The Depth of Surface: A practice-based encounter

Halliwell, Lesley (2021) The Depth of Surface: A practice-based encounter. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This practice-based enquiry interrogates the drawn or painted surface as a dense, complex and ambivalent plane. The research arose from a sustained concern in my art practice with pattern and decoration, and it generated critical insight into existing artworks as well as works made in the course of the enquiry. Several bodies of new artworks, created to explore different aspects of surface, marked a considerable development in my established practice. The research proceeded through two complementary and interlinked activities: making drawings and paintings; and analysis of their cultural and contextual underpinnings. In order to explore the complexity of surface, a broad range of theory from, philosophy, anthropology, new media, textiles and fine art was considered. By exploring this theory through practical methods, the practice and theory impacted each other and shaped the direction of the investigation. This was a two-way process: paintings suggested contextual studies, and were used to test ideas arising from such research. Tacit understandings of surface were also sought through practical cross-cultural explorations of pattern-generating systems and techniques, notably aspects of Islamic, Celtic, Indian and medieval practice, and by probing personal and historical legacies. The study began as an exploration of the outward-facing and inward supporting components of image-making. My focus was on the interplay between what is intentionally presented on the surface and elements organically arising from the making process, such as traces of preparatory design and generating structures or devices. It sought to understand how these modify what we perceive as surface, and its meanings. Surface emerged as conceptually and materially complex; a place where meaning, value and materiality are not fixed, but in a constant state of (re)negotiation. A new reading of the interchange between surface and structure is the contribution to knowledge. This questions the commonly held views of surface as a thin skin, or a layered structure, or as solely a material component. The depth of surface was revealed in: ii a) cultural understandings linking pictorial geometries with meaning b) multiple temporalities whereby surface simultaneously references past, present and future c) the concept of entry where the viewer engages with a sense of interiority that volumizes the surface d) an interface between the viewing body and the artwork that contains both above-ness and below-ness. The research culminates by offering a new perspective on our understanding of surface based on interactivity between zones. This holistic approach synthesises ideas from other thinkers and practitioners, destabilises existing understandings of the over/under paradigm and focuses on the experiential dimension of surface as an embodied encounter. Ultimately, surface emerges as a heterotopic site where time, scopic regimes, outward-reaching shine, and inward-drawing shadow connect in a mutable and unstable zone of encounter.