EDAM Week 3 Surface Divides: Layering Concepts

The final  session  of   3 week project 'Surface Divides'   involved   moving into abstraction working from details and fragments of drawings  already generated   from the  cross-section projects of the previous 2 weeks  including supporting photos, objects and images. As I'd missed the second week, Amanda  had helpfully  sent me the handout and some pictures of other students work had been loaded on the course Padlet site   which gave me an idea of what had been covered. 

 

As the emphasis seemed to be on working from 'paper architecture'  rather than the fruit and veg of the first session ,  I chose  to work from a couple of photos from my Puglia course  last week :  a bamboo structure on the beach at Calafetente  near Pologna San Vito  and my  drawing  on fabric of a squashed plant pot , drawn  without looking ( and I brought a plant pot  with me!) 

Christine Hiebert

Rem Koolhas 

Stephen Talasnik

We looked a number of artists  that demonstrated a sense  or illusion of space and depth, use of tension or contrasts and  looking at form and content  both planned and accidental  eg templates unfolding  and ideas around navigation.  I hadn't been able to get to the  recommended exhibition of Julie Mehretu  but I've seen and admired her work before , both in BM print exhibition and at Tate Modern . It was also good to have  a reminder of  composition structures.  

 We then spent the morning experimenting with techniques - wash (ink and acrylic  so not working on pure white surface ) ,   monoprint , stamping, transfer techniques , stencils etc 

 Drawing into printing ink and taking monoprint than ink  drawing over the top 

Drawing  with ink over 'ghost print' 

Prints on tissue paper overlaid over drawing and transfer prints.

Transfer printing was my favourite  technique, new to me  and involved working quickly. On a photocopy  of  the bamboo structure  attached to the drawing with strips of masking tape to act as a hinge, I painted the lines with acrylic paint and then flipped it over and rubbed it down. I loved the marks this method produced  

In the afternoon   we worked on a final piece up to A1 scale using layering techniques to give a flat surface ( the aim was to achieve some of the visual effects of layering  without relying on collage or physical overlays).  

As usual I struggled scaling  up : the one above is A2, the one below A1.  We only had about an hour and a half to  do it in and  not having  a detailed drawing from last week to work from , the composition is appalling !  But there are areas of interest if you  zoom in or crop the image  and   the course at this stage is about experimenting with new techniques and concepts  and I'm enjoying being challenged!

Ways into Abstract Painting Week 3: Random Systems and memory/text

Week 3 on 'ways into abstract painting' and we  were looking at random systems. Jackson Pollock was the obvious example   but also other abstract expressionists . Also favourites like the 'Cage paintings by Gerhard Richter ( which I look forward to revisiting this Thursday when we  have a visit to Tate Modern

What I hadn't realised was that John Cage himself  made  a series of prints and drawings inspired by the Ryoanji garden in Kyoto, Japan's most celebrated Zen garden, composed of 15 stones arranged in five mossy islands against a ground of raked gravel. Cage's prints and drawings, begun in 1983, required him to draw (first with a metal drypoint tool, later in pencil) around the perimeters of 15 stones whose positions on the etching plate or paper were determined by chance.

  Our 'random systems' were rather more prosaic: throwing a dice for  type  of mark / paint application method ( eg drip, squeegee, dry brush , finger etc); drawing a card for position on paper ( eg bottom right, allover)  and spinning a bottle for colour!

 Some very interesting effects ,some due to paint not fully dry  such as black squeegeed paint over yellow drips in the  first painting at the top.

In my second go, I used  some techniques and colours I hadn't used before so semi-random, but found it more difficult  and less successful making decisions  for myself!

 We'd been asked  the previous week to bring text/poem or thought about a memory

 We looked at some artworks  where text had been employed as marks or the inspiration for artworks. Jasper Johns is the obvious one ( reminds me I still have to post about' the American Dream '.... )

Julie Mehretu

Jessica Rankin

Maliheh Afnan

Mira Schendal

 Kurt Schwitters  (incorporating text in collage)

 The example used for painting a memory was the 'portraits' of Howard Hodgkin like the one above of David Hockney.

I'd brought   the poem 'Breaths ' by sweet honey in the rocks  which I'd used for my Cynefin piece  'Voice of the Waters'  and memories of a particular place' Thorn's Gill'  

I had a fine time mixing colours and using the written words themselves as marks , very different to my usual painting style  but that's the point, to try something new. I should have stopped   at the stage above ( I particularly like the right hand side with 'moaning rocks' in grey and ' crying grass' in yellowy -green)  but as usual went too far ! I'm getting better at slowing down, spending more time looking than painting  and making more considered marks but I'm not there yet.

EDAM Term 3 : Further thoughts on 'Meanwhile...', techniques and artists to explore

 During the course  of 2 terms of EDAM I've been pushed well out of my comfort zone in the variety of  drawing techniques. Now in Term 3,  when we're working on our own projects, I need to consider which of these  will be useful for  me to use to explore the theme of ' meanwhile...' ( initial thoughts here )
 Large scale drawing with Tony Hull, starting with  object, blind drawing, mark making with long stick. wrapping object ,  inserting sheets of paper to disrupt composition , making linkages across surface,  layers, responding to what's there.

 Bookmaking , copies of monoprints, change of scale,  formats, concertina
 ( also ideas  from   monoprint  sketchbook project -  backs of work different to front, interaction of pages,, juxtaposition ,

 Paper manipulation and stitch - lots to explore here, take on idea and try different methods: pleating, distortion , ripping layers , stitch on acetate

Space and Light with Anne Teahan, feeling the form

 Lessons from 'Large Scale Sketchbook' :

 Interest in layers - in cloth, excavating old  quilts, what's beneath , how to  try this in paper?

Some  first thoughts on artists  of relevance:

Michael Buthe 

 Junko Oki ( Looking forward to  going to see her exhibition in Brussels in a couple of weeks time !) 

Paul Feiler - I spent some time looking at layers and composition at the Redfern Gallery 

Julie  Mehretu 

Guillermo Kuitca

 And 'mining'  my  own blog for artists that have influenced me over the years - interesting to make connections.
 Richard Long
David Nash  Tree  Quaryy
David Nash Cork Structures
David Nash
Sue Lawty
Cornelia Parker 
Tania Kovats 

Our homework  from the first  class was to read an article from Contemporary Drawing 1960's to now by Katherine Stout and research  ' expanded notion' one of the themes 

We started  the  next session  looking  at  artists using these different methods :

 Alison Wilding 

 Jenny Saville 

 Claude Heath 

 Frank Pudney 

Kirsten Elswood

Gerhard Richter  ( overpainted photographs at Gagosian) 

Stephan Talasniek

( for his use  of frottage, monoprinting  'activating the surface' 

 Helen Scalway 

 'Psychogeography'  writer ( well worth downloading the pdf's) ,  ' Travelling Blind'   shows  fascinating interpretations of the tube.  

Cosmopolitan city  shows different scales ( above) and I like' patterns and perspective' ( below) linked with her essay on ornament and memory

 Nancy Spero  for her use of text 

 William Kendridge' s interdisciplinary  work covers so many different media , it was a privilege to see the rehearsals for the 'Head and The  Load' last year . I  have a copy of his  '6 Drawing Lessons'  somewhere, must track it down.

My own  research, linked to my interests in  mapping walks,  was in ' walking as art' ,  so I was interested to find the catalogue for exhibition ( which can be downloaded on ISSUU)  

 Walk on-WALK  celebrating 40 years of 'art walking' 

Those that caught my eye  were  Tim Knowles ( whose '7 walks from 7 Dials, Covent Garden' is featured  in the inspirational 'Drawing Projects' book 

 Also Jeremy Wood  who pioneered  drawing  with GPS ,the  3d physicality of his piece  ' White Horse Hill'  I found   exciting.

"We cannot understand where we are on the ground without first looking up at the stars. The chalk figure from the Bronze Age was made to be seen from the heavens and today we use space age technology from the heavens to tell us where we are.

The Uffington White Horse was chosen for its mysterious dialogue between the ground and the sky; a relationship it has in common with the magical properties of satellite navigation technology.

The original shapes have eroded over time along with their meaning. They are signs, not entirely visible from the ground that are projected towards the skies like symbols on a map to be seen by the gods."