New silk screen paintings

'When the word 'hallucination' first came into use, in the early 16th Century, it denoted only 'a wandering mind.' It was not until the 1830s that Jean-Etienne Esquisol, a French psychiatrist, gave the term its present meaning- prior to that what we now call hallucinations were referred to simply as 'apparitions.' Precise definitions of the word 'hallucination' still vary considerably, chiefly because it is not always easy to discern where the boundary lies between hallucinations, misperceptions and illusion. But generally hallucinations are defined as percepts, arising in the absence of any external reality- seeing things or hearing things that are not there.'  (Sacks, 2013; 1)

Following on from the pen and ink drawings that I created, I was hoping to create a series or works combining both the linear, graphic and controlled qualites of the drawings by turning them into silk screen prints alongside a much looser and spontaneous aesthetic via the introduction of paint. As well as marrying the printed and painterly surfaces I was also intrigued as to what the introduction of colour would do to the look and the feel of the images. 

I was interested in various accounts of walking that I had been researching which culminated in the walker experiencing hallucinations creating a distorted perception of reality, place and the landscape. The account of John Clare escaping from his incarceration and walking back to his home resulted in him hallucinating due dehydration, exhaustion and a lack of food. In 1991 the artist Hamish Fulton whose work emphasises the action of walking in the landscape walked all 120 miles of the Pilgrim's Way without sleep in midwinter: 'I started to hallucinate,' he says, 'A small blue bag on the path suddenly turned into a turkey.' 

Hamish Fulton, The Pilgrims Way, 1991, Black & White photograph and text. 

In keeping with my research aims concerning memory and the interface between memory submerged within the landscape and those of the walker passing through I felt that it would be appropriate to re-use and utilise the large ink drawings as a way of expanding upon this process. I liked the idea that by subjecting a visual rendering of a landscape to a number of processes both digitial and manual including photography, drawing, scanning and printing, the subject matter changes, becoming dislocated from it's original anchoring within reality instead starting to represent something else more abstract and less defined, this tied into some of the research that I had been undertaking in relation to a hallucination as something arising from the absence of any external reality. Using bright, non naturalistic colours which I mono silk screened onto the paper as a starting point, I repeated the process of moving whilst scanning the pen and ink drawings, which I silk screened on top of the coloured base. 

Transcendental Experience, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Untitled, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Untitled, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Trace and Apparition, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Figment of the Imagination, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Hallucination, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Diffuse, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Turbulence, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Memory, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Fragmentation and Deconstruction, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Sub-Conscious Process, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Dissolution, 2015, Silkscreen and Acrylic on Paper, 20 x 35cm

Following on from a group critique in which I presented these pieces there were a number of observations that was generated. A number of comments centred on the fact that the prints appeared to resemble a series of sound waves, or seismic waves, defined as waves of energy that travel through the earth's layers, resulting from an earthquake or volcano that gives out low-frequency acoustic energy. 

A seismic wave generated from an erupting volcano.

Comments included the fact that the the colours referenced did not appear to connect to the place from which they were being referenced and that it would be interesting to see what the visual outcome would be if the colours were linked back to Brancaster Staithe in order to see whether this enhanced the sense of that place. The use of non naturalistic colours was noted as creating more of a decorative feel. 

On another level it was also suggested that by using non naturalistic colours alongside the black printed marks it had a repellant and disruptive feel generating the visual effect of a migraine. It was also noted that it would be interesting to see what the effect would be of exhibiting them all together in one seamless line without gaps between them, in order to create a sense of a loop so that they could be interpreted as a continual stream or sequence of information.

Mock up of work displayed as a continual sequence.

Another interesting observation related to the fashion in which the spaces within the compositions were being utilised as a way of representing either the land or the sky, and the fact that it would be useful to attempt to manipulate this space in order to see how the pieces might look if either of these were removed or their proportions were adjusted. 

One of the final points that was noted in relation to my work was about the particular space of Burnham Overy Staithe and the idea of attempting to go back in time or revisit a place containing memories from the past. It was suggested that via the process of revisiting and reconnecting with a particular place and the memories stored there attempting to physically depict this would be more effective if it was done in an abstract, hypothetical fashion, rather than in a figurative and representational manner.

'With the painting the inspiration comes from the process of the work itself... like music (making the work) is an emotional experience. It's a visual language and it's almost impossible to put words to it.' (huckmagazine, 2015)

An artist, whose works deals with ideas around dislocation and alienation who subjects his imagery to number of different processes as well as working across a variety of mediums is the artist Christopher Wool. Christopher Wool's recent paintings address the experience of bringing us closer to an understanding of the creative dislocation we share with a metropolis we know we can neither inhabit or escape. A sprayed line of enamel covers a canvas, while on another canvas the same looping line recurs as a screen print. The painting is always relocated or dislocated and systematically amputated from the moment and the place of work. Wool photographs a line in order to create a silkscreen that repeats it however many times, the colours in higher and lower resolution, introducting an additional level of disorientation. 

Christopher Wool, Untitled, 2009, Enamel, Silkscreen, Spray Paint on Paper

 This systematic repetition across mediums creates the effect of dislocation and alienation, allowing for any number of transformative possibilities. Via the use of printing Wool exploits the print's power of repetition meaning that new and different marks and gestures are created from the middle of the work. As the work builds up and accumulates it is simultaneously lost, buried and decomposed. Images of painterly information are cycled through a process causing gestures to drift and return outside of each other, recombining elsewhere with others. 

Christopher Wool, Untitled, 2009, Enamel, Silkscreen, Spray Paint on Paper.

The use of the digital camera in the process affects the sharpness and the grain of the source image as this information is cycled through a process involving a camera, a screen plus other means of mediums the original gesture becomes dislocated and resituated from its origins.

Christopher Wool, 2001, Minor Mishap, Enamel and Silkscreen on Linen

huckmagazine (2015) Christopher Wood (internet) available at www.huckmagazine.com/art-and-culture/art-2/christopher-wool/

Sacks, O (2013) 'Hallucinations.' London: Picador; Main Market Ed. edition.

New pen and ink drawings on paper.

'The past lives on in art and memory, but it is not static: it shifts and changes as the present throws its shadow backwards. The landscape also changes, but far more slowly; it is a living link between what we were and what we have become. This is one of the reasons why we feel such a profound and disproportionate anguish when a loved landscape is altered out of recognition; we lose not only a place, but ourselves a continuity between the shifting phases of our life.'  (Drabble, 2009; 270)

 Having reflected in a previous post on the relative successes of 
the silk screens I produced as a direct response to the changeable and ever shifting landscape of the North Norfolk Coast of Burnham Overy Staithe's sand dunes and salt marshes I was keen to experiment with alternative ways and processes in order to depict the subject matter. I experimented by rendering these images on a much larger scale of 70 x 100cm. I was keen to see how this would compare to the silk screened versions and whether the much more labour intensive, hand crafted versions added anything to the process of experimentation which related back to my original research interests.

Photographs of the coastal landscape after being subjected to distortion via the process of scanning.

In order to inform these images and as subject matter I used the same process of manipulation that I used in order to inform the imagery for my silkscreens, which involved re-scanning print outs of photos taken during a walk at Burnham Overy Staithe which I moved around during the scanning process in order to create a sense of movement and distortion. The three images I have posted directly below are the results of rendering these images using black rotring ink on fabriano paper.

Tracing the Archetypal, Pen and Ink on Paper, 70 x 100cm

Counterfeit Landscape, Pen and Ink on Paper, 70 x 100cm

Simulacrum, Pen and Ink on Paper, 70 x 100cm

Claude Heath (1964 -) questions the relationship between the world of sensation and ourselves within his work. Heath's wall drawings move between being the subject and object of the artists and our imagination. 

Claude Heath, Waterfall 2013, Installation Shot, Wall Drawing.

  

   Claude Heath, Waterfall 2013 (detail)

Claude Heath, Waterfall 2013, end wall.

Heath drawings look like various things - high-density doodles, computer printouts bearing multi-dimensional information. But you don't need to look at them long to see that they are, at least, not free-form abstractions. These intense, hairball tangles of spidery lines, often in several different colours, seem to grope their way towards some kind of legibility or materialisation.

Yet they remain phantoms of the forms that they represent; firstly in the sense that they have a ghostly yet still recognisable relationship with the object they are based on and secondly they are born from an absence (the artist's gaze onto the page which he is drawing). There is as a result, a purposely unresolved and awkward fusion between that which is real and that which is imagined. 

I felt that there were many positive and some negative factors emerging from my recent drawings in relation to my earlier silk screens. Whereas the silk screens were executed on a scale of around 26 x 40cm the pen and ink drawings are operating on a considerably larger scale. When combined with their hand crafted quality alongside the length of time it took to execute them, they felt much more finished and resolved and alot less like experimental pieces. As with Heath's Waterfall wall drawing I am interested in the interplay and exchange between the reality of the scene being depicted alongside the changing and shifting nature of the image as something that has a dreamlike appearance, a few steps removed from reality.

One of the positive qualities with regards to the silk screens was the fact that although executed relatively quickly they created an impression of spontaneity and crudeness which combined effectively with some of the marks and mistakes from the silk screen process as well as the movement and distortion created as a by-product of the scanning process. This contrasted with the graphic imagery created via the use of pen and ink, with the potential for it to be interpreted as more formulaic with less room for spontaneity or errors. However the time taken to produce the drawings, the quality of the mark making and the ambiguity of the subject matter meant that they possessed a much more finished and satisfying quality in relation to the more sketchy nature of the silk screened images.


I took the opportunity to visit the Sigmar Polke exhibition: Alibis, 1963-2010 at the Tate Modern. I was particularly interested in the fashion with which Polke utilised technology within his work as a way of creating distortion within the imagery as well as the fashion with which he juxtaposes both painterly and printed marks.

Sigmar Polke, Untitled (Triptych) 2002, polyester resin and acrylic paint on fabric

From his earliest practice Sigmar Polke emphasised a dynamic tension between expression, gesture and mechanical reproduction. His paintings combined found printed images with more organically made painterly marks. Making use of half-tone photography from newspapers and magazines Polke enlarged and reproduced the imagery often corrupting the original beyond recognition. 

Sigmar Polke, Fear (Black Man) 1997, Synthetic resin and lacquer on polyester fabric

'Printing Errors,' were a large group of paintings Polke created between 1996-98 in which he examined, much enlarged, minute ink slippages and spillages that read as errors on the printed page. Polke made others by manipulating photocopies during the copying process to create distortions of the imagery he was copying such as the image above, Fear (Black Man). Some errors bore close resemblances to details in the images in which they occured. By making use of a half-tone printing technique he helped to convert the visual image into a pattern of even-sized units consisting of a dotted diamond pattern.

Perhaps most intriguing for me is the fashion with which Polke has created a sense of tension within his work by combining a number of opposing elements including the mechanical nature of the printed imagery alongside the more organic painterly marks. In moving forward I am interested to see what would happen within my own work by combining gestural painterly marks alongside the more structured, precise marks created via the process of silk screen printing. Similarly I am also interested in experimenting by re-introducing areas of colour into my compositions which would be interesting to juxtapose alongside the monotone areas with the aim of creating an underlying tension, dynamic and interplay between a variety of opposing elements. 

Drabble, M (2009) 'A Writer's Britain.' London: Thames & Hudson.

Circular tondos vs rectangular picture compositions.

In going forward, I am interested in addressing which is more effective in terms of my experimentation, the circular tondos or the rectangular compositions as a way of addressing my research interests. Although I have rejected the overlayed geometric patterns which were the product of my initial experimentation, I have included these in the mock ups below as part of my work in progress in order to critique the elements I consider to be effective alongside the elements that I consider to be less successful for each of the compositions.

Circular tondo vs a more conventional rectangular composition:

Circular composition:

Round, spherical objects in nature are considered to be perfect, complete and stable. A round or spherical composition is an effective way to depict another world, the circle helping to accentuate the otherness of the composition in order to give the appearance of looking through a portal or window and capturing a particular moment in time.

Rectangular composition: 

A rectangular or square composition is less ambiguous and open to interpretation on account of the fact that it has a top and a bottom as well as being read from left to right and vice versa. In the same fashion standing in a landscape is characterised by having the sky at the top and the land at the bottom. Similarly it functions in a different fashion to the tondo on account of the fact that it has been used regularly throughout art history and is therefore more conventional and easier to relate to.
 
How does this function in relation to my research interests:

My research to date has very much been about the experience of being in a place. The places that I have chosen as my subject matter are places that I have visited over an extended period of time throughout my life. I feel therefore that the experience is very much about being situated within the present day as opposed to the past! As a result the circular tondo composition which is able function as a portal and way of looking back in time is not necessarily applicable. The more conventional rectangular composition however I feel is more applicable on account of the fact that it is easily recognisable and able to contain a personal narrative on account of the fact of it having a top, a bottom and sides and therefore relating directly to the landscape. 

Observing the two mock ups above I feel that there is a much stronger sense of place attached to the composition containing the rectangular images due to the fact that the imagery is more recognisable as being derived directly from the landscape. This has also resulted in a stronger sense of narrative, which can be attributed to the pieces. The circular compositions appear much more ambiguous in terms of their interpretation which is accentuated on account of their roundness meaning they do not conform to how we imagine the landscape to be. 

Going forward....

I feel that my experimentation with the tondo compositions has been valid and worthwhile but in going forward with future work do not feel that they are a suitable format for the outcomes that I am aiming for in terms of the experience of being in the landscape. I feel that the rectangular more conventional compositions offer this in a much more effective fashion.

  

Experimentation with Silk Screen

As discussed within my previous post I created a series of images derived from the coastal landscape which I manipulated via the process of scanning in order a sense of disortion and displacement. In order to create more of a hand finished quality I experimented by silkscreening the images onto sections of board to see how this would change the nature of the imagery and what effect it had in relation to the landscapes that I was depicting.

Irregular Fluctuation, 2015, Silkscreen on MDF, 25 x 36cm

Slippage, 2015, Silkscreen on MDF, 26 x 40cm

Drift, 2015, Silkscreen on MDF, 29 x 40cm

Dunes, 2015, Silkscreen on MDF, 24 x 36cm

I was really excited by the results and quality of the imagery achieved via the process of silkscreening. In particular I found the interchange between the black ink and brown mdf to be very effective and compelling. The ink combined persuasively with the cheap quality and feel of the materials. In printing the imagery onto the board it was also an effective way of enhancing the quality of the smudges, blurs and other accidental marks created via the process of scanning, while the solid nature of the wood enabled more of a convincing case for them to be considered as art objects.

As a further consideration and way of experimenting with altering the appearance of the silk screens, I experimented by applying gloss paint to the surface of the MDF in order to see how this altered the appearance of the silk screens and whether this brought any additional dimension to the work.

Irregular Fluctuation I, 2015, Silkscreen and Gloss on MDF, 25 x 36cm

Slippage I, 2015, Silkscreen and Gloss on MDF, 25 x 36cm

Drift I, 2015, Silkscreen and Gloss on MDF, 29 x 40cm

Dunes, 2015, Silkscreen and Gloss on MDF, 24 x 36cm

One of the elements that I felt was particularly positive with regards to the addition of paint to the MDF surface was the fact that it added a degree of spontaneity to the images that was not present within the silkscreens by themselves. In a similar vein the addition of the painted areas meant that the images were no longer part of a series or edition but now functioned as one offs.

Although the addition of the paint to the MDF surface added something extra to the feel and the quality of the images I feel that further experimentation is necessary in terms of how the paint is applied as well as the choice of colour. Via further experimentation I aim to resolve the cohesion and interaction between the printed and painterly surface so as to create a unity between the spontaneity and liberal application of the paint alongside the more controlled and restrained quality of the printed marks.

An artist whose work I have been considering in relation to my recent experiments with silk screen is that of the French artist Roland Flexner, whose recent ink drawings I had the opportunity to view at the Massimo De Carlo gallery in London. 

         

Roland Flexner, 2012, Untitled, Liquid Graphite on Yupo, 9 x 12"

Roland Flexner, 2012, Untitled, Liquid Graphite on Yupo, 9 x 12"

Flexner's practice focuses around drawing with ink, his drawings appearing to resemble a series of uncanny landscapes. As part of his experimentation Flexner explores the fashion in which the element of chance influences the making of these drawings. Using the processes of manipulation which include breath, water and gravity Flexner attempts to document the potential of this material by pushing it to a pictorial dimension. 

Roland Flexner, 2012, Untitled, Liquid Graphite on Yupo, 9 x 12"

Roland Flexner, 2012, Untitled, Liquid Graphite on Yupo, 9 x 12"

The manipulations Flexner has used in order to control the flow of the ink from one drawing to another alternates from tilting (use of gravity), blowing (with or without straws), spraying water mist over the drawing, friction and pressure applied to the back of the drawing. 

Roland Flexner, 2012, Untitled, Liquid Graphite on Yupo, 9 x 12"

Roland Flexner, 2012, Untitled, Liquid Graphite on Yupo, 9 x 12"

'The idea of landscape is inseparable from time, as it is a recording of time itself. Time is a flow that is driven by events every single one of my drawings in an event in a state of becoming.' Roland Flexner (massimodecarlo, 2015)

In a similar fashion to the works of Christopher Cook which I discussed in a previous post Flexner's works created via chance processes has a strong figurative element to it meaning that when viewed they possess a strong affinity with the landscape. However in a similar fashion to Cook's paintings there is something quite uncanny and otherworldly about the pieces meaning that the longer one views them the more ones mind drifts off into an alternative reality or space that is neither situated in the real world or the world of fantasy but sits uncomfortably somewhere imbetween. 

I am intrigued by Flexner's use of chance processes and manipulations as a way of creating his work. By scanning in print outs of the landscape of the North Norfolk coast whilst moving the imagery upon the scanner bed I have attempted to incorporate a chance element within my work. I hope that this operates as a way of displacing and dislodging the viewers expectation as to how they envisage the landscape may appear, whilst simultaneously making the experience very much grounded within place and landscape. In a similar fashion to both Cook and Flexner definitive figurative elements begin to fuse, blend and merge with other areas that are drifting off into an abstract and subconscious realm.  

As part of the dialogues lecture series, 'Speculative Matters' I had three of my silk screened images chosen to be part of the exhibition. This was a good opportunity for me to showcase how the images looked within a gallery setting as well as an appropriate platform in order to devise a way for them to be hung (see image above). One of the overriding considerations emerging from this show was devising a way to hang the work on account of the differing levels of abstraction inherent within the prints. By placing the middle image, almost unrecognisable as being derived from the landscape between two prints containing more pronounced figurative elements was a good way to contextualise the imagery in a fashion which provided a strong grounding within the reality of place and the landscape. 

massimodecarlo (2015) Roland Flexner (internet) available at: www.massimodecarlo.com/exhibitions/view/119977?&lang=eng

Work in progress, North Norfolk Coast

Having taken a series of photographs of my walk at Burnham Ovary Staithe, I considered how to proceed in order to create new work which followed on from the circular tondo pieces that I discussed in my previous post. The shifting marshes and dunes appeared to be an obvious point of reference on account of their ephemeral, transient nature and formation as a result of the layering and deposition of sand and mud constantly moving, re-forming and changing according to the natural processes and mechanisms working upon them. I began to consider ways in which it would be possible to visually represent these changeable landscapes within my work in a more literal and recognisable fashion than their portrayal via my tondo pieces. Initially I began by printing out some of the sections from the panoramas that I had amalgamated:

I experimented with different ways of presenting the photographs and decided that making them black and white resulted in a much starker visual impression. The imagery appeared bleaker, crisper and more distinct, whilst also creating the impression of looking back in time. Similarly by abandoning colour which has been such an overriding preoccupation within my practice allowed me to experiment with other aspects within the work without allowing my compostions to be dominated by strong, non-naturalistic and overbearing colours.

Although I found the black and white photographs to be visually distinct I decided that it would be interesting to add some additional distortion that would help to make the images appear more ambiguous, hazy and indistinct. 

As with my earlier attempts of introducing pattern into the landscape compositions of Mousehold Heath I wished to continue to experiment with ways of breaking up the surface as a way of alluding to some form of underlying tension or drama. Rather than introducing an additional element as in the case of the geometric patterns I was looking for some way of generating visual distortion that was not separated from the images themselves but functioned as a part of the imagery. In doing this I hope to allude to some form of disconnection occurring between myself and the landscape.

I experimented by scanning in print outs of the above landscape sections whilst moving them about during the scanning process, which resulted in the following set of images:

I increased the contrast of the images so they appeared more definitively black and white. I was especially pleased with the distortion and glitches that were created via the process of moving the images during the scanning process. Whilst still possible to make out elements of the dunes and marshes it created an element of uncertainty which combined effectively with the increased black and white contrast. Although there are still recognizable landscape elements there is a distinct shift and slippage that occurs as if the landscape is beginning to slide, transform and break up into something else that incorporates elements from the landscape, alongside elements which reference technology and the digital era.

Other elements which I felt added to the effectiveness of the imagery included their blurry, smudged, unfinished quality whilst the glitches whereby the scanner could be seen on the edge of the picture plane helped to create the sensation that these were otherworldy, indistinct places which had somehow how become unhinged and were slipping away from a solid grounding in reality.