Paper Towel and Mac. 2011. Christine Huang.
The mid tones turned out pretty interesting. I wanted to fragment the canvas by "chunking" shapes together with similar tones. Here, I tried to split the canvas into three parts, with the diagonal sections running from top left to bottom right. I also intended to emphasize the section of the paper towel. This way, the two middle sections will run into and through each other, while sharing the same mid tones that lie in the middle of the intersection. I also experimented with the darker mid tones in the areas where they were surrounded by lighter mid tones. I wanted to see if those areas would read as a light area even though there are some darker tones in the area.
Yesterday I had a critique with artist Catherine Murphy. The critique went well and in my opinion, she gave constructive criticisms that were worth thinking about. At the end of the meeting, there were several questions that came to mind, which I thought about the whole day. Some topics I thought about were: relating the traditional school of thought to the time of the artist, having evidence of journey (with tension, intentions, discovery) and time in the painting, and finally, challenging oneself by putting something in the way. From what I got after hearing Catherine's thoughts on painting was that when she looks at paintings, she thinks about how she can change certain areas, making them better or different. I suppose this was something she was trying to question me with my infinite line paintings. How do they differ from Mondrian's paintings? Or what meaning/significance do they have. Because I was consumed by these questions, I decided to ask Professor Hanneline for her opinion in my meeting with her today. I asked her if artists today or in any time period have to follow the trend of artistic style during their particular time. For example, would I need to follow post modernism? Is it boring to paint realistic still lives? She told me that that wasn't so. I could follow Mondrian if I wanted to, but going further and beyond where he left off. I thought this was interesting. Perhaps right now I am at a point where he ended. What if there is more to basic lines and shapes? The second question was hard for me to grasp. How does one show time and discovery visually? (or at least, all in one painting?) After talking with Hanneline, I realized that discovery and experimentation in a painting isn't just about a painting that was finished in a one-time sitting; rather, showing experimentation perhaps would be to go back to that same painting numerous times, changing things (i.e. lines and colors) which will unfold new discoveries. This reminds me of all those times when I am afraid to make more marks on the canvas, afraid that the new marks will somehow make the paintings worse. Catherine told me that we will always have fear in our lives. We will never overcome those fears unless we take the initiative. The last question I had intrigued me. One thing that Catherine questioned was the placement of the lines in my paintings. At first, I blamed the positions of the lines on the object that I was looking at. But now, I realized that I can adjust it, just how one would crop the things they saw to make a more interesting composition. I feel as if I somehow went back to the basics of just looking at something plainly. Today when I talked with Hanneline, she posed some questions that could be brought up in my paintings: for example, if the paintings were fragmented among the shapes, how much of the shapes are still coherent? OR is it unreasonable at first glance at the rigorously painted shapes and tones, but when looked upon closely there is a different sort of experience? Perhaps there are contradictions in the paintings? At first, I felt that I didn't get the feedback I wanted to hear from yesterday's critique, but as of now, I believe those constructive criticisms were actually beneficial in enabling me to think further and deeper about what my paintings mean to me. Furthermore, getting a second opinion from Professor Hanneline was also beneficial in reassurance in some points and openings to new ideas. These two days have been a new revelation for me in terms of thinking about painting as a theoretical topic rather than a technical topic.
No comments:
Post a Comment