My 30 studies assignment started out well. I figured I should just play around with style, content, and technique, just to see what I could come up with and perhaps find a direction. I started with studies of very abstracted hands, a very linear face, a surreal scene, and geometric abstractions. Then I tried some palate knife studies of figures and skeletons. Then I developed a series of ideas starting with a painting of a bed, then of nude figures on a bed, then of nude figures in masks. I came upon another idea of visually representing aspects of the Qaballistic tarot, per a friend of mine's request. Then I decided to try painting a vision I'd had of a broken and abandoned business building in the desert. After that, the ideas ran out, so I tried some more abstract pieces and minimalist pieces. Lastly, I came upon an unused canvas board and made an abstract figural painting somewhat similar to the first study.
This last study seemed especially favored in the critique. There was also interest in the idea with the figures on the bed. So for my first painting I decided to combine these two ideas into abstracted figures on a bed. However, there are still the questions of what kinds of paintings I will do next. Should I stick with some of the main ideas from the studies? Should I perhaps do more idea-combining? Should I bother using the palate knife technique I used in the studies for a painting? Should I stick to my theme of abstracted figures, or try my hand at different kinds of abstraction, or even non-abstraction? How can I play with texture in some form of abstraction? I am thinking that in order to challenge myself, I should A. do an abstraction piece that is of a very large scale that I am not used to, and B. I should do at least one painting that is not abstraction. So, I am thinking of making the building-in-the-desert idea into one of my final paintings.
In terms of contemporary artists whose work exemplifies in form, content, and subject the work I'd like to do this semester, I am currently in love with the paintings of James Jean. In particular, these works by him...
...exemplify the kind of combinations of abstraction and rendering (in tangled kind of masses) I am interested in. The dingy atmospheric coloration with minimal background is something I also like to employ, and would like to continue to employ in my current project. The way Jean accents forms with fine bright lines contrasts with the smokey muted colors and is an inspiring way to tie the space together.
Another artist whose work parallels what I am trying to do is Dan Sutterland. In particular, this piece:
...has the kind of color schematics and blocking together of shapes I would like to work with. However, I can't decide if I should have more or less painterly mark-making in my pieces as he has in his.
The way Francis Bacon distorts figures and faces also appeals to me:
The way spaces can be opened up in a body or face in an organic, almost sensual way is intriguing to me. I should like to explore the grainy effect that he uses to perhaps better my approach.
I should take note of his less flowing and more harshly painted figures...
for a direction for a new approach to abstraction and figural representation.
As far as paintings with landscapes go, for my one representational drawing, I would love to do something hyper-realistic, but my skills don't quite reach that level yet. So perhaps I should go for a more mottled effect like that of Odilon Redon (among others):
I don't have much experience with the mottled style of painting, so it would be something new for me. It might be an opportunity for me to play with texture, too.
