Friday's thesis class: We had group critiques to discuss progress so far this semester. I presented 2 of my latest paintings which were based off of photoshop imagery. To the left is Slide, and to the right is Waffle Sunday.
I merged patterns with food collages on photoshop and painted with acrylics and oil paint for both these pieces.
In class I presented my recent art inspirations and the direction in which I am heading for my project.
Marilyn Minter, is well-known for her high fashion, beauty, glamour and fine art photography. In Green Pink Caviar Marilyn Minter blurs the boundaries between fine and commercial art. The film is a lush and sensual voyeuristic exploration where she directed her models to lick brightly colored candies while she shot photos from underneath a glass plate. The models' tongues mixed the candy and pushed the bright colors across the glass surface to simulate painting. Minter, like myself, is fascinated with the body as well as exploring stimulation of the senses through her work. This video also pushes towards pornographic and repulsive, while simultaneously exuding beauty in color and texture and skill in sharpness and direction. This video inspired me to push and exploit my interests and skills, so I would like to incorporate collaged and photographed elements either directly into the paint or layered beneath it. Another artist of inspiration is Kerstin Bratsch, a young artist whose installation works made me want to push the boundaries outside the traditional canvas and stretcher bars. Brätsch's installations include large oil paintings and three-dimensional units, such as magazine racks. The posters and zines both advertise and remix corresponding paintings. Her works seem to convey an amount of skepticism and tension between fine art and mixed media installation, yet her work is collectively cohesive. Another artist, Gary Hume, is a painter who gained attention during the Pop Art Movement, is renowned for a bright palette, reduced imagery, modulated forms, and flat areas of seductive colour. Hume's paintings have a dynamic tension between luscious surfaces and simplified forms against a melancholic beauty. Gary Hume’s works are also reminiscent of Alex Katz, who also combined portraiture with modulated forms and reduced imagery. Although I do not want to produce a body of work with strictly this technique, I would like to incorporate it into my food series to increase dynamism and tension in form and content.
After sketching and collaging over the winter break, as well as extensive research on contemporary artists, I am working to find a means of exploiting all my knowledge about painting, drawing and graphic design, and integrating them all seamlessly into my thesis project. After speaking with Marc Handleman, I have researched a few surface area possibilities. I would like to experiment with oil painting on top of aluminum panels, Plexiglas, clear acetate, and clear vinyl. My collages need to be manipulated a bit further in terms of mixed media, such as incorporating textures from sewn materials, scanning in color documents and literally integrating the printed image into the painting itself, or sandwich sculptural and painted elements in between clear transparent materials. The conception behind changing surface areas is to heighten the tension between the sensual, greasy and visceral paint style with the transparent delicacy of Plexiglas and clear vinyl. I aim to diversify my collaging and capture the viewer’s attention through multi sensory stimulation. Just as Marilyn Minter’s glass licking photos elicit repulsion and intrigue, I would like to push the boundaries of my works to heighten emotional and sensory reactions. As Marc pointed out, my recent collages exude a feminist standpoint on media, culture, food and body image. We both agree that we view sweets and greasy foods as desirable yet repulsive, and this subject matter is a topic treaded upon many times. What I hope to do is pull from my above influences mentioned in this paper to transcend the confines of canvas painting for a largescale mixed media piece involving my design collaged concepts, feelings and emotions associated with food, culture and body image. Sizes may vary from piece to piece, and some pieces may be installed in varying positions in relation to the wall. Due to the experimentation with clear materials, I will consider applying design elements directly to the gallery wall. I plan to work closely with Marc and produce a multitude of painting and design experiments to diversify my final project. While I reproduce my original collages from my sketchbook, I plan to incorporate mixed media designs from Wangechi Mutu, modulated and simplified forms from Gary Hume, installation and size presentation from Kerstin Bratsch, and visercal and sensory stimulation of Marilyn Minter’s photography and videowork.
Basically, when you said Marc had told you to exploit all of your talents, everything you know, I saw a major break-through in your thought process and at that point the possibilities are endless. I always enjoyed your work because of the energetic and, IMO, optimistic qualities and emotion attached to it. But now knowing that you can take that all to a whole other level, figuratively and quite literally, makes it even more exciting. The work you're looking into that combines sensuality and sexy images merged with somewhat grotesque and kind of eerie would really have a nice influence on what you now. Think about that Grand Poobah's Sandwiches music video! I can't wait to see what kind of advancements you make in your future works.
ReplyDeleteI like that you presented all of your research to the class during your critique and that you continued to discuss the research in your blog response. Their inspiration on your work is very apparent. Marilyn Minter's work appears to be incorporating food and sexuality, as well as the body. Although we may not, until recently, consider eating food to be a very erotic experience-studied have shown a link between the two. Sigmued Frued (who thinks everything can be linked to sexuality)writes about the "pleasures" of food. Since so much of your work is about the pleasures and displeasures of food, you might want to exploit the human body more in your work, but nothing pornographic. The process taken in order to complete each painting showed in your critique. Taking a new form of "art" like ads or commercial art, redesigning it through photoshop, and then returning back to painting that image on canvass challenges our perceptions of conventional art. I would be interested in seeing some of your paintings on plexiglass or some sort of transparent material.
ReplyDeleteAfter being in your critique group last semester I already feel that I have a greater understanding of your work and I feel that you have progressed with your food collages. I feel these paintings compared to what I have previously seen still retain a graphic nature, but appear more expressive, which contributes to your depiction of qualities, such as the “deterioration” of food. After seeing some of your influences, such as Marilyn Minter, I enjoy even more your use of a bright palette in comparing and combining both the delectable and the grotesque, and I found it helpful to see where you were coming from. I am interested in seeing your experiments with materials other than the stretched canvas, which will help with the further development of your ideas, as well as how the human figure will play a part in your work.
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