Coming towards the end of the academic year we are always giving our finale project which we can take the lead on. Due to the Covid-19 lollygagging our project this year around wont be into the depths as previous projects and nowhere near the level of past finale year projects. Due to not being able to access the studio and other resources the outcomes which we are able to produce are highly restricted. We have still been giving the task to research five artists or movements alongside producing a finale piece. However if we don’t have access to the materials or the needs to produce a piece we need to make a proposal piece instead.
I am able to produce an outcome however I’m limited by paints and a canvas which is out of my comfort zone. To make it as easy as I could I decided to follow down the line of self expressionism. My usual work is self-expressionism with hidden political meanings. So by sticking to something close the only problem I have is the medium. I mostly sculpt, rarely draw and almost have never picked up a paint brush. I chose artist I know of where I have seen enough of there works to be able to point them out in a crowd. This was to make sure that not only would I know of them and already have a view on their artworks but I had a slight insight into the work. The majority of artist I tend to research and look into are sculptors I never tend to look into painters so this list of artists is a weird one for me, a list of outliers on a piece of paper if you will. These artist in which I have chosen are as follows: Egon Schielle, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Willem De Kooning. Although these names might pop out to you and you could possibly name a vast amount of works by the artist I have rarely looked into them nor even know much about them. This makes it good footing for this project as I’m stepping out of my cave. Making it so that I have a slight to minimal amount of knowledge of the artist allows me to research the insights of their works to then produce and articulate my own views based on facts of a painter instead of the misted views of a sculptor.
Expressionism
To express is to simply do, we are all expressionist in our own state. Simply doing a basic oil painting or a sketch is enough to class as an expressionist. Showing your dedication and love. If you wish to delve more into being an expressionist and express your own ideas/style gaining the title self-expressionist. The difference between the two is that one is about making art and the love for the art and the other being about putting your own spin on it.
For this project I’ll mainly be focusing on self-expressionism artists, more specifically the following: Egon Schielle, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Willem De Kooning. I have chosen these artist as they all seem to follow after each other taking inspiration from the last. Each artists is also widely known and is easily notable by their own technique/giving artworks. These artist were solely chosen as I know of them and some of their work, after some research I then later found out that they all had taken inspiration from each-other not because I found them intriguing. I am not a painter I am a sculptor and within that realm self-expressionism seems to be dominant within the work. I find that my style doesn’t follow the last so I would definitely place myself in an unorthodox self-expressionist. Self-expressionism doesn’t seem to follow any guidelines other than what your artistic talents limit you to.
Egon Schielle
Born in the 1890’s within Austria Egon was a artist of few mediums but a wide scale of artworks. His earlier work seemed to follow the movement of Nude-art; this starting with his very own self portraits. These would consist of him laying or standing full nude with his penis out with emphasis on the genital area. His work after seemed to follow these terms even going into portraits of others. His work seemed to ricochet between self portraits and portraits of others. surely and slowly the portraits would gain clothing up to the point where his works were of fully dressed people.
It is uncertain as to why he chose to produce pieces based around the Nude form but my guess would be for self confidence and to make an early statement. For his own confidence he could have been projecting his weaknesses to world to show that he isn’t perfect or making himself perfect within his mind. As for an early statement, the world at that time found nude as highly taboo and was slowly coming to terms with it being a norm. By making his first public pieces based around the Nude figure is more than enough to get his name attention even without mentioning his artistic style. Moving on to his artistic style his form of sketching is highly rough and not refined, even touching on some early mutilation work. The rough sketch may seemed rushed to some but looking into the emotion side of his pieces makes it tell a different story.
Egon seems to use a very small amount of different mediums consisting of: water paints, ink, graphite and oil paints. Now this is not the only mediums he uses, this is a small collective of the most common that occur through his works. He liked to mix these mediums together to make the pieces more rough which made a nice blend nature upon the canvas/page. His works weren’t just based on Nude-figures, he liked to follow thee post-impressionism and art-nouveau movements. This placed a great impact onto his works making them more characterised around his creativity. A artists which stood out to Egon and who he had taken inspiration from was Vincent Van Gogh (He is research further down).
QUOTE
“ART CANNOT BE MODERN. ART IS PROMORDIALY ETERNAL”
this quote shows us that Egon had the belief that art has always been, since the start of time and will forever be until the end of time or lasting and eternity.
Nudestudy, 1908.
One of his most early works this piece consists of the artist standing with a view coming from his right ankle up towards the torso. It was made with oil painted onto carboard, he kept the colours to an earthly scheme following green, browns and greys. The piece is a little bit bigger than A5 sizing at 24.4x18cm.
The piece is present with no context and no background, the viewer is left to ponder within their own thoughts as to the narrative of the painting. Looking into the emotional values of the painting make it easier for the mind to paint the story, emotions play a big part in Expressionism. Gazing upon the face we can see the abstraction of the underside of the nose, narrow eye slits and a rather void like mouth. The eyes don’t seem to be open, if so they would be very little. They seem to pierce through the layers of paint right into the viewers own. They show an intense feeling of innocent horror, the emptiness surrounded by mystery gives the viewer a sense of fear. The positioning of the neck with the angle being crooked adds to this intense horror which the eyes present.
Moving on to the actually form of the body and how slim and mutilated it is this bring more eeriness. The body seems malnourished with slightly green skin, now this could be pinned down to the lack of colours he had available but that’s not what I’m placing it as. The green skin tone mixed the slim, bony slender figure maxes Egon seems to be in pain. It could be a story of abuse or the hard times in which life has put hi through. Never the less this small detail to the colour on top of the body figure contradicts the fear projected from the eyes. It makes Egon seem to be in pain and scared for what is yet to come, could it have been a fatal end? Mix all of these different emotions together you gain the sense that Egon, the figure was in pain and maybe looking for help a last resort to stop the pain. Could the thing he was looking for be art?
I find this piece complementary to my own, I like to try and show emotion within my works followed with hidden meanings. The subtle use of just simple colours and figure creates a long narrative for the viewer to analyse gaining more depth the longer you gaze. The roughness of the paint strokes really add character to this piece for me and I find that as the most interesting thing within this piece. The quick rough brushes moving up and down accompanied by the remains of scratches from the hard bristles gives it that last push. The push of depth and character, art within his time was refined and not many artist were working with new mediums such as carboard or techniques outside the box. With the texture he presents it really shows that his work doesn’t copy form another but might pull inspiration instead.
Pablo Picaso
Born October 1881 Picasso was a Spanish painter working with abstraction and the decaying mind. Picasso Is widely know for his works relating to his illness, Alzheimer’s. His worked started off as fairly detailed with some depth to the paintings but as he progressed with age Alzheimer’s slowly started to take his brain which cause a defect on his art works. It made his art go from realism to cubism/abstraction within a matter of years. This is easily shown within his self portraits study where with each on the image of himself because more and more distorted leading up to nothing but shapes presented on a canvas. The materials and mediums in which he tended to stay with was oil, canvas, card, paper and string. As an artist he didn’t really explore much into materials however he delved deep into the technique side of his art. Expanding out and looking into new and absurd movements at the time. His most favoured movements/styles were: abstraction, surrealism, symbolism and geometric/cubism works. These are heavily touch upon within his works becoming more and more dominant as he progress until his death.
His work is less of an artistic balance and more of a homage to a dying man. Each piece he made add more to the story of a many slowly dying on the inside, which became more in-depth.
QUOTE
“ART IS A LIE THAT MAKES US REALISE THE TRUTH”
Many years before he started to make art, art was about making the most beautiful pieces of figures and landscapes. It had placed a blanket over what real life truly was only showing what pleases the eyes. Moving up towards his era of art people were expanding out in all direction showing the taboo. I feel this is what this quote relates to, the world was finely painted in its rough form of mutilation instead of an eye tease. the world was reaching a time of great depression with the upcoming war and the advancements in technology causing people to be forced out of work.
out of all of his artworks this is the main one which seems to stick out and really set the stones for this artists. This is the true pivotal point in his work where it is visible to see the change in his style and the adaption to the new norm of the artworld. After this piece his works never seemed to follow the norm of beauty again but yet the cubist-mind of abstraction. This is a big thing for me as unlike most artist who produce work, I don’t follow those steps of beauty . My works are crude and based around taboo topics which others might not want to have pursue. I am much more of a gnome for the history and story a piece tells rather than how it sparkles within the eye. His pieces and high experimental evening setting the way for artist in the future.
This piece is painted in a rough manor also with rough shapes as the features of the face. the eyes seems fairly diamond like with the mouth being triangular. the tone and shape of the face in not present within shading either but more simple with lineal works across the cheeks. the colours seem to follow a natural earth tone again with a few reds thrown in the mix. The painting doesn’t seem to have taken very long and in fact you are able to see the brush strokes and the direction they were going at the time of the painting. within his colouring/filling side of things he has filled the entire canvas nor does it seem to have had much effort to try and blend the colour but instead layering them on top of each other with very to no blending. Looking into the emotion of the painting there doesn’t seem to be anything but a sense of calmness. No anger or sadness is present nor is their any happiness/enjoyment within the painting. This could be down to the colour palette which he has used being quite a mix of neutral colours. the mouth is straight with no kink and the eyes don’t seems to be staring into your soul looking in the depth for your darkest secrets. It just seems to be a reflection of a simple man.
This accompanied with the information of his Alzheimer’s could present the story of a man who knows of his death and has shook the hand of god waiting for the devil to claim his soul. It is also said that there is piece in death with the soul gaining its finale answers of life. now this was painted in 1907 and he later died in 1973 so this theory is far fetched but within the mind of an artist nothing is of bounds to bring into imagination. the piece is subtle and doesn’t show complexation to a heavy degree. its stays with the direction of simplicity and honourable towards himself, complete opposite to what Egon Schiele was working on.
Vincent van Gogh
Van Gogh is probably the most known art in world in the modern day however during his time and life he was rarely known and like. It was only after his death when his own artworks would slowly and surely pick up to be the most expensive pieces and notable. He was a man of few materials only uses oil on canvas. His work played in the realms of portraits and landscapes mixed with abstraction and surrealism. His early works didn’t consist of much abstraction but as time came on he had perfected his style of fine brush strokes side by side building up the pain layering on colour. One of his most influential artists was his own cousin Theo Van Gogh which could be the main reason of his art works besides working for him. Vincent was a man driven mad by emotions with the saddest story at of all modern artists. He was drove to insanity cutting his era off becoming his motif for life and death. the symbol of a missing ear with the head wrapped became the face of Van Gogh and many artists over the years have use the symbol to pay respect to the dead artist. Within the realm of expressionism their is a small movement called post-impressionism which he had greatly pushed forward and even becoming the embodiment of it.
At eternity’s gate
This is a painting from 1890 which Van Gogh painted using oil on canvas, it consist of a man sitting on a chair head in his hands. This piece is also known as sorrowing old man. We can see from the above picture the rough style in which Van Gogh painted in harsh and hard colours close together with little blending but the usage of placement of colour to give depth to the painting. Looking at the texture of the painting first we can clearly see the wooden floors boards filled with texture. he was able to place the right colour next to each others at the right consistency to make floor boards that can show the grain of the wood. Now comparing this to the brush strokes on the shoes giving it a waxy covering within such close proximity of another. this shoes that he had mastered his technique of painting and found away to make texture presentable with out spending years perfecting his works. moving on to the narrative of the painting its clear that it is filled with sorrow as shown by the sulking man on the chair. Without even seeing the mans face we can tell that he is in great distress by his from hunched over with face within his hands. Moving to colour not only is he able to present texture but he is able to present emotions as well. With his choice of using blue clothing for the man give the mind a subtle hint at eh man feeling blue; sad, upset or depressed. This is a concept within art that is touched upon quite regularly with using colour to trick the mind into thinking and projecting different emotions.
moving back to the form of the figure his elbows are placed tight with his stomach, I feel if this were any different the pain in the painting would dissipate. If he were to moving the elbows onto the knees if would most likely give off the effect of the man waiting, same way men wait while out shopping. If he was to move the elbows towards the centre of the thigh it would give of the impression of tiredness. I believe placing them so close to the stomach gives the impression of pain and the man is trying to pressure that pain away. I feel as though this entire paining is heavily based around the form of the figure with little hints from the colours presented.
A theme in which I had picked up with the artist I have looked at so far is that in order to be an expressionist you need emotion , which is understandable. The thing that strikes me the most is that the emotions are always negative very little artist paint about enjoyment but rather pain and sorrow. Now this could be down to the difficulty of capture a smile or a unwritten rule we all must abide by. I saw this as I am also the exact same my pieces are always filled with pain an sorrow and I understand the difficulty of capturing a smile or is it my lack of happiness?
Van Gogh’s works developed over time but he ultimately found himself jumping between landscapes and portraits. His style of painting never seemed to change of differ but rather get more defined within the years. He starting to gain a fascination of flowers, painting a collective of them present in a vase. This became one of his last motifs before his death and slowly taken over the ear. As most artist develop they get their fame from their work but his came after death. The fame that came with his name was highly based around the life of a sad insane man. This was used as publicity to project his name everywhere, it was raw and told the story of him word for word. Now you might be thinking alright that’s nothing but when have you ever seen the story of a sad man written with the context of him not deserving to be filled with sorrow. His first point of no return was with the rejection of a lover, following sleepless nights causing him to go insane and cut his ear of to stop the voices. Its said and predicted that Van Gogh wasn’t just a man filled and cursed by sorrow but a schizophrenic left with no help but a brush.
Willem De Kooning
Being one of the newest and most modern artist in project, Willem De Kooning was born 1904, within the Netherlands. His work started off on the side of being cubic and abstract. This is completely different than the other artists shown, they developed the surrealist nature overtime. Kooning started right off the bat as an abstract artist, He was inspired heavily by Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh. His Early work consisted of figurative abstraction of the human form leading up to his works of raw abstraction. He used a small range of different materials such as: card, canvas, Masonite, charcoal and oil (Not limited to these). He was an artist born to join and make his way up through the abstract world. He started off at the bottom watching Van Gogh works get the praise they deserve while watching Picasso slowing lay the pavement for abstraction. He ended up gaining a rather big name within that world becoming one of the biggest name alongside his favourite artists. Over time his work seemed to dwell and bend in the direction of raw abstraction with no sense of subject to the pieces. A lot of artists hate this style of painting as “a five year old could have done it” but its been explained in the book by Susie Hodge “why your five year old couldn’t have do that” the context of the style. The style is a complex form of colour and emotion sewed in to the canvas to tell a hidden story, its not meant for all eyes just those it appeals to mentally. The main point describes the used of techniques and the initial actions done to make the paintings.
Untitled 1948
Kooning first public art show was filled with only black and white paintings similar to the one above. It didn’t gain much attention from publicists however it said to spark a wave in the underground art world. The piece had attracted the eyes of many artist within several different groups, the black and white paintings became a craze. One of Kooning’s close friends made a statement talking about how the painting seems to consist of many different objects, pointing out the penis at the bottom. He then went on to talk about how the different brush stroke and angles are enough to bring back sexual memories or even remind the viewer about letters in the alphabet. Overall the piece cause a shockwave through the artworld and gained him much attention, what looks to be a simple black and white canvas became his golden start.
To me this piece seems quite baron in the department of visible objects besides the penis. Now this could just be because its the distinctive thing on the canvas or it could me a statement of the subconscious mind. Assessing the work in its form you can see that there are multiple different types of brush strokes, some hard and soft. The hard to soft contrast of the pieces works well with the play on colour adding to the contradiction vibes. The main area I want to focus on however is the bare board visible in certain places. the pieces gets labelled as being only black and white but yet we are able to see the raw state of the board beneath the paint showing. not this could be the naive mind of artist just joining in the wave or people could just not be classing the board as a medium. In the modern world of art everything can be used s a medium to make art out of. I don’t know if at some point in the following years people started to class the canvas/board as a medium but to me it is making this piece white/black and brown.
Personally I don’t find his works as that interesting and that’s coming from an abstract artist. I like the visual appeal of the art he produces, the main thing that puts me off is the lack of narrative. His pieces seem to come across more as science experiment trying to provoke different reactions from the viewers. now this is not to say that I don’t think he deserves the title he managed to gain. He made major moves in the art world and granted it the ability to expand in more directions. One thing the world of art has showed me is that all artworks are beautiful in their own way, if it doesn’t appeal to you that doesn’t make it bad or not worthy as great. Art is all about self appeal and perspectives, no mathematics needed.
Development/Artworks
my initial idea for this project was to make a painting and have that on display, however time came quick. I had started the painting and I would personally say that I made some good progress with it. now I didn’t make my own painting however I had started to mimic “the girl with the pearl earing” by Johannes Vermeer. My idea was to paint it as close as I could get then add distortion to the face and the skin while slowly painting shapes over the top. I had got as far as getting the base shape of the head and body and started on the background. In its current state it seems as though a faceless figure slowly coming to birth. Sadly as time pressed I knew I couldn’t get my initial idea out so I had to move to another idea. You can see from the image below my progress of the painting. If I were to toot my own horn I would say that the painting is very good with a small sense of depth, especially for my first ever oil painting.
Piece 1,capitalism
For my first new idea after the painting I looked back at the last year and the great rise of climate change with the publicity of Greta Thunberg. In the modern day we have to pay for almost everything and with the slow collapse of the NHS tax and debt will increase nationally. With that was reminded of the film The Lorax, a world taken over by deforestation and capitalism. I came up with an initial idea of air in a bottle but that seems too straight forward. I then started to look into animal abuse mainly animal with circus’s and zoo’s. They are breed and caged for the sole reason of making money not for their safety. This got me to be thinking about the same but with trees. So I did what any obnoxious artist would do and cut up a tree. I then placed a cutting of the tree into a jar. I then used the other viable clippings to be re-sowed into the soil, using any that’s not viable as firewood. I had chosen a fairly size piece of wood and had placed it into a jar. Now by this point I thought that was easier done than said, wrong. I now had the problem that the piece of wood was just a few CM off from fitting within the jar.
I was able to get the wood within the jar however the lid wouldn’t close, I tried for up to almost an hour to get its close taking little by little off the wood. I then came to the standing point that I wouldn’t be able to get the lid closed unless I cut the wood down again with a saw but I didn’t want to do that. This had then sparked the idea in mind that its always been said that nature will always find a way. The jar lock could be closed but the seal was pushed open by the wood. I left it within this state to amplify that statement. This was my original idea though, I wanted to make it seem as if it was oxygen in a jar for sale.
Piece 2, Bloodline
This piece consist of a plaster, tissue and blood. This done out of the blood with no meaning but based around the idea of bloodline and to do with family history but the more I stared at it that seemed to fade. I then came to the terms of the plaster telling a story of all the scars we gain through life. Now I wanted to keep this abstract and not give it any context to the piece, I want it to be selective to the viewer and their perspective. This piece consist of a plaster mounted onto a A4 piece of paper, this would be different with access to more materials. I would have liked to have this mounted onto a brick wall or even a wooded board instead of a piece of paper.
Looking at the artist above all of them try to express emotion with those emotions being sad. I didn’t want to make a piece based on emotion so I went for the narrative. I felt as though if I was to follow with the flow of emotion the piece would have been hard to capture. this would have been down to my limitations on materials and process making within my home. I don’t have access to the right tools to be able to make sculptures similar to want I make with the studio.
Accompanied statement.
Art is all within the eye not the mind, no matter how much we’ll label something as art our eyes have already gazed upon their beauty. My works aren’t the best they are confined to my own perspective on life. I use them as a way to see the perspective of others opinions, opinions can tell whole story if your willing to listen.
Art Reviews and Art Interest 