Showing posts with label Artist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Artist. Show all posts

Saturday, 12 May 2012

Tacita Dean




As I think about the film work more and refer back to the original footage, I think back to my first memorable experience of film art. It was Tacita Dean's 'Film' exhibition as part of the Unilever series at Tate Modern. Upon reflection of the experience I believe it was my lack of knowledge of the medium which made me unable to interpret, develop and appreciate the work. When experiencing the work at the Turbine hall, I didn't feel a connection to the work as I would a painting. At the time I couldn't make sense of the image in front of me or the concept of the work. Truthfully I couldn't comprehend film work as art. However with my higher level of appreciation and respect for the medium and process, now I can take a different viewpoint on the work. I feel I was looking for a profound meaning in the context of the work, when I could have appreciated the unique process of the medium and take a formalist viewpoint.

"A lot happens in your head between when you film something to when you get it back...its a thinking period."

"Mount analogue is a mountain that exists for those people who believe it exists...Its all about metaphor, everything that exists beyond the rational self."

I find the way she speaks quite philosophic, this informs your view of the work as you begin to feel in awe as she does.



Monday, 7 May 2012

Antoni Tàpies & Cy Twombly

Als mestres de Catalunya, 1974, Antoni Tàpies.

Whilst watching the Film back with Kim(Tutor) mentioned the artist Antoni Tàpies in relation to my painting ideas. I can see a relationship between my work and Tàpies regarding tone. I particularly thoroughly enjoy his use of texture and the way he creates surfaces to work on. When using diluted printing inks I have come to enjoy the brooding atmosphere they create, this being something I can relate to in the work of Tàpies. He would often use sand and other materials mixed into paint to generate further texture to his work which is something I feel I need to exlplore further.



When researching Tapies, I found another artist, Cy Twombly, of the same generation who I feel I can engage with. His paintings emit a lively aurora of frustration and vigour I find captivating. The rapid flow of line movement almost remind me of the work of Len Lye and his scratch film, thinking of the frames layered, this is how they could be considered in a painterly format. Comparing his work to Tàpies, Twombly's is more active and there is more to extract from the work, however I am currently concerned with the texture of surfaces making the work of Tàpies more suitable.  Exploring the work of Twombly gives a pathway of observation into the freedom of mark-making and has developed my observation of line and mark-making.
'Every line is thus the actual experience with its unique story. It does not illustrate it; it is the perception of its own realisation.' [p.285]

Gualdoni.F (2008). ART The Twentieth Century. Skira. ISBN: 978-88-6130-801-5

Reading this inspired me to think further about the history of a painting and how it can be tracked through the observation of layers and depth of line. This taught me to look further into a paint beyond they key focal points to appreciate the method and process of the work. Through Twombly's work particularly, it demonstrates how painting can be a documentation of time and emotion, as each line has an momentary experience attached to its production.


Untitled, 1972

Tiznit, 1953





After using the roller with acrylic paint I then decided to experiment using it with the printing inks. As the texture of the medium is very different, the effect therefore changed. It required a great amount of turpentine to aid the movement of paint, and required more pressure than when rolling acrylic paint. I based these studies on my images of rocks, and reduced them to simple layers of colour in order to loose detail. Using the roller with printing inks produces the appearance of a softer surface which I find effective, although can make clotted areas if not enough turpentine is applied, for this reason the use of a roller may be better to only use with acrylic paint, this way there is a gradual fade of tones.


Saturday, 14 April 2012

Simon Fujiwara Exhibition

Whilst in Cornwall I attended a Simon Fujiwara exhibition at Tate St.Ives. Although admittedly I found the work to be hard to first comprehend; upon reflection I feel I gained a lot from the exhibition as it encouraged me to think further about the work to find meaning.
By finding something rather puzzling at first I feel as though this has enabled me to broadened my outlook in my artist research instead of only looking to painters for inspiration.
Simon Fujiwara's work is largely autobiographical installations where he combines fact and fiction. By blurring the line between fact and fiction he could create a misconception in the viewers mind; I believe this is particularly relevant to me as by zooming into photographs to only see colour, the viewer is experiencing a misconception as they do not see the full picture.


http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-st-ives/exhibition/simon-fujiwara-1982