The first out-of-class critique that I sought out was from my boyfriend's step-mother, whom I'll just refer to as "N" for this post. N is a certified nurse at Flagler Hospital, but also has a side career as an illustrator. She paints and her subject matter ranges from very detailed, trip mandalas to abstracted nature scenes.
She noted that as I progressed with these works, my style became more abstracted- perspective more wonky and less traditional. However, she believes that the last painting that I did, which I will be posting after this reaction. She liked that I was willing to be less conventional at times and that I experimented with patterns and texture in my first finished piece, however she suggested that I work on tying them in with the rest of the picture a bit better, which is not the first time that I've been told that and I definitely want to experiment more with that advise in mind. My color choices are well executed, she said, and mentioned that she prefers the bolder palettes to the more subdued and muted choices that I had made and suggested that I look at Max Ernst's work for some inspiration. Lastly, she suggested that I added in more texture to some areas at least in foregrounds- she said that I seem to be evolving into a more cubist style and suggested that I research Mondrian and study how he used texture in his approach. Overall, I thought that she had a lot of very useful things to say and greatly appreciated that she was willing to take time out of her day to help me out. Whens she pointed out that I needed to add in more texture, I let her know that I had been nervous about doing so as I didn't know how to approach it. I liked receiving an outside point of view- aka: from somebody who has not seen the entire process that went into making it all and I found it to be a very rewarding experience. especially when I let her know that I did not feel very confident about the pieces and she reminded me that I don't have to. They're just stepping stones that are meant to help me learn more about my style and I should keep them as a way to look back at how I've progressed.
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So over the weekend, I had the time to finally visit some of the art galleries around St Augustine. I already work at one, and so many times customers have told me how different the work shown there is from what other galleries have to offer, so I was glad to finally have the opportunity to go forth and see what they had been talking about. The first two that I visited were ones that are, in my opinion, the most well-known in St Augustine, given their extensive collections and the notoriety of some of the artists who show in them. I've been tot he Cornerstone Gallery before, when it was still the Galleria del Mar, and I was disappointed to see that some sketches by Salvador Dali and Miro were no longer there. However, there were a couple of artists' work that I became very interested in: The first were works that appeared to be a sort of colored resin on glass, and created some beautiful imagery that looked like it was coming off of the surface. Some were very spacey and looked like that could have been supernovas, while others were more minimal and displayed drinks and such. The other works that I liked appeared to be scenes from a drive-in movie theater, where the audience was watching Star Wars. However, the screens seemed to be depicting collages of the the characters, rather than screen shots. I liked them not only because I love the Star Wars universe (except for episodes 1 and 2), but because the environment that surrounded the screen seemed to be another world. The colors were bright and captivating, and I liked the juxtaposition of space and the past. Next I went to the Cutter and Cutter Gallery, Brilliance in Color, and I found out where the Dali sketches had gone. Still no sign of Miro's work, though. Having been to the Dali museum in Tampa, i was a bit disappointed to see that the gallery did not hold a lot of works which really displayed his wide range of artistic talent. But that does not necessarily mean that what was shown was any less beautiful. There were also some beautiful paintings of female figures in indiscriminate spaces that I really loved by Josep Domenech. I felt that he really appreciated the female form and wanted to truthfully represent womanhood. He had an interesting balance between intricate detail and unidentifiable spaces, and his muted color palette really gave a sense of nostalgia tot he pieces. My favorite gallery that I visited was the Lost Art Gallery, which held works depicting a wide range of subject matter. Some took on amore classical approach, while others a more contemporary. There were photographs that I had seen a few months ago while I'd been working one day and a woman came in asking that her husband's work be considered for display, and while it did not work out with us I was pleased to see that this gallery had picked them up. The photographs depict life in Bulgaria and are formally very beautiful. I especially love one of a little girl who is proudly holding onto a chicken, as the stark value contrasts contribute to a sense of adolescent innocence and optimism.
It's official, I have been published in Inklette Magazine! I it's an online magazine, so I know that I won't necessarily get a hard copy of the issue, but I'm still excited and will be posting everywhere when it's up! In other news, I think that I've made some headway on my pieces for portfolio. Now that I only have the one job, I've been much less stressed and I've also had more time to think about what I want to do. So I spent almost all day working yesterday, and then I woke up at 5:30 this morning and worked some more and I'm feeling much better about where I am than I did last week. I inadvertantly stumbled into a more cubist style which has been feeling fresh and interesting, and I like to think that I'm mimicking Cezanne- not quite in color theory, but in color palette maybe? I've included two photos of my failed street-view because that became the base for the rectangular painting on the left in the final picture I've submitted a couple of artworks to a magazine publication that I found through Submittable, a website that my professor suggested. The theme of the submission was "Home", and I decided to submit a photo of the larger landscape that I created, as well as a piece that I did for my Contemporary Drawing Practices class last semester. I chose these two pieces because I feel that they both communicate different emotions related to the concept of home: one is nostalgic and fantastical- the other is muddy and a bit threatening. At least, that is how I view them. He is proof that I have also been going to art-related events. So far I have been to two. Well... one was First Friday at work and the other was from when I went to check out the new Obscura gallery. At the former, I met Dorothy Pitman-Hughes, a literal icon of second/third-wave feminism and it was magical. The latter was at Obscure, where I saw some interesting artworks by Marleigh Culver which I didn't necessarily dislike.... but still found hard to appreciate. However, I was interested in her artist's statement and the many different forms in which her works could be bought/sold. I'm taking a brief break from architecture attempts so that I can produce some works that I might actually be alright with showing at the BA Portfolio show... Also to show my professor that I really am doing work for this class. I put my 2 weeks in about 2 weeks ago so that I can concentrate more on classes.... and because I was fed up with a boss who actually accused me of stealing because I planned on continuing to work after putting in my 2 weeks. But I digress... I'm doing a landscape again because I'd been looking for some architectural references from a trip to my dad's home country 10 years ago and I inevitably remembered how much I'd loved the scenery. It reminded me of visiting my mom's hometown in PA and looking at elk with amish people and I realized that I really miss traveling and that I may be trying to make up for my current immobility by doing these works. I've been hitting a wall with these urban landscapes and I thought that starting over would be a good idea. It was not. I showed it in class and expressed my disappointment in how things were working out and was asked why I don't just stop,,, give up. I don't like giving up, especially because this project has proved to be a real challenge for me and now my pride is kicking in and I have to overcome it so that I can feel like a successful student again. References now include Gregory Lang and the building across the street from where I work I have continued to follow my desire to paint an alleyway within an urban landscape, and I must say that it has not been going as I had expected it would. I had started out with my initial sketch and subsequently decided that the small format was not to my liking and believed that a larger surface would make things easier. I wasn't entirely correct in this belief.... the larger size and rectangular shape of my canvas has not given me as much motivation as I had hoped. I am used to painting organic shapes that can give some leeway in terms of brushstroke placement. It has been what I liked most about painting because I had the opportunity to be more improvisational with my approach, which is how I often work. Urban settings do not work like that. A certain amount of precision needs to be in place- even after a rough sketch is put down and I have found myself being incredibly wasteful of masking tape as I have attempted to perfect my one-point perspective lines. I have been looking at Jamie Tweddell's works as references because I see such a relationship between his landscapes and his street settings. His color choices have greatly influenced me and I am considering his compositions as I move forward as solutions to other problems which I have been facing. Below are photos of my current progress (notice the masking tape) as well as a few paintings by Tweddell which I have been using as inspiration. After reading through Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art’’s Gestural Abstraction section, I chose Joan Mitchell, Louise Bourgeois, and Alberto Burri as the three artists whom I can identify with in relation to my own work. I was intrigued by Mitchell and Burri because they both touch on the role of expression in their work- how they use it to express thoughts and emotions dealing with existence and the difficulty of placing their work into any categories. I chose Louise Bourgeoise because I have found her process to be influential on my own work and because she discusses the role of materials in her work.
I was interested in gestural abstraction as a concept because I have wanted to become more expressive in my work- moving away from rendering exactly what is in front of me. After viewing works by these artists ( reviewing works by Bourgeoise), I have concluded that they are either on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, or they contain certain elements which I would like to bring into my own work. I was particularly interested in Burri and how his writing explains such an inability to fully articulate what he is trying to do- that he fully expects his art to explain itself to the viewer- and how that is what is so liberating about it. He calls his paintings “a reality which is part of myself [himself],” and that is something that I can certainly agree with in reference to my own work as well: I make it for myself, to create a space wherein I am familiar, even if it may not exist in others’ realities. Mitchell, I found to be interesting due to the fact that she does not constrict herself to creating only one type of art. Her sunflowers and cityscapes, though containing certain similar elements, still stand very well apart from each other, and she even admits in her interview with Yves Michaud that her objectives are very broad. She paints what she has reactions to and stops when she has no more questions that need to be asked or answered. I have a great respect for that instinctive approach and find myself doing the same thing when not painting representationally. I believe that it that kind of spontaneity is very important to creating quality gestural abstraction because it prevents the painter from having to be confined by any certain structure. While there may be a vague objective in mind- to capture a feeling or motion, it is still important, as Kanefsky stated in his interview on Painting Preceptions to let the art know when it is done. Louise Bourgeoise’s interview with Donald Kuspit touches on an aspect of art which I believe to be even moreso important to gestural abstraction than to any of the other categories that we were give. This is because a material can only be worked on to a certain extent. It more ofter forces its handler to work with it and that can often lead to the same concept being represented differently throughout various mediums. While she is predominantly a sculptress, I am aware that she has drawings as well and I believe that it is those quick sketches which help her decide which material will be most suitable for representing her vision. |
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AuthorArt Student at Flagler College. I am frequently instructed to write blog entries about my artistic thoughts and process. Archives
April 2017
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