Louis Pawlett

What are your main concerns within your practice?

Within my current practice I explore images and objects that evoke strong emotions for me and the viewer. This work has been influenced by my experience of growing up in an environment where music, sheet music and manuscript paper were common place throughout my childhood. I explore this unique art form with intrigue and fascination. Music paper has a presence, with or without the actual notes. It is easily recognisable, drawing the viewer in letting the viewer have their own experience of the senses it stimulates. They individually see the work looking at the process of repetition and the effect this has on the image, challenging the viewer’s interpretation of the image as a consequence of this. The bright colours in my work, drawing the viewer further into the work. Going back to the physical vinyl again transitions the viewer back to the values of ownership and the bond of people to this collective, audible form of art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are your influences?

One of the main influences for my practice is Susan Philipz – her use of layering sheet music with other images creates distortions, widening the viewers experience whilst keeping the individual elements recognisable for the viewer. This reflective element of recalling the past within her work is particularly fascinating. I have also been influenced by the work of Peter Saville and his art work on vinyl sleeves. The New Order Blue Monday 12inch single cover which utilises the recreation of ‘a floppy disk’ as a vinyl sleeve. Key elements on this sleeve draw my attention: the block colours on the right hand side of the vinyl, mirroring a test strip from a printer. Lastly I am influenced by Paul Smith. He uses and combines colour to create a more powerful visual emphasis for the viewer, by challenging the relationship between the colours on the things be covers with his designs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is the first thing you do and your process?

The first process for me on my creative journey is going back to basics, making drawings. This use of pencil on paper is an essential part of beginning the creative flow. These drawings can be worked erased and worked over further, and are then turned into prints, or used as templates – depending on what elements are involved. The more geometrical templates are drawn around to create my handmade sheet music paper. I develop these further though the use of screen printing and laser cutting techniques.

 

What do you enjoy most about the studio?

It’s the creative energy that I get from the studio that I really enjoy – you feel like the possibilities are endless when you are in the studio, which is indeed a brilliant feeling to have as an artist, as it motivates and drives you further.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How has your work changed over the course of your degree?

I’ve only been on this course less than a year and my work has progressed vastly. The reflective process on this course has challenged my thoughts about my creative process, both mentally and practically. At the start I had been exploring very figurative drawings of seven inch vinyl sleeves which can feel quite insular. Development now considers the wider creative experience for both myself and the viewer. This has enabled more sophisticated understanding, which has lead to the abstract sheet music drawings and cut-outs I create now.

 

What are your plans after graduation?

I plan to continue as far as I can go on my creative journey. Hopefully this will continue to bring challenges for me to overcome. They say the essence of creativity is ‘problem solving’, and I know that I enjoy working things out, for as an artist who has dyslexia working things out has always had to be part of my life. “SO BRING IT ON LIFE!!!”