Contextual Studies 300 Word Analysis

Sheila Gallagher, Deute

http://inhabitat.com/nyc/ny-exhibit-features-sheila-gallaghers-beautiful-recycled-art-created-from-found-familial-objects/

Deute, by Sheila Gallagher is a collection of found melting plastics such as old prescription bottles, bottle caps, and other found objects, arranged to create a beautiful picture of a path down an autumnal forest. From a distance, the piece looks like a painting of a forest, but close up, it is a textured filled with melted plastics which creates really interesting detail close up.

 

 

 

Robert Rauschenberg

Charlene 1954

http://arthistory.about.com/od/from_exhibitions/ig/rauschenberg_combines/rrc_01.htm

 

Charlene by Robert Rauschenberg is one of his “Combine Paintings” made up of oil paint, charcoal, paper, fabric, newspaper, wood, plastic, mirror and metal on four Homasote panels mounted on wood. The colours are very similar to the colours in Deute by Sheila Gallagher as they are warm, autumnal colours. However, in Charlene, the colours have a slightly more darker tone. Unlike Deute, Charlene doesn’t make up an interesting overall image, but is more abstract and focuses on the textures and colours. The textures are what makes this piece interesting, as opposed to the detail and composition that make Deute interesting.

 

Written Reflection 400 words

After the Lewis Noble workshop, I was inspired by him to create texture in my paintings using a palette knife. I made the image more realistic because that is the way that painting comes naturally to me, although I still feel as though it is reminiscent of Lewis Noble's work because of the texture. To make the painting fit in with the Trash to Treasure theme, I created the background with a range of found papers from the college, but I think that the paint covers the collage too much so it loses the meaning of Trash to Treasure.

 

This is the second Rob Wilson inspired piece that I have done and I much prefer the first, smaller sample I did in this style. I didn't really enjoy creating this as I found it quite boring and tedious, I think that it could have done with a bit more colour and maybe some acrylic paint like in my first Rob Wilson sample. I created a collage for this one first, unlike the first one, and I think that it shows the theme of Trash to Treasure better. I was inspired by Rob Wilson to use stitch on a collaged and inked background as I thought it worked really well in his pictures, but it turned out to not quite work for me.

 

 

 

The first sample that I did inspired by Philip Bannister was only small, so I decided to revisit it since I didn't particularly like the Rob Wilson or the Lewis Noble inspired pieces. I am glad that I did because I really like this technique as it is a quick and easy technique that is effective. I added the collage this time round and I think it looks much better. This technique, I feel, is the most effective because the collage is visible in the background which portrays the theme of Trash to Treasure much more effectively.

 

In conclusion, I will use the Philip Bannister inspired style because it leaves the background collage visible so it doesn't hide the theme like the other styles, and it is because of this that it is my favourite style out of them so this is the style that I will continue.

 

Experiments/developments and Listening Critique

This first sample was inspired by Rob Wilson

 

 

The second sample was inspired by Lewis Noble

 

At this stage I am experimenting with different artist styles and like the Rob Wilson and the Lewis Noble samples the most... I wanted feedback on which style I should choose for my final piece and the feedback I got was useful...

The Lewis Noble sample covered the reclaimed items collage too much so the theme of Trash to Treasure was lost

The Rob Wilson theme shows techniques and theme more clearly

The conclusion was that everybody preferred the Rob Wilson style so that is the style that I plan to develop.

Lewis Noble Workshop

I really enjoyed the workshop, even though it's not typically my style, it was really interesting to have an insight to how he works and I may take inspiration from him and incorporate it into my own style because I would quite like to try out a new looser style for my project. 

First, we went outside to Brough Park and were told not to draw what we saw, but to respond to the textures and landscape and make marks on the paper with charcoal. It was very messy but fun!

Then we went back inside, ripped up the charcoal drawings and rearranged sections to create a new, interesting composition. We then responded to these with paint, using different brush strokes and mark making. I enjoyed using a palette knife for the first time and will definitely continue to use one for my project!

After the paint dried, we ripped up and rearranged these again to create new compositions again and ended up with some really nice looking pieces that almost filled an entire sketchbook!

Paper Manipulation in 3D

Although it was messy because of all the glue, I really enjoyed the session, particularly the beads, even though it took a long time to make one and my fingers got sore from doing it...

 

Inspiration... Rob Wilson

From this video, I can see that he starts out by doing a quick line drawing of the subject then goes in with his watery blue ink, builds it up and sticks the dressmakers paper on with water. Then he works into it more with the same blue ink, building up the intensity and continuing to layer dressmakers paper. Then, he sticks other mixed media on there such as magazines and newspapers with what looks like PVA glue, then works into it with brown ink and more blue ink. After that, he adds detail to the image with white and black acrylic paint, adds more mixed media to create detail and then stitches into it.

I really like his work as it is very interesting to look at and figure out how it's done. I think I will take inspiration from him and experiment with dressmakers paper and inks and stitch. I think that I need to do some small samples in my sketchbook of different painting styles and artist responses to find the style that I like best.

Inspiration... Philip Bannister

http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/PhilipBannister/view

I really like Philip Bannister's work as it is contemporary and realistic. I really like the line drawing (pictured above) as it's stylized and expressive and I really like that kind of thing, also, I enjoy doing that sort of art. I'm not too sure about the water colour paint as it's too transparent so it wouldn't be very good to paint over collage or handmade paper because it would bleed too.

So...

I had a word with one of my tutors, Anne-Lise about my ideas... I think that we both have completely different tastes, because she really didn't like Robert Finale's work, whereas I really loved it. She said that it was too realistic and not stylized enough like Rob Wilson or Voka. Also, she thinks that I need to research more "established" artists rather than ones that I found on the internet or in Washington Green gallery (Neil Dawson)... More established artists such as Rob Wilson, Van Gogh and people from illustrationweb.com...

Personally, I disagree, I am inspired by whoever I'm inspired by, regardless of where I found them or how established they are; inspiration is inspiration.

Inspiration... Robert Finale

Robert Finale


An Evening of Romance - Venice, Italy



Café De Paris - Paris, France



Summer in Paris - Paris, France



Summer in the Park - Central Park in New York



A New Beginning - New Orleans, Louisiana

I really love Robert's paintings; the colours, composition and the style... The colours in An Evening of Romance are beautiful, they're very romantic. I think my favourite out of this selection are An Evening of Romance and Café De Paris. I think in my own work I will use a similar style of painting, realistic, and similar compositions.

His work reminds me of HDR photography, how he's got the light and dark and the sharpness. I will try to do the same sort of thing by taking a HDR photo of the city/town scape and then paint from the photograph, giving the HDR effect in the painting.

Inspiration... Voka

Voka



Venezia, Acrylic on Canvas, 80x100cm



New York City 02, Acrylic on Canvas, 115x240cm



New York City 04, Acrylic on Camvas, 150x200cm



Vienna

I think that Vienna effectively shows how Voka creates his paintings... He paints a background using large expressive strokes, not making a smooth transition between colours, and then paints over the top and lets the colours underneath show through and be a part of the final image, this reminds me of how Nick Gentry used the colours of the floppy discs as the colours of the models' faces.

I have been a fan of Voka's work for a while now and used his portraits for my inspiration in my A Level, and I love the colours and the style of his work. I will try to do a similar style as his in my city/town scapes but make it more realistic and my own style. I like the idea of using bright colours.

Inspiration... Neil Dawson

Neil Dawson







I like how he has painted the iconic parts of each city so you can tell what city it is. I also like the style of his paintings, sort of simple but realistic. I love the colours but I think that the city/town scapes that I would paint would be in the day, but I'm not sure yet, I think I will experiment with both.

Ideas...

• Paint onto handmade paper
• Paint onto collage and include handmade paper
• Involve lutradur in collage
• Melt plastics?
• Paint on lutradur, burn holes through it and layer over either a collage or another painting - same scene on both layers, one clean and one trash filled

What to paint

• Portraits?
• Trash?
• Landscapes?
• City/town scapes?

I think that I would rather paint town/city scapes as it ties in better with the theme, use photos of trash and recycled found objects from a town and then paint the town over the top? Do this with Leek

Artists

• Neil Dawson
• Voka
• Brian Simons
• Robert Finale
• Nick Gentry
• Rob Wilson
• Philip Bannister

3D: Paper Manipulation

I really enjoyed this 3D lesson, especially making the beads... We also made a bowl out of shredded magazines and paper which I enjoyed too as mine was colourful :)

I would like to create more beads and create jewellery out of them as they would sell quite easily on markets as they're handmade and made from recycled paper so they're environmentally friendly... They do, however, take a long time to make but I'm sure that the more you practise the faster you get. I don't think I will do this for my project though...

Nick Gentry Analysis

Analogue Daydream

Film negatives, x-rays and oil paint on acrylic sheets in vintage wooden LED lightbox crate
60cm x 40cm

Here, the artist has stuck some film negatives and x-rays onto acrylic sheets on a wooden LED lightbox crate, blocked out the background of the person with white paint and shaded parts of the face such as the highlights and shadows with oil paint. Again, like with the colours of the floppy discs, he has used the light and dark bits and the colours to add depth and colour to the portrait. He has used the dark shades in the x-rays for her dark hair.

Compared to Midnight Angel and his other paintings on floppy discs, this painting is very warm toned and a lot less eerie and creepy, but equally as effective.

All of these elements create another very unique, interesting, 3D and realistic looking painting which very effectively uses recycled materials and therefore fits very well with the theme of Trash to Treasure.

Midnight Angel

Oil paint & used computer disks on wood
113cm x 90cm

 

Gentry has stuck some recycled floppy disks from computers onto a background of wood and has lined them up so they are all facing the same way apart from the two near the eyes and has used the circular part of the floppy disc as the pupils. In his other pieces, he has done this for the whole eye because the works have been smaller, I find this bigger one less creepy than the smaller ones as the bigger ones only have a circle for the eye.

He has then drew on the outline of the person and painted the space behind the model to accentuate the portrait. He has very effectively used the colours of the different floppy discs to colour and add depth to the face and used oil paint to shade in areas of the face, highlight areas and also add a small bit of colour to the lips, creating a very 3D realistic and unique painting.

Overall, the image is very cold and slightly eerie, but I really like the effect of it as it is unique and uses the ideas of Trash to Treasure really well.

Inspiration... Nick Gentry

Nick Gentry


Oil paint and used computer discs on wood


Oil paint and used computer discs on wood



Vintage film negatives and xrays with oil paint on acrylic sheets


Vintage film negatives and xrays with oil paint on acrylic sheets

I really like the idea of painting onto a background of recycled, flat objects, and love what Gentry has done with the used, recycled floppy discs and also the old films and xrays. I think I could do something quite similar inspired by him, but experiment with backgrounds of collage and mixed media, integrating the techniques I have learnt from Suzanne in textiles... Do a painting on Tyvek or Lutradur and burn holes in it and distort it... The only problem I have is what I would paint...

Developing the Recycle Posters...

I'm not too keen on this first one (above) because it's a bit plain and boring, and I don't like the washing line thing but I was just experimenting...

I developed this second one by changing the font of the text, I like this font better.

I then added the poster edges effect to the main image and did the same to the small images of litter.

Then I kept the small images as the poster edges filter, but changed the main image back to the cutout effect again. I felt as though this worked better but still didn't like it but I couldn't figure out why...

I zoomed in to the background image to focus on one part of the image as this is my favourite part of the image because the people walking across the road makes it look more interesting. I also kept the cutout effect on the background image and the poster edges effect on the small images. After I zoomed in I started to like it better...

I decided to get rid of the washing line thing across the top and the small images of litter and focus on the main image and the text. I liked it better than the other designs because it's simple and effective, but the brief requires me to put images of litter on it...

So that's what I did for these last two, I played around with the composition of the images of the litter and the blending modes of the layers and settled on this one for the final design. I like this one because the emphasis is still on the main background image and looks like a "grungy" picture of Leek, but then if you look carefully you can see images of litter blended into it.