Category: Uncategorized

Kickstart Project

Observing the space:

My group started this project by doing overlapped drawings of the space and the different shapes we observed in the objects and negative space around us. I think these drawings are really interesting partly due to the different styles we all used – some of us used simple line drawings whilst others did more detailed sketches. I think the way these different styles interact makes very dynamic work which is an interesting contrast to the blank, emptiness of the studios as they were when drawing.

Something else we experimented with to get to know the space a bit better was giving ourselves each a specific thing to find and photograph. To make this a bit more interesting we set ourselves a time frame of 2 minutes to take 10 photos. I had to take photos of white paint splatters.

Rearranging the space:

I really enjoyed playing around with rearranging the chairs in the space to create new shapes. I think there’s something exciting about using the physical attributes of the space to create work – it feels very connected to the space.

We also experimented with making different sounds in the space – whilst we where taking the timed photos we discovered a back stairwell which was really echoey so we played around with making interesting sounds.

I really enjoyed this exhibition – I think woodcut/Lino is an exciting medium and I’ve not had much experience with it so it was interesting to see the different styles that can be created using it. I think I want to play around with this in my own practice as I think the way the method utilises block shapes and layering could be an effective way of allowing me to keep my work abstract but more defined which is what I’m aiming for in my exploration if light and shadow.

Edward Wadsworth ‘Camouflaged Ships in Dry Dock (Dazzle Ships)’ 1918

Edward Wadsworth ‘Mytholmroyd’ 1914

Cyril Power ‘The Tube Station’ 1932

Cryril Power ‘The Tube Staircase’ 1929

Lily Tschudi ‘Ice Hockey’ 1933

Sybil Andrews ‘In Full Cry’ 1931

Cyril Power ‘The Tube Station’ (proofs 1-6) 1932

Claude Flight ‘Brooklands’ 1929

Edith Lawrence ‘Canal Middleburg’ 1932

Cyril Power ‘The Carcase’ 1929

Sybil Andrews ‘The Gate’ 1930

Sybil Andrews ‘Sledgehammers’ 1933

Ethel Spowers ‘Wet Afternoon’ 1929-30

Sybil Andrews ‘Concert Hall’ 1929

Edward Wadsworth ‘Mytholmroyd’ 1914

Cyril Power ‘The Tube Station’ 1932

Cyril Power ‘The Tube Station’ (proofs 1-6) 1932

Cryril Power ‘The Tube Staircase’ 1929

Lily Tschudi ‘Ice Hockey’ 1933

Sybil Andrews ‘In Full Cry’ 1931

Claude Flight ‘Brooklands’ 1929

Edith Lawrence ‘Canal Middleburg’ 1932

Cyril Power ‘The Carcase’ 1929

Sybil Andrews ‘The Gate’ 1930

Sybil Andrews ‘Sledgehammers’ 1933

Ethel Spowers ‘Wet Afternoon’ 1929-30

Sybil Andrews ‘Concert Hall’ 1929

Edward Wadsworth ‘Camouflaged Ships in Dry Dock (Dazzle Ships)’ 1918

Summer Pavilion: The Colour Palace, Yinka Ilori

These are my photos from the documentation workshop. I think they are really effective – I particularly like the shadows that the casts have created which produce some interesting shapes.

I think Mitchell’s work has a really exciting, vibrant energy about it. Her use of colours and gestural marks make the canvases intriguing and captivating. Her work is largely influenced by the physicality involved in making them – Mitchell often uses large canvases that require her to move around a lot to reach the whole surface – and I think this is patprtky what allows her work to be so energetic.

‘An accomplished athlete throughout her childhood, Mitchell had a great deal of experience with discipline, practice, balance, and a relaxed and fluid faculty of control. These principles of physical action, combined with careful, precise visual observation of her environment, underscore her life-long approach to painting.’ – Joan Mitchell Foundation website

Picture 2827

sources: https://joanmitchellfoundation.org/work/artwork/cat/paintings

France Kline was a prominent artist during the abstract expressionism period of the 50s and 60s. He is known for his large gestural paintings featuring textural black marks across the canvas.  I find his work exciting and vibrant; as a result of the gestural marks used his work has a real sense of energy and physicality to it which I want to try and convey in my work.

‘True to an alternate name for Abstract Expressionism, “action painting,” Kline’s pictures often suggest broad, confident, quickly executed gestures reflecting the artist’s spontaneous impulses.’ – MoMA website

Sources: https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/2005/group-show/

https://www.moma.org/artists/3148?locale=en

I am mostly influenced by Cohen’s use of pattern in his work – I think the way that he layers different shapes and colours using blocks and lines is really exciting and makes very dynamic and vibrant work.  I definitely want to play around with this layering in my work and see how I can manipulate single images by combining them with each other. I’m also intrigued by the way that he uses process in his work, for example in the case of ‘in that moment’ he uses a single continuous line changing colours as and when he wants to and doesn’t stop until the entire canvas is covered.

“Bernard Cohen’s paintings are self-replicating systems that proliferate across an exploded grid seemingly independently of the artist’s personality or will. In all his works Cohen looks for a painting that appears to generate itself” – Dan Combs, Abstract Critical

‘Octet’ 2011

‘Place Games’ 2013

‘Seven Places’ 1977-79

‘In That Moment’ 1965

sources: https://abstractcritical.com/article/bernard-cohen-at-flowers/index.html

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/cohen-in-that-moment-t00800