‘Woman in blue and purple’ Martina Shapiro.

Expressionist and Abstract portrait of a women, coloured with purple, violet, blue, turquoise, green and many intense colours. The figure has an intense and direct look towards the viewer with an interesting, almost blank expression on her face. While looking at the model Shapiro wants the viewer to find an aspect of them. By using rich, deep, bright and bold contrasts of fauve colours She believes that her art and all art is like “doorway to your soul”. She creates her pieces using multiple layers of acrylic paints. The colours within her paintings are rich and vibrant and there are loud aspects of many different colours that photos, themselves, cannot fully capture. The choice of colour depends upon the intensity of the light that illuminates the painting. Throughout the day different parts hues and tones of the painting are emphasised, depending on how the light hits the image.

I feel that Shapiro’s work questions what have we have developed our minds, to see things in one-way, “the right way”. We have a distinct idea of how the human face should be/ look and where the colours and shades are placed. Research has found that we find figures and shapes more physically appealing when they are symmetrical. By using unusual shapes/ colours within her paintings, Shapiro distorts figures to make them feel and seem more abstract, something, which may make the viewer feel uncomfortable to look at.

http://www.martinashapiro.com/about-martina-shapiro-artist.html

https://0901.nccdn.net/4_2/000/000/046/6ea/womaninblueandpurple.jpg

Recycled

Textured

Colourful

Three-dimensional

Assembled

Fun

Detailed

Spontaneous

Time-based

Painterly

My artistic practice currently involves the use of found objects, hence the words ‘recycled,’ and ‘assembled. I like the idea of combining natural forms, e.g. plants and trees, with inorganic forms, e.g. hubcaps, metal, plastic, etc. and looking at the varying forms and patterns (‘textured’). Having recently been interested in installation art, I have become interested in the idea of three-dimensional works and including varied media to best express the objects of focus (e.g. photographs to highlight colour or installation of objects to allow full appreciation of structures).

I have mentioned that my art is ‘time-based’ as I like the idea of continually adding to pieces, e.g. collating more and more found objects and adding on top of them. I like the idea of pieces of art being temporal, changing over time when displayed in a gallery so that different viewers’ experiences are different. The spontaneity of my work depends on the collection of objects and decisions as to what to do with them and how to link them together. Time and chance are therefore a key part in my art, as the collection of objects depends on me being in the right places to find them. I sketch them and write the date and place where they were collected as a form of documentation. The idea of the previous histories of the objects is really interesting to me, again linking to time, as many of the objects that I collect have had past uses and functions which are no longer relevant. For example, I have an old microwave, a broken part of a light and an expired student id card.

I describe my work as ‘fun’ as it often has a playful nature, seeming somewhat random and drawing from overlooked aspects of everyday life. It is ‘detailed’ in that I pay attention to small details of objects that I find and also have thorough object documentation. I am looking at specific shades of colours. Although the image above isn’t ‘painterly,’ I would like to experiment more with the use of paints to recreate textures and colours, and I really love the effect of mixed media added to found objects.

Sandy Orgel Linen Closet

This piece of work challenges gender inequality with the concept of the linen closet being somewhere the women belongs to repeat her daily tasks over and over again. It is quoted on http://www.womanhouse.net/works/cy7vej61ep9fy2qzp4p8bnq66z0s6k “This is exactly where women have always been—in between the sheets and on the shelf.” Said by a visitor I think it is an interesting statement because it is implying women are only good for being used either for sexual pleasure or to complete daily duties and then stored away to be neither seen nor heard. I imagine this would have been more relevant at the time this work was created compared to how women live today, although in many households the women will still do the majority of cleaning and maintaining tasks as well as going out to work.

The use of a mannequin makes me think of a doll and how easily it can be used or manipulated to then be stored away to ‘play’ with later. A mannequin is silent and wont argue back or show any emotions and in some ways I believe this is how women were expected to behave. It seems to me that women weren’t seen as real people during this time and seemed to have a robotic exterior.

Initially, I found the process daunting – putting my ideas out there on a public platform was intimidating and confronting. I’ve found the blog to be increasingly useful for me to reflect on my working practice and processes, in a similar vein to a sketchbook or reflective journal. It has been rewarding to look back on the blog posts and see my development and progress from the start.

Approaching Task 1 of the RCS blog, the passport project, ‘Trace’, I was keen to explore zine-making and experiment with the photocopier more. Through the manifesto project, I was able to develop this to a far greater extent – appropriating images and text, forming a collective, breaking apart and subsequently re-assembling, making over 400 zines and widely distributing them both publicly and anonymously across Winchester.

The blog has allowed a space for greater reflection and awareness of practice as well as theoretical aspects that have arisen in lectures that often link to aspects of my work.

Beuford Smith

Woman Bathing/Madonna, NY, 1967

Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper 34.3 x 25.4

‘It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others.’ Observation by DuBoi’s

Beuford Smith was a self-taught photographer. I became aware of his work as an artist when visiting the Souls of a Nation exhibition back in August this year and I was drawn to the way he interpreted his work. After looking into other photographers of interest to me, such as Dawoud Bey and Roy DeCarava – both found in the same exhibition – I saw similarities within their work and I was rightly to do so as I became aware of this… ‘In 1963 – in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement – a group of fifteen black photographers got together to critique and nurture each other. In Kenya’s Kikuyu language, “kamoinge” means a group of people acting together. Roy DeCarava was the group’s first director.’

Now aware of the group of photographers Beuford Smith was a part of and the Souls of a Nation Exhibition focusing on race around the 60’s in America; it became easier for me to understand from my research the pure emotion I was feeling from the pieces of work shown in front of me that I didn’t fully understand the theory behind.

‘I don’t think you can overstate how important this group is, historically, socially, and aesthetically. During the upheaval of the 1960s – the needless violence, murders, and sanctioned suppression – these photographers documented something only they could have seen, a world that was completely separate from what was shown by Hollywood, television, and mainstream mass media to the rest of American culture.’

Besides all of this knowledge you now know I am going to inform you on how I saw the ‘Woman Bathing’ before I gathered my initial research and notice how my description becomes relevant to the above detail without intentions.

Firstly I noticed the colour of the image and even though black and white photographs were representing a classic era in the 60’s; I felt an automatic dark and eerie feel. Her surroundings are also unsteady and broken – looking at the gate behind her – and due to her body positioning – clutching her face – I can only guess this may be how she’s feeling. She is clearly a pregnant lady and she shouldn’t be stood in a vulnerable dangerous area on her own. However by the title of the image ‘Woman Bathing’ this is where she is expected to wash. Where is her clothing? Who is looking after her? Does anyone care? The rain also emphasises her sadness and it hides her tears, if there are any?

From my description above this lady photographed doesn’t seem to be of any relevance to anyone. Her vulnerable state only emphasises how poorly black people were treated in America at that time and Beuford Smith has captured this aspect superbly.

Bibliography:

https://hyperallergic.com/362633/black-lives-photographs-by-beuford-smith-keith-de-lellisgallery-2017/

https://thekamoingeblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/23/fellow-photographer-and-president-emeritus-beuford-smith-on-kamoinge/

Clark, T. Art and Propaganda, London; Calmann and King Ltd

The book, as a whole, examines the relationship between propaganda and art, by showing how political purpose can be advertised through art. It also depicts how styles can be associated with certain political powers.
Clark investigates the use, desired effects and actual effects of propaganda throughout the 20th century. This non-fiction book almost has a narrative as it tells the evolution of government run artwork; from the boom of mass-media propaganda techniques during the Second World War to the AIDs epidemic and the aftermath of the Vietnam War that provoked artists in the late 20th century to convey strong political opinions. The author seems to take a non-biased position on the varying topics throughout the book; he gives the impression of taking an “academic” point of view, and tries to denounce the negative connotations that surround the word ‘propaganda’. Clark states facts more than opinions, which allows the reader to make their own informed decisions.
It appears to me that the purpose of the book is first and foremost, to inform of the history of propaganda and to identify the link between propaganda art and the political issues at the time. I feel that it does this excellently, by describing the political unrest or movement, then analyzing the effects this had on artists, and in some cases the strict guidelines (that the government enforced) that they had to adhere to.
When reading, I was particularly encapsulated by a sub-heading, “Organizing the Psyche of the Masses”.  The chapter describes in detail the increase in the Soviet states control over art following the 1917 revolution. It explains the Soviet governments strict rules (all artists had to follow one style) that were founded in 1934 and the ‘function’ of art in new revolutionized Soviet Russia. “Government had entirely altered conditions for the patronage, audience and sites of art”, this fascinated me as the extreme efforts that the government went to in order to control art in the communist state, is clear evidence of the impact that art can have on a culture.

Bibliography;

Art and Propaganda- Clark, T.

This is a small piece of work that I produced in the first few weeks at WSA. In terms of timeline, it takes place near the end of my first sketchbook having already been directly influenced by David Shrigley and Walter Swennen. Both artists use short sharp text that looks as if it has been hastily written and written with a sense of freedom, in relation to its carefree aesthetic.
I was investigating femininity and masculinity, specifically points in which the two cross and the relationships between them. At the same time I did not wish to have an indisputable view or statement that overshadowed the viewers own opinions on the work. Instead I aimed to create an uncertain and questionable air surrounding an underlying theme of femininity, in essence the intent was to leave the viewer somewhat perplexed at the statement.

To develop the work further I would firstly experiment with scale, most probably making it much larger. I like the idea of having a large confusing assemblage of text dominating a space so that it is near impossible to ignore. I like the simplicity of the image so I would possibly just explore different colour and compositions, rather than building layers. I feel that by complicating the image it may belittle the text.