artist research

week 1 discussion points - basic concepts underlying Western philosophical thought

general questions (any era)

>> ... it would be interesting to hear people's experience of individual artworks--have you ever seen an artwork that moved you, disgusted you, interested you, disinterested you...? If so, why? What was it about that artwork that was effective / ineffective?

an artwork that moved me:
Ben Quilty's "After Afghanistan" series of paintings - example, his Captain S After Afghanistan painting. the pose and expression on the face and application of paint in such thick strokes and the mix of colours and expressive marks/brushstrokes & use of light and dark/shadow evokes strong emotions in me — in both the technique of the painting and the subject and meaning behind it.

Ben Quilty. Captain S After Afghanistan. 2012. Oil on linen. Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of NSW. https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2012/29238.

have been discovering and reading about Do Ho Suh's frottage and fabric rooms - like "memory rooms". Lois Weinthal's article in "Textile Technology and Design: From Interior Space to Outer Space" relates them to Anni Albers' "The Pliable Plane: textiles in Architecture" essay, as "third skins" after Suh described his relation of wallpaper as "clothing the house". enjoying these explorations this weekend

am starting to appreciate the sculpture side of class too and see it might be more useful/related to textiles work (than painting - could do painting via short courses/weekends if not traveling). this textile technology stuff is pretty cool, would like to delve more into it. most of the research seems to be in UK though. am looking for some in Aus

wow. I went to Grayson Perry's "My Pretty Little Art Career" exhibition at the MCA today. he's so prolific! and varied. there were pots/ceramics, paintings, tapestries, a digital room with interactive displays and screens plus his books and many others on ceramics etc., films, interviews, sculptures. I hadn't seen his pots up close before - only images on occasion. I was thinking how great an example of collage they are - he has text, paintings, photographs, tradition patterning, modern styles mixed with the older styles. so layered! I was getting dizzy just walking around each one to see everything, and I think I missed looking at everything in detail and will need to go back again once I read through the catalog. loved the tapestries - the large ones were there - taking up long walls, and filling the room. such bright colours. I saw the ones from his tv series on social classes. my favourite was marked as a hand-embroidered piece, "Britain is Best", which is quite substantial. so many French knots! and so neatly stitched. perfect rows. I also loved seeing some of the pages of his sketchbooks which were on display. I wish I could have seen more of these. he really seems to think in pictures, and add text notes, rather than making text notes with added images. it was great to see the preliminary sketches / ideas dump for one of the tapestries (from the tv series).

first up, I need to research artists from a set list for my first assignment, which is a project involving a Cardboard Box. the artists I have chosen are Zimoun, Tara Donovan and El Anatsui. they all either work with cardboard, or other found materials to create interesting and thought provoking work. I only need to research 2 of these artists. so far I've spent most of the time on Zimoun.

as part of the work on my "bee" theme, and as part of the closing assignment for "Year of the Fairy Tale" illustration class I've been taking this year, to learn more painting techniques, I'm doing an illustration for a Fairy Land zine on magic animals. of course I chose the bee. but as "bee" was already taken, I decided to be more specific and chose the "Australian sugarbag bee" aka Tetragonula Carbonaria bee, which is one of the native bees of Australia. this is a stingless bee, though it can give you a bite instead.

collating info here about the sugarbag bee as part of my research. another Australian bee I like is the blue-banded bee. there are a number of coloured bees native to Australia, which are different to the introduced yellow coloured honey bee that everyone is used to seeing.

for the illustrated page, I need to write a line about why this is a magic sugarbag bee, and draw a matching picture.

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Australian bee websites:

Sugarbag Bees blog http://www.sugarbag.net

Sugarbag Bees facebook page https://www.facebook.com/sugarbagbees

Aussie Bee http://www.aussiebee.com.au

Kin Kin Native Bees http://www.nativebees.com.au

yesterday, we went to the Piranesi exhibition at the State Library of Victoria. his work was amazing! such fine detail in his etchings and prints. there were around 100 works on display, but i found that I was transfixed by the close-up detail of his mark making in the works. when he was younger, the prints were lighter and later in his life he ran his own printmaking business and developed darker, denser prints of imaginative buildings, street scenes and maps. the exhibition included his visions of Rome etchings. most of the buildings did not actually exist outside his mind and works — they are imaginary buildings and cities. he showed amazing skill with depth of vision, fine detail in the clouds and architectural designs and showing darkness and light in the images. Giovanni Battista Piranesi lived from 1720-1778. a statement reported by one of his early biographers, via his Met Museum article shows his love for imaginary architecture:

"I need to produce great ideas, and I believe that if I were commissioned to design a new universe, I would be mad enough to undertake it."

I tried drawing some of the marks in my notebook but found the pen i was using didn't give me enough variation in the lightness and darkness of the lines.