Final set of silkscreens and hanging the show.

Having experimented with a number of different ways of resolving my silkscreened images, I had a good idea as to what I felt worked most effectively in relation to the use of paint, the colouration and the layering that was inherent within the pieces. With this in mind I set out to produce a third set of images in which I hoped to resolve some of these issues.

Initial under painting, after having a layer of semi-transparent white paint silkscreened on top.

As mentioned in a previous post, one of the issues that I struggled with with these images was the brushwork and dominant colours which had showed through from the initial painting. As a way of subduing this I experimented by silkscreening a layer of semi transparent white paint on top of the initial painting as a way of hiding the painterly marks and also making the colour more subtle. 

Another additional element which I used in this work was to use a larger piece of paper, so that I was able to leave a gap between the edge of the painted image and the paper in order to create a border. 

The final aspect that I also experimented with was to tone down the use of the silkscreened ink on top of the initial painterly marks. Rather than using a dark black I experiemented with using a semi-transparent brown so as to create less contrast with the painted marks. 

Experimentation using a semi-opaque brown ink for the printed images.

The final step was to print the semi transparent silkscreened areas on top of the painterly marks on my compositions. The three images below are the result of this combination between the painted and printed marks. 

Disconnect, 2015, silkscreen and acrylic on paper, 56 x 72cm.

Now is Past (after John Clare), 2015, silkscreen and acrylic on paper, 56 x 72cm.

Landscape (a lost object), 2015, silkscreen and acrylic on paper, 56 x 72cm

 Analysis:

In my mind these were the most successful of all of the experimentation that I had carried out so far in relation to the silk screened images. By toning down the painted underlying colour as well as the tone and colour of the ink for the printed overlay the results were far more subtle and effective than my previous experimentations. The combination of the paint, print and distortion helped to create the impression that these were indistinct and ambiguous landscapes that were being depicted. There was no sense of a particular timeframe attached to them instead they appeared as a successful blend of elements which helped to create the impression of a merging of the past and the present. The distortion created via the scanning added to this sense of fragmentation and marginal dislocation, which was effective in creating a sense of transience and impermanence. 

I decided that these were the most successful of all of my experimentation with silkscreen. Alongside these images I decided that it would be appropriate to use some of the black and white drawings as I felt that there was an effective interchange between the coloured and black and white images creating an effective tension and juxtaposition. As previously mentioned I found that the use of the box frame with a float mount had been really effective for my submission to the Bishop's Art Prize and that this would work very effectively with these images. 

Experimenting with different ways of arranging the work before framing for the final hang.

 

Final framed work, drawings and silk screened paintings.

 

Although initially I had planned on hanging all five images within my exhibition space I swiftly realised that it would be too crowded and that I would not be able to fit them all in. After much deliberation I chose to hang three pieces, two of the painting, silkscreened pieces and one of the pen and ink drawings. I hung the two silkscreened paintings together to the left of the drawing so that there was a gap between the two different styles. 

I felt that overall the work was very effective and once it had been hung on the wall there was a good interplay, exchange and dynamic between the coloured pieces and the drawing. This dynamic manifested itself via the juxtaposition of drawing and painting/silkscreen via the marks that were made on the paper as well as the colour and its absence within the two opposing styles. Similarly this was accentuated via the float mounting and box frames which helped to add to the sense that these were indistinct places existing somewhere between the past and the present, or possibly within a dreamlike state. 

In going forward I have taken a lot of positives from this unit, not only in terms of the type of work that I have created but also my experimentation with distortion and colour. Particularly managing to curb my use of very strong colouration, has really been successful and although place and the landscape are ongoing concerns, by altering my use of colour it has radically altered the interpretation of the work and the fashion with which it is perceived as well as the relationship to the places that are being depicted. 

Experimenting with new silks via the use of layering

Following on from my initial experimentations with the new silkscreen imagery as discussed in my previous post, I experimented with the same images but layering paint on top of the imagery once I had screen printed on top of the initial painting. Using the same colours that I had mixed whilst using the original photographs as a reference, I produced the following set of images:

 

My experimentation with layering was partially inspired by Gerhard Richter's late series of works from the mid 1970s onwards. Within these works, the paintings had become very blurred occasionally becoming entirely abstract. The form and the subject matter, begin to merge, the paint devouring the figuration inherent within the pieces.

Gerhard Richter, Abstract Painting, (809-3), 1994, oil on canvas.

 By the 80s Richter dragged squeegees across the surface of the paintings' creating an annihilation of the difference between marking and erasing, revealing and obscuring, creating and destroying. Richter's fascination is wedded to repetition, reproduction, and an interrogation of the act of looking and the technologies through which this takes place.

Gerhard Richter, Abstract Painting 809-1, 1994, oil on canvas.

Although these works functioned as an interesting experiment, I was not sure whether they were effective as final pieces. Although successful in parts the successive layers of paint applied to the canvas meant that the landscapes depicted were becoming progressively more and more abstract so as to be unrecognisable as a depiction of place. In the same way that my experimentation with the circular tondos had been beneficial, ultimately it did not effectively tie in with my research as the paintings were to far removed from the landscapes they were depicting. 

Similarly my use of colour did not correspond to the places that I was depicting. I wondered therefore whether in fact it would be more effective to subdue the colours and relate them much more closely to the colours within the original photographs that I had been referencing.