PORTFOLIO
JASPER ISAIAH MARLEY STINCHCOMBE
Introduction
Throughout
the process of creating my work, I spend a great deal of time and energy
focusing on subjects that captivate my interest and inspire striking and
revealing feelings.
I have found portraits to be particularly
interesting because of the structure of a person’s face and body and the wide
range of emotions that these can exhibit, revealinga subject’s inner character
from their external features alone. From just the stance and facial expression,
one can learn whether the subject is (and/or the artist considers him/her to
be) kind, hard or just plain dull. I have a deep interest in the way an artist
interprets reality and I am fascinated by how the artist demonstrates the
impact the muse or model has had on them. This process elevates the work from
being just a copy of a person’s image toan image entirely of its own.
My latest work was a series of
David Bowie portraits. I have always loved painting pictures of musicians and
actors who interest me. In particular, and having studied the work of Warhol, I
became interested not so much in how
figures become iconic, but why such
figures are iconic. Frequently the answer to that question is the artwork
itself. Painting Bowie, I wanted to explore the use of vivid colours and the
application of those colours by way of a palate knife. I normally only ever
paint using every-day colours and with brushes,but I wanted to expand and be
brave with something alien to me – an approach which seemed peculiarly apt for
the man who fell to earth.
Oil Painting – David Bowie – series- 16 inches by 20
inches each.
I particularly wanted to practice
a series of Bowie portraits because I admire how he confronts‘the third album
syndrome’. (After writing his/her first album, full of angry and inspiring
material, the musician must now write his/her second album when he/she is no
longer an amateur but a professional, navigating the fine line between stagnant
repetition and alienation of one’s original audience.) Bowie ingeniously
sidesteps this issue by reinventing himself every three years or so. This keeps
his music fresh and continually intrigues his fans. ‘The third album syndrome’
cannot touch Bowie because his work and image is in a state of constant change. There are lessons to be learnt from that in
all forms of art, which is one of the ideas explored below.
Grandfather
For
my final piece in my art exam, I chose to paint a picture of my grandfather which
was deliberately half-finished.The title of my project was ‘Outside, Inside and
In-between’ and examined, in part, how apainting constantly develops and
changes. The only way you can achieve a completed image is through repeatedly destroying
the original images and making them ‘extinct’. This process, though creative,
is tinged with irony. With each new stroke
of the brush, shapes and forms, images and compositions, are irrevocably lost
forever (like the cover piece). I wanted to dedicate one piece to the
rediscovery of this ‘lost art’, revealing how even unfinished paintings can be
beautiful.Another painting I did in the ‘Outdoors, Indoors and In-between’ project
was a secondpainting of my grandfather (below), this time made from 24
individual plates with different parts of his face painted on each slide. These
could be rearranged in such a way as to produce multiple images. I had to have
the frame specially built to execute the picture I had in mind.
Acrylic Painting – Grandfather
Puzzle Painting original – 48 inches by 48
inches
This allows the
viewer to interact with the canvas and create his own abstract image;
‘Do-It-Yourself Cubism’ as my father accurately, if a little tongue-in-cheek,
noted. I wanted to explore how abstract artists reduce the human face to its
core elements – the nose, the eyes and so on – and by rearranging them produce
such potency in their work. When I considered how to go about it, I came across
the artist Damien Hirst and his interest in simple children’s toys with
removable parts. This led me to conceive
of a piece modelled on 2d puzzle toys.
Acrylic Painting – Grandfather
Puzzle Painting shuffled – 48 inches by 48
inches
I enjoyed this
method of composing abstract pictures as it gave structure and discipline to
the production of complementary studies, allowing the different parts of the
body or face to stay in proportion – which of course is not essential to the
genre, but something I personally like to maintain in my own style – whilst
also allowing combinations of the facial features to fit together in ways I
probably wouldnot have normally considered. Moreover, the sheer number of images which can
be created from the same base is astonishing, reflective of the myriad ways in
which an individual face expresses itself, all different but undeniably the
same person.
I like the whole
concept of interactive art: key to creating a piece of art is the interrelation
between artist and viewer; and yet too often the viewer is an impassive
observer of the piece. By involving the
viewer in the creative process, this relationship can be deepened, made more
intimate and active, whilst maintaining the distinction between artist and
spectator.
Having arranged
the slides in various ways, the 24-panel ‘Do-it-yourself Cubism’ portrait I did
of my grandfather inspired a series of sketches.
The
proportional nature of the rearranged painting in its various incarnations was,
as I have already suggested, was particularly enjoyable for me – permitting me
to be creative but within certain, albeit unconventional, ‘rules’, tethering
unreality to reality. This enjoyment was enhanced when drawing abstract images
from the physically rearranged original. The structure helped to clarify my
reproductions of the carefully constructed compositions, whilst the facility to
reinterpret them in free-hand
allowed me, as artist, to
re-engage creatively with the manipulated image.
Abstract
Drawing A4 1 Abstract Drawing A4 2
Abstract Drawing A4 3
Christ
In
my work ‘Outside, Inside and In-between’, I also explored the Crucifixion of Christ,
being such an iconic and vivid scene between life and death. I produced two
pictures. In both, Christ is on a hill
in front of his city with two robbers on either side of him. In the first of
these two pieces, the robber on his right has his head looking down at the
city, as if showing his contempt for it, or civilisation, had let him down. To
his left is a faceless man, perhaps reflecting the unimportance of his role in
the story as well as the unimportance of many who are dragged into the middle
of historical events. Behind Christ, the sky shows rays of sunlight and beauty
which reflects the divinity or wonder of Christ and his legacy.
Oil Painting - Christ 1 – 31 inchces by 39
inches Acrylic Painting – Christ 2 – 24 inches by 30
inches
In the second piece, I wanted to
add the feeling of the stage and so I painted the background in as plain a form
as I could. I kept Christ as the focal point of the piece, with light beaming
from His hands and head – suggesting His being the light of the world. The
criminal to His left was intended to appear like a victim of the holocaust. He
manifests the misery and trouble that had faced the Jewish race in the Second
World War and is a symbol of humankind’s cannibalistic tendency to destroy
itself because of faith. I felt it
important to explore the conception of Jesus as the only hope of salvation for
us. PerhapsHe acts as a release from this tendency?Or perhaps His life reflects
yet another example of it?The purpose of the pictures is to highlight this
ambiguity.
No Exit
No Exit - Series No
Exit – Sketch A4
During the course of this
project, I looked into the genre of abstract artwork with a focus on artists
such as Bacon, Picasso and Matisse; the first two playing a pretty direct role
and the latter a somewhat more reflective one.Having begun the project with a
theatrical crucifixion of Christ, I turned my attention directly to the stage.
I paid particular attention to how a director and his/her actors manage to
bring a story from a writer’s mind onto that stage and, in so doing, arouse in
the audience a feeling of authenticity, rather than an artificial and unreal
carry-on.
One play I have come to really
admire is ‘No Exit’ by Jean-Paul Sartre. In it, three main characters describe
to one another the vivid and dark stories that explain how they came to be in a
room together. Within this room, there are no mirrors; only paintings. This room,
we soon learn, is Hell. Notwithstanding this absurd proposition (how on earth
could such a room be Hell!?) it provides the perfect backdrop for artistic
exploration. I wanted to recreate the story each character describes. The
paintings could then reflect what no mirror could.
Estelle Rigault, one of the
play’s characters, is a high-society woman, married to a wealthy older man. She
has an affair with a younger man. To her, the affair was nothing more than a
fling (possibly why she never mentions his name). He, on the other hand, is
desperately in love with her. He insists she carry their child when she falls
pregnant. Estelle is distraught by this turn of events. I portrayed her
standing on her balcony above a river with ripples spreading on the water, just
as she has thrown her new born daughter into the depths below. Below her, on
the street behind the river, lies her lover, dead. He has shot himself in the
head and she walks by indifferently to her hotel room, a first class ticket to
Paris in her hand.This play is about the abstraction of human nature. Abstract
portraiture thus jumped out as the ideal genre for executing these pieces. The
characters reveal insights concerning the oft- overlooked darker elements of
human nature. These include the denial of one’s sins; the desire to hurt those
who remind us of our sins; and the projection, to others but more importantly
to ourselves, of the more palatable version of one’s identity.
I speak of human nature being
abstract because, as Lucian Freud puts it: ‘The
longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically,
the more real.’ It is both appropriate and ironic, therefore,that I took
inspiration from Francis Bacon in drawing the character Estelle. He has been
described as an Existentialist. Unlike Sartre, however, Bacon does not tell
stories but instead presents ‘nothing but what [the viewer] chooses to read
into it…’
The Death of Brian Jones
Oil Painting - The
Death of Brian Jones – 40 inches by 50 inches
One period of art which intrigues me is the
pre-Raphelite period, rejecting what is known as the mechanistic approach and
attempting to rediscover the more elegant and classical poses, with much
attention paid to the subject of death. One painting I took a great deal of
inspiration from was ‘The Death of Chatterton’ by Henri Wallis which depicted
the mysterious end of the poet Chatterton. What impressed me about this
painting was Wallis’ ability to portray the death of a young and promising man
so elegantly, whilst managing to incorporate elements and ideas core to the
poet’s own work and managing to do justice to the most significant moment in
Chatterton’s all-too-short life in so doing.
I wanted to replicate this idea in a modern form and
picked a figure who is noted not only for his untimely end but for the beauty
and wonder of his life’s work. The figure I chose was Brian Jones, as he
is remembered not only for being the founding member of The Rolling Stones and
a symbol of a generation’s musical taste and fashion style, but for the
mysterious end of his life. It is still unknown what really killed him:
misadventure, drug overdose, suicide or murder. Originally I wanted Jones (portrayed
by my brother when I drew the picture) to have just been pulled out of the pool
with his girlfriend Anna (portrayed by my sister) resuscitating him, with Jones’
friend Frank Thorogood holding Jones by the neck (as some theories suggest
Frank murdered Jones). Unfortunately, I couldn’t find someone to play the latter
role.
Instead, therefore, I chose to
have Jones’ hand clenched; his girlfriend Anna claimed in her statement that
she could hear a pulse when she found Jones floating in his pool and I felt
this device sufficiently indicated this.
Acrylic Painting -
Brian Jones: Lazy Sunday Afternoon – 31 inches by 39 inches
The painting ‘Lazy Sunday
Afternoon’ was intended as a response to,as well as precursor of, the first
piece – showing the hedonism of Jones’ nature, but without the darkness. These
two paintings effectively represent his last performance.
Overleafare
some of a series of preliminary sketches I drew before the final painting. They
would, in due course,be relied on as reference points for the finished work. For
me, this figurative painting required a different method of preparation to an
abstract equivalent, reflecting how different the two art styles are. Abstract
paintings do not require studies. That is not to say that one must avoid
studies when producing abstract pieces. Instead, I mean to say that the
relationship between abstract painting and abstract sketch is far more fluid
than its figurative counterpart. Bacon himself stated in an interview that he
would always paint straight onto the canvas. Any finished piece derived from
earlier sketches and studies, he reasoned, would simply be illustrations rather
than honest representations of the idea that inspired the completed painting. I
made a number of sketches intended to identify which position best suited the
impression I was trying to create.
The Death of Brian Jones 1- A4 The Death of Brian Jones 2 - A4
Most of the studies experimented
with different compositions for the final piece. However, during the process I did not always
have a second model to work with. Accordingly, I tried alternative compositions
with a single model. Some of these
(above right and below overleaf) depictedJones suspended in water. So
suspended, there is a suggestion, albeit tiny, of more than a motionless death, reflective
a little of life ended too early; missed opportunity; unmade music– all of
which, together with the unknown circumstances of Jones’ death, has made his
death as iconic as his life.
I may return to this theme later
in my artistic career – I am always filing away thoughts and ideas for future
work.
Realism/ Figurative
From the beginning of 2012,
I began to explore more classical artists such as Rembrandt, Velazquez, Turner
and Gainsborough. I wanted to develop my skills at producing realistic
portraits of sitters, more accurately reproducing the tones and texture of the
flesh. Models for my portraits came from various sources including my
friends, family and a local art society I belong to. In the second picture of
my father below, I was pressed for time due to his impatient character and
could only spend a tenth of the amount of time that I would have liked.
Ironically, though, what went through my mind as I was painting this was the
work of Lucian Freud who took his time with virtually all of his painting
(sometimes up to three years on a single piece). What reminded me of his work
was how the painting became a revealing, if not wholly generous, interpretation
of my father.
Oil Painting –
Father – 16 inches by 24 inches
Oil Painting – Father – 16 inches by 20 inches
The first painting of my father
was completed under less intense time conditions. During its progression, I had
the chance to concentrate on the smaller details such as the eyes and the pores
in his skin. What prompted this decision was a trip I took to the National
Portrait Gallery in London. I was greatly impressed by the many very accurate
portraits I saw and the degree of detail in their rendition. Hitherto, I had
barely noticed the intricacies of skin tone in my models and I took particular
note of the blue and green tones used in the construction of these remarkably
life-like faces. Seeing this triggered a fundamental alteration to my painting
style. Prior to this experience, I now realise, my style was rather lazy with
respect to how I applied paint. Due, perhaps, to an (inherited) impatient
nature, I tried to finish my paintings very quickly. When, however, I began to
paint this picture of my father, I made a conscious decision to take as much
time as I could in getting the details as accurate as possible.
In sketches of my father, I could
only capture his pose for twenty minutes or so. In these sketches my pencil
marks are blunt and harder than in my more delicate pieces. However, they are just as effective in
showing the character of the model (in my father’s case, his impatient
attitude).
Sketches of Models 1 – A4
Sketches of Models 2 – A4
As well as my father, I have
painted various members of my family, all of whom have been willing to pose for
me: my sister Yasmin – who has always been regarded as beautiful; and my
brother Zak – who brought my attention to musicians, how their music expresses
them, and how their sense of fashion and ability to control the stage makes
them both iconic and inspiring.
Some of these paintings are set
out below, including my first foray into painting on a large scale.
Acrylic Painting –
Brother (Zak) – 40 inches by 50 inches; Oil Painting – Portrait of Sister
(Yasmin) - 31 inches by 39 inches; Acrylic Painting – Brother (Zak) - 31inches by
39inches
The painting of my brother (40
inches by 50)was the first large scale painting I ever attempted. I was 14. My
main concern was with colour and how best to make it appealing to the viewer. I
paid particular attention to the tones and lighting on the guitar and the
wrinkles in the clothes. I was also concerned with the accuracy of the lines
and shapes. I was convinced that if I got even a single detail wrong it would
be marked against me and any viewer would focus purely on that single error.
However, the only very noticeable
mistake I made was with respect to the distance between my brother’s nose and
his upper lip. I have never forgiven myself for it. Despite this fault, after I
had finished the piece I knew that painting was something I wanted to take
seriously; something I wanted to do professionally.
It felt a little like the moment
that Wittgenstein came to Russell asking ‘Do you think I am a complete idiot or
not? If I am an idiot I will become an aeronaut, if I am not I will become a
philosopher.’ Russell asked him to write an essay on a philosophical subject
that Russell could then evaluate. After reading only one sentence of this
essay, Russell’s response was ‘No! You must not
become an Aeronaut!’ This painting is
comparable to Wittgenstein’s essay. If Wittgenstein is me, then my mentor, the
professional artist John Frederick Black, is Russell. It was John who told me ‘You are an artist’.
I have never stopped trying to prove him right.
Self-Portraits
I
normally try to avoid doing self-portraits as they can be a real struggle to
paint. You can spend a lifetime (and in fact we all do) studying yourself and
yet, through the subjective lens of personal perception, can never see the mirrored
image objectively, nor as impartially as any other face. We are all too well
aware that it is ourselves that we see - vanity or self-loathing, Adonis or
Hephaestus, staring back. One must guard against both self-aggrandisement andself–deprecation.
The artist must be honest – when painting yourself you must do so as honestly
as painting anyone else. Nonetheless I, like many other artists, paint myself
as I know it is one model’s face that is always there for me to work with when
all others cower under the floorboards.
Oil Painting – Self Portrait – 24 inches
by 30 inches
Oil
Painting - Self-portrait - 30 inches by 24
inches
In
the first self-portrait above, I portrayed myself drunk in a bathtub with a
large glass by my head and an odd looking bottle in my hand. These elements are
intended to evoke a discombobulated feeling when viewing the picture, almost as
if the viewer is drunk too. I did not want the painting to show my character as
such, but the kindness of others to me. I do not drink very often, and when I do it
will be social rather than solitary. On occasion, however, I have overdone it. When
I have, someone has been good enough to take me away and protectme while I
sober up. Though the painting could be interpreted as the depiction of a lonely
drunk, what I am really trying to capture is the kindness of a friend who has
put me in the bath to help me recover when I have somewhat let myself down. It is a painting about care, not solitude. In the second self-portrait above I am
experimenting a little with linear background and colour, as in the
self-portrait below – albeit for very different reasons.
Acrylic-
Self-portrait – 16 inches by 24 inches
In particular the self-portrait above was conceived
by rather novel means. I first photographed myself with an infra-red camera and
was particularly interested by the swirls of heat emanating from the light
fixtures. I realised that I could literally paint temperature, depict the
unseen but felt. The contrast between the gentle warmth of the light bulbs and
the icy coolness of my face and hands was just too interesting not to be at
least attempted. I am rather happy with the finished product.
Icons and Altered Images
The
genre I experimented with when I first began to paint and take art seriously
was Pop Art. I painted celebrities primarily out of curiosity. What, for
example, makes something everlasting? Why do people feel the need to keep
something alive despite the fact that it fulfils very little? These questions
sparked my interest in Warhol. I liked how he went about taking well-known but
transient figures and transforming them into his own artwork that would last
forever. I was also intrigued by how one makes an image everlasting by making
many copies or versions of it –repeat images, as it were – and getting as many
people to understand and recognise it as possible.
I
admired Warhol’s view that anything could be art. It seemed a very optimistic insight
into human society. Wherever you go you see advertisements which have been
deliberately designed to meet the imagined needs of its target market. One is
surrounded by attractive colours and shapes. Though advertising is largely
motivated by capitalist nonsense, and an attempt to sell what we neither need
nor particularly want, its effectiveness demonstrates the human capacity for
aesthetic judgment. It is what makes humankind unique: the need to be
surrounded by creativity and innovation. Though one could – and perhaps should
– be pessimistic about the manipulation of this need, the need itself could –
and perhaps should – be celebrated.
A
piece I am particularly proud of is a painting I did for my sister of Marilyn
Monroe. Inspired by Warhol, I printed an iconic picture from a near empty ink
cartridge, resulting in altered images which I further transformed into acrylic
paintings. "Marilyn", was exhibited and reviewed. I had
"captured her tortured beauty, the pain burned into canvas like corrupted
film".
Acrylic
Painting – Marilyn– 19 inches by 24 inches
I
repeated this technique several times, including with Audrey Hepburn.
Acrylic Painting - Audrey Hepburn - 19
inches by 24 inches
Literature and Art : Orwell
I did a project entitled ‘Art and
Literature’, in which George Orwell figured extensively. Orwell has always been
a great influence, not only as a writer but also as an iconic figure in
politics. From reading a few of his books and essays I gained awareness of how
a person’s art (in this case, literature) could identify them to everyone in
the years to come. This led me to try and portray him in various ways to show
how his work and writing really does define him.
Oil Painting –
Orwell as Big Brother – 24 inches by 30 inches
I am most proud of the above piece
because it manages to tick all the boxes I had set myself. First and foremost I
wanted it to look like a realistic portrait of George Orwell. Second, I wanted
the words and the image to dovetail nicely.Third, I wanted to use Orwell as the
face of Big Brother - not only because Orwell’s appearance matches his
description of Big Brother’s, but also because Big Brother’s Oceania is
Orwell’s creation; like Big Brother, Orwell knows all. Fourth, I hoped that Orwell’s
ambiguous expression would be noticeable in the painting. You cannot be sure if
he expresses anger or sadness. Perhaps he is angry with humanity and its
trajectory; perhaps he is sad that it does not seem to care. I think my
intention is best summarised by Orwell himself: ‘If you want a picture of the
future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever! The moral to this
horrific story is a simple one, don’t let it happen, the choice is up to you.’
As well as an oil painting, I
developed a series of blocked portraits of Orwell. I used his own writings to
build up a portrait of his face in an attempt to represent how they define him
both physically and in the common imagination. One is shown below; others were
done in relief.
Orwell Essay Print –
A3 size
My work on the topic of writers
and literature led to my final piece on Orwell, in which I wanted to combine my
initial ideas, embodying the poetry and power that the author creates with his
writing. I chose the novel ‘1984’ as my literary starting point. I used various
images which represent the key points referred to in the book, such as: how
2+2=5; the party’s slogans ‘War is Peace’, ‘Freedom is Slavery’ and ‘Ignorance
is Strength’; and how Big Brother must be loved, not simply obeyed. I used
Orwell as the face of Big Brother as I wanted to marry the author to the image.
While the motifs ground the characters in the dystopian landscape, the scene
itself depicts the crux of the story and the point of the novel. While the
party exists to control society, Winston Smith rebels against it in the most human
and significant form, being in love. If Winston loves something other than Big Brother, then the whole
mechanism of governance that Big Brother embodies is fundamentally undermined.In
the final piece I wanted, also, to play with lines and angles rather than apply
ordinary rule of perspective, and make prominent my original poster image,
almost like a pop-up, to reflect the transitions from Stalinism to the modern
world of computerised globalism.
1984 - Sketch - A3 1984
- Final Oil Painting -31 inches by 39 inches
What Inspires Me
I undertook a project on ‘What Inspires
Me’. Some of the work, on my family and musicians,
has been seen already. Predictably,
however, one of the principal sources of inspiration has always been other
artists.
Masking Fluid/
Watercolours – Francis Bacon – Lucian Freud – Pablo Picasso – Salvador Dali –
A4
Towards
the end of a project on ‘What Inspires Me’, I felt the need to try and drift
away from the ‘realism’ of my older pieces and try more loose and unpredictable
pieces.I looked towards different forms of mono-printing, a method by which I
remained in control whilst injecting the piece with an element of
unpredictability. I explored a number of techniques and found masking fluid to
create the effect I was after. In producing a piece, I first drew the outline
of the person’s portrait and then began to apply a layer of masking fluid over
the different details. I then waited for it to dry and applied water colour (I
chose to use vivid and vibrant pastel colours). After the water colour dried, I
then peeled away the masking.
I thought the
overall effect was deeply expressive and bold, perhaps because it demonstrated
what I think Francis Bacon was trying to explore in his own work; how you
produce the most imaginative images by relying on the chaos of randomness (such
as splashes of paint and allowing the unconscious part of your creative mind to
take hold). I was excited and intrigued by the limited amount of control you
needed to make it your own, as well as the instinct to tell you if the piece
was worthwhile or not, and when you could call it finished. (I could not help but note, however, that
this was very unlike my friend and art mentor, John Frederick Black, who
instead relies on his wife Diane to tell him when a painting is finished). As
this particular project dealt with inspiration and this new method was rather
abstract, I wanted to do pictures of certain artists who are widely regarded as
being masters of painting, but are also noted for their more unusual and
non-realistic approach to painting. I wanted to create a series of pieces which
were not only dedicated to brilliant artists but captured a small essence of
their eccentric nature.As already noted, I enjoy being able to paint iconic men
and women of letters; with particular attention paid to the disciplines of psychology,
philosophy and literature. In the piece below of Sigmund Freud, I was
interested in how his ideas of the ego, super ego, id, parental authority,
sexual development, dream analysis and ego defence are related to the natural
world and reality. Linking ideas of philosophy to his own discipline of psychology,
I chose to portray Freud as a caricature because of a philosophical misconception. In particular, a common and misleading
overview of philosophy is that it is a study exclusively of the metaphysical.
Actually, the crux of philosophy is its study of the fundamental laws of
reality and logic. In this portrait of Freud I was interested in rebelling
against the need to paint him in a realistic way and concentrated instead on
painting him as a caricature, but on a much larger scale than usual.
Oil - Aldous Huxley
– 31 inches by 39 inches Acrylics –
Sigmund Freud – 40 inches by 50 inches
Caricature has its place in
figurative art and portraiture. Indeed,
in most of my portraits, such as of Freud and Huxley above and Mick Jagger and
Keith Richards below, I am interested in capturing their defining
characteristics, such as Huxley’s strong stance (which could demonstrate his
strong belief) or the Stones’ theatrical stage-show imagery.
Acrylic Painting –
Liam Gallagher – 30 inches by 20 inches; Acrylic Painting – Billy Bragg -
A4;
Oil
Painting – The Glimmer Twins – 31 inches by 39 inches
Oil Painting - Keith
Richards – 16 inches by 20 inches; Acrylic Painting – Keith Richards – 24
inches by 36 inches
There is a story to be told about
the above paintings ofKeith Richards. When I was still working primarily with
acrylics, I decided to practice using oils to see what effects could be
produced. I found, at first it, a difficult transition, but gradually I
uncovered a preference for oils. I liked how, with oils, the colours were able
to mix and provide a broader colour palate than was available with acrylics. I
also found it easier to work with textures and tones when working with oils.
The above (left) portrait of Richards marked an important period in my artistic
development. In particular, when I first
began Pop Art, I focused on blocked colours and paid little attention to
texture. Aware of this trend, I knew I needed to begin practicing and so looked
for figures and models with aged appearances. This allowed me to develop the
skills needed to paint the wrinkles and various other facial nuances. Keith
Richards proved an excellent source of material to practice with. Nonetheless, while colour and texture play a
significant role in all art, the shapes and lines of an image remain essential
to capturing the subject’s appearance – one need only consider the drawing of
James Joyce by Augustus Johns which is produced by 40 pencil marks and a smudge
of graphite from the artist’s finger. In the portraits above ofLiam Gallagher
and Billy Bragg, I explored this observation and used simple lines and an
absence of colour to create instantly recognisable pieces.
Collages
As Freud and Bacon, Jonathan Yeo has been very influential. In particular, his collages of such political figures as George Bush – constructed from pornographic clippings – has had a profound effect on me, partly because Bush’s right ear, on closer inspection, is actually a woman performing fellatio. (No doubt Cameron deserves similar depiction at some stage – I have a few ideas myself!)However, there is more to my admiration of Yeo’s work than its impressively satirical nature. Yeo has ingeniously pinpointed the correct media for such a piece. Pornographic images are ideal for producing portrait collages; they provide a greater breadth of fleshy tones than any other magazine type. However, there is one recommendation Yeo makes, and I have to agree with him: one should avoid like the plague expensively produced pornography, filled with airbrushed models covered in fake tan. All you are going to get is a disjointed amalgam of indistinguishable orange tones.Despite my appreciation of Yeo’s creative decision, I did not use pornographic cuttings for my own collages. The idea had already been done and to do so would have been derivative rather than innovative. I scoured rather less inflammatory material with great care and particularly enjoyed the challenge of melding skin tones without the comfort of working with paints. Though the process of creating a collage is similar to the fine-tuning of the model’s complexion with paint, the selection of tones is very different from one media to the other; one must be very exact when choosing the particular skin tones for a collage as one does not have the luxury of refining those tones with a brush.
The material I used for my collages came from a variety of sources. I
mainly used skin from faces, but for the smaller details like wrinkles on the
forehead, or curves round the nose, I used legs, shoulders and fingers. All of
these are joints. This allowed me to accentuate the characteristics of the face.
For Einstein, whose hair comes from the beards of dwarves on posters
for the Lord of the Rings film, I chose the iconic image of him with his tongue
out. There is something exciting about his almost insane expression and the
choice of this image was not difficult. However, I chose Einstein as the
subject matter for slightly different reasons than is usual when making
artistic selections. A fellow class mate suggested that I had been playing safe
– picking plain faces and flat expressions. Taking her advice on board, I chose
to rectify this perceived reluctance to challenge myself in this media. It
cannot be denied that by playing safe in any field, be it scientific or
artistic, respectability and proficiency come to the fore. Any work which sets
strict boundaries will always have the veneer of quality. But almost invariably
that is all it amounts to – a veneer. Warhol understood the human
susceptibility to gloss and exploited it expertly. In Einstein, one sees the
same understanding, but instead of embracing it he wholeheartedly rejected it.
For my part, despite my peer’s perception, I have no time for ‘safe’ art. It
suggests tight borders; a fear of making mistakes. Einstein, better than almost
anyone in history, understood and revelled in the uncertainty so important to
the creative process. The image of Einstein literally sticking his tongue out
at conformity expresses this perfectly. It made him the obvious (though not the
safe!) choice.
Mount Russianand More
Oil
Painting – Mount Russianand More (Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Obama and Marx) - 31
inches by 39 inches
Sculpture of Mount
Russian and More ( 12 inches x 12 inches x 18 inches (approx)
I enjoy inserting symbolism and
conceptual insights into my work because it gives me the chance to be creative
with all branches of what interests me, not just things within art. In the painting above, I have injected my
personal interests outside of the purely aesthetic by incorporating two
contrasting ideologies. The picture shows Mount Rushmore, which has long stood
as a monument to the success and determination of the American Revolution, the
belief in democracy, the uncompromising insistence on freedom of religion and
the right to freedom full stop. In the place of the familiar faces of
Washington, Roosevelt, Jefferson and Lincoln, however, I have chosen to depict
iconic Marxists. They too believed in rebelling against the higher forces which
threatened them as a people, but rejected democracy as a bourgeois system of
oppression. The communist system took its place. The two great pillars on which
modern civilisation are built are liberty and equality. Here, I have explored
the extremes on either side of this political issue.
What amuses me about this piece
is the unity of two revolutions that were for so long in irrevocable conflict.
To demonstrate the continued struggle people have for a Hegelian synthesis I
have included President Obama, as he tends to the left and has tried to voice
the ways of union, liberty and freedom whilst recognising the ills of absolute
freedom and the necessity to defend equality. It is also a satire of very right
wing Americans who absurdly label Obama a communist.
As a part of the progression of
my ‘Mount Russianand More’ painting, I developed a small sculpture made from
clay and mod rock. This allowed me to reflect the inspiration of the work,
people hewn from rock, and to explore the texture of clay and work with a 3d
media. I had a limited amount of time to get all four heads finished in time
and so they do not quite reach the standards I set myself. I did, however,
enjoy working with the media and was fairly pleased by the outcome of the
piece.
Drawings Portfolio
Almost all my sketches are done
on A4 sized pages using graphite pencils. My most recent sketch was
commissioned to me by a client. He was interested in a representation of an
iconic artist, with attention paid to drama and provocation. I drew Beethoven and
tried to capture the furious power and energy of his music. His passionate
appearance nicely reflects the raw energy of his music. This, as much as his
canon, inspired my choice of theme.
Beethoven – A4
Sketch
of Grandfather 1, Sketch of Grandfather 2, Sketch of Grandfather
3 – All A4
When sketching, I generally try
to concentrate on details and tones. Originally proportions and angles meant
very little to me, as I was only really interested in showing what impact the
subjects I was drawing had on me. But after numerous drawing sessions with the
Fellowship of Professional and Amateur Artists, I have honed my skills and
broadened my creative base. I have also had the opportunity to explore flesh;
nudity; flowers; and composition.
Drawing Nudes
Sketches
of Models 1– A4
Sketches of Models 2 – A4
Sketches
of Models 3 – A4
I
was noted in the drawing sessions for being able to produce sketches and
pictures at a fast pace – each completed drawing ranged between forty minutes
and an hour and a half. With each sketch, I concentrated on tones and textures
primarily, as well as the expressions of the model’s pose, posture and face. What
particularly impressed me about these sessions, even from an early age, and
seeing so many different depictions of the same subject by different artists, was
that each artist was reflecting a little of him or herself, whilst accurately
recreating the sitter.
Sketches
of Models 4; Sketches of Models 5;Sketches of Models 6;Sketches of Models 7– All A4
From Drawing Nudes to Painting Nudes
From seeing portraits by Yeo,
Freud, Schiele and various classical Greek and Renaissance painters, I became
very interested in the human form, both tonally and structurally. Thankfully, I
had a few friends who were happy enough to pose for me so I could make a number
of studies. The pieces overleafwere influenced by Freud. On the left, I tried
to focus on the sofa because it is a well noted Freudian motif. However, I left
the background blank so that the models would remain the focal point of the
painting. It was my first attempt to portray the human body, at least
partially, nude. On the right, is my
first experiment with an unfinished painting.
I intend to explore themes like
love and lust in greater detail within the foreseeable future.
Oil Paintings - Portraits of Friends - 31 inches by 39 inches
Gorg
I found a similar interest in
Gorg’s work. Whilst Bacon and Freud can be rather harsh in their execution of
nude sitters, Gorg’s style is characterised by delicate curves and gentle
watercolours. The women invariably strike elegant poses to help accentuate the
aforementioned characteristics. One sees an interesting analogue with Gorg’s
other notable interest – cellos and violins. The bodies of these instruments
mirror the beauty of the women’s body. Gorg constructs his paintings with
remarkable balance. Whilst the body is luxuriantly, almost decadently poised,
the faces tend to be muted, as if Gorg intends to articulate an effortless,
calm and understated beauty. I made a study of one of his pieces, in an attempt
to catch the luminous quality of his work.
Commissions
Like many art students, I have
occasionally managed to impress someone to such a degree thatthey ask me to do
a commission for them and, through commissions I raised money for my Gap Year in
South Africa, teaching art at the Lady Grey Arts Academy in Eastern Cape.
I have found, on occasion, commissions
to be very tricky.In particular, to take on the request and desires of another,
the ‘customer’
, rather than to follow one’s own
eye and instinct, requires an artist to paint whattheclient wantsto see in the
finished work, instead of how the artistsees the subject. Also, having someone
else choose the subject matter can take the artist into unfamiliar territory
and challenge his or her technique.
The pieces immediately below, for
instance, are of a client’s daughters.
The client, however, felt that
they did not capture their “nature” fully enough, by which he meant that they
were not as pretty as he (and they) wanted. (I, by the way, thought that they
were beautiful and ‘spirited’ just as I had painted them, showing what my inner
eye had seen. He requested that I lighten the colour of their skin and to give
the elder daughter a larger smile. For the younger girl, he asked me to soften
her cheeks to make her to look more childlike).
The revised portraits are
overleaf
So commissions involve compromise,
albeit (I hope) with artistic integrity intact. However, there are up-sides in
going beyond one’s comfort zone. For example, for a long time my brush strokes were
blunt and harsh, which meant that many of the more delicate surfaces appeared too
brutal. Having been commissioned to paint a client’s baby boy, I developed a
softer approach and, I believe, improved the playfulness of the picture. That new skill will now be transferable to
other paintings.
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