Drawing Transformations, Part IV - Marking, Thinking & Transforming - Portrature

Today being a self study day (Fridays), I decided to devote it to the drawing transformations project.  Having considered a subject of portraiture for drawing & sketching, ...what better subject could I have but myself! (Big mistake perhaps? Well, it has been very difficult)...

I never realized what a significant challenge this would be!...  I have done perhaps 3 or 4 self portraits over the past 5 years perhaps, but I have never really been satisfied with the results.  Today, I decided to consider the "Imagining & Thinking" part of the project but instead of just imagining and thinking about a subject per se, I decided to investigate how the brain actually deals with the whole process of Image and Processing, = Imagining & Thinking...

My university course assistant tutor, Jo B. suggested some time ago, for me to read a book cited here;

Edwards, Betty (2013). Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain : A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence. Retrieved from http://www.eblib.com

We are lucky enough to be able to get access to this book electronically, through the University Library, so I pored my self (figuratively speaking) into the book...  I will come up for air at regular intervals over this following weekend, but it remains my intention to read as much of it as I can!

Formative assessment feedback and start of Project 6 - Reading and Responding

Having had my formative assessment yesterday, I am keen to understand what areas I am too weak in.  Whilst my general markings were ok, all above 60+, I am still a bit disappointed with myself, my mark and I think I can do better.  I know that my biggest failings at the moment are as a result of being "too literal" in my work.  This is highly likely too, as from my point of view, I have been a communicator all my adult life, and I have always expressed myself as articulately and as clearly as I can.  However, in the cutting edge of contemporary art, the communication comes from within the viewer, not solely from the artist.  From what I understand from Jill, Christian, Ian and Bob, they all seem to concur that the real secret to successful contemporary art work is to put down the pointers, or framework, or starting point; and then allow the viewer (or audience) to join the dots up for themselves.

My new project for the last 6 weeks of this semester, - to run along side the drawing transformations project, is the final task for this academic year.  It is to read and respond (artistically, in any medium) to some chosen text.   Christian was kind enough to give us a head start on this project following yesterdays weekly briefing, although officially the De-constructing the GM project finishes on Friday of this week.  (However, it was also mentioned that this could continue right up to the summative assessment stage if desired).

The first critical task therefore, of this new project is for me to choose a piece of text. I was warned that this can sometimes slow students and practitioners down considerably if they spend too long in trying to find "the right" text.  However, I have been reassured that it can be any text, or any word, or picture (as a whole picture, or even just a tiny part of it, without any written word is of course a text, simply because it is something that can convey a meaning.  Hence pretty much anything can be a text).

I haven't taken long to decide on this, as there are many poems and sayings that I feel really strongly about anyway.  Lots of the phrases and sayings of my Mother or Father could be good candidates, - but I don't want to pick any single one out above the rest, as they are all precious to me, and each circumstance through the discourse of life that brings an old phrase to mind, often brings back a memory of my Mum or Dad, and hence a small moment to cherish during the journey.

So, I have come up with two really strong poems to decide between.  These two poems I found about four years ago, and I now have them printed and framed up on my office (now studio) wall.  Having resided there for me to read each time I'm feeling a little bit down or low over the past few years has really been a good tonic!...  I probably read them at least monthly if not more often.

The two poems I am referring to are Rudyard Kipling's "IF"  (Which is perfect for a sales or management / consultant's role, which is what I was doing at the time I found / re-discovered it for myself); and the second is "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). It's a short Victorian poem, written around 1875 and published in 1888; a little earlier in time than Kipling was writing "If", written in 1895 bu not published until 1910.
-  I suspect both these poems were very much about keeping the classic Victorian values of courage in the face of adversity, most likely to help raise moral in difficult British wars overseas, and hence very fashionable at the time.  However, their depth and visual, imagistic text still resonates to this day, especially with me!

(UPDATE)
For completeness, the two poems are included below, as follows;

"If", By Rudyard Kipling, 1895.

If you can keep your head when all about you
  Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
  But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
  Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
  And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
  If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
  And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
  Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
  And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
  And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
  And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
  To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
  Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
  Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
  If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
  With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
  And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Invictus, By William Ernest Henley, 1875

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

The second poem is especially poignant at this current time, as I understand it was one of the very few possessions that Nelson Mandella had, during his incarceration on Robyn Island of over 27 years.  I was very moved a few months ago when the great man passed away (November 2013).  He was a true hero and inspiration to anyone, of whatever political view too; as first and foremost, he displayed a huge sense of humanity, and humility at the same time.

In some tribute to him therefore, I have decided to use "Invictus" as my chosen text to respond to over the next few weeks.

Deconstructing the Grand Master - BWL - Part XIII Benjamin Williams Leader

So, after quite a bit of tweaking, I managed to get the video to about 3 minutes.  It is suitably brief, and I think, suitably confounding, yet also explanatory...
The video can also be accessed via You-Tube on the link below;
 http://youtu.be/Fzw-bgMVW9w

Deconstructing the Grand Master Part XII - Benjamin Williams Leader

I was able to reflect today on some of the suggestions made during this week by Dr Ian M. and Christian, my year tutor. IM suggested exploring the works of John Stezeker, whom I found to be of immediate help in looking through the theme of photographic montage, the combination of the old and the new, to find a "new" truth.  This can be seen particularly well in the series of "Old Masks" and "Fold"...

 In Stezakers "The Visitation"(2006) he is placing the old into the new, in a way that makes the image carry huge emotional power, by using a portrait of the Virgin Mary superimposed onto a man appearing to be sat at a table waiting for food perhaps, whilst reading a news paper.  I like the fact that the older picture is the religious icon, whilst the newer background frame, being black and white, suggests a more distant image from say the 1940s or 1950s, of an anaonymous male, white collar working class perhaps?  I believe the juxtaposition of image to context is what makes this work so well.

 The "Old Mask" series by John Stezaker explores potential memories, potentially in the images within the minds of the background subjects, replacing the facial features of the subject in such a way to almost obliterate their identity. However, their identity is in fact formed by these memory images themselves.  Ergo, they are still recognisable as individual identities through these combined images.  The memory is so often captured in our contemporary culture as a photographic image, which can then be shared with other viewers who may have had no immersion into the original domain that the photo inhabits.  This is particularly interesting as I see around us an slow shift of media from black & white photo images, to colour photo, and now through current technology, full colour film and sound clips uploaded to the internet that can be viewed by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world.  Our memories are no longer kept as items within "local" repositories to share.... They are ubiquitous.

The images were similar to the final image of Autumn in Switzerland that I had created which has a background contemporary view of the landscape outside of the frame that Benjamin Williams Leader recorded.

I'm pleased that I was able to find current successful artists who have adopted a similar idea.

Deconstructing the Grand Master, Benjamin Williams Leader - Part XI - The Movie!

So, after lots of deep analysis, belly button gazing, twiddling of thumbs whilst looking at a blank screen, here if my first attempt at rendering a video montage of the work I have been doing over the past 6 weeks.  This is very much a synopsis at this stage, which lasts about 4 minutes 15 seconds... I think that is a little too long to keep people engaged positively, so I shall try to reduce some of the screen shots to get it to say 3 to 3.5 minutes overall.

So, here it is!

I still think that I can make a number of changes to this, - definitely a work in progress.  In reflection to some of the advice received from Dr I.M. yesterday, I am also keen to research some of the semiotics / meanings buried within the images of Leader's paintings; not only of the works "Autumn in Switzerland", but also many of his other works too.  The references to the sublime, the great out doors and nature, clean living and so on have been picked out, (and a little parodied by me in parts), however there is a greater force at work (ha ha), in most of the works of this era.  especially the Pre-Raphaelites influence on Leader at this time too, must have had an effect on his chosen subjects.

Deconstructing the Grand Master Part X... Just a quick walk down Tangent Boulevard.....

One of the key things that keeps me motivated is to have a laugh, especially if it it just innocent fun.  I try hard not to upset anyone, but if I ever do, then I humbly apologise in every case.  To hurt, irritate or annoy someone with my (sometimes a little asinine) humour, is never my intention.

So, I feel better after making that "Safe Haven" statement above, which gives me a little artistic licence to try to de-construct that great luminary of contemporary philosophy, and the master of Deconstruction himself, the one and only Jaques Derrida.

And here it is....

Jaques Derrida

+ 

Graham Depainter

Did it make you laugh?... I hope so...

 But I actually think this is valid as a deconstruction, both in terms of text, and to some degree, the great Monsieur D. himself.  I got the impression he liked some humour.  It both satisfies some "differance" and "Undecidables" and binary oppositions with some common ground...  (All replies will be read!)... 

If not, try this...  A deconstruction by text, of a Great Master, a Royal Artist of the court to the King Phillip IV of Spain, one Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velazquez, (1599 to 1660), One of the greatest masters of the Golden Age of Spain and the Renaissance... 

Diego Velazquez circa 1635 - St Anthony the Abbot together with St Paul the Hermit

(Caption;)   "Ere Tony, ...I could murder a big mac......   Oo er"

Drawing Transformations, Part III - Looking & Recording

Looking & Recording
My drawing practice has been boosted by simply sitting in a public area for a couple of hours this afternoon.  My colleague and I started to draw profile portrait sketches of some of the students in the university's "Student Central" cafe.   This in itself was an interesting experience just from the point of view of social interactions!...  We developed a small crowd of onlookers whilst we sketched, this could be a little awkward at times as our self confidence has not reached the "comfortable" standard, against our drawing prowess.

Nevertheless, we pursued the exercise, it helped us to certainly produce work that extends the use of drawing in our practice.

Our aim overall is to experiment to a large degree;  I haven't lost sight of this and so a refresh of the objectives was useful to reflect upon...

"Using the suggested themes of marking, looking, imagining, recording, thinking and transforming, and timetabled drawing sessions as a starting point, explore what drawing might mean to you and your practice. 

Use this opportunity to explore the media, contexts and applications of how you use drawing in your practice, as well as developing new ways of working. 

I felt that the use of pencil and cartridge paper lensed a very traditional and secure way of re-imaging portraiture as a regularly recognised form of sketching.  What I intend to do sometime soon is to carry out exactly the same exercise again, but this time by using simple crayon and see the interaction with people to measure their expectations / shock / awe / disappointment or what ever else they express...  I think this will be a great test of audience participation and measurement.

Deconstructing the Grand Master Part IX - Benjamin Williams-Leader

So, onwards and upwards.  Today I worked to commit to drawing the actual deconstruction works of Autumn in Switzerland itself, I have previously thought of the scene being exactly that...

A trace drawing in a minimal way helped the process for me to engineer and create a possible model. This provided me with a conceptual scene...

A Scene, just as a theatrical staged presentation, and so, what would be behind the frame? (As declared by Derrida)....

 "What is one the outside of the picture" has been a typical conversation that I've engaged with the tutors.  I thought I would take this a step further and ask what is actually behind the scene.

My imagination has been suitably stimulated to think of the real scene being replaced by a film set scene of Autumn inSwitzerland, hence something like this....

The empty cardboard boxes have some Derrida-esk type "undecideable" statements on them for the viewer to read.

I have also reversed the perspective of actuality, for artistic amusement. In this diegesis, the foreground items, imagined behind the foreground items of the aesthetic scene of Autumn in Switzerland, would actually be behind the background (i.e. scafolding) of the background mountains, which would be in reality be in the foreground... Is that clear?  I love this confounded sense of perspective and it is a mischevious deconstruction of reflection, in reflection....



Another pause and redirection based on my in intial thoughts happened, and taking the initial ideas of expanding the scene to the centre left mid-ground of the two young people and the small dog on the track painted within the original.  My draft idea from a few weeks ago was to expand this scene itself, to contemporise it, but overall, from a distance it would remain very similar to the original. However, when zoomed in, the actual story / narrative of the new painting, in a completely enlarged scale, would have a very different outcome from the rest of the existing scene.  I have called this new sub-deconstruction piece, "The Great Outdoors", which connects to the original nicely, but the viewer can decide for themselves what is actually going on.























--------------------------------------------------
On the extreme right of the painting, in the mid / foreground, the closest bank with trees has a very small addition to it.  Again, the view can decide for themselves what is happening.

  

 A lorry backing up

 And dumping 

-----------------------------

The small typically Alpine buildings to the lower centre, mid-ground of the painting are as I have articulated in a previous blog and a couple of sketch examples are as shown below.

I have decided after much consideration, not to complete these sub-plot sketches in as much full detail as perhaps I may have initially desired.  The reason being that I feel that I'm getting a little lost in the craftsmanship of completing an item, rather than putting my creative efforts into generating the new ideas themselves.  This is very much based on the reflection of the conversation with Dr T. on Wednesday when I think a remarkable sentence came forward, which I think encapsulates contemporary art practice within an academic environment.  It was ...

"[at University] ...It is all about becoming a better Artist, not about becoming a better 'Artisan'" 

Of course, Dr T. is right again.  If one was to explore the works of many successful contemporary artists of our present day, these individuals do not actually create the art objects themselves, but the idea and overall design of the objects.  Someone else then actually 'produces' the works, regardless of whether it is a painting, a sculpture or other item.  An example cited would be perhaps Damien Hirst, - (http://www.damienhirst.com) he has literally 10s or even 100s of production artisans working for him, (depending on what the piece is), with many different stages of art object production going on at any particular time.  The art practice therefore is more like a business, or factory type production workshop / or studio.  Another example Dr T. mentioned would be Jeff Coon's "Art Factory"... (See The Tateshots, - Tate Gallery videos, - http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/studio-jeff-koons ).

The concept of an Art Factory interests me.  There is structure to creating not only the 'business' but also the 'what' to produce is equally engaging.  It has been quite an eye-opener for me after the conversation we had on Wednesday, especially as Jill T. has helped me reach quite an epiphany on this concept.

Deconstructing the Grand Master, Part VIII - Benjamin Williams Leader

I had a further chat with Dr T today, which left me a little bit less clear as to where I was going with this project.  In reflection though, I think she has been absolutely right to challenge my thinking and to test my commitment.  Today I seem to have been rather fixated with the craftsmanship or practice of completing the painting into a perfect rendition.  I have made a few adjustments to it this morning but it is far from perfect in my view.  Maybe this is my trait of perfectionism again... Perfectionism is a curse!...

I have got a little obsessive with the painting, and therefore not generating many new ideas.  I have therefore come away to re-think my approach.

I am still keen to "cartoon-ify" some of the themes and ideas I have, but I want to leave a little bit of narrative to the viewer to make thir own decisions.   - I realise it's the "possible" links that people want to explore, (I recall Dr T mentioning that it's a little bit like a great novel, one that keeps you engaged, one that leads you into wanting more, - to explore deeper etc.

For example, one of my ideas was to allow the river to flood.  The melting of the glacier at the top left of the painting could be the cause of flooding in lower parts of Europe for instance.  I could put a "Closed for the Season" label in the Gesthof Nietzsche window, due to staff being unavailable, held up in the UK floods for example... :-)

However, I still wanted to look at the real world around where the painting was originally captured.  Further research and a bit of detective work found that the piece was done on  a "Road between Merringen and Rosen[baum/]"...  I checked the maps.

This is what I found !!!!!

Now, imagine if we were standing off to the left of the valley, near the river.....  The clue is in the topology of the middle distance hills, and the shapes to the right, and to the left.  Careful scrutiny show there is indeed a road (in fact, there are quite a few roads and tracks here), to the extreme left of the photo above.  You may also notice an absence of Norway Spruce trees too!... :-)

De-constructing the Grand Master Part VII, Benjamin Williams Leader

My guidance from Dr Townley last week left with me a strong set of messages, I've been pondering on these for most of the week end.  I kind of know what I need to do, for example, I need to;

• ]Try to make more suggestive openings within the final piece that have less obvious messages to the viewer,
• Incorporate items or objects into the "real" from thew virtual. Such as making the "Hotel or Gesthof Nietzsche" more tangible, (even though it doesn't exist), by creating a website advertising holidays there perhaps, or make a blog site for it?
•  Vary and make suggestive links as to what might be happening or what might appear off the scene.  For example, zoom into the woods to show what might have been unseen in the original...
• It's important to carry on with the story, allow the viewer carry on with their own story.  Dr T has cleverly challenged me, in that one of my traits is to be "very didactic", in other words, I try to teach / I make things too obvious!...  Dr T. is absolutely right.
  An example that was given to me was to explore a recent contemporary adaptation of Millet's remastered painting of Poppy Fields, which has been adapted to show a Rocket Launcher within the painting, - particularly poigniant when considering it's contemporary connection with the War in Afganistan and the major export of that country still being drugs derived from Opium farming (from poppies of course).

I have thought about this over the last few days and working out how I can connect the work I have already produced to the wider context of the image.  

• What is going on outside the scene?
• Is this just a stage set?... = This generated more ideas, and a quick sketch showing stage props
• What's happening outside boundaries of the scene in Switzerland? - I committed myself to finding out where the "Leader" scene actually was, trying to find the actual road on Google Maps...
• My thoughts on this being a Wasteland... This conjured up a memory when I was working in Germany.  - Namely, my old German friend and colleague Jurgen Nolle, who thought that the UK's "British Layland" had been a rather unfortunate choice for a name, as in german, there is a very similar word of 'Ayland', which when translated, virtually means "Wasteland".  Once this had been explained to me, I also have had a wry smile each time I have heard this phrase.  Jurgen was right!...  
• Because of that little spark being refreshed in my mind, I thought of the Swiss Ayland, and then as a result, the link to Derrida's "Un-decideables" and such being linked to our previous project of Liminality and "In-Between-ness"... There is a good segue between the two, and I think it is very clever of Dr Townley, Christian, Bob P. and the lecturers / tutors of the university to have linked the projects in this way.

I have decided to continue with the piece however. I want to finish the painting to a standard that does leave the viewer a little confounded.  One area that I hadn't considered until the weekend was the type of trees that Leader had rendered in Autumn in Switzerland.   It appears that there are some Norway Spruce Trees in the foreground.  Whilst these could have been in the original scene, I wondered if he had painted the actual works in his studio, in which case he may have been influenced by the recent (at that time) gifts of the classic Christmas Tree shape (i.e. Norway Spruce) to Queen Victoria.... My research suggests that the actual trees would have more likely been Swiss Stone Mountain Pines, that are rather different....  So in that alone, there is a subtle correction / deconstruction.

An update to the Liminal Project

I spent an enjoyable rainy Sunday afternoon starting an acrylic painting of a piece of work that I'd sketched some time ago as part of the Liminal spaces project.    The majesty of the Huddersfield Railway Station is a classic symbol of status for this historic town, where much of it's original wealth had come from the woollen industry, and rather surprisingly, it's textile dye production...  I love the huge sweeping expanse in front of the staation, as well as the neo-classical architecture which makes a massive statement to anyone who visits or transfers through here.

The statue in front of the station is that of Harold Wilson, a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and whom I was extremely lucky to meet many years ago, after he had retired from office, but was stilll regularly engaged in public speaking.  I met him at our local Civic Hall during one such event.  His public image was that of a very powerful man (which usually suggests a larger physical stature), but when I met him, I was shocked at how short, and by that time, rather frail he was.

Drawing Transformations - Part 2

I have spent some considerable time thinking over this last week what I could do to challenge myself for this project.

The task set for us is to develop a body of work that extends the use of drawing in our practice. We are free to use the suggested themes of looking, marking, imagining and thinking.  It has also been reinforced in our minds that this project is not just about using pencil and paper, the traditional means.  Far from it, contemporary "drawing" can include video, sound, paint sketches, photography, - pretty much any mark making or recording of a subject, object or thought.  One area that I think, which is of particularly relevant contemporary practive is the use of mobile smart phones.  I have one, wich is integrated with "Evernote", "Google Piccassa", and Blog-Spot, - each of these being repositories for making notes, capturing data / images or textual narratives.  we depend on these so much in this current culture.

I think what is of interest, is not necessarily the actual item being recorded, but the process of us choosing how items can be represented for later reflection.

I re-thought what our more traditional recording methods have been....

It was while I was sifting through some old photos that were given to me to consider as subjects for a pastel drawing, that I chose a picture of a beautiful sunrise, I'm not entirely sure where it was, I think it may have been taken it either in the Caribbean or in the US some time, but then again, it may have been in the Seychelles, as I remember fondly watching a similar spectacular sunrise there many years ago... Anyway, where ever it is, and whenever it was taken, doesn't really matter.  It just struck me as a beautiful typically aesthetically pleasing vista.  However, to subtly "con-temporise" it, I thought that by making the scene (which is relatively simple), as colourful as possible but without detracting from the essence of the original would be a nice starting point....

This was the result, done in soft chalk pastels, - a new medium that I have never used before, but I was pleased with the results;   The soft chalk was a lovely medium to capture the waves and lapping seawater.

Deconstructing the Grand-Master, (Benjamin Williams Leader) part VI

I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday repainting the Benjamin Williams Leader image of Autumn in Switzerland.  Some really great feedback from Dr Townley helped me to crystalise my thoughts on where I was going with the "deconstruction"....  - Whilst I want to make an image as close to the original as I can, but in much brighter and vibrant colours that Williams-Leader used, I have also been playing around with the theme that the small Chalet / Ski Lodge nestling in the centre of the picture, my imagination would suggest that by now, the prperty is likely to have been replaced with a hotel.  The Glacier on the top left will have probably melted by now (global warming) and many of the trees would be affected with Acid Rain no doubt!... In fact, most of the trees will have been felled (in the 1890s the dominant tree would have been the Norway Spruce, especially in Alpine Switzerland) and replaced with faster growing, more commercially viable Northern White Cedars...


I decided to leave the representation for a day or so, in order for me to re-approach it and correct any failings.  I always find it best to walk away for a couple of days and sleep at night with the happy image bouncing around in my head, before re-approaching the painting with a renewed critical eye....

Here is where I am up to so far...

There is still a lot to do on this painting before I will be happy with it.  For example, the left and right foreground needs to be completed. In particular, the addition of a Mountain Ash to the mid-left, the addition of two contemporary children (now on mountain bikes), taking a rest, and the completion of the Hotel Nietzsche, to the centre right of the picture.  This is the item that I want to explore much further.

I chose the name of the Gesthof / Hotel to reflect the 'German' Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, who would have been not only alive, but also very near, if not present, at the time this original painting was made.  I noted that Nietzsche was born in what was then the Kingdom Prussia, but denounced his citizenship of  of Prussia, whilst he was Professor of Classical Philosophy at Basel University, Switzerland.  He therefore may very well have visited this place around the time of it's reproduction in 1878 by Williams-Leader.  By this time, Nietzsche had been in Switzerland for almost 10 years and was coming to the end of his attachment to the University of Basel. He was declining into poor health, which he had suffered from many ailments most of his life, and had to resign from his post as Professor at Basel. He was however, able to provide for himself, living from the small pension that he secured from the University and the generosity of his friends.  It is known that Nietzsche often travelled to seek better, more agreeable climates to improve his health and continued his philosophical work, writing independantly until 1889. My research suggests that he spent many summers in Sils Maria near St. Moritz in Switzerland.   The reference to Nietzsche is also very much a play on the theme of Nihilism, linked with our contemporary Global Warming and nihilist consumerism.

My conversation with Dr Townley helped a great deal in prompting and helping to generate ideas. For example, we thought of putting up  a dummy website advertising Hotel Nietzsche, and various other contemporary vehicles to draw attention to it.  Dr Townley recommended that I try to make more suggestive references in the imaging, to lead the viewer into further interest, to make the scene and associated artifacts more open to the viewer's curiosity. I like this approach and I think there is much to do both as opportunities and to finish this piece.

Deconstructing the Grand Master, Part V (Benjamin Williams Leader)

I paused again a little today, to reflect upon the original concept by Derrida on the subject of Deconstruction in his own terms.  I also looked again at how I could be true to Derrida's challenges and methods.  The thought occurred to me that Derrida's state of Undecidables, is very similar to the state of "in-between-ness" that formed a central pillar of our Liminal project.

I had been re-considering the chosen painting, for example, I wondered about using some of the more well known Grand Masters of the late 19th centrury, in particular, William Turner and perhaps one of his seascapes. However, I decided that both the works and Turner himself will have been the subject of deconstruction, and so I settled on the journey I had already started.

My choice of Benjamin Williams Leader's "Autumn in Switzerland" seemed rather well confirmed by this little reflection, the image is capable of having both undecide-ability and liminality applied to it...

So I happily continued with a complete re-start on the painting as potentially a finished artifact, but this time, I will con-temporise the image with some animation and gentle whimsicality, more acceptable in my view to a contemporary critique.

Deconstructing the Grand Master,part IV - Benjamin Williams Leader

My focus of attention has happily explored quite a few genres and styles over the last week, but despite the wandering mind, I have settled it seems, on the work of Benjamin William Leader again.  I am still very much drawn to the painting Autumn in Switzerland....

Benjamin Williams-Leader, Autumn in Switzerland

CL, my year tutor, has suggested I could review the work of a contemporary Artist who uses the theme of the sublime as a backdrop to his paintings, often created with very unusual media.  That is, the work of Anstelm Kiefer,  (born 1945, Germany).  Information extracted as follows from http://whitecube.com/artists/anselm_kiefer/

Anselm Kiefer (born March 8, 1945) is a German painter and sculptor.  Works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. The poems of Paul Celan have played a role in developing Kiefer's themes of German history and the horror of the Holocaust, as have the spiritual concepts of Kabbalah.

In his entire body of work, Kiefer argues with the past and addresses taboo and controversial issues from recent history. Themes from Nazi rule are particularly reflected in his work; for instance, the painting "Margarethe" (oil and straw on canvas) was inspired by Paul Celan's well-known poem "Todesfuge" ("Death Fugue").

His works are characterised by an unflinching willingness to confront his culture's dark past, and unrealized potential, in works that are often done on a large, confrontational scale well suited to the subjects. It is also characteristic of his work to find signatures and/or names of people of historical importance, legendary figures or places particularly pregnant with history. All of these are encoded sigils through which Kiefer seeks to process the past; this has resulted in his work being linked with a style called New Symbolism.

Amstell Kiefer,  Ill Mistero delle Cattedrali - 2010 /2011 No1.

Anselm Kiefer, Ill Mistero delle Cattedrali 2011 No. 2

I have created a simple Acrylic sketch painting of the Benjamin Williams Leader - Autumn in Switzerland piece, after doing a number of test pencil sketches.  This has allowed me to get a deeper feeling for the original painting, and I've tried to make the beauty of the original aesthetic much more barren and drab, casualty of acid rain etc, generally emulating the current global issue of global warming and climate crisis;

My plan now is to re-paint this work, spending a little more time on accuracy and placing of the principle objects in Williams-Leader's original painting.