| Here are some highlights from the current classes being offered so you have an idea of what we did this week in class. If you missed class, this may be helpful. If you are visiting town and want to take one of the classes, contact the studio at (802) 457-2020 to join us for the three hour session. Individual classes are $45 per class.
BIOMORPHISM Week Two
PICTOGRAPHS Week Three
THE AMERICAN SUBLIME: Epic Mark-making
SYSTEMIC PAINTING
IMAGES WITHIN IMAGES
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ABSTRACTION
IN WATERCOLOR "It is the goal of that kind of Modern Artist to run the red light and hit the old ladies—the old ladies of custom and convention." First, we each identified our personal "old ladies of custom and convention" that we as painters may have to battle over the eight weeks. Next, in our first class, through the use of a still life on cloth set up in the studio, we were able to explore three differing approaches to abstraction on one painting. First, we taped off a piece of watercolor paper in a triad. However, once we began drawing, we drew over our tape, linking the image despite the masked spaces. The drawing is the "macrocosm" or the whole of the composition. Once we began painting, we treated each section differently. In the painting to the left, notice that first we attacked the center with a wash of gray made up of three primary colors. While that dried, we moved on to the lower third, working in color and in a wet-on-wet technique which by its very nature can abstract the image. Finally, we painted the third part of our triptych in what I call, "Broken Color." At this point, we removed the two pieces of tape, separating the work and began connecting the whole. This concept
of moving between the "macrocosm" and the "microcosm"
is important for any painting to practice. Stepping back from your work
allows you to restate your original objectives while zooming in on the
detail allows the viewer to see what fascinates you as an artist. "Bio"=Life
and "Morph"=Change In
class we looked at narcissi in their late stages and then took them out
of their pots to observe the root structures. First, we described the
growth pattern of the overall plant. Most everyone worked realistically
for this. In the second watercolor, we began to observe only the lights
and darks that create the dramatic shapes in the root system. Immediately,
our depiction of the narcissi became abstract. Patsy Highberg came up with a surreal experiment based on plant life on the left. Adjacent to it is her rendition of an orchid. Note how the watercolor creates luminous spaces around the objects to emphasize the biological aspect of these images. Below Patsy's
are Paul Highberg's renditions of Biomorphism. Note that an aspect of
this kind of abstraction is a kinetic energy in the painting? Both of
Paul's pieces appear to have the possibility of movement because of the
transparent nature of the watercolor and the irregular shaped forms that
populate the picture plane. Both of Paul's paintings are approximately
12" x 16". Kandinsky and Rothko often worked much larger than
this to experiment with the spacial ground of the picture plane and the
viewer's relationship to what he is experiencing.
January
20, 2010 PICTOGRAPHS Abstract Expressionism evolved out of three distinct ideas. First, biomorphism came from the influence of nature, pictographs from the influence of epic mythology and finally gestural mark-making came from the psychology of the artist. A pictograph is defined as a symbol that describes an event, an emotion or a situation. The icon can be derived from the artist's mind and may have a universal indentification or meaning. In 1942, Adolph Gottlieb coined the term and used pictographs in his paintings to explore the iconography of mythic imagery. He felt that the simplicity of flat figures that one found in early cave painting to be more powerful than the illusion of space which many artists had been trying to acheive on a two-dimensional picture plane. Gottlieb experimented by created two-dimensional pictographs within the picture plane while denying realistic illusion. He also acknowledged that a pictograph may be personal to the artist and that it may provide ambiguity for the viewer, rather than clarification. In class, we considered what epics had touched our lives. A reading from the Odyssey helped create inspiration for the work done in class. First, Patsy Highberg worked on images from her own environment to depict a personal struggle of reaching. To the right, Paul Highberg worked in class from images prompted by phrases that created imagery that described states of being such as anger, serenity and imperialism. In the third painting, Barbara Ernst explored the anguish of the female character in the epic, "Giants in the Earth". Judy Laliberte expressed a feeling that her "pictograph" painting had actually become more about biomorphism than a symbolic representation of a mythic tale. For many of us, this technique of creating simplified images or symbols is a challenge. In class,
we looked at the early watercolors of Mark Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb
who became friends while living in New York in the 1940's. We looked at
examples of Norse runic symbols and how alphabets differ from pictographs,
the later having no sound equivalent to translate into speech. The pictograph
is purely a visceral representation of an emotion, event or situation.
we explored how this can translate into the mark-making explore by Rothko,
DeKooning, Still and other Abstract Expressionists as World War II ended. It has been said that Abstract Expressionism is much like 18th century history painting—grand, imposing and nearly divinely inspired. During the period immediately post-World War II, there appears to be a feeling of great confidence coupled with a reduction of form that results in what is known as "The American Sublime" to some art historians. Mark Rothko and Willhelm DeKooning appear to be two of the most influential of the painters working at that time. While Rothko had a deliberate layering technique worked out, his brush work is clearly visible. DeKooning took expressionism to new levels resulting in an emotional calligraphy that came to influence all painters after that. After producing
a series of color fields on a red backround, we began to layer and change
the interplay of the forms based on the colors we chose. Here, we worked
very small—12" x 16". In the second peice, rather than
using the rectangle and a series of colors to produce a dramatically bold
abstraction, we used emotions to influence the color and the marks produced.
We used the feeling we have of waking up in the morning, a feeling of
iminent death, a feeling related to "organized religion" and
a feeling we have about a person whi is the object of our desire. We explored how the "irregular" and spontaneous medium of watercolor could be "trained" into use for systemic work. Here, you will see several examples of how we used the medium to use some of the theories explored. First, we used a staining pigment to produce a regular dot pattern throughout the picture plane. Next we chose a second color to intersperse between the first "system" that would interact with the second. After letting these staining dots dry in place, we added a wash of light color over. Note that the "system" stays in place but is affected by the subsequent wash? Second, we
did a painting a la the "hard-edged" painters. These color-field
painters reduced the picture plane to a place where surface tension came
from a simple edge between two fields of color. In this example, the complimentary
colors of orange and blue vibrate causing movement for the eye and an
optical illusion of vibration because of how our eyes see color. Third,
we explored a system in our lives that may influence our work as a subject.
I chose the basket of dog bones to "abstract" into an irregular
pattern of shapes. Lois Macuga
came up with a perfect solution to a "systemic painting" in
watercolor. Her butterfly painting expresses her feeling of "boredom"
with system as well as her passion for order. In class, we worked with old pieces of sheet music and unique papers. Consdier what criteria you used to select papers—texture, color, pattern all contributing to a general harmony separated the first selection process. Then there was a selection of paint colors and finally a process of choosing what would go where. This is where the segregation of space within the picture plane can be helpful to the artist. It is not so important that the viewer say, "Oh, look a collage," but rather, "Wow—what an image." HOMEWORK:
Create an image describing your past. This can be an autobiographical
piece or it can look back to a time period. Consider a formative decade
in your life and the images that come to you. Integrate them into a painting
using water media. Color or Black and White can be explored. Theories
of Abstraction:Here is a list of a few that artists from 1945-today have
grappled with. Which work for you in your work? HOMEWORK:
Use watercolor to come up with your personal image of a modern image.
How can you use the medium intelligently and innovatively? What about
watercolor gives you freedom to explore a non-verbal or non-objective
world? If you have a digital camera, spend some time looking for signs
of what modern "highway culture" looks like this week. Bring
your work and your images to the last class of this session for review.
We will transition from abstraction back towards realism with new information. Our final class got delayed due to the snowstorm that struck at the end of February. It seems it gave us a chance to re-group and contemplate the class overall. This week, we delved into the world of Highway Art, the subject being a controversial one to many a traditional watercolorist. Is there beauty in our every-day world? In considering the work of Pissarro at the turn of the twentieth century in Paris, we see how he inspired artists to examine their surroundings looking at the burgeoning industry around the small towns outside Paris. Trains and shipyards were often the subject of his work and the abstraction came in the use of paint. Spots of color placed adjacent to one another gave the impression of solid object. In the seventies, the work of Richard Estes and other photorealists bucked against the expressive non-objective work that was popular at the time. With rigorous precision, these artists often used modern technology such as photography and slides to project images on to canvas to paint "super-real" images of their urban landscapes. Often people were excluded, making the collage of signs and store-fronts become the natural abstraction in the painting. We had an interesting discussion on the validity of working with photos—is it painting if you are projecting the image on to the canvas to draw? Is that "cheating" or is it using a tool? The class was divided as we approached the final exercise—to paint a landscape from a local mall at night. At the same
time, I approached the landscape around Elizabeth, New Jersey with an
expressive gouache approach. I attempted to use expressive brush work
and a high-keyed neutral palette to show the sea of cars in the parking
areas just across the Hudson River near Manhattan. Can you allow yourself
to use unconventional scenes as a way in to contemporary art? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Compton ART • P. O. Box 162, Woodstock, VT 05091 • (802) 457-2020 • info@comptonart.net
