The latest exhibition I went to see was in Bournemouth. It is placed inside a private home, owned by extensive travelers, Sir Merton. Russel-Cotes and his wife, Lady. Annie.

The collection of art was built up over the years of this Victorian couple’s life, and assembles around 50 works, ranging from paintings, sculptures and interior  design. The building itself was one of the last Victorian manor houses built.

When walking through the building I found myself loving the history. Taking a true appreciation towards post-modern and conceptual art. All artwork displayed brought together the notable collection of modern works of Art in the south part of England, Merton treated his collecting as a ‘dynamic entry’.

While collecting art, I found, that his interests had changed. For the early part, first section of the gallery, there were solid paintings; while walking further through I found myself looking into sculpture work and interior design, placed in the centre of a room.

Although his collection was distinctive and very personal, Merton’s choice of subject was of the typical taste of middle-class Victorian art. He was shown to admire high art, and favoured work that from his perspective, shown/ affirmed his beliefs. His taste were often conservative, they did not extend to the arm of Impressionism or abstract.

http://russellcotes.com/

Created by Barkley L. Hendricks, titled Family Jules: NNN (NO Naked Niggahs). [2.i]

It is a large-scale oil painting on linen, showing a black man, naked apart from a pair of dark round glasses, smoking a hash pipe upon velvet like white sofa. Lying on the left hand side of the sofa lays a printed shirt, in which the print shows a white woman, her face looking towards the male figure. Behind the sofa, a wall decorated with ornate Moroccan tiles. The figures right leg is bent, resting his foot on top of the white sofa, as his other leg stretches out onto the rug below, leaving his left foot cut out of the image. The composition of the image also crops out his outstretched left hand, as well as his left foot. The model is shown looking towards to viewer, with his head slightly tilted to the right, and back. Hendricks has also captured and painting the light reflection within the models glasses.

The use of the white women, printed onto the shirt, looking towards the black figure is one of the subtlest features, in my opinion, of the painting. It complicated the racial and sexual politics both the viewer and the artist portray when looking into the work. I also believe that this piece of work shows beauty of a male figure, as well as his other paintings which show beauty of the human figure itself, painted with care, and strong focus on the materiality of paint, and his exploration of the skin.

During 1960-1970’s, many artists around the period turned African art into idealised images of black figures. Meanwhile Hendricks portraits portrayed black as being beautiful. They stood out/apart from the other artworks displaying cultural representation. Hendricks painting, Family Jules: NNN (NO Naked Niggahs) not only confronts the tendencies to ‘Africanize’ or idealizing black figures, it also stretches upon the reluctance of artists to represent naked subjects, black subjects. His work shows strong atheistic of the nude, and contains realism and abstraction. He explores the work of the black figure as something beautiful, things in everyday life we look past as a whole.

This painting is one of a small series, consisting of four paintings that Hendricks had made, including another model George Jules Taylor. Hendricks pays strong attention towards his title; his choices are based upon how it will represent African American nudes, and how the public will receive them. In doing so Hendricks directly tackles the accepted notion of hyper sexualized black figures that, still to this day, continues to be consumed and codified around the world. His response to these actions,

“If this is what you expect, then this is what I am going to give you”. (Hendricks, 2008,)

 http://www.tate.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/fig.1hendricksfamilyjulesnnn1974web.jpg

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hendricks-family-jules-nnn-no-   naked-niggahs-l02979

http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/in-focus/family-jules/hendricks-today

The book I decided to read was a book by Kerry James Marshall, called “Along the Way”. This book explains how Marshall, as an artist, grew and developed over the years. It also explains why he is so passionate about bringing the black subject towards the forefront of his work, and why it is based upon every life and cultural symbolism.

The book explains his work as contemporary because of the fusion of classical and vermicular approach with conceptually orientated motives. Marshall’s work was explained to be pictorial, from his own personal experiences, art history and political views.

My one major insight to this book was the passion both the author, Deborah Smith and Marshall have. This being a strong sight upon black power and the way that the black figure within paintings must evoke strength to match the power Marshall saw being displayed for the white ethnicity within his early years. One quote I found inspiring and interesting was a quote given by Marshall himself,

“We cannot enter the struggle as objects in order to later become subjects”. (Pg.7)

 This to me sounds like a challenge to art. Before the black figure was absence within artwork, had no placement or shown as a piece of property not a person. It is also giving the perspective from someone who is seen as ‘Gate-crashing’, looking from the outside into another ethnicity or culture. Throughout the book Marshall clearly states his views upon racism and his perspective of white power against black. He believes that there is an imbalance of power that exists between white ethnicity, in this world, and everybody else. He reasons for this “Global Dominance”. I plan to take this book as inspiration for my work, and focus on trying to create equal power between black and white ethnicity, culture and sexual origin. It helped me to see the effects artwork can place on people, either good or bad. As Marshall made clear throughout the pages of “Along the Way”. Artwork has a powerful influence; it contains an aura of magnificence and can be used in such a powerful manor.

MARSHALL, K. (2005) Along The Way, Camden Arts Centre: Deborah Smith.

These images show continuous line drawings, completed in strong yet delicate care with pen and ink. The simple lines show basic outlines of a human face and figure. I try to show the mood through the thick bold gaps within the models faces. This helping the viewer put in their own perspective into the work, by “filling in the gaps”.

I plan to develop my pieces by making the tone heavy contrasted, making the movement of my pieces flow throughout. I will do this by using darker colours for the line, such as black or navy blue and leave the background plain, such as white or pale blue.

Throughout the course of the year I also wish to include texture within my pieces. Whether this take place within the background or foreground. While sticking to the theme of continuous line, I wish to create painted pieces with an uneven surface (impasto), making the eyes, nose and mouth of my model stand out from the canvas I also plan to create work with media, including charcoal and graphite.

This will help to create pieces with a fine and smooth surface. To show development clearly throughout the course of this project I plan to start it of with organic drawings, plain and simple, set out in an organised fashion. This will help me to decide where I want the project to go. My aim is to create pieces with every scale. Monumental and miniature.

Jaume Plensa, Tribute to Dom Thiery Ruinart, 2016

This piece uses many themes such as love, memory and language.

This sculpture is of a figure hugging its legs, this could be a symbol of it loving itself. It has been created using many different alphabets including; latin, Arabic and Cantonese. This gives an idea that lots of countries are coming together with love, because of the figures position. The sculpture is monumental. The use of the polished, shiny metal means that the light reflects off of it and makes it appear like it is glowing, projecting love onto the viewer.

It appears that a whole has been cut into the sculpture at the front, opening the sculpture, inviting the viewer in. The writing in different languages is bringing everyone together and saying we are all human and should all be treated the same.

This piece is really awe-inspiring and almost catches you in a trance when looking at it in the flesh. I got a feeling of love coming from this piece. It also makes you think about how there are so many people on this planet, and we should all be treated fairly and all have the same rights to things.

In the summer, I visited the Frieze sculpture park in Regents Park, London.

I saw various artworks of all different styles. They were all set in a park, this is very different to a white walled gallery. Some of the pieces faded into the background, especially darker sculptures like ‘Reality hacking No. 348’ by Peter Regh. I also went on an overcast day which means that there was less light hitting the sculptures than on a sunny day. The look of some sculptures could change dramatically if it was sunny. All the sculptures were also ranging sizes from low boulder type spheres to monumental cartoon characters.

I liked the wide range of sculptures that were there as they were all very different and made by different artists of different backgrounds, it wasn’t just one artists work, or one style of work.

I really liked the sculpture park, the setting complemented the pieces well and you could get close to the pieces to see more details.

The figure in the image is sitting slightly to the right of the frame rather than directly central, with a male (presumably) who has his arm reaching across to the figure in the frame. The setting for this piece is in the back of a car, possibly a taxi. The figure takes up the majority of the frame, suggesting the artist wants her to be the main focus of the viewer.

Her facial expression appears to be distant or disengaged with her surroundings, also there is a large gap between the two people. This suggests that she doesn’t want to be sat near the man, and is trying to ignore him.

The light source is coming in from the back window; this makes the foreground appear darker and creates a halo like affect around the figures head. Subsequently, this causes the eye to be drawn to the figure, emphasising the artists desire for her to be the focal point. The cropped frame of this image also suggests this idea. This cropped style also creates a mystery around the man that is sat just out of sight, who is he?

For the manifesto project I worked with Maryam and Lauren in appropriating from everyday life; when creating our anti-manifesto zines we used words and phrases or imagery that were readily available to us. Many of the phrases incorporated came from around the studio (stuck on the walls from the drawing workshops), e.g. ‘Feople’, ‘Satappy,’ ‘Kaleidoscope,’ ‘Bloody Vegan,’ etc, and from conversations whilst creating them, e.g. ‘She started doodling on his face’ and ‘Why do my nostrils flair so much all the time?’

Appropriation is very relevant to the work here as rejection of the notion of set rules of the manifesto meant that we wanted our work to seem more random and the content to be varied and somewhat confusing. The sources from which we appropriated – magazines, books, studio space and conversations – are varied and allowed us to collect different types of inspiration. One zine solely appropriates images of hands from magazines and newspapers, cutting into images to remove only the hands. I like the idea that some of the references are obscure, so whilst some viewers of the zines may understand the references (e.g. those in the same studio), others may not understand the origins.

Although the idea of appropriation can seem somewhat daunting, after thinking about it I realise that lots of my work is based on appropriation, drawing from other artistic ideas and styles. Directly appropriating other people’s work can feel risky, as changing the original meaning or context too much or also just taking from their work and not changing it enough can lead to negative responses and issues in terms of copyright infringements. However, as mainly only words and not paintings/sculptures, etc. were drawn from I feel as though those that we appropriated from were less sentimental about us taking their phrases, especially as they were only created in quick exercises. Although sometimes it can be flattering for people to want to appropriate your work, different artists will take it differently. Annoyance from artists is often caused by direct ‘copying’ (e.g. adding to an image) without crediting the initial artist.

The book I have chosen to write about is centred on the compelling art of Gustav Klimt, written by Alessandra Comini.

The narrative is most interesting, to begin with this book replays a story that involves a burglary at the painter’s studio. The tone is already set and the audience is captivated, to deliver the reader with such wonder in an incident that took place over a hundred years ago, we can begin to dissect what it must’ve truly felt like for these burglars to gawk at such formidable paintings.

The book documents Klimt’ ride to success, but as usual his way was paved with setbacks, until he was revered as a greatly sought after portrait painter. This, however, was not until he had fought back at critics with his proto-futurist interpretation of the world, Klimt, was producing a structure, albeit foundations, for fellow contemporaries to build upon. Reading over and scouring through many of these figures/ landscapes and dreamy imagery. It becomes patently obvious Klimt is trying to evoke this symbolic understanding of his figure through the use of painted pollen and pistil, what streams forth into our conscious state is this idea about sexuality, love and desire.

Klimt’s most famous works, for example, The Kiss of 1907-08 (PI. 30) was incredibly erotic considering the times it was executed in. The ornamental objects and gold and silver can be seen as this patent distraction from the seductive figure portrayed in this dreamlike environment.

Jakob Edward Davies

Shadi Ghadirian, Quajar, (1998).

Shadi Ghadirian, Quajar, 1998.

In this photograph a recreation of a traditional portrait setting of the Qajar era is portrayed through the use of classical painted backdrop and patterned carpet. Also the vintage clothes the young lady is wearing and her traditional style; the long head scarf and a dress over baggy trousers and her thick, dark, untouched eyebrows. Also the sepia tone of the photograph immediately creates an older, vintage style to the photograph.

However, the young girl is standing in an empowered, strong pose; her chin up, eyes fixed and focused and her hand on her hip. This pose alone goes against the ‘traditional’ idea that woman had no power- which would have been the majority opinion in the society of the time that the recreation was aiming for, (1785-1925). Also, the most obvious, how she holds a large stereo/ boom box on her shoulder, immediately creates a juxtaposition and contrast between the traditional and the current making the viewer realise the photograph is a recreation of an earlier time.

I believe this image is about how Middle Eastern traditions and religious traditions can make girls who have this heritage feel trapped by the religious and cultural expectations of them. Especially, how in today’s society with the wide variety of people and cultures creates a stronger desire to explore and it can therefore become more difficult to stick to, or want to stick to tradition. Girls may feel stuck between keeping to traditions and expectations and experiencing new things and involving themselves with modern day  Western culture. I feel the photograph portrays almost a rebellion against tradition through the girl’s strong, powerful pose with the stereo on her shoulder, holding it like a trophy, an object she is proud of, although it being a typically Western, contemporary object. Ghadirian said herself, “My pictures became a mirror reflecting how I felt: we are stuck between tradition and modernity.” and I think this photograph displays this perfectly.

https://collections.lacma.org/node/580927

https://d32dm0rphc51dk.cloudfront.net/a-ZgsSgkQgkF1CZg58BotQ/larger.jpg