Self-Directed Project Work

For a starting point for my self-directed project i decided to work with portraits with a mix of influences with the work i have observed from other artists.

I used standard satin black paint as the consistency was suitable for the loose style of lines that i wanted to create. 

Although i am unhappy with the quality of this work, it serves simply as an experiment into the use of paint and the method of dripping paint in a mixture of controlled and uncontrolled ways. 

For this method i looked at the work of both Agnes Cecile and Jackson Pollock. Cecile's work appears to be directly influenced by pollock by the loose lines created by dripping paint.

For further development i wish to look into the work of other artists and ways to represent different emotion and symbols of releasing emotion.

Jackson Pollocks painting techniques are extremely influential in modern art, i think particularly the way in which he painted with a flat canvas and dripped paint from the brush in controlled strokes above the surface. Pollock painted from the subconscious, he created work that had never been done before. His work has been described as 'energy made visible.' This relates to my self-directed project in some ways as i am hoping to express something which cannot be seen through painting. The marks made by the paint all vary on the way the paint is 'thrown' onto the canvas, the speed, the angle and the height all vary the types of lines and paint marks. The essence of the subconscious is probably more prominent as Pollock struggled with alcoholism and this would have had a direct influence on his work. 

 

Agnes Cecile uses a very similar style, she also keeps her distance from her work, keeping the canvas flat while letting the paint fall onto the page. Her work is more controlled to achieve the detail in the portraits and they are produced with the conscious mind. She uses fast movements and will also use sticks rather than brushes to drip the paint. Although her drip paintings are monotone, simply using black on white, although occasionally using white paint or charcoal, i think that this is more effective when producing the portraits rather than mixing colour like in Pollocks pieces. I think that the negative space in the paintings are just as effective as the darker spaces and this creates a more aesthetically pleasing piece.

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