Dani Collenette
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE
INITIAL INVESTIGATION
I aimed to investigate one of th colour;
“Are Black and
It interests me the array of diffe and how they all seem to have
I aim to portray colour, or the la ent ways, experimenting with d as. I will also reflect on which e which are not.
Digital Sketching
he most debated Issues about
White colours?”
erent answers you will receive, e their own valid reasoning.
ack of it, in a variety of differdifferent concepts and mediexperiments are successful and
For this project wanted to test my methods and techniques, I really enjoy experimenting, so my aim has been to tease out the aspects of my work that do the following; - Compliment the concept of my independent practice. - Provide me with my own style. - Highlight my strengths.
I have begun by creating some digital sketches of predominantly black and white animals, using my graphics tablet. By creating these sketches I was able to experiment with both concept and medium. For me, black and white animals were the most obvious way forward as I have always adored pandas. I think that the drawings are ascetically pleasing, and I can see them positioned in a professional context being aimed at children of a young age, maybe within a children’s book. However, this is not the
concept I was aiming for, although I was un yet decided exactly where I wanted to go within the theme of “Achrome” I knew I wanted a bold and striking concept, something that is probably not aimed at children. I would not rule out the medium of digital sketching, as I think it harbours the potential to create extremely striking images, but the concept of using animals to portray “Achromatic Art” is not a path I’ll be pursuing.
COLOUR KILLS? Marker pen and Acrylic Paint This idea progressed from a marker pen and acrylic paint image of someone biting there nails, like the colour is being nibbled away, I really liked the aesthetic of the image, but I still didn’t feel like the concept was strong enough. Wanting to create a much stronger concept I decided to look at the negative effect colour can have on an image. I thought about how colour can often detract from the subject, from the beauty of the composition, how it can translate an otherwise stunning image as “garish” or “gaudy”, how it can metaphorically “kill” an image, strip it of all it’s life. But what if it wasn’t a metaphor? What if the colour was literally killing the image? This is how I went about creating the next set of images. I used marker pen as it gives a strong, contrasting, pure black and white with no grey mid tones, and a thick mix of blue, red and yellow acrylic paints, which sits heavily like lava on top of the flat line drawings. I was really happy with the outcomes, they definitely have a striking effect, although are slightly more graphic, in the horror sense, than I had originally intended.
LINO PRINTS
Although my first attempt at producing achromatic art within the theme of animals was not successful, I thought what about if I tried a much harsher medium? So I have experimented with lino cutting and printing. I decided to look at two completely different black and white animals. Firstly, a cow. A farm animal, not so often considered “cuddly” Secondly, a Zebra. A zoo/wild animal, that may be considered “cuddly”. I did this to see how the animal itself had an impact on the overall outcome. The cow image has a comical edge to it for me, although not intentional I quite like this. Due to this the outcomes are almost opposite to what I expected, the cow has a much more child like appeal to it than the zebra, however I still think it is quite a strong and bold image. I really think the medium of lino is strong, although it more often than not provides a harsh black and white contrast, like the marker pen, it also allowed for the occasional grey tones to seep through, and overall I think it has a strong appeal.
RORSCHACH TESTS
For my next experiment I looked at the idea of “Rorschach� tests.
I have to say I too instantly saw an images in each of the blots.
As they are inkblot tests, they are made purely from a blob of ink and a piece of paper, and therefore presented me with the perfect opportunity to create a piece of achromatic art by using white paper and black ink - or vise versa. I learnt that it is in built within us, from our hunting primate days, to see faces and images in things, which is why we often see things in cloud formations, and also ink blots.
I found this to be the most interesting part of my project so far, and definitely a consideration for my FMP, I think not only is it strong graphically, but as it is so open to interruption, it is completely personal to each individual that views it. I would like the viewers to see their own images within the blots, so although I have not labelled them as what I saw, I have listed it
below in a random order below. These were my first reactions, the first things that came into my head as I revealed the blot; - Two sumo wrestlers belly thumping. - Two cats back to back playing tambourines. - A squashed wasp/a phallic symbol. - A squashed bee. - Two Buddhas back to back, reading, with their reflections in the lake below. - Two bears standing on their hind legs, back to back.
INITIAL DEVELOPMENT For me, so far, I felt that lino printing carried the strongest aesthetic, but I really liked the idea that colour can ‘kill’ an image so I decided to combine the two. I really like the outcome of this, I found it quite challenging as I have not cut lino on this scale before, although it was not huge, the previous linos I have cut have not been larger than around A6 in size, so to do an A4 at first I found quite difficult to work with, however it was necessary to obtain the detail I needed - for instance I wanted to still apply the “crisscross” shading effect to the Lino. As with the Rorschach tests, this is definitely something I would like to consider for my FMP, however, in order to stray slightly from the violent theme, I would like to look at the “Yin Yang” concept, and apply it to colour. Focusing on it’s good and bad, light and dark side. Contrasting how it can both embrace and attack design. This is something I will analyze and experiment with for my FMP.
INSPIRATIONS & RESEARCH Progressing with my Idea of a Yin Yang view of colour, I decided to research deeper into the physics and general colour theory. I found my results so interesting they have made me want to almost do the opposite of what I have practiced to far. After finding out exactly
Approximately 77% of
all flags
how we see colour, the history of colour, what it represents, it’s meanings, the effect it has on the world has only made me want to embrace it - not deny or argue it’s place within art and design. Some of the facts I found out I have stated on this page.
contain
There are more shades of
green than that
of any other colour.
If you had only rods in your retina, you would see in black and white.
red
Objects don’t have colour, they give off light that appears to be a colour.
The rods, which far out number the cones, respond to wavelengths in the middle portion of the spectrum of light.
The cones in our eyes provide us with our color vision.
Purple is the most powerful
wavelength of the rainbow, it is just a few steps away from x-rays and gamma rays.
In 1991, an article in Forbes magazine
orange
about how affects consumer choices, concluded, that orange meant cheap.
The human eye processes
yellow first. This explains
why it is used for cautionary signs and emergency rescue vehicles.
Complementary Colours Analogous Colours
Blue is sharply refracted by the eyes. This causes the lens to flatten and to push the blue image back. We perceive that blue areas are receding and smaller.
The artist who has inspired me the most during this project is Gerhard Richter. His exhibition - and work in general, is truly amazing. Hie does not stick to one way of working, and his experimental practicion is one of the reasons I appreciate his work so much.
He includes abstract paintings, using wide ranges of colours, installations, oil paintings that are so life like they could be photographs, and also achromatic art, using different shades of grey and also just black and white. I also love his use of the “blur�.
While in Amsterdam, not only did I get to see amazing architecture first hand, visit Anne Franks house and have the opportunity to photograph such a beautiful City, but I also got the chance to visit the Van Gogh museum.
I also got to see work by artists such as Monet. The Museum also held an exhibition entitled ‘Snapshots’ Where I was lucky enough to see work by photographers and artists such as Henri Rivere and Pierre Bonnard.
Van Goghs work alone was fantastic, but the museum allowed the viewer to experience Goghs influences, and so
Something that I found very interesting within the ‘Snapshots’ Exhibition was the amount of artists that paint or draw from
photographs, this is something I do myself, although it’s not really something I practice out of choice, more because it means I can put it down and come back to it, without the subject changing and also because a lot of the time I use myself as a means to draw from as it is economically viable and not so constrained by time as I don’t need to rely on anyone else.
George Eastman
says that his painting where often inspired by photographs, you can clearly see this when comparing select work, such as “The White hat” and “Louise at Wepion” (both 18721899)
Felix Vallotton
Destroyed the majority of his work for being criticized in 1916 for painting from a photograph, at the time, photographs were considered ‘mechanic’ – not an art form. Only 20 of his photographs remain.
Photographing Family & Friends
Another aspect that I found related to my work was the fact that artists such as Vallotton and Vuillard, primarily photographed family and friends. Again this is something I do, not so much out of choice, but more because when you have little money, family and friends are normally happy to be the subject of your work – for free. And who ever you choose to photograph and paint, it always arises a new challenge in the manor in which you photograph or paint them.
Silhouettes
Silhouettes are something I had not yet considered under the theme of ‘Achromatic Art’ but after visiting ‘Snapshots’, I realized how visually appealing they are, and also how they relate to the physics of black and white being colours. The work of art in particular that made me consider this was “Nine silhouettes of women; study of seamstresses” (Vallotten and Vuillard 1896-1940)
Pierre Bonnard
I also really enjoyed Pierre Bonnards small black and white photographs dated between 1876 – 1947, .
Van Gogh
The part however of the whole trip that I thought was the most interesting and relevant to my independent practice was something that Van Gogh himself experienced. In the asylum he admitted himself to at Saint-Remy in early 1889, he decided to copy the “great masters”. To control himself he made colour copies after black and white deviations of works by artists he viewed as great examples e.g Rembrandt, Jean Francois Millet and Eugene Delacroix, ‘translating the black and white impressions into another language – that of colour’.
George Hendrick Breiter
Another artist, who’s work I found very inspirational was George Hendrick Breiter, at the end of the 19th century he began to paint the city of Amsterdam using predominately grey strokes. I also liked the fact that even though at the time the city was undergoing moderation he preferred to depict the old centre.
FMP PROPOSAL
Yin Yang Following on from my achromatic art, I have decided to use one of the most well known black and white symbols as the backbone of my FMP. Not only does it continue on with the debate of where black and white are considered colours or not, and the use of them within art, but it also allows me to embrace colour as I have wanted to since my research into it. Yin
Yang represents balance, it can be applied to many things the most obvious being good and evil, I want to look at the impact of colour within design, how it sits within the aesthetic of the piece, how it changes and effects the mood, the message, how it is interpreted by different viewers, how it translates in different cultures and languages. I have begun my initial investigation with an oil painting of fruit and vegetables, I have
painted the colours as I see them, but I will manipulate the image, changing the hue, saturation, colour balance, will it still look like fruit and vegetables if it is not coloured like fruit and vegetables?