Drawing...Journey Project...'6th Barn Interior...

'6th Barn Interior'... Black Marker Pen On Found Glass shower Panel...5ft x 2.5ft...

'6th barn interior' was a chance piece of artwork made as I walked the journey I've been concentrating on for my project. I've been looking at the old, abandoned barns that are scattered around the fields in Kibworth.
At this particular one I had the idea to take some drawing instruments (pencils, pens etc) and draw on whatever interesting things presented themselves to me along the way. I really like the idea of just stumbling onto something I can re-use and make into something new.
At the entrance to this particular barn someone had fly-tipped some house renovation rubbish including this glass shower panel, which was the perfect canvas.
I simply lifted the panel onto the wall it was leaning against and looking through the glass I drew what I saw in front of me. The drawing had to be done with one eye closed as looking at the interior of the barn through the glass at the same time as the pen running along the surface of the glass was sending me cross eyed! I also had to work quickly as the evening light was fading and the darker corners and distant details were disappearing into blackness.

I really like this drawing as I've recorded an interior barn landscape onto something that was part of the landscape to begin with.
I've used 'what was there' to record 'what was there'.
The size of the panel is perfect for the landscape format and the grimy, dirty, metal surround works great as a frame. I've fixed white paper onto the rear of the panel to highlight the drawing and bring out the detail.

Life drawing sessions...

I've never done any life drawing before so the experience has really helped with learning about line, form, texture, shape, composition and developing my own style. Each session has taught me something new and I'm pleased with how this image has turned out from our last session which was concentrating on composition. The tonal differences are something I need to concentrate on and the actual form and detail of the model needs to be worked on. 

A2... Charcoal on paper..

Print...Finished installation...'The Unstoppable Worship of Technology'....

'The unstoppable Worship of Technology' mixed media on studio wall. 6ft X 3ft


"Just as classical art was inspired by nature, so we - the offspring of the technological evolution - cannot ignore the inspiration that comes to us from the world of the technology we have created".
Quote by Paolo Targetti, from the book Light art, published 2005.


Electricity and technology are two of the biggest controlling powers on the planet with their own laws, symbols, theories, systems and rules. We live by them. Without them the world would come to a standstill overnight.
If electricity could think, it would rule us in an instance.
We are slaves to this power because we are obsessed with technology.
No power, No technology!

This got me thinking of ways to express this idea and what the ultimate symbol of power for most people in the world actually is.

I created this piece after a lot of thinking and experimentation. It brings together all the ideas I had when working on my accumulation/dispersion project in our print classes but in a more controlled, finished way. The last piece was too messy and didn't get across what I was trying to show whereas this piece has been thought through and developed into a finished installation combining drawing, sculpture and the print, which I see as the whole accumulation, built and marked on the wall.

Gone are the days when we had bibles on our bedside tables.
Now we have I-Pads and Facebook....

Drawing...Talking about drawing presentation...

Robert longo

Untitled 2013

Robert Longo's untitled landscape drawing really caught my eye at the Frieze Fair in London. 

It literally stopped me in my tracks and I thought 'what a great photograph' but on closer inspection I realised its actually charcoal drawn. The thing that really caught my eye was the spill of glorious light burning through the centre of trees. The delicate, dissolving edges of the light and trees work to bring the piece together and the dispersing light is made stronger by the single trunk placed dead centre. This is the most important part of the image. It does the job of holding the viewers gaze in the centre of the drawing and brings the viewer back after looking at the rest of the image.

The detail is excellent when studied closely and each blade of grass, leaf and stem can be seen. The picture is full of layers of drawing, depth and detail and the technical control of charcoal is superb. 

He uses deep, dark areas of black and bright, glowing white areas to bring the all important contrast into the image making it appear three dimensional. His drawing is both delicate and deliberate. 

He draws in a way that makes the living landscape he's concentrating on actually come alive on the paper in front of us.

Longo says he chose to work in black and white because 'Growing up, all the major newspaper stories, Vietnam, wars, riots etc, were always printed in B&W which he saw as really gritty, powerful pictures and he thought this was the best way to get a strong image across to the viewer. 

Longo makes these pictures by first projecting the picture onto the paper canvas, then he draws the image in pencil, then (the interesting bit) he lets a hired illustrator draw the image for around a week before he finishes it with layers of charcoal. So, is the work really his? Of course it is! He has the skills to draw and complete these pictures without the help of others but the simple fact is he doesn't have the time to finish all the pieces he's working on. Lots of artists use assistants in their studios and I don't think thats a problem. Longo has the idea, works out the image, sorts the medium, directs the works and finishes the drawings. 

He is the director...He is the artist. 

At the moment there seems to be a trend for hyper-realistic drawing, taking a photo and drawing it exactly the same but Longo doesn't do this. His work, like the work of Chuck Close, stands out due to the soul they contain, the feeling and the life they have within them. 

I never really understood the idea of photorealism, why not just use the actual photo? 

Longo's work is excellent in all aspects, technical and beautifully drawn and very collectable at the moment. His tigers heads are selling for 1.5 million dollars each and his new series of wave images are really strong but the work I really like is from his book on Lucien Freud's apartment. I found this book a few weeks ago in the library by chance and loved it but didn't realise it was by the same man who made the drawings at frieze. The images are really strong and dark and give us a glimpse into the world Freud lived in and the place that surrounded him. The images look at the details, the un-noticed and everyday things and the environment that he worked in. 

He has also just produced a new series of large drawings based on the most used hand guns in America. He got the details from the FBI. 

The series was inspired by his son coming home after playing basketball and telling him there was a fight on the court between a black kid and a white kid. Half way through the fight a kid of about 6 walked to his bag and pulled a gun out and told everyone to 'F$*k Off' then he casually put the gun away and walked off to the shops. Longo's kid told him this was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen in his life "It was SO COOL!!' and Longo realised it was a perfect statement of the times we live in where young people are growing up thinking its cool to carry a gun. 

My presentation raised a few discussions with the main one focussing on the use of projectors and assistants to help produce artists works. 

Does this mean the art isn't made by the artist themselves or does it  not actually matter? Is it cheating? 

Damien Hirst uses assistants in nearly all of his works. His most famous is probably his dot paintings which are hardly ever done by himself. He even went as far as sending a client a preprepared box of paint, brushes and a stencil enabling the client to draw the whole thing himself. He didn't even meet the artist! Personally, I think the use of helpers is fine as long as the direction and control is in the hands of the artist which it is with Longo. He draws the first image, starts the work, moves onto another whilst an assistant works on it and then finishes the work himself. He has full control. 

The other discussion was about the common development of photorealistic painting and drawing which is becoming really popular. The class was split, some like it whereas others commented "Why not just use a photograph". I'd have to agree with the second comment as I like a drawing to look like a drawing.

Longo's images are more than photorealistic though. He creates them with a unique look. They can be mistaken for photographs, as I did at Frieze, but on close inspection they have a unique look. The mistakes of photographs are gone in his drawings. Through his drawings we see a perfect example of what a photograph might show us. 

Visiting Artists...

Ajay kanwall

Sculpture artist Ajay Kanwall showed a good selection of really interesting sculpture works.
Ceramics is his chosen medium but he uses it a way to produce pieces that play with what we think we see and what we actually see with his main body of work is all about the theme of 'illusion and reality'. A really interesting piece was his chair made with a steel frame but the wooden slats forming the seat were actually ceramic mouldings. "guaranteed life expectancy over 5000 years' was a brilliant title for the piece and this fun, childish way of producing brain teasing works but with a really well researched idea is great to witness. I especially liked his floating rocks and nuts and bolts in a tank of water.
i'm really drawn to his works and the way he uses recycled materials, electrical equipment and fun and his piece using 500 recycled electric pylon insulators was inspiring to see especially when he told the story of giving away all the pieces as tea cups to visitors as they left, not sure how often that sort of thing happens here?
His collaboration pieces were also very interesting in the way he doesn't know what the other artists are going to make and only when they come together does he build something from it. I think thats a brilliant idea. When I was young me and dad would play a game where i would draw the head of a person on a piece of paper and fold it down so he couldn't see it, he would then draw the body, me the legs and him the feet and only when we unfolded it did we see what we'd made and this idea of Ajay's really reminded me of this.

Following Ajay was Tridip Sarma who struggled through the language barrier to give a great talk on his works. All the pieces were revolving around memories, heritage and his local environment and his sculptures were beautifully made. I especially liked his latest piece, a larger than life person melting from one side.

A really well presented pair of talks from two very inspiring artists.

Drawing journey...

'Turn left off the main road, through the small gap in the hedge, cross two fields and jump the river, walk to the end of the hedge, climb over the gate with the ancient padlock, make a path through the tall bullrush grass'...

abandoned shack 120cm x 60cm mixed media on paper.

Abandoned shack is an attempt to take recognisable pieces of an image and draw something that doesn't quite make sense to the viewer. Elements of the space I drew in are clumped together, flipped over and distorted to make, not so much an abstract image, but rather one where you're brain says its a shack but your eyes question what they are looking at. 

I'm working on a series of drawings in this style, trying to get as far away from my original work as possible. 

I want each drawing to either be a specific part of the journey brought together in one image or a conclusion to a single journey. 

Last Field 40cm x 58cm mixed media on paper

CPS Presentation...Jannis Kounellis

Jannis Kounellis

Born in Greece, 1936, contemporary artist Jannis Kounellis makes works involving sculpture, installation and performance. Studying art in Athens, his early works concentrated on the street signs and notices which he used as inspiration to produce canvas based paintings full of composition with stencilled letters and shapes painted in household paints. Taking inspiration from alternative artists such as Alberto Burri and Lucio Fontana he started to create works away from what was expected at the time.

1967-1972 saw a group of artists create the Arte povera (Poor Art) movement and start to oppose the ideas of governments in european cities, through their artworks. Using non traditional found materials this group produced works in a way that radically contradicted the idea of normal art, i.e. painting. The pieces were all structured installations or sculptures and were built in spaces with materials recovered from industrial heritage and their countries history. The group strived to show art could be made from anything and everything echoing back to the works of Duchamp.

Kounellis works in a range of different mediums including paint, sculpture, installation and performance but always has the same heritage filed images in his mind. He looks into traditional ways of life, labour, pain, and work life, and contrasts it with visions of modern urban life that he witnesses happening around him.  

He takes simple finds and turns them into nostalgic displays of history and uses the gallery space as a canvas to create his installed paintings quoting "Art should be replaced by life itself". 

Rows of coats hung on pegs and tangled in barbed wire become symbols for a lost workforce represented as prisoners of their work place and the struggles that tied their lives up. 

Each piece is strong, dark and overall quite powerful in their presentation. 

His most famous piece involved a group of horses tied to the gallery walls for 12 days. He did this to represent the horses used in old traditional paintings and by doing this he brings the landscape into the gallery or turns the gallery into the landscape. I think he kept them tethered to highlight the fact that in traditional paintings the horses can't move either. 

I think the piece was all about the experience and impact and the effect it has on the viewer. 

Was it cruel? I'm guessing the horses possibly had the best 12 days of their lives so possibly not. 

The whole situation must have been constantly changing depending on the group of gallery visitors.

"When I made the pile of coal piece it created a presence for the viewer. The coal can be bought anywhere by anyone, therefore the preciousness is not in the object but actually in the gesture of placing the coal inside the space". Kounellis makes an image by placing the real world in front of us but in a way that presents it as an art work, the thing he presents becomes the art and the emotion it generates in the viewer becomes the experience. 

Looking into one of his works we see a lot of representation. 

The steel canvas - industry/workplace/hardship.

The shoes - the people working/people who died in the workplace?

The coat tied to the bed - the struggle of the working man/woman, tied to the same life forever and the same job, only ever being able to afford the single bed even though they might have a partner in it too. 

Each piece asks questions and tells us about particular histories.

I see Kounellis as a story teller using labour intensive, history filled materials to produce images filled with his and his birthplaces heritage. 

Print...Expanding the idea...

Accumulation and dispersion....
The electrical installation piece turned out exactly as I expected it, If not better, but I want to take each of my projects as far as I can so decided to expand the idea even further.
The electrical dispersion happening around us all the time was what I wanted to concentrate on. Cables run everywhere hidden behind walls and electricity flows through them feeding literally everything we do.
We as consumers just take this for granted and We, as a nation, are bleeding the resources dry.
Through this installation piece I wanted to create an environment to explore the continuity of the cables and the way they interact with each other in the space. Some cables run through the structure of the wall itself and reconnect as they emerge back through the paint. Each entry point has a trickle of blood running from it, suggesting the way we are bleeding the resources available to us.
I'm pleased with this piece and surprised at the way (through a massive accumulation of experimental work) I've ended up with an installation piece as part of my print project but I need to explore more along the lines of what power means to us, how it controls us, we almost worship it like a religion.

To be continued..............

Drawing...'12pm'...video installation

As part of my drawing project I took a completely different angle on the idea of drawing which pushed me towards an idea of drawing with the movement of my body and legs and whatever visions presented themselves.
I wanted to make a 'visual journey document' using the simple process of walking, one foot in front of the other, capturing the changing space around me.
Filming it through my phone I explored the blending of images, sounds and movements and the more you study it, the more abstract it becomes as the images randomly arrange themselves.
Faces and creatures manifest and appear on the screen and sound suggests something happening with a constant confusing tension running throughout.

Drawing...'2nd Field accumulation'...120cm X 80cm..mixed media on paper..

'2nd Field accumulation' is a piece where I've brought together all the things in the second field of my journey. The edge is enclosed by the structure of the boundary fence on one side and the distant trees on the other work as a barrier, protecting the grave stones beyond, which I've highlighted in the image. The centre area shows the derelict, lifeless buildings once used by pig farmers on the land. Nothing in this field is used anymore for what it was once intended, but each area and building is still full of life. Birds, rabbits, foxes, badgers and other countryside animals rule this space so even though these structures are dead they still serve to protect life in a new way.
I intend to carry on with this style of drawing, building up layers of life and area, and want to produce a series in different locations.

Lens based video...

'22 pounder 2013'

The brief was to make a photograph by only using sounds, no images. I recorded all the sounds on my old digital camera in my back garden then layered them on I-Movie. The sound isn't brilliant as the camera is so old (best watched with the volume at its loudest) but I think the sounds work well together to make an audio image....

Drawing/Print...Journey/Dispersion of Electricity...

These two projects are starting to cross over and intertwine with each other.

Field 1 has a massive buzzing pylon standing in the centre. The structure is amazing and the theory of electricity running in straight lines, very perfectly controlled and direct, runs through the structure also. Using photographs and a simple photo editing software I have created a set of prints highlighting this fact and showing the geometric repetition which also runs from one end of the country to the other giving power to all of us. These prints are the next step towards a final set of images which i'm working towards in my print classes. But what that will be is still to be discovered. 

Lens based video project...

The finished video highlights the stress and terror the man talked about in his interview. Who the man is really doesn't matter. The spread of mental health in this country is enormous and everyone dealing with it has a different story to tell but all seem to have the same type of issues. This man was really determined to try and gain his life back and through the use of text I've tried to get this across. Various sounds in the video relate to what he deals with- A high speed train he almost jumped in front of, the sounds of police radio's when he was arrested, alien sounds he can't explain and the constant depressing sound of rain falling.
I wanted the overall piece to confuse and unsettle the viewer, giving them a chance to sample what these issues can do to a person.

I like this finished video but am not sure about the use of text. It maybe gives too much away and directs the viewer whereas with no text the viewer can tie in their own narrative. 

'3rd Field 28 Paces' ...video...Part of my 3 fields journey Project...

I have decided to concentrate my Journey project on 3 fields situated 1/2 mile from my house.
'3rd Field 28 paces' was an idea that presented itself on one of my walks as part of my Journey project.
The title relates to the distance of the journey I made before creating this piece.
The 3rd field I came to had a small wooded area full of small trees and one large old oak. Under a hedge, buried by leaves, wood and other wild growth was a sheet of old, muck stained plastic of some sort measuring 9ft X 3ft. This was exactly 28 paces from the front of the entrance into the woods. I have no idea what it was or how it ever got there but it was full of moss, texture and age.
I wanted to use the found canvas and the wooded area in a piece of work and decided to paint a copy of the body of the large oak onto the panel, then return it to the area where, in disguise, it could become a part of its home again.
Would placing it in the tree actually make it part of the tree? Maybe not but the two pieces, one man made and one natural, could interact together to form a new landscape and a new situation.
The plastic taking on the appearance of something wild maybe gives it a whole new life amongst the natural growth of the woods but with an immortal lifespan; Everything around it will grow and die but the plastic, if unmoved by human hands, will remain there forever.

I carried on with the idea of returning things to the woods and started taking lumps of wood from the building site in kibworth and transporting them back to their natural environment. 

The blocks were tied up in the branches of the tree with natural string amongst a nest of criss crossed small branches and leaves. From a distance nobody would see them but they will always be there.

'2nd Field dead centre'...Drawing...Journey...

The works I've been producing for my journey project have been very controlled and are starting to look like brochure illustrations rather than art drawings. I know I can draw in this style and have lost my way with the project, almost like being blinkered by an old style. Don't get me wrong, the pictures are pleasing but not what I came on this course to do. They look exactly like what they are supposed to be, BORING high school projects!! I need to look deeper into what I'm thinking about or trying to portray, to realise a feeling rather than just a picture and make drawings that are new to me and different from what I can already do.
I'm concentrating on 3 fields which are a short walk from my house and plan to produce 3 sets of work based on each field. Each field at first glance looks quite ordinary but the more I walk there, the more I see. An old barn, small woodland, animals, hedgerows etc all need to be explored as part of this project.

I made one of the field journeys at night under the full moon and the difference really helped with what I'm trying to achieve. The lack of bright light distorted my view and I took some shots to work from, keeping in mind the dark tones and moon lit bright areas which moved as I changed position and direction. I also wanted to get the whole journey into one image and thought a collage would achieve this. I decided to use dark charcoal to give a feeling of the time of the journey. 

This image is more in line with what I want to make. I don't want to produce straight forward images, but make things that force you to read whats going on. I'm really pleased with this first drawing and keen to carry on to see where it leads and I feel like I've cut the strings that tie me to my old style of drawing. 

Something else I looked at was trying to tie a photo and a drawing of the same scene but from a different angle to show 2 views in one image. To do this I decided on drawing an image in pen on clear acetate then taking a photo. I wanted to some how involve the process of 'moving position' into the making of the final image and decided to import the images into I-Movie and take a long exposure photo as the images cross transformed through the frame on the monitor, (like 2 images in a movie) changing position, as I did outside at the barn. I didn't want to use photoshop as it would make the picture too perfect and the factor of chance was added to the process by not being exactly sure when to press the shutter release to capture both images on top of each other. 

This idea is really interesting to me and needs to be explored more. It ties together photography, drawing and movement into one image. It also brings together two very different ages, the barn has been imported into the future through the use of a brand new Mac. 

This process of using I-Movie to layer images on top of each other using the movement of the still images gives me a lot to explore. In these prints I have used a drawing of a tree and four close up photo's of sheet metal panels used as fencing surrounding the area where the tree was standing. The resulting images show layers of history and a depth of texture made up from years of being battered by the weather. I like the idea of using modern technology to produce images of the past. 

The next step is to take these images back out into the barn and project them onto the building itself, maybe at night? Or inside the barn, across the walls, on the roof etc and film the results. I like the idea of projecting the sheet metal panel shots onto the bark of a tree tying together the man made and the natural elements of the landscape. 

Print...Experiments...

My print works have been mainly produced around dispersion and the idea of 'controlling a process but not an outcome' which has led to some interesting pieces. In these works I've been using materials found and recovered from jobs I'm doing on house renovations and this has lead me in a completely new direction.
I'm now concentrating on the dispersion of electricity and how it affects our whole lives. I'm trying to push the idea of the constant flow of electricity through our dwellings, our possessions and our lives.
I've started to go completely off track as far as producing straightforward prints goes and am working with the idea of using electricity and its components in installation pieces and sculptures, the way it imprints on us and where we live. I'm also looking at schematic electrical drawings and recreating them without the symbols, as maps of the installations.
This first piece is interesting in the way it brings together the waste parts from a domestic re-wire and couples them with a mobile electricity meter which changes colour when too much electricity is being used. With this in mind the piece is controlled externally by the use of power being used by individuals wherever it is positioned and the piece changes its appearance with no warning.

Through the process of taking these dead parts and piecing them together in an art form I'm giving them a new life and a new existence. This idea continues when the piece is plugged in and the lights shine like an electronic heart through a thin skin of wire and cables. 

Drawing...The Journey Project...Landscape painting/drawing 6ft x 3ft...

On my journey I've studied the old barns dotted around the village which are monuments to lives, families, business' and times long gone.
Even though some are derelict now and unused they still give shelter to animals and birds and stand strong and proud amongst the landscape of Kibworth. Some are re-born as dwellings, others crumble and disappear over time but all have served a purpose and played a major part in several lives.
With this painting I wanted to capture one of these buildings and its surroundings, the colours and textures. I didn't want a perfect image so worked fast and quite uncontrolled, not concentrating on specific detail but more trying to capture the essence of the environment with the main focus on the building. I decided to paint it this size (6ft x 3ft) to add to the feeling of size and area in what I was trying to convey.
Environmentally friendly household Paint was applied with brushes, twigs and sticks picked up on my journey and the cardboard was found in a lay-by, dumped with other stuff by fly-tippers which over time would become part of the environment too if not removed.
I'm pleased with the finished work and think the ripped, distorted texture of the cardboard adds to the old, rough feeling echoed through the landscape and building.

The Journey...Drawing Project

Walking, looking, finding the things we don't normally see as we wander past. 

The un-obvious suddenly becomes something to be seen and recorded. Everyday surfaces come to life with colour and texture and as photographers we can take these gifts and enhance them to become pieces of art in their own right, concentrating on their abstract qualities

A simple piece of fence in a deserted farm yard offers so many possibilities and angles to be explored...

'Enlightened Ambush'...Exhibition by the year 6 students.

The two artists that really stood out for me were the brilliant installation pieces of Jennifer Kahlo and the balanced portraits of irene Louca. 

Kahlo's pieces, constructed with metal objects, string and paper were full of questions and structure. I couldn't find a statement so didn't know what they were about but it didn't matter. The pieces flowed around the room like a mini exhibition all of their own and each individual piece was very strong and really well put together and the photos don't do them justice.

 

The cotton lines define her works, creating 3D drawings inside the space, not restricted by the boundaries of the paper. The lines are made to restrict the paper as opposed to the paper restricting the lines. I really like her work and the way its different from anything else I'm seeing at Demont. 

Irene Louca gave us a look at her attention grabbing face paintings. The one I really liked was the female close up. The dark eye stares back at you making you stare back at it, holding your gaze until you explore the rest of the deeply painted, scratched and rubbed face, then return to the eye, still there  watching your every move. The face is full of emotion but its hard to tell which emotion. She looks as though she might be just about to cry, or kiss you, or does the complete blackness of the eye suggest death in some way? Either way its a great painting and the smudging separates it from being a staright-forward portrait image. 

Her use of dark backgrounds really fixes the picture and Again, I see a lot of portraiture at Demont but this painting, due to its depth and quality of production, is one of my faves so far. 

Print...experimental prints

I like the idea of controlling a process but not an outcome. 

Paint can be applied to a surface in a controlled way but tilt, move, shake or screw up the paper and the outcome is uncontrollable. 

Paper was placed at the bottom of a staircase then paint filled balls of paper were dropped from the top floor, at the point of impact an uncontrolled image was instantly produced. 

Paint was dripped onto dark paper which was tilted and moved in a controlled way but the exact path, spread and puddling of the liquid is beyond control. This final painting resembles the outline of a roses petals, again something that can be planted and pruned with some level of control but the shape of each petal can never actually be controlled. 

I like these paintings as experimental prints but need to concentrate on a process and make something more 'real' in relation to my own work.