Madeline Process Portfolio

Exploring identity and motion through a camera lense

The complications of these 4 photographs remind me of the work of Gerald Richet. Whose work was inspired off action shots. With shapes quasi-repeat as they race across the frame, their angle modulating from painting to painting.

Light and shadows

Me through a camera

The main function of the rule of three is to help create asymmetrical compositions. If elements in a picture are offset using the rule of thirds the asymmetry and counterbalanced of elements creates a much more visually pleasing dynamic frame.

Place focal point(s) In this photo, the upper left, horizontal line is fairly busy. Eyes focus on the left middle of the picture, where the contrast of light is strongest.

Selective focus

Each angle suggesting a different sequence, all moving at different speeds, too fast for any defind iage to be made out.

Multiplying headshots

Charcoal & chalk drawing of what the camera reflects

pencil drawing

Exploring portraits

Artist inspiration

Mind map: brainstorming 3D ideas Wire & papier machĂŠ Clay

Clay, wire and paper

Life drawing

Clay & oxidized paint

Clay figurines

Exploration of technique to articulate identity and the female body

Fingerprint sketches

Mudrock cast

Life drawing

Wrinkles

Ernest Pignon Ernest Ernest Pignon evokes the fictitious, but maintains the effect of reality using human scale, giving shape to painful social and political topics through stories.

In our continuously moving lives, the artist confronts us with this strong notion of the ‘moment’.

Providing an occasion for being conscious in the now. The artist grasps the concept of the unpredictability of real life. The multiplicity of possible points of view, and the progressive deterioration of the drawing are what makes his pieces come to life.

Ernst chooses art in situation. Instead of completely controlling his creations, he makes this dependence on situation, a specific quality of his work. He produces serigraphs that speak of social and human precariousness, making the minorities visible through the power of placement of his images. Giving a context to his art, extending it further than just his creation. « Quand je colle mes images sur un escalier de Paris ou sur un mur d’église napolitaine, il y a interaction entre mon image et l’espace-temps où je l’insère. L’image n’existe pas pour elle-même ». Ernest was among the first artists to put his works on the street (part of Street ARt movement), making it accessible to all. Although not always legal, Street Art’s artistic value is undeniable.

He played an important role in the ‘World Artists Against Apartheid’ campaign. He also discovered the seriousness of the AIDS pandemic, and decided to draw parallel pictures between the fight against AIDS and that against apartheid. For example, Sam Nzima's photograph of a man carrying the body of a schoolboy killed during the Soweto riots - he screen-printed on site at several hundred copies, stuck it on the walls of the particularly affected districts of Warwick in Durban and Kliptown in Soweto.

The degradation of the poster: image of uprooted individuals doomed to oblivion. Gradually memory fades, as does the work. It depicts a natural process, part of the course of life and not ‘immortalized’. He works for minorities, committed to breaking their silence.

Material: the paper participates in the work, showing a memory that gradually fades (degradation).

The scale of the work is on human scale, giving more realism to the subject and making it easier to assimilate the viewer: black and white (there to anchor the image in the past, as an old image from which arises memories); participates in the dark, dull atmosphere.

Investigation and comparison

The simple, precise and suggestive feature of the artist gives these portraits an extraordinary life force, showing faces inhabited and marked by life, poetry and fantasies. "Ceux de la poésie vécue". The sudden appearance and rapid disappearance of the work has an abrupt and dramatic effect. The work always displays a political, moral or social issue, and the urgency of reaction to the contemporary world to it. « Le fait moderne, c’est que nous ne croyons plus en ce monde. Nous ne croyons même pas aux événements qui nous arrivent ».

Work is on a human scale

Materials gradually fade, pinterest participating in the work

pinterest

pinterest

Irony

Memory fading

You can relate Ernst's work to Banksy’s, a revolutionary artist who handles irony, blasphemy and humor. He creates his works on walls using stencils and paint bombs. Using his mastery of the image, his contentious spirit and squeaky humor as his hallmark. Banksy is anonymous, corresponding to the spirit of Street Art (making works incognito). He denounces injustice and defends the oppressed. Creating shocking images often accompanied by powerful slogans to to spark debate. Using art to express his dissatisfaction with political choices and social situations (However his images are also steeped in humour, the poetry of hope). ‘Napalm’ (1994): famous Cambodian girl burned in Napalm, accompanied by Mickey and Ronald McDonald: happy and offbeat image, provocative, creates discomfort and makes us think about the atrocities of the war. The wonderful universe of comic characters opposed to the brutal reality of adults, contestation combined with humor. Disturbing imagery.

Ron Mueck has profoundly renewed the question of contemporary sculpture through his works that create a tension between our real world and the fantastic world it integrates. The perfect mastery of the materials reveals a sensitivity through its disturbing ambiguous naturalness.

The sculptures are strikingly authentic: the implantation of the hair, the sinuosities of the skin, the visible veins…. Behind this precision, a taste of the morbid shows through obese and aging bodies accentuated by their abnormal dimensions. We feel that this is not a mere will of ordinary realism to achieve figurative perfection. Instead, we enter the psychological spheres of complex characters, whose lives are induced through the staging of each of them (props).

Attacks taboos: obesity, old age

On a technical level, he uses silicone (flexibility) that combines with polyester resin and oil paint.

The artist attacks the taboos of society: obesity, old age, death. The decay of the body is reinforced by the choice of its dimension. Abnormal dimensions, too big, too small, never on the human scale, which reinforces these remarks. This disturbance provokes a tension between the real world, that of the viewer, and the fantasmagorical universe of the sculptures.

The characters and attitudes reproduced by Ron Mueck are very mundane. Never represented life size, the first effect of this game of scale is to draw our attention to figures that could pass for perfectly banal. Playing on paradoxes: the larger the sculpture, the more it expresses fragility; the smaller, the more it expresses strength.

As realistic as his works are, Ron Mueck tries above all to express a sensation. When he makes ‘Dead Dad’ (1m10), which emulates his fathers traits, one has the feeling that the deceased is already far from us.

Ron Mueck

Movement of hyperrealism.

Characters are put in situation by clue witnesses of their lives Addresses the whole spectrum of the human condition.

Ron Mueck feeds on the press, everyday scenes and imagination. The audience is free to interpret the work as it sees fit.

Investigation and comparison continued...

Ron Mueck shows us fixed moments, stories without beginning or end, ‘single image films’.

‘Real’ bodies

Here, a tiny naked woman is depicted as bending under her burden, ‘Mother Courage’ minuscule yet she seems to dominate us with her dynamic posture, and expressive face.

The anatomy is not that of a magazine mannequin, it is a ‘real’ body, with flesh a little too white and bulls in the back. Mueck doesn’t idealize his models, making it easier for his audience to connect and relate with the piece. Far from classical sculpture (geometric, balanced, which seeks to embody an ideal of beauty), Ron embodies crude reality.

Ron follows a sketch in pencil or ballpoint pen to clarify his idea, the attitude of his character. The artist faithfully reproduces the wrinkles, the folds of the body, the surface of the epidermis… when one is faced with the works; the realism is such that we feel empathy for these alter egos in resin.

His work can also be compared to that of current realist painters, such as Lucian Freud.

Mueck’s “Big Man”; a naked, seven foot bald hulk, invokes Freud’s paintings of fleshy model Leigh Bowery. Both showcase empathetic involvement with their subjects, who seem to embody, the challenges and perils of the human condition.

"Woman with Sticks", 2009. Matériaux divers. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. (RON MUECK / PHOTO COURTESY HAUSER & WIRTH, LONDRES.)

Connection to my piece Both Ernest pignon ernest and Ron Mueck portray issues through representation of human figures including realism as well as surrealism. Both depict social issues through which emotion transpires. It is up to their viewers to interpret the piece (also due to the lack of background information given about each piece by the artist).

Both depict social issues I chose both artists as they complement one another. They have very similar goals and themes. Understanding how either artists took their art and projected it, the path they followed, the many different ways a concept or theme can be explored showcasing the infinite potential of art, has helped me place my focus and incentivised me to extend my ideas further. Both artists are so similar yet so different.

Human vulnerability I explore the idea of identity and perspective, relating to both artists through the concept of taking imperfections or ‘mistakes’, and making them the center of the piece. I love this idea of concentrating on something we strongly dislike and exploring it, making it the main focus. There is so much power in vulnerability and insecurities. This piece reclaims that power, stripping it away from ‘onlookers’.

Conceptual influence

These two artists have influenced my work conceptually, helping shape the idea of identity in my piece. By distorting the fingerprints, transforming them into wrinkles and stretch marks or whatever form my audience relates these to.

Similarly to my piece, Ron Mueck focuses on combining realism with surrealism, with astonishing attention to detail (wrinkles/fingerprints). Ernest Pignon Ernest, similarly to my piece, places his art within created “context”, the surroundings of his work contribute to telling a story.

Similarities:

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Both depict social/political issues Both display expressive pieces (human expressions) Both use more than one material Both artists incorporate realism as surrealism Both artist’s work follow a same movement

Differences: ● Ron mueck's piece is a sculpture ○ Disproportionate sizes ○ Use of color ○ unusually realistic ● Ernest pignon ernest are serigraphs ○ Life size Close up of the detailed ○ Black and white pattern ○ Street art ● Their movements focused on different characteristics

Sources: https://www.lejdd.fr/Culture/Beaux-Arts/Les-troublants-humains-de-Ron-Mue ck-601660-3203054 Article Title Les troublants URL https://www.lejdd.fr/Culture/Beaux-Arts/Les-troublants-humains-de-Ron-Mu eck-601660-3203054umains de Ron Mueck Website Title lejdd.fr

https://www.nicematin.com/vie-locale/quelle-est-cette-oeuvre-polemique-et-e mblematique-quernest-pignon-ernest-a-donne-a-sa-ville-111787 Article Title Quelle est cette oeuvre polémique et emblématique que Ernest Pignon-Ernest a donné à sa ville?

URL https://www.nicematin.com/vie-locale/quelle-est-cette-oeuvre-polemique-et-e mblematique-quernest-pignon-ernest-a-donne-a-sa-ville-111787 Website Title Nice-Matin Date Published February 03, 2017

http://arrb.over-blog.com/article-ernest-pignon-ernest-122890299.html Article Title Ernest Pignon Ernest URL http://arrb.over-blog.com/article-ernest-pignon-ernest-122890299.html Website Title Le blog de Arrb

http://www.contemporain.com/sculpture/artistes/celebres/ron-mueck.html

Detailed patterns

Article Title L'hyperréalisme de Ron Mueck URL http://www.contemporain.com/sculpture/artistes/celebres/ron-mueck.html Website Title Ron Mueck | Sculptures hyperréalistes

http://taillandiernat.wixsite.com/artplastoc/histoire-des-arts--ron-mueck Article Title Histoire des arts / Ron Mueck URL http://taillandiernat.wixsite.com/artplastoc/histoire-des-arts--ron-mueck Website Title artplastoc

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/arts/design/10muec.html Article Title Ron Mueck - Art - Review URL https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/arts/design/10muec.html Website Title The New York Times Date Published November 10, 2006

‘Ways of Seeing’ is Carl Beazleyc

Exploring motion & possible pieces

Motion in sketches

Idea: Make a series of wire combination of hand movements and facial expressions? In wire 3D sculpture form

Trial to draw movement of my brothers head in sequence, merged together it could possibly ressemble Carl Beazey’s ‘ways of seeing’

Motion in photography

‘Ways of Seeing’ is Carl Beazleyc

Sketches of my own hand in movement and various reaching poses

1min one lined sketches of my brother’s hand movements strongly resemble wire sculptures of Sharon Sychta, intrigued by movement of the body, a possible piece could be a series of different movement of the hands transpiring emotion or even faces through selecting demarced wrinkles

Inspiration

Wire hands by sharon sychta dimensions unknown

Manual distortion

Dupré uses collage with paper and digital manipulation to metamorphose and restructure famous portraits. Strongly influenced by the Dadaist movement of the 20th century, through the alteration in physiognomie into disparate aesthetics.

Dupré’s aim is to morph the face into focal points, repetitive aspects of it that is; found in unusual places.

She prints out original portraits in a series of different sizes, resulting in the final piece. handmakes her collages, using scissors and glue. Here I applied her same technique with a variation, I used different expressive pictures and recreated a series of emotions giving new meaning to each photograph

Panagiota: Conversation #2, variation #1, 2008 Toronto-based artist Evan Penny

Evan Penny’s inspired me to morph and droop my self portrait. His stretch references the photographic process and challenges our perceptions of space and time.

Idi Amin Dada commission, 11.6 x 16.5 inches From the Neophytou Collection by Lola Dupré

Next step: experimenting face with clay -->

Inspired by her use of demarcation lines to restructure a face, I explored my self cutting pictures of various expressive faces my friend made as well as morphing a part of a self portrait in aims to transform expressions into different ones. Resulting in bizarre yet compelling compositions.

Digital distortion

This portrait reminds me much of Dali’s the persistence of memory. The dream state which brings an element of surrealism to the image, sort of as if slowly getting lost in it like a spacetime convergent spiral. Edited through photoshop, my left eye droops and seems to melt, giving dimension. 3D sculpture of this would be interesting to explore given its evasive nature.

Inspiration

Artist Year

Salvador Dalí 1931 Medium Oil on canvas Dimensions 24 cm × 33 cm

Experimenting modifications to movement of the face / accentuating expressive wrinkles

Here I chose to directly start As I progressed, I decided to The heavy cheeks and droopy using a bulge of clay to form accentuate the features even ears helped me create and aged my French grandfather’s further and exaggerate them trend and give him that ‘grandpa face. Using his most look. Especially looking at the such as the eyebags, prominent wrinkles as triangular shape of his eyes, as I prominent chin and flared trademarks and a base for observed his face I was able to nostrils my piece. constantly rectify and capture his key features Formal qualities

Change in direction and decisions I really struggled with the ears at first, but after carving and giving more depth and shape to it, I was able to start forming wrinkles on the lobe and make it more realistic and grap like. The rugged texture of the clay also helps give a worn off, old ear which I think adds to my piece’s look and helps accentuate those traits even further

TIMELINE: capturing my grandfather’s features with 3D clay techniques A continuation of facial exploration….

Jesse Draxler

Man Ray

Collage trial

Jean Michel Basquiat

De Kooning Lee Mathews Creation through destruction

Sketchings

Here I brainstorm various ideas to get me started on my project. First I thought about having a series of photographs much like Picasso as this technique intrigued me. I swiftly moved on to this idea of collage but was not quite satisfied with the simplicity of it, collage artists lead me to various others such as de kooning, richard prince, whom I found sketches visually interesting, pursuing in that direction. Very found of Basquiat, my aim was to produce a piece in this style with more personal element.

Exploring Collage artists & formal qualitiesA mind map

Darrel Rees, collage artist investigation Rees's pieces include a trend of enthralling color scheme, rich layering of evocative imagery and strong use of juxtaposition.

Using faces in his illustrations as a tool for generating a connection that allows the viewer to read the image/piece. “ an empathetic element that allows viewers to relate to the image”. The mind forms connections with the ideas the collage conveys, with the help of further imagery.

“There are lots of juxtapositions of things which create mental, neural connections,” Prompting Rees’s audience to connect the dots between the image and and narrative.

Rees’ work involves imagery from the past ( newspaper, book clippings) — Building up a material bank, he works at a steady pace and pulls things together from different places. Debuting this process of collages manually, cutting and recutting with prints of different sizes. Now, he puts collages together with

layer-heavy digital files by scanning elements. Keeping a physical approach when required to “scribble” to giving his pieces more texture and pattern (brush marks/pencil marks).

Rees considers his art as a business, working for magazines his aim is to project a visual representation of articles, Illustrations, to him, work in response to a text.

“The text is a way of decoding the image.”

Rees has established a name for himself through being known for working with similar mediums. Always using old imagery as prime material to construct his pieces, the nostalgic feel of these reassuring him in what some might perceive as more revolutionary ideas. “The ideas that the pictures are carrying are much more modern and contemporary, even futuristic. So maybe it’s a way of candy-coating/a reassuring way of introducing new ideas.

It’s not the shock of the new.”

Mind forms connections with collage

https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/272 186371209768188/?lp=true

This passion of collages was born through his hatred of the American educational system, where he feels belittles art, encouraging their students that all are artists, completely missing out on style potential. All you would need to do is “ throw a load of thematic elements together and it doesn’t matter how they land on the page.” Rees views art as controlled pieces of directed communication.

Art talks. He works in an organised manner, firmly believing in planning and technology. Mistakes do not become art, Rees tests out various compositions thanks to software, thus there are no such things as mistakes.

A1 Poster, 105gsm printed on Neptune Unique.

Rich layering

Artwork from 'The Human Universe' by Brian Cox published by Harper Collins

Artist inspirations

Material significance Experimentation with words- communication concept Louis obsession of video games coming in with the morphed words

My brother, my muse: a concept map

Layout

Here my ideas/direction became much clearer, I found a theme and a precise subject; my brother. Very passionate about this, ideas of possible direction were overwhelming and I was continuously brainstorming ideas using various mediums.

I wanted it to be as expressive and eerie as possible, So came in the concept of layering and rough sketches developed.

Continuation of material and composition exploration for Mind Games

Sketches inspired

by Draxler

Photoshop experimentation

Collage

Possible layouts

Material superimposition

On this slide the final piece is coming together, adding a various mediums created through the process of developing this idea, I made a family collage, took pictures, experimented with paint, traced a few maps and faces and photoshopped.

Merging these together into a tech chip looking piece

I arrange a few creations I can put together in order to create in parts my final piece, laying out possible compositions for this one. The idea of layering is now very clear and I sketch a few possible compositions/layouts of this one.

Formal qualities

Exploring etching compositions conceptual/thematique brainstorm Inspiration

Melting cuts as to fold them giving a malleable looking texture to the cuts; allusion to the “uncaptivity� of water

Too heavy, not malleable

On this page spread I explore the various techniques and mediums my piece could be delivered, looking at cutting, etching and layering the transparent plastic slides. I experiment with each technique, burning the plastic and cutting various sizes of the plastics without success.

They are either too heavy or not malleable enough (gets burnt easily). I also experiment further with etching and pencil, declaring them a success.

Japanese architect as inspiration Shibuya Station. japanese architect Tomoyuki

Accentuating features in portraits Conceptual exploration

Exploring various lines our face carry or aspects of this such as hands and mouth or veins in bloodshot eyes. Using photoshop to apply this technique, I look at various possible compositions for this piece to come to life using a picture of my brother and texturizing it. I thought it would be interesting to follow/extend lines of his face as the dimples are a main feature of his face. The distortion of these could be visually engrossing. Following the theme of identity and line movement. The melting of a photograph onto a brightly colored background aspires an unearthly composition defying the rules of space and time.

Pinterest

Sketches exploring ideas inspired by Picasso merging Pinterest features Formal qualities

Material significance Fascination des plissés dans la peau formant des rides; composition intéressante à explorer avec peinture à huile pour faire des couches ou sur photoshop.

Sticky/gloppy texture

Pinterest

Add texture to the piece, layering the distorted picture with bubble wrap.

Lines in harmony with the ones of the face?

Portraits

Distortion

Photoshop idea of my brothers face distorting it/ dragging it towards the bottom, texturising the photo, turning it liquid. On bright red background to emphasise the black clash with the red (reminding of the red veins in the eyes) bloodshot eye veins as backdrop?

Using a picture of my brothers face

monoprinting development work

Pinterest

Exploring Photographic techniques thematique/concept & technique

Inspiration

My brother was challenging to photograph as he does not stand still and finds it hard to focus, especially on the camera. I was interacting throughout these action shots with him, making jokes and making general conversations.

I was able to photograph action shots of one of Louis laughing outbursts. Here I experiment photoshop and later with black acrylic paint. I especially like the one on bottom left of the page, as it is hard to take a “natural” looking shot of Louis, this one portrays his character effortlessly.

I am still debating its position in my final piece, however the Ralph Allen I saw an exposition “my weather Reworking imagery Dismantling The Art of Haiti turnout of this series of pictures figures diary” in Seoul by Jari Silomäki, exceeded my expectations. his photography incorporated The pictures softness in transparency inspire written work; random quotes that the ongoing theme of using see through by someway or another linked to material such as plastic slides or tracing the photograph. This concept paper. Using new technique; photoshop could be applied to my work, Overlapping with bright color or however it is a movement series. pictures (?) (adaptation) Zoom in on eyes A moving series on a wall, of just Cut up face: rearrange/prolonge pictures of my brother is a prominent feature such as dimples possibility for this project.

Action photography, exploring ideas for new Explore+sat collage piece uration of colorscolors=ife (places emphasis on youth and movement The Horse In Motion (1878)

Emphasis on movement/ capturing of movement through replicas of patterns/pictures- similar to motion picture

On this page I began to explore the concept of collages using my own photographs. I developed the idea of layering and tested possible motifs/ details and sketches that would follow the lines of my subjects. elongating these to create further action/movement and a form of business associated with youth and the “carefree” attitudes.

Also references to confusion and feelings of “getting lost” Particularly intrigued by action shots and captured movement, I look at various concepts these pictures linked to or came to mind.

Youth, age in relations to identity became the most prominent concept- I thought about how these relate- where identity lies within societal perceptions of time and age.

Trials- movement, lines and color

Experimentation with images for a political collage Colorscheme

technique

layout

On this page, I took this idea of collage and ‘business’ to relate it back to a worldly issue, one drawn from the previous concept of societal issue; free speech and rights.

I explore first explored the issue. The tackled the concept, technique color scheme and began to explore composition/layout.

I focus on the hong kong protests and explore the identity of a nation. Not only the patriotic side but the individual within a wider group. I reflect these in my decision taking process- which colors, the layout as well as formating. I also begin to think about various additive details or possible small elements to add to the piece.

On this page I explore the various possibilities in terms of layout and additions to the piece.

Essentially further developing my initial idea. I look at color composition, the addition of a news broadband as well as experimentations.

I experiment the incorporation of tracing paper within my piecethe use of layering- transparency and rough sketches have been somewhat of an ongoing theme in my way to illustrate mayhem.

The sketches have been inspired by those of De Kooning

Experiment and possible layout

Trial

Sketch trial

For this piece, I want to produce a large scale acrylic painting. I started Ageing- youth vs old age to explore the idea of age in Exploring subject possibilities relations to identity with a few pictures exemplifying youth. Still exploring the concept of aging, I chose a picture of my grandfather. I chose this picture because of it encapsulates my grandpa perfectlyattentif, peaceful and reassuring.

The composition in simplistic and the eyes are immediately drawn to the center. The wrinkles and shadows are accentuated by the change in tone from the premier Influence of choice of color plan to the second one. The flowers in the background have a few colors Blue: calmness, serenity coming through/blooming Yellow: happiness, illustrate youth but also seasonal anxiety change. The picture is somewhat Red: energy soothing and has a Grey: neutral, reassuring/paternal figure structure balanced color to it.

Formal qualities analysis

Color testing

Silhouettetesting with brown earthy tones

impact photography has on composition Rule of 3- consists of dividing the picture using 2 vertical and horizontal lines, placing focal point on the middle subject.

Choosing my grandfather; simple background leaves focus on his peaceful expression on the viewer

After choosing my subject, I looked at the technical aspect needed to paint it onto the canvas on an appropriate scale.

Using photoshop, I divided the image into 8 A4 paper sheets. I also photoshopped the picture on a small scale- accentuating contrast as well as blurring it to hep me better paint lights/shadows.

Use of scale Large scale give - Like Rio’s Christ the Redeemer by Paul Landowskiomniscient protective overarching figure- I want my painting to have the same effect on a smaller scale.

Choosing my grandfather aligns with its effect on the audience; a reassuring/ comforting figure to look up to. The choice of prevailing color grey and blue accentuate the serenity, neutrality of the pice.

Designed by sculptor Paul Landowski and built by engineer Heitor da Silva Costa in collaboration with Albert Caquot. Sculptor Gheorghe Leonida created the face Material Soapstone Height 30 metres (98 ft) and 38 metres (125 ft) tall with its pedestal

Technique investigation & artist inspiration testing

In the latter 19th century, Neo-Impressionism foregrounded the science of optics and color to forge a new and methodical technique of painting that eschewed the spontaneity and romanticism that many Impressionists celebrated. Relying on the viewer's capacity to optically blend the dots of color on the canvas, the Neo-Impressionists strove to create more luminous paintings that depicted modern life. Many artists in the following years adopted the Neo-Impressionist technique of Pointillism, the application of tiny dots of pigment, which opened the door to further explorations of color and abstract art.

technique -

painting technique of juxtaposing various colors and tones to create a shimmering, illuminated surface.

By systematically placing contrasting colors, as well as black, white, and grey, next to each other on the canvas, the painters hoped to heighten the visual sensation of the image.

Neo-Impressionists aimed to produce correspondences between emotional states and the forms, lines, and colors presented on the canvas that spoke to the modernity of urban life in the age of industrialization.

Divisionism is a color theory that has little patches of pure pigment separately laid on the canvas so the viewer's eye optically blends the colors.- artist divide or separate color while using small brushstrokes.

Pointillism applied tiny separate "points," or dots of pigment constructing the painting rather than strokes.

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Inspiration

testing/trials

intentions and thoughts/critique I want to use the same color scheme as Henri Edmond especially for flowers within my painting- I also really enjoy the neo-impressionit use of paintbrush to form shadows- use these for my grandfather’s wrinkles?

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provide the artists with the scope to develop their own expressive styles (Neo-Impressionists such as Paul Signac had become weary of the lack of individuality in Pointillist pictures

HENRI-EDMOND Practitioners of Neo-Impressionism, Henri-Edmond Cross produced an array of work in the final two decades of his life that played a pivotal role in the development of early twentieth century modernist painting. Initially drawn to naturalism and further down the line; Impressionism, he eventually adopted the Pointillist technique pioneered by his friend Georges Seurat, the leader of the Neo-Impressionists. However, the strict precepts of Pointillism did not appeal to Cross's predisposition for individual expression and, alongside Paul Signac, he began to develop a Neo-Impressionist technique that was more intensely colorful and varied in its application. The abstracted forms and dazzling colors that the artist displays in these paintings promptly paved the way for fauvism. Henri Ed. Cross initiated a second phase of Neo-Impressionism in the 1890s, replacing the Pointillist technique of small dots with larger, square-like brushstrokes that produce a greater intensity of color on the canvas

English painter Stanley Spencer was a leading artist, mostly active between the Great wars. Influenced by his christian background and the ‘mundaneness’ of his hometown; Cookham, with an striking distorted style. His career as an artist began with his first exhibition at the New English Art club as his studies in the Slade School of Fine Art in London progressed. However in 1915 Stanley was called to duty during WW1 and thereafter, his work reflected his experiences, becoming a lot more grim we see this in works such as The Resurrection of the Soldiers (bellow).

Influence

Stanley Spencer

Spencer portrayed a multiple themes throughout his career, almost like life stages reflected within the artwork. In the 1930s he got criticized harshly by the Royal Academie due to his erotic work (portraying his second wife such as Love Among the Nations (1935)). As well as for his “offensive caricature” of St Francis of Assisi in St. Francis and the Birds (1935). As a war artist, Stanley's experience in the working class community during his documentation of the shipbuilding yards of Port Glasgow inspired a new series of pieces depicting everyday life and prominent biblical themes. Such as The Resurrection: Port Glasgow (1947–50).

His anatomical distortions and unusual perspective recall Mannerist paintings by the likes of Rosso and Jacopo Pontormo. Whilst his piercing color palette looks back to the Post-Impressionists and Pre-Raphaelites, and his minutious attention to detail, reminds the portraits of Lucian Freud.

“Spencer holds a unique space in British Modernism, as an artist who pushed and tested figurative painting—using different styles to portray various subject matters. He reimagined and celebrated ordinary and mundane places and events, which is very inspiring. His paintings also express sometimes contradictory ideas—sex and religion for example—in ways that allow for complicated emotions and the complexity of people.” -Eleanor Clayton (VICE)

Formal qualities & technique

Self-portrait By Gaslight Looking Downwards, 1949, Stanley Spencer. © The Estate of Stanley Spencer / Bridgeman Images, Photography © Reading Museum (Reading Borough Council).

Investigation of Stanley Spencer’s self portrait Concept & visual elements Spencer's originality lay in his merging of the descriptively literal with the visionary and imaginative.

Sandham Memorial Chapel Apse, Resurrection of the Soldiers, 1929, Stanley Spencer

Through the creation of particular aesthetics in 2D pieces, the expression of ideas and emotions are conveyed much like a language form. The lines, colors, shapes, textures and the way in which the artist dissorts human form, seems to defy space, movement and volume. The techniques used to depict the bright/dim lights on the 2D canvas, give it depth, movement and essentially make the image come to life. It lives, like an action shot. All these come together to form expressive patterns to interpret a narrative theme, or to create wholly abstract visual relationships (real or supernatural).

The artist chooses a wide spectrum of mediums to work with; The choices of the medium and the form, as well as the artist’s own technique, combine to realize a unique visual image.

Tempera, fresco, oil, acrylic, watercolor or other water-based paints, ink, gouache, encaustic, or casein.

Coupled with choices of particular forms, such as mural, miniature, scroll, or panorama, based on the sensuous qualities and expressive possibilities and limitations of those options.

Integral artists such as Spencer often play a key part in the composition of their piece; Spencer often represents his childhood village, looking at its land theme and people in order to understand the macrocosm that is life; he successfully deals with universal themes coming from a local starting point. Spencer worked on a large range of mediums and was most well known for producing large, heroic, and sprawling multi-figure compositions.

Spencer's canvases are so complex and detailed that they resemble historical High Renaissance paintings, even early Renaissance frescoes.

Connection to my

piece Self Portrait (1914) Spencer's first self portrait is especially intriguing to look at when compared to his later works (50years down the line). First thing I noticed was his unshapely face, sort of wonky to one side, especially focused on his left and right eyes. This distortion can be perceived by the audience as a sense of plural personalities, an unpredictable inner psychological drama. We see this in other portraits by famous artists such as Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, whom both will explore this concept. The manner in which Spencer captures character within his painting is essentially what I aim to do with my piece. Incorporating the same concept of distortion in relation to identity with a muddled color scheme of beiges, greys, blues and yellows. I find a striking resemblance in the choice of subject between the photograph I took of my grandfather and Spencer’s portrait- in facial expression- in theme Spencer was also strongly influenced by the work of Vermeer or Rembrandt; strongly modeled, the deep, dark background. And as a matter of fact, Stanley was inspired to paint the portrait after seeing a reproduction of a head of Christ, by Italian Renaissance artist: Luini.

Drawing replace written language generation on generation Because Aboriginal culture does not have a written language, drawings were crucial as they were used to tell stories and pass on deep knowledge and history through the generations.

The spiritual and cultural beliefs, their profound experience of the land and survival skills; their identity.

Portrayed by symbols and icons through drawings on rock, sand, or the body. Later they moved to cardboard, pieces of wood, and canvas.

Dot-technique & layering to hide sacred As artists’ reputations grew, and their paintings started to spread, elements they became protective about what was being depicted in their art.

When Indigenous artists realised that they had little control over who could see their paintings, they started using heavy layering and overdotting their paintings as a way to hide and protect their sacred elements in the works that held special internal cultural value. However westerners could never have learned the art’s meaning regardless, as they were not familiar with the iconography used Overlapped and connected Mapping of the land: When looking down in a bird’s eye view, the landscape is dotted with ‘dots’ dots forming patterns of bushes, trees, flowers, and rocks.

Some artists choose to overlap dots, while others choose to connect them or enclose them with larger dots. Some merge the dots into lines, or draw dots so tiny that they appear to be a line.

The materials usually used are ochre and acrylic paints. The paint, either textured or flat.

The colours used can also represent certain communities. In the Kimberley, for example, a lot of ochre, iron clay pigments, charcoal, and bush leaves used. These elements create colours like white, yellow, red, black, and green.

Women bought livelier colours It is generally accepted that with the female painters arriving on the scene, livelier colours were used in these spectacular paintings.

All aboriginal art images ensue from google images

Aboriginal Art investigation context/experimentation Iconography

Here I experimented with various cutouts as well as sketches of patterns inspired by my grandfather's aboriginal heritage. Associations to identity- cultural background and perspective change on societal views of aging. I looked at 7 possible compositions of the same picture. It also followed a few technical concepts of neo-impressionism - such as some aspects of pointillisme. I was interested in merging these two to form a culturally charged piece, but decided against it as it would take away from the main focus and intentions placed on age in relations to identity - FOCUS on TIME.

‘Mind and soul’ - culture rooted within an individual Formal qualities I used aboriginal technique and pattern for another piece which I feel illustrated better a connection of body/ culture and mind. A river is a personal symbolism to me, often representing stillness/calmness the color blue and white accentuate its water like properties following movement of the lines.

Ron mueck influence in terms of realism body features and minutious attention to detail

Technique & decision

Pattern inspired by caves at bondi beaches

I moulded a cast of one of my peer out of mudrock as seen Which I then used to mould a slab of clay, which imprinted the shape. I left it rough and rugged to give it that bark feel. I debated smoothing it out at first so it looked more clean and place attention on the motif but then opted to leave the clay’s stretch marks and broken off edges as it felt more organic/natural.

Roky edges of bondi

Chose to go from straight continuous line to dotted lines or pointillisme Trial

Concept/inspiration This piece links to my cultural identity/roots. Inspired by Geoffrey Bardon, who encouraged aboriginals to share their wisdom in art, traditionally using white bark.

It mimickes the pattern and color scheme of the aboriginal map of Lockhart river. In composition, the river is flowing in the place of the spinal cord, illustrating the link between culture and identity and their commemoration. The clay resembling bark and body moulding technique accentuates its organic rooted nature.

Sources

“The Amazing Story of Aboriginal Art.” Artlandish Aboriginal Art Gallery, 8 Jan. 2018, www.aboriginal-art-australia.com/aboriginal-art-library/the-story-of-aboriginal-art/.

“Cross, Henri-Edmond.” Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/cross-henri-edmond.

Delaney, Brigid. “How Do You Buy Indigenous Australian Art Ethically?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 18 Apr. 2016, www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/apr/18/how-do-you-buy-indigenous-australian-art-ethically.

“Henri-Edmond Cross Paintings, Bio, Ideas.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist/cross-henri-edmond/.

“Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky): MoMA.” The Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/artists/3716.

“Man Ray.” 404 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, www.artsy.net/artist/man-ray.

Sawyer, Miranda. “The Jean-Michel Basquiat I Knew...” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 3 Sept. 2017, www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/sep/03/jean-michel-basquiat-retrospective-barbican.

Smith, Mark A. “Assignment 3 – A Self Portrait – Research.” Mark Smith OCA Painting 1 : The Practice of Painting, 15 Jan. 2016, mypaintingcourse.com/2016/01/15/assignment-3-a-self-portrait-research/.

“Stanley Spencer.” Artnet, www.artnet.com/artists/sir-stanley-spencer/.

“Abé Akira.” Foundry, www.mchampetier.com/biographie-Ernest-Pignon-Ernest.html.

“DARREL REES.” Heart Agency, www.heartagency.com/artists/darrel-rees/.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Man Ray.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 14 Feb. 2020, www.britannica.com/biography/Man-Ray. “Ron Mueck.” Artists - Ron Mueck - Hauser & Wirth, www.hauserwirth.com/artists/2828-ron-mueck.

Tate. “Ron Mueck Born 1958.” Tate, 1 Jan. 1970, www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ron-mueck-2672.

Christy, Sara. “Distortion Artist - Carl Beazley.” Medium, Medium, 1 Oct. 2017, medium.com/@SaraChristy/distortion-artist-carl-beazley-553a56084da8.

“Sir Stanley Spencer.” Sir Stanley Spencer, art-now-and-then.blogspot.com/2015/11/sir-stanley-spencer.html.