Contextual Research: Richard Long

Richard Long

Richard Long, British Environmental Artist, born 1945.

Long's installation pieces (below) are very consistent with the formation of geometric shapes and patterns.  He works on a large scale, using materials such as wood, stone, and flint...

'Walking and Marking'

But it's his photography and his environmental works that compel me the most.  His art is created by forming lines in the landscape, i.e. by walking in it.  These lines are almost like interruption to me, yet they seem to exist to compliment the land, a constant reminder of the burden of this earth and the fleeting existence of the people on it. 

Images featured in the book 'Walking A Line'

Sorry what? Glee?...

On a lighter note, I defy anyone not to love Glee :-)

Sculpture Week One: Experimentation; Research

Hardened candle wax

Because of it's brittle nature, wax (for me) seemed like an obvious place to start, material-wise.  It's translucency and softness reminds me of skin.

Sketchbook: "When I think of cracking, I think about a sort of fragility and vulnerability; whether as an attribute of the human spirit or as physical change, or state of being..."



Polly Morgan's 'Morning'

(...a taxidermined robin in a sheet of cracked glass)

Sugar Glass

(Heating and melting sugar in a pot)

Paper Simulating Cracks

(Black and white photocopy of scrunched up paper)



Note: This is just a simple test process, using paper, to create something that maybe emulates the appearance of cracking.  The areas/spaces in between the folds, look to me like the cracks in the skin or even in the landscape - seen from high above; a vast desolate landscape of craters and canyons stretching for miles...

Sketchbook: "I have realised that creating something that looks like it has undergone a physical process such as cracking, is entirely different from the action/process itself.  I have learnt through this simple test that I am much more in tune with the latter rather than the former...One of the reasons I am so interested in the word 'cracking', is because the very nature of the process allows me the freedom to be less precious about my work.  The experimentation is in the cracking, so whatever I make or collect (i.e. materials) only exist in that form for a short length of time before I find a way to crack/smash/damage it.  That is why it is extremely important for me to document my process..." .

Cloud Control 'There's Nothing in the Water We Can't Fight' 

Elective One - Sculpture

The brief for Sculpture was a broad one, dealing with my existence or 'corporeality'.  That in itself could mean anything, from my understanding of my existence or non-existence, to the mind or my emotions; to the reality of my body (i.e. how bodily parts organise themselves, function and cohabit).  This brief however, specifically states that I deal with the five senses and/or the vital signs (i.e. blood pressure, pulse, etc).

One of the first things my tutor said, was that these two weeks are not about making art, but about conducting experimentation.  I am to think of myself as a scientist and this studio is my lab.

So, now for the brainstorm.  I was not to go into this with an already preconceived idea about what I was going to make, whatever it would be, it needed to be fresh, to allow me the option of exploring different avenues and letting the ideas grow out of the process - while still keeping the control.

After a group session of spider-maps and racking our brains for verbs and processes.  We began to look at practising artists in the field of sculpture.  Artists such as Bruce Nauman, Antony Gormley, and Damien Hirst, amongst others.

to run, to watch, to blur, to taste, to survive, to melt, to crack, to pinch, to laugh, to beat, to project, to smudge, to damage, to poison, to smash, to touch...

materials like: lead, metal, wire, fabric, paper, foam, ice, stone, slate, nails, string, people, photos, ink, glass, prints, plastic, etc

to freeze, to eat, to blow, to expand, to compress, to bend, to connect, to stain, to leave, to twist, to capture, to forget, to fade, to stick, to burn...

Sketchbook

"Cracking...I feel myself being drawn to this word.  What does it mean to crack something? To crack glass, to crack a joke, to crack bones, to crack a smile, to crack under pressure..."

(My brother's hand)
The cracking of the skin and the dryness and fragility of that.

"Once I latched onto the word I knew that I would immediately have to explore the processes...experiment with the consequences of forming a crack in a substance/material..."

I must remember to research artists that incorporate the concept of/include some form of cracking in their work.

The assessment and a new year

So in January I got my result back from the Semester one project and I did okay!
I passed :-)
But this whole experience is a learning curve and there's always room for improvement.  Remember that, kids.

Here are my three elective choices for Semester two: Sculpture, Print-making, and Visual Communications

That bear...

(huh, interesting, very interesting...)

TV on the Radio 'Wolf Like Me'

Travel Journal: Berlin

As part of the trip, we were encouraged to keep a diary encompassing the whole of the five days.  I did this, and not really having kept a personal journal before, I slipped into the habit fairly naturally.  I really did keep a journal! <smiles smugly and pats myself on the back>.

Here are some of the pages from that infamous diary:

(notes taken inside the Holocaust Memorial)

(looking at the work of Anselm Kiefer in the Deutsche Guggenheim Museum)

(Kunstgewerbe Museum : Collection of decorative arts throughout the centuries)

(Private Collection : Henri Matisse; Staatliche Muaeen zu Berlin) 

:-)

Berlin (continued...)

It was great for me to see John McCracken's work in reality, and not just in books or magazines.  Relating back to my first project in semester one McCracken was one of the artist's I had looked into and admired. (Above)

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Robert Rauschenberg

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Anselm Kiefer

(above: an entire piece made of lead)

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Carsten Höller

'Soma'



Volkswagon Vader Advert

I love this :-) 

Berlin

A college trip to Berlin.  26 students.  2 Tutors.  And 1 bus driver with a twirling mustache...

                                                       (There he is! The mustache man...)

(Taken within the maze of monuments that is Berlin's Holocaust Memorial)  

(Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz : This was the undergound station that was right outside St. Christopher's, the hostel where we were staying.)

(and the trains were always packed full of people..)

(The architecture was amazing...

...and so was the nightlife)

                                                         (Above: work by artist Kathe Kolliwitz)

Over the five days we travelled to several of Berlin's largest art galleries and saw countless works by brilliant artists, some of which included: Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Andy Warhol, John McCracken and Henri Matisse.

Andy Warhol

Without sounding arrogant, Andy Warhol's pieces were much larger and more impressive than I would have previously assumed.  I was pleasantly surprised.

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