Portraiture... but with maps!

Our trip to A Foundation a few weeks ago proved to be invaluable. The work of Anitti Laitinen had a strong impact on my work, and has provided a much needed turning point.

His work is not just a portrait, it is a satellite assisted documentaion of his journey in a hand made boat.But it is the linear quality that attracted me to it. I have a real interest in line, tone and volume, and this mapping out in Laitinen's work has made me want to consider maps within my own practice. This has lead me to investigate topography.

Here are a couple of the paintings I have made a start on.

In order to make the works more map like I have zoomed in on certain features. I hope this will also cause the viewer to contemplate the paintings for a bit longer in order to work out what they depict.

Friendly Suggestion

The qualities of Tamara De Lempicka's work are of interest to me because of her bold style and choice to make use of photography. Her work fits into the art deco era. and this can clearly be seen by her simplification of the figure and intense palette.

Below is one of my own paintings.It wasn't intentionally painted with reference to Tamara De Lempicka. It was in fact when friend saw this piece that they suggested I take a look at Lempicka's work. I will now however embrace the idea of using bold line, and simplifying the image. 

November 3rd, Gallery Visits

When visiting an exhibition for an event such as the Liverpool Biennial, for the first time, there is always one piece that is bound to stand out amongst the rest. Irrespective of whether one likes said piece or not Ryan Trecartin’s series of films are incredibly mind-boggling. The first film we are introduced to is ‘Sibling topics (section a)’. The viewers are provided with four rows of plane seats, and thankfully seat belts are present for this bumpy ride. 

Grotesquely synthetic characters bombard the viewer (for a total of 51 mins and 26 seconds) with constant computer jargon such as rendering, loading, etc fitted into complex conversations about continuously changing relationships, emotions between characters.

Another aspect of this film is the way it is presented. According to the Biennial handbook the films encompass ‘the characteristics and aesthetics of the internet’. One graphic scene depicts a character being mauled by the others by the action of books being thrown at him by other members of the cast. This is a particularly strong metaphor for the amount of information one can be presented with whilst surfing the net and how frustrating this process becomes. (A process I fear I have become far too familiar with).

The main themes to this body of work would be consumerism and the fast paced life style of our techno age. So fast infact that I had to leave, feeling quite dizzy, confused and helpless a mere 45 mins into the first third of this aggressive trilogy. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. It certainly gave me a great deal to contemplate.

The work presented within the now derelict ‘Euro Pleasure Ltd’ factory is one that will stay in my memory for quite some time.

There have been so many occasions when I have walked past this historical building without giving it a second glance. Now however I feel I have a new found affection for it. Within the building there are two films. Alfredo Jaar’s powerful piece ‘We Wish To Inform You That We Didn’t Know’ is in the first room. This piece considers the Rwandan genocides in the form of a documentary. It is a response to the ‘criminal indifference in the world’. I found this work disturbing and emotional, as the reality of the genocides was shown through images of stacks of clothes taken from the dead, conversations with survivors and the shocking ignorance of the then President of the United States. The Film techniques were so powerful because of the combination of music and static images. The use of three television sets was possibly not required though. Some may argue that it was to show the various opinions of people around the world, or to make the scenes of devastation more powerful. However I question whether the method of presentation of such a serious piece makes it gimmicky, and experimental, something I’m sure Jaar wasn’t aiming for.

I must say that Cristina Lucas’s ‘Touch and Go’ work has touched me. Not only for its simple humour but also for its affect on different levels. I really enjoyed the film which depicts past unionists from Euro Pleasure ltd returning and throwing stones through the windows. It gave a real sense of justification. The funfair music in the background creates the impression that the vandalism is humorous and innocent and made this a game of justification.

In Search Of Inspriation

Recently I have really been struggling with my project. I don’t know what it is, lack of confidence, over thinking what I’m trying to do or a combination of the two. The truth of the matter is… I HAVE ARTISTS BLOCK! And try as hard as I might, I just can’t seem to shake it off.

The other day I went to Miguel’s sculpture workshop. Didn’t know what I wanted to do really. All I knew was that I had a piece of soap, and I wanted an epiphany. Simple as. I sat down and thought to myself, ‘ I’m doing portraiture so I guess I should carve a face or something.’ Then Miguel came over and explained how the material we are using can be just as important as the object we create, and questioned why I was planning on carving a face out of a piece of soap. To which I responded with the infamous confused student response, ‘Eerrrrrrrrrm?’

To make it clearer for me he took the soap from me and asked ‘What does a piece represent?’

‘Cleanliness!!’ (well it dooooes!) but this wasn’t the answer he was looking for. He was holding the piece of soap. So by leaving one side of the soap as it was originally, and by carving my fingers into the other side, as if I was holding it I created a new object. A kind of portrait through transforming an everyday object. This was a really inspirational concept for me. I suddenly felt like I had some direction. It wasn’t necessarily the path I could see myself finishing on, but it was a start.

This idea was reinforced in Rick’s workshop later that week. Where I used my palette as a canvas and created a painting. I did realise after however that my palette was actually a porcelain plate, so maybe its meaning wasn’t as clear as I initially thought. It did however begin to make me think about what I could attempt with this idea and made me want to research into it further.

 'Lick and Lather' by Janine Antoni

'Bed' by Antony Gormley

I have really been struggling with the recent paintings of my friends. I have been working from preliminary sketches and not photographs to see what change it would make. However I am disappointed with the results. I have no drive to complete them anymore, there is nothing new about them, nor anything interesting about them,  in colour, lighting or what they are depicting.

I need to take a step away from them, to contemplate the fore mentioned aspects and the possibility of a narrative.

I have also come to the decision that I am more suited to painting from photographs with the addition of life if necessary. I will not be working solely from sketches for this project again.

After contemplating this I may come back to them, but my current plan is to move onto something more constructive.

At the Hospital on a Tuesday Night

After an unfortunate mishap on Monday night, including a lively dancer in stiletto shoes and my friend's foot, we feared she may have broken a bone.

So I took up the marvellous opportunity to sketch unsuspecting people in the waiting room. As you do. Infact most of the sketches where of my friends, as people began to suspect something strange was happening when an odd girl with a pencil and sketch book in hand began staring at them. As you would. Amazingly, although waiting time estimations were 5 hours, we were heading home in just less than 2 hours 30. Round of applause for the NHS please. What a shame it was the one time I actually wanted to stay longer.

Here are some of the sketches produced. I hope to work from these sketches in oil paint. I hope to achieve a looser way of painting.

Reading News Paper in Waiting Room

Mike

 

Emz Sitting

Emz

I have also been sketching friends whilst they work/ watch tv at home.

Where the project started...

My intentions for this project are to explore portraiture. I have been trying to capture the 'spirit' of the subject. However, at this moment in time I find it difficult to explain exactly what this is. If I was to attempt it I would say I wanted certain aspects of the character to show though. I want my works to have a sense of humanity and to be overpowering to the spectator. To do this I will explore the use of lighting and colour.

I am very interested in the large scale paintings by Chuck Close, particularly his early works such as ‘Frank’ and ‘Philip Glass’, due to their flat composition and emotionless expressions. Despite this their humanity is paramount to any other portraits I have witnessed. I have never been fortunate to see any of his work first hand, but one only needs to imagine how powerful these portraits must be due to their scale and ultra real style. My aim is to create a series of large scale works, which will overpower the spectators. Passport photographs will be used to create a similar effect to the works of Close. 

Chuck Close- 'Philip Glass'

Chuck Close- 'Frank'

Chuck Close and many other artists, such as Gerhard Richter and Ola Billagren, use photography as an initial reference point, and I feel that this is a path I will follow too. There are several reasons for this decision. The first being that the lighting, which I feel may be an essential aspect of my paintings, will remain constant with the use of photography. Another reason is that to find a model to pose long enough to get an accurate rendition will be very difficult and I would like to be able to work by my own time plans.

Gerhard Richter

Ola Billagren