An investigation into a concept of painting via an experimental process of practice-led methods, including an artistic trial of Grounded Theory Method coding, led by a series of painting experiments that focus on the significance of ground

This practice-led investigation into a concept of painting has sought to expose thoroughly the execution and analysis of a series of painting experiments. Pursuing an early hunch that discoveries were to be made via a close engagement with the ground, the painting experiments increasingly focused on an exploration of various literal, physical, historical and metaphorical grounds including: ground-based materials; grounds as sites; and ground in painting as in the figure-ground function. British archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes’ writing has been used to contextualise the painting experiments’ particular focus on a search for a sense of grounding, therefore becoming Grounding Painting Experiments (GPEs).

Recent activities and outputs within the discourse on painting as an expanded discipline continue to concentrate on the production of the autonomous artwork in relation to issues including representation, image, colour, form and the viewer’s participation. This research project has focused on a process of experimental methods to investigate a painting practice to which these issues are not central. My main aim to expose, focus and analyse iteratively a practice-led painting process has driven a development of methods, incorporating the trialling of a component of Grounded Theory Method (GTM): coding. This artistic interpretation of GTM coding, a specific means of analysis originating in a qualitative research method in the social sciences, has enabled a thorough, exposed investigation of the experimental process. The research findings displayed in the Huddersfield studio show how the GTM coding trials have become an integral part of the artwork rather than an objective, evaluative add-on once the practice has been completed.

The thesis consists of three interdependent parts: the image book; the displayed studio findings; and the written submission. The Image book and the written submission are bound in a single volume. The Image book contains digital images of the displayed studio findings.