My current work is concerned with exploring degrees of abstraction as a means of analysing and commenting upon landscape character. Having spent a career as a landscape architect I am interested in how natural processes and manmade interventions have determined the landscape that we see. Of particular interest is the dynamic quality of landscape appreciation, how it changes from moment to moment through changing light patterns, also diurnal and seasonal rythmns. This has lead to an interest in seriality and repetition.
Source material
is varied including direct observation and reflection, sketching, photographing, other artists’
work, also oblique references through poetry, early music, contemporary dance and theatrical lighting amongst
others.
Freeing my
work from the need to ‘represent’ a landscape in pictorial terms I hope will
allow a more subtle level of commentary. I am currently exploring the tension
between the organic patterns of erosion and linear quality of walls in the
upland landscape; and the changing patterns of light in cloud patterns.
Having
spent some time exploring transitory patterns of projected colour and shadow I
am now working primarily with acrylic paint.
Colour is a strong
concern; how its properties can radically change with context. Earth colours
provide an obvious reference point, however, by exploring colours not normally
associated with landscape the reference becomes less obvious and a certain freedom ensues.
Now in my 4th year (part-time) of a BA (Hons) Fine Art at the University of Sunderland.
My Blog is an active part of developing my practice as an artist, part record, part reflection and part exploration - a test station for ideas. Steve Joy's description of his studio as a 'laboratory of the mind' seems apposite.
Although the landscape is still a recurrent concern I have become increasingly interested in the 'properties of the picture plane' in the making of pictures.
Research (See Research Section) has proved invaluable and stimulating in developing my practice. Clement Greenberg's dictum "The artist must understand the past in order to define a new problem and proceed to innovation" rings true.
Experimentation and understanding of 'process' is fundamental to developing one's own language (See Studio Development.) It is impossible to foresee, accurately how what is in one's minds eye will actually look on the canvass.
Following on from the above -the importance of Chance and Accident. Francis Bacon addresses this by acknowledging "Perhaps one could say its not an accident because it becomes a selective process, what part of the accident to preserve..."
Hence the importance of developing my practice in order to make better informed value judgements.
About Me
I spent my working life practicing as a landscape architect involved with the design and construction of many, varied external spaces. Landscape design is a collaborative process and I have enjoyed working with a wide range of people - communities, environmental professionals and artists.
Landscape has been a strong influence since early childhood. I am interested in natural process and the influence of mankind as the main agents defining the visual landscape; landform and the ephemeral nature of much experience of landscape.
The' garden' as a refuge for the spirit: Hortus contemplationis: the abstractiuon of space - Rob Aben, Saskia de Wit
Now in my 4th year (part-time) of a BA (Hons) Fine Art at the University of Sunderland.
My Blog is an active part of developing my practice as an artist, part record, part reflection and part exploration - a test station for ideas. Steve Joy's description of his studio as a 'laboratory of the mind' seems apposite.
I have a wide interests which feeds into my thinking on making visual art. These include early music, jazz, contemporary dance, theatre, landscape, gardens and gardening, cooking, hill walking, travel and family.
STATEMENT OF INTENT
(1) What interests you or drives you?
Exploring degrees of abstraction to analyse / make comment upon landscape character and appreciation
Time as a component in landscape / visual appreciation - the ephemeral nature of landscape experience
(2) What Materials do you think best serve your Investigations / Play
Paper, pencil / charcoal / pastel / water colour
Canvas, mdf, ply, timber, hessian
Photographic images
Acrylic, ink, domestic paint
Various natural materials – sand, mud, seeds.......
(3) How will you measure success
· Has it taken me somewhere I have not been before?
· Have I learned a new technique / materials / approach?
· On technical issues – things that did not work and to be avoided in the future and ideas for expanding technical competence.
· Have I been able to demonstrate pertinent influences and how my work fits
into a contemporary context
into a contemporary context
· Has it engaged / communicated with my peers / audience / tutors?
· Do I feel more confident / better equipped to tackle new work?
· Was it enjoyable? If not why not?
Reflections
Towards the end of ART 271:Although the landscape is still a recurrent concern I have become increasingly interested in the 'properties of the picture plane' in the making of pictures.
Research (See Research Section) has proved invaluable and stimulating in developing my practice. Clement Greenberg's dictum "The artist must understand the past in order to define a new problem and proceed to innovation" rings true.
Experimentation and understanding of 'process' is fundamental to developing one's own language (See Studio Development.) It is impossible to foresee, accurately how what is in one's minds eye will actually look on the canvass.
Following on from the above -the importance of Chance and Accident. Francis Bacon addresses this by acknowledging "Perhaps one could say its not an accident because it becomes a selective process, what part of the accident to preserve..."
Hence the importance of developing my practice in order to make better informed value judgements.
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