NAIVETY IN REPRESENTATION
INITIAL RESEARCH Initially I looked at Fauvism and Post-impressionism as my topic but found myself being drawn towards naivety in art. It interested me seeing how an image can be represented outside of traditional high-art settings.
INITIAL RESEARCH I found that a lot of ‘naïve’ or ’outsider’ artists tend to have a focus on nature for inspiration. I found the idea of reducing an image back to its most rudimentary shapes and trying to discern when an image becomes ‘naïve’ or loses its function as an illustration altogether.
FURTHER RESEARCH Since I already employ a naĂŻve art style in my personal work, I wanted to self-examine and look internally as to where I want my future practice to lead, using this module as a springboard. For my visual journal I intend to create a series of images charting the progression of naivety.
FURTHER RESEARCH To show a reduction in information as an attempt to analyze the line between an “accomplished” illustration and one that is ”rudimentary” or “immature”. I will also be focusing primarily on ‘shape’ in fitting with most naïve artists that I’ve researched.
KEY ARTISTS • Henri Rousseau • Alfred Wallis • Grandma Moses
KEY ARTISTS • Clementine Hunter • André Bauchant • Henri Matisse
KEY QUOTES • "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Degas • “Primitive [naïve] art means far more than that; it makes a straightforward statement, its primary concern is with the elemental, and its simplicity comes from direct and strong feeling, which is a very different thing from that fashionable simplicity-for-its-own-sake which is emptiness” – Henry Moore • “The essence of all genuine art is ultimately naïve if we understand this to mean purity of heart and thought” – Anonymous
USEFUL ONLINE RESOURCES • https://www.jstor.org/stable/20715763?seq=4#page_scan_tab_conte nts • http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/000276427601900603 • http://www.artistdaily.com/blogs/the-artists-life/naive-art-the-bestart-genre-you-dont-know-about • http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/n/naive-art • http://theoria.art-zoo.com/mystery-and-creation-giorgio-de-chirico/
INSPIRATION AND PRACTICAL WORK I plan on taking a common motif in naĂŻve art (a plant) and represent it multiple times over the course of the visual journal, focusing on its shape as it becomes less representational. I will be taking practical inspiration from Charlotte Mei and Nicolas Burrows