Poetics of Space

At last Poetics of Space, Bachelard has arrived and think it is going to be a fascinating read and exactly appropriate.  

Having lots of thoughts about how to proceed especially now the studio build is complete.  It does mean I will have to be much more organised - I can just see myself getting into an almighty muddle if I don't watch out!  Must think this through.

Meanwhile I need to go to the British Museum with my sketchbook.  I want to find images of humans within structures from various classical sources. 
 

Drawing....

Plaster drawing

Fiddling about with plaster on paper and wood -  drawing into it, scratching and colouring with dyes.  Looking at pencil and pastel drawings of the figure and boat.  


A bit later on and the colours have faded as they have dried.  On reflection it's almost too deliberate.  try using some old watercolors, painting over top with acrylic and scratch into to get that more random colour coming though.

Wrapping

I became enamoured with Christo and Jeanne-Claude a couple of years ago when I came across The Gates in Central Park. It is a gorgeous piece of work.  Yesterday in the LRC discovered a book about the Kansas City Walkway project.  In essence they covered the Loose Park's paths with a golden yellow fabric culminating in a beautiful result, like a golden river running through.  Wrapping is part of what I do so must look more closely at their works. How could I have forgotten?
http://christojeanneclaude.net/major_walkways.shtml

Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Wrapped Walk Ways, Jacob Loose Park, Kansas City, Missouri, 1977-78
Photo: Wolfgang Volz
© 1978 Christo

Reading the book last night and thinking about my work.  Golden - another word I like - had been lurking in my thoughts and I think this has given some encouragement to go ahead.  Perhaps gold could is the colour of hope.  The proleptic halo of Christ is usually golden.  Perhaps my river should be golden or have a golden thread running through it.

The wrapping as with the small scale wrapping of Alinah Azadeh, maybe today I will wrap the chewed bones of my chicken bone spine (courtesy of Tago) with white and gold.  Also the laid down fabric, Sue, a painter,  and I took photographs of a laid out paint cloth a few years ago - find them.  Also do more research into Jannis Kounellis - so exciting......

Don't forget the Judith Scott exhibition.

Finally... and Jannis Kounellis

Finally off to the Gerhard Richter the day before it closes!  Looking forward to it.  Also think that this will be my final blog for the assignment but amazingly will probably continue to do it as well as my journal which is just as useful and has the wonderful quality of being tactile and has lovely pages to turn....

Richter- abstract painting - 1990

It was as interesting and multifaceted as I thought it was going to be.  I particularly liked the grey paintings and his blurry technique.  Did not like the flower paintings at all and felt they were out of sync with everything else or his landscapes.    I think the abstracts were too crowded together. Unfortunate because combined with the crowds visiting it was impossible to really look at them properly.  I think the series entitled Elbe was the most satisfying, didn't know them before so maybe it was the unexpected element. The colour chart things I don't appreciate at all.

 

Looking up Jannis Kounellis on the internet found this image in an article from Frieze Magazine reviewing the artist's current exhibition at the Today Art Museum in Beijing. How I would love to make a piece of this magnitude. http://www.frieze.com/shows/review/jannis-kounellis/

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Always like to visit this installation by Jannis Kounellis when in Tate Modern, it has an eery quality and I like the way the three different elements have been put together. Untitled 1979. Do some research on him - I'm interested  his association with Art Povera and similarities with Joseph Beuys.

Displacement trawling

Have been  trawling the internet as a displacement activity this morning and found the above image from the Fruitmarket for the forthcoming exhibition of Anna Barriball.  It is not so much the content that excites, because I can't see it properly,  but the juxtaposing of sculpture and wall that is exactly what I am thinking about. Brilliant.  It reminds me of the lost image of Maria Pacheco's work that first drew me to her.  I like the way the eye is drawn across the image form the left to the right in a triangular way,  almost perspectively.


Another display that keeps popping into my head is the Judith Scott exhibition at the Selfridges hotel referred to in the long journal blog.   It had a meditative quality to it which is what I think I am talking about.  This is what I want to achieve with my work. A story and depth with hidden meanings.  Every component part of the work needs to mean something and have a reason for being there not just for artifice or decorative purposes. 

Just read Vanda's blog - domestic diss - agree 100% well said Vanda

Now to the task of waking up from the 'Christmas' break that seems to last forever even though it's only one day: my intention is to start my reflective account tomorrow but need to 'revise' today.  Remember that Lost in Lace has not yet been visited nor the Gerhard Richter.