Spacial Concepts-
The relationship of internal and external space using scale and text
Introduction-
In my A2 Fine Art year, I was assigned with the word ‘SPACIAL’. I explored many ways of art to relate to my word in my summer sketchbook. During this, I learnt about paper sculptures, maps and text. I decided to experiment with scale and how the space around an object changes due to its size and also link it with text. The artists I plan to discuss are Jamie Poole, Jenny Holzer, Henri Matisse, Juan Sanchez Cotan, Claes Oldenburg, Seiko Kinoshita and John Roddam.
Research and analysis-
One artist that has influenced me has been Jamie Poole. He is a practicing artist and photographer who is known for his use of text in his portraits. The image I intend to analyse is from one of his collections called Self Portrait with love letters. He was inspired by the artist Gerhard Richter to create portraits of himself and his fiancé, Sophie. A statement he says is “The text meanders and flows around the curves of her features and is embedded deep in her eyes creating an intricate mosaic surface. The tales in the typography have become entwined within her image and are part of Sophie’s identity.” The artwork he creates is a combination of collage using poems and love letters (hence the collection title of self-portrait with love letters) and photorealistic painting. His artwork is produced on a larger scale which each piece is several feet tall. This relates to my own work about how scale is an important part of space and how the space changes and has a different meaning because of its size. The composition of his artwork is interesting as the text around the face is curved however the background is straight which creates a unique and powerful meaning. From his work, I got the ideas of using a one of my photos from my spacial college primary images in my first sketchbook and use his technique of collage and paint however I also used ink to create shadows and tones (see appendix A). Also the visual language of the selected text has some additional meaning. For example, some text is larger than others and this is done so you can read them. These pieces of text must have been carefully selected to create another layer of meaning. The reason this artist and his technique relates to my project of ‘SPACIAL’ is that instead of exploring the literal meaning of spacial, I am exploring the different meaning of what the word could mean through using text in an image.
Another artist that has influenced me has been Jenny Holzer. She is an American artist who uses projections to address the politics of discourse. She projects political messages on sides of buildings and landmarks. The image I intend to analyse is from her shoot at Siena, 2009. Her inspiration for this technique came from her drive to find a successor to the electronic billboards. In her interview with Smithsorian magazine, she goes on to prove this by saying “I wanted to find a successor to the electronic billboards that I'd inhabited, an additional way to show writing. I like presenting text to the public, to general audiences, in hopes it’s of interest and use. I thought the quality of the projection different from that of electronics that make you think of Wall Street and news. The projections are more mysterious.” The artwork she creates uses large computer-controlled machines to project a “selection of text or choices of poems or quotations by many people”. The text she uses is projected on a variety of external spaces such as rivers, landmarks, oceans, trees and mountains. From her work, I get the idea of using the word spacial or relating words and objects that are spacial and write them on maps (see appendix B). I could also print words that relate to the human body on acetate and layer on top of maps. This relates my project because of external space (the surface the text is projected onto) and internal space (the text). The compositions Holzer uses is mostly on angles slightly off centre. I like how this creates an effect and illusion. Moreover, the visual language creates enigma as quote and text she uses has multiple meanings such as her work from her shoot in San Diego, 2007 that says “I can’t tell you”. The reason why this artist and her technique relates to my project is because she explodes external spaces using texts that have internal meanings.
In addition, another artist that has influenced me has been Henri Matisse. He was a French artist who used to make cutouts using card and swap the cutouts around. He was known for the colours he used and his printmaking. Also, he was commonly known as “one of the three artists who helped define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the early 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture”. The image I intend to analyse is Matisse's cover maquette for Verve I. His inspiration for his work was mainly influenced by many cultures especially Asian and North African. Artists and the movements he was inspired by include, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Cubism. These cultures, movements and artists mainly inspired Matisse work in terms of colour, movement and image rather than technique. However, his work using cutouts was mainly inspired, at the end of his life by using cut-out shapes of colour which resulted him making “an important contribution to collage.” From his work, I get the ideas of using his technique of collage but instead of using full colour shapes, I want to use different style maps and use cut-out words that represent ‘spacial’ such as external and internal facts about space (see appendix C). This relates to my project of ‘spacial’ because I am experimenting by changing the space within the collage and his movement of cubism also relates because “In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form”. The compositions that Matisse uses is really, visually pretty, in my opinion. I believe this because his compositions creates a lot of movement in his work which is due to the use of the subject matter: abstract. His use of visual language enhances this as he use bright, distinctive colours that have a positive and negative look to them. The reason this artist relates to my project of ‘spacial’ is because he creates movement and changes the space and scale of his collage and the cut-outs in my opinion represent external space which replaces the internal space of the collage. This has influenced my main outcome because I plan to use cutout maps and prints to collage together of internal and external space.
Additionally, another artist that has influenced me has been Juan Sanchez Cotan. He was a Spanish painter who used the style baroque still life as his subject matter. He created art by suspending objects from ceilings and use a dark background to make the illusion that the objects were flowing in space. The image I intend to analyse is Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber, 1602. His style and technique for his paintings was “early influenced by the spirit of Catholic mysticism that dominated the intellectual life of Toledo at the time.” From his work I get the ideas of suspending collages or Perspex from a ceiling to connect my idea of linking internal space with external space (see appendix D). His compositions he uses really has inspired my compositions. Just like Sanchez I have a compositions of suspend objects in a line. Most of his painting he does has suspended objects that are suspended at different lengths that are equally distant from each other. I really like how the composition of his painting works. Your eyes are drawn to the top left corner to follow the curve trail of fruit and vegetables. The use of visual language is very apparent. What I see is lots of different interpretations (enigma). Such as what does a cabbage, a cucumber, a melon and quince mean altogether? And why is some different lengths? What is the main message of this painting? Etc. This relates to my project of the word ‘Spacial’ because it relates with planets being suspended in space and shows how space can change around objects, and therefore creates a meaning, purpose and movement of that space. However for my final piece, I don’t think Juan Sanchez Cotan work will be as intense as other artists have done. He was mainly influenced me on my journey to a final piece.
Another artist that has influenced me has been Claes Oldenburg. He is an American sculptor, who is known for his large installations of everyday objects. He creates large sculptors that replicate everyday objects and places them in public places so the public can interact with them. He does a mixture of hard and soft sculptors. The image I intend to analyse is Oldenburg’s sculptor of a clothes peg. His style and technique ‘changed from one of coolness, precision, and industrial polish’. His inspiration was strongly influenced by the writings of Sigmund Freud. Oldenburg states that he is a realist and not an abstract artist. ‘He felt art must relate to the realities of everyday life. Yet he took objects from the real world and placed them out of context, making them soft when they should be hard, large when they should be small.’ He goes on to say that ‘Reversing the expectations of hard sculpture, these huge collapsing objects rely on gravity and chance for their final form’. This is what made me like Oldenburg’s work is that he has changed the expectations of space. The sculptor of a clothes peg really inspired me. This is because the angle of where the photo was taken reminds me of a letter A and most importantly the letter A in Perspex I experimented doing at the beginning of my 2nd sketchbook. This relates to my project because instead of focusing on the visual element, this is focusing on the facts of internal space and what the fact looks like in relation to the external space. This is another reason why I like Oldenburg’s work. It takes me on a journey. From a large clothes peg I have got to Perspex letters in fluorescent (see appendix E). In my final piece, I may include Perspex letters or/and paintings.
In addition, another artist that has influenced me is Seiko Kinoshita. She is a Japanese artist who uses traditional textile techniques to create contemporary art work and installations. The work of Kinoshita I intend to analyse is Green fluorescent protein origami. I discovered this artist at the winter gardens in Sheffield where I was visiting the Millennium gallery for my Going Public exhibition pages. On her website she says “Positive concepts derived from everyday life and nature influence my work. Nature has always inspired me. Its form, colour, sound, taste, texture excite and sometimes frighten me. I feel there is nothing equal to its magnificent power and pure beauty. The challenge to design alongside the power of nature will continue.” This artist has been a huge influence on my final outcome (see appendix F). This is because my final outcome emerged from this idea of the human body. Before I read about what this sculptor was, I instantly thought of a human body organ. This large sculpture of a structure inside a human body, was the reason how I came up with an idea to connect maps with internal maps. Without researching possible ideas and finding this artist, I believe my outcome would not have been as good or would represent the word ‘spacial’. I really like the visual language of the bright, neon green against a public space of glass and wood. The colour really helps to make the sculpture standout and be noticed and is what I am hoping to achieve. My outcome has a purpose and shows the relationship of internal and external space using scale and text effectively.
Finally the last artist that has inspired me is John Roddam. He was an English artist, who was known of working with symbolism and aestheticism. He worked with oil paint, acrylic paint, watercolour, fresco and mixed media. His subject matter was mythological, allegorical and biblical. I discovered his work when I visited the Hatton gallery on the grounds of Newcastle University, however, researching him was a lot harder as it seems he isn’t as known or this artwork which I intend to analyse called Rockpool. It is an unknown piece and is only seen in this gallery. This is why I can’t really write much about him but I do see his artwork as influential. I really like this piece by him because I see lots of contrasting colours to make light colours pop. Also I really like the paintbrush technique he has used because the painting kind of have a 3D effect and has some sort of movement. This in my opinion helps to define spacial as the painting moves. From his work, I get the ideas of creating perpex letter paintings of words relating to spacial and then collage and acetate over them (see appendix G). I really like how his work has a purpose and creates meaning. Even though this is not a major influence and isn’t necessarily directly linked with my title and project of the relationship of internal and external space using scale and text, I still do believe the overall look does have a small connection with the word ‘spacial’ and its meaning therefore see it as a relevant artist to include in my final outcome and research.
In conclusion, from my research and analysis, I think all these artists I have mentioned all help to relate to my title of the relationship of internal and external space using scale and text. This is because Jamie Poole and Jenny Holzer will help to connect the facts of internal space in relation to external space using collage and painting in my outcome. Henri Matisse and Juan Sanchez Cotan will help to show how shape can change by changing the original composition in my outcome using cutouts or hanging. Claes Oldenburg will help to show how scale is shown through facts in relation to external space. Seiko Kinoshita will help to show my main starting block on how I developed my final outcome to show the relationship and finally John Roddam will help to create movement and connect all the collages are together to create a composition for my final outcome that I believe would be a good representation of ‘spacial’.
Bibliography-
Jamie Poole: Websites
Jenny Holzer: Websites
Henri Matisse: Websites
Juan Sanchez Cotan: Websites
Claes Oldenburg: Websites
Seiko Kinoshita: Websites
John Roddam: Websites
Appendix A- This is my own work that is part of my development. I have used Jamie Poole technique. I have used this technique to incorporate my internal facts opposed to the word ‘Spacial’.
Appendix B- This is my own work that is part of my development. I have used Jenny Holzer as my main inspiration on exploring the word ‘Spacial’ as a physical form rather than words through projection.
Appendix C- This is my own work that is part of my development. I have used Henri Matisse technique in my work by using cutouts of internal and external maps.
Appendix D- This is my own work that is part of my development. I have used Juan Sanchez Cotan technique of suspending objects in my development, but not my final piece.
Appendix E- This is my own work that is part of my development. I have used Claes Oldenburg style of scale with the use of my Perspex letters and paintings of them.
Appendix F- This is my own work that is part of development. Seiko Kinoshita was one of the main influential artists of my project. Her work in the Winter Gardens helped me form the idea of, internal and external space.
Appendix G- This is my own work that is part of my development. I have used John Roddam painting style in my paintings. I have done this using my images of my Perspex letters.
