Skills and Characteristics Related to Different Specialisms

My planned work will fall into the specialisms of Fine Art, Conceptual Art and Installation Art. The skills required to be a fine artist include having a good standard of drawing and painting, to be creative, imaginative and a lateral thinker. You need to be able to interpret a brief in an innovative way and develop ideas using research skills, knowledge of media, materials, processes and their application and art history & context.  You then need to be able to articulate your ideas so that the audience understands the concept you are trying to put across.

Gustav Klimt's Adele Bloch-Bauer - an example of Fine Art

Conceptual Art is where the concept behind the art is more important than the actual finished piece.

Bruce Nauman's Violins/Violence - an example of Conceptual Art

Installation, or Environment Art requires an ability to create an interactive experience for the audience, such as creating an environment in a room or gallery space where the viewer takes in all surrounding elements or experiences. It isn't just about the piece or pieces, but incorporates the way in which they are presented or how the viewer is intended to interact with them.

Peter Greenaway's Flying Over Water  - an example of Installation Art

The Concept behind my planned work is "A womans size should be about her health, not about societal values of a womans appearance". The link to the brief is that I am a size 24, and a 24 inch waist is a size 0 - both of which have negative health implications. With the relatively recent tidal turn in media portrayal of women and societal values of womens appearance, with the rise in popularity of plus size models and the fall from grace of size zero models and the media headlines about them being banned by major Paris Fashion houses, it seemed a topical subject to investigate.

 I have chosen to progress the idea as an installation as I want to explore various aspects arising from this statement, such as:

• What peoples current views are on women who are size zero, average size or plus size. 
• Whether women care about how they look or their health more. 
• Methods by which women alter their size or appearance of size. 
• Whether men are subjected to the same judgements.
• Public knowledge of the health risks associated with being under or overweight.
• Public feeling about various methods of women altering their size (diets) or altering their appearance of size (restrictive clothing/cosmetic surgery)
• Whether men or women are more judgemental of a womans size
• Image manipulation and filters and tagged vs non-tagged photo's on Social Media
• Size variation from shop to shop.
• How such things affect womens mental health.

My final piece will be informed by research into these areas and my experimentations with media, processes and methods of expressing my concept.