It's probably just as well, I'm not very good at looking at artworks with others unless it's a tutor pointing out key features etc. When I go to exhibitions with friends or Ian , tend to go round separately
It was interesting to look at work with an initial focus on painting methods - picking up on the 'grissage' of Max Ernst and the outlines and subtle layers of Jean Miro. The intense blue initially looks flat but looking closer you can see directional brushmarks.
Nicolas de Stael was an obvious example of impasto! The notes on the wall/ website suggest that the title perhaps indicates the comparison with creating a painting and the extended exertion of a race.
However the composition to me looked like a head or helmet like the ones worn at the battle of Marathon ( Ian' s interests in military history obviously rubbing off on me....)
Nearby was this large work by Pierre Soulages, with its calligraphic heavy directional brushmarks.
I paid homage to Gerhard Richter and did a quick sketch of Winifred Nicholson's calm piece in ' Art and Society' I like her quote about abstraction:
"the nature of abstract colour is utter purity – but colours wish to fly, to merge, to change each other by their juxtapositions, to radiate, to shine, to withdraw deep within themselves."
By the time I'd looked once again at Shozo Shimamoto's ' Holes' I'd run out of steam so had a quick look around the Giacometti before meeting up with the class for coffee and to discuss our findings.
It was really interesting to see what others had discovered, some had concentrated on just one or 2 paintings, others had a different mix to my own selection. I'd missed the Kurt Schwitters and the Peter Doig so had a look at those before returning to City Lit. With browsing in the bookshop and getting sidetracked by Magdalena Abakanowicz I only had 10 minutes to eat my lunch!
I had a happy afternoon glueing pages and torn up bits of text and pictures from that day's Metro onto cartridge paper and then applying white paint using different methods ( credit card scraping, brushwork etc ) ready to tear up and layer the following week. . Reading more about his work and the process involved I realised that the delicacy of the orginal piece come from multiple layers of newspaper glued with flour and water contrasted with the use of enamel paint - I don't think what I've prepared will work in the same way.
I've also been thinking about why I wanted to do this class ( to help with abstract composition in my textile pieces) and how I could best use what I've learnt so far in a final project. Further work on holes and tears requires more attention to materials and process than can be achieved in a days' class so I'm putting that interesting topic to one side for the moment.
So for tomorrow I'm looking at the brushmarks/ impasto of De Stael and Soulages and have printed and laminated photos so I can do some colour mixing , (particularly of greys) in preparation for the next in my ' Birchington Breakwater ' series.
