Shaun Space Crit: Brett Richardson, Lorraine Lawler, John Raine.

The For this particular crit, the work of myself, Lorraine's paintings and John's large scale painting meant that this particular group criticism was focused around the medium of paintings, albeit we all approached the medium in a different manner.

The work that I presented was a series of my mixed media paintings along with some examples of my smaller sculpture work. The work that I exhibited as quite abstract, representational of the human form only in the way that you could vaguely recognise it as a portrait. I was surprised at the feedback that I received, especially with the positive feedback regarding some of the pieces that were my least favourite. I was encouraged to work with additional layers in my painting, like incorporating additional cardboard or surfaces in order to continue the sculptural aspect that some of the work displayed. Some of the criticism of the work however, was that a lot of my work was abstract and I could try making more figurative/representational work.

John included a large canvas that was unprimed, he stated that he felt that the painting itself was unfinished. The painting featured a very surreal dreamscape that was something John had dreamt about, he stated that it was something that kept reoccurring within his dreams. The way in which the figure themselves were painted felt very robotic to me, the figures looking stiff and almost like they were stuck in place. The work itself felt very unique in terms of its subject matter and the way in which it was painted. It was discussed that John could perhaps not repaint the entire canvas but highlight certain aspects of it in order to show them off.

Lorraine's canvases themselves looked pretty strong when they were hung up in the gallery, the context of the white space creating a more professional atmosphere for them. Lorraine discussed the concepts of the work and the manner in which they were created, unfortunately the group were pretty quiet about way in which Lorraine could take her work or things that she could try out.