Fine art contextual research

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Barbara Rae

Barbara Rea, born 1943 in Falkirk, Scotland is a painter and printmaker. Rae’s artwork is very interesting due to the technique in how she paints. Using both pattern and structure, the painting can be made up of different layers and sections which all work together to create a composition. Barbara Rae is able to use a single brush stroke or one fluid motion in order to convey an image, using minimalistic details to create a painting. 

Things that interested me with Rae was how she uses block colours and lines to create an interesting outcome which doesn’t include much detail, however is still recognisable for that it is supposed to be. When looking at the painting named “shoreline”, it is recognisable as a shoreline yet it does not possess any details that would make you recognise it initially which I think is very clever. When looking more closely at the painting, it starts to become clearer what you can see. Seeing things like a moon and mountains in the background and a sea line in front. Overall I like how she uses a simple way in applying the paint for it to become an extremely smart and abstract painting. 

Fine Art contextual research

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Frank Auerbach

Frank Auerbach was born 1931 in Berlin, however he moved to London in 10 47 as a refugee from the Nazi’s. He is an extremely interesting artist due to techniques in how he paints as it is explained that doesn’t visualise his painting before he begins, painting over previous artworks and even scraping the paintings off and restarting as it is not how he wants it to look, eventually having numerous amounts of paintings before he settles on one that looks right to him.

Things that interested me with Auerbach was ways in which he painted portraits. Not doing it in one sitting, Auerbach wanted to capture the change in people as they aged or how they looked different to every sitting. For example, when painting Estella Olive West (actress), it took 23 years of painting before completing the portrait with regular sittings. Despite the portrait looking very blurry and general, this painting was completed in 70 sittings and each sitting he painted a new portrait on top of the last one, having the final outcome be accumulated of his perspective over a period of time. Overall I think it’s very interesting and clever way of painting as its very different and is an interesting take on perspective. 

Fine Art contextual research

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Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse was born on December 31, 1869 in Bohain-en-Vermandois in Northern France. He is recognised as one of the Mose influential artists of the 20th century and he is most recognised for his use of colour and exaggerated forms. His subject matter is usually very traditional, painting things like nudes, figures in landscapes, interior views and portraiture. Matisse also created sculpture, printmaking and paper cutouts to make art. 

Matisse created artwork in the style of Fauvism, an art movement which he was the leading figure of. A famous painting of his in that style that I looked at was “Le Bonheur De Vivre” which was painted in 1906. This painting was seen as one of the most radical paintings of that time. It shows several naked men and women within a landscape of vivid colour. When looking at the painting I think it’s very interesting how he paints. His use of very saturated colour allows for everything to stand out in the same manner. The perspective in which he painted is interesting as well. Looking at the painting, all the people on the right side of the painting seem a lot closer in scale compared to res on the left, giving it an interesting new take on perspective for me personally as i would initially see the people at the front of the painting to be closer rather than it being staggered. Overall I really like how he uses the bright colours and even the line work around the figures is very interesting. 

Charcoal drawings

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I initially done some drawings of my photos of boats however I thought the nature photos worked better as the boat images were very general due to limited access

  

Ink
Ink and acrylic

Innovation/ provocation

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Pablo Picasso

Creating a brand new way of making art, Picasso’s style of painting uses the term innovation in a new way. In 1907/08, Picasso (as well as Braque) created the style of cubism in order to make their artwork. Using oil paint, Picasso created a painting named “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (the young ladies of Avignon) in the style of cubism; making the style of the painting innovative rather then the painting itself as the style was created by Picasso.

I have linked this piece of art to my chosen subject painting. Firstly, the painting itself was created in 1907 yet there was an issue with the painting when Picasso showed it to other artists or friends as there was a sense of provocation when the artwork was seen. It sparked talks as the painting depicts prostitutes in sexual postures, simplified down to a 2D painting made up of geometrical shapes. Which I found very interesting as the innovative way of creating this painting in the new way of cubism, created a lot of talk amongst people which resulted in the painting not being exhibited until 1916. 

When looking at the way he uses these geometrical shapes to create the people within the painting, it shows how important this new style of art would become as it portrays people in a completely new way that no artist had done before, making people identify what is happening in the image with a little more struggle. The fact that the translation and simplified version of naked women, even in a cartoon like manner, outlines how controversial it was as even though people weren’t looking at the real naked features of a woman, they still thought the painting was very risky. Which obviously was reflected through Picasso as he chose not to exhibit it until 1916.

Identity

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Allen Jones

In a painting by Allen Jones, he shows the blurred lines within gender. Using his art to create a message, his artwork highlights a nuanced aspect of gender while he also suggests there are aspects of the male and female in everyone.

Looking at the artwork I have chosen, I have linked it to painting. Looking at the name of the painting ‘Hermaphrodite’ (“an organism that possesses both male and female reproductive organs during its life”), initially showing the theme of combined or blurred genders. 

This artwork was published in 1963, making Jones 58 at time of publication, it is displayed in the Walker Art Gallery. Although there is no direct information on who the artwork was made for, Allen Jones art is always subject to discussion, creating artwork on controversial topics. Somewhat suggesting that his artwork is made for everyone in order to get his messages across and to create discussion. 

I think the way he uses abstract figures combined with bold colours and shapes expresses a joyful depiction of gender. The main aspect of the artwork that captures my eye is the fact the image isn’t initially what you view as it shows a messy blurred image, yet the more you study the image, it shows aspects of the two genders. In addition, the way he uses a bold black colour to separate the two genders while they are also very much intertwined, suggests the blurring in between them both, they are not two separate things yet more of one thing with characteristics of both. Overall showing identity and gender reimagined as one thing rather than two.