Contextsproduced. if we want to see interesting developments within our emerging research
cultures, in other words, we must foster what artists are and have already produced as
research.
The idea of an artists’ professional continuum is established perhaps more easily
within the more conventional area of research ‘into’ art (Frayling 1993). There are
many examples internationally of Fine art and art history supervisory teams helping an
artist to situate their practice through providing an appropriate history and theoretical
context for their work. This has a relatively long history, particularly in the uK. an
appropriate example, among many, is a study which explores the ‘changing perceptual
and material conditions of space, place and viewer in contemporary european abstract
painting’ (Khatir 2008). The structure is well- organized and cogent in relation to
its intentions. Broadly there are three chapters on historical concepts and three on
contemporary painting practice, with a final section on the artist’s own work. The whole
study is introduced through the visual presentation of the artist’s current painting. it
proposes what the author calls ‘painting surface/painting and that which is not painting’.
This is a difficult proposition, but through a careful presentation of the art historical,
relevant art criticism, literary and critical theory, a substantive context is provided
within which to understand and extend the debate about flatness and literalness. it
also provides an understanding of new ideas concerning spatiality and the theatrical
in relation to paintings which deal with the aesthetic of their precise location. The
thesis provides an oscillation and exchange between the exhibition of art works and
the written chapters, and it does not fall into the trap of providing sub- standard art
history to substantiate its research (elkins 2005a). its careful organization owes much
to appropriate supervision and the developed confidence of the painter, who at the end
of the study, has demonstrated painting which is ‘uncontained by its physical limits ...
responds not only to its immediate surroundings, but also to other artists’ places, times
and events’. it also presents ontological, topological and culturally conscious painting
and opens up to ‘new material, spatial, theoretical and philosophical possibilities’ (Khatir
2008: 1). one can see from this example that such a phd would convince of the probity
of doctorates in Fine art.
Relatively new indices to phd theses in the uK, such as the art and design index
to Theses (adiT), hosted by nottingham Trent university, include many examples
of similar research which is appropriately contextualized, both historically and
theoretically. This is heartening and important, because there has been an established
history in this area, most particularly because of the institutional relationship between
Fine art and art and design history. however, this is not where we have concentrated
our research. The examples which have compelled our interest are more in tune with
Fine art, and have provoked formulations where the writing becomes a complementary
element to the research intentions rather than providing a justification of them; they
have also engendered a critical reflexivity which is not confined to a scrutiny of context
but rather concentrates on a broader consideration of purpose and value.
The fifth example of doctorates which should compel our mutual interests is a study
whose central concern was to rethink the concept of absence in relation both to art
practice and the critical metaphysics of Jacques derrida and Jacques lacan (Roulstone
2006). on one level, like the first example, the written text provides a cogent set of
exegeses on derrida’s thinking about absence and related ideas formulated by lacan