MA personal statement

This is the personal statement I wrote to apply to London Met to do the MA Fine Art. It was an interesting exercise to try to encapsulate my art career and priorities in one page. Its a taster to hopefully provoke questions at interview. If you have any thoughts please leave a comment

"Brendon O'Hanlon Personal statement

I currently work on my art practice at Magenta Art, a studio and artist development space I co-founded and now run in Holloway, while working part time on the IT Service Desk at Haringey Council. My main motivation to do an MA is to enable me to teach art at university level alongside my continuing art practice.

Prior to studying fine art I spent eight years designing costumes for fringe and amateur theatre and short and low budget films. I made the switch to painting in 2004 after I went part time with my day job in IT. I exhibited paintings made while unable to find work in costume. The positive reaction to the work and the satisfaction of having final control of my work convinced me to pursue painting.

In 2006 I chose to study BA Fine Art at Middlesex University to have proper studio space, learn more about the ‘art world’ and for the opportunity to meet other artists. There I took the chance to experiment with video, performance, sculpture and guerrilla exhibiting as well as developing my painting. Joining the art discourse and discovering the varied nature of art and artists was probably the most significant and unexpected benefit of doing a degree.

My final degree show work was stripped back and very simple using my drawing and painting skills to show my interest in identity and human interaction. My dissertation looked at Mauritian art, I decided to analyse the attitude to visual art within Mauritian culture with the advantage of my personal viewpoint being half Mauritian living in Britain both part of and outside of the culture.

Since my degree, I have experimented with painting from video excerpts, from my own material and footage from sources such as YouTube. This was part of the process of trying to adapt my art practice post university, I realised that although it enabled me to work without a live model and I was able to capture subjects in a manner that working with a live sitter did not allow, the work lacked the immediacy of my painting from life. I have come to realise and accept that my best work is intrinsically time based, a record of my relationship with the sitter or subject. Rather than try to contrive an image or situation I should react to the subject as I work.

I am aware of the debate regarding the relevance of the painted portrait in contemporary art and I was reluctant to concentrate on it, but out of all my work, portraits have always stimulated the most postitive reaction, so I decided to reclaim the portrait for myself, by doing as many as I could for the next year. This has become about 2-3 paintings a week, also enabling me to refresh my skills, and I have particularly been trying to perfect the one sitting portrait. This work has led me to realize the increased relevance of the portrait. The live sitting conflicts with modern life; the digital world tells us everything can be done virtually, but the portrait emphasises the enduring value of human contact and personal relationships.

Magenta Art was founded in 2009 as supportive environment with studio space, an art reference library and regular events aimed at new graduates. We have had several exhibitions and open studios including being part of Islington Exhibits. It has also become a space for older art graduates to come back to art. The experience of the past year running Magenta has reinforced my desire to work in art education, helping others work in art along side my own practice. "