The start of a new Academic Year and a new blog

A new brush sweeps clean, so they say!...
A new and exiting academic year two starts for me on my journey towards understanding Contemporary Fine Art and Illustration, and a bit of spring cleaning is always good.

So, in order to keep my blogs tidy, correctly filed, archived and easier for you, the viewer to read, I've started a new associated blog to represent the second year of my journey...
- Simply click the link below to be taken to a new chapter.  - You can also get new posts emailed to you automatically by following the instructions at the bottom of that new link.

http://grahamhadfield-contemporaryfineart.blogspot.co.uk/

This more easily viewable, new location can also be jumped to by clicking on the YEAR 2 BLOG tag at the top of the existing page.

Please note, you must subscribe within the new blog for posts to be automatically emailed to you.

Drawing Transformations - Summer Projects

My continued desire to improve my drawing skills has been supplemented over the last few weeks and days with some basic sketching of portraiture, life and studies of hands...  A more detailed blog appears in my Summer Projects blog here >>

The book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Dr. Betty Edwards (4th Edition, 2012), Tarcher / Penguin Group publishing,  has been particularly useful.  Many of the exercises at first sight appear quite simple, and yet, through their application, quite complex development is actually being achieved.  I can't recommend this book enough, for anyone with even very limited drawing skills through to professional or student grade artists to use.

Anyway, the journey so far has helped me to produce the following pieces, which are particularly recogniseable from the Betty Edwards teaching style;

I thought these would come in handy...

Perhaps I should cut that out?

Some more hand drawn images.....

Assessments over... Roll on the Summer Projects

So, having had my assessments for Studio Practice term two a couple of weeks ago, then my "theory" assessment for "Contemporary Art in Context" last Thursday, I can breath a little bit of relief now...

I've been doing some general sketching over the last couple of weeks whilst trying to write the contextual essay for my "in context" element of my degree.  By the way, I've posted the essay, based on ten of my favourite contemporary thinkers here;  10 Favourite thinkers in Contemporary Art

The sketching has really been carried out just to keep up practice as much as I can.  Now that the assessments are over, I shall buckle down and re-start my "drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" book, by Betty Edwards.

My Summer projects will be updated here;  HaddersSummerArtProjects2014.blogspot.com

Thoughts to round up, approaching the last couple of weeks of this Semester

Well, I can't believe that we are already into May!...

After having spent the last two weeks (on vacation for the Easter holidays) looking at the various key contemporary thinkers for Art in western culture, it's time to re-engage with my blog and put my research notes on hold.  I've been on holiday, but strangely, I feel pretty worn out!

Not sure if this feeling is because I've tried to cram too much in to the last two weeks, or whether it's pre-assessment nerves for my Studio Practice 2 assessment tomorrow.  It's crazy really, I have nothing to worry about I'm sure.... But I just "do"...  I've done a reasonable amount of practical work (Although there's always that little nagging voice saying I could always do more),  I've finished my presentation for the assessment (comprising of three * 3 minute 'filmettes'  (or Vignettes I believe is the correct term for such), and I'm well into doing the Contemporary Art in Context Presentation that needs to be ready for the following week.

My Reading & Responding films is below;

The thing is,  I'm feeling really nervous before tomorrow's assessment presentation!  I know it's likely due to the 'unfortunate' trait that believe me is a real hindrance some times, and that is I'm just really conscientious, I just want to do my best, so I automatically get the anxious feelings about anything I do, worrying "is it good enough"... And on it goes.

So today, as my lovely wife was off work too (as it's been a bank holiday here in the UK). I've tried hard to just do as little as possible and try to switch off.  (Blimey, that's been hard!!!)   But my wonderful wife puts up with sooo much, and she deserves a rest too.  Ah well, I do hope that the work done already is acceptable. - 'nuff said!

So my next blog will likely be a round up of how I've got on tomorrow and how the assessment went, and what my plans are for my next presentation, in about a weeks time.

Reading & Responding - Invictus, Part XIV - Chuck Close and Super Realism

'Leslie' by Chuck Close, 1972 (White Cube Gallery)
Watercolour painting mounted on canvas. 

One of my Tutors (Bob, - & thanks)  - recently suggested that I take a look at some of the Super-realism work of Chuck Close, which I think he concentrated upon during the 70s / 80s...  I found the work frankly amazing...
An example is

"Leslie - 1972-1973     72 9/16 x 57 in. (184.3 x 144.8 cm)  Watercolour on paper, mounted on canvas"

Courtesy & Credit of the White Cube Gallery, London.  See http://whitecube.com/artists/chuck_close/

 It seems that he created some 'intense' neo-realism works of the 1970s and then moved in to a phase of 'shadowy' pointillism through the 80s.  His latest work consist of a kind of diagonally skewed grid style, and where the negative space is as important as the object being depicted. Again, these are at http://whitecube.com/artists/chuck_close/   and all credit to the White Cube gallery.

President Bill Clinton 2006, by Chuck Close,
Oil on canvas. White Cube Gallery.Photo: Kerry Ryan McFate

I wondered if I could use a similar technique, or even something new as a process on my earlier idea of the turmoil of the rat, and it's continued fight against man....

My chosen final photo for the Reading and Responding / "Invictus" poem that I put into the exhibition still seems to be the one I keep comming back to.  It's suitably abstract, it has no subject per se, and it still holds the greatest interest for me.

How I want to depict this image though I'm still uncertain.

It does have the qualities that I think would ask questions of the viewer... such as,

• What is it?
• Why and where is it?
• What's the green thing in the middle?
• What are the horrizontal stripes?
• Why is red juxtaposed with green?
• What's the perspective in the piece drawing us towards?
• and hopefully, lots of other questions too....

This image is getting stronger and stronger for me to sketch and re-imagine and re-map...

Reading and Responding part XIII - More research

Just received the book "Shape of a Pocket" by John Berger from Amazon today, - it's a collection of essays in a paperback format, (not unlike "Ways of Seeing" by the same author).  I've not had chance to look at it though, it seems to be one for me to use when I'm in transit somewhere and have a 20-30 minute uninterrupted slot to loose myself in...  The concept is interesting though, in as much as the Author is referring to a 'pocket' as the pocket of resistance one finds in a human behavioural / social / political sense.  this is only a short blog, but I need to commit my time to continue reading and researching my ten favourite contemporary thinkers for my Art in Context essay / presentation in a few weeks...

The Art of Looking Sideways and the Shape of a Pocket....

I've spent the first week of my Easter holiday looking at a book that I bought on the suggested reading from Bob P. - The Art of Looking Sideways.  It's a rather large and heavy tome, some 2" thick with an almost square format.  A brilliant collection of images, ideas and lines of wisdom for any artist, I'd thoroughly recommend it! (Thanks Bob!)...  

On the second page, there's a quote from Michel de Montaigne "I quote others only the better to express myself"...  So in that tone, the Art of Looking Sideways' Author Alan Fletcher writes; "More of a visual jackdaw than a compulsive collector, I acquire stuff"... which I copy here in recognition of this wonderful book.   It's almost like a scrapbook, but clean and tidy... It provides an insight to so many things that you may, ... in fact, are unlikely,  to ever notice.  I love it!  It's the sort of book you can pick up (if you're feeling strong, as it's quite heavy too), and flick to any page to either find an intriguing image, quote or other text.  You can get completely lost in it for hours, or perhaps, just a few minutes while waiting for a bus! (I'd recommend you go out with a sturdy bag too, because you wouldn't want to get it wet, as it's thick, big and heavy - a bit like me then you may cry?)...

Anyway, the essence of the book as I see it from perhaps my naive quarters is that it's all about PLAY!!!... Something that I need to do much more of...

So I'm off to do just that...  

 

Pop up Exhibition - End of Semester 2, University of Huddersfield

Yesterday marked a significant point in our Studio Practice, through a pop-up exhibition of work we had created for the first two projects within this module, and it had been suggested that a working copy, albeit having to be of high visual quality of the final project's output can be submitted.

The exhibition was a little bit of a damp squibb in reality, and in no large part to the fact that no one in our group took control (my-self, reluctantly, but very much, included).

In reflection, the lack of control has been evident from about a month earlier, when the idea of an end of term exhibition was first posited by our year Tutor, Christian.  He was quite right to provide an overview of what some previous students had done, for example, the pop-up exhibition over the previous Easter holidays where for about two weeks, a local vacant shop-front / gallery near to an Artist's suppliers had been taken over, and the premises used to show an excellent standard of work by the previous freshers (or first years... Now, our second year peers).

   I think that, what everybody in our group this year failed to grasp, and I would suggest that this is a lesson to all of us as "Art students" is;

' that it is up to us as an individual Artist to organise and arrange how, when and where our / your artwork is exhibited' 

 Full stop...   An unfortunate yet true 'Fact'.

   - Something that I had not considered until after (in my humble opinion) we had all perhaps failed in this exhibition, - me, very much included.

The three works I submitted were;

  

FOOTNOTE;  I have held off posting this particular blog today (Tuesday 8th April) as I'm still rather cross with myself for not realising our collective mistake sooner.  However, I'm not in anyway apportioning any blame to anyone at all,  - in fact, nothing has been done "wrong" by anyone.

 - It's just that I felt, after yesterday's "exhibition" experience, somewhat frustrated that "it could have been a lot better..."  So, it is better for me to pause, take a bit of time away, and analyse what could have been done differently and why...


Updated Monday 14th April 2014
There has been a reluctance on my part (both an un-concious and at times concious, - an internal resistance or 'inertia' if you will), to take control of this vibrant group of young people, as perhaps I would likely have done in my own younger years (say in my 20s, 30s or 40s, when the 'management status' was an important facet to me at that time).
I don't want to 'lead' my student peers, (all of whom are of a much younger age group than mine) for many varied reasons, but perhaps the most important one being simply because I fear I could stifle any emerging personalities, characters or actual leaders within the group.  - Indeed, the opposite is true, in as much as I want to encourage and totally support anyone who wants to step up to a leading role (-and I do hope this does not in any way sound or appear arrogant or patronising to any of the other students, - after all, they are all friends as well as peers and work colleagues).
Finally on this point, whilst I may at times, make suggestions based on a little extended life experience, I am keen to make sure at all times, that my outlook on what the other students do, and my influence upon them, is kept to "minimum interference, and positive encouragement"...

Updated Wednesday 23rd April 2014 & Published
I started this journey some eight or so months ago with a few of my own aphorisms, which were to "keep an open mind, support & encourage any and everyone if needed, but don't interfere"...  I will keep to this personal goal for as long as I practically can.
So in reflection to this MASSIVE lesson, I have learned something quite fundamental, and I hope that my peers and colleagues have also learned the same....

 We are in control of our own careers as Artists, and, if we emerge from this protected environment of University and go on to earn a living from Art, we are, of course, totally responsible for our own destiny....  

Now, after that little rant at myself being over, in reflection, stuff happens!... This may seem an irresponsible notion. It is not meant to be.  Another lesson I have learned over this last few years is, just go with the flow.

Nothing really matters,  Anyone can see, Nothing really matters, Nothing really matters to me.....  Anyway the wind blows....

(I just loved Freddie Murcury, Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody!.... God rest his soul, if there is a God out there!)

Reading & Responding Part XII - The Rats, Jaroslav Valecka

In reconsidering the viewpoint and perspective I had stumbled on with the Saharan long legged Racing Ant (not that it would be easy to stumble upon such a little fellow), a whole new project had emerged which could later be explored. But, for now, I have decided to continue with the original intention of problematising the Invictus poem by William Ernest Henley.

To re-cap, I need to problematise the poem, thus;

• Problematise an image of unconquerability
• Hope?
• Is failure the worst kind of humiliation?
• Maintain the links to uncertainty
• Chaos?

Initial research into the Other Stuckists of Muswell Hill had given me a name of a Czechoslovakian painter, Jaroslav Valecka, and his painting of Rats feeding.  I really like the work of this painter in it's clarity but yet it also has a sophistication of style that gives the artist a recogniseable and unique brand. I would endorse his work if I could, but for the benifit of readers and to pay him homage and respect accordingly, I include his website here: http://www.valecka.eu/zivotopis   Well worth a visit to this talented artist!

Bob P. gave me a good one to one tutorial which helped me reconsider this view.  A suggeted reading is Lisa LeFeure's book, "Failure".  I have noted this author to research later...   Also, he suggested it would be worth me looking at "Documents of Contemporary Art" published by Whitechapel.  I will also review this as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, Bob and I discussed the concepts of unknown states, and here I referred to the charged state of Ions in some materials (particularly Super conductors if I recall), and the notion of a metaphore known as Schrodinger's Cat.  I had read the book "In Search of Schrodinger's Cat" some time ago, so there were elements of it that could be applied to the thoughts of hope perhaps.  This could be something else for me to explore this week.  Bob also suggested "The Art of Looking Sideways", a work by Chuck Close;  "Pocket" by John Berger and also "Sensibilities" by Cindy Sherman / Mariana Abramowitz.  Each of these could be genuinely useful leads for me to pusue. Meanwhile, I needed to prepare for a lecture with honorary professor, Jonathan Sands OBE, the Managing Director of Elmwood Ltd, a Brand innovation company, based in Leeds.

Reading & Responding Part XI - The Saharan Long Legged Racing Ant!

Looking for alternative inspirations for altered perspectives, I spent some time in the Library today researching how various animals may perceive the world.

My attention was drawn to the tiny ant known as Cataglyphis, or more commonly known as the Saharan Racing Ant....  No, This is not an April Fool, there really is such an ant and he has been the subject of research from an Artistic perspective (no pun on the perspective either) by Rudiger Wehner. (The pictures are also courtesy of Rudiger Wehner's submission to "The Expanded Eye" exhibition catalogue to the Kunsthous Museam, Zurich, that being an extract from a revised speech by him on November 8th 2002, upon receiving the Marcel Benoist Prize, of the University of Zurich).

  This tiny insect searches for it's prey along a zig-zag / winding and random path, often up to a distance of over 100 metres.  If prey is found, it immediately, from any point, is able to trace a direct straight line return to it's nest / burrow.  It does this by orientation from the use of polarised light from the sun.  In a similar environment, with no reference points on the land, a human equivalent experiment would, if one were to imagine the human had walked some 50km from base camp, - without GPS, Compass or instruments and navigational know how would simply fail, - it could not be done!

 However, this tiny long legged Racing ant of the Sahara does this automatically many times daily by routine.  All of this, by just using it's pre-programmed brain of approximately 0.1 milli-grammes, together with some really amazing compound, yet primitive, insect eyes that can virtually see the whole of the sky due to their positioning on the ant's head.

The compound nature of these eyes is effectively made up from about a thousand lenses and corresponding receptors in a package measuring less than a millimeter!

(Reference taken from the Exhibition Catalogue "The Expanded Eye, Stalking the Unseen", (September 2006)  Kunsthaus Zurich, Sponsored by Swiss Re, & Published by Hatje Kanste Verlag, Germany.

In thinking about the discussion with Christian yesterday, where we explored the ideas of some kind of goggle type arrangement which could be worn by humans, I pondered significantly today over how I could achieve a similar effect to the compound eye / multiple lens experience that the ant uses with polarised light.

As I understand it, the ant uses a type of polarisation of light in the sub-ultraviolet wavelength, and I've been thinking how this could be emulated.  It would seem that to have a total view of the sky at any one time (which the ant has, through the convex shape of each of it's compound left and right eyes situated high upon it's head), I would need to create some form of arrangement of fibre-optic receptor, amplifier and converter from UV wavelength to visible, and via the fibre optic bundles to re-image the whole sky image onto an appropriate screen or projection, perhaps something similar to the newly available "Google-glass" devices and ongoing development.   Whilst this whole hypothetical piece is no doubt possible, I think I may defer this project for sometime until some independent funding could be accessible to enable me to commit to such an undertaking....

Life Drawing Class - No. 5

I seemed to pick up the pace a little better today.  My sketches were a little more fluid, and I think I felt a little more relaxed in front of a naked stranger, - my modesty and sensibilities being formed from a behavioural schema I had acquired from my childhood, and no doubt, one that many older students in a similar situation may have cause to be reminded of.
Helen, the model, was completely un-fazed as usual, and her professionalism was gratefully acknowledged.

Reading & Responding - Part X, In the darkness

Having spent time looking at how I could incorporate perspective changes to images this last week, a discussion with Christian and Bob lead me to review the works of Geovanni Batista Pironesi and his son, Francesco.  Also in the research discussion, the name of Gunter Grass  and his work Tin Drum should be looked into.  I will spend some time in the Library to re-consider these names.   Christian had also previously mentioned Blek Le-Rat as an artist to consider, he had been one of the first professional artists to be recognised for his contribution to Stencil Art and Graphitti, in Paris.  I subsequently watched the film documentary of his work "Blek Le Rat", which also gave me the name of Gerard Zlotykamion, as the first contemporary Graphiti Artist, who's first work appeared in Paris in 1963.  An interesting factoid!...

Reading & Responding Part IX - A slightly altered perspective

I spent some time following a one to one with Jill and Christian to reflect on the comments made.  One area that I picked up with Christian was the interesting abstraction that I could investigate the Italian renaissance Artist and Architect, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, 1720 to 1778.
  Piranesi created some wonderful plates for etching which seemed to hugely enhance the feeling of perspective, - in itself, perspective being a relatively new concept to art at the renaissance and only some 300 or so years old.   The architectural perspective that Piranesi used has it's roots firmly founded on the work of Pranesi's old Italian contemporary, the Florentine architect, Fillipo Brunelescci 1377 to 1436,  (Who also designed the famous Doumo in Florence for example).

The level of detail in his drawings and etchings are far in advance of most of his contemporaries at the time.  This was because of an almost obsession fueled recordings of his imaginative visions;

He also created incredible images just from the imagination, but with an inspired attitude to sell his concepts he positioned the vanishing points in four aspects.  His origin (eye level) being so low gave the illusion of huge scale, something that his sponsors were no doubt keen to be impressed with.

Pironesi's work has also stimulated artists to create not only Architecture through the ages since his appointments to Rome, but also interior design, gold and silver furnishings, and of course, plaster reliefs, some of which can be seen in classic Adam style fireplaces of the same period (see Robert Adam, architect, 1728-92).

I really enjoyed looking at the book Piranesi as designer  - by Wilton-Ely, John (2007), London.  It's a rather hefty volume a couple of inches thick, approximately A4 size, but well worth taking a loan of; especially as the prints plates and etchings contained within it are to a very high photographic standard.  I have thought further about how the aspect position could also be reconsidered and I intend to carry out some further research on how the perception of space can be explored.

Reading & Responding, Part VIII - Invictus - A Rat's Eye View of Leeds

Having thought about the alternative angle of aspect and perspective of the world from a Rat's Eye view, I took my camera and an opportunity to visit Leeds city centre.

I got some strange looks from the odd pedestrian, but the idea was firmly in my head and I needed to explore how I could capture images that were very much "outside" the poem... and a Rat's eye view of Leeds.

Here are my initial best shots....

Reading & Responding, Part VII - Invictus

A recap on where I am so far on this project...

My reflections this week on the poem Invictus, and what images have come to mind outside of the poem, have lead me to the thoughts of being entrapped within a squalid prison, images of rats entering the prison cell and my research on rats in trenches from the first world war...

I'm in a frame of mind right now that takes me to thoughts of rats and where to find them...  In big cities?...  I wondered how a view of London might be represented with an alternative angle of perspective... So I found a couple of photos I took last year while I had been working in the city, while I was staying in the St Pauls area last year, and started doodling with a sketch...

I allowed my mind to wander, I started a drawing of the street behind the ClubQuarters Hotel where I often stayed during the past few years.  The reflections on the wet paving was interesting.

 I re-rendered my sketch into an acrylic....

An interesting excursion, ....the paved area gave me time to think further and spawned an idea, the idea of aspect and perspective.  What would a "Rat's-Eye" perspective be?