Research Point; Artists’ self portraits

Research artists’ self portraits. Look at historic examples such as Rembrandt and Van Gogh as well as some self portrait styles that have emerged in contemporary art. How do contemporary artists approach tone, medium, pose, story etc. Try looking at Tracey Emin’s self portraits.

Self Portraits

Self portraits have long been a genre that artists have included in their repertoire or body of work. Self portraits can be very revealing of the artist; They can tell us what the artist looked like, the era the artist lived by their dress, sometimes the depict themselves with tools of their trade, an accessory such as a pipe.

Artists also use the Self Portrait to example a style of painting and to depict themselves at different stages and ages throughout their lives.

Artists often paint Self portraits in the style that they are best known for, but sometimes use them as an experiment to try out something new.

Contemporary artist Bryan Lewis Saunders is a Tennessee-based performance artist who has a vast collection of nearly 9000 self portraits bound in hardback sketchbooks. The series he is well known for is the series of 50 Self Portraits done on 50 different drugs done in 50 consecutive days.

Self Portraits on drugs by Bryan Lewis Saunders

The collection is a real exploration of different styles and emotions, some I think depicting how you might expect to feel on the drug, some free experimentation of actually how you actually feel on the drug and the resultant image showing how the drug affected the ability of mark making.

Bryan Lewis Saunders does not necessarily want to be known for his 50 portraits on drugs, yet this experimentation does remain one of his most notable bodies of works. A single self portrait can come to define an artist in our memories, often if you say an artist’s name, it is their self portrait that helps you put their rendition of their face to their name.

I wanted to have a look at some female artists self portraits. The selection that I have chosen all depict strong women, often face on to the viewer and all fairly colorful.

In the case of Joni Mitchell, looking at the two examples, depicting one set on a canoe in the wilderness, the other smoking; it is interesting how these two images tell us quite a lot about her ; how she dresses, her like of the outdoors, that she smokes.

Self portraits also do not even have to be drawings, Mary Ellen Croteau used bottle caps to construct her self portrait, to me this shows an interest in the environment and our social use of plastics as well as just using a recycled/found medium.

Suzanne Valadon’s piece was the only one of a female artist that has depicted herself naked, I know that Lucian Freud has done naked self portraits. This is both bold and unashamedly open about themselves. Suzanne, however being a life model, it is appropriate for her to depict herself in this way.

The colours that the artist chooses to use as well as the composition all go together to give us an impression of his or her personality. Close-up views, bright colours and extreme angles can be very dramatic as a way of conveying personality.

I also wanted to example a couple of black artist’s self portraits which here are done in distinctive styles using a fairly flat palette.

Pushing the boundaries of self portraits within a style can be seen in the following 3 self portraits, a slightly cubist, an abstract and s really sketchy style.

Pablo Picasso is also very well known for his very striking styalized work and bold use of line and colour and against Man Ray’s boxed self portrait, both present a very individualistic approach.

Th

Self portraits are very often done face on which creates a very intense stare, however just varying this face on with a tilt of the head, a change of focus or composition can create a very different final result.

I managed to find these three distinctly different self portraits by Tracey Emin which really example the range of her work. They have a lot of energy and do not always represent absolute reality, but she does explore many ways of producing her work from mono-prints, blind drawings, embroidery and sketches.

Looking at such a wide range of artists and the many styles that they work in is very inspiring. I would hope to have some of their ideas seep into my own work, even if it is just encouraging me to free up and experiment a bit with my own styles.

Reference sources

https://www.google.com/search?q=artists+self+portraits&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_yJfXsPncAhWKIsAKHaXnDccQ_AUICygC&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=eM4Ksfhxh2oMZM:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Paterson_(painter)

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=self+portraits+tracey+emin&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwichoG4hv_cAhVFT8AKHXKYA5UQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=7R95Rnc5lxx1fM:

 

http://theplaidzebra.com/this-artist-drew-self-portraits-on-50-different-drugs-photos/

Research: The Face

Look at contemporary as well as historic artists who work on the face in different ways. Use your research to inspire your own experiments.

Look at Graham Little’s use of coloured pencils and the more fluid blocking tone of Elizabeth Peyton. Both artists draw the face in a painterly manner.

Elizabeth Peyton

Elizabeth Peyton was born in Connecticut in 1965, she studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where she now lives and works. Her works; inspired by photographs in the media and from life and is made up using oil paint, watercolour, ink and pencil are small yet bold and powerful. She captures that face in a few bold tonal marks with greater detail focused on the facial features, the eyes, mouth and nose. Her use of bold, fairly flat colours and classic composition of iconic images of familiar figures that we are used to seeing as photographs makes you look twice at the image and give them a really edgy look.

Graham Little

Graham Little born in Dundee, UK, 1972, studied at Goldsmiths College London, in contrast uses coloured pencils in his finely detailed almost romantic views of women in domestic situations. He to sources his subject matter from the media, taking glossy magazine articles and advertisements and re visualizing them to suit his own vision. The photo-real drawings are rich and powerful and take months to complete.

I then went on to look at a number of artists and have selected those whose styles struck me as having an energy and distinctive styles.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) was a driving force in the Die Brücke group that flourished in Dresden and Berlin before World War I, he was a talented and influential German Expressionist. He uses quite lurid bright colours in a naively painterly style that is really powerful.

Gwen John

Gwendolen Mary John (22 June 1876 – 18 September 1939 in Wales) worked in France for most of her life. Her portraits are of whistful female sitters of varying ages in gently closely related tomes. She painted in a very considered fashion and only had one solo show in her lifetime although much of her early work was purchased by an American Collector.

Leon Kossoff

Leon Kossoff (born 10 December 1926) is a British figurative painter known for portraits, life drawings and cityscapes in London. I saw his Chldren’s swimming pool painting at the All too Human Exhibition at the Tate Modern, standing back from the huge canvas the bold brush marks make more sense and the image comes to life. I was interested to see how this bold mark making translated to portraiture, which it does so with great energy.

Margaret Olly

Margaret Olley (1923-2011) was one of Australia’s most respected and well-loved painter. Mainly a Still Life painter her work represents crowded objects in an organised clutter. This example with the reflection in the mirror examples her portrait work in her style show the figure as almost doll like and painterly. I also found this other artist’s portrait of her in a much looser painterly style.

Marlene Dumas

Marlene Dumas (b1953) has been called ‘the world’s most interesting figure painter’. Her practice centres around the human figure and examples of her work can be found in museums around the world. Like Elizabeth Peyton she draws on collected images and popular culture, her style is bold and painterly in a really interesting way, she captures a character with unconventional shading and line.

Paul Gauguin

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter recognized for his experimental use of colour. He was very influential to French avant-garde painters and modern artists. I really like the brushwork and colours that he uses and is a really refined painterly style.

Sylvie Gilliot

Sylvie Guillot was born in 1972 in Paris and studied at The Paris School of Fine Arts. Her work centres around the human figure and she shows a really interesting exploration of skin tone, shape and tone. Her work conveys tension and draws the viewer to the part of the drawing that she finds of most interest by emphasizing the depth of colour in those areas of the composition.

William Kentridge

William Kentridge (born 28 April 1955) is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films. I like his sketchy monotone work and have been inspired by it for my last exercise. I am drawn to his pocket drawings and charcoal work as I am really interested in the storytelling in images and I think black and white is a powerful technique.

Ephrem Solomon

Whilst looking at different artists I came across Ephrem Solomon, an Urban African artist who uses collage and woodcut to produce these bold graphic portraits which depict the daily life of Ethiopians and the issues that they face depicted in the facial expressions of the subject. I found his work really moving, I am drawn to work that uses strong line that even though looks basic, is really expressive in its simplicity.

Dereje Shiferaw

On the same site I found this work by Dereje Shiferaw also an Urban African artist who also works in a painterly manner that in this case is done in watercolour. I especially like the background in the far right example contrasting with the figure. He paints people performing their daily activities in a couple of lines, forms and asymmetric shapes to record the rapidly changing environment and values that are present in his society.

Compilations

Finally I have compiled a couple of collections of portraits that I came across on my research but couldn’t find out much about who they were by, but saw something in their technique that caught my eye.

The Loui Jover portrait caught my attention as it is worked on newspaper, this is a medium that I have too be working on recently, I like the minimal colour use here.

Reference sources

Elizabeth Peyton

https://fineartmultiple.com/elizabeth-peyton/

https://www.google.com/search?q=elizabeth+peyton+artist&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4jfq6surbAhXIKcAKHfK_Cq0Q_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=zJOTgFYzJcst6M:

https://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/elizabeth-peyton

William Kentridge

http://nitramcharcoal.com/charcoal-inspiration-william-kentridge/

https://www.google.com/search?q=william+kentridge+artworks&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwipgJz7t-rbAhXkKcAKHct2BpIQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=OCU8NG_j3R637M:

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-kentridge-2680

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kentridge

Sylvie Guillot

https://www.sylvieguillot.com/about

https://www.google.com/search?q=Sylvie+Guillot&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiSsK_CxOrbAhXOFsAKHUhLAWcQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=npaixDlLOEg8UM:

Gwen John

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwen_John

https://www.google.com/search?q=gwen+john&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO3-mJzOrbAhWrKsAKHbu1CeQQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631

Marlene Dumas

https://www.google.com/search?q=Marlene+Dumas-+looser+use+of+media+for+figure+for+the+next+part&client=firefox-b&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj8vMDFzerbAhXlLMAKHRnRAWQQ_AUICygC&biw=1366&bih=631&dpr=1

http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/show-or-not-show

Leon Kossoff

https://www.google.com/search?q=Leon+Kossoff-+related+to+building,+chaos+and+figures+to+add+narrative&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO2JyzzerbAhXLD8AKHSn4DToQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=x8VNWN5tjoLbcM:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Kossoff

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

https://www.google.com/search?q=Ernst+Ludwig+Kirchner-+more+expressive+use+of+media&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwisks-gzerbAhVMJ8AKHUV9C4sQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=P7SkaNSxLnlgFM:

https://www.theartstory.org/artist-kirchner-ernst-ludwig.htm

Paul Gauguin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gauguin

https://www.google.com/search?q=gauguin&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjyivjU1OrbAhUJa8AKHfinCckQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=SMD9z_-scOE7QM:

Margaret Olley

https://cookshillgalleries.com.au/pages/margaret-olley-artist

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/17-visual-artists-you-should-know-in-2016_us_5673587ae4b0b958f65620c8

Ephrem Solomon and Dereje Shiferaw

http://www.urbanafricans.com/studio-visits-to-ethiopian-artists/

Compilation

https://www.google.com/search?q=artists+who+represent+the+face+and+head&client=firefox-b&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:CcaMNggfjxUCIjgeapUeXCe30afa06cjeFsMk9Rf2ELgFdOj8Zhf–ATHJvf0lNtI32UanXcmr3m2K_1AOhf7x921dSoSCR5qlR5cJ7fREWHlIdyGNDEkKhIJp9rTpyN4WwwRMX0iJcPQ8GwqEgmT1F_1YQuAV0xFKd-6SDMMkZyoSCaPxmF_174BMcEcGstSDQ5JlCKhIJm9_1SU20jfZQRDFDTvMqbMX8qEglqddyavebYrxEBlo1PqJ7zayoSCcA6F_1vH3bV1EQBlPS7QX9Me&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwit_MCEm-LcAhXrAcAKHcSJCVkQ9C96BAgBEBs&biw=1366&bih=631&dpr=1#imgrc=k9Rf2ELgFdOaPM:

Research; Artists using the underlying structure of the body

Look for historic and contemporary artists whose work involves the underlying structure of the body.

Body Worlds

The most impressionable art works that I have come across in terms of anatomical structural art was when I visited Body Worlds exhibition in Brick Lane in 2002.

These astonishing works of art are created by Gunther von Hagens (born Gunther Gerhard Liebchen on 10 January 1945) who was an anatomist who invented in 1977 a method of preserving biological tissue which he called plastination. He worked at the University in the Institutes of Anatomy and Pathology as a lecturer for 22 years and founded the Institute of Plastination in Heidelberg in 1993.

For the first 20 years the process was used to preserve small specimens, however in the 1990’s new equipment was developed that made it possible to plastinate a whole body, each specimen taking approximately 1500 man hours to complete. His first exhibition was held in 1995 in Japan, and has subsequently provoked fascination and controversy in over 50 destinations world wide, some religious orders objecting to the display of human remains.

The final plastinated specimen is dry, odorless and equal to the weight of the original body. The specimens are invaluable as educational and instructional tools for medical professionals as well as the broader public.

The first stage is fixation; Formaldehyde or other preservation solutions are pumped through the arteries to kill all bacteria, this prevents decomposition and takes about 3-4 hours. Then follows dissection and the removal of any skin, fatty and connective tissues extraneous to the final piece were removed in a lengthy process taking between 500-1000 hours.

Next water and soluble fats are dissolved in a bath of acetone. This process of plastination begins as all the water is drawn from the cells and replaced with the acetone solution.

Forced impregnation is the next step in the process; the subject is placed in a bath of liquid polymer such as silicone rubber, polyester or epoxy resin. Within a vacuum acetone boils at a low temperature and as it vaporizes it leaves the cells to be replaced by the polymer. This process takes 2-5 weeks.

After impregnation, the body is still malleable and can be positioned painstakingly into the desired position, often using various forms of supports, this stage can take months.

When the final desired position has been created , the specimen must be hardened, depending on the type of polymer used, light, heat or gas can be used. This whole process protects the tissue from any form of decay and can take about a year in total to complete.

Historical use of Anatomical illustrations

Having recently been working at the Wellcome Trust in Euston I have had the privilege to view some of the works within their collection. They have many images that depict historical views of how we thought the anatomy of the human body worked.

Their collection covers works from all over the world that do not just depict the structure of the human body, but ailments, illnesses, malady, woulds and operational processes. These ware not only useful in their time, but provide a comprehensive medical historical record.

Detailed drawings of anatomical parts of the body have undoubtedly been a vital resource for the furthering of our understanding of all aspects of the human and animal body resulting in the amazing technical achievements that doctors, surgeons and researchers perform today.

The earliest known people to perform autopsy were Greek physicians Herophilus of Chalcedon and Erasistratus of Chios who performed human dissections in Alexandria, Egypt. Later, Roman law prohibited dissection and autopsy of the human body. No new dissection studies were done until the early 14th Century.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci was born in Italy in 1452. He is universally known as a universal genius or renaissance man. He famously would hire grave robbers to bring him human corpses, later a hospital director. He would dissect the bodies and draw what he saw. It was completely illegal for him to do this as the only people allowed to perform autopsy or dissection were physicians, of which Leonardo was not.

Leonardo is considered to be one ofthe most diversley talented individuals to have ever lived. He was not only and esquisit artist, but his insatiable curiosity and enquiring mind drew him into the worlds of anatomy, music, invention, civil engineering, geology, optics, modelling and hydrodynamics. He died in 1519 having left a body of work that is revered to this day.

Some additional examples of historical anatomical works

Andreas Vesalius

Andreas Vesalius 31 December 1514 – 15 October 1564 is often considered to be the father of anatomy, a Belgian born anatomist and physician born into a family of Physicians he is most famous for his influential book De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body).

He was born in Brussels, became professor at the University of Pauda and later became Imperial physician at the court of Emperor Charles V. He produced many detailed illustrations, some in the form of woodcut posters which students would copy, and many books. Most teachings to date had been from that of Galen whose work, mainly derived form studying the dissection of animals, was considered unquestionable at the time.

Juan Gatti

Looking at some contemporary artists I came across Argentinean illustrator Juan Gatti who uses a combination of collage of images found in nature with anatomical studies. He has produced a series of 25 pieces as a part of a series ‘The Natural Sciences’ which were used in a film by Pedro Almodovar called ‘The Skin I Live in’.

Other artists

Portugese photographer Pedro Sousa produced a series of works entitled ‘Muscled Skin’ in which he super-imposed muscles from the human anatomical structure onto the surface of the skin.

Vanessa Ruiz

Vanessa Ruiz founded ‘Street Anatomy’ in 2007, she is an acomplished medical illustrator and art director and has given many lectures for TED.

The other images in the above samples show examples of creative alternative mechanical anatomical depictions and an anamatronic example of the mechanics of the birthing of a child.

Enkel Dika

Enkel Dika is an illustrator based in Struga, Macedonia, he uses a mixture of pop art, abstract art and modern art to create really interesting image combinations often with messages about society that he then prints onto T-shirts, a very cultural medium on which to convey his art.

Finally I wanted to take a brief look at our enduring fascination that many artists have had with the human skull and all that it symbolises. Painted here by Cezanne, these skulls are arranged and painted in the still life representation of the curio, very much the fascination of the Victorian collector. I have set this against the modern representation of the skull in popular culture that has trancended the representation of death into something that we are so familiar with that the image of the skull is now a favourite in many forms, from the Mexican day of the dead to pop art to the art of the tattoo.

Reference sources

Gunther von Hagens

https://bodyworlds.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunther_von_Hagens

https://www.google.com/search?q=bodyworks+art&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYgPC32ZncAhUGPFAKHSfuAywQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=PzYV1_F5YMW6XM:

Wellcome Collection

https://search.wellcomelibrary.org

Anatomical Artists

https://www.google.com/search?q=anatomical+artists&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiqhfqJ3ZncAhUSZlAKHaJ1BscQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631

Pedro Sousa

https://creators.vice.com/en_uk/article/wnzy4y/our-blood-guts-and-anatomy-as-art

Juan Gatti

http://www.spainisculture.com/en/artistas_creadores/juan_gatti.html

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/amazing-anatomical-body-art/

Andreas Vesalius

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Vesalius

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b&biw=1366&bih=631&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=nm9HW8HCM6fosAfAyLmIDg&q=histotical+famous+anatomical+artists+Andreas+Vesalius+&oq=histotical+famous+anatomical+artists+Andreas+Vesalius+&gs_l=img.3…10820.13961.0.14144.3.3.0.0.0.0.83.225.3.3.0….0…1c.1j2.64.img..0.0.0….0.39NNaJNBSn0#imgrc=oxYIZY48JQ4BQM:

Paul Cezane

https://www.google.com/search?q=Paul+Cezanne&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjnosaq75ncAhXI_KQKHQTkDJkQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=5RAFYdNtFlEkTM:

Leonardo da Vinci

https://www.google.com/search?q=leonardo+da+vinci+anatomy&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiamb7CzpzcAhWHMewKHeXRB5YQ_AUICSgA&biw=1366&bih=631&dpr=1

https://www.artcrimearchive.net/single-post/2013/04/24/Leonardo-da-Vinci-and-Dissection

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci

Vanessa Ruiz

https://www.behance.net/streetanatomy

http://streetanatomy.com/about/

Enkel Dika

http://www.cuded.com/2012/02/illustrations-by-enkel-dika/

Day of the Dead

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1366&bih=631&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=QfpIW5eQIJCbgQav5IO4Dw&q=skulls+in+art+day+ofthe+dead&oq=skulls+in+art+day+ofthe+dead&gs_l=img.3…104070.108307.0.110237.14.14.0.0.0.0.61.686.14.14.0….0…1c.1.64.img..0.6.293…35i39k1.0.SyaAp1Oa_us

Tattoos

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1366&bih=631&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=4_hIW9HoFZT0gAbplZaQDw&q=skulls+in+art+tattoo&oq=skulls+in+art+tattoo&gs_l=img.3…344603.346882.0.348679.6.6.0.0.0.0.52.288.6.6.0….0…1c..64.img..0.0.0….0.LH3GC6vFBsE#imgrc=-n-RQe8K3FhZbM:

Research: Foreshortening

I sat in the garden facing a mirror to do a few drawings to experiment with the discipline of foreshortening.

No.1 A3 Conte stick, The first attempt, although measured, the foot looks too small.

No.2 A3 medium PITT and PITT brush pen with Quink Ink, this is better proportioned, but the foot may be too dark, it gets a bit lost, but I think this is fairly successful, and I like the use of the mottled shadow areas on the leg

No.3 A3 Graphite block and oil pastel. This is the boldest and probably the most successful of the three.

I found that It was necessary to exaggerate the perspective to achieve a better sense of perspective and more drama to the drawing, as seen in comparison between the first and last exercise, when dealing with foreshortening, the image is bolder, and more striking when exaggerated further than representing exactly what you measure and see.

These compositions by Duarte Vitoria take this form of exaggeration to an extreme and the result is really striking. The way that he has chosen to crop the composition is also very effective. The fact that the exaggeration of the feet is really extreme does not take away from reality and the figure is still convincing.

Foreshortening was first pioneered by the early renaissance artists to add spatial awareness and drama to their paintings. This use of dramatic view points along with foreshortening has been used by many artists since to add more drama and storytelling to the stance or composition and certainly draws the viewer further into the scene.

In these examples, a dramatic and somewhat unusual viewpoint gives these images more interest and draws the eye through or across the scene.

Foreshortening is also widely used in the art of comic book drawings, widely exaggerated perspective and greatly enlarged foreground objects are visual tools that convey drama, power extreme storytelling. The choice of perspective can make the viewer feel extremely small or like a giant as well as if they are just a fraction of a second away from impact.

Reference sites

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b&biw=1366&bih=631&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=zC8xW5eJCMuWgAaiyLWgDA&q=foreshortening+dramatic+figure+comic+strip&oq=foreshortening+dramatic+figure+comic+strip&gs_l=img.3…39517.42630.0.43231.8.8.0.0.0.0.61.409.8.8.0….0…1c.1.64.img..0.0.0….0.AKeGcub1nzo#imgrc=eWaqmwL81xcHFM:

https://www.google.com/search?q=famous+artists+foreshortening+human+figure&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjl8on_te_bAhURdcAKHSlWAUsQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631

https://www.google.com/search?q=human+figure+dramatic+perspective&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjLtKS_wO_bAhWRRMAKHZe7D2oQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=sjl4pQsRJCXkqM:

http://www.barbarajohnsonworkshops.com/pb/wp_fb4eb9fe/wp_fb4eb9fe.html

 

 

Research: How the male and female nude has changed over the centuries.

To begin with I wanted to look at some ancient human forms, the earliest being cave paintings, even in these examples, two from Lascaux in France and the other from South Africa the figures vary, all simplistic graphic form, the depictions range from ‘stick’ figures in the action of hunting, the South African figures have exaggerated bums and calfs with small heads to more shapely proportionate forms reclining and conversing. These figures are fundamentally depicting aspects of daily life.

Often early figurines or depictions of the human form have ritualistic significance and are seen or used as fertility symbols. These often are seen as Mother Earth figures, but I have sourced some male fertility figures for comparison. I should point out the the Cerne Abbas Giant is actually considered to be a later fake homage to a previous culture, but is none the less an interesting and unique reference to male fertility.

Each culture developed a distinctive style for representing the human form; in Ancient Greece the form is very realistic and the male form is depicted with strength, prowess and very good muscle tone!

Depictions on ancient Grecian ceramics is often more styalized, lean delicate lines deliniate often patterned figures in many aspects of daily life. The oriental figure has a graceful look defined by the use of a brush which creates a particular quality of line. The Egyptian figure is particularly styalized in a way that was probably more suited to carving on stone surfaces and compliments the graphic quality of hieroglyphs which were inscribed alongside carvings, relief work and painted plaster works. In India the famous Karma Sutra depicts the human form in various sexual positions and is therefore an educational aide within the society. This is the same for the amazing carvings that cover both the inside and outside of the temples of Khajuraho as well as other religious sites. It is clear that different societies around the world and throughout time related to nudity and the human form in different ways, extreme examples would be a comparison between an African culture where nudity is a natural state to a Saudi and Islamic society today where the human form is to be completely covered and is considered idolatry and thereby a sin against God and forbidden from reproduction.

In Medieval times the depiction of the unclothed figure was often considered to suggest corruption and sin. As society changed and evolved, the renaissance era in contrast set about celebrating and romanticizing the human figure. The male form in all it’s muscular glory alongside the voluptuous curves of the female form. The ideal beauty of the female form has also evolved overtime, child bearing hips of the past to the modern vision a much leaner version of woman.

In this next sequence the positions of the figure has evolved, we see a tenderness of interaction between male and female, and more playful compositions of reclining figures. Rather than just standing or engaged in a mythical or romanticized composition, the figures are posed in a more naturalistic and relaxed fashion.

The next evolution in the depiction of the nude would be the style in which they were depicted. This would have co-insided with the advent of photography. Previously the only way to represent an image was in painting, drawing and sculpture thus the realism of the image would have had greater significance and importance. However with the advent of photography the artist was then free to interpret what they saw in a more creative way and experiment with different techniques.

This evolution in style can be clearly seen in the work of Picasso in these two examples from 1902 and then the greatly stylized Nude Woman in Red Armchair from 1932.

In these examples from Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera we start to see some social taboos tackled. Frieda Kahlo depicting a tender sensual scene involving two women, the background bold and styalized, figures peer through the foliage as if spying on a secret affair. Diego Rivera brings women of colour into his compositions, this time on an equal level rather than the previous example by Eduard Manet where the woman of colour is depicted as a servant to the privileged figure of the reclining white woman.

Gauguin having spent time in Tahiti  painted the women around him in a very naturalistic and everyday manner rather than a voyeuristic way that many artists have in the past, providing the gentlemen of the day a form of tasteful pornographic representation, even if they do eventually turn out to be fake as is this example originally attributed to Marc Chagall!

These two examples are interesting as a comparison of ancient and modern Indian art, I think this modern example appears influenced somewhat by western culture, but still retains elements recognizable to the culture from which it originates.

Finally I have selected a composition of different artists’ representations of the human form to show a variety of styles, viewpoints and  techniques as artists continue to explore new and exciting ways to represent the figure in all it’s many guises.

 

Reference

http://www.howtotalkaboutarthistory.com/page/2/

https://www.diegorivera.org/nudecalla.jsp

https://www.google.com/search?q=the+history+of+the+nude+in+painting&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi_nOiC1vTbAhUjAsAKHVD0Ab0Q_AUICygC&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=Uc55Y_juK-v6qM:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b&biw=1366&bih=631&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=kw81W6z_JIaQkwWUkKzQBA&q=the+history+of+the+male+nude+fertility&oq=the+history+of+the+male+nude+fertility&gs_l=img.3…127721.131355.0.131885.10.10.0.0.0.0.87.662.10.10.0….0…1c.1.64.img..0.0.0….0.wL4QH3BqfnQ#imgrc=0y27qOo79bh2BM:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-ab&biw=1366&bih=631&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=ehY1W-bMG-TgsAf2i6L4Cg&q=ancient+culture+indian+nude+figures+temple+carvings&oq=ancient+culture+indian+nude+figures+temple+carvings&gs_l=img.3…62106.74631.0.75134.18.17.1.0.0.0.69.1047.17.17.0….0…1c.1.64.img..0.0.0….0.cScHmulE7-Y#imgrc=HWAtUr0JL3mjQM:

http://www.medievalists.net/2012/06/the-meanings-of-nudity-in-medieval-art-an-introduction/

Research: John Virtue

Part 3; Project 5 Townscapes

The urban environment is a theme increasingly adopted by contemporary artists who revisit the art historic subject of ‘landscape’ to offer insights into today’s fast changing society. One example is John Virtue.

This research looks at the work he produced while an associate artist in residence at the National Gallery and out on the moors and at sea.

John Virtue

John Virtue was born in Lancashire in 1947 and studied at the Slade school of Fine Art 1965-9. In 1971 he returned to Lancashire and supported himself by working as a Postman until 1985 when he committed to working full-time as an artist. In 1988 he moved to Devon for 15 years until was appointed Associated Artist at the National Gallery (2003-5).

His work is mostly in black and white, colour ‘an unnecessary distraction’ he is quoted as saying. He is an admirer of the Dutch Masters, Constable, Rubens, Franz Kline and Turner’s paintings where the meeting of land and sky is merged, and effect that he has tried to emulate with his monochrome palette. He paints in a variety of media; White acrylic, black ink, shellac, emulsion and oil on canvas.

His residency at the National Gallery focused almost entirely on the London Skyline where he produced a series 11 of highly atmospheric and evocative images that captured an essence of London in a really contemporary way, only hinting at the iconic structures of the city to give you a sense of space and orientation rather than realistic depictions. He painted 4 views looking towards St Paul’s Cathedral, 4 views from the roof of Somerset House looking towards the City and 3 from the National Gallery looking at Nelson’s Column and Trafalgar Square .  These are epic works, the largest being 7 meters across. Even following his National Gallery appointment he continued to paint London until he moved to Venice, producing over 360 mono types in the period 2006-7. He returned to Norfolk in 2009 and there he set about  painting shore and sea as his subject matter.

Other examples of contemporary landscapes that I have found inspirational.

This is a small collection of works by other artists that I will draw some inspiration from for future exercises. I like the use of dark areas in Sue Bryan’s work and the patterns create by the Xu Bing family plots piece. I also really like the abstract mark making of the other examples as they describe the landscape in an energetic and atmospheric way.

Reference sources

http://www.marlboroughlondon.com/artists/john-virtue/

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artist-john-virtue/exhibition/land710.htm

http://www.artnet.com/artists/john-virtue/

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=john+virtue+residence+at+national+gallery&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:CRaIq7vRSc_1uIjjvzw9uBcEM3Fh5VYV8KoWDL44CBxMV1fsRY789J3waojLYMyhkylJ3uyZWzHNlgNlcLIMaE0XzZyoSCe_1PD24FwQzcEclKNBHIRQ1vKhIJWHlVhXwqhYMRXthOw6rmNYQqEgkvjgIHExXV-xH1qDYQn8DU-SoSCRFjvz0nfBqiEfBCBlebDCbIKhIJMtgzKGTKUncRuHDApGrY7LwqEgm7JlbMc2WA2RF9Mv8Z7cHsmyoSCVwsgxoTRfNnEWaHJdJRjYAU&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwisgPm9_qraAhWJuRQKHRrLBNMQ9C96BAgAEBs&biw=1366&bih=631&dpr=1#imgdii=OqZR2kKhYRtJxM:&imgrc=8r0SHEvUwNpqrM:

Other artists:

https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrIRhHAY8paeQQAqrZ3Bwx.?p=contemporary+landscape+drawings&fr=yhs-adk-adk_sbnt&fr2=piv-web&hspart=adk&hsimp=yhs-adk_sbnt&type=em_appfocus1_ff

Research Point; Landscapes, Viewpoints and approaches

Part 3. Find contemporary artists who work with landscape and a range of viewpoints and compare their approaches with those of earlier artists. For example compare Tactia Dean’s blackboard drawings with Seurat’s Landscape with Houses.

Tactia Dean – Blackboard drawings

George Seurat – Landscape with Houses

Tactia Dean

Tactia Dean was born in 1965, she was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1998 and elected to the Royal Academy of arts in 2008. She was born in Canterbury in Kent and Studied at Falmouth University. She is mostly known for her film work, although she works in a variety of media including photography, sound and drawing and painting.

Her work is very atmospheric and she often works in monotone. The work that I am looking at in this research exercise concentrates on her chalk on blackboard drawings of mountains. I also found some blackboard drawings of the sea that have a similar quality, the sea has been a reoccurring theme throughout her work. The blackboard is traditionally seen as a medium for conveying a passing idea or message. We are familiar with the practice of writing on a blackboard in school as a learning process, or in a café that spells out the available menu, we see it as a transitory medium that will be rubbed out and drawn over again. To then use the blackboard as a canvas that is to be kept is an interesting play for our senses. The use of chalk in this way is very dramatic and enables the artist to create an image that is stark in black and white and atmospheric in its subtlety. Rubbing chalk out on a blackboard leaves a certain amount of residual dusty chalk on the board, even sometimes when you use a wet rag to wipe it clean. Harnessing this quality of soft and subtle tones creates a stunning and emotive landscape image.

Georges Seurat

Georges Seurat was born on 2 December 1859 and died 29 March 1891. He was a French Impressionist painter and draughtsman, most famous for his particular style of painting called pointillism which involved building the image up using layers of dots or dabs of different colours that when seen together create the impression of tone and form.

In comparison we look at the drawings of George Seurat in particular ‘Landscape with Houses’. George Seurat’s drawings have a very obvious and particular softness, they are very controlled in a particularly horizontal sweep of the pencil marks that have a rhythm about them graduating from dark to light as it crosses the page to describe the various objects in tone and form. The two examples here do have a similarity in that they both use this same subtle graduating tones to describe shape and form resulting in a landscape that is intriguing and draws you in . The use of a large area of dense black in each example is a way to emphasise detail and helps concentrate focus on a particular area of  the image.

Compilation of Classical and early Landscapes

 

When looking at contemporary landscapes against classical and other earlier artists I notice that the classical viewpoint is very much across a standard horizontal plane, there is the foreground in detail often with figures or some sort of storytelling in the detail of the activities, a middle ground that encompasses the foreground and story and a softer less defined detail in the distance. Early landscapes are often very romanticized, and in the case of the Gainsborough example, although the same formula of graduated detail that softens in the distance and romantic aura, the landscape is secondary to the portraiture of the figures. The example by Cezanne shows a change in focus toward the landscape as the whole subject an is more experimental with its viewpoint and techniqye, looking much more down and across the tops of the houses than directly at them, creating a feeling for the spirit of the landscape than a depiction of the content.

Compilation of Contemporary Landscapes

In comparison, these contemporary examples the landscape is the subject of interest in entirety. The viewpoints have become more exploratory and dramatic, and the painting style more atmospheric, diverse and experimental.

I would suggest that the invention of photography would have had a profound influence in this shift away from the hyper-real romanticized depiction of landscapes. Artists no longer need to replicate a scene in such detail; a photograph can do this just as well. Painting landscapes that convey a feeling and sense of atmosphere, impressions and abstract interpretations of colour texture and form, are far more common now in terms of painting styles and has thus resulted an era of diverse and experimental artists and painting styles that continually push the boundaries of the landscape genre.

As a personal learning from this research I shall try and add more tonal gradation into my drawings; increasing the overall contrast draws the eye deeper into the black areas and open up in the lighter areas and creates a more contrast and dramatic composition. I shall also experiment with viewpoints that are exploratory of my subject matter and create compositions that have an element of intrigue and invitation as well as balance.

Reference sources

https://www.mariangoodman.com/artists/tacita-dean

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacita_Dean

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Seurat%27s+landscape+with+houses&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwieteCy_JbaAhXGesAKHc0DCIsQsAQIMA&biw=1366&bih=631#imgrc=C7iJ55DMETkCqM:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurat

https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrIQg2jvr9a1QgArwF3Bwx.?p=george+seurat&fr=yhs-adk-adk_sbnt&fr2=piv-web&hspart=adk&hsimp=yhs-adk_sbnt&type=em_appfocus1_ff

 

https://mymodernmet.com/contemporary-landscape-painting/

https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrIRlsOub9aChEAYHN3Bwx.?p=artists+painting+landscapes+looking+up&fr=yhs-adk-adk_sbnt&fr2=piv-web&hspart=adk&hsimp=yhs-adk_sbnt&type=em_appfocus1_ff#id=1&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.the-athenaeum.org%2Fart%2Fdisplay_image.php%3Fid%3D153636&action=click

 

 

Research: Contemporary artists who work in a series with landsacpe

Part 3, Project 2; Landscape

Research some historic and contemporary artists who work in series with landscape. You may already be familiar with works by Monet, Cezanne and David Hockney. Look also at works by Peter Diog, John Virtue and other younger artists working today. For example see Nicholas Herbert’s drawings of the Chiltern Hills.

Claude Monet

Claude Monet was born 14 November 1840 and died 5 December 1926, he is considered to be the founder of the French Impressionist Movement. The term ‘Impressionism’ was derived from one of his painting entitled ‘Soleil Levant’ (Impression Sunrise) painted in 1872 and which he first exhibited in 1874.

Monet set out to document the French countryside throughout the seasons, studying the light at different times of day and times of year, he painted the same scene many times in order to capture this passing of time.

In 1883 he purchased a house in Giverny and embarked on an epic landscape project in which he began painting the Japanese bridge over the waterlilies which became his best known works. He then continued to paint vast water lily paintings that occupied the next 20 years of his life.

In 1873 Monet along with a group of his piers (Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley) organised Societe de anonyme des artistes peintres, sculpteurs et graveurs (Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers) to exhibit their works as the rather conservative Le Academie des Beaux-Arts who held their exhibitions at the Salon des Paris had been routinely rejecting their works. The artists were now able to show their works as they pleased and without the constraints of the jury selection of Le Academie des Beaux-Arts.

In 1923 he had an operation to remove cataracts from his eyes that had affected his vision and caused him to see colours differently; painting in a slightly reddish tone. Following his operation he is known to have re-painted some of his water lily paintings with stronger blue tones, as interestingly it is thought that he would have been able to see different light wavelengths, possibly including some ultra-violet.

Paul Cezanne

Paul Cezanne was a French Artist born on 19 January 1839 and died 22 October 1906. He was a Post-Impressionist artist who is widely recognised for bridging the gap between the 19^th century artistic movements to the radically experimental styles of the early 20^th century. He painted in a particular style using planes of colour with complex brushstrokes to build up an intensive depth of field, a style highly recognisable that conveyed an intensive study of the subject matter. He represents shapes in a very geometric form and stylistic way and used a simplistic perspective in his compositions.

Cezanne’s work was not well received at the beginning of his career. He exhibited in the Salon des Refuses in 1863, but his submissions were rejected from 1864-1869, but he did continue submitting work until 1882 with success. He exhibited twice with the expressionists firstly in 1874 and then again in 1877. Despite his work becoming more recognised he chose to work in isolation in the South of France.

David Hockney

David Hockney was born in Bradford England on 9 July 1937 and a pivotal influence in the Pop Art movement. Living for half the in California and half the year in London, he is known for producing a wide variety of works and subject matter, however for this exercise I want to look at his paintings of the North Yorkshire Landscape in particular.

David Hockney exhibited a large selection of these landscapes at the Royal Academy 21 January — 9 April 2012 in his exhibition ‘A Bigger Picture’ which included works that spanned 50 years, including drawings that he did on his ipad. I was fortunate enough to attend this exhibition in person, which I found to be a powerful and memorable experience as well as inspiring.

I have chosen to example the large works that did that cover numerous canvasses as in the previous exercise we were to draw a 360 degree viewpoint which encouraged you to study a particular area in detail, these multi canvas brightly coloured paintings also break down a view into segments that encourage the artist and the viewer to study a detail or aspect of the scene as well as the scene as a whole.

Peter Diog

Peter Diog is a Scottish painter born in 1957 who moved to and settled in Trinidad in 2002. He studied at Wimbeldon and St Martins & Chelsea School of Arts. He held the auction record for the highest valued painting sold at auction first in 2007 when his painting ‘White Canoe’ sold for $11.3 million, then subsequently in 2013 ‘The Architect’s Home in the Ravine’sold for $12 million.

Diog’s paintings have an abstract element to their technique. He often draws his inspiration from either his own or found photographs from many different sources, although his work is not photorealistic. He has frequently painted series paintings; examples of which depict urban environments and images inspired by films.

In 2008 he had a major solo exhibition at the Tate, and having exhibited all over the world his first exhibition in Scotland where he was born was in 2013. His love of film led him to set up his own weekly film club entitled StudioFilmClub with Trinidadian artist Che lovelace. He is known to paint the weekly poster for the screenings which he finds liberating in it’s immediacy.

John Virtue

John Virtue is an English artist and was born in Accrington Lancashire in 1947. He is honoury professor of Fine Art at Plymouth University was the sixth associate artist at London’s National Gallery. He set aside painting in favour of pen and ink work around 1973. He then worked as a postman from 1978 until 1985 when he became a fulltime artist, moving to Devon until 2004. After a brief spell in Italy he then in 2009 he returned to Norfolk and has produced works influenced by this environment shown in his exhibition ‘The Sea’.

He is well known for his London paintings that have been exhibited in the National Gallery and focus on the iconic London skyline. He has won many prestigious prizes in his lifetime and has enjoyed an expansive career.

Nicholas Herbert

Nicholas Herbert was born in 1955 and lives and works in St Albans England. He studied at the Central School of Art and Design and then at Bath University. He is known for producing paintings, drawings and handmade books that are held in collections around the world.

Quote: “I deliberately use modest materials; a fusion of graphite, pencil, acrylics, gouache, chalk, soft pastel and soluble crayon on paper. My colour palette consists mostly of organic, neutral, desaturated and ‘unpretty’ pigments, which consciously de-romanticise the finished pieces.”

This series of works entitled ‘Silent Spaces’ which was exhibited in 2016 is inspired by the chalk uplands of the Chiltern Hills, It consisted of 25 mixed media landscapes. The images are abstract in their textural representation and mystically emotional in their feeling.

The work is drawn from his own personal experiences of the landscape, the images express the emotional and meditative state that the landscape exudes, reproducing his images of that the area in a visual language that speaks to him.

Georgie Mason

Georgie Mason was born in 1991 in Suffolk and graduated from Nottingham University in 2015. She is greatly inspired by the natural world around her and uses a variety of media and materials to create texture.  She has exhibited internationally and judged young art East Anglia. She was awarded a 3 month residency at Oundle School and then a residential fellowship through the vice versa foundation which has taken her to India, where she will work towards her next solo show, of which she has already had six!

Georgie’s work makes a sensual series of landscapes in her distinctive style.

Ian Murphy

Ian Murphy was born in Wigan in 1963 and studied for his BA Hons in Fine Art, Printmaking and painting at Sheffield University in 1985. He was inspired by the industrial landscape that surrounded him, studying the detail in the architecture that drew his attention. The energy and creative insight that he gains from his work exploring urban and natural environments, often drawing out on location, he then feeds back in the form of workshops and open studio experiences.

Ian Murphy’s drawings are controlled yet accurate, he uses line not only to describe but to bring life to his drawings. With the underlying drawing accurate he then embarks upon exploring the texture and atmosphere of the architecture to create an exciting creative representation. Seen together Murphy’s drawings make a stunning series as his subject matter has a common base.

Sandra Duran Wilson

Sandra Duran Wilson was born into a family of artists and scientists, inspired by what she could see through a microscope she allows her imagination to roam and create. She grew up on the border of Mexico and her work has been greatly influenced by the culture, traditions, colours, music and art had a profound impact on her reality and work. Her work is also majorly influenced by science; concepts in biology, chemistry and physics and the keep her work continually evolving as she explores new materials, textures and techniques. She lives in Sante Fe New Mexico and teaches around the world as well as authoring many books and DVD’s.

Her work when seen together holds well as a series as she explores texture and technique to create some really interesting landscapes.

Carolyn Brettell

Caroln Brettell was brought up in Greece and Africa and highly influenced by the bright vibrant colours that surrounded her. She draws her inspiration mainly from the natural landscape, the trees and shadows exaggerated in the morning and evening light. She takes photos for her inspiration and creates images that draw on the bright colours that permeated her youth and applies them to the English landscape.

By concentrating on the English countryside Carolyn Brettell has created a series of work that is vibrant, illustrative and distinctive in its style and pallet.

Bibliography

Claude Monet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Monet

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=monet+landscapes&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwijwvnltYXaAhVPMewKHcYJCgUQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=594

Paul Cezanne

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cezanne+landscapes&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiqirn1tYXaAhUrsKQKHXF_BokQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=594

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_C%C3%A9zanne

David Hockney

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/david-hockney-a-bigger-picture

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=hockney+landscapes&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiWn7OItoXaAhXBy6QKHd6nDegQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=594#imgdii=84CqcyN8APZ7eM:&imgrc=WX6SLXkxY0PQIM:

Peter Diog

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=peter+doig+landscapes&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqpqeqtoXaAhUGzqQKHQWCCroQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=594#imgrc=HgqLfbQ6Vs12gM:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Doig

John Virtue

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=John+Virtue+landscapes&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO_rLGtoXaAhXHKewKHZQsD6wQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=594#imgrc=WHlVhXwqhYP1VM:

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/john-virtue-4829

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Virtue

Nicholas Herbert

https://nicholasherbert.wordpress.com/tag/contemporary-landscape-painting/

http://www.nicholasherbert-drawings.co.uk/about.html

Georgie Mason

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=georgie+mason+artist&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiLh6vbuIXaAhUR66QKHRCuCSkQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=594#imgrc=zGmTmKL08QMNBM:

http://www.georgiemason.co.uk/biography

Ian Murphy

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ian+murphy+artist&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwicoqySvYraAhUCyKQKHUgrA7YQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=594

http://www.ianmurphyartist.com/about/

Sandra Duran Wilson

https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrIRhVLh7ZaJUMAyHd3Bwx.;_ylu=X3oDMTByZmVxM3N0BGNvbG8DaXIyBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw–?p=Sandra+Duran+Wilson+Artist&fr=yhs-adk-adk_sbnt&hspart=adk&hsimp=yhs-adk_sbnt

https://sandraduranwilson.com/about

Carolyn Brettell

http://www.carolynbrettell.co.uk/information.html

http://carolynbrettell.co.uk/gallery.html?page=1

.

 

Research Piont: Vija Clemins

Vija Clemins

Vija Clemins is a Latvian artist born in 1938 and now lives in New York who makes hyper realistic images of textured surfaces and the night sky. She is known as a Night Owl and often works late at night to produce incredibly realistic drawings and dry-point etchings, her works often mistaken for photographs. These works in monochrome are delicate and detailed, have no perspective or horizon, and instead concentrate on the form and texture of the surface or in the case of the Night Sky, looking into the detail of the void. Clouds, the aspect of which we are to consider for our next exercise, also fall into this category of representing the voluminous form of a transient image that is without a reference point in a 3-dimensional space.

In the video she talks about the attention span and the thoroughness of taking a remembered piece of detail and transferring it onto another found object. She is talking about painting texture onto stones, however this is also true of the detail she is recreating in her drawings and etchings. When drawing clouds it is necessary to not only capture the general ‘fleeting’ shape of the cloud, but to study and remember the tones, shadows and highlights in detail and transpose that to paper that are drawing on, as without doubt, when you next look up at the clouds they will have changed form, and in such a vast expanse it is hard to look back to exactly the same space as you have no reference point, it will have moved slightly. I also think that it is important to concentrate on the tones and highlights that I render as the subtlety and gradation of tone is what will make the cloud believable to the viewer.

Her paintings I have discovered, however, are much more naive and atmospheric in a bold and colourful way. They still have a really interesting quality in the textures that she creates within the paint brush strokes over an expanse.

 

Reference

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/arts/design/vija-celmins-matthew-marks-gallery.html

https://www.artsy.net/artist/vija-celmins/cv

https://vimeo.com/22299024

https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=1366&bih=631&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=v66uWrLBHaOSgAbmur-ACA&q=vija+celmins+artwork&oq=vija+celmins+artwork&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0.82538.86576.0.87230.7.4.0.3.3.0.72.222.4.4.0….0…1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.7.260…0i24k1j0i67k1.0.19dvK2aJG4w

 

Exhibition Visit: The Affordable Art Fair – 11th March 2018

The Affordable Art Fair is a commercial Art Fair that consists of many galleries all exhibiting works that they market through their galleries in the price range of £50-£4000.

The Affordable Art Fair

I enjoy going to the affordable art fair as there are so many different styles of work on display that I always come away feeling inspired and excited to produce more work of my own. Since I have purchased work in the past I am fortunate enough to receive free tickets from the galleries that I bought the work from. On this trip I had landscapes in mind as that is the part of the course that I am currently working on. Although I was looking at as many pieces as possible throughout the show, I concentrated on seeking out and photographing a few landscapes for reference. This is just a small collection that caught my eye. I was drawn to the Malcolm Teesdale piece as it reminded me of L.S. Lowry’s work, the Mikael Kihlman piece is reminiscent of the work of Edward Hopper, and the David Frazer piece reminded me of Albrect Durer’s woodcuts. It was really interesting to see contemporary artists being inspired to produce work reminiscent of the work by famous artists before them.