My research project this year was very vast in its potential avenues I think this is good and bad. It was good for me, exciting to allow myself to be carried away by different trains of interest and I learnt alot more than is evidenced in the essay but also very bad for me in knowing how to write anything precise/concise. Looked into a lot of more abstract expressionist paintings that ever before, with a particular emphasis on Mark Rothko whose work I had not previously explored. My interests in making art often seems to be nearing abstraction. I love the idea of the observer being able to make any conclusions they like about what an artwork is about or why I made it. I think an artwork is most interesting when it needs to be worked out, its not easy to understand. Often in the case of fine art, there is no need to work it out the painting speaks for itself and is purely aesthetically pleasing. is this the same for illustration? I think not as conceptual ideas are key to communicating ideas.
I believe that once I have made something and it exists without me having any influence over it further than being its creator. I could have done an essay on that on how abstraction can communicate ideas-maybe level 6?
improvisation as a theme is a good one in my opinion because it encompasses the style of art making I do and what seems to inspire art that I enjoy. Jazz music has played a very big role in my life and I ended up listening to lots of classic jazz music like John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Keith Jarret to name afew, as part of my research but I went off too deep in a musical tangent so this lead to being quite unproductive for writing the essay about improvisation in the world of visual arts. Musical improvisational skill is matched by the skills of those in the realms of standup comedy and improve theatre; another avenue this could have taken. (but also a very distracting tangent when researching)
A freedom to express yourself without worrying about trying to make the piece decipherable, digestible or comfortable for the eyes. The ideas discussed in my COP essay lead me into learning more about my hero Kieth Haring and then into about Jean Micheal Basquait and new York in the 1980's. I find basquait's life and work very exciting but couldn't find an angle to included my new discovery's in the essay. I really admire Basquaits drive to make art and his work looks quite similar to some of the stuff I have been making throughout some of my cop sketchbooks.
I feel like I should have honed into one more refined line of inquiry that would have made my research a lot simpler. Because I wasn't sure exactly what I was investigating a lot of the time I would find myself getting further and further away from illustration and I had to take steps back and consider how this could be applied to my essay.
Thursday 19 April 2018
hitsuzendō
Some of my most exciting drawings were made after learning about 'the way of the brush' or hitsuzendō, allowing the brush to lead, following your intuitive understanding of balance and composition. speed and energy, this zen Buddhist brushwork was a discovery quite far into my project but has become one of the most interesting inspirations for my personal artistic expression. I found it liberating the use my whole body to create marks and allowing my hand to lead without my brain questioning it.
The idea of letting the brush lead is something that really resonated with me. Its almost like relinquishing control and after a while of focus it feels almost as though I am channelling some sort of higher creative power? IS THIS TRUE? IS THIS POSSIBLE? Am I merely a mortal vessel that some eternal transcendent artistic energy uses to create artworks ?! or am I just a moron making shit art? a stupid young boy making bullshit marks that mean nothing? Whats the point? why am I like this? why cant I just work systematically and ordered like everyone else? maybe because I AM JACK WILFRED GRIEVE..... ?
I learnt that Ralph Steadman uses a large energetic black splat brush stroke to start his drawings and decided from that mark how to turn it into the final drawing. I found this very interesting and this lead to me working back into drawings to turn the seemingly random marks into more figurative depictions usually of people. The element of chance is a very interesting component to drawings that I would like to explore further...
I think that following the brush, allowing it to lead the black mark around the paper is a nice way to start an image that gives it an exciting spontaneous exuberant feel but it is then important to take a step back and evaluate what shape it has created and how you can turn it into something that has more value than a scribbly mess.
The idea of letting the brush lead is something that really resonated with me. Its almost like relinquishing control and after a while of focus it feels almost as though I am channelling some sort of higher creative power? IS THIS TRUE? IS THIS POSSIBLE? Am I merely a mortal vessel that some eternal transcendent artistic energy uses to create artworks ?! or am I just a moron making shit art? a stupid young boy making bullshit marks that mean nothing? Whats the point? why am I like this? why cant I just work systematically and ordered like everyone else? maybe because I AM JACK WILFRED GRIEVE..... ?
I learnt that Ralph Steadman uses a large energetic black splat brush stroke to start his drawings and decided from that mark how to turn it into the final drawing. I found this very interesting and this lead to me working back into drawings to turn the seemingly random marks into more figurative depictions usually of people. The element of chance is a very interesting component to drawings that I would like to explore further...
I think that following the brush, allowing it to lead the black mark around the paper is a nice way to start an image that gives it an exciting spontaneous exuberant feel but it is then important to take a step back and evaluate what shape it has created and how you can turn it into something that has more value than a scribbly mess.
learn more!
learning from mistakes is an interesting idea, you can learn in other ways but its commonly understood we must fail in order to grow. can you be wrong in art? I suppose the only way you can be wrong is if you are trying to draw something precisely, it is wrong if it doesn't look like the subject matter. (or within illustration it is wrong if it doesn't answer the brief)
I need to draw more from life otherwise I cannot fail, I cant be wrong if I'm not trying to be right. I need to try to be right in order to be wrong in order to learn and grow. I need to push my traditional drawing skills, life drawing/still life etc etc. this will allow more room to fail and thus more room to succeed.
My mistakes this year make me realise my ability to learn from my mistakes is non existent... i always seem to leave things to the last minute then panic and stress more than i need to when it would have been easier if i were to just do it steadily and continually throughout the year. I am growing out of my laziness slowly but i think that my priorities were focusing on making art and thinking about things rather than blogging individual study tasks when they were set. It will be different with 601.
I need to draw more from life otherwise I cannot fail, I cant be wrong if I'm not trying to be right. I need to try to be right in order to be wrong in order to learn and grow. I need to push my traditional drawing skills, life drawing/still life etc etc. this will allow more room to fail and thus more room to succeed.
My mistakes this year make me realise my ability to learn from my mistakes is non existent... i always seem to leave things to the last minute then panic and stress more than i need to when it would have been easier if i were to just do it steadily and continually throughout the year. I am growing out of my laziness slowly but i think that my priorities were focusing on making art and thinking about things rather than blogging individual study tasks when they were set. It will be different with 601.
symbols
the Enso circle is a Zen Buddhist symbol of which there are many highly conceptual symbols throughout eastern historical theology. This lead me into research around the idea of symbols and I discovered that the western world throughout history hasn't had any all encompassing symbols representing life on earth in any profound way like the symbols of the east. Nationalist Flags Adverts and coats of arms are about as far as commonplace artistic symbols in the west.
Hinduism in particular is filled with beautifully coherent elegant symbols that represent the entire material world from birth to death. I learnt about The Dancing Shiva the Hindu god who has four arms with one foot raised. one arm holding a small drum, with which he summons things into creation; one holding fire with which he destroys things, one pointing up reminding us everything is alright and the last arm he points down to his raised foot which symbolises spiritual contemplation. his other foot is on the ground that is standing on the back of an all-powerful hideous dwarf that represents the ego, thus highlighting the importance of squashing/breaking the back of your ego. The Shiva is often depicted within a massive circle ring of fire representing the entire cosmos universe and shiva is everywhere dancing amongst it. I just thought this was a beautifully poetic cosmic symbol that discusses every aspect of human life but it was a tangent that i couldn't channel into my essay.
It made me want to consider the use of symbols more in my work, to use shape not literally but suggestively. to use commonplace known visual symbols as an aid to discussing my ideas. could i create a set of symbols? maybe a new alphabet? Assign a set of new shapes meaning and add a glossary key before a series of artworks? something for level 6 maybe.
Hinduism in particular is filled with beautifully coherent elegant symbols that represent the entire material world from birth to death. I learnt about The Dancing Shiva the Hindu god who has four arms with one foot raised. one arm holding a small drum, with which he summons things into creation; one holding fire with which he destroys things, one pointing up reminding us everything is alright and the last arm he points down to his raised foot which symbolises spiritual contemplation. his other foot is on the ground that is standing on the back of an all-powerful hideous dwarf that represents the ego, thus highlighting the importance of squashing/breaking the back of your ego. The Shiva is often depicted within a massive circle ring of fire representing the entire cosmos universe and shiva is everywhere dancing amongst it. I just thought this was a beautifully poetic cosmic symbol that discusses every aspect of human life but it was a tangent that i couldn't channel into my essay.
It made me want to consider the use of symbols more in my work, to use shape not literally but suggestively. to use commonplace known visual symbols as an aid to discussing my ideas. could i create a set of symbols? maybe a new alphabet? Assign a set of new shapes meaning and add a glossary key before a series of artworks? something for level 6 maybe.
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