Kurt Wenner

I have decided to look up some other artist that can relate to my theme about environment, and I found an artist called Kurt Wenner, who does 3D pavement street art. The reason why I found this artist interesting, is the fact that he “blends in” his artwork with the environment around it, making his work look very realistic. Almost making it seem like what he has drawn is suppose to be there.

I feel like his work is related with environment so much, as his 3D “optical illusions” are something people don't expect to see in their every day life. Kurt Wenner is almost trying to brighten up the dull and lifeless surrounding, by creating something that people will be surprised and fascinated by, maybe even taken out of their comforting and safe day to day environment. However his work does give a very strong visual impression, especially knowing all of his work is done with chalk.

I may not be able to use the style of the artist and to street art on pavement, but I could try doing realistic 3D drawings of various objects relating to my theme.

Source http://kurtwenner.com/pavement_gallery_4.html

Joseph Mallord and Michel Keck work analysis

This is a painting created by an artist called Joseph Mallord, called “Norham Castle – Sunrise”. Created using oil on canvas in 1835-1840. The artist full name is Joseph Mallord William Turner, he was born in 1775, in London, England, however his exact date of birth is unsure. By the age of 15 Turner had one of his paintings exhibited at the Royal Art Academy. When he was 18 years old, he already had an art studio. By the age of 27 he had become an associate of the Royal Academy. The artist died in on the 9^th of December 1851 from a serious illness.

Thought his career, Turner used mediums such as watercolour, oil paint and prints. His oil paint technique was influenced by his watercolour paintings. His original style was created when he started using oil paint in a translucent manner, this technique created a similar effect to watercolour.

One of his works that I am studying (Norham Castle – Sunrise) is a landscape painting. The inspiration for this painting came to Turner, when he visited the Norham Castle, in 1797. However it was only almost 40 years later that this painting was created, along side other attempts of paintings and sketches to portrait the scenery he had seen there. This painting is said to have been “unfinished” but by Turner's perspective the one that represented that moment he had seen just as wanted. It is said that he was inspired by purple rocks, blue river pools, glittering trees and the endless hills.

Here are some of his other attempted paintings he had created of the sunrise by the castle(Norham Castle on the Tweed Sunrise and Norham Castle on the Tweed)

Looking at his other paintings it is very clear that in the very last painting Norham Castle – Sunrise, it's almost hard to tell what is being shown, as the whole image is quite blurred and unclear, nor is the castle visible at all, just the hill that it is suppose to be on and the river etc.

I think the reason his painting is so unclear, is because he isn't trying to focus on the castle or objects around it. Turner wanted for people to look at the painting and focus on the actual sunrise(sun rays at dawn) and that moment alone, gently outlining the nature around it, like the river and the hills. Maybe because the castle would be a distraction.

This other image that I am analyzing is created by an artist called Michel Keck called “Searching For A New Distraction” created in 2012, using mixed media on paper.

Michel Keck is a self- taught abstract painter. She started creating her art full time in 2003. She has said that two of her artist influences are Thomas Kinkade and Matt Lamb. Keck has also said that when she is creating something, she is unsure of what she is trying to achieve.

Most of Keck's work is abstract, her work is unique, as she uses a mixture of mediums. This can be clearly seen in the Searching For A New Distraction collage. Where she uses a big variety of tones, colours and media. I think this make the image look quite uplifting and energetic as well as very expressive. I can only guess what she is trying to portrait in this image, but in my opinion when I look at this painting,I get the idea of celebration, or a party, maybe because of the dancer women and the amount of vibrant colours being used. Personally I don't like the use of colours of this work, there is too much, so it gets hard to concentrate on one subject.

Comparison

When looking at the two artist images, there are some very clear differences, for example;

The actual style and composition of the images is different. Turner's painting concentrates on the sunset and the nature around it, in a way the atmosphere dominates the entire painting, even though it consists of lots of tones there isn't much detail on it. Whereas in Keck's work it is harder to have one focal point , the first time I look at it, I concentrate on the photographs, but then suddenly I get distracted by the darker colours more down in the bottom. However her work has very fine detail. Like in the close up picture bellow, where it's clear to see lots of individual writing etc. Text and photographs is something that Turner's work does not include.

Another difference is Turner's image has very warm and cool colours, that compliment each other. Like the light purple/blue sky and the light yellow sun with the golden yellow river banks, balance each other out. The sun almost warms up the cool sky, giving a warm and soft effect. I think the choice of the almost tinted colours and the very light delicate tones gives a very calm and peaceful effect, as well as making it look a bit more 3D.

Differently Keck's work is more 2D, it uses mixture of different vibrant colours, from bright pink, to very dark blue, to orange, green,brown, dark purple and many more. As well as darker tones. This shows strong expressionism to me, like she is trying to express her feelings with layering these tones and colours, in a way the darker tones represent anger and the lighter tones happiness. Yet it is very hard to identify a gradual change in colours, as it can go from a dark colour to a light one straight away, maybe because they are not blended in together as much as in Turner's piece. This is because Turner uses light and loose brush strokes, to both create a light effect and graduation in the change of colour.

Also in Turner's work there isn't really any strong shape or line, it is all very smooth, and blended together. Keck's work on the other hand has clearly got a big range of lines, both from the coloured lines and the pen/pencil marks etc.

Keck's work leaves some open space, differently Turner's painting is fully filed, with no empty space left. This is why Keck's work to me appears to be more unfinished, like something is missing.

Although the images differ, maybe because of the different use of media or just the fact the they were made in different time periods. In my perspective they both share the similarity, of the artists expressing their feelings, by showing them in their work. Also I have notices even thought Keck's work has more colours in it. In some parts of the image the colours and tones are slightly similar to Turner's work. Like the lighter sand like tones and the softer purple/blue tones.

In class I have already tried creating paintings of my own, in the style of these artist, images bellow(I will upload more pictures later on) Also because Turner's work is meant to be translucent, it relates to some of the work I have also done in class like when I used oil paint and turps substitute to lighten the oil paint and achieve lighter tones that are more translucent. Also relating to Keck's technique of layering different materials and colours, I have done a similar thing of layering paint,chalk,ink,paper etc. in my old book (will also upload an image later on). 

It is hard to relate this to my theme (environmental neglect) I have thought though of the concept of layering like in Keck's work. Maybe it could be related to layers of litter,leafs or other stuff that build up in the streets and create this sort of "image" for the environment.

These are two images I done in the style of Joseph Mallord William Turner in class. I firstly applied some emulsion onto the base of the paper. I definitely needed it since the book I'm using has glossy paper, and without it the paint would not stay as well. After the emulsion had dried I used acrylic paint.  I only had primary colours, blue,red and yellow and some white paint. So I had to mix colours to get other colours, tones etc. When painting this, I discovered that applying paint with a paint brush isn't good, because the brush leaves clear brush strokes and the colours don't blend together. So instead I decided to use a sponge for my painting. As it easily blended colours together, so instead of a quick colour change, the colours changed gradually. Also leaving a almost smooth texture.


Sources http://www.pinterest.com/pin/544724517400576376/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/544724517400576220/

In the street

Photos I took, while out in a random street. This may really link to what i want to do for my theme. Because I had an idea of the theme of ignorance and neglect. Simply the idea how people live in a environment where things around them change gradually, become broken-down ugly. Yet they don't seem to notice or care, instead they choose to ignore it and live with it. Those little things add up, and the surrounding they are in becomes unpleasant and unknown. I genuinely though of linking it to the whole idea of the meaning behind the collage of Robert Rauschenberg's overdrive. Where in the analysis of that collage I mentioned how people don't pay attention to the surrounding around them, as they are in this trance of ignorance.  So this is pretty similar, we go around places wearing down, and ruining what isn't ours. We simply don't care about the effects we cause, nor the fact that the traces we leave behind are not always great.
Images taken with Nikon D3100

pink autumn

Close up Images of leafs taken in my back garden. I personally really like these images, because of the contrast in colours. I like how the leafs have these very vibrant pink,red and yellow colours, not only making the leaf look unique but also making it stand out from that cold, dark and dull background, giving a strong effect. I can relate these to my project, as the leafs represent the end o something, a cycle. They are gradually becoming old and fragile, from what was once something very strong and green, but during that transformation they have their own beauty to it, like the brown warm colours they turn into.
To take these photos I used a Nikon D3100 and I also used a close up camera filter, to get closer shots. I think I may also do the same, but with different colour leafs.

These images are actually not recent, I took them around this time last year, when visiting Charlecote Park in Warwick. I really think these images can relate to my theme, because everything in the park is old, and has been there for many years. These are good subjects to relate to e.g. traces of previous lifestyles in different decades, as it has been here since around the 12th century. And it is a good example of memories, as the stuff, furniture and paintings of people who lived here, so many years ago, were left behind as traces. 
Picture wise, to take these images I just used a Nikon D3100. 

Artist image reasearch

This is an image of a painting by Cy Twombly. The painting is called Proteus and was created in 1984. The style of the painting is Neo-Expressionism, and to create this image the artist used synthetic polymer, colored pencil, and graphite on paper.

I like this image, because even thought the artist uses very vibrant colours, like red. The whole image does not turn out to be to bright etc. Instead because he uses a lighter colour on top of the red, the image becomes less intense. I also like how the actual subject of the image is unclear, it does seem like a flower, but it seems like it's left like that for everyone imagination to decide.

Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg is an American artists, born in port Arthur, Texas on October 22, 1925. He died on the 12^th of may 2008 in Captiva, Florida, due to heart failure.

Over his course of life, he had done many things, such as; Served the USA navy during World War 2. In 1947 Robert studied art Kansas City Art Institute, also studied at Academie Julian in Paris in 1948, in 1949 he moved to live in New York, to study at the Art Students League. He married an artists named Susan Weils, they had a son Christopher together.

His first ever work exhibition was in 1951, in New York city at the Betty Parsons Gallery.

The key about Rauschenberg was that he seen beauty, delicacy in everything, even if it is just rubbish to someone else's eyes. Art work is out of non-traditional materials. He used materials such as cardboard, silk-screen, oil, electronics, blue prints etc. His work could be classified as Pop art, postmodernism, abstract expressionism etc.

His art works that I am looking at, is a collage called “Overdrive” created in 1963, using silk-screen and oil on a canvas. When I look at this image, I feel like the theme and concept of the birds,clocks, stop signs and the New York city buildings, represents persevering and challenging everyday city life. It is almost telling a story of how people overdrive themselves. They are always in a hurry never stopping, like birds always moving, maybe lacking the feeling of time passing by, the flying birds represent time “flying”. Like they see the signs, but they don't pay attention to them, they see the buildings and walk past them everyday, never really noticing them. This is illustrating the tedious dull lives people live. Rauschenberg has included the stop signs like a warning to just stop what you are doing break free from the trance and pay attention to the real world.

The collage is a combination of complementary primary and both secondary colours, that make each other stand out. There are patches of warm shades and tints of orange, yellow and red. These go well with the colder shades ; grey,blue and black. The work has this cross over of light and dark tones, as the left side is more creamy, yellowish and the right is darker grey/black. Because the work is a collage, it is in flat 2D form. Rauschenberg does not really lay out the images in a patters, the composition of the images is scattered out. I noticed that he lays different subjects close to each other, like the birds are in a cluster, the street signs and clocks are next to each other too. The texture of the collage is smooth, as is was done with oil paints. The collage does not include particular shapes, as they are very random, with different sizes.

I could link this collage to my theme as it is about time and life, so it could go well with the ideas of memories of places, moments and ignorance, from my mind map.The key aspect relating to this work could be the unnoticeable time change, like how places, people or just everyday lives can change gradually over some period of time. This could be change in nature, like seasons, or growing and decomposing of plants.

Source http://www.artnet.com/artists/robert-rauschenberg/overdrive-YQibbpEBNVgWuGrxbrUugA2

Artist Comparison

 Another collage artist that I have previously looked at was an Italian artist Giovanni Sesia. Sesia's work differently to Rauschenberg's contains more darker tones, and Sesia's work isn't as colorful as Rauschenberg's. Sesia uses very dark colours (black,grey etc) and his work is quite tonal. Also each of his collages are fairly similar, they all have writing in the background and the main subject in the middle. The difference I have noticed between the two artists work is, that Rauschenberg's collages consist of many images that tell the story/theme, like in Overdrive there are birds,buildings, signs, whereas Sesia concentrates on one subject only, like the little tricycle The majority of Rauschenberg's collages are in colour, he likes to use both primary and secondary colours, to make his work stand out. Whereas Sesia prefers darker creamy, grey-scale, black and white colours, making his work appear old and creepy. Also Sesia tries to make his collages look rougher, as if worm out, he does so with the writing etc.  Rauschenberg on the other hand, makes his collages look very smooth and glossy. The themes of the two artist are very different too, Sesia's artwork themes are more about old subject matters, also people  from the past (not sure if they are relatives, or not) Also after looking through his work i noticed some of it is religious based, as in several collages there are crosses featured  Quite differently Rauschenberg's work seems to be more patriotic. As in some of his collages he concentrates on events in America, as seen in his collage bellow, where it's focusing on President Kennedy, the moon landing and the eagle ( America's symbol) even in Overdrive he focuses on America, with the statue of liberty etc.  Over all  I believe these artist both have their own detailed individual styles. They may not seem to have any similarities, if quickly compared, and possibly they aren't related, by colours etc. They do however have the similarity of the use of darker tones, to highlight the collage. Even the way the collages aren't always clearly visible etc. is a similarity too. 

By Robert Rauschenberg/

Sources of images
http://www.giovannisesia.com (the art work link)
http:

Park

I took these images not too long ago, in the park next to the college. Some of these pictures relate with the nature theme from my mind map. So an example is how over time nature(plants) almost dominate over other things. Like the moss growing between the gaps of the brick wall obviously state how time can almost "defeat" man made objects, that were once strong and new. Yet have become very blunt and unattractive. This is what I like about these images in the park, the old metal,stone like objects go great combined with elements of nature, they are the reasons the objects have rough traces. This could represent neglect and abandonment, like no one cares anymore.  To take these photos i only used a Nikon D3100 and no apps.