jennacaspary

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My bedroom: my happy place 7.15pm My room just cleaned, fresh bed linen, music and candles is what makes up my happy place. The light pinks and oranges of the sunset grab my attention as I paint, as well as my lemongrass and ginger scented candle that seems to keep me calm. Listening to my favorite chilled playlist and the occasional tweeting bird inspires the rhythm of my brushstroke as well as the colours I choose. The solid colours represent the solid structure i am under and the writing inscribed are my thoughts.

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A place a hadn't been before: Paradise Beach, Rose Bay Literally paradise. My friends have been before a few years ago to watch fireworks on New Years Eve but I wasn't able to join them, so I thought it was time to go. I was the only person on the beach and I loved it. It was so beautiful and peaceful and I felt so relaxed and grounded. I had brought with me a jar of water for the water colour and salt for a nice effect but as soon as I arrived I tipped out the water and filled the jar with sea water and used sand instead of salt. This felt more authentic and real. Being in the now is something I struggle with doing and I was able to do that through this assessment in each three places I made an artwork in. Notes I took on how I felt, heard, smelt etc: Soothing wooshes of water Sparkly sounds after the waves gently crash on shore Shades of light tourquoise Using ocean water and sand from the beach to keep it authentic Therapeutic Relaxing Don't want to leave

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Video of location 2: a place that I haven't been before

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A place that makes me feel confronted and scared: Sitting on a cliff was always a thought that frightened me. I've heard stories of fishermen falling off the edge accidentally as well as knowing it is a place where people have taken their lives makes me worried. I climbed over the fence that keeps people safe and instantly felt a sense of calm. I loved sitting there painting. To my surprise it was therapeutic and relaxing. (It might have helped that I saw a few dolphins prior) Some things I wrote down about what I could hear, smell, see: Smell of salt in the air Occasional cool breeze Frightened start Waves crashing against the rocks Texture of the rocks I'm sitting on Sounds of birds Shimmery Deep blue water

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Video of location 1: a place that makes me feel confronted and scared.

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Our first brainstorm about the NOW assessment 3: In class as a group we had a quick brainstorm about some topics we thought we might investigate in association with the present and the concept of NOW-ness. In the end we decided to each make 3 artworks influenced by our environment.

1. Make and artwork in a happy place: A place that makes you relaxed and comfortable. 

2. make an artwork in a place that makes you angry, sad, hurt or unhappy.

3. Make an artwork in a place that you have never been before. 

Through this we will create a 12 page publication about the now and how moments of the present impact on emotional  happenings of the person. Creating art whilst in the environment will extenuate the emotional content of the works , really describing as to how contemporary happenings can create innovative works. It will be interesting to see the array of artworks that are all respective to the artist and their personal ideas of people place and emotion.  

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the now

what comes the mind when i think of ‘the now’

The power of now

Being present

Being mindful

Being proactive

The one touch rule

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Final project set up in class

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Bibliography

Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain [Book]

Allan Teger, https://bodyscapes.com (accessed 5/9/17) 

Baritaux, Z., ‘Exploring The Mundane And Magical Symbols In Irving Penns Work’, APR 25 2017, https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/ywvdeg/exploring-the-mundane-and-magical-symbols-in-irving-penns-work (accessed 10/9/17)

Berko, Ferenc (1916 - 2000), https://theredlist.com/wiki-2-16-601-784-view-nude-body-profile-berko-ferenc.html (accessed 8/9/17)

 Cunningham, Imogen (1883 - 1976), https://theredlist.com/wiki-2-16-601-784-view-nude-body-profile-cunningham-imogen.html (accessed 12/9/17)

 Ekin, C., ‘Irving Penn at Lesley University’, 28 November 2016, https://www.keptlight.com/irving-penn-at-lesley-university/ (accessed 6/9/17)

 Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) http://www.artnet.com/artists/herb-ritts/ (accessed 5/9/17)

 Irving Penn, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Penn (accessed 6/9/17)

 Klaus Kampert, https://www.lensculture.com/klaus-2 (accessed 8/9/17)

 Photographer Imogen Cunningham's First Major European Retrospective Opens Today at Madrid's Fundacion Mapfre, 18 September 2012, http://www.artfixdaily.com/artwire/release/5953-photographer-imogen-cunninghams-first-major-european-retrospectiv (accessed 8/9/17)

 Randel, M., 10 ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE ARTWORKS, http://www.widewalls.ch/10-robert-mapplethorpe-artworks/ (accessed 10/9/17)

 Ruth Bernhard, http://www.photographywest.com/pages/bernhard_bio.html (accessed 6/9/17)

 ‘Rene Magritte Belgian Painter’, http://www.theartstory.org/artist-magritte-rene.htm (accessed 3/9/17)

 Robert Mapplethorpe, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mapplethorpe (Accessed 6/9/17)

 THE BODY IN CONSTRUCTION: NUDES BY RAOUL HAUSMANN, 19 april 2016, https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/photography/the-body-in-construction-nudes-by-raoul-hausmann/ (accessed 8/9/17)

 The Lovers II, 1928 by Rene Magritte, https://www.renemagritte.org/the-lovers-2.jsp (accessed 3/9/17)

 ‘The Nude’, http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/ritts/nudes.html (accessed 5/9/17)

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Assessment 2 statement

‘Uncreating and Recreating’

 Everything ever created was inspired by multiple sources in one way or another through vision, touch, taste, sound or hearing. In this work I aim to explore the binary of men and women in relation to ‘uncreativity’, where I will be appropriating specific photographs taken by renowned photographers, all from the 20th century. I intended to copy these works and make them my own. I wanted to copy the image and use painting as my form of expression.

This project opened up ethical questions for me and my art making. Is it wrong to appropriate someone’s work if you openly reference it? For this project I never physically got in touch with the photographers to ask them permission, as that would be nearly impossible.

After researching many photographers and picking and choosing and playing around with what photos would work with what, I realized I couldn’t plan everything out and decided to be a bit fluid, going with the flow and being risky with the medium I chose.

Although originally wanting to make this project using dark and light acrylic and oil paint and expanding my skills in working with tone, I decided to further develop my limited skills using ink as my medium. The ink symbolizes the fluidity of gender.

While using ink to depict the human form, the undisciplined flow of ink formed the differences between female and male bodies. The differences became very marked as the contrast in the developing structures become obvious to the discerning eye. Whilst the female body is characteristically softer, it stands in contrast to the sharper and more rigid contours of the male structure.

Every form is beautiful in its own way and we can celebrate their aesthetic value.

I first started by appropriating American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe’s ‘Raymond’ made in 1985. Mapplethorpe is known for his highly stylized large-scale black and white celebrity portraits, still-life images of flowers and male and female nudes. I chose ‘Raymond’ to start, knowing how hard it was to find attractive male nude photographs. Although I don’t think this image is particularly attractive, I was attracted to the contrast of light and dark tones and the positive space around his body.

To continue this series, I chose American photographer Irving Penn’s ‘Sitting Nude Rear’ printed in 1994 to accompany my first painting. Both being images of people’s bums, except one male and one female will highlight the similarities in form and distinguish between the two. I love how the ‘Sitting Nude Rear’ is cropped and has huge contrast in tonal value.

Next, I chose one of the leading representatives of art photography in Vienna between the world wars, Rudolf Koppitz. I chose his ‘Nude study’, 1927 as I thought this reclining nude was perfect for my series, providing a new perspective of a body and also added a sense of vulnerability of the body. I liked that her identity was hidden, as the viewer couldn’t see any features of her face.

I finished the series with Herb Ritts’ ‘a torso shot’, produced in 1990. I found a lot of inspiring works from Ritts who produced iconic work. I find this work particularly beautiful because of the strength the model portrays and the light cast on his masculine body.

After being inspired by Rene Margritte’s painting ‘The Lover’s 1’ and ‘The Lovers 2’, I wanted to utilize the same power of the works by simply covering part of the body in cloth. I soon moved away from this idea of masking or hiding gender and decided to expose and embrace the body. I went on to studying a myriad of photographers’ works and then I felt very inspired to paint some of their beautiful photographs. I soon discovered that trying to be ‘uncreative’ is actually being very creative. As a result of being uncreative and using appropriation and copying, I have created a series of scantily clad paintings that showcase the body in different ways. In creating this series and referencing photographs from the 20th century, I have given new meaning to the works and put them in new contexts. Essentially what I have done is uncreated and recreated a creation.

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Looking at different ways I can display my work.

The different layouts make a difference to how the viewer will see my work so I want it to look nice. I’m thinking of displaying it as the first image. (I also kind of like the third)

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Progress photos of my paintings almost complete.

I have a few final touches to make and then they will be finished.

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Appropriation of Rudolf Koppitz’s ‘Nude Study’, 1927

For this painting I decided not to use wood as a painting tool as I didn't like the effect for the subject matter with the other two paintings. I purely used brushes. I noticed I could recognise tones much easier than for the other two paintings and I am much better at controlling the ink now.

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Process

Robert Mapplethorpe, ‘Raymond’, 1985

Inspired from all my research of different artists and choosing my favourite images, i started by exploring the theme of ‘uncreativity’ and decided the best way to explore that theme is to copy the image as best as I can using ink. 

The photos above are my process. Having very limited knowledge and experience with ink, I used wood as my painting tool as thats all I knew how and quite liked the harsh edges. As the painting progressed I realised it wasn't the best tool to be using as it didn't provide the sense of softness of skin. 

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Research of photographers who explore the body:

When researching different artists I was mostly concerned about the aesthetic value of their collection of photos. All artists listed below were artists whose works I saw value in using.

- Allan Teger (very clever composition with little figures interacting with body, ie, fishing in belly button) “I remember the moment that the idea for Bodyscapes® came to me. I was thinking that the shape and structure of the universe repeated itself at every level and suddenly I had the image in my mind of a skier going down a breast. This was it - the universe repeating its shapes - a body looking like a mountain. It was also an example of two realities coexisting. The picture could be seen as a landscape and it could also be seen as a body.”

- Herb Ritts (black and white photography, editorial fashion for huge brands, photographs famous models, strong contrast)

- Robert Mapplethorpe (highly stylised, done controversial photos in the past where the works were highly confrontational and inappropriate, sting shapes, contest in tones, models of different culture/backgrounds)

- Irving Penn (B&W close ups showcasing raw, natural bodies)

- Ruth Bernhard

- Edward Weston (started photographing at 16, emphasis on form, body transcends into natural shapes, cropped images)

- Imogen Cunningham (women in natural form i.e. pregnant, interesting shapes of the bodies, feminist) She photographed the world with a woman's eye, from a viewpoint far different than that of the male dominated photographic world of her time and ours. 

- Karel Ludwig (over imposed images, huge contest, forms like fruit)

- Klaus Kampert (elongated bodies, flexible forms, no head = no identity, capability of the human form, pushes boundaries)

- Raoul Hausmann (body in natural places i.e beach and water, movement of body, was one of the leading Dadaists, and early experimenter of all things art and politics, and especially in these photos, exploring the nature of body as art)

- Ferenc Berko (nudes of his wife, silhouette, shapes, positive and negative space, interested in texture and lighting,  influenced by the avant-garde movement)

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Cropped!- Experiment

this experimented focused on Rene Magritte’s paintings ‘’ and ‘’.

As a result of the clothing the figures wore in the original paintings it was obvious which gender they were. 

After cropping the images (as shown above), i decided to conduct a small experiment, asking 5 people who had never seen these works before if they could tell me which one the male is and which one the female is.

Each one of the people asked could tell me which gender the figures were and all got it correct. When asked how they knew, they told me it’s their body language, dominance, and height difference that told them.

Conclusion: I thought that my next step in progressing would be to photograph  a nude male and nude female draped in cloth to ‘hide’ their gender, then to make an artwork from it. As worked out, our gender is not well hidden, it seems to be engrained into us in body language, subtle shapes, stance etc.