American Abstract Expressionism and Philip Guston

American Abstract Expressionism

There was a group of painters in the 1950s known as the 'New York School' who were part of an art movement called abstract expressionism. Well-known members include Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. This group believed art could come from the subconscious and they aimed to make art that was expressive and evoked emotion in the viewer whilst still being abstract. 

Philip Guston

As part of my project I have been looking at the work of Philip Guston. He was a painter and printmaker who was part of the New York school. He used to create large canvases covered with a crux of dramatic colour against a muted background.

Oasis, Philip Guston, 1957

Guston in his studio, 1964

Sketch, Philip Guston, 1954

These images give you a sense of his work and also of the scale. I am particularly interested by his use of different greys: warm, cool, lilac, blue, brown. He layered these over other colours and drew our attention to the throbbing heart of colour in the centre. I am also interested by the way he left a rough edge. Not squaring down his paintings but leaving them in an irregular shape on the white which I think is much more representative of the impulse of emotion. 

Pipilotti Rist

Pipilotti Rist

As part of my photomedia project I have been researching different methods of presenting digital and moving images in order to best convey an idea.

I have been particularly taken by the Swedish artist Pipilotti Rist. She creates experimental videos and finds creative ways to project them. One example I like is 'Himilaya Goldstein's living room'. As an installation artwork she set up an entire living room with different images projected onto different parts, For example, she put images of flowing water onto a dining table set up with silver cups and cutlery. These reflect the images and, to me, are suggestive of lost treasures at sea.

Her work is very cinematic to me, combining amazing light effects with surreal music and moving images.  Her work focuses on the fantastic and surreal. It is intriguing to me and unlike any other work I have seen.

I am excited to pursue this direction in my project. 

Fine Art Week One Thoughts

Fine Art

The past week we have been looking at lot at 'instinctive' art work. I came into fine art thinking there would be a task set out for us. Instead, our teacher just set put loads of tubs of poster paint, some boards and some paper and said 'just get going whatever you feel like'. I have never had this kind of creative freedom to do as I please, without a structure or an end result in mind. Due to the nature of assessing work in an A Level or GCSE setting, I have always had to have an idea  or a plan before starting.

I created some brightly coloured backgrounds and layered black paint in lines and shapes over it. I then went over this in white paint and oil pastels. Because of the freedom of the exercise, we all produced a variety of unique and expressive pieces. It was really interesting to see everyone's work imbued in their personality. 

I am looking forward to taking an instinctive approach towards my work the next few weeks - enjoying not having a plan!