I am starting a part-time practice-based art PhD with a proposal titled ”Beyond Fan Art: Legitimising Fandom as Critical Methodology in Contemporary Painting” at the University of Brighton in Sept 2025.
 
This practice-based research will generate a body of paintings that aims to constitute my unique contribution to the convergence of fan studies and appropriation art.
This research investigates how fandom functions beyond conventional fan art practices, seeking to legitimise it as a critical methodology in contemporary painting and exploring the distinction between the typical default position of fan art—merely copying media-distributed images that have been intentionally manipulated for promotional purposes—and a more critical artistic appropriation that questions these mediations. The theoretical investigation and writing process will serve as a conceptual map, guiding the development of my studio practice rather than merely contextualising it after the fact. The written materials will emerge from a cyclical process of creation, reflection, theorisation, and refinement that chronicles the development of both the creative work and the research questions; systematic documentation of the creative process, paired with the texts, will articulate research findings. Through scholarly inquiry and artist collaborations, I will investigate the interconnected dynamics of fandom, appropriation, and desire in contemporary art. These findings will directly shape my studio practice, culminating in a body of paintings that expresses the tensions between desire, obsession, mediation, and fandom through painting's distinctive visual vocabulary. Comparing Girardian "mediated desire" with Sherrie Levine's view of "desire and its triangular nature" illuminates the role of appropriation in visual art. While Levine stated, "Desire is always mediated through someone else's desire," Girard explained, "Man is the creature who does not know what to desire, and he turns to others in order to make up his mind." Both recognise desire's triadic interaction involving the subject, mediator, and object, though they approach mediation differently. Girard sees mimetic desire as a source of conflict, while Levine uses it as a critical tool for challenging power structures in art and questioning creative authenticity. Her explicit appropriation of the works of renowned male photographers transforms the 'problem' of mediated desire into an effective creative strategy. This research addresses a significant gap in artist-led investigations of fandom. While fan studies have gained widespread academic legitimacy since the late 1980s, practising artists have rarely conducted formal research on this subject. My unique position as both artist/painter and researcher enables me to generate insights unattainable through either scholarly investigation or artistic practice alone. This project will contribute new knowledge by demonstrating how painting can transform fannish obsession into rigorous artistic investigation, challenging conventional understandings of both fan art and appropriation in contemporary practice. And this research will underpin the theoretical foundations of my practice by situating the work within broader cultural and historical frameworks. This will signal a shift of focus, which is very much needed at this point in my three-decade-long career as an artist. Brighton University, with its well-recognised, long-standing, and strong focus on the relationship between art and media studies, is a good fit for the somewhat niche nature of my research. 
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Cyan Dee 
June 2025