post that shows us the most influential artwork you have seen first hand either on a London trip or in a gallery in Cardiff, with a brief description of how it has influenced your practice

 A post that shows us the most influential artwork you have seen first hand either on a London trip or in a gallery in Cardiff, with a brief description of how it has influenced your practice..

The Burlington house Cartoon – The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist, In the national portrait gallery in London by the great Leo Da Vinci.

I have visited this gallery before, on probably each occasion of going to London. The building is so big, and normally really busy, that it has taken a few visits for me to see every piece of work in the gallery.

The last time we went  to London for the uni trip, I found the space/room where this painting is placed. What I loved about this especially was how it was exhibited, in a dark room – there was purposeful artificial lighting that gave another dimension to the painting/for the viewer.

I felt that it gave the painting a realistic approach, however mysteriousness came out through the transparency of the charcoal in contrast to the brown canvas. The piece seems and gives the impression that it is valuable and precious like gold, as of it’s installation of lights in a dark room, that makes it stand out from the other pieces.

The bodies are intertwined with one another, as the baby sits upon both women’s laps, where it is puzzling to indicate which set of legs matches to each torso. The arms of the woman at the front are missing, and blends in with the baby’s body. This also makes the prep drawing (for a later painting) (nationalgallery.org.uk) muddled and scatty, that for me makes a piece of work stand out because it brings curiosity and creepiness.

 

My silk paintings can relate to this piece because of it’s transparency, even as a total different 

The exhibitions at the Royal academy were insightful and thought-provoking too, such as Ai Wei Wei’s installations in December that were personal outcomes from his time in prison, when he was looked over 24 hours a day, even when showering and going to the toilet.

I liked the way this was interactive, and felt really real compared to a painting or 2D piece.

Therefore has influenced my future decisions/ideas of how installations and  3D pieces can have huge benefits to a piece of work.

 

Cindy Sherman, Big question – self portraiture

Today we were looking at the truths of a self-portrait. We looked at Rembrandt and Lucien Freud’s self-portraits.
What one was the most truthful as a self-portrait?

I think that Rembrandt’s self-portraits were made for an acting purpose. It conveys Rembrandt’s, to me, a probably humorous person – and a bubbly friendly man – due to his facial expressions, his dressing up, and his very flexible ways of drawing himself – which were different every time he drew himself.

Similarly like Rembrandt; Cindy Sherman, a modern photographer, dresses up to portray a variety of characters to show the stereotypes she is thinking of. Sometimes she does this due to issues raised in the media, or a political attitude which makes some of her work, perhaps, on a more interesting stance…

This photo by Sherman is from her 2008 collection; about status and this generation’s increase on this ‘status-obsessed’ culture.

Silk painting – new ideas and textures

A book in the library I found on silk painting, new ideas and textures by Jill Kennedy and Jane Varrall 1993.

I found interesting techniques and methods for silk painting that relate to my inside/outside project.

GUTTA – using the gutta was first how I started to begin my journey in silk painting, which was due to a TD session ‘ silk painting ‘. I am able to look through this book to get inspiration from the work shown. The work in the book is varied; some are larger drawings of flowers which are boldly coloured in red and green dyes, others that demonstrate the painter’s attention to smaller detail that has acted as a resistant to the dyes. This gutta chapter has informed me on different types of gutta there are available such as metallic and coloured guttas, said to be ‘very attractive’ that can add sparkle and depth to the painting.

I am now knowledgeable of the traditional uses of gutta – which is the way I have been using it so far which is: to create a barrier and a resistance for the dyes – flowing along the warps of the silk – ‘allowing a controlled design to be created’. However, coloured dyes can be used the same as paint, applying them on top of the dyes to create more textures and depths.

‘The visit to the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon’ 1881-1890

Visiting the Sydney art museum I came over this quite large painting created by Edward John Poynter from the 19th Century. This painting stood out to me at first because of the movement it creates – as if I am watching a theatre play as a narrative; the elegant posture of the four main figures at the front go in a diagonal line where the eye captures the detailed stair case and the lions – dramatic and exaggerated.  I am also intrigued by the costumes and the environment this painting shows – the robes and long-tail dresses in an exotic sense.  The audio description about this painting is on the NSW art gallery website, helping me to understand more about the context of the painting/story:

The Queen of Sheba is walking up the stair case upon to meet King Solomon.

 

Background info – “the second half of the nineteenth century was a period remarkable for archaeological researches and discoveries, especially by English expeditions” (http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/898/)

 

The Theatre for field

A4, inpspiration from “PHYLISC HARTNOLL, THE THEATRE, A CONCISE HISOTRY”, On page 15, ‘Apollo protects Orestes from the Furies, taken by a scene in Aeschylus’ Oresteia – which is a painting on vase of century 370. 

I think that looking at the theatre really works well with my field as I am looking into installations and stage designs. I got a book out from the library called A concise History of theatre by Hartnoll. The book has lots of images, drawings and paintings and photographs of the theatre and different plays through out a long history.

• I love how the theatre is a place to provide others to :
• Act/freeing from their own personal life
• Living in a vogue/ a masquerade that is never real
• a place that provides entertainment and for an audience to escape their own life/personal difficulties/issues.

The above drawing was made by graphite, which I haven’t completed yet but wanted to show the development of it. The two figures that are outlined, are crossing their bodies, as if dancing an act of theatre. Their intertwining bodies are interactive, communicative and are moving which creates a huge sense of energy.

The below drawing is by graphite pencils and different strengths of pencils. I especially am fond of the dark 6b pencils: as they can give off a softer shaded affect on the paper, but with pressure to the pencil, it creates a great shadow which makes that contrast between the highlights and the dark shadow, that creates depth and a lesser flatness of the piece.

..The African resistance

even though it could seem that the resistance of the slave trade was poor, due to African kingdoms themselves hat enslaved captives.

In 156, King Afonso of Kongo complained to the King of Portugal that he was taking his citizens and “depopulating” his kingdom.
Also, Queen of Angola and King of Dahomey an leader Donna Vita complained, and even tried to fight the barriers of the ships and protect the coasts of Africa.

The slave trade therefore led to Africans immigrating to the Caribbean, North and South America and Europe+.

Slavery in general history

In religious texts such as Islam, Buddhism and Christianity.
The Mayans and Aztecs kept slaves in America; the Sumerians abd Babylionains kept them in the Near East; the Egyptians kept Jews and Ethopians; the Romans had slaves in Uk, France and Germany. 

In 1807, The UK alleged the slave trade illegal. Leading to the USA abolishing slavery in 1811.

Transatlantic slave trade, contextual histories researching

The Transatlantic slave trade started in the 15th Century Africa which led to the power and wealth of Europe until the 19th Century.

It was first the Portuguese that reached the West Coast of Africa and kidnapped these citizens to then enslave them in Europe.

The Africans could become slaves if they were punished for crime, a payment of family debt but most commonly they were captured as punishes of war.

European and American ships offered trading goods in exchange for people.

However, the slave trade still continued in Africa, not just Europe and America – it was the rulers and the wealth that enslaved them which was due to their own selfishness and own interests rather than the interests and the overall state of the Continent. – It was more about being part of a specific membership/kingdom.

In the mid 1600s, America and Europe were more in demand for slave captives, which lead to raiding and warfare. Slavery for the capitals also had it’s limitations: there were costs of living for the slaves and sometimes if the captives ran away from their home, it would cost money and time for another captive to come. Sometimes the slaves did not work properly or efficiently enough, on purpose or due to living conditions.

Nevertheless, Africa was not always in a poor and awful position in the globe: there was gold from Ghana, Mali and Songhay. Mali, was one of the richest states in the world in the 14 Century – however it is apparent that Monsa Musa (the emperor of Mali) took so much Gold with him, the price of the Gold fell dramatically.

 

 

Oppression of the people

As in my field work looked at particularly the homeless, I have had an occuring idea about groups of other communities that feel similarly depressed, such as the slaves during the transatlantic slave trade in the 15th Century-19th Century.

I looked in this earlier – about the transatlantic salve trade, (from the BBC website).
I think it is important to consider historical concepts and narratives to be able to understand the goings on in art and in general, today. Other communities of people who have (and maybe still do) suffered oppression are The mentally ill, the disabled, the young and the poor.

So before I start working on ideas practically/physically I want to understand about the history of the black slavery first, to maybe develop particular narratives.

Continued next..

Leonor Fini, artist

Leonor Fini from 1901-1996,

Little Hermit Sphinx 1948 Leonor Fini 1908-1996 Presented by Tate Members 2011 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T13589

 

From the Tate sit, I have been able to understand – this was painted in oils in 1948, in the post-war period.

I like the dark and spooky atmosphere of this painting.

I think it works well with the ‘abandoned buildings’ theme that was an idea for Future generations. I feel like this painting also works well with an installation set – the door being the stage.

 

Ceri Richards, more over

Continuing on the last post, The Flowering skull below displays a great constrast, with an a very dark black that surrounds the foreground objects such as the big bird and the foilage, that looks like leaves, small flowers, some thin branches in the right and maybe some stones and rocks to the back-near the horizon. Again, he creates a textured feel to it.

 

 

 

 

Ceri Richards – Blossoms – 1940

Perhaps a little different to the previous one’s of his that I’ve shown, but the layers of each colour is different every time. There is so much to this painting, where we can pick out each very brushtroke and, looking closely, examining the detail he has applied to the piece. The colours feel neutral, yet the composition feels disorientated and difficult to understand what is going on. However I admire Blossoms’ way of texture it emits.