Drawings for Final Critique

Figure Drawing- Classical to Baroque Lighting (Female Model)
Complimentary Color Still Life
Facial Features Color Studies
Large Scale Color Self Portrait
Figure Movement- Male Model
Animation- imovie
Cinematic Redux- Movie scene re- interpreted
2 Figures in a Space
Monumental Still Life Space- Food, Fruit...
360 Degree Landscape

Baroque Still Life- Black and White
Blurry Portraits from a photo

Landscape on Site

Thomas Jones

Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth

Thomas Moran

Thomas Moran

Turner

Fairfield Porter

William Trost Richards

SPACE- Color and Clarity

While attempting to depict space, especially landscape space, artists turn to what they have carefully observed in nature. Beyond the obvious relationship of scale, observations of atmospheric color and perceived clarity relating to distance proved to fundamental. Alterations in these to concepts as it relates to the three grounds- foreground, middle ground, and background allowed the artist to perceptually push the surface back extremely deep. The general practice of neutral color and cooler hues in the background approximate for the far off distance of mountains as seen through the moisture and reflection of the atmosphere. Hence the term atmospheric perspective. Intensity or purity of hue plays a role here. Our eyes see intensity as closer, less obscured. This also holds true with clarity. Clear focus, crisp edges, sharp contrast again simulates nearness for our perception. By contrast, blurred edges, less contrast simulate great distance.

Composition also plays a part to this. A composition that is cropped and filled implies that we are surrounded or in the midst of. A composition that is not cropped and dwarfed within the rectangle implies a distance. It is possible to convey massive space within a small rectangle. Vantage point should also be consider. Think bird's eye view or worms eye view. From down low all things seem monumental, from up high all seems tiny and distant.

In our examples below consider the composition as it relates to these topics. Think about how the set up the three grounds and apply color and clarity to them. Think about scale and placement when looking at these.

Kim Keever

Kim Keever

Gerhardt Richter

Bierstadt

Kensett

Thibeau

Toral

Toral

Background Reference Photo

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SPACE

The essential challenge of all artists working in 2 dimensions is the usage of space. It can be a challenge quickly addressed by acknowledging the flatness of the surface as modern painters did or delve into a myriad of choices of how space can be crafted. Such choices presented in art history include (but not limited to) realism/ illusionism, Byzantine, Pre- Renaissance, Renaissance, Cubism. All unavoidably deal with the issue of space selection, meaning and represent the thinking of that era.

John Singer Sargent

To understand this issue we first must look at the subjective nature of engaging space visually as humans. At best we can see just under 180 degrees ( an admittedly incomplete perception of the space that surrounds us.) Below are two examples from John Montagues's Basic Drawing Perspective.

Again remember our brain is comprehending information, in multiple ways, from an image projected upside down within our eye. From this information the brain uses conditioned responses to particular appearances of shapes and colors to process quickly. In this manner vision and it's subject are perceived. The very nature of the term perception, is the ability of the mind to grasp what is seen. The challenge in space depiction is the utilization of depth perception as it relates to:

COLOR (temperature, intensity, value)

CLARITY (focus vs blur)

SCALE ( relative size of objects)

SEQUENCING ( overlapping and placement of objects)

SHAPE DEFORMATION (the regularized shape in perspective and how the mind grasps these shapes as the vacillate between flatness and form)

Space and it's depiction is a loaded choice as it highlights and consciously omits/ edits certain information as it's expression needs. We all generally grow up being amazed by the simulacra of illusionistic space, yet have unintentionally disregarded the multiple possibilities that space offers. It is the artists decision to make use of what best suits their "message" and equally important, enhances their perception of space, a skill necessary in engaging with all forms of 2 dimensional work whether it is advertising, fine art, design, illustration, photography. Below are examples highlighting some artists approach to handling space within these terms.

Thomas Moran

George Inness

Richard Parkes Bonington

The previous examples showcase an extreme depiction of spatial recession in the landscape format, foreground, middle ground and background. Atmospheric perspective is employed as we see colors of a more neutral hue in the background as well as cooler color and less contrasting values. Scale changes are evident as well as overlapping objects.

Richard Deibenkorn

In this example of Deibenforn we can see a tension between the flatness of the space and three dimensionality. It is a heavy "shape" composition which leans toward flatness, yet he employed a knowledge of color and values in spacial recession. Notice the shadows on the pavement.

Lucian Freud

Joan Semmel

Philip Pearlstein

The above examples display an approach to the figure in space through more traditional techniques. We see clear usage of sequencing particularly in Pearlstein (notice the mannequin behind, the in front of the model.) In the Semmel example she plays with the mirror (and extends the space) using color and scale. Notice the taper of the legs and the overlap. In the Freud example, we see clear overlaping of the body, foreshortening, color and scale (thigh/ knee to head ratio.)

Cinematic REDUX

Often times in art a certain point of view is called for to express an idea. This indicates a control of the visual elements to create a sympathetic understanding of our cause. Point of view,in this case is used to describe inhabiting the consciousness of a particular individual, NOT vantage point. Think my side of the story vs your version- same event two ways to interpret it. Below we will see some examples that take this into account. In most instances it is used as a vehicle for propaganda. What better way to get your point of view across, then to already have them on your side.

Much inspiration for this projects comes from this book below, "Grendel", which explores the monster's version of the well known epic tale of Beowulf.

An lastly, propaganda from one of the most infamous players in history- the Third Reich. Hitler, known to us all as an evil person responsible for countless atrocities, is depicted as a caring father figure in one instance and even a hero in the one below, equipped with the customary white knight armor and flag.

Time in Sequence

Please see the below examples of two artists working with the concept of drawing and time- animation. In this instance drawing is meant to run parallel to normal viewing time. There are distinct components that are past and present. Yet it is the accumulated drawings done in sequence, displayed at speed, that allow us to see this event in familiar time. These cases display the idea of making multiple drawings to mimic the passage of time. This is different than previous examples of ours in which time was embodied in a single drawing or a painting. These exist only as time passes. There are clear ghost lines evident, indicating the history of the drawing, its record or archive. This is a very different approach than the animation of movies- which hide the craft to some degree and focus on the story. Here the drawing history is as important as the narrative.

William Kentridge "Pain & Sympathy" -click here

"Muto" by Blu- click here

For our next class I ask that you bring in a photo to draw from/ animate. We will get the basic drawing done in class. Please try and bring a photo that is simple enough (don't include the whole world!!) Some suggestions-

go to the American Museum of Natural History and take images of the 'stuffed' animals that are displayed. You can then learn the movements of the animal and animate etc. Any animal will do as long as the view is useful. Don't take a picture of a sleeping cat and expect to be able to draw it in profile walking.

go to the Met and take images of the suits of armor and begin to think about animating its movement. Or anything there as there are statues etc, it just has to be 3 dimensional.

go to the Botanical Garden and take images of a plant to animate its growth etc.

SO JUST A GOOD PHOTO TO DRAW FROM. We will be using vine charcoal erasers and bristol.

TIME

With the inception of mark making came the ability to record events people and places. It became a tradition or "written record" of the past for future viewers. With that impulse, drawing continued for centuries. At various points in history it was important to capture a specific moment of a story or action and emphasis came to freezing the participants at the desired moment. Later, artists began to question or expand upon this convention, they became sensitive to time itself and the speed in a moment. Could it be stretched to seem active for an eternity? They became aware of the sense of time IN the artwork and not only its depiction. This could be a quality of time in the artwork separate, faster, slower, longer, endless than that of the viewer's world. Over the course of history it led to inventions of sequenced panels, stroboscopic movement, control of color and apparent space and a surface record (of accumulated movements of the artist) to address qualities of time. Below we see examples of artists addressing time in very individual ways.

Stroboscopic Photograph

Here we see the multiple moments of a motion. Within one picture we see more than a single moment captured, a sequence of positions indicating a beginning and end point.

Duchamp- Nude Descending a Staircase

Not unlike the previous example, we are able to see multiple positions of a movement sequenced and compressed into one picture. In a sense Duchamp captured a small passage of time, every instance existing simultaneously. It is comparable to a long duration photo.

Morandi

In this example we see an artist using composition, color, and space to hint at a feeling of time/ timelessness. By lowering the contrast, bring the colors to a neutral key, predominantly verticals and horizontal lines, we sense a slowing down of time, a stillness. The opposite would be a 'fast' experience- bright colors, lots of diagonals, heavy contrast.

Agnes Martin

Another example that hints at a sense of time or slowness this time without using representational imagery. The formal qualities mentioned in Morandi are clearly seen here again.

De Chirico

In this example, we see a space devoid of time. There is a sense of time of day (maybe evening-ish) but also a sense that it is always that same time. Some of this is accomplished by the light created and also the space. The space is vast and vacant. In the mind, time and space are linked, are larger space indicates a longer time to transverse it, or a slowing down.

Hopper

Hopper's example shows us the psychology of time. His people are usually alone and in a different time than others- the endless solitude of loneliness, or lost amongst others. There is always a quality in his work that this moment repeats (day in day out, meet at the same spot with the regulars always there etc.) and implies that this is a regular occurrence. An example of a moment presented to last indefinitely.

Bacon

Bacon found inspiration in stroboscopic photography. We can see a possible reference in his attempt to capture a portrait of a person. Is a person's likeness that frozen pose, or an organism moving about experiencing time? How would you convey this?

Bacon

One of Bacon's most famous work. A riff on Velasquez's Pope Innocencio X. Below you will see the original. But first think about how the figure is presented, the intensity of colors, the intense directional stroke, that emotion in the strokes. Again it appears to be a duration of time captured (along with psychological content) rather than the actual likeness of the person.

Velasquez and Bacon

Obviously two different takes on the same portrait of the pope (both with different agendas). One appears to capture the frozen moment and likeness, the other the accumulated moments frantic tortured psychology of a person. There is also the indirect time element of Bacon referencing a painting from long ago.

Damien Loeb

With this example I am referencing our next project- Cinematic History Redux. This artist takes images from movies and puts them together for his own purposes. There is an intense attention to detail and virtuosity of skill. But there continues the sense of movie time, part of a larger narrative playing out.

Damien Loeb

Another example of movie time. But what is interesting is the moment the artist chose. Is it a scene right before the films climax or a random choice. This brings to question what moment is important to freeze, which has the qualities you are seeking- build- up, climax, aftermath, random, etc.

Large- Scale Portraiture

Examples below demonstrate the scale we are attempting in this project as well as a concrete sense of form. This is the basis for your exploration into lighting the subject. A form and mass of the head must be indicated as you then begin to investigate light. Please click here to review Skull and Head Structure.

Olmec Heads from Mexican History

Kollwitz

Seurat

Lucien Freud

Andrew Wyeth

Chuck Close

Student Work

Student Work

Student Work