The Nude City Scape

Laura Oldfield Ford is a British artist, writer and psychogeographer. Her work is politically motivated and focuses on British urban areas. She uses a range of media but mainly uses ball-point pen, acrylic and spray paint. She is well know for publishing a blog called ‘Savage Messiah’, this was the same name of zine she published from 2005 to 2009.[1]

Laura Oldfield Ford was born in up in Halifax, Yorkshire in 1973. She grew up in a community that was once a thriving hub for textile production but in the 1970’s and 1980s went into decline and the industry went into recession with shift away form the textile manufacturing. She became involved in the punk movement and then immersed herself in the rave scene in London where she began squatting. She focused on studying fine art and produced zines and posters influenced by the likes of Raymond Pettibon, Linder Sterling and Jon Savage. She took her Bachelor of Arts at the Slade School of Fine Art and her Master of Arts at the Royal College of Art. [2] She became well known for

When I first saw the above art piece I wondered where this place was... it was barren, brutal, desolate, and unnatural - it showed little life and very little greenery. Here there and every now and then there is a tree but for the most part its a desolate image of a barren city scape in concrete. The architecture is derived from brutalism ideals and driven by cost saving and fast building techniques typical of the 1960's and 1970s mass urban planning that saw communities destroyed and period properties demolished. It reminds me of any number of council estates built in the 1970's, featuring harsh, geometric block and square shapes - this is not a natural scape - the forms are harsh, foreboding and there is no sense this is a place or people or nature.

However, I find it hard to feel concerned about the state in which this site is in as it layers with a bright pink colour, some of it is a wash of pink and the rest is solid pink graffiti of words and pictures. This draws away the seriousness of the picture and uss humour as the artist softens and feminises the image with lucid pink. Is this mocking?

The drawing is created using ball point pens, a cheap commoditised and disposable item, much like the lives lived in such places. This is a 'machine' cityscape to process people and activities in specific ways - people are commodities and disposable in this 'system'. The artist then goes on to use colour layered onto the black and white drawing. I ask myself, is this a filter a way of sweetening or engendering the stark image with a cliched feminine complexion?

The image emanates a dystopian vibe, and as I look at it more, it appears to reflect the nature of human existence in post-industrial Britain - a place devoid of people, community or nature. A concrete jungle that has no natural color or texture but rather it is a canvas for a narrative of discontent a place that is dehumanised and denuded.

When doing her piece, she might have looked up policy changes and gentrification policies/laws coming into place when governments shifted. She seems to go back and draw/ record the same places she had seen a couple of years ago to see if gentrification actually made an impact positively or negatively, some places had been impacted positively but its apparent that some places are untouched but still monopolised by property owners, causing a sky rocket in house pricing, even impacting her life and the ability to stay in London to document the gentrification. This also shows even though the price of land is going up that it doesn’t necessarily mean the quality of living.

This relates to current events such as the 2019 election taking place this December, as conservatives have run the country for 10 years with accidents such as Grenfield & other plastic cladding houses catching on fire due to lack of funding as well as shoddy servicing of buildings as government want to put that money from maintaining council or accommodation and put it somewhere else.

Throughout history societies in different parts of the world have been promised by governments that once they obtain power or the majority, they’ll increase the economy, improving the quality of living we have and areas improved. However, when they do improve the area or gentrify an area close to the city they then displace a whole margin of people who are unable to afford the price of land as well as the right for property owners to increase the rent on someone who’s been living in the same place for years but due to the area being gentrified have had to of moved out as rent sky rockets. Or if they are able to pay rent but for nothing else and regulations for safety aren’t followed up on places start to look run down and dystopian like.

References

[1]Sherwin, Skye (18 February 2011). "Artist of the week 126: Laura Oldfield Ford". The Guardian. 11 June 2011

[2]Dakin, Melanie (25 November 2009). "Artist Laura Oldfield Ford examines the legacy of new towns in Hatfield". Watford Observer. 24 August 2011.