Half term has arrived and its time to get cracking! Still painting from observation and using a monochromatic palette, I produced a series of four paintings over the half term - of roses at different stages of decay, adding drips at the end, to give the appearence of fading away, looking ephemeral as it could go at any time; much like life. The aim of my artwork is to allow the viewer to contemplate death, using the beauty of a white rose as a metaphor to life, representing ourselves in the artwork, helping us to come to terms with the inevitability of death. Helping the viewer to not fear death or see it as a taboo. As the rose dies the viewer may connect with this and accept and acknowlegde that their fate is the same and theres nothing wrong with that. Once a death occurs; a new life begins.
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Making work on a larger scale! Using cardboard, masking tape and gum tape.
Before I made a large version of this sculpture using wire mesh and mod-rock, I made a mini version to test its stability and overall aesthetic. Using the sheets of wire mesh, I cut out three separate flower shapes using wire cutters and made three separate 3-Dimensional forms, with each one I covered with a layer of mod rock strips that moulded over the wire. I then stuck the three together to take the form of a rose. I like how it turned out looking like a rose captured in time - never ageing and never dying, but I'm still debating whether this would work large scale as the maquette wasn't 100% stable and was quite wobbly - doing this large scale could arise issues with health and safety considering it will be around lots of people at the end of year show. So this is something I need to consider. The size of this piece is approximately 1ft by 1ft and if i go ahead and do it large scale it will be around 3-4ft big.
As I've started to produce some large paintings of roses, I came across this artist in my Nature Morte - Contemporary artists reinvigorate the still life tradition book. "His roses in full bloom speak the youth, love and loss, as well as the immanence of death… the petals of the rose are linked to the eyelids of the sleeper and the permanent sleep that death ordains." I connected to this artist straight away as he uses the technique of dripping the paint, as the rose is melting, appearing as though its dying, as I do in my paintings. His paintings are also large scale, which is something I'm perusing! images from: http://artobserved.com/2009/03/go-see-cy-twombly-the-rose-at-gagosian-gallery-london-through-may-9th-2009/
Moving onto my next painting I kept in my mind to have the rose as a solid form this time round. So, painting from observation, I started with the black paint and added the white after and then adding the drips at the end to create the effect of melting/fading away. Life passing us by - fading away. I think this one was a lot more successful then the last - very bold and aesthetically appealing. I think it portrays my message a lot clearer, eventually all living things will die, its inevitable, which is why I like that it looks like its melting. However next time I'd like to add more detail just to see how it looks.
Before making any large sculptures, I wanted to make mini versions to see how they would look, how they would work and how they stood in a space. This one is made out of card, to resemble the large sculpture I plan to do out of cardboard. Overall I like how it looks, looking how I wanted. However I feel as though doing it with cardboard will appear more organic and natural rather then forced as you will be able to see where I've manipulated the material, through the rips and creases.
FORENSICS - ANATOMY OF TIME
This exhibition explores the history, science and art of forensic medicine. It travels from crime scene to courtroom, across centuries and continents, exploring the specialisms of those involved in the process of collecting, analysing and presenting medical evidence. It investigates violent crimes, and our enduring cultural fascination with death and detection. This is why I chose to go to this exhibition as it allowed me to investigate and gather knowledge on attitudes towards death across centuries and cultures, was well as from a different perspective. I went with my older sister; partly because I wanted to see her reaction to the information and sometimes gory images of the dead, alongside the reactions to the other people in the room, as well as my own reaction. It was fascinating to see such a wide range of techniques demonstrated in this exhibit including film, installation, art, photography as well as a museum layout of different instruments used with the dead; both on the scene and in the mortuary, and seeing how they've advanced through the centuries. To my surprise many people had a look of great concentration and fascination to the information they were reading, not finding it morbid at all. However when it came to the photography and artwork of the deceased people, including my sister, almost seemed to wince at the sight of a dead body in such detail before their eyes. Even though this is something that will happen to each and every one of them. So it became clear to me that whilst reading facts and figures about death, they were fine about it, but when it came down to the reality of death in front of them - they almost rejected it as an unpleasant sight that they shouldn't have to look at and move quickly past it. Thats why I feel to get the message of death across to my viewer, even if subconsciously, I will use a subtle message of a white rose decaying to indicate the passing of time, without upsetting anyone in the process. Recently researched this artist! Love her work so much, she creates floral sculptures that are often blanched/faded, enacting the theme of lives transience that underpins the vanitas still lives. She stains the paper with blood, tea, coffee and oasis to produce an almost unsettling atmosphere looking like bouquets at a funeral. Which is her aim, to explore how we choose to deal, both publicly and privately with a death of a loved one.
Using a monochromatic palette with emulsion paints, from observations of a rose. To begin with I outlined the rose using black emulsion on a 3ft by 4ft piece of brown paper, as I was applying the paint thickly, it began to drip down the canvas - almost as though it was melting away into nothingness, much like life fading away and eventually ending in the inevitability of death. However I feel as though something was missing in the piece, so I gathered a mini group critique to see what I could do to make it better - the general consensus was to add white and fill in the gaps. After adding the white to the painting I feel as though it looks a lot better - creating an interesting aesthetic with regards to the way the white and black drips mix together to create a marble effect. However next time I will fill in the gaps to create a solid form as I feel it will look better.
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Ellen HardyThis blog will outline my ongoing artistic practice throughout my second&third year at university. Archives
March 2016
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