Bartholomew Beal
Bartholomew Beal
Wimbledon College of Art (First Class Honours) Landmark Plc Fine Art Award (2012) Hans Brinker Student Painting Prize (Amsterdam 2011) Jonathan Vickers Residency Derwent Valley MIlls World Heritage Site (Oct 2012-July 2013)
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y paintings are an attempt to translate mood and atmosphere through process and progress. The next step of each painting is never fully planned, and as a result, my paintings are sometimes an early stop and sometimes a long drawn-out effort to realise the original intention- a quiet figure within an under-described space. Each painting begins as a pared down illustration of an Imagist poem, but there is consistently a point that the paint takes over, and each addition or subtraction that follows lies as evidence of its poetic mood. I would like my paintings to be a healthy tussle between the considered specifics of poetry and a deliberate surrender to the unpredictability of paint, because my paintings gain as much from trial, error and accident as they do from painterly proficiency. This is an attempt to involve the viewer in my work by absorbing themselves in the situation of each figure, and allowing my abstracted painting to convince them in the gently ethereal spaces which oversaturated colour and obscured shapes accentuate. The lone figure set in the centre of each painting is an illustration of its slightly eerie mood, and becomes a compilation of several figures to arrive at a generalised man to match the underspecified spaces which leave much to be concluded, an original poetic narrative and intention scuffled by paint.
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Round Evening
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Suspended
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Melancholy
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Burnt Out Ends Of Smokey Days
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The Open Field
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I Measured Out My Life In Spoons
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Drawing
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Drawing
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Days Little Durable
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The Pattern More Complicated
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My Smile Falls Heavily Amongst The E
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I Bathe Myself In Strangeness
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Still Point
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From The Plumed Coloured Lake
From the Plum Coloured Lake.
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hat Is Art? This question pops up often, and with many answers. Many argue that art cannot be defined. We could go about this in several ways. Art is often considered the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations and ways of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture and paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics. At least, that’s what Wikipedia claims. Art is generally understood as any activity or product done by people with a communicative or aesthetic purpose— something that expresses
an idea, an emotion or, more generally, a world view. It is a component of culture, reflecting economic and social substrates in its design. It transmits ideas and values inherent in every culture across space and time. Its role changes through time, acquiring more of an aesthetic component here
That Expresses an Idea, an Emotion and a socio-educational function there. Everything we’ve said so far has elements of truth but is mainly opinion. According to Wikipedia, “Art historians and philosophers of art have long had classificatory disputes about art regarding whether a particular cultural form or piece of work should be classified as art.”
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Suspended
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he Evolution Of The Concept Of Art While the definition of art has changed over the years, the field of art history has developed to allow us to categorize changes in art over time and to better understand how art shapes and is shaped by the creative impulses of artists. Having a solid grasp of art history, then, is important. I spoke with Alexander Daniloff and Jonathan Ball about the concept of art through history and about whether tracing a line through traditional and contemporary art is possible. Alexander Daniloff is a Russian artist who lives and works in Italy. His focus is painting, although he has worked in several media. Lately, he has worked on children’s illustrations. He has
participated in various events and illustration competitions and has illustrated three books. He has held numerous individual and group exhibitions in Italy, Russia, Holland, Spain, Finland and the US. Jonathan Ball is the creative behind Poked Studio, an innovative company committed
Tracing a Line Through Traditional and Contemporary to developing creative visual solutions. That’s not all: among its services, Poked Studio offers illustration; Web, graphic and blog design; 3-D rendering and visualization; motion graphics; children’s book illustration; Flash websites; and games.
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Melancholy Chime
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an we trace a line from traditional to contemporary art? Alexander Daniloff: I don’t think we can say anything without falling into controversy, even me. I have a traditional view and prefer artwork that speaks for the artist or period. I can’t explain what contemporary art is, or at least what it’s meant to be. Yes, you can trace a line from traditional to contemporary art, but not a straight one. Perhaps it is a parabola that goes up and then down, or a spiral. We don’t know. All we can say is that the art market has developed, which affects the art itself. With what we call contemporary art, words and explanations are always worth more. Visual arts have been
transformed by articles and critical essays; meanwhile, the works themselves have become mute. In the theater, the curators and critics have taken up the front row. This is my view on the difference between contemporary and traditional art. I personally prefer art measured in human dimensions: art that
Trace a Line From Traditional to Contemporary Art whispers and doesn’t shout, art that covers me and makes me fly and does not crush. But I must confess, some of these modern things attract me; for example, mural painting (graffiti) and abstract things.
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Burnt Out Ends Of Smokey Days
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ompared to the evolution of traditional art, how would you describe the development of digital (or new media) art? Jonathan Ball: Digital art has obviously developed much more quickly than the thousands of years of handcrafted techniques. A whole generation has been brought up on “Photoshop” and other tools, whereas earlier generations used pen and pencil. Still, I believe that digital art is still in its infancy. Despite what seems an enormous amount of progress in computer hardware, general computing and even the computing available to most design studios is just not fast enough to easily reproduce art on the scale and level of detail possible with traditional media.
Go to any national gallery, and you will see works on an enormous scale. Try reproducing a 10-foot canvas with the resolution of a hand-painted work of art in a 3-D program, and you’ll find it can’t cope. In fact, most programs will struggle to render a detailed picture at, say, 300 DPI at just A4 size.
Digital Art is Still in its Infancy While a painting may appear to be just splotches and blobs, when you go up to it close, the patterns are beautiful by themselves, full of color, intensity, saturation and texture. Go close to digital art or a TV screen and you’ll see a mess of distortion and artifacts.
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The Open Field
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esthetics In Digital Art Moving into the mid-20th century, the conceptual transformations that arose from new approaches to art led to a crisis of aesthetics, as was manifested in new art media. While borrowing many of the conventions of traditional media, digital art can draw upon aesthetics from many other fields. But various criticisms have been made against it: for example, given the variety of tools at their disposal, how much effort do digital artists really have to put into their work? I asked Jan Willem Wennekes, also known as Zeptonn, for his opinion on this. He is a freelancer who specializes in illustrative design and art direction, with a focus on eco-friendly and environmental projects.
Jan Willem Wennekes: The question seems a bit ambiguous. On the one hand, there seems to be a question about the effort required to create digital art. That is, some people may think that using digital media to create art is easier than using traditional media. On the other hand, there seems to be a question
Whether Digital Art is an Art Form in Itself of whether digital art is an art form in itself (or maybe at all?). With respect to the first question, I think that working with digital media (mostly the computer, mouse, Wacom, scanner, software, etc.) does not have to differ from creating art in other media.
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I Measured Out My Life In Spoons
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rt As We Know It Today The 20th century was a turning point in our conception of art, which is mainly why contemporary artists frequently reach for new concepts, break with tradition and reject classic notions of beauty. All these factors have given birth to abstract art. The artist no longer tries to reflect reality, but rather tries to give expression to their inner world and feelings. The old definitions of art have become obsolete. Today, art is an evolving and global concept, open to new interpretation, too fluid to be pinned down. I interviewed Nate Williams and Travis Lampe to explore new elements of contemporary art and to answer the question, what new elements and principles
are evident in today’s art. Nate Williams, also known as Alexander Blue, is an artist, illustrator and designer from the US. He has extensive experience in various facets of the illustration industry, and he has a wide variety of clients. His illustrations are aimed at both adults and children. He has
Expression to Their Inner World and Feelings. also worked in the advertising world and in publishing, music, fashion, textiles, home decor, merchandising, posters, press and social expression. Travis Lampe is an illustrator who currently lives and works in Chicago.
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Days Little Durable
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ravis, if the purpose of art was once to create beauty and to imitate nature, today the concept has evolved dynamically and is constantly changing. In your opinion, how has the Internet and new ways of communicating influenced the development of visual arts, its conceptual premises and its physical execution? Travis Lampe: The Internet most influences the development of art simply by exposing more people to more art. Unfortunately, a lot of it is really, really crappy, as you would expect. Anyone with a ballpoint pen and digital camera can post their art for the world to see. And that’s okay. I think the cream just naturally
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rises to the top. Ideas are still what’s important, far more so than technical skill, and the Internet hasn’t changed that at all. I’ve seen a lot of ballpoint pen art that I really like. As far as physical execution goes, it’s evolved the way it always has: as soon as a new medium arrives, there’s
It’s Evolved The Way it Always Has a scramble to use it in new and creative ways. I don’t know that the Internet has affected the physical execution of art so much as computers themselves have. It’s just made it easier to disseminate.
The Pattern More Complicated
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he artist’s life is not as simple as it may seem. Standing out from the crowd is not easy, which is why selfpromotion is essential. I queried Bob Flynn, Alex Dukal, Jayme McGowan, Chris Piascik and Irma Gruenholz for their thoughts on the art of selfpromotion; on how to spread ideas, concepts and a deeper vision of their work; and on the impact of this kind of marketing. Bob Flynn is a cartoonist who is interested in illustration, comics and animation. He currently resides in Boston, where he works as an animator and game designer for the children’s media company Fablevision. His work has appeared in publications such as Nickelodeon Magazine and Improper Bostonian. Alex Dukal is an illustrator who was born and raised
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in Patagonia, Argentina. From a very young age, Alex has published comics and illustrations in the legendary Fierro magazine. Back in his home town, he dedicated some years to painting and teaching illustration and comics. After working for some time mostly in Web
Standing Out From the Crowd is Not Easy design, Alex decided to get back into illustration. At the moment, he’s working mostly on children’s books and creating illustrations for design agencies. Jayme McGowan is a freelance artist and 3-D illustrator based in Sacramento, California. She works with cut paper and posts her artwork in her project journal.
My smile Falls Heavily Amongst the E
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o you have a portfolio website? And which social networks are you currently on? Bob Flynn: I have a website, but I’m very lazy about updating it. And I find I get less traffic there compared to, say, my blog, which is infinitely easier to add to. A portfolio website is more of a structured presentation, which is great for art directors and people looking to make a professional assessment of your work. It’s often static, and it offers little to no opportunity for two-way communication. You get little to no interaction with the art community except for a friendly email or two a month. A blog is dynamic and opens that dialogue. I now think of my
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website as a hub to help direct people where they need to go. In addition to having a blog (my primary point of communication), I’m currently on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and, most recently, Google Buzz. Is being on all of them worth it? Probably. I’ve found that you really can’t be in too
A Blog is Dynamic and Opens that Dalogue many places—though there is certainly a sanity threshold. A different audience traffics each social space (with some overlap), so the way to reach the most people is to be everywhere.
I Bathe Myself In Strangeness
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o you write articles for your own blog or for other blogs and publications? Would you consider either an effective way to get your name out there? Bob Flynn: I regularly post artwork to my blog, and I have written a few Flash drawing tutorials. Simply having an online presence is a good start, but think of the impact you could have by sharing information, ideas and helpful tips. People enjoy reading about process, so document your methodology as you work, and it will make for more interesting posts. I wouldn’t be in this just to get my name out, though. If you’re all for show and selfpromotion, you risk turning
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people away. Participation is key: I enjoy reading about what everyone else has to say. There’s more value in that, really. Alex Dukal: I started writing little news on my website using Grey Matter, an old tool for blogging. Then I switched to Textpattern, and finally I separated my portfolio and blog
Having an Online Presence is a Good Start (now in Blogger) as a matter of convenience. In the blog from time to time, I’ll write an article or tutorial. Judging from the feedback I get, I’d consider it an effective method of promotion.
Still Point
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hat are the challenges of creating a self-promotion strategy? Have you implemented a self-promotion strategy for yourself? Has it worked? If one is starting from scratch, how long does it take for a strategy to start working in their favor? Bob Flynn: To be honest, I can’t say I’ve ever architected a real strategy. You’re talking to a guy who’s never even sent out a promo card. My approach has been to put myself out there and see what happens. Sort of the like old adage, “Just be yourself”—that’s how you stand out from the rest of the pack. I try to update my blog at least once a week to keep people coming back. Keeping up with your website’s stats is a good way to see what’s sticking (i.e. where your traffic’s
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coming from and what your most popular posts are). Alex Dukal: Yes, of course, as a freelance artist, self-promotion is absolutely necessary. I think the first challenge is having something to say, something to show, a reliable portfolio to back up that promotion. Personally, I placed my bet on
Just be Yourself that’s how You Stand Out a portfolio that shows my best work, something that showcases the illustrations rather than the website interface and that makes it accesible and simple. And then there’s the blog, which allows me to maintain other kinds of contact with people: social networks, forums, contacts database, etc. It’s a big garden; one must water and take care of it every day.
Round Evening
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o you regularly submit your work to online galleries? Is that useful for gaining credibility and getting feedback on your work? Bob Flynn: I created an account on a great website run by Nate Williams called Illustration Mundo a few years back, but I’ve never put my work in an online gallery (or paid for anything of the sort). I guess I view my blog as having that purpose. Flickr is a kind of gallery, though. Alex Dukal: Not at all to both questions. Ten years ago, if someone invited you to show some of your work in an online gallery, it was cute, flattering. Today, I think we have to be careful, because the selection criteria is often not that great, and one must pay attention to those details as well. If you display your work in the wrong
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place, it could have a negative result. In principle, credibility should come from the work itself. Jayme McGowan: I have a profile on Illustration Mundo, which is a great website that functions mainly as a directory of illustrators, not a gallery per se. Honestly, I don’t participate in any online galleries. I’m
Great Way to Get Feedback from Your Peers sure that’s a great way to get feedback from your peers, but I don’t know that it will give you added credibility as a professional. I can maintain only so many Web pages myself, so I try to limit them to the ones I get the most benefit from, those where I believe art directors and buyers might find me.