Art exam finished

I intend to create an exhibition on the theme of Black and White. During of which I will be including written analysis of selected artists whose work revolves around abstract themes.

Guernica - Pablo Picasso Guernica is a mural-sized oil painting on canvas painted by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso completed in June 1937. The painting uses a palette of gray, black, and white, is regarded by many art critics as one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history.

Guernica was considered to be the greatest painting of the 20th century.

Picasso took five weeks to create Guernica, which is fast considering it is such a monumental detailed piece of work. By creating this, Picasso was drawing on an established, traditional genre, to which he added a frieze structure and seven figures drawn from a combination of art tradition and his own highly personal stock of imagery.

Picasso painted Guernica as a response to the bombing of a Basque town of the same name, during the Spanish civil war.

Guernica was known as Picasso's most powerful political statement. The painting shows the tragedies of the war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals involved, particularly innocent civilians. This work has gained a monumental status; becoming a perpetual reminder of the tragedies of war, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of peace.

This work is seen as a symbol of pastoral style. The discarding of color intensifies the drama of the war, producing a reportage quality as in a photographic record. Guernica is blue, black and white, Picasso stuck to a strict colour scheme to highlight the dark times of the time period.

Some critics warn against trusting the politcal message in Guernica. For example the rampaging bull, a major motive of destruction here, has previous figured, whether as a bull or Minotaur, as Picasso' ego. However, in this instance the bull probably represents the onslaught of Fascism. Picasso said it meant brutality and darkness, presumably reminiscent of his prophetic. He also stated that the horse represented the people of Guernica.

Guernica stands at 3.49 meters (11 ft 5 inches) tall and 7.76 meters (25 ft 6 inches) wide, in the image below the comparison to the size of a human can be seen. Picasso's photographer, Dora Maar documented the stages Guernica went through on its way to completion. Apart from their documentary and publicity value, Maar's photographs "helped Picasso to eschew color and give the work the black-and-white immediacy of a photograph". Previously, Picasso had rarely allowed strangers into his studio to watch him work, but he admitted influential visitors to his studio to observe the progress of the painting, believing that the publicity to be gained would help the antifascist cause.

Pablo Picasso – 1881-1973 Pablo Picasso is a prime example of an abstract artist in which I am going to be exploring. All of his work was not black and white but he did explore monochrome palettes.

He was a Spanish painter, sculptor, print maker and poet who spent most of his adult life in France. He is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century; he is well known for co-founding the Cubist movement.

Picasso is known for constantly re-inventing himself, doing this by switching between styles that are so radically different."Whenever I wanted to say something, I said it the way I believed I should," he explained. "Different themes inevitably require different methods of expression. This does not imply either evolution or progress; it is a matter of following the idea one wants to express and the way in which one wants to express it."

Cubism was an artistic style pioneered by Pablo Picasso and his friend Georges Braque (referred to in a later slide). In Cubist paintings, objects are broken apart and reassembled in an abstracted form, highlighting their composite geometric shapes and depicting them from multiple, simultaneous viewpoints in order to create physics-defying, collage-like effects.

Picasso's self portrait – 1907.

Pablo Picasso

Still Life with a Bottle of Rum 1911

Oil on canvas 24 1/8 x 19 7/8 in.

(61.3 x 50.5 cm) Small scale Analytical Cubism

Picasso made his Cubist fractured, disjointed paintings by “analysing” an object or scene from every angle before painting, and then painting a single composition that combines each viewpoint, each in a different section of the painting. This early style of Cubism is actually called Analytic Cubism, for example, Still Life with a bottle of rum.

Picasso went on to make collage-style works too, cutting out paper shapes and combining them on canvas. It was a natural extension of his Cubist painting style, eventually leading to many sculptural works as well.

Unlike many artists, Picasso lived long enough to reap the rewards of his fame. His place in history including his Cubist style, was already assured by the 1920’s, and over the next fifty years as he continued to paint, sculpt, and create, his name truly became synonymous with modern art and Cubism in the 20th century.

This painting was made from facetted forms, with a vortex like composition. 'Still life with a bottle of rum' also has a limited colour palette, ranging from dark oranges, to black and white, there are even some blue tones. This is completed using directional brush strokes. There is also no dynamic fixed viewpoint, this is due to the image being so unclear.

It is visually difficult to distinguish the bottle of rum, in the upper center of the painting, the neck of the bottle seems to be opening. The spidery black lines to the left of the painting may denote written music. There is also a round shape lower down in the painting – this is the base of the bottle. Also, in the center in the far right, there is the pointed spout of a porron (a Spanish wine glass).

To the left of the painting, there are letters scattered around, this is the first painting in which Picasso incorporated letters. LETR, refer to Le Torero, the magazine for bullfighting fans—Picasso being one of them— but they might simply be a pun on lettre, French for "word."

Perhaps Picasso used these letters to remind viewers that just as musical notes and letters stand for sound and language, the arcs and planes of Cubist paintings stood for reality.

By 1911, Cubism was an autonomous and internally consistent style, deliberate ambiguity was employed and the viewpoint of the spectator is always uncertain, but compositions often held together by loose or spontaneous grid-like structure. This painting however, is analytical Cubism – this being Cubism that rejects single point renaissance perspective and concentrates on ways of seeing and knowing the world.

Ace of Clubs – Georges Braque Example of Cubism.

In 1912, Georges Braque's 'Fruit dish' and glass 'bar' served as the first example of papier colle art. In 1913, Braque's Ace of Clubs became the second. Braque was inspired by confrere Picasso's method of collagecombined oil painting with the placement of paper and cloth elements that combined to create complex textures of both form and meaning.

The Ace of Clubs – placed geometry in front and center. This painting move anticipated artistic movements from Cubism proper to Suprematism and even post-painterly abstraction.

The Ace of Clubs was not a purely formal experiment. It was a teasing mediation on the signified and the seen. The work itself is a conceptual glance through the window of a café or restaurant. Between the grainy wooden shutters we see some grapes, a table, some playing cards, indistinct lettering, and perhaps the broken halves of a phonograph record. We believe that we can't see anything, in fact we see everything. Braque's collage, abstraction, and geometry magnificently unite the felt, the visual, and the conceptual.

Guernica – an anti war painting.

"My whole life as an artist has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against reaction and the death of art. In the picture I am painting — which I shall call Guernica — I am expressing my horror of the military caste which is now plundering Spain into an ocean of misery and death." - Pablo Picasso.

As Pablo's quote suggests Guernica is primarily a war painting, offering a visual account of the devastating and chaotic impact that the war had on both men and women. This especially on civilian life and communities. Picasso completed Guernica in 1937, a time of widespread political upset worldwide. World war II would just begin a few years later and would further decimate the continent as a whole.

Within Guernica – we see several victims of the bombing, some still living, some already dead.

This painting also has many Cubism elements such as the newspaper print texture of the horse may also throw back to Picasso's early "Journal" Cubist work.

In Guernica, the predominant colour is black within the artwork, possibly reminiscent of death itself.

Guernica can also be interpreted as a 'bull fight'. The bull is the unofficial national symbol of Spain. Bullfighting is a traditional pastime sport in Spain, with this bullfighting symbolism connecting Guernica with a specifically nationalistic meaning.

In Guernica, the bull remains stoically standing to the left side of the painting while the matador lays dead in the foreground, the sword or spear he might have used to slaughter the bull broken off in his hand. The bull remains peaceful in Guernica, the other figures in the painting however, do not look so calm.

The painting is divided into three parts united by a triangular structure. The two diagonals – being from the table on the left and the woman's head on the right – meet at the lamp.

Picasso uses the bull/Minotaur (half-man, half-bull) - to signify the ongoing struggle between the human and the bestial. This figure of a bull, which has two widely spread human eyes, stands over a distraught woman as she grieves for the dead child that is in her arms.

This light bulb is painted within an almond shaped, angry-looking eye, a light blazes out over the figure of a horse in pain. The light bulb is symbolic both of the Spanish sun and of the pitiless environment of a wartime torturer's cell, harshly lit by a shaded light bulb.

To the right of the painting, there is a person, probably a woman, who is either falling or trapped in a building with flames raging above her. The figure portrays a helpless look within her face, as it makes an emotional appeal and draws the viewer into her pain and bewilderment.

A dead warrior's arm, possibly even that of a statue, lies at the bottom center of the painting. The figure appears to be crushed under debris or the arm may even be severed. The hand continues to grasp a shattered sword. The renewal of life is also showed by a ghostly flower which is growing close to the hand.

The central and dominant image of the horse represents death within the painting, here inflicted on the Spanish people by their dictator and the bombers of Nazi Germany. Picasso subliminally suggests death to the viewer by rendering the horse's nostrils and teeth like that of a human skull.

These abstract pieces of work all revolve around Cubism. This being a revolutionary style of modern art, in which was invented by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braques.

It was the first style of abstract art. 'Cubists' challenged conventional forms of representation, such as perspective (brought around within the Italian Renaissance). Their aim was to develop a new way of seeing which reflected the modern age – through the use of geometric shapes.

In the four decades from 1870 – 1910, Western society witnessed more technological processes than in the previous centuries. During this period, inventions such as Photography, sound recording, the telephone and the airplane were invented.

These new inventions were now to be incorporated into art, this through the work of Cubism. Thus, the airplane was represented in it's geometric form as created by Malevich.

Guernica painted by Pablo Picasso, one of the founders of Cubism also includes huge elements of the artistic style within the artwork. This includes all of his figures being made from geometric shapes – to reflect modern society.

A typical Cubist painting will incorporate real people, places or objects. This can also be seen within Malevich's 'Airplane Flying'. Instead it will show you many points of the object at once and from different angles. They may also be reconstructed in a form of shapes and colours. ​

Suprematist Composition: Airplane flying – 1915.​ Kasimir Malevich (1878 – 1935) ​ Oil on canvas​ 22 7/8 x 19in. / 58 x 49cm ​ Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

Kazmir Malevich - The Launch of Suprematism.

Suprematism was the first systematic school of purely abstract composition. Making quite an impact, Suprematism was further developed through the Bauhaus, changing the future of art, architecture, and industrial design.

Suprematism developed through the Latin supremus, meaning ultimate or absolute, aimed to create a synthesis between geometric forms with a non-associative, yet spiritual, language.

This painting is very interesting in terms of abstract art. Although it is not one hundred percent black and white also, the colours used are so basic and monochrome it has the same effect.

There are many focal points within this painting that enable it to be so abstract and unique.

The first of which being the plain white background. Malevich leaves the background 'spatially ambiguous'. This showing movement within a void of white, which he declared to be 'the true real colour of infinity'. Neutral backgrounds were used very commonly in early art forms, mainly within wall paintings.

Malevich also restricts his colour use to the three primary colours plus black and white.

These colours offer dark, light and mid tones within the painting. His use of black and white establishes the core image. The yellow, red and blue accent it and bend it in space. The mid tones also make the contrasts less sharp, while the value of the red pushes the yellow aspects back into the picture. Adding to that of the white background, it also helps the artist to emphasise the colours and edges of the geometric shapes.

The use of form is another focal point within the painting. The detail shows how colour and form can be used to orchestrate relationships. This illustrates the degree to which the viewer is willing to consider a world made from pure colour and geometry. The artist dispenses with realism in order to force the viewer to concentrate fully on the bigger picture. Malevich uses geometric shapes as he believes that depicting the sensation of flight using pure form is more realistic comparing to painting a representation of an aeroplane.

In addition to this, although the image is composed within a grid, there is a sense of movement that is achieved by flipping the angles between the component parts. Malevich portrays movement through the proximity and irregularity of shapes in pictorial space. He places them on a diagonal axis in order to create a sense of tension within the painting.

As well as this abstract piece of work, Malevich also painted 'The Black Square' in 1915. This being oil on linen, 79.5 x 79.5 cm. The work is frequently invoked by critics and artists as the "zero point of painting", referring to the painting's historical significance.

Kazmir Malevich – 1879-1935 Kazimir Malevich was a Russian painter and art theoretician. He was a pioneer of geometric abstract art and the originator of the Suprematist movement. He was a devout Christian mystic who believed the central task of an artist was that of rendering spiritual feeling.

In 1915, Malevich laid down the foundations of Suprematism when he published his manifesto, From Cubism to Suprematism.

In 1895, Malevich became a student at the Kiev School of Art. He settled in Moscow in 1904, and 5 years later he had his first one-man show. He had been painting in the impressionist style, but his work in 1909 suggests a strong dependence on contemporary French art for direction. By 1911 Malevich was working in a cubist manner that was closer to Fernand Léger in style than to Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.

By 1913, he had so transformed his material that recognizable imagery had disappeared, though inferences of light, bulk, and atmosphere had not.

Later that year he carried abstraction to its ultimate limit; he painted a black rectangle on a white ground. This, the first Suprematist work, according to the artist, expressed "the supremacy of pure feeling in creative art."

'The Black Square' - 1915 Oil on linen, 79.5 x 79.5 cm.

The Black Square, which was painted in a uniform black tone, was one of Malevich's four variations on his abstract theme. It revolutionised art by taking abstraction to geometric simplification, similar to 'Airplane Flying'. He also demonstrated through this painting that such work could exist which is unaided by any reference to a specific external reality.

The artists choice of a dense black gives the picture a mystical aura; when it was first exhibited it was positioned tilting downwards in the corner opposite the entrance to the show, exactly where a Russian religious icon would be usually displayed in a home or inn.

This painting was not however placed there by chance, Malevich said 'The corner symbolises that there is no other path to perfection apart from the path into the corner'. When Malevich died, this painting was positioned above his deathbed. Also, Malevich designed his own coffin, which a stone cube with a black square was placed to mark where his ashes were buried.

The Black Square is situated within a relatively dark room at the Tate Modern, given that the painting is completely black from top to bottom, and that it is often said to represent a pivotal moment in the history of abstraction and the art of the 20th century, this strikes the onlooker as an odd decision to place it in such a dark room. Perhaps placing it in a brightly lit room would be appropriate.

At 0.10, Kazimir Malevich presented his famously iconic Black square along with thirty-eight completely non-figurative Suprematist canvases, which consisted of colored geometric shapes painted on white grounds, assemblages of everyday materials that were liberated from the wall and floor and slung across the corners of the room so that they defied gravity and existed fully in space.

These twin innovations of non-figurative work in two and three dimensions posed fundamental questions concerning the nature of art itself, undermining traditional notions of painting and sculpture, this marks a new phase in modernist observations.

Only two installation photographs of 0.10 exist – one shows part of Malevich’s display and the other illustrates a fragment of Tatlin’s presentation.

However, now badly cracked, the Black Square epitomized the theoretical principles of Suprematism developed by Malevich in 1915. Although earlier Malevich had been influenced by Cubism, he believed that the Cubists had not taken abstraction far enough.

Therefore, the idea of the Black Square is the single pictorial element in the composition.

Although the painting seems incredibly simple, there are many aspects that go unseen, such as brushstrokes, finger prints and colours which are visible from underneath the cracked layer of black paint.

It is distinguishable that the visual weight of the black square, being the sense of an "image" against a background, and the tension around the edges of the square. On the other hand, according to Malevich, the perception of these forms should be free of logic and reason. The absolute truth can only be released through pure feeling.

For Malevich the black square represents feelings, and the white background, nothingless. He also viewed the painting as a sort of God like presence – an icon in fact – possibly even the Godlike quality within himself.

El Lissitszky – Meets Malevich and Adopts Suprematism.

In 1919, two great minds of the Russian avant-garde met and revolutionised the visual language of modern art. After meeting Malevich, El Lissitszky adopted Suprematism as his own art form, politics and lifestyle. Suprematism was centered around the idea of art as primarily utilitarian. It was in its prime after the February revolution in Russia, it became a political movement as much as an art one.

Together, Malevich and Lissitszky founded UNOVIS (affirmers of new art) an artistic group modeled after the Communist Party. In this way, the integration of politics and art came to define Lissitszky's artistic contributions.

Lissitsky's Proun series, for which he's most famous, marked his first step in a different direction from Malevich. It showcases his architectural flair, incorporating a series of geometrical shapes in conjunction with one another, and is distinctly three dimensional, in contrast to Malevich's abbstracts.

Lissitzky broke the Suprematist group in 1921 after the termination of UNOVIS, he then worked on a number of projects, including promoting the avant-grade through writing and designing for a number of journals and magazines.

El Lissitzky - 1890-1941

El Lissitzky - Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (1919).

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge was Lissitzky's earliest attempt at propagandistic art. He produced this politically charged work in support of the Red Army shortly after the Bolsheviks had waged their revolution in 1917. The red wedge symbolized the revolutionaries, who were penetrating the anti-Communist White Army.

Within this painting, Lissitzky uses his signature colour combination of red, black and white. This reinforces the message presented by the title of the work. The colours and shapes take on directly symbolic significance. For example, the smooth, curvilinear walls of the white circle are pierced by the sharp point of the red triangle. The red army has pierced the defences of the white army.

The significant dramatic colour contrasts also create confusion regarding the space within the painting. There is confusion into which area is positive – which is negative. Meanwhile, small geometric forms in the colour scheme float like tiny projectiles through space. The text within the painting has she same effect.

Painting and typography have been infused. This work is an important precursor to Lissitzky's Prouns, when Suprematist art moved onto a three-dimensional visual plain

Piet Mondrian – New plastic in painting The De Stijl Style Born in 1872, Piet Mondrian studied at the Amsterdam Academy and began his career by painting landscapes influenced by 17th century Dutch art and impressionism.

However, when he moved to Paris in 1911, he began drawing Cubist works, incorporating them in his painting "The Sea" in 1912, which is dominated by geometric shapes and interlocking planes, although still representational.

In the Netherlands, he founded the journal De Stijl style. The aim was to produce art that was restricted to the form of the rectangle, limited colour to black, white, grey (following the Black and White theme), also the primary colours (red, yellow and blue). This style was to avoid any personal emotions.

His work is highly influential within abstract painting.

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is the development of abstract art which originated in New York in the 1940s and 1950s and aimed at subjective emotional expression with particular emphasis on the spontaneous creative act (e.g. action painting). A leading figure being Jackson Pollock.

It is often characterised by gestural brush-strokes or mark-making, and the impression of spontaneity.

Within abstract expressionism there are two broad groups: the action painters - who attacked their canvases with expressive brush strokes; also the colour field painters who filled their canvases with large areas of a single colour.

The action painters were led by Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, who worked in a spontaneous manner often improvising within their work and using large brush strokes to make sweeping gestural marks. Jackson Pollock famously placed his canvas on the ground and danced around it pouring paint from the can and trailing it from the brush. In this way the action painters directly placed their inner impulses and movements onto the canvas.

The second grouping included Mark Rothko. He was deeply interested in religion and myth and created simple compositions with large areas of block colour intending to produce a contemplative response within the viewer. This approach to painting developed from around 1960 into what became known as colour field painting, characterised by artists using large areas of more or less a single flat colour.

Untitled - 1949 (Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on White and Red) Mark Rothko 1903 - 1970 Oil on canvas

81 ½ x 66 in, / 207 x 167.5 cm.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York, USA

Background Information: Marcus Rothko, born in Russia, he emigrated to the United States in 1913. He had his first one person exhibition in New York – 1933. In 1945, he held a show at the Art of This Century Gallery, an exhibition space run.

In 1948, along with other artists, Rothko founded the Subjects of Art School in New York. This was to determine what should be the proper subject matter for the contemporary artist. He also exhibited with other Abstract Expressionist, De Stijl artists at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1958, Rothko showed at the Venice Biennale; he also began a series of paintings for New York's Four Seasons restaurant.

In 1961, the one-person exhibition 'Mark Rothko' opened at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1964, he was commissioned to paint a series of murals for a chapel in Housten, Texas.

When Mark Rothko painted Untitled, he was arriving at a point of maturity of which was a highly distinct visual style. He had abandoned any remaining references to recognisable imagery and consequently the painting owes its expressive force to its series of luminous rectangles of colours.

The canvas, is slightly larger than a human in scale and this changes the relationship between the work and the viewer. The paintings dimension plays a part in making the colours appear to hover slightly in front of the canvas. Rothko was fully aware of this effect of the dramatic potential within his paintings. Saying in 1951 that he chose to paint large pictures "precisely because I wanted to be very intimate and human. To paint a small picture is to place yourself outside of your experience... however, you paint the larger picture, you are in it." He achieves this immersion entirely by means of his highly sensitive, if not almost preternatural, command of colour.

1. Orange paint – the area of orange paint weaves the two main parts of the central image together. This happens by allowing the opaque red at the top of the painting to flow into the luminous yellow at the bottom, Rothko made a semi-translucent bond between the two halves optically.

2. The horizontal black bar divides the painting in half. The function of the bar is to separate the red of the upper half from what appears to be partly a reflection of the red in the lower half. The bar also helps divide the smooth colour of the upper half strokes to the more empathetic brushstrokes beneath.

Rothko's art drew on form, with limited colours including a strong black and white theme with mixed primary colours. The colours act as fundamental properties to themselves, rather than be made to serve representational ends.

3. The white paint around the edge of the painting serves to frame the values of the central colours, at the same time flowing red brushstrokes to the left and right intensify paint of the white border. As a result the image appears to float or hover on a neutral ground.

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The luminous yellow paint combines with the red to help form the central image. Rothko's intention was to create a 'skin' of paint but to arrive at a stain of intense, pure colour. This allows the weave of the canvas to glisten, rather than reflect and absorb incident light,

Mark Rothko – Untitled (Black on Grey): 1970 Acrylic on canvas 203.3 cm × 175.5 cm (80.0 in × 69.1 in)

Located at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Untitled (black and grey), is a basic black rectangle and an overlapping grey rectangle.

It is a build up of thin, translucent layers of differently shaded blacks, which are luminous and warm. The overall effect is ambiguous, neither space or substance.

The edges of this painting were secured by using a gummed tape that left a white margin of bare paper around the edge when it is removed.

When asked about Black and Grey Rothko explained quite simply that it was about death. This is due to the desolate, empty images, however they also afford a richly ambiguous visual experience. This painting has landscape-like qualities, with the black at the top – almost like an Arctic wasteland under a vast, empty sky. However, at the same time, it is very death like.

This painting is similar to Rothko's Brown and Grey. The colour has been extracted to a dark upper half and lighter lower half. The Black on Gray paintings, however, were primed with white gesso which shows through in various areas (mostly within the lower half), further contravening any illusion of pictorial depth.

Unlike the Brown and Grays, where the variations occur within a fixed format, the Black on Gray paintings substantially vary in size and orientation, each offering a completely unique exploration of scale and ‘weight’.

Both paintings are almost uniform in format, every adjustment to the fields’ proportions, their tonal hue or the gestural brushwork reveal themselves as meaningful painterly gestures within the self-imposed limitations of the composition’s simple structure.

Current – 1964 Bridget Riley Medium- Synthetic polymer paint on composition board Dimensions 58 3/8 x 58 7/8" (148.1 x 149.3 cm) Current's painted undulating black and white lines appear to vibrate and form three-dimensional depressions that quiver on the painting's surface. The painting has the illusion that it is moving.

Bridget Riley – Background Information: Bridget Riley is an English painter, she is best known for her names in op art, this being an art movement that consists of optical illusions, wavy lines and black and white.

Riley became interested in op art while working in advertising. She was influenced by the artist Jackson Pollock, as well as Futurist paintings that she saw while touring in Italy. Her first solo exhibition was held in 1962 at Studio One in London. Since then her paintings have increased in value.

The geometric patterns in Riley's paintings have suggested movement, many people have reported feeling sea sick while looking at the paintings. Although she is known for black and white paintings, she has also used colour before, e.g. Red Movement. This contains several colours, however has no red in it.

She has painted several temporary murals for art museums, including the National Gallery and Tate Gallery. In 2014 she created a permanent 56 metre long mural for St. Mary’s Hospital in London.

Bridget Riley has won many awards. She has been given honorary doctorates by both Oxford and Cambridge and in 1998 was named one of fewer than 70 Companions of Honour.

Bridget Riley developed her distinctive style in the late 1950's and she was inspired by optical illusions in paintings. During the late 1960's her Black and White style of white imitated the work of Victor Vasarely, an early pioneer of Op art. Riley found herself at the center of the Op art movement, presenting geometric constructions and other combinations calculated to evoke sensations of movement and instability.

When viewing a painting the eye naturally flits from the foreground to the background and back again; with Current, the eye finds the shift of attention swift and at times aggressive.

Riley's rigorous investigation of the optical illusion of vertical parallel lines chimed with alternative culture's fixation with the effects of hallucinogenic drugs.

1. Undulating Lines The long sweeps of parallel lines at the top and bottom of the work create the impression of furrows. The surface appears to move and the eye finds it difficult to rest. However, after the eye experiences the 'vibrations' of the central area of shorter waves, the long curves seem relatively restful.

2. Vibrating Lines The three rows of short, parallel curves appear to vibrate. As the viewer stares at the central area, shades of yellow appear and seem to float above the image. The ability of certain black and white patterns to generate the impressions of colour in the brain intrigued Bridget Riley during this period.

Jackson Pollock - Blue Poles 1952 (1952) Enamel and aluminum paint with glass on canvas

212.1 cm × 488.9 cm (83.5 in × 192.5 in) National Gallery of Australia An abstract expressionist painting.

Pollock's work is a key example of abstract pieces. This piece of work was created exclusively by dripping paint on to a medium – a style that peaked around the 1950s. The drip artwork, is not just random patterns, in fact – it is believed to represent a dance.

This piece of work includes harsh electric colours such as the blue of the eight 'poles'. Although everything within this painting is seen to be represented as 'chance' Pollock made it clear that each mark of the painting was intended.

Pollock made enamels of different colours appear as if they are approaching from different angles, almost like a spider weaving a web. He brought up a carefully thought multi layered textured network of interrelated colours and lines.

On the top of the web he had built up from rapidly applied lines of paint, Pollock finally added the more deliberate, traditionally painted, structural element of the 'blue poles'.

US poet Frank O'Hara once wrote about Pollock's painting: "There has never been enough said about Pollock's draughtsmanship, that amazing ability to quicken a line by thinning it, to slow it by flooding." This skill is evident in Pollock's work by his application of the paint.

Pollock started painting with the canvas laid flat on the floor – there was no defined edge until the picture was framed. What we see of the painting is the central action – the corners are arbitrary, they could have been closer to or further away from the center.

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is the term given to forms of abstract art developed by artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning in the 1940's-50's. It is often characterised by gestural brush strokes and random mark making, the impression of spontaneity.

For example, Jackson Pollock was an action painters, who attacked his canvases with expressive brush strokes, some artists only filled their canvas with one colour.

Jackson Pollock used an interesting technique to create his paintings, instead of regularly and knowingly painting a small scale portrait or landscape, Pollock worked large scale, his work was also completely spontaneous.

Around 1930, Pollock suffered with severe alcohol problems, in which within his therapy he was told to express his feelings within art and explore his mind within the canvas. This perhaps being where Pollock's distinctive style of work had been inspired from.

Jackson Pollock fully developed the special “drip” technique. The drip technique is when an artist places the canvas on the floor and uses highly fluid paints that would normally be used for houses or cars within their work. Pollock would often use hardened brushes, turkey basters, and sticks to drip the paint on to the canvas – a usual paintbrush would not create the same desired effect. The act of painting had turned into a performance in itself as when Pollock worked he was described as “dancing around” his canvas and drawing figures “in space”. This technique goes by the term “action painting”.

It is known that Jackson Pollock often got lost within his painting, entering into a “trance like” state where he would crawl on his hands and knees onto the canvas smearing the paint with his hands, this demonstrating that he incorporated his emotions into his work, using art as a therapy like his therapist suggested.

Unlike some other styles of painting, it is extremely easy to predict the movements Pollock made while he was painting.

Lines go back and forth across the canvas, splatters of different colors stretch from side to side, all of which add to the general emotion of the painting. ​ Most of Pollocks lines were created in mid air – dripping down and falling onto the canvas. Within all of his works, the colours he uses compliment eachother, allowing them to pop off the canvas. ​ ​ Pollock offered a new perspective to abstract art by using the lines to create the image, whereas other artists may rely on the lines as the starting point for the painting.

Font design for poster: When choosing my font for my exhibition poster, I am intending for it to reflect what my exhibition is about – modern black and white.

These two fonts above are very modern and will fit my theme within my posters. They are also very clear and easy to read from a distance – therefore causing no confusion in viewers. However, I intend for my font to be more exciting to fit the theme of my exhibition.

This next font also fits along the modern theme. It is also very bold – however may be too bold that it is hard to distinguish between letters. For example, the A's are triangles, maybe causing confusion. Apart from that, I really like this font as it has been popular in modern graphic trends – as seen to the right, so I intend to use it on my final poster design.

This font is very eye catching and will therefore draw viewers in, however it may not be possible to read it from a distance, thus enticing viewers in further for a closer look.

I liked this font due to its border around it – making it quite different. I think it would also go well with my posters, however it doesn't fit into my theme too well. It has a cartoon-like feel to it which is not the effect that I am going for. This does not fit the modern theme and help people understand what to expect within the exhibition.

Although this font is very modern and different and would also would fit my theme, it is too transparent. It is not easily readable from any distance therefore would not work well with my poster and theme. If it were more bold however, it would be ideal.

Out of all the fonts I have considered, this is the most abstract, while also being modern. It is similar to the bold font that I looked at on the previous slide, however a lot more clear due to the lines. This font reflects on what to expect within the exhibition as well as looking effective on the poster.

This last font stood out to me as it looks like modern however old fashioned too. Due to the old fashioned nature, it will not reflect my theme very well – therefore I intend to stick to a very bold font within my poster and booklet design.

Abstract Art Exhibition Posters Analysis: To the right is an abstract art exhibition poster for a black and white abstract theme. When creating my own poster design I intend to follow similar lines as the creator of this poster did. I will incorporate aspects such as the simplistic design, all the poster conveys is "Black and White" within the letters are pieces of abstract art that may be similar to those paintings within the exhibition. Between the 'K' and the 'A' there is some information written in small print, however this is hard to read, when I create my own poster - I intend to make the information regarding the exhibition larger and a lot clearer.

The designer of this poster could have added a black outline to each of the letters. By them doing this, it would be easier to distinguish between each letter. This is due to the fact that the letters such as 'I' and 'H' are predominantly white based. As there is also a white background on the poster, the white of the letter blends into the background – making the letters unclear. However, the letters such as 'C' are effective as it's mainly black themed, and against a white background stands out well. I will ensure to incorporate this within my own poster design to make sure there is no confusion within the viewers.

Here are all the colour captures from the paintings that I have previously looked at. I will be incorporating these colour schemes within my final poster design to keep to the same theme. These are all very similar colour schemes that many abstract artists have used. For example, most of the captures include black, white and greys. What is not as obvious when looking at the paintings themselves, is that they include blue and brown tones, some even including greens.

Within my next poster I also intend to incorporate aspects of the paintings works that I have looked at. For example, Pollock's free line drawings, Rothko's one block colour pieces and Bridget Rileys distinctive styles. I will incorporate all of these into one piece, this will give the viewer a good insight into what to expect in the exhibition.

Abstract Art Exhibition Poster Analysis 2: This poster follows a similar theme to that of which I have previously looked at. Black and white are the predominant colours within the poster, with grey tones within, creating depth and tone within the poster, on elements such as the triangle.

The simplistic design of this poster is also incredibly simplistic and abstract. The title is divided up into two elements, the "Black" written upside down within the triangle, the "& White" at the bottom of the poster in large bold font.

The abstract triangle within the poster is similar to El Lissitzky's 'Red Wedge' painting, whereby a bold red triangle is situated as the main event in the painting – this having a similar effect within the exhibition poster.

The information about the exhibition is written in the middle of the page, in a clear font that is easily readable – this also explaining all the relevant information needed about the exhibition. When creating my own exhibition poster I intend to incorporate clear, bold and relevant information like this poster.

However, I intend to incorporate more abstract factors within mine, to excite the viewer, to intrigue and entice them in.

Creation of my own poster: To begin with, I wanted to design a poster for my exhibition which incorporated both of

the examples for 'Black and White' posters that I have looked at. I intended to create a very simplistic poster, then make further relevant adjustments as I go along. To begin with, I open a clear Photoshop page, and type the words 'Black and White'. I intend to add background images of Bridget Riley's work (who I have previously studied), and add them as a background to the text. This would create a similar effect to the first exhibition poster I studied.

I will then add aspects of the other poster I studied, combining the two to create my simplistic but desired effect.

To enable the picture to be the background of the letters. I added Bridget Riley's 'Current' to my current layer, right clicked the image which brought up the menu to the left. I then selected 'Create Clipping Mask' this adds the picture to the desired layer – this being the work 'Black'. I intend to use a different Bridget Riley image for each word. I like the overall effect this has created as the word is still readable with 'Current' as the background – this will not create any confusion within the viewers of the poster.

Next, I added two of Bridget Riley's other paintings to add a more abstract effect to the poster.

There is a contrast between the wavy lines to begin with, then the straight lines, and finally the spiral effect.

I believe this was more effective than just using 'Current' for all the words.

I now intend to develop this poster further using abstract artists work as inspiration to creating a more sophisticated feel to it, I may do this by adding in elements of artists work such as Jackson Pollock's lines, also Mark Rothko's one block colour painting.

This will create a simplistic yet sophisticated look.

A contemporary art exhibition at The national gallery 20th March – 21st May ______________ Jackson Pollock Bridget Riley Mark Rothko And many more!

As i intended to incorporate both the poster designs below into one, I believe I got the result that I intended. I used similar colour schemes within the poster, which gives them the similar look. I used similar text to the right hand poster, however using the examples I have looked at (Bridget Riley). I also stuck to a geometric design – such as the triangles – this being popular in recent graphic trends. For the small print information I also took ideas from both posters, using small black and grey letters, with dates and relevant artists. This design could be good as it is very simplistic, reflecting the atmosphere of the exhibition.

For this poster design, I intend to take the faces of the artists that I have analysed and create something similar to the Jazzdor Festival poster. Using similar fonts to that of the black and white 'Tennent' poster. I chose these paintings because they are mostly black and white themed and will work well with my chosen topic.

I also like the way in the poster that the faces are pointing in different directions, I intend to do this within my poster design.

This is the colour capture that I took from the 'Black Square'.

I noticed that it had very similar tones to the poster I am looking at.

Poster Design 2: I began by adding both my images I intend to combine together onto different layers on Photoshop. I then started working on the photograph of Pollock photograph. I divided it into 6 equal sections to begin with, to overlap with the Malevich photograph. I intended to replace Malevich's eyes with Pollock's – similar to the poster I have looked at.

I then dragged them across to the layer with Malevich on it. I believe this was effective because, like the poster I looked at, both the images were different tones of grey, meaning they contrast against each other – creating a nice effect. The eyes somewhat align with Pollock's, also the nose, creating a distorted abstract feel to his face. I now intend to add my fonts and information to the poster.

Here I have carried on from the previous slide, however I have just cropped the image down to just the face of the artists as that way the two pictures interlocked better. Also creating 8 equal sections and ensured that the artist's faces were facing different directions. I then faded the background by adding a layer mask to the current layer, then by selecting the gradient tool, I began to fade the background so that the letters would stand out against it.

The colour of the lettering is due to whether the background of that column is light or dark based. This is similar to the poster I took inspiration from, the letters varied from black and white.

For the initial title of my poster I decided to go with a standard font, similar to that of my inspiration poster. This is so the writing is clear, and isn't too bold – this would cover up the initial design of the faces, which I want to remain clear.

I then proceeded to add some extra information to the poster which is the date. I have also scattered around some names of artists that are within the exhibition, for example, Pablo Picasso, Bridget Riley, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko.

I believe that my poster looks very similar in comparison to the inspiration – which I like as it puts across my overall theme very well, especially with the abstract lettering, which switch colour depending on the background colours.

Exhibition Room Ideas: This exhibition room stood out to me due to its simplicity. The paintings are situated in what looks to be a long wide corridor. This is an effective way to lay out an exhibition as it causes no confusion to the viewers or other distractions to the eye.

The atmosphere is mainly black and white too, the paintings being the only pops of colour. This enables them to stand out against the background.

There also seems to be spotlights shining onto the paintings, making them more clear.

I intend to incorporate some of these factors in my exhibition. Create a long corridor room with white walls and flooring. This best shows off the paintings and stays within my theme. I will also incorporate the spot lights on my paintings to show them off.

This exhibition hasn’t included information under the paintings however I intend to do this.

Exhibition Design 1:

To begin with, I created my initial template on Floor Planner, I intended to stick to the simplistic design of my first exhibition analysis. I included a long corridor and a small section for a waiting/living area, with seats and refreshments.

To stick to the same design, I have added white walls and a white laminate flooring. This gives the illusion of a much more open space, as well as being simplistic. The white theme will also help towards enabling the paintings to stand out well.

To keep within the theme of the exhibition, I have added spot lights in the corners of the room, this will create vast lighting to keep the room very bright and spacious.

Shining these on the paintings will also help to make them stand out even more.

I have added glass doors between rooms so the light can travel through them, this gives the exhibition a modern classic feel.

As well as glass doors, at the front door I opted for a modern fully white double door.

Having these open will again bring more natural light to the room. The overall design of them is a very open feeling and of course the colour stays within my theme. To the left and right of the doors, I have added plain wired white see through chairs, these help to keep the room simplistic, whilst also being functional.

Within the waiting area, I have added two sofas, two tables and mirrors. As they are all white too, they remain within the simplistic design. Although the example I studied didn't provide the room like this, this is how I imagined it looking. I added a small table and a plant in the middle for a small amount of colour. Although it's not visable here, on the ceiling I had added two chandeliers to add class within the room. They can be seen on the middle picture, they too are white/silver.

In the example it seems as if the light is coming from behind the painting.

This lights them up within the room drawing more people in. I have incorporated a similar feature in mine however, the giant spotlights would've created a much brighter light on the walls so that the paintings are overall more clear.

Around the glass doors I also added archways for a classical/modern effect. This makes it look like there is more going on within the walls however it is very plain.

The walls of my exhibition are also very tall (12' 6"). I intended for them to be higher than average walls to give the exhibition a more professional feel. As if it is a real museum or gallery. The high walls give it the feel of a hall, it's also effective in allowing me to place the paintings higher up. This gives me more space for information and analysis on the painting to be placed around it. Having the chandeliers hanging from very high up also will enable a more professional and well put together feel of the exhibition room.

Here is my finished 2D exhibition room without the paintings I have studied. I intend to add the paintings to the walls on Photoshop, adding the painting and then skewing it so it looks like it has been placed on the wall. The spot lights on the paintings will overall help them stand out also. I have created side walls within the large exhibition room as this is a similar technique to the design that I analysed and based my whole room on.

To ensure the paintings look like they are actually on the wall, I added them to a separate layer within Photoshop, then cropped them to fit the wall, and then went to 'Edit' at the top of the document, then 'Transform' in the drop down menu then 'Skew'.

This allowed me to move each corner of the painting according to the shape of the wall. This enabled the paintings to look like they are actually hanging on the wall, rather than just placed there.

I've also added glass chairs to the room so that it is not just one big empty space.

Here I have added the paintings to the walls of my exhibition in Photoshop, overall I believe the simplistic white design had a good effect as all of the paintings stand out on the plain walls very nicely. However, to improve, I will create my next exhibition with colour to see the difference.

Second Ideas:

For my second exhibition design I intend to stick to a modern brick wall design. I believe that this will work well as the majority of my paintings are black and white based, and will stand out against the wall. Also, adding spot lights on the paintings will help to do this.

I also intend to add archways to the room to keep the brick wall effect looking authentic. This then creates walk ways between exhibition rooms, as doors would look out of place.

I will now create a brick inspired exhibition with a waiting/living room similar to the middle picture. In addition, I intend to stick to the modern theme of this exhibition however with my own Black and White themed paintings.

For my second exhibition room design I decided to stick to the design of the brick themed room. I incorporated aspects from the exhibition such as the white archways. I believe that they give a good modern effect to the exhibition and are a better way of separating rooms than doors would be. I added factors from the exhibition such as the brick walls and the brown flooring to contrast with the walls. Instead of spot lights, this time I incorporated many wide windows within the rooms, to increase the lighting as much as possible, as well as this, a full glass door.

From the 2D maps you can see that I have added six brown benches to each room, just for a small sitting area and to break the room up a bit.

Here is my finished waiting room - I stuck to the design of the exhibition room that I took my inspiration from.

This included a very similar brick wall design, with beige flooring instead of wooden floors, this is because the wooden contradicted with the brick walls and didn't create a nice effect. Below you can see the finished waiting room through a window.

I added two brown leather sofas with a glass coffee table in the middle. The colours all fit within the brick wall scheme. There were many hanging lights in the example – so I added some wall lights which look good against the brick wall. Also a hanging ceiling light, I went simple with this as it would look like too much if I added a similar one to my inspiration. I also added a small waste paper bin and pillows on the sofas similar to the inspiration.

In my completed exhibition room I now intend again to add the paintings too the wall. I will be doing this by creating a Photoshop document and adding layers – these being the paintings I have looked at. I am intending to go for a similar look to the brick toned exhibition I have studied previously. Instead to improve, I made the paintings larger on the walls, this helping to show them off more. To make the paintings appear as if they are on the wall I pressed 'Edit' then went to 'Transform', then 'Skew' to warp the edges in order to look as if the painting is actually on the wall.

Here is my final finished exhibition with the paintings on the walls. I tried to stick to the theme of having black and white paintings in one room, for an organised effect. I believe that this is similar to my inspiration of the brick design and the bricks did have an overall good effect.

By keeping the exhibition room quite bare also helps to make the paintings stand out against the whole room, making them the overall focal point.

I decided to add some black benches to the room also taking inspiration from the exhibition I previously looked at.

Ticket Design Ideas: When designing my ticket for my exhibiton, I will take inspiration from the two tickets to the right. I intend for my ticket to be simplistic, as I believe this looks the most modern, and will fit my theme.

I like the first ticket, mostly due to its black and white design, with a pop of colour – the yellow for the main piece of information. I intend to incorporate this kind of design into my ticket. Also, the more relevant information is presented in a larger font compared to the rest. This is a technique that I also intend to use.

The way that the ticket is seperated with just a block black line also is a useful technique to help it remain simplistic.

The second ticket inspiration I am looking at is also very simplistic. This design is the one I intend to mostly incorporate within my ticket. Within my ticket, I do not intend to place all information about the exhibition, only the relevant in a large font, to not overwhelm the audience. I like how the ticket is divided into two sections, the part with just the logo and the other including the title and relevant information, also a barcode. Instead of using colours within my design however, I will stick to a black and white theme within it to fit my overall exhibition.

Here I have recreated the more plain ticket to the right regarding my exhibition. I believe that it looks quite similar however I haven't included so much information to keep it more simplistic. I have also used my 'modern' font and included the most relevant information, the title, time and date and barcode in order to get in.

Here I have recreated a second ticket. I much prefer the design of this one due to the poster breaking up the design a little bit. It is similar to the one I took inspiration from as the left hand side is a different colour/design to the rest of the ticket. I have also placed the barcode in the same place as the inspiration ticket. I have included the relevant information, which is the title, time place and the type of clothes to wear.

I like this ticket design as it is very modernised and fits the theme of my exhibition.

Booklet Front Page Ideas When looking at initial starting points for my exhibition booklet, I will take inspiration from some that I have previously came across. The two booklet ideas that I will be focusing my own on are to the right. I intend for my booklet to have a simplistic feel to it, whilst also looking modern. These two ideas come from recent graphic trends from the past 10 years. The 'Decoding' booklet stands out to me due to the page looking as though it has been turned over (slightly on the corner), this then revealing the title of the exhibition. I believe that this would fit my theme well, also with my chosen font.

However, the second booklet front page idea really stands out to me. I will incorporate the look of an eye catching backdrop to my booklet, with the black rectangle through the middle which holds all the relevant information e.g. the title, date and what to expect inside. I will incorporate my chosen font for my title similar to 'LUSH' on the booklet. I will then use a smaller less bold font for the relevant information.

I took this booklet front cover from LUSH as my inspiration for the front cover of my booklet.

To begin with, I added Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles to photoshop, then turned it black and white, this way it was more fitting to my theme.

I then began to add similar aspects to it like the LUSH one. However, I did it with the opposite colours, for example, the rectangle across the cover in white instead of black, and the border in black.

I then transferred my font over to the booklet cover to say 'Black And White' in larger letters, then 'An Exhibition', and then simply the date. I wanted to keep the booklet cover very simplistic also to fit my overall theme.

Underneath these I added the National Gallery logo to finish off the look.

Booklet Pages Design: When looking at inspiration for inside my booklet, I intend to keep it simplistic, however add colour to it also. The two designs I am looking at both do that. The design to the far right stands out due to its overall design. I intend to incorporate similar features in my booklet pages, such as the border around the information, and all my text being within a white box so it stands out on the page. The image of the man to the bottom right hand side who looks as if he is overlapping the page is also a useful aspect in which I will be including within my booklet. However, with the artists faces on the relevant pages.

The second design is also very simplistic which I intend to stick too. I also like the idea of the text being within white boxes to stand out, however I intend to make mine bigger so that it is easier to read. However, I like the idea of having a large image filling most of the page and then having the relevant information.