in and have been mining for plastic.. Within the UK we have an eye on it. Within the next decade, landfill mining in a controlled or limited basis is going to be viable...”

Billboard Vertigo

2008-07-24T03:15:00.001-07:00

So, is this sustainable?

Times Square, New York, 2007.

Les Déboulonneurs take action, Paris, 2007.

From Straw to Gold - Upcycling and Long Life Design

2008-07-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

Pure Poison, Dior perfume ad, 2006.

"One woman's gold is another woman's rubbish; one woman's rubbish is another woman's gold", Emma Neuberg, 2008.

Studies on Paper II

2008-06-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

I shouldn't really be doing this...putting unfinished works on public record. Any road, for a short while this pic is blogging itself as it grows into a larger series called The Cloaks of Deception.

Pictured:
Emma Neuberg, Cloak of Deception, silkscreen and ink on paper, 120cm x 70cm, 2008.
Photos by the artist, copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

Studies on Paper I

2008-06-03T02:42:00.001-07:00

For years now I have been exhibiting my plastics work, but all the while there has been non-plastics work.

Recently, I have been revisiting these pieces so that they can be, paradoxically, laid to rest and taken out to show.

Paper works such as this one have run alongside my plastics output and may be of interest to some for the apparent parallels.

'Obscured Vision',

Emma Neuberg,

acrylic, gold foil, rayon flock fibre on paper,

65cm x 42cm, 2003-8.

Polythene Recycled

2008-05-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Some sartorial experiments that collage used plastic bags on to old denim skirts for rain-proof, trickle-down effects:

Pictured:
Emma Neuberg, 'This is Not a Plastic Bag, Skirt I' and 'This is Not a Plastic Bag, Skirt II' from the series 'The Anya Hindmarch Skirts', polythene laminated on to denim, 110cm x 70cm, 2008.
Photo by the artist, copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

Plastic Debris

2008-04-27T02:22:00.000-07:00

A moment of shelter in Darfur, March 2008:

Bags of Non-Containment

2008-04-13T15:54:00.001-07:00

'Bags of Non-Containment' (from a series of six),

Emma Neuberg,

recycled pvc, acrylic, polyester foil, rayon flock fibre,

50cm x 40cm, 2000.

Faded Plastic

2008-04-06T16:07:00.000-07:00

So now Burtynsky has set the agenda, it's time to bring out my own collection of rubbished plastic.

Here are some favourite shots from over the years.

For those who know me, you may recognise that Greece, my childhood land, has always been a place of fading forms.

Pictured:
Emma Neuberg, Kerbside Toys, Nafplio, 2005.
Photos by the artist, copyright 2005. All rights reserved.

Manufactured Landscapes

2008-04-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

Are you familiar with Ed Burtynsky's movie of the title name?

If not, check out this link

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4eLsRUbtBk&feature=related

Or, for an edited version, click on one of the frames at Burtynsky's Always Changing Video Bar...

Really it's like three documentaries in one. It resonates visually, economically, philosophically, environmentally and ethically. Above all, it is a tale of plastic production and consumption on a global scale.

Blossom Capes

2008-03-31T13:17:00.000-07:00

Each cape is made from polyethylene vinyl acetate (PEVA), an environmentally favourable thermoplastic, that has been printed and hand-painted.

The Blossom Capes,

Emma Neuberg,

mixed media, 40cm x 70cm, 2006-8.

For further information go to http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/about-us/press-room/2006/well-fashioned-eco-style-in-the.

'Mapping',

Emma Neuberg,

Silkscreen print, pastel and pencil on paper,

60cm x 40cm, 2007.

Stitch II - close-up

2007-11-22T05:37:00.000-08:00

We can see the embroidered stitches more clearly here - they add extra dimension to the print beneath.

These are being developed into 'The Hinged/Unhinged Series'.

Pictured:

Emma Neuberg, 'Momentoes of Love', rayon thread on rayon flocked recycled pvc, detail from original, 120cm x 100cm, 2007.

Stitch II

2007-11-22T04:01:00.000-08:00

The next chapter for my stitched and printed work will be free-standing, hinged panels. These nine hinged panels, 'Momentoes of Love', are flocked plastic, printed, stitched and stretched over padded board.

Pictured:
Emma Neuberg, 'Momentoes of Love', rayon thread on rayon flocked recycled pvc, 120cm x 100cm, 2007.
Photo by the artist, copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

Billboard Skirts V - "Making The Myths Visible"

2007-11-21T04:00:00.001-08:00

Barbie and Friends Go Shopping,

Emma Neuberg,

mixed media,

110cm x 70cm, 2007.

'Barbie and Friends Go Shopping' is another of my Billboard Skirts conceived especially for the Experimental Recycled Textiles show at Chelsea College of Art (www.tedresearch.net).

As seen, Barbie clones shop in all the cities printed in white-on-gold (American Apparel carrier bags, montaged), in search of that quintessential Mattel look.

Image carried with www.metro.co.uk headline (25/03/08):
"Boob Jobs Soar as Teens Copy Celebs"

(For further Barbie cloning info start with www.cindyjackson.com and the book "Forever Barbie" by M G Lord).

Billboard Skirts IV

2007-11-20T10:51:00.003-08:00

But I Thought It Would Come True,

Emma Neuberg,

polythene on denim, 140cm x 100cm, 2007.

A plastic tableau:
in the bottom left corner, clones of Disney's Cinderella, Belle and Sleeping Beauty shimmy in a bath of light. Their promise of beauty, fulfilment and liberation through romantic love is marked by Tinkerbell, sprinkling her aluminised-polyester dust.

The central protagonist - the girl from Oasis Stores S/S 07 plastic bag - searches in vain in this Promised Land, behind her, the Royal Garden and beyond, ID. Above these is 'Costcutter' and in the opposite direction, 'Self-checkout'.

Billboard Skirts III - close-up

2007-11-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

Hey Superman, Let's Try Something New Today,

detail, polythene on denim,

120cm x 70cm, 2007.

Up close the collage effect and the plastic quality of the skirts is apparent.

With a nod to Paolozzi's early montages, I kept the arrangements as prosaic as possible.

Several months later, I spotted this Convent Garden ad that is evidently promoting the sale of more stuff for the garden. An ideal opportunity for Superman and his polka-dot look-a-likes to go buy more stuff.

Billboard Skirts III

2007-11-15T06:04:00.000-08:00

Hey Superman, Let's Try Something New Today,

Emma Neuberg,

polythene on denim, 120cm x 70cm, 2007.

A modern day tableau:

Our treat-size, bikini-clad protagonist, who usually lives on a laundry bag, has relocated to a garden filled with plastic wind flowers and fairy lights.

She's not feeling remotely 'frazzled', despite having eaten all those e-filled snacks.

In fact, she's ready to buy some more stuff, especially if Superman is willing.

To her left, there's the Evergreen Trust 'planting prosperity' and in the undergrowth on the right, there's a repetitive 'surprise'.

Billboard Skirts II

2007-11-15T03:25:00.000-08:00

Each Billboard Skirt is made from discarded plastic packaging. This is then cut and shaped before being pressed on to denim wrap-a-rounds.

"Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?", written in ransom note letters, takes us back to Richard Hamilton, 1956.

The Injection-Moulded Plastic Promise of all our comfort and technological needs are here: the semi-clad, air-brushed girls, the synthetic zebra carpet, the iBook, Tom Dixon's blow-moulded 'Star Light' and Philippe Starck's 'Richard III' injected polypropylene chair. Plus, a v large pink disco ball.

'Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?',

Emma Neuberg,

polythene on denim,

110cm x 70cm, 2007.

Billboard Skirts I

2007-10-18T03:10:00.000-07:00

Some of my latest work includes a collection of skirts called The Billboard Skirts.

In a land of plenty and a sea of plastic, these pieces tell a story of empty consumerism.

Last year, Lucy Siegle wrote in The Observer magazine, "One Family, one month, 50kg of packaging."

When curator Rebecca Earley, at TextilesEnvironmentDesign (Chelsea College of Art and Design), asked me to consider a textiles recycling project, Siegle's headline came to mind.

Each skirt is made of recycled plastic bags. Several were on show at Chelsea's Triangle Gallery this month.

The finished version:

The New Improved Swissland,

Emma Neuberg,

mixed media,

120cm x 65cm, 2007.

Another Kind of Sea or More Events of the Day:

The Flood,

Embroidered Pillow Cover,

Early 17th century, V&A Museum collection.

Experiments in Flock V

2007-10-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

The flowers, the lace and the matrix begin to converge here with my new found technique. Such experiments will be continued with air-filled structures too.

Drawings on paper:

'How Real Are You,'

Emma Neuberg,

Silkscreen print, pastel and pencil on paper,

60cm x 4ocm, 2007.

Experiments in Flock IV

2007-10-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

Whilst developing my watercolour flocking technique, I've gotten into taking photographs again.

These become an integral part of the printing process as can be seen in this work-in-progress image while making aesthetic decisions about layout and placement.

I use the photographs to map on to 3d forms in anticipation of structural forms too:

Experiments in Flock III

2007-10-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

The effect of using screen-printed flock fibre as a watercolour substrate continues in my cape pieces from 2006 - 8.

Experiments in Flock II

2007-10-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

In 2005 I started experimenting with polyethelene vinyl acetate for the first time. It feels more like paper than other sheet plastics. I started to flock larger areas too and added pigment to the flock, once printed, to create a watery effect in plastics.

Stitch I

2007-10-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

So, after foiling and flocking, I thought I'd try stitching.

This yellow number is stitched into 3-ply laminated pvc and polyester.

The lace print is lifted from one of my Victorian samples. A variation on this theme is soon to be inflated.

Some experiments in air and welding structural channels before creating similar with printed material:

An illustration of one of a series of embellished, inflated skirts:

'Left Hanging',

Emma Neuberg,

pen and ink on paper,

21cm x 30cm, 1998.

Pictured:
(1) Emma Neuberg, Neon Dress, PVC, 50cm x 50cm x 150cm, 1997.
(2) Emma Neuberg, Left Hanging, pen and ink on paper, 21cm x 30cm, 1998.
Photos by the artist, copyright 1997-8. All rights reserved.

Experiments in Flock I

2007-10-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

Polyester flock fibre is a great addition to any printed surface. I use alot of flock fibre in all different ways, as relief texture, as opaque contrast to metallic sheen, as a water-receptive substrate, as a 'delineated pathway' or encapsulated. This sample with red flock lace on top of gold foil lace is an early example from 1999.

Experiments in Lace III - Metallics

2007-10-15T05:34:00.000-07:00

By early 2000 I was busy laminating my plastic prints. I use the word laminate in its technical context, ie pressing thermoplastic foils together to create a flexible composite. Here we have a three-ply lamination where the pink, lilac and gold layers are just distinguishable. At the bottom is just one ply with a metallic gold lace print visible, casting a blurry shadow.
The use then of lace as a marker of pathways and something that binds together is a repeated motif that kept re-surfacing til the end of the decade.

Experiments in Lace II - Holographic

2007-10-15T05:24:00.000-07:00

This is a holographic lace print from 1996 similar to the one I used for "Tom Dixon's Sandwich Box' chair seen below. You can see its glittering, rainbow baroque qualities and shadow imprint.

Experiments with Air II

2007-09-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

This is my 'Tom Dixon's Sandwich Box Chair' with Micko Westmoreland modelling (who played Marc Bolan in The Velvet Underground). We photographed it in the RCA Photography department in March 1997.
The material is clear pvc with a polyester holographic foil print that had great reflection and refraction properties. It's quite nu-rave!

Pictured:
Emma Neuberg, 'Tom Dixon's Sandwich Box Chair', polyester foil on pvc, 150cm x 150cm, 1997.
Photo by the artist, copyright 1997. All rights reserved.

Experiments with Air I

2007-09-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

From 1992, I experimented with air-filled structures. These early efforts were with unprinted plastics.

By 1997, however, I had perfected my printing techniques enough to start taking these into 3d. Pictured here is a typical example of my way of working and form-finding. The process is slow and experimental. I was searching for a seat form for exhibition in the then new Challenge of Materials Gallery at the Science Museum, London.

Other experiments have included more architectural forms that were generated in a collaboration with Hungarian architect Judit Kimpian:

Significant Images III

2007-09-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

I love this portrait of George Harrison for its use of stitch as lace screen. Presumably, the sheer chemise was pressed under a glass plate as the image was exposed directly on to the photographic paper.

See what I mean about the light and shade of lace, b&w photgraphy and positive/negative image?

Photograph by Robert Whitaker of George Harrison, 1966.

Significant Images II

2007-09-21T04:34:00.000-07:00

Talking of light and shade in terms of the language, both actual and symbolic, of lace, I'm posting another portrait that resonates: Gerald Laing's Brigitte Bardot, 1963.

The positive/negative language of b&w photography and the binary system of benday dots have similar resonance with lace. The photograph, or in this case, Laing's painting of the photograph, becomes veil. Structuralism's binary opposites are also here.

It's so rare to see the artist at work too, unconsciously defining himself and doing so by capturing a beautiful woman's features in tiny black dots, like the stitches of a needlepoint.

Is the process like an allegory for life? You make all these little marks, movements and gestures and it's not 'til later that you get a sense of the overall picture?

Significant Images I

2007-09-21T02:43:00.000-07:00

Talking of lace, I've always loved this image of the actress Julianne Moore. It was the cover of Flaunt magazine in November 1999. The lace element was embossed. It reminds me of so much: the multi-layered internal/external screen.

Post added in Spring 2008:

The lace screen has re-appeared in some new paper pieces that I've been working on in May 2008:

'Goodbye You,'

Emma Neuberg,

acrylic, gold foil, rayon flock fibre on paper,

65cm x 42cm, 2003-8.

Experiments in Lace I

2007-09-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

In 1996, lace motifs started to feature in my work. This was due to a number of reasons, both conscious and unconscious. Alexander McQueen's seminal arrival on the fashion scene brought with it a gothic vibe that reverberrated through the RCA's Fashion&Textiles department. Along with his agressive spikes and severe silhouettes was an abundance of lace. The baroque was back and here was an aesthetic that I not only dressed myself in, but could lend the plastics I was experimenting with a darker, more turbulent force.

On the surface, lace connotes ideas of feminitiy and tradition. Look more closely and there are associations of frailty, mourning and screening. Think of Edward Steichen's photo of Gloria Swanson (www.galerie-photo.com/images/xx665-edward-steichen-1926.jpg). There are also inherent links with light and shade, pattern and pathways. Part of an online definition reads: "That which binds or holds, especially by being interwoven..." The verb and the noun are inherently linked.

Pictured:
Emma Neuberg, 'Liberty No.4', rayon flock fibre on multi-layered, foiled pvc and polyester, 44cm x 35cm, 2000.
Photo by the artist, copyright 2000. All rights reserved.

Plastic - The Early Years II

2007-09-02T06:58:00.000-07:00

During the winter of 1994, whilst working as an usherette at the Everyman cinema, I was at Adam Baron's party chatting to his girlfriend, Lucy. She told me about a postgraduate programme at the Royal College of Art, London, where you could design your own course - it was called an 'MA by Project'. Nine months later, I was in the Textiles Department poised to do a 'practice-based research degree' - an MPhil by Project. It took me five years and became a PhD.

From 1995 to 2000 all I did was print and weld plastic. I did this is in a fairly intuitive way. I knew I wanted to concentrate on sheet plastics for a time, but didn't know why. I had my academic justifications - like the sparcity of printed plastics in the marketplace - but I suspect, as behind all actions, there were deeper reasons for developing what essentially became printed skins.

Certainly, by developing my own printing techniques for sheet plastics, I was establishing ownership of a new, unique plastic interpretation. There was the generic public understanding of what sheet plastic, namely vinyl, was and looked like (as epitomised by Inflate's products of the time), but I had my own ideas. 'Making my mark' was what was really going on - a need to define my vision in counterpoise to the mainstream.

Looking back, I was creating a bridge between my montages and fantastical epoxy work of the early 1990s (see below). This can be seen in 'Sequin Rose' (pictured), where the black graphic lines have been heat-pressed in transparent layers to create a sense of depth and 'seeing through', as well as the repeated use of the rose. Where the bridge falls short is in the translation to 3D. Although there are examples of 3d vinyl work, (coming soon), I have yet to take them to the place they warrant being. A job for the future..

Plastic - The Early Years I

2007-09-01T11:09:00.000-07:00

From 1990 to 1994, I fell in love with a set of materials that seemed to suggest anything was possible. This was particularly resonant after the trauma my family had been through - where concepts of normality had been broken. With plastic, I could create worlds and visions that would not only take on any form, but any colour and opacity. The possibilities and combinations were endless. Suddenly, the layered worlds of Svankmajer and Kolar, the glitter and pathos of Logan and theatre, the vibrancy of Saint Phalle and Warhol and the visual trickery of early film, all met in a passionate period of exploration and experiment.

My work of this period falls into two categories: montage in sheet plastics and sculpting in polyester resin. The former marks my initital line of enquiry and was inspired by Maholy-Nagy's modernist abstractions and Warhol's repetitious prints. 'Through the Looking Glass', an early montage from 1992 (pictured), indicates my interest in translucent films, grid formations and underlying ideas of multiplex vision. The latter, sculpting in polyester resin, made manifest my visions in 3D with more fantastical scenes - see 'Angel No 4' below. These were inspired by William Blake, Andrew Logan and Jeff Koons.

Pictured:
Emma Neuberg, 'Through the Looking Glass', printed acetate and hand-dyed pvc collage on paper, 297mm x 420mm, 1992.
Photo taken by Emma Neuberg, copyright 1992. All rights reserved.

Looking Back - The 1990s

2007-08-17T04:25:00.000-07:00

Headless or The Drawing of the Angels - Angel No. 4, pen and ink on paper, 20cm x 15cm, 1993.

The 1990s marked a momentous decade on every level. Life started.

Living in the shadow of my only sibling's fall into schizophrenia, a new set of tools and references came to me. Rather than the spontaneity, hedonism and romance of earlier years, my work started to take on a darker mood.

Angel No. 4, epoxy resin, brass, gold foil, 140cm x 43cm, 1993.

The infuence of artists such as Frank Stella receded as narrative artists such as Jan Svankmajer, Jiri Kolar and Andrew Logan took over. Theirs was a symbolic journey with magical, surrealist elements that offered an opportunity for escape and transcendence. Satire and haunting conflict were evident in their layering of materials and meaning and theirs became a language I increasingly looked towards.

Paradoxically, the decade opened with a hedonistic show at the V&A in London, entitled The Plastics Age. I went along. The joy and escapist quality inherent in so much plastic made a lasting impression.

It was the sense of 'escape through material' that drew me towards plastics; they offered both the regressive comfort of a passed era and the transcendental quality of visceral experience.

Residing in my increasingly plastic world were artists such as Niki de Saint Phalle and Andy Warhol; strange bedfellows with Svankmajer, Kolar and Logan, but ones, nevertheless, that I would make my own.

Here was the start of an ongoing relationship between the symbolic and the material.

Pictured:
'Angel No.4', epoxy resin, PU expanded foam, brass and aluminium, 140cm x 43cm, 1993.
Photo taken by Frances Fox, copyright 1993. All rights reserved.

Looking Back - The 1980s

2007-08-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

On the bus - The Cauca Canyon, Peru, 1988.

The 1980s were essentially about looking and drawing. My art training at high school (in Camden) had been very academic - all still lives and life-drawing. My Art and History of Art teachers were the most important I had. What they offered seemed real. They encouraged me to take my drawing outside:

On the bus - The Old Inca Road, Peru, 1988.

For awhile, whilst travelling in South America, I did a lot of pen and ink drawing. It seemed the most immediate form of documentation and, at the hungry age of 18, I was interested in noting and observing as much as I could.

By October 1989, I was on Art Foudation at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design (London), my local college. (This only came about due to an epiphany whilst sinking in an Amazonian swamp in Ecuador). Here choices started to present themselves to me. Drama and narrative arose as concepts that I naturally erred towards. And so, Set & Costume Design, Film, Painting and Sculpture became points of significant interest.

The energy and vigour of Amercian artists such as Frank Stella and Keith Haring caught my attention. But the spectacle and romance of theatre design also captivated me. The Italian Futurists distracted me with their speed, vision and media combinations, but it was Les Ballets Russes and German Expressionist film that I chose to focus on in my final year project.

Here then, was a broad-spanning foundation upon which I would build.