Artist´s Statement
Combine line, space and form to create depth, movement and atmosphere in the urban landscape exploring a wide range of media to include graphite, charcoal, pastel, ink, markers, crayons, water-based paints, and collage.
The final work will be a series of up to 5 urban landscapes in a chosen media or use of mixed media.
My interest during the course has been with the use of line in an expressive way and in a wide range of media. My work for Part 3 outdoors – the urban landscape – was an element of the course which I enjoyed, and this is the area of my work that I wish to develop further in Part 5.
During the course I have been criticised for overusing line – compensating for a lack of tone to create form, and for lacking tonal contrast in my work. Another weakness has been in my poor use of sketchbooks and coherent pathway to my final drawings.
I start Part 5 full of ideas and will build upon my strengths, practice and work on my weaknesses, and harness the power of influences from a wide range of inspirational artists such as: Gerhart Richter, Julie Mehretu, Leon Kossoff, David Bomberg, Frank Auerbach, Dennis Creffield and John Virtue among others.
My priority for Part 5 will therefore be to explore and practice the various approaches, styles and techniques of these artists working in the urban environment. Then utilise this research and practice to make sketches/drawings outdoors:
In the marketplace, bus station, cemetery, and main square (‘Plaza de los Heroes’) of my current home city – Rancagua, Chile.
These places are busy bustling places, but also include places with a link to the past and local history – the ‘Plaza de los Heroes’ an important battle site, and the more quiet, tranquil cemetery.
The work of Frank Auerbach, Leon Kossoff, Dennis Creffield and John Virtue all involved close observation of their subjects by sketchbook drawings in the street – sometimes hundreds of drawings as in the case of John Virtue’s series of London Paintings.
As in Part 3, I have an interest in the movement of people and traffic, change in the city and a sense of history/culture – I have already found by sketching in the street that photos cannot be used to achieve the mark-making that I want to represent movement of people and vehicles. I will therefore need to brave the street in the making of my final drawings. The area where I live is nearly always blessed with clear blue sky and bright sunlight – not the bustling fast moving, stormy clouds as in John Virtues or Constables landscapes – so I intend to eliminate the sky wherever possible or use the pale blue as a base colour to my work.
Intentionality was an area that I researched in my study of Margaret Davison’s book, Contemporary Drawing. I want to ensure that my final works for this Part also fully take into account intentional use of surface, mark, space, materials, scale and composition.
BA (Hons) Painting - Learning Log 