Romantics – St Barbes, Lymington – This exhibition explores what romantic art might look like at the start of the 21st century. I chose primarily to look at the work of Julian Opie and Alex Faulkner (as prints on display). But also include some thoughts of a work by Fiona McIntyre.
Unfortunately, in this Art Gallery photography is not allowed and despite internet searches I have been unable to find on-line images of some of the work on display, so where necessary I have substituted other similar works by my chosen artists to show as examples.
Julian Opie – The two works on display (River 4 and one from the Coast Series) are digital inkjet prints mounted on acrylic and reflect the colours and landscape outlines that Opie has recorded on his travels.
Opie’s style is derived from his investigations into the way that he deals with the world through vision, the practice of looking, and his translation of vision into the realism of a glance or immersion within the landscape. This remembered detail or a scanned photograph, is drawn into a computer with sharp outlines and flat colour then printed by inkjet printer and mounted onto plastics and glass.
River 4 
Coast 4
The minimal use of outlines and strong flat colour remind be of art deco posters that advertised travels and holiday trips, despite the flat colour and abstracted image I see curves of the hills and valleys and the movement of water. I felt hypnotised by these prints, for me, there is so much more in them that deserves a longer look.
These works have made me think more about simplification of images and drawings, how to look at and extract the important parts that I see and the use of a simplified colour palette.
https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/julian-opie-2012-2015-interview-alan-cristea-gallery
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/apr/25/julian-opie-joggers-crows-cityscapes
Alex Faulkner – There were two monoprints on display, Persistent Childhood & A New Kind of Tree, neither of which I can find on-line. Below is a similar image but is untitled.
There was little information available in the gallery on either the works or Faulkner and I am struggling to find any on-line information either, links to a website http://www.alexfaulkner.net/ return the message ‘under construction – check back soon’.
What I have found out is that Faulkner is currently developing innovative techniques in monotype printing. His work is influenced by his passion for Japanese woodblock prints. But this isn’t about the artist, rather the work that I had viewed.
‘Persistent Childhood’ was quite a dark image, individual parts of the image could be made out but it was more of black on black on black, but that may suggest an interpretation of the title.. demanding, annoying, harassing are words that come to mind. I saw sadness and loneliness.
‘A New Kind of Tree’ was a much lighter image, I assume, that with his love of Japanese woodcut that maybe it was a Bonsai Tree. There was much more texture than in the above example, especially in the foreground where the folds of the land, foliage and bark where clearly visible. I don’t know what innovative monoprint technique Faulkner uses but to me it looks like a mixture of drawing into the ink plate with various tools and back drawing, but there must be more to it than that. Especially as he seems to have a knack for making his prints appear old with an element of work by Degas (see Research Part 1)
I wish I could have found an image of A New Kind of Tree, (as a reminder), this is the first monoprint that I’ve been able to view in a gallery since beginning this course and one that I feel I’ve learnt from, especially in respect of the created textures. Something, that as a learning artist I feel is missing from the images that we research on-line, the textures and emotions aren’t the same. This monoprint has given me a greater understanding of what I was expected to produce in Project 1 – Monoprints.
Fiona Mcintyre – Buddha Gazing at a Temple -Charcoal & Lump Ochre.
This drawing pulled me in for its use of minimal colour palette and the loose marks that make up its form and structure.
Also working in an environment where I help make charcoal, both for BBQ’s and drawing, charcoal has a soft spot in my life. I love the different shades and marks you can make and how it responds to both loose and tight mark making. Perhaps I should try using it more! Additionally, the yellow ochre colours appeal to my favoured colour palette, (greys and yellows) as mentioned in and used in Project 2 – Linocuts.
BILLYDOOPRINT1 