Online exhibition - Louise Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois 

The Heart Has Its Reasons

19 Dec 2020 – 4 Apr 2021

"This winter, Hauser & Wirth brings the work of one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th Century, Louise Bourgeois, to the Swiss Alps. Available to experience at the exhibition space Tarmak22 in Gstaad and online, the exhibition takes its title from Blaise Pascal’s well-known phrase: ‘the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.’ Bourgeois studied mathematics and philosophy at the Sorbonne, Paris, and wrote her thesis on Pascal; but the death of her mother in 1932 eventually led her to abandon these studies and turn to art making. Yet she remained a Pascalian, so to speak, in her belief that there is something in our emotional and psychological experience of the Other that eludes, or transcends, rational explanation. For Bourgeois, this relationship to the Other is a complex arrangement, and a world in itself."

Although drastically different to mine in both style and medium, I have always found Louise Bourgeois' work to be extraordinarily inspiring, moving and beautiful to look at. The artist's recent work is predominantly made in the form of sculpture, which I don't personally work with (as of yet), but the subject matter of her practice is what makes her work so incredibly close to home. Bourgeois' work primarily responds to the traumatic experiences she faced through out her child and adult life. Bourgeois making sense of the struggles she faced and making peace with her demons and dark past through her creative out let is what draws me so closely to the artist's work, as this is exactly what I seek to do; and exactly how making art work makes me feel. Following this virtual exhibition I continued to research the artist's childhood and past; reading up on her sculptures such as 'Maman' and the stories and turbulent relationships that informed the creating of the piece. I believe that gaining inspiration through back story is just as important as visual and technical inspiration and Bourgeois' work truly made me feel connected to her and her story, inspiring me to carry on creating and putting my demons to bed through my practice too. 

Virtual/ online exhibition

Zsolt Tibor

Lukas Feichtner Galerie Viewing Room

17 Nov 2020 - 28 Aug 2021

"The Vienna based artist Zsolt Tibor developed an individualistic form of drawing. His works develop not organically, but through the addition of elements from his vocabulary of consistently recurring motifs, such as details of buildings, animals, heraldic symbols, magazines, bottles, figures, hands or vehicles. His artistic creativity is based on the appropriation, depletion and superimposition of meanings, on the juxtaposition and combination of set pieces, and on the separation of signifier and signified. At the same time, Tibor is interested only in the form of his motifs, not in their significance."

Zsolt Tibor's work displayed at the Lukas Feichtner Galerie Viewing Room comprises a series of multi media drawings mostly on two dimensional surfaces such as paper and cardboard. Tibor's work harbours a particularly appealing use of colour contrasts that reflect the juxtaposition of the medias used within the piece. The drawings are bright, bold and eclectic in appearance, intriguing and somewhat childlike with a free spirited flare. Tibor's use of composition and texture is incredibly aesthetically pleasing to me and inspires me to approach my practice with less of a concrete goal in mind and to loosen up with the tools I'm working with. Tibor's work reminds me that sometimes the process of creating an image is just as important as the end result, and to abandon any perfectionism and absolutes. The subtle use of figurative reference in the artist's work is also appealing to me as my work often features figurative detail in the form of nude bodies, Tibor's approach to art work is incredibly different to mine which makes it all the more intriguing. Tibor's lack of care towards the significance behind his motifs is the exact opposite to my philosophy, which again I find very interesting. After exploring this exhibition I would like to experiment with working more freely, on paper, to loosen up and create with more spontaneity and see where I end up in the process. 

Virtual/ online exhibition

The tomb of pharaoh Ramses VI

7/11/2020

"Under a campaign titled experience Egypt from home. stay home. stay safe, the Egyptian government has launched a series of virtual tours of the country’s most famed museums and archaeological sites giving visitors the opportunity to experience their ancient heritage from home. known as KV9, and first discovered in 1898, you can virtually tour pharaoh’s Ramses VI tomb from anywhere thanks to this remarkable 3D virtual tour." 

The virtual tour of Pharaoh Ramses VI was an excellent opportunity to gain some visual inspiration to expand upon my research I'd undertaken previously into ancient Egypt and it's symbolism. The markings that envelop the walls of the tomb are beautifully reminiscent of authentic ancient Egyptian culture and gaining inspiration through these means feels much more intimate and legitimate than a simple google search. Many of the Gods and Goddesses I'd read up about to feed my practise research were featured in the drawings within the tomb, among many I'd not yet discovered. The exhibition was incredibly useful and interesting, leading me to conduct further research into ancient Egypt and its Pharaoh's, temples and tombs. Reading into and investigating this topic will inform my practice both in regards to the visual symbolism I feature in my work and the meanings behind these, aiding me in telling my story through my paintings.

Artist research

Beata Chrzanowska

Chrzanowska’s paintings are beautifully minimalist while also possessing an abstract nature. The deconstructed portraiture in her work is really interesting to me, the ‘half finished’ aspect to her art makes her work all the more interesting and aesthetically pleasing. Her palette and colour choices are also very beautiful to me. The figures in her work have a dismantled form to them which I find visually very satisfying. In my figurative paintings, I plan to paint a variety of different people all communicating with and reacting to one another in different painterly styles. I would love to try painting one of my figures in this half finished deconstructed way to play around with consistency and form. I’d love to paint a portrait or figure in this style in conjunction with a paint pour to achieve a multi media, otherworldly effect. 

Artist research

 Elizabeth Glaessner

Glaessner’s tendency to combine a painterly flowy style with figurative bodies is visually really enticing to me. Her style is void of harsh lines and creates a blurred boundary between the background and the body, creating a seamless ebb and flow within the image that sometimes creates a two dimensional effect. Glaessner’s fuzzy and vibrant style is captivating to the eye. I’m a fan of how Glaessner combines the figures in her paintings with the general fluidity and luminous quality to her pieces. Combining these two elements is something I’m extremely keen to try in my own practice and therefore Glaessner’s work is really alluring to me.

Artist research

AEC Interesni Kazki 

Kazki’s work excites me for the same reasons Nick Mann’s does. The images he creates are so vast, detailed and complex that they draw the viewer in to their hidden corners.  I adore the surrealist style and the skewing of perspectives and angles. Again, Kazki’s work harbours a narrative quality that adds endless mystery to the image, inviting every viewer to create their own tale to explain the insanity in the paintings. His work is abundant in flow and rhythm. I want my work to emanate the same narrative essence and sheer hallucinogenic properties.

Artist research

 Nick Mann

I find Nick Mann’s mural work really captivating due to it’s narrative quality. Each of his paintings depict a complex and all consuming tale in a somewhat psychedelic style. Mann’s mural’s are detailed, colourful and otherworldly. I strive for my paintings to harbour a similar quality, particularly a narrative one. Mann’s ability to create an entire scene with a story with a surrealist essence is exactly what I’d love to do in my own personal practice, therefore I will be closely observing his work for inspiration. 

Artist research

 Dan Isaac Bortz / Jbecauze

Dan Isaac Bortz’s work is endlessly fascinating to me. I am incredibly excited by art work that is rich in colour, abstract and figurative in style. I adore Bortz’s personal style in which he paints and draws people interacting with the space around them, I’ve not personally mastered my own niche artistic language just yet and this is something that really matters to me. Seeing Bortz’s individual style motivates me to find my own. I plan to create large scale figurative scenes of people interacting with one another and I want to find my own abstract aesthetic, like Bortz. I will continue to explore his work and take inspiration from his visual style. 

Artist research

Erik Minter

I find Minter’s work massively inspiring not only because I find his work aesthetically engaging but because of his technique. Minter has mastered the ability to conjoin figurative and pour painting (see second reference image). The way Minter has manipulated the materials to flow in a certain direction and form a figurative shape is what I plan to master so I find his work extremely exciting and motivating. I also want to learn how to combine spray painting and gradients with paint pouring, both of which Minter has captured in the works referenced below. I will study his work more closely as I attempt these styles in my own practice.

Continued research

It's very important to me that my paintings harbour a tale, a message or a meaning of some sort. With out this, I feel alienated from my work and as though it doesn't contain a part of my being. I feel a personal obligation to communicate with the viewer through the visuals in my work in order to portray a deeper meaning through the incorporation of symbolism. It feels incredibly empowering that you can say something so loudly in your work with out using any interpretable words, with out being directly quoted all while maintaining your absolute privacy. In order to do this, I wanted my paintings to feature symbols that I have attributed certain meanings to; as though I have created my own alphabet or artistic language. I have always been incredibly drawn to the Eye of Horus as a symbol, initially because I found it aesthetically beautiful and eventually, as a result of deeper research, because of its meaning. 

Researching the Eye of Horus led me to wonder about ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology as a whole, and what other symbols might retain extensive meaning that I might relate to on a personal level in regards to my back story and the paintings I wish to create.

Areas/ figures I researched included: 

-Medusa

-Egyptian goddesses and gods and their back stories

-Anubis (Black dog symbolism and god of the underworld and dead spirits)

-Sphinx statues and temples (protection and worship)

Artemisia Gentileschi - Judith Slaying Holofernes

Judith Slaying Holofernes (1612-1613) by Artemisia Gentileschi

Artemisia Gentileschi is a huge inspiration to me and my practise due to her effervescent courage, mite and strength in response to the harrowing trauma she faced as a young seventeen year old woman in Rome.

Gentileschi's story mirrors my own in several areas and because of this I feel a deep connection to her work and her response to her trauma as an artist. 

Gentileschi was often at the mercy of misogynistic idealisations and patriarchal systems, dimming her potential as an extremely talented baroque painter. The piece that most stands out to me and touches me on a deeply emotional level is ‘Judith Slaying Holofernes’, many art historians believe the painting to be a direct vengeful response to Agostino Tassi, who raped Artemisia Gentileschi in her own father’s home.

After Agostino Tassi didn’t fulfil his ‘promise’ to marry Artemisia, Artemisia’s father took Tassi to court, where Artemisia was subject to gruelling torture that lasted over a period of several days. The belief was that if Artemisia stuck to her version of events in spite of the harrowing pain she was subject to, then she must be telling the truth. Artemisia succeeded in enduring the torturous pain she was forced to undergo and Tassi was found guilty and was sentenced to flee Rome. However due to the misogyny and patriarchy that ran through out Rome at the time combined with general lack of education and awareness surrounding traumas such as these, Tassi never carried out his sentence, and him doing so was never enforced.

 "Painted after the trauma of her rape by Agostino Tassi the year before in 1611, Artemisia depicted the assassination of the Assyrian general Holofernes from the Old Testament by the Israelite heroine Judith. Many feminist critics have interpreted the painting as a form of visual revenge following her sexual assault and more recently the painting has been praised for Gentileschi's achievement in portraying strong women."

  

"Judith, as painted by Artemisia, is full of rage. She is not serene or delicate. She is not posing or unsure. She is angry, certain, and out for blood. Everything in her expression and her movements is full of force and intent. It’s the little details like his hair between her knuckles from where she’s gripping it and the forceful twist of her wrist on his sword that she’s taken. To her rolled sleeves in her incredibly fancy dress. And it’s not afraid to be gory to. Perhaps this is tame by modern standards of blood and gore but for the time it’s very bloody and violent. Supposedly the violence was too much for the first owner who kept it hidden for some time (allegedly). I think it’s important that while the focus is Judith doing the act, her maid is not passive in the violence. She’s holding him down with just as much force as Judith. And unwavering to, despite how we can see how Holofernes was trying to throw her off before he died, his hands still limply in the air. The maids full of as much determination as Judith is. Judith’s dressed up for this to, in a fine gown with her hair done up. This is likely part of the ruse Judith set up before she got Holofernes alone, but I like the detail none the less. That she’s dressed up for this murder." 

"Following the trial Artemisia married a little-known Florentine artist by the name of Pierantonio di Vincenzo Stiattesi, and left Rome for Florence shortly thereafter. There she had five children and established herself as an independent artist, becoming the first woman to gain membership to the Academy of the Arts of Drawing in 1616. Artemisia returned to Rome in 1620, beset by creditors after running up debts, and she remained there for 10 years (except for a trip to Venice in 1628).

From 1630 she settled in Naples, where she ran a successful studio until her death. She briefly visited London in 1639, perhaps to assist her ailing father on the ceiling painting of the Queen’s House in Greenwich (now at Marlborough House in London), but was back in Naples the following year. The precise date of her death is not known but a recently discovered document records her still living in Naples in August 1654."

Desired outcome

 As well as harbouring a desire to fine tune my painting skills in regards to both liquid and figurative painting; it really matters to me that the paintings I'm going to render act as a therapeutic tool for me to vent my pent up frustration as a result of the injustices I have faced through trauma and tell my story through my own personal artistic language. In my sketchbooks I have dozens of roughly sketched and annotated painting ideas that I jotted down during my PTSD episodes that I was too unwell at the time to create. 

This academic year, it is my mission to work towards getting closer to being able to bring those images to life through painting. This will help me on a deeply emotional level by being able to confront these dark experiences and turn them into something (hopefully) beautiful, this transformative process will aid in my recovery by allowing me to turn dark to light and put these chapters of my life to bed. I can proudly look at the works I have created, knowing I lived and breathed the pain that went into the paintings and was solely responsible for the metamorphosis of my emotions, turning pain into pride. 

The painting ideas I am working from in my sketchbooks are incredibly ambitious in relation my current technical painting ability, but creating these images means so much to me and I feel a need to prove to my past self that I can bring these images to life, as a kind of 'F you' to my trauma and to aid in improving my self esteem, both as an artist and a human being. 

In order to improve my painting skills, I plan to create a series of nude figurative studies on both paper and canvas (as I want to work on both these surfaces for my larger planned works and need to learn the nuances of working with these materials). In conjunction with this, I will be practising my fluid art techniques and tightening up my paint pouring methods by exploring a range of different techniques which again, I will carry out on both paper and canvas. 

Artist spotlight: Lynnea Holland Weiss