Deconstruction scultpure

Thinking more about deconstruction and my final project, I looked up the work of Mexican artist Damien Ortega who has done some recent installations where he has taken things to pieces and assembled the parts in a disaggregated, disconnected but orderly way.

The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston has a short description of his work on their website, thus:

Damián Ortega is known for taking things apart and putting them back together again

Born in 1967 in Mexico City, Ortega is one of the most prominent artists of the new Mexican generation. This exhibition, the first-ever survey of Ortega’s work, shows the arc of his artistic output with a range of sculpture, installation, video, and photography. 

In Ortega’s work, objects are never allowed to rest—they are pulled apart, suspended, or rearranged, calling attention to the dynamism of the world around us and the hidden poetry in the everyday. A former political cartoonist, Ortega brings a subtle, incisive wit to his surprising manipulations of familiar, humble materials—bricks, old tools, Coca-Cola bottles,  tortillas, and even a Volkswagen Beetle are assembled and reassembled in playful and imaginative ways.

"Cosmic Thing," 2002.

I also came across another current artist, Canadian Todd McLellan, (website here) who dismantles and 'explodes' smaller objects such as phones and typewriters.  Sometimes he photographs the results as neat catalogues of all the parts.  Sometimes he captures the sense of explosion in photographs showing the pieces scattering outwards.  In these different ways he references both Ortega and Parker's approaches.

Edinburgh Day 4

This morning I made time to go to the Scottish National Portrait gallery, en route to the train home.  The SNPG is housed in a fantastic, purpose-built Victorian red-brick building, which has lots of ornate carving an ceramic tiles and painted murals inside - very reminiscent of Castell Coch and Cardiff Castle - and from exactly the same period and kind of aristocratic/romantic mind-set.

The building in itself, then, was worth a visit, and had I had more time I would have done some drawings of the amazing ceiling and wall decoration.

But I only had about an hour and I didn't want to waste it, so I went up to the first floor where there was an exhibition of twentieth century portraits called The Modern Scot, mainly paintings but s few sculpted heads too.  I made sketches of two, one of which was the intense study of Naomi Mitchison done by Wyndham Lewis in 1938 which the SNPG were using as the flyer for the exhibition.

There was also a group of portraits of Pioneers of Science, which included a death mask taken from the first cloned animal, Dolly the Sheep, made in plaster by Peter Simmers in 2003.  I did a drawing of this.  The link with death masks was interesting, as there is quite a collection of these in the Gallery's Library, of famous old (mainly 19th century) Scottish dignitaries of art, literature, science and politics.

There was, thirdly, an interesting exhibition of paintings by Sir John Lavery, 1856-1941, who volunteers to be a war artist but wasn't allowed to go to france, so did a huge amount of work on shipping, and on war workers, from 1917-18.  Really interesting and good paintings, limited and rather gentle palette of colours, but clear, almost photographic studies of ships and naval things, and very sensitive pictures of munitions etc workers.  I particularly liked his picture of the workers' creche at the Woolwich Arsenal munitions factory, and of women making rope for the navy at a rope walk on the Clyde.

Apparently, Lavery always felt that he had not been a 'proper' war artist because he hadn't seen action, but his paintings give valuable visual evidence of some of the concern of people, especially some, working on the home front.

Finally, there was a photographic exhibition of photo portraits of Pakistani immigrants settled in Edinburgh and Glasgow since the 1960s, taken by Verena Jaekel and commissioned by the SNPG in 2009.  The photos themselves were well composed, striking images of a community which is both well established and increasingly integrated, but simultaneously distinct, different, and holding on to its original heritage.

I thought of Jo and her ideas for a photographic record of women in Easton, and will pass on the reference when I get back.

Then there was time for an extremely quick walk through some of the classical galleries on the top floor, which has a good collection of portraits from the medieval period onwards, including quite a lot of the Scottish kings and queens, famous people, wealthy landed aristocrats, etc.  Lots to look at if I ever come again.

Then a dash to the station to meet the others, and a long but ok journey home, reading a comprehensive book about composting - my plan, on avery small scale, for my very small back garden.

Edinburgh Day 3

This morning I headed off towards the Castle,  but got side-tracked on a mission to find the edinburgh School of Art where some of the full time students are applying.  I walked up with jesse, and we asked nicely of the security guards and were allowed to wander round and have a look, but without going in to any of the studios all we were able to see was the main sculpture/exhibition hall, and get a feel for the atmosphere.  The main building was, I thought, lovely, old, dignified, full of hard work.  The Jesse went to find the museum, and I went and explored the City Art Cetre and the fruit market gallery, both very near the Waverly Station and down the hill form the Royal Mile and the Mound.

The City Art Gallery had an interesting exhibition of contemporary craft-based works.  I particularly liked a huge wall-hangign made out of folded and looped strips of old printed paper, in the main ground-flor foyer, by Jo McDonald whose website, from which this image was taken, is here..

' UNIQUE RECOLLECTIONS ? '       Second-hand books and cotton warp

And some works by Jenny Smith (whose website is here), who had produced etchings to eat away the negative spaces around bold swirling marks (not unlike my own non-writing marks) , and then the a paper had been laser-cut so that only the black lines were left, and the middle bits had been removed.  the pieces were hung a little way away from the background card, so that the shadows added another dimension and depth.  The effect was striking, and the technique highly original.

'Circles'   laser cut and etched into paper, 37cm x 37cm        Image copied from the AA2A website here.
I also liked work by Fiona Hutchison, whose website is here , woven textiles, with simple colours and wispy threads, done in separate vertical strips, and mostly quite small.  This example is taken from her website.

WHERE TWO TIDES MEET    113cm x120cm

Also in the CAC were some striking paintings and drawings.  I particularly liked a rather delicate, tender, quite large painting by Victoria Crowe, whose website is here, entitled Last Portrait of Jenny Armstrong, 1986.  The composition and pose were well balanced and realistic, while the limited colour palette and the gentle brush work was very good.  her website contains images of a range of her work, which i like very much, its calmness and use of colour especially.  This isn't the portrait I saw at CAC, but is in the National Portrait Gallery, of Dame janet maria Vaughan, and the image comes from her website.

There was a pair of David Connearn's line drawings, which paper almost obsessional, and must have taken ages to produce (except that i have had a go at drawing in this fashion, and it is both compelling to do, and rather soothing to look at).   Image copied from IFF Gallery website here.

Then lunch, and across the road to the Fruitmarket Gallery, where there was an exhibition/installation by Anna Barriball (the Gallery website with further information and images is here) makes large drawings by completely covering a sheet of paper in heavy graphite or pencil, developing a deep grey colour with high sheen, and reproducing the indentations and shape of her subjects - often large but mundane things like interior doors or window frames.   I was surprised to find I rather liked these, found them good to look at and soothing too.

 Barriball had also made an installation along one entire wall of the gallery by drawing a regular pattern of pencil dots, some larger and darker than others, using a sound-insulation wall-tile as a template.  Crazy!  But it looked really interesting, and the scale of it made it look absolutely natural, and highly textural.

Then out and across the road again, and up The Scotsman Steps, newly restored and renewed by Martin Creed, (his website is here) as a commission from Edinburgh City Council and the Fruitmarket Gallery.  Each step has been renewed with a different coloured and highly patterned and veined marble, so as you walk up and down you seem to be treading on a slightly battered and faded series of rainbows.   My photos.

By this time I was almost worn out, but went slowly back through the Princes Street gardens to the National Gallery and the Scottish Royal Academy, where there were a series of three linked shows, by the
Royal Scottish Society of Watercolour Painters, (the RSW), the Society of Scottish Artists (SSA), and Visual Arts Scotland (VAS).   There was some degree of overlap between them, with several artists showing work in each one (including both Jo McDonald and Jenny Smith, whose work I had seen at the CAC earlier).  There was a great deal of work on show, very varied in terms of style and media, generally very high quality. I was almost too tired to take it all in, but made notes on several people and bought the catalogues so I can refer back in future.

What a day!  Sketchbooks session with everyone together at 6 pm, and then out for supper and a reasonably early bed.

enamel and writing

My research into enamelling, possibly the route for my final project, led me almost immediately to jewellery from Edinburgh  College of Art, and this piece by Jessica Turrell,  a 'scribble brooch' which relates very closely to my recent work on writing, and my thoughts about using enamelled and etched copper (to remove the spaces between the marks of some 'writing') .

Jessica Turrell, Scribble series, brooch, oxidized silver, copper, vitreous enamel, 2009

This piece is interesting too in its use of space and pattern, although I'm not too sure about the acid yellow enamel.

Stephen Bottomley, Drape Neckpiece, steel and enamel,  480 x 384 mm

The website link for both these images is here.

Art I Like: more Tom Phillips

More research for the writing project, which took me back to Tom Phillips.

I came across this etching, inspired by musical scores. PHILLIS

 Moment Musicale,  etching,  64 x 51 cm.  From the Royal Academy 'Members Portfolio' of prints by 15 Academicians. London, 2000.  Image size 41 x 27 cms.   Image from the Red Grape Gallery website here.

The etching looks rather like some of the 'asemic' writing drawings by artists like Leon Ferrari and Marian Bijlenga, which I looked at a week or two ago - and which in turn influenced my own writing paintings and drawings for this project.  I hadn't previously come across these images.

I find it interesting that Tom Phillips has worked very constantly in the area of writing and words, from his Humument in the 1970s onwards.  I particularly like his writings in wire, and the way these have translated into 3D sculptures, made from wire or, more recently, from etched glass.

His several different manifestations of Wittgenstein's Dilemma all focus on this idea.

Wittgenstein/Cage, 2009 
Wire
90 x 90 x 90 cm / 35½ x 35½ x 35½ in  Image copied from Flowers Gallery website here.

Image copied from the Cass Foundation website here.

On this wire writing sculpture, the text is almost illegible: the title emphasises the irony of writing which cannot easily be deciphered and read.

The Calligrapher Replies, 1996 
Wire
182 x 115 cm / 71¾ x 438½ in  Image copied from Flowers gallery website here.

This Phillips collage also relates to the writing drawings I have been making.  The marks look vaguely like script, the layout looks like lines of writing, but it is not really writing or text at all.  The title, Rima's Song, however, suggests that there are lyrics somewhere in the script.

Rima's Song
Collage on paper
Acquired 2011.   Image from Oxford JCR Art Fund website here

art I like: Jaume Plensa

Today's Observer Review included a photo of a piece in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park by Jaume Plensa (whose website is here), an artist born in Barcelona in 1955 and now working in France, Spain and the USA.  The image caught my eye because if shows part of a large sculpture of a human form, made entirely out of capital letters in a sort of mesh, made of metal.  The YSP exhibition website is here.

A Guardian article about his work is here.  Lots more image, and interesting analysis of his works, is on this blog, Wanderlust. The link is here. I am making a link because the blog says things so well I don't want to try and repeat ...

His sculptures are made of letters and words, but the whole structure is transparent and also large enough to walk inside, and through.  When located outdoors, as in the 2011 exhibition at the YSP, the sculpture provides a kind of tunnel, with the sky visible through it.

Plensa has also made some installations using words suspended, letter by letter, in transparent 'curtains' on a scale big enough for the viewer to walk among the hanging texts.

This is a steel case he has made for a limited edition of a book about the art heritage of Catalonia. 

More about the work can be found here.

Art I LIke: Taura Auerbach

 Some text-based art uses recognisable roman letter forms, or parts of them, but still doesn't make any kind of literal sense as a readable text.  Among artists I've come across who are working in this area is Taura Auerbach.

These images are from her website here.

Art I like: Josef and Anni Albers

Yet more wandering around on the internet and I came across the Albers Foundation, set up to build on the work of Josef Albers(1888-1976)  (a colourist)  and Anni Albers (1899-1994) (a textile designer/weaver).  Both born in Germany, they met at The Bauhaus in 1922,  married in 1925 and moved to the US in 1933.  They were involved in the newly established Black mountain College in North Carolina, later moving to New England.

Lots more information about them, and their work, is on their website here.  The images below came form here.

Anni's textile weaving caught my eye partly because some of her colours and patterns are similar to one of my recent priced quilt tops., but also because some of her weaving relates to the kind of illegible line work I have been exploring for my Pathway project on writing.  Here are two of her pieces.

She also did drawings of marks rather like writing and letter forms, such as this one

Josef Albers work is all about colour, and his paintings are simple, bold statements about colour and the relationship between different colours and scale.

Avon valley mud art

Yesterday I went to the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath where there was a very nice show of works by Peter Burke called Earthworks.  More information on the gallery website here.  Peter Burke's website is here.

The show consisted of a series of works made of earth, clay, mud dug from the ground at various locations within a 20 mile radius of Bath.  These had been used to make a series of masks, based on (I presume) the artist's own face.  The ways in which the different clays dried and cracked, and the bits of other material, grass, leaves, grit, etc, in the clay/mud mix, gave each one a unique colour and texture. Arranged together in a long line on the gallery wall, they looked a little like a sort of 3D 'rogues' gallery' or a police identity parade line-up.  The colours were lovely, ranging form chalky white to almost black, tar-like clay.

A second tranche of work was made in California, and consisted of several installations based on mud casts of feet of forest rangers and people who worked the land in a mountain nature park.  Thee feet were very evocative, the casts were so fine that you could see the lines of veins and bones on the feet and toes.  Some were arranged in circles, the endless walking we all do, going through life getting nowhere muh.

A third set of works were all about hands, and arm-spans round a circle or across a square, based on steel frameworks. These were, to my mind, less interesting and less visually compelling, as if the artist's original die was being stretch a little too thin.

There were also some small-cale models of the human form, which were interesting for their careful exploration of scale as much as anything.  Some were still attached to a steel grid ro framework, which I rather liked.

Overall,  I thought this was a good exhibition and I liked much of the work.  The colours of the clay were especially lovely.  It was good to also have a geological map of the area on sow, making clear where each of the mud samples had come from.  Astonishing variety of soil in a relatively small area.

Art I LIke: Cy Twombly

Yet more research for my Writing Pathway project, on Cy Twombly, American b. 1928, d. 2011, who has made a whole series of generally very large paintings which concentrate on mark making which resemble scribbles or perhaps writing.   His website is here and contains a huge range of images of his work since the 1950s.

Some of his work just looks like scribbling, but the overall effect is impressive, not least because of the enormous scale of his works.

Untitled, 1974, 68" x 85"

Unititled 
oil based house paint and wax crayon on canvas 
48 x 55 in. (122 x 140 cm.) 
Painted in 1967. 

Some of his works are smaller and done on paper, like this one,  Roman Notes: one plate, 1970, 34 x 28"

The following images are Untitled, 1971, a series of six lithograph 22 x30".  This is the first, the rest follow below.

Images copied from here.

Twombly also made assemblages of works like this, grouping several sheets together, as in this example, Roman Notes (Bastion 21-26) where each sheet is 34 x 27". 

Some of his pieces are absolutely massive.  

Notes III, 2005-2007, 96 x 144"

This one, Untitled, 1970,  is 13' x 21'.

The MoMA gallery website has a very illuminating description of how it was hung in MoMA, Mew York, requiring a whole team of 'roadies' and a hydraulic lift to get it into place.  It looks pretty fantastic once up, too.
(the link is here)  and the MoMA site describes it thus:


Twombly is a key member of the generation of American artists immediately following the Abstract Expressionists. Between 1967 and 1971 he produced a number of works on gray grounds. The largest in the series, this monumental painting features terse, colorless scrawls, reminiscent of chalk on a blackboard, that form no actual words. Twombly made this work using an unusual technique: he sat on the shoulders of a friend, who shuttled back and forth along the length of the canvas, thus allowing the artist to create his fluid, continuous lines.

Here is another image of some of his later works in a gallery setting, with an indication of their huge size.

Cy Twombly Sensations of the Moment, MUMOK exhibition view, Foto: MUMOK, Lisa Rastl, © MUMOK.

There are obvious connections between his works and the a-semic writing panels which I have been making for my project, although I had not until today really looked at his work.   In particular, I am interested in the scale of his pieces, something i still have to think about for Monday's college session.