Drawing Project

I chose Brice Marden for our drawing project, I was looking at his later works like 'Cold Mountain' for example. I experimented with different materials; charcoals, conte crayons, markers, different colour inks, acrylic paint mixed with glue, watercolours pencils etc. and used long brushes tied together or long sticks when using ink.

These are some images of his work Iparticulary like;

These are some images from my first sketch book, they are just little sketches I began with before proeprly looking into his works;

 

Marden will create a layer of pattern and then either erase it or use a light wash and begin another layer until it builds up. When using the charcoal I would erase and draw, erase and draw until I built up a heavy system of lines.

 

 

With these paintings I began with charcoal, moved onto acrylic paint, I used a light wash over these lines and teh last layer was ink.

 

The following images were me working out his use of shapes and lines, I drew with a freer hand than I normally would, from a distance with a long brush and I allowed my hand tomake mistakes, It was similiar to 'bringing teh dog for a walk' when you were younger.

 

These are my finished pieces;

 

This was a really rushed photo so some of it's missing :)^^

 

Protest Wood cut 2

The image for my second wood cut was based on 'test tube babies'. I had looked at artists who used taxidermy and the idea of animals kept in fermaldahyde and that general idea of animals being detained in cages, jars in labs, being experimented on. I had some great found imagery for this part of the project i'll upload at a later date and I also visited the Zoology museum in Galway I got some great photographs in there relating to these prints.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contextual

I looked at artists who dealt with the bizarre use of animals, taxidermy artists such as Damien Hirst and Sabrina Bewer. Patricia Paccini was another artists who creates sculptures of grotesque mutations of animal/human hybrids. Grotesque refers to some fantastic, strong, ugly, incogruous, unpleasant, disgustinga nd distorted. In art it is something that evokes a feeling of discomfort and relates to the bizarre, empathic pity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is work from Les Deux Garcon's Taxidermy pieces;

 

 

 

 

 

 

Protest- Wood cut

My first wood cut was still looking at imagery of mutated animals, I collages photos of different parts of animals and multiplied eyes ears and limbs etc, from that I drew this image;

 

 

 

 

 

 

Protest- Screenprint

The idea behind my screenprint was the wrongful experimentation on animals and the ethics surrounding these experiments.. It borders into a sort of Frankenstinian science, bledning human and animal DNA, blending different species of animals, creating hybrids and mutating. I based the composition of my screenprint on the Three Wise Monkeys. the lighter layer of bones over the animals symbolise the morbidity this animal cruelty.

 

 

The lighting isn't great in these photos. we were asked to print variables too, so I just rearranged the last layer of the ribcages and played around with patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Protest

For the brief protest I was looking at scientific experimentation and the ethics surrounding it. I began looking at animal testing and moved onto general scientific experimentation using animals, playing with the idea of a Frankenstenian science, the grotesque, hybrids and the macabre and morbidity around it all. The following images are from my sketch book in preparation for my prints.