two small sketches (9X12)ans the big one I've been slaving over
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Some new stuff
I met with my mentor, Sarah Roche, last week. Then I visited the Sydney Goodman exhibit at PAFA, go see it if you are in Philly! It was great!
So this is my first kinda expiremental piece. I love feedback if you have opinions!
-
julia
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Summer 2009 Residency
-I was encouraged by my mentor to take a picture of my set up on the first day, and compare my reaction to it then and then again later on. My first reaction was that the over all look of my display was more consistent than last semester. I think this is because unlike in the past, I focused on one particular project in the last 6 months.
-The discussion of materials came up repeatedly. Stuart Steck asked me how I could tie in my materials with the labor I am portraying in my subject matter. My mind immediately asked the question “Where do my materials come from?” This seemed to dove-tail right in with the elective class I took, Tony Apesos's class on Matter. We discussed whether artists needs to be tied to materials (for example, someone who identifies as a painter) vs the idea of artist as “art director”. We also discussed the inherent worth of materials (like pigments made of precious stone) and how that adds to the worth of a painting.
-Laurel Sparks also addressed materials, particularly the ground of my drawings. Before the residency I had thought of the drawings as a preparatory stage of the painting. We discussed incorporating the ground into the drawing more, and even making the surface more interesting, perhaps with plaster. Laurel suggested making the surface “gorgeous”.
I was asked many times whether my drawing were preparatory or finished works. The question of “when is something finished?” is something I consider often when I work. There is a freshness and openness to a good drawing. I think this residency has shown me that I need to respect the drawing more. They have a sense of mystery that can be lost in a full blown painting. The drawings of figures on red ground evoked many different responses from viewers. Some said they had a “surveillance” quality or an “x-ray” quality.
-Some of my best critiques were from fellow students. RJ Calebrese asked me if I had considered my bias towards the people I was representing. This was something I had not really considered. I had chosen glassblowers because I admire their work and also because I could document them working without them being self conscious of me. As I consider painting workers (in factories or wherever they may be) I need to think about what I am trying to say about them. Does it become about race or class? The more I think about it the more I wonder if I can do this project without interviewing the workers or people I am trying to portray. I want to know how they feel about what they are doing.
-I came up with some ideas for where I would like to go to research the idea of labor. The first two are large corporations, so getting access to their facilities may prove difficult. They are the Generals Pencil Factory and The Fredrix Linen Company. On a smaller scale, I hope to go to some handmade art supply places, like the Williamsburg Paint Company and Townsend Pastels. I would also like to visit a foundry and the shop of a friend of mine who makes kilns. Lastly, I would like to talk to other artists and see what part of their art practice involves labor. Do they make their own grounds, stretch their own canvases, etc?
-A question I was asked often this semester was if I was using photographs for reference. Prior to last semester I has been working totally from life. Of course, I couldn't really bring my easel into the hot shop! So using photography for me was a whole new ballgame. My mentor seemed to think I was too dependent on the photographs ( for example, if a guy was wearing a green shirt I want to paint him in a green shirt because that is how it is in the photograph). I think that dependance comes from my training from life, which was very much about looking and matching colors. I have come to realize that working from photographs requires more editing and manipulation than working from life. I also know that in my studio practice I will always continue to do painting from life, because it provides me with the knowledge I need to work from photographs. I hope when I go to the aforementioned places that I am able to do sketches, take photos and audio. I also want to try to train myself to take impressions of where I am and perhaps do some memory drawings and sketches.
-I thought the graduate talks this semester were really well done. One that stood out to me was Alison Williams's talk. I really enjoyed seeing the progression of her work, and how she responded to the struggle of trying to find her own way. I find the most interesting talks to be the ones where we get to see the journey of the artist through this program.
-I did have the chance to see the Titian and Tintoretto show at the MFA during this residency. I found the Tintoretto painting to be particularly inspiring, I think because of the weight of the figures. They had a real “mass” to them, which is something I strive for in my work. I made a trip to the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum also during the residency. It was thrilling to see some of my favorite paintings in person (like El Jaleo by Sargent) but I was quite intrigued to see many drawings and etchings by the artists. I was drawn to the etchings by Zorn because they were very linear and tonal at the same time. They really inspired me to experiment more with my drawings.
-The flip side to the trip to the MFA was Cory Arcangel's talk. His use of humor and his manipulation of pop culture was fascinating. He takes the lowest of art, Photoshop filters and bad home movies, and makes something you can't help talking about.
-My last critique of the residency was with Deb Todd Wheeler. Her advice was to “break the predictable”. In a way that ties together Sargent and Arcangel. It has inspired me to keep working, to break the predictable, to take what I know and make art that surprises and intrigues.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Paper on Vitamin P
Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting has an outstanding cover. Tiny bits of paintings are encapsulated in the shape of pills, floating across the width of the book. I see lips, eyes, a nipple, a belly button, and a butterfly among the colorful and more abstract "pills". The cover is a perfect representation of what is inside the book; a smorgasbord of contemporary painting that includes both the abstract and the representational. As Barry Schwabsky says in the introduction,
It may seems strange to speak of a specific content
for contemporary painting in general when, on one
hand, anything goes, and on the other, every artist
is called upon to invent a unique stance or position
that differentiates him or her from other practitioners.
(008)
As I browsed this book, I began to think about that "unique stance" of which Mr. Schwabsky speaks. At first thought, it seemed to me that this stance could be interpreted as "rules". What rules does the artist make for herself, and why?
It was when I was reading about Djamel Tatah that I really began to think about "rules". Next to his paintings it reads " In 1986, when he was twenty-five, Djamel Tatah.made an important decision from which he has not faltered since; he would paint only figures on neutral, quasi-monochromatic background, at full scale.(318)" This statement really got me thinking. On one hand, I thought it was the craziest thing I ever heard. I would never want to box myself in with rules like that, and especially not for twenty plus years! I really could not wrap my head around it.
So, I started looking at other artist in Vitamin P and tried to figure out, what are their rules? Yen Pie-Ming uses mostly black and white, white Katharina Grosse seems to revel in an abundance of color. Many painters (still) limit their work to traditional square canvases, while others paint on floors, doors, chairs etc. Under this umbrella of painting there is such a variety of techniques and subject matter that the only way one can be successful is to make some rules for oneself.
But maybe rules in not the right word.
I was struggling with finding the right word when someone dropped it in my lap. That person is Frank Hyder, my mentor this semester. As he looked over my work he said to me , "You need to find something and stick with it. You need an investigation." This is the word I was looking for. It does not have the negative connotation that rules has. Rules are strict, unbending. Rules lock you in a cage. But an investigation, that sounds exciting. Investigations are open. Frank gave me the example of Vermeer, who worked for years investigating the light coming through his studio window. Even though his scope was relatively narrow (interior, young women) he found a universe of interest in it.
Investigation entails more than what materials are used, or what palette is preferred. It means setting out with a purpose to thoroughly understand that which you are investigating so you can make it clear to your viewer. Coming to this conclusion made me look at the artist in Vitamin P in a new light. There are many to discuss, but I am going to pick two and discuss their investigations and what I glean from them in my own work.
Cecilia Edefalk's paintings interested me at first because it is figurative work. If I were just to see a reproduction of one of her paintings, it would be a pretty straightforward painting; a man and a woman interacting in front of a blue background. However, as one looks and reads deeper it becomes evident that her work is basically about repetition. She is not investigating figures or portraits or Laurel and Hardy. As she said, "In the Laurel and Hardy series I wanted to work with recollections, with what is familiar. Incidentally, recollecting something is akin to repeating it." (102) By repeating the same piece over and over again, by reproducing and re-reproducing her paintings Edefalk says she is able to "express totally different things(102)"
I chose to discuss Edefalk because my mentor has been encouraging me to make multiple versions of the same painting using the same source material. This has been an eye opening process for me because it has made me focus on not only the technical aspects of painting (the effects of grounds, color choices, etc) but also the knowledge gained thought the repetition process. I have been using photographs for reference, but I also reference the previous paintings. And while it is in my nature to start a piece and finish it up before the next one, I have been encouraged to work on several similar pieces, to open up my investigation.
While on the subject of repetition, I want to discuss the work of Francis Alys. He says of his work,
The style of my painting is borrowed from hand-painted
advertisements encountered in my neighborhood.In 1993
I commissioned various sign painters to produce enlarged
copies of my smaller original images. Once they had completed
several versions I produced a new 'model' compiled from the
most significant elements of each sign painter's interpretation.
This second 'original' was in turn used as a model for a new
generation of copies by sign painters.(035)
Truthfully, I find the story, the investigation, more interesting than the paintings themselves. His methods bring up many questions about authorship, about high art verses low art, and about the art market itself.
By having sign painters reproduce his originals he is really questioning "who is the artist?" He creates a kind of communal creation process where the finished product contains only a small portion of his original. His original sketches are changed in the same way words become transformed in the childhood game of "whisper down the lane."
I find Alys's investigation interesting and worth of discussion, but what he is investigating is not a path that I wish to follow. My work in the past has been very much about the technique that I use. I could not see myself "farming" that out to other artists. However, recently I have been focusing on figures in a space and how they interact. I am playing with the effect of the ground showing through in pastels. I see all of these issues as being tied in to my continuing investigation.
If there is one thing Vitamin P has done for me, as a reader and artist, it is to show me that contemporary painting has as many investigations as there are colors in the rainbow. The challenge is to find where I stand as a contemporary painter. Throughout the history of art, painters have investigated everything from light on haystacks to color fields to feminist issues. I am not sure where my investigation will lead me, but I am ready to take in the view.
Reference and Reading Material
Schwabsky, Barry Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2002.
It may seems strange to speak of a specific content
for contemporary painting in general when, on one
hand, anything goes, and on the other, every artist
is called upon to invent a unique stance or position
that differentiates him or her from other practitioners.
(008)
As I browsed this book, I began to think about that "unique stance" of which Mr. Schwabsky speaks. At first thought, it seemed to me that this stance could be interpreted as "rules". What rules does the artist make for herself, and why?
It was when I was reading about Djamel Tatah that I really began to think about "rules". Next to his paintings it reads " In 1986, when he was twenty-five, Djamel Tatah.made an important decision from which he has not faltered since; he would paint only figures on neutral, quasi-monochromatic background, at full scale.(318)" This statement really got me thinking. On one hand, I thought it was the craziest thing I ever heard. I would never want to box myself in with rules like that, and especially not for twenty plus years! I really could not wrap my head around it.
So, I started looking at other artist in Vitamin P and tried to figure out, what are their rules? Yen Pie-Ming uses mostly black and white, white Katharina Grosse seems to revel in an abundance of color. Many painters (still) limit their work to traditional square canvases, while others paint on floors, doors, chairs etc. Under this umbrella of painting there is such a variety of techniques and subject matter that the only way one can be successful is to make some rules for oneself.
But maybe rules in not the right word.
I was struggling with finding the right word when someone dropped it in my lap. That person is Frank Hyder, my mentor this semester. As he looked over my work he said to me , "You need to find something and stick with it. You need an investigation." This is the word I was looking for. It does not have the negative connotation that rules has. Rules are strict, unbending. Rules lock you in a cage. But an investigation, that sounds exciting. Investigations are open. Frank gave me the example of Vermeer, who worked for years investigating the light coming through his studio window. Even though his scope was relatively narrow (interior, young women) he found a universe of interest in it.
Investigation entails more than what materials are used, or what palette is preferred. It means setting out with a purpose to thoroughly understand that which you are investigating so you can make it clear to your viewer. Coming to this conclusion made me look at the artist in Vitamin P in a new light. There are many to discuss, but I am going to pick two and discuss their investigations and what I glean from them in my own work.
Cecilia Edefalk's paintings interested me at first because it is figurative work. If I were just to see a reproduction of one of her paintings, it would be a pretty straightforward painting; a man and a woman interacting in front of a blue background. However, as one looks and reads deeper it becomes evident that her work is basically about repetition. She is not investigating figures or portraits or Laurel and Hardy. As she said, "In the Laurel and Hardy series I wanted to work with recollections, with what is familiar. Incidentally, recollecting something is akin to repeating it." (102) By repeating the same piece over and over again, by reproducing and re-reproducing her paintings Edefalk says she is able to "express totally different things(102)"
I chose to discuss Edefalk because my mentor has been encouraging me to make multiple versions of the same painting using the same source material. This has been an eye opening process for me because it has made me focus on not only the technical aspects of painting (the effects of grounds, color choices, etc) but also the knowledge gained thought the repetition process. I have been using photographs for reference, but I also reference the previous paintings. And while it is in my nature to start a piece and finish it up before the next one, I have been encouraged to work on several similar pieces, to open up my investigation.
While on the subject of repetition, I want to discuss the work of Francis Alys. He says of his work,
The style of my painting is borrowed from hand-painted
advertisements encountered in my neighborhood.In 1993
I commissioned various sign painters to produce enlarged
copies of my smaller original images. Once they had completed
several versions I produced a new 'model' compiled from the
most significant elements of each sign painter's interpretation.
This second 'original' was in turn used as a model for a new
generation of copies by sign painters.(035)
Truthfully, I find the story, the investigation, more interesting than the paintings themselves. His methods bring up many questions about authorship, about high art verses low art, and about the art market itself.
By having sign painters reproduce his originals he is really questioning "who is the artist?" He creates a kind of communal creation process where the finished product contains only a small portion of his original. His original sketches are changed in the same way words become transformed in the childhood game of "whisper down the lane."
I find Alys's investigation interesting and worth of discussion, but what he is investigating is not a path that I wish to follow. My work in the past has been very much about the technique that I use. I could not see myself "farming" that out to other artists. However, recently I have been focusing on figures in a space and how they interact. I am playing with the effect of the ground showing through in pastels. I see all of these issues as being tied in to my continuing investigation.
If there is one thing Vitamin P has done for me, as a reader and artist, it is to show me that contemporary painting has as many investigations as there are colors in the rainbow. The challenge is to find where I stand as a contemporary painter. Throughout the history of art, painters have investigated everything from light on haystacks to color fields to feminist issues. I am not sure where my investigation will lead me, but I am ready to take in the view.
Reference and Reading Material
Schwabsky, Barry Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2002.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
What I've been working on
This is pastel on a prepared panel, 20 X 30. I am working on a couple of these at the same time, so won't have anything finished for a while.
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