Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Tauba Auerbach

Tauba Auerbach

Untitled fold- 2011- 162 X 122 Cm

Auerbach isn't afraid to use several disciplines in her work like many of us in this generation of modern artists. She clearly has an influence of graphic design in her work as you can see; there is a clear structure and geometry to her work.  There is a refined sense of detail and perfection in her work. Auerbach has always been a painter even though even her earliest works have been influenced by graphic design. She says that art doesn't restrict her in the way that graphic design does, and allows her to play on things in particular words and letters. Such as in her "the Holy Bible" project where she placed all the letters in the Bible in alphabetical order, when asked what inspired her to do this she said it was to see the unordered letters together in something that was sacred and untouchable. It's like she is rebelling against being conventional like many artists.

Her most recent work is now more playing with visual illusions and the way people see things, where she has created bodies of work called "folds" and "Crumple" paintings that are meant to look as if the canvas has been manipulated which it has, it has been spray painted while folded and then stretched out. One of the things that are really effective about these paintings is the fact that you have to stand about 25 meters back to get the full effect on what they are trying to show you. There are creates using both painting and printing and the method that is used is called the half-tone process. I find these abstract paintings quite beautiful, they have a gentle feel to them even though the shape black and white should make them really fierce and the size of them rather intimidating.


I think that Auerbach's work is really interesting and I think that I would like to experiment with folding up the canvas and then maybe applying the ink to see what shapes and effects I get to develop my work.

Vitamin P2
http://www.taubaauerbach.com/bibliography.php

Second Body of work final piece

ink, acrylic, marker and biro large development
 350 X 150 Cm
While working on my large scale piece I continued my development and small pieces experimenting with dropping the ink onto different materials such as canvas, cotton and silk to see the different effects and how they work. I think that it would be interesting to work on different materials than paper, and the effects that the ink gives on each material is very interesting. Because of this I decided to do some artist research into artists that experiment with materials and how they use them one of the artists that I looked at was Tauba Auerbach who folds and spray paints her canvas before stretching it.
Example of Tauba Auerbach's work

This gave me the idea of folding and ironing the fabric then painting the circles on the folds before opening it out and stretching it. I did a few of these on paper to test out the idea and it seemed to work really well, it created some really interesting patterns which I could then draw my circle patterns onto. For the rest of the week I decided to continue finishing my last piece before moving onto this next body of work.

Developing Second Body of work Further

I have started the week by creating a very large scale drippy painting with the inks which to capture the process I created a film of me creating it, this will help me develop my work and the process behind it to create some more successful outcomes. The shapes that have been created in the work are really interesting, but I really like the way that it has dried in the middle the patterns reflect the stages in which it dried which also show the process. 

Because of the scale of it I decided to do it in different sections which again to me makes it more interesting because while working on one you cannot see the others so you can't tell if you process has slightly changed or if it looks the same, which is something that I really like because you will probably became to see the progress of my refining process by the end of my piece.

This is what I have been focusing on this week so I have been continuing to look at process art to help me think of how I can now take my work further. I have been looking at process art this week Ignacio Uriarte and Chris Drury. From my research and my videos I have come up with an idea to place the water down before applying the ink to maybe control the splash area more. 

my video on process art

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf-0P9RIAlU

Ignacio Uriarte, Process art, Chris Drury and Niki de sant Phalle

Ignacio Uriarte

Bic Cycle- 2010- each 65X65cm
Uriarte's work is of a very minimalist style and the work is all about music and noise this is the biggest inspiration to him. This has been done so many times before, but Uriarte does this in such a way that has never been done before. The pieces like my work are done in simple different coloured biro pens. He says that in his work also he is looking at the way that office work is "dematerialised labour" that we have to put ourselves through.

He says that most people will doodle at work and he has taken this to a whole new level, but has kept it in such a controlled way that it becomes something else. He argues that most artists actually will spend most of their day at a computer the same as someone who works in an office.  You can see that there is a clear influence between Uriarte's work and Frank Stella even Reinhardt.


He uses normal biro colours that are produced, but you can see that there is a pastel pallet that is deliberately chosen to keep his work as minimal as he can, but to also give it a very gentle feel to it. From a distance you can barely see what it actually is made up of this is something that I would really like to include in my work.


http://www.ignaciouriarte.com/

Process art


This week I have decided to look at process art because it ties in so well with my project. This is an art movement where the actual finished article of work isn't the most important part of the work it is the concept behind it. I is what the actual craft of it behind it is important, this can be from the patterning to the gathering of the materials to make it.

This movement happened in the 1960's and has been popular in Europe and America; it is thought to have come from performance art because the two have very similar concepts. However it is also very similar to aboriginal art for an example, which predates any modern art in a long way. Some people argue that any art could be classed as process art, but in my opinion I think that there is a fair reasoning to this because anything has a process to getting to the final outcome, but this form of art does have more of a story it provokes the viewer to think more about it if they want to appreciate it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_art

Chris Drury


Rhine Mosel Slate Whirlpool- 14 X 14M- 2010
Chris Drury is a progress artist who is inspired by nature and its forms, most of his work is very organic and at one with nature. His work comes in many forms them being paintings, land art and sculpture. He says that his work is about the connections between culture and nature and how they can work in unison or clash. He is very serious about his work and doesn't want to get anything wrong so he works with technicians and scientists to make sure that the work is scientifically correct. It is also an interest to him he likes to understand science, it's all part of the process.

Drury often collaborates with institutions, he wants people to know and understand his work, and he doesn't just want them to see the finished articles of work. This is one of the reasons he creates videos of his work. He is obviously inspired by nature, but there are other key inspirations such as Henry Moore, Andy Goldsworthy and there is a clear connection with aboriginal and cave art in the work. The link with the Aboriginal work is very clear in the land art it is created in the same circumstances as the aboriginal art; outside on the ground looking up to the gods.

I like the work because of the link in with history and the patterns that are involved with the work, I also like the way that is fits right into the landscape and a lot of them aren't permanent. I think that like Drury I need to start taking videos of the process in my work for people to see how it is made.

http://chrisdrury.co.uk/about/artist-statement/

Niki de sant Phalle


shooting picture Tirage-1961
1430 x 780 x 81 mm
I was looking specifically at her shooting painting as the way that the paint has moved is very similar to the way in which I have been conducting my ink to move. This is a form of process art and the process is very important to Phalle as it was just after the war. She actually stopped creating these works in 1963 as she felt that she was now getting addicted to shooting, she said it was like a drug to her.

The paintings were created just after the second world war, which is quite significant considering that there was a gun used to create the work, this suggests some sort of nod towards the war effort, it wasn't until the 1960's that she started to make this work up until then she worked in collages and oil paints, before moving into sculpture briefly before these works started being created.

This shift in her work happened when she visited Paris and saw an American exhibition that included the likes of Jackson Pollock and De Kooning. She had a good friendship with Jasper Johns who is famous for his "Target" paintings which undoubtedly is a key influence of Phalle's work. Phalle said that she found these works exciting because of the way that the ink might or might not fall; you never know quite what's going to happen. In time you are bound to learn what might happen, but the fact that different people are shooting each shot makes impossible to know, but also gives Phalle no control over her work it is more of a performance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niki_de_Saint_Phalle


Second Body of Work

Ink and pen developments each 60 X 80 Cm
I have started the week by experimenting with ink and the way that it moves when dropped and splashed onto paper, you can never predict how it is going to fall so it gets rid of all the certainty and engineered from the forms that are made. I also experimented with throwing water at the fresh ink which created a really interesting and unpredictable splash mark that was also larger. I really like the direction in which this was going so I started two bigger pieces one where the dripping was done flat. The other when it was on a wall and thrown at, as you can imagine this created some very different outcomes, elements of both I quite liked.
Close up of pieces below 

On the wall one I particularly liked the small sections that the drips created where I could then work into which then created this waterfall effect, but then on the one that was on the floor I liked the way that the larger splash created which when I worked into it created a form that looked like a swarm or something growing. This week I have been looking at Diana Al-Hadid, Vlad Kulkov and Cameron Robbins because of the process that they use in there work.




Ink with marker and pen development both 70 X 150 Cm
I think that to move on from this I will try and incorporate the two ways of making this into one and go it very much on a large scale so I can really experiment with the process.

Experimenting with shape

Charcoal on paper 30 X 42 Cm
I have continued to experiment with shape this week, and the figurative shapes have now developed into more organic shapes, however I'm not sure that this is the way forward I think that the scale of the figures need to be figure and maybe just one to a page. I think I need to take a step back and almost go back to the drawing board and not get carried away perusing something that isn't working.


Pencil on Paper 30 X 42 Cm









I think that the earlier pieces that involved ink drawings where the most interesting and that this is what I should try and develop and to look at more artists that work in a similar way to inspire me on what I could do with my project. I also need to really think why I am doing what I am doing and put my work into context; I think that will really help me move forward.

developing bigger Pieces

Charcoal on paper 60 X 85 Cm
This week I have been experimenting with scale and composition, I have been using varying sizes of figure to try and create distance and space in the drawings. I think that I have been able to do this, however I think that the process works better with a white background and bold figures because they both stand out more but they also look more ghostly and almost out of place as if they shouldnt be there and I really like that.


Charcoal on paper 60 X 85 Cm




I have also been looking at rubbing and smudging to create movement in the drawings something that was inspired from Gerhard Richter's drawings I have been looking at this week. I have also been looking at Kara walker because of her figures and the monochome palette she uses. I think that next week I'm going to continue to play with shape, to see if I can get it to work better.