After being interviewed by a writer for A.N. Blogs about the relationship between research for a dissertation and studio work I have decided to look at the common themes running through my work and my dissertation. Click here
My studio work has always looked to photography and other visual media as a source and my passion in painting is of portraits so I decided to address both subjects in my dissertation. I explored the relationship of the artist and subject and how personal environment and experience affects the artist’s work. This is reflected in my own work in the way we might perceive an image from cinema depending on our own life experiences. When Gerhard Richter exhibited October 18, 1977 depicting members of Germany’s Baader-Meinhof terrorist group ten years after the event, it still caused a great deal of controversy. My painting’s source may be taken from a film ten years ago but through watching and re-watching a relationship develops with that character and story.
In the 1990’s Elizabeth Peyton drew portraits of nineteenth century heroes. Of this work she stated “I was reading nineteenth century literature- that was my world. They were my best friends.” Like literature we can immerse ourselves in movies of fictional heroes until we are part of the team on screen. They also become our friends for those few hours and we can revisit them as much or as little as we like. Peyton’s later portraits were often celebrities. Through her broad, expressive brush strokes and intensely bright colours they were depicted as youthful, often gazing into the distance. In my own paintings I aim to capture something transient and brief by the act of painting alone but the use of loose brush marks and pattern can enhance this. Speaking of Peyton’s celebrity portrait’s Blazwick (2008, p. 33) observed ‘this sense of something fleeting and vulnerable is intensified by the delicacy of Peyton’s drawing.
My dissertation also explored the works of Chuck Close whose portraits had a uniformity in there face-on stance. I have also focused closely on the face of the subject however their expressions are more varied. Again colour becomes an important factor in slowing down the image, detaching it from it’s former source. Of the three artist’s I examined, Close’s subjects portrayed the least emotion and perhaps has less in common with my own work. It is his strict adherence to process that has influenced me most though. I like to work with a grid and to a certain scale. Like Close’s large scale works the viewer must stand at a distance for detail to be restored.