This project involves the creation of a body of artwork that reconsiders and provokes notions of the 'decorative'. The premise should not be regarded as an attempt to rehabilitate an aspect of the 'decorative arts' as being equally 'fine' within the domain of fine arts, nor is it to argue the proposition as a genre within a traditional fine arts discourse, i.e. 'pattern' painting. The project will open up an investigation and discussion of the decorative to include that which has been conventionally excluded/marginalized within modernist discourse and contemporary painting practice. This wider discussion involves drawing together miscellaneous social functions such as food presentation, flower arranging, household furnishings, and home entertainment. The proposition therefore is to give consideration to the domestic home as a site for aesthetic ornamentation, social practices and a continuum of individual pleasures, which intersect with one another in and through the visual delight we experience through decoration. The body of work crafted for this project employs a disruptive strategy as opposed to the purely decorative, proposing an alternative conversation and reconsiderations of a visual, decorative experience.
