Research Part 1

Introducing monoprints – Exploring personal objects:

As a research point I have a list of artists that use still life for making artwork: I have chosen to look at the work of Giorgio Morandi, Armand Fernandez & Squeak Carnwarth. Additionally I have added that of Ben Nicolson.

Giorgio Morandi – An Italian painter and printmaker whose works illustrate, more often than not, simple still life objects, such as vases, crockery, bottles and flowers.

In his painting’s, minimal colours and tonal palette often appear soft and subtle and the objects are grouped in such a way that the eye is drawn to the centre of image, almost making the plain background act as an incidental landscape beyond.

His prints use etched line, hatching and shading in varying intensities to create a narrative of the still life subjects without the need for a drawn outline. And in contrast to paintings the chosen objects fill the paper and bring the background into the conveyed image.

I particularly like the below image (Still life with vases on a table) which contrasts shaded areas with that of the white of the paper, a negative / positive effect.

 

Armand Fernandez -An artist famous for collecting large amounts of objects from which he created ‘assemblages’ to convey man’s process of mass production, manufacturing, consumption and destruction, often encased in wood, plastic or concrete.

His paintings, prints and sculptures, examine and portray repetition of these objects inspired by the repetition of the manufactured item.

Items stuffed into plastic cases are of no interest to me and remind me of boring visits to stuffy museums where collections are housed in dusty old cabinets.

However, of interest are his works where objects are deliberately broken, burnt and crushed to be re-arranged to form abstract compositions.

In some ways it reminds me of the ethos I was taught about looking at your still life object in many ways, from different angles, below, above, sideways. Maybe just a snippet of the object, look in different light, arrange then leave, return later and re-arrange, etc. This takes arrangement one step further, break it up (or down) and re-arrange. Create your own view or interpretation.

Before his ‘assemblage’ work Armand worked with multiple forms making repetitive marks using both traditional rubber stamps and objects dipped in ink.

Now on a print making course the next two images are of particular interest.

Le Telephone conjures up the idea of movement, the telephone being answered and using nothing more than repetition of mark.

Similarly Aesculapius Hammer relays the message of movement in the hammer being used to hit an unseen object.

And I thought my toffee hammer was uninspiring! Aesculapius Hammer has broadened my horizons.

Squeak Carnwarth – I am attracted to this artist simply by her rather intriguing name. First stop was her website, http://www.squeakcarnwath.com/ , click on the Artwork tab and there is an array of very colourful monotypes, which at first glance look quite simple, but as you delve in deeper, they reveal (as best they can on a computer screen) a mix of layers of colour, pattern, image and text. Further exploration of her website reveals more prints, painting and sculpture.

Still life of crockery, vases, glasses, bottles, but all with a quirky edge and plenty of colour, its all fun and wonky, and there is an element of innocence about her work. I love it!

Parts of this print are back to front, the numbers coming out of the shower head, while the fractions in the glasses are divided back to front, which adds to the intrigue of why and what is half full.

My intrigue is partly answered over at www.artsy.net/artist/squeak-carnwath. “For Squeak Carnwath, painting is a form of questioning, through which she reflects on the nature of reality, illusion, and experience.”

Ben Nicolson -I first discovered the work of Ben Nicolson while on the OCA Textile Foundation course and became particularly interested in his abstract still life works such as Mousehole and St Ives, where he combined simple abstract still life within the landscape behind.

I still like these works today, almost as if two pictures have been combined, one overlaid on top of the other.

But I shouldn’t distract myself from other still life that he painted, all appearing as quite simple but changing in style as different periods influenced his painting.

My research has also uncovered prints that Nicolson made.

Linocut on cloth, of interest to me as I begin to explore the world of print making and textile.

In the following two prints one plate is more heavily inked than the other and details have been lost, or gained, changing pattern, texture and aesthetics.

Degas  – His early prints were made on an inked metal plate into which he drew his image, removing ink with numerous tools such as rags, sticks, sponges and brushes and then transferred onto paper.

This is possibly a dark field print (see below) where the plate has been inked and then a process of removing and reducing the ink has created the image to be printed. The sky has been rubbed away and the wheel ruts scraped out. It is possible that over inking has given the tree effect and the fence has definitely been added after.

Experiments furthered his work and the monotype became his start point to which he added colour and / or further drawing with pastels, gouache, oil paint and ink. At times he used oil paint rather than ink as his medium, sometimes he worked from an inked plate (dark field), at others he drew directly onto the plate (light field).

In this print I think that ink has been applied as a light field, light brush strokes have been added to with darker marks and smudging, fingerprints are apparent in the sky as is the wiping off of brushed on ink.

Again, here I believe that this is a light field and maybe there has been some masking, especially of the front image, so as to create a negative area; the back image has been rubbed with cloth. Outline and fine detail have been added after with a fine point.

Work was often revisited and revised as a method of transforming and repeating, it was often ghost prints that were reworked with added colour. In the example below, pastel has been used to enhance the printed image.

Stripes of ink on the plate (as per below) were played with and manipulated to create blends of shape and texture, again numerous tools and techniques are used, different fabrics are used to add or remove ink and therefore give different texture.

In this short video, MoMA (Museum of Modern Art – New Yrok) curator Jodi Hauptman and conservator Karl Buchberg explore Edgar Degas’s monotype process with printmakers Andrew Mockler and Jennifer Marshall of Jungle Press Editions.

https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/moma/moma-printmaking/v/edgar-degas-a-strange-new-beauty

Tracey Emin – What can I say about Emin’s work, other than “I don’t get where she’s coming from and find most of her work offensive & repulsive”. It’s like there’s some bottled-up vitriol that she’s trying to spit out at whoever chooses to view her work and therefore, I am struggling to do any research of her work.

From the few prints that I have viewed I’ve observed that text and image are often combined, the shape and form of the text is a mixture of front & backward text, upper and lower case, appearing at times almost childlike, but something that I find interesting as I look at and explore the text on my personal objects.

For technique I believe that she has inked her plate, then drawn into the back of paper that has been placed on the plate.

Further searching and I find are some works that are in complete contrast to her offensive outbursts, such as the bird drawing and poppies. To me these show a completely different mentality, as if one person is two, and at times feels peace with her anger.

Matisse – Blue Nudes – For hundreds of years, blue was a colour little used, obtained from the stone lapis lazuli, (mined in Afghanistan), it was scarce and expensive to make. Consequentl,y this rarity became a sign of wealth and power and within the religious world it became a sign of spirituality. Wearing blue suggested riches, while churches were often painted in blue (a reflection of the sky) and the Virgin Mary wore cloaks of blue.

As artificial pigments became available the use of blue became more widespread, yet still retained its standing of wealth, power and spirituality. As a powerful primary colour it became an allure for artists, especially from the early 20^th century, when it became an important colour for abstract art within the avant-garde movement.

I think that in his series of paintings ‘Blue Nudes’, Matisse understands the importance of blue as a colour, the power, wealth and expressiveness it exudes. I wonder if his choice of blue is a representative of said power, something that he is trying to express and portray in the figures; ‘the power of women’ maybe!

His Nudes are cut from blue painted paper, a form of collage, in a process that which he describes as “cutting directly into color”. Drawing shape and form with scissors, Matisse has created an assemble of elemental shapes, with clean crisp edges, but far from simple, shapes that have been re-invented to create form as female nudes which pose in contrast to the stark white background they are mounted on.

Further point of reference re colour Blue – In a BBC4 documentary series Dr James Fox explores how three colours have shaped history, in this excerpt he looks at the colour Blue – A History of Art in Three Colours

In a further interview with the Daily Telegraph Dr Fox comments that “Blue, for instance, is the world’s favourite colour. It’s been proved to lower our blood pressure, increase our creativity and improve the chances of business success. No one knows quite why, but it may be because blue ignites exotic and optimistic associations with the sunny sky, the tranquil sea and the distant horizon”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9426006/A-History-of-Art-in-Three-Colours-BBC-Four-preview.html

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-07-25/a-history-of-art-in-three-colours-how-the-way-we-see-the-world-was-changed-by-gold-blue-and-white/

Additional research following Tutor feedback:

From the work that I have completed in Part 1, my tutor has suggested that I view the work of a few other artists. My notes and thought are below.

Jim Dine – Ten Winter Tools (Lithograph)

As I found with my tools, Jim Dine sees a link with the past and the human hand.

He believes his tools characterize the development of creativity and a link to the mythology of art. Dine suggests forging and creating these tools and their function and simple shapes are of interest to him.

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For me there was a link was with my husband and his father and maybe even grandfather before then. There was both a tactile and emotional element, to think that some tools may have been held and used, by a relative, from a time when using this tool was the only way in which to get a job done. But also, a story to be told or imagined from subtle clues that exuded from each object. Maybe romantic, wistful thoughts but one that at the same time brings images of hardship, patience and hard graft.

I like the way that these images are in monochrome, with textured backgrounds. The way that the shading is used suggests not only the effort and grime of manual work, but also an element of a proud person that cleans and shines his tools, a recognition of them being an extension of that person as if they were an additional part of the body.

• https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dine-ten-winter-tools-65296 [accessed 07/08/19]
• https://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/P/P02/P02533_10.jpg [accessed 07/08/19]
• https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dine-no-title-p02540 [accessed 07/08/19]
• https://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/P/P02/P02539_10.jpg [accessed 07/08/19]
• https://www.theartstory.org/artist/dine-jim/artworks/ [accessed 07/08/19]

Sandra Blow – A leading abstract artist of the 1950’s and beyond, Sandra’s work are often assembles of silk screen printing and discarded materials such as hessian, paper and canvas that have been collaged into her printed works.

Some of her work is relatively large in size, 71cm x 71cm, which adds an expressive dimension of freedom not constraint. My tutor has suggested that if I have room in my workspace that this maybe something to follow up on. I know in the past, on the odd occasion that I have worked in a larger size that my work has felt less constarined and more expressive.

Her use of hessian, which I enjoyed working with in Part 1, has added to my yet small repertoire of printing techniques. I inked the hessian before placing on the plate. Here Sandra has added hessian to the print as a collage element and in the below example, Blue Brown Interweave, I believe has printed the hessian before adding it to the screen print.

Being a girl that likes her sports, my immediate thought was of the Olympic Rings and the colourful sporting pageant that we get to see every four years. The collaged pieces come together and touch and overlap in an almost casual affair, no perfect circles, but they infer Olympics.

I can see why I have been pointed in the direction of Sandra Blow, and certainly a more abstract look to my work is something that I might like to persue, something maybe that my tutor has already seen in my work to date. However, at the moment I have trouble understanding the process of abstraction – more research!

Prunella Clough

I found the below video on the visual language of Prunella Clough, it was interesting to see how an artist’s archive can show the process of arriving from numerous start points to finished work.

Prunella’s sketchbook is more a series of notes and words that reflect and describe the image that she has seen, in some cases she has an almost poetic lilt to her descriptions.

Often described as ‘responsive to the environment’ her earlier work takes inspiration from the mainly urban industrial landscapes that she worked in.

Her written observations and abstracted notes are paired with photographs, of what to many would appear mundane, eg; plastic chairs, broken gates and fishnets, while recordings of cranes, cooling towers, old buildings, vehicles and people going about their daily work can be viewed as a historical record and depiction of the times.

The colours record the grimy, dirty, gritty nature of the landscapes but are also reminders that from memory we often envisage the 1950’s – 70’s as a dull, grey and at times ugly and politically angry period in this country’s history.

Look Again: The Visual Language of Prunella Clough –

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/prunella-clough-921/look-again-visual-language-prunella-clough [accessed 06/08/19]

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• https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/clough-corrugated-fence-p07915 [accessed 06/08/19]
• https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/clough-cranes-p07910 [accessed 06/08/19]
• https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/clough-electrical-area-p06074 [accessed 06/08/19]
• http://www.artnet.com/artists/prunella-clough/
• https://www.flowersgallery.com/artists/62-prunella-clough/

And just a final addition that I came across today – Sybil Andrews, a member of the Grosvenor School of artists she was known for her linocuts that portrayed daily life in a representatiion of form and shapes in action.

http://www.artnet.com/artists/sybil-andrews/ [accessed 12/08/19]