While working on my sculptures in the background I have been doing some paintings to go long side them and connect up to them. these paintings have absolutely put me on a journey and I have learned a lot about paintings, specifically my painting and how it can compliment my sculptures.
It all started with some simple studies in my sketchbook, people took a liking to these studies and wanted me to develop them, At first I wasn't so sure as I have low confidence in my painting ability but i thought I would give it a try and see what came from it.
Sketchbook drawings
Microglossum Viride (Green Earth tongue fungus)
After doing one painting I realized I wanted to develop its purpose and not just simply directly copy a fungus. After a bit of research I came across artist, Xiaojing Yan, she has done a series of paintings titled 'Naturally Natural' where she uses inks and gold paint to create stunning tendrilled paintings that for me highly resemble mycelium and their movement through the earth. This inspired me to try using inks and approach the painting in a more abstract way. I started with experimenting with the inks as I am not used to its movement on the page and then to construct a painting of my own.
Example of Xiaojing Yan's 'Naturally Natural'
First ink painting after experiments.
From here I felt the splotches were too separate from the fungus, I also wanted to diverge from the intricate formation of fungi and head more in the direction of mark making. Although, I still wanted to keep the work connecting to fungus. For the next few paintings I then took further inspiration from mold made in petri dishes, because I really loved the colours and formations they have
Petri dish mold inspiration
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Out of all of these paintings I feel my first one was definitely the strongest.
While doing this I also felt I had to pose the question to myself - What is the relationship between these paintings and my sculpture?
The obvious answer is that they are all fungus, however, functionally these paintings have a very separate existence and presence to the sculpture and I wanted them to coincide in a more meaningful way
I came to the conclusion that they could work as abstract music scores, especially after researching Cornelius Cardew. To start off my experimenting with this I tried making a 'music stand'. I made it out of branches and to loosely resemble a music sheet stand and placed my paintings on here.
After reading further into Cornelius Cardew's work, reading Point and Line to Plane by Wassily Kandinsky and receiving plenty of feedback I decided to deconstruct these paintings, also adding in an aspect of music writing to guide the viewer without making it too obvious. I deconstructed the drawings to simply the marks, removed colour and played around with the various point and line mark makings throughout, meaning they are indicated toward being music without sticking to the rules and restrictions of written music. Removing time as well in order to really hone in on the interpretation, perception and feeling of the work.
I also felt that displaying the paintings on this music stand was restrictive of the size for the paintings and was an attempt to hone in too closely to music and in fact was purely an attempt make make the paintings - which were very far removed from music scores - connect closer to music, when there was a much more effective way of doing this.
Example of Cornelius Cardew's Treatise music scores
From this thinking I went ahead and examined the marks and points that already existed in my paintings and extract these. I decided an interesting way to approach the paintings were to have bar lines and paint my marks over the top but not sticking within those bar lines. Thus, I have my indication to sheet music but also the timeless points and lines that don't stick to the rules and are free for interpretation and perception.
Once I had an idea of what I wanted my paintings to look like the next question was - What material am I going to paint these on?
I had a think about the natural materials that not only paper is made out of but also what would fit into my theme. My first thought was hand made paper, and maybe even paper made from fungus. I didn't feel I had the skills to make my own paper or the time to learn so I went online. I struggled to find any kind of paper made from fungus, however, I found a plethora of other types of handmade paper. I really liked this route of handmade, as paper is usually made from natural resources and through handmade encourages that relationship between human and nature.
I came across Lotka paper. I found this paper is a traditional artisan craft home to the Nepalese, over time this craft industry has taken a massive hit and decreased in production. I found a British company that commissions traditionally made lotka paper and ships it to the UK. I really liked how this benefited a struggling industry and craft but also sheds light onto a beautiful tradition that can improve the relationship between human and nature. This was my paper of choice.
When the paper arrived It was thin and delicate with a rustic finish, no precise edges and an unbleached creamy colour. I really enjoyed this for my paintings as it removed the clean, sharp, and bright white element to painting and written music, it gives the work an all together rustic and raw aesthetic which reminds the viewer of its roots and connection with nature.
From my practice painting in my sketchbook I produced these paintings. I thoroughly enjoyed doing these painting, I didn't plan beyond the one painting and just let my feelings the the bush do it's thing. I did each mark on the spot as it came to me, leading each painting to be totally individual and unique. Truly enforcing that idea of pure interpretation with no rules.
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