Spin, Puppet, Spin: Drawing Estrangement

Abstract

Background This publication continues a project ongoing for the last three years that conflates puppetry, life drawing and portraiture. This work is part of a larger 10-yr research portfolio focused on these topics. Puppet research is a specialisation that circulates in performance studies but has been largely absent from broader visual arts research and other specialised research areas, such as drawing. This research uses puppet practice and theories of puppetry as methods to interrogate and illuminate studio processes of life drawing and portraiture. My puppet drawing research has been exhibited in Australia, the US and Japan; and published in Europe. Contribution ‘Spin, Puppet, Spin: Drawing Estrangement’ is a response to a provocation by VIS: the Nordic Journal for Artistic Research (published by Stockholm University of the Arts and Norwegian Artistic Research Programme) on the theme of estrangement. The work consists of an essay illustrated with animated and static artworks: carved and constructed puppets, puppet performances, works on paper, instant photographs, digital photographs and digital video. The work is innovative in three facets: the application of puppet methods in the life studio; the synthesis of lay-figure studies with contemporary life drawing performance; and the estrangement of the artist, model and sitter from the process of life drawing and portraiture. Significance This work was accepted and peer-reviewed by the Editorial Committee of VIS consisting of members from Uniarts and the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme and published in VIS no2 (2019). The review and editorial process is innovative and collaborative — based in dialogue rather than examination. VIS is published twice a year and contains five creative expositions. ‘Spin, Puppet, Spin’ was used as the cover work, and was nominated by the editor-in-chief for the annual research award at the Society for Artistic Research (SAR, Zurich) International Conference on Artistic Research.