[1]
My chosen focus artist, Robert Rauschenberg will help me to study propaganda and poster art, as well as look at collage and new techniques I have previously never used. Rauschenberg is an American graphic and poster based artist who is most well known for his 'combines' of the 1950's onwards, where he 'summaries' the year and the most important landmark events that occurred over the year.
Rauschenberg's work, for me, is very textured and collage based, which suits my style of working and allows me to experiment using techniques I have had previous skill in using, but by studying his work and his own techniques I can develop on these skills and increase the complexity and effectiveness of my own collages. An example of his work is above, 'Skyway' 1964, displayed in the Dallas Museum of Art. In this he effectively combines political statements, landmark events, his own personal feelings and attitudes of society into his work to represent an overall message which often is geared towards war and conflict, some worthy of recognition is his artwork in relation to JFK, Barack Obama and terror attacks.
Rauschenberg specialises in using silk screening to combine many images and his own mark making skills into an effective blended piece of artwork. His skill in involving his own attitudes and opinions into his work, creating this personal series of art is something I would like to develop into and learn by studying his as one of my focus artists.
"In Skyway, Rauschenberg wanted to communicate the frenetic pace of American culture encapsulated in the early half of the decade, particularly as represented on television and in magazines... He created the work in the year following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was a potent symbol for change, even though he was struck down only halfway through his first term as president." [8]
[2]
Another focus artist, Derek Hess, is a Cleveland-based artist who has been creating artwork for 15 years. His creative career grew largely out of his ability to express the emotion in the indie and hard rock scenes of the mid-1990s. Originally Hess began his art in expressing music, capturing the indie bands of mid 90’s into posters and CD covers. The latter subject of his art stemmed from childhood, where he was fascinated by his father who was a WW2 veteran, in addition to being an artist who often drew scenes from his memories of the war. Hess’ work has progressed along with himself as an artist, from album covers to deep meaningful pieces of art that could represent a multitude of things, such as his fathers past of being in WW2. Hess’ work is displayed in many of his own Art show events, but also permanently displayed in The Louvre, and the Rock and roll Hall of Fame.
If I were to describe this to someone who hasn’t seen the piece of artwork beforehand, I doubt that I would have much difficulty, describing the medium Hess’ uses - which gives a scratchy appearance to his art. I could also describe the form of ‘Cancer of the Soul’, as it clearly represents a faceless figure, possibly a shadow – the form in Hess’ work remains relatively accurate despite its abstract nature. I would also tell the person about the obvious layering of materials, creating depth and meaning into the artwork, layering the expressive red acrylic marks underneath the scratchy ink drawing of a figure. I’m not sure as to why Hess created this piece, but the figure seems to resemble an angel, maybe the angel of death? Combined with the title it would be fair to assume that this is a statement against cancer, brought on by a personal connection with the disease. I feel that Hess created this due to a recent loss against cancer, hence the resemblance to the angel of death through the colour and form. Another meaning behind this could be a love for a mystery person.
The title, "Cancer of the soul", paired with the highlighted heart in the drawing could mean that the artist is highlighting that love is a poison for us as people. For my own work, I would infer that the deeper meaning behind this is depression after the death of a love one, possibly through war and conflict.
[3]
Here is another instance of Hess’ use of ink, pen and the acrylic combination to give a similar effect to the first piece of artwork that I analysed. Here Hess has focused on a well-known superhero. This was initially created for a cover of a Captain America magazine, however it follows my chosen theme of war and conflict, as Captain America is well known to have contributed in wars, in the film and comic books – this might be as to why Hess chose to create this piece. I would like to focus on this, and develop into studying other superheroes to reflect on the media’s perception of war and how it is embedded into our film culture and lifestyle, as this reflects on the positive sides of war and conflict. This, and Hess’ ‘Cancer of the Soul’ both have personal meanings to me, relating to my family’s history of war and in particular with ‘Captain America’, my love for these types of films and magazines. If I were to study both these pieces I would love to focus on very small areas of them, to distort the image and create mystery behind an unrecognisable part – which would related to my chosen theme as war and conflict isn’t straight forward, and as said by Walter Benjamin “history is written by the victor” [7].
I have chosen to study Hess due to his shared fascination with his father in conflict, and his use of materials, ink and acrylic paint. This combination interests me and is engaging, I also feel that I would enjoy using these materials and learning from studying him as an artist. I find his work personal and relatable, whilst also interesting me, being work that I would be happy to create myself and would catch my eye in a museum/art gallery. In both pieces of the work that i'm analysing, Captain America and Cancer of the Soul, Hess uses ink combined with acrylic paint - this mixture is striking and is also what I enjoy to use, and have a lot of experience of using.
I would like to learn how to effectively create the striking elements that Hess creates in his work, but keeping the overall effect simple and not too abstract, as Hess’ figures in his work keep their form, rather then being over expressive. I have chosen to study Derek Hess because of his use of materials and the medium he works in, as well as the subject matter of his work and his inspiration, as we both share the same inspiration for my chosen ART 3 theme and topic.
I have not seen any of Derek Hess' work first hand, although I would like to due to him being an american artist, where most of his work is displayed in museums and art galleries. As an alternative, his website is suitable - however it doesn't give the real effect that the artist intended, through scale and colours.
[4]
Henry Moore is a well-known war artist, born in England in 1898, and died in 1986, he was mostly known for his steel and bronze sculptures around the world. Moore belongs to a group of artists In the Modernism movement of Bronze Sculpture – Moore is seen as to introduce the UK into this particular modernism form. He began in sculpture, going to ‘Leeds college of Art’ and was almost immediately recognised, winning awards and prizes – with influence from artists such as Constantin Brâncuși, and Jacob Epstein, who's work I have been to see at the "New Art Gallery", led him to the method of direct carving – ignoring imperfections and marks from the tools used, which add to the overall sculpture and are left. In WW2 Moore was forced to leave his teacher role in the Chelsea School of Arts, and as such his sculpture works. Instead Moore began to focus on sketches of the war. Some of the most famous sketches include the bomb shelter drawings of families and individuals in Moore’s expressionist style.
If I were to describe ‘Three seated Figures’ I would describe the feeling of coldness and loneliness that the figures display with their postures and how they’re sat. Moore successfully depicts the scared emotions of people in a WW2 bunker, using chalk to display the elements of it being dark and damp. Moore’s sketching style also replicates the style of his sculptures, as the three figures actually look like sculptures.
Henry Moore uses a similar sketching style to Derek Hess, although Moore uses different materials, using chalk and wax instead of Hess’ reliance on ink and acrylic. The use of charcoal, wax and indian ink all work together to recreate the dark and damp scenes of the London Underground during the times of air raids - it highlights the uncomfortable conditions and the emotions that run through it. The chosen materials are important to display the emotions and the feelings in the artwork.
Moore also keeps the element of form in his work, as the figures are recognisable, although do share similarities with his sculptures – including the mistakes, incorrect marks and accidental smudges in with the final figure. One interesting thing about Moore’s shelter sketches is that they are drawn from memory so many of the shelter drawings loose detail in less important areas – the backgrounds become repetitive and are often smudged. There is also a lack of detail of the figures, as they are just that, three figures without identities. I feel that Moore created this piece, as it was a significant moment in his life and created the sketches due to the fact that it was from memory, and a sculpture would not successfully capture all of these moments and memories he had from his time through WW2.
The elements that I’ll be taking from Moore’s work is the fact that he doesn’t mind mistakes, and is able to incorporate them into his final piece. His use of quick sketches also interests me, along with the fact that he can switch between a sculptor and a sketcher. I would like to try out making a few 3D models in a similar style to Henry Moore. This will stretch me and allow me to grow as an artist by trying new things and new techniques out. Henry Moore expresses the sombre and dark emotions of the time and place through his work effectively, as by looking at the figures, despite the lack of detail in emotions of the faces, through the medium and chosen colours and tone you can tell that this is a dark time and the figures are somewhat secluded and scared. This skill is what leads me to choose Henry Moore over other WW2 artists, even though Moore only has one series directly related to war and conflict.
[5]
This artwork follows the theme which I’d like to study, and is also drew from memory. Moore continues in ‘women and children in the underground’ to use all marks on the paper into the final piece, and the background and individual figures all lack a huge amount of detail. This works due to the chosen medium and materials, using charcoal and watercolour which are effectively used for sketches and shapes – Moore accurately draws figures and portrays the mood and emotions of people without using significant detail.
I have seen Henry Moore's work in galleries, when I visited the Tate Modern and Tate Britain, along with the National Gallery. Seeing his work first hand highlighted how dark the actual drawings are - the art is unnaturally dark and depressing, emphasising the type of mood of the work and highlighting the figures emotions back from the actual time. I feel that visiting Moore's work has helped my understanding, and also allowed me to see how depressing the colour and materials make his art. I have also been to see Moore's influence, Jacob Epstein in the New Art Gallery.
[6]
Stephen J Shanabrook’s artwork is in an expressionist, abstract style, finding new and original ways to create his artwork. One particular series of artworks caught my eye, being his ‘Paper Surgery” in which faces and figures are folded and crumpled, creating distorted forms and shapes, which gives a tone of darkness and horror. The distorted face has similarities to figures from Picasso, as the facial figures are blurred from reality, as the features are incorrectly placed on the face, which has had the shape changed and deformed.
In this series 'Paper Surgery', Shanabrook has used a magazine profile to crumple and use for his worn work, choosing to take the picture from a magazine rather then take the photo himself suggests that he's commenting on the luxuries that we have in this country, whilst people in countries with war and conflict are being displaced and have no basic needs, let alone luxuries.
Shanabrook is an American conceptual artist, born in 1965, Cleveland, working in New York. He began making sculptures and figures out of chocolate from casts of dead bodies from morgues, being the son of the town coroner. Being the son of a Coroner could be where he got his inspiration and passion from, focusing his art on what he saw and was in his environment. He began working with chocolate due to his job in the local chocolate factory – as such his work has stemmed from working with objects and materials often associated with comfort and happiness, such as the chocolate, and using these assumptions to juxtapose with a new meaning, such as the wounds. This creates an unexpected association, and an altered perception of the art. As Shanabrook is an American artist, as is Derek Hess, both of their works were mainly in America and inaccessible to me - because of this I visited the next best thing which related to my theme and the form of the artists that I've chosen - this was visiting the Imperial War Museum. I chose this as it's the largest collection of war and conflict related work in the UK - so, whilst I could see Henry Moore's work I also got a feel of more original ways of displaying conflict, in the similar manner that Shanabrook uses.
To describe this to someone else, it would be quite difficult due to the unnatural look and how original the piece is. There isn’t anything similar to compare this artwork style to, other then having the Picasso-esque look due to how the facial features are disfigured, in the incorrect places on the face and has been deformed due to the creases, crumples and folds. The questions that I have about this piece, and would ask the artist if I could would be his own personal meaning behind this? And what, and which artists inspired Shanabrook to use this method of work to create the distorted form of a humans face.
I think using Shanabrook as a focus artist will allow me to broaden my studies and allow me to learn new skills by using new materials and methods in which I’ve never used before, and allow me to broaden as an artist. I will use Stephen J Shanabrook as he relates to my topic, through my interpretation of that his style of art represents the mental struggle of people, I can tailor this to be about the mental issues families, parents and wives felt back home as their loved ones were fighting a war across the world.
The name of this piece of work, ‘Paper Surgery’ suggests the process in which Shanabrook used to create this work, but could also give a clue to the meaning behind it for the artist. To me, it suggests how much we focus on image and our figure, highlighted in magazines in which Shanabrook used to get the original face image, so much in fact that we distort what we truly look like and no longer appear human. Another meaning behind this work could be the internal mental struggle of a person, as it appears they’re in distress of some kind and this represents the internal struggle that each individual went through in the war.
Other museums that I have been to visit include the Tate Modern's 'Time and Conflict' summer exhibition, Birmingham art galleries such as the IKON, The New Art Gallery and The Castle Fine Art. Created by Paul Cummins and Tom Piper, the Weeping Willow section of the installation that was around the Tower of London was taken to Liverpool for Remembrance Day, in which I was lucky enough to get to see. Visiting these near the beginning of my personal investigation allowed for me to gain inspiration and ideas for my own work. It also gave me a sense of feeling by viewing the art first hand, these emotions I was able to represent in my own experiments, whether it be anger or sadness.
To conclude, I will use these four artists and my first hand experience of other war artists to represent my personal theme of war and conflict, using my passion of political events and global issues to study the remains, aftermath and the fallout caused by war, including the mental and physical effects into my own experiments leading to my final outcome. I will combine the skills that I learn throughout my research of my focus artists, and the methods that they use to find a style of working for my final outcome that suits me and the message I'm choose to aim for.
References;
[1] Robert Rauschenberg - "Skyway" (1964) Oil and silk screening on canvas
[2] Derek Hess - "Cancer of the Soul" (2007) Pen, ink, acrylic on paper
[3] Derek Hess "Captain America" (2002) Ink, pen,
Materials Used: Ink, pen, and acrylic on paper
[4] Henry Moore "Three Seated Figures" (1941) Indian ink, charcoal, wax crayon, and watercolour on paper mounted on board
[5] Henry Moore - "Women and Children in the Underground" (1940) Pencil, wax crayon, charcoal, watercolour, pen and ink.
[6] Stephen J Shanabrook - "Paper Surgery" (2004) Digital c-print crumpled from a magazine page
[7] Walter Benjamin “history is written by the victor”;
[8] Robert Rauschenberg Analysis
