Week 13 - Micro exam

For the micro exam we had an hour and a half to produce an outcome based on our personal investigation that we had been doing in throughout the term. I continued to focus on my Dad's service and the loss of identity. I refined my practise by only having one piece instead of a collection, this way I can layer the idea of unanimity.

I began my cutting the card on a larger scale, and cut paper the same size. I monoprinted using green and black ink to create a darker green - representable of Army uniform. Towards the centre of the print I used a wet paper towel to remove ink from the page. The water allowed the shapes to interlink like camouflage. Moving outwards, I used a dry paper towel to remove the ink so that the outer part had more white in it, providing more contrast, so the eye is drawn to the centre of the piece.

Next I added the cut out photographs and stuck them to the centre of the piece. I also used a scalpel to cut out camouflage shapes to reveal the corrugated card underneath. To put the soldiers in the surroundings, I put a darker green around them, thus creating even more contrast.

I applied three rows of numbers to represent the identity numbers that each soldier has, across the middle of the piece. This distorts the image of the soldiers and therefore there identity is being manipulated. I used white emulsion paint for this as it is transparent so it is still relatively clear that there are soldiers behind it.

Towards the edges of the piece, the numbers become less visible and so present the soldiers' unanimity. This piece could either be hung or framed, although I think a white frame would look better.

I am pleased with the outcome of this piece, but I still think that there could be more contrast and that the images could fill the background more. I think I have created a focal point in the piece which I was focussing on a lot since my practise didn't have one and appeared confusing. The size of the camouflage shapes are a good size as they don't detract attention from the centre.

Week 12 - Evaluation of practise for micro exam

Whilst working towards an outcome, I have been influenced by Andy Warhol, by taking his idea of using camouflage and using it to present further concepts of identity loss. I have produced this piece in several parts as Warhol did in “camouflage”. I think that this helps in portraying the gradual process of identity removal more clearly. However, I arranged these vertically, with the last step at the top. The red in this part draws the viewer’s eye to the top of the series but then leads the eye downwards- therefore backwards through the process. To combat this I think I need to rearrange these pieces so that the viewer’s eye is carried through the process in chronological order.

I was happy that I managed to achieve everything that I’d planned in the short time as I was worried that monoprinting was going to consume a lot of time. However, it didn’t and the amount of texture that monoprinting provides is interesting. Along with the rigid texture of the corrugated cardboard underneath, it comes together to reveal a war-like experience. I used the colour red in the last piece of the stage to draw attention to the result of being in the forces. However, this doesn’t work well as a composition as it adds more confusion as to where to look first. I want to keep the colour red in the outcome as it compliments the green background and has many connotations of anger, death and the poppy that symbolises everyone who has served in the forces. I could incorporate the red more by using it in increasing amounts on each piece. For example, painting red identification numbers across the body and eventually the red covering the entire piece in the foreground.

Another thing that makes the outcome confusing overall is that the pieces of card aren’t all the same size. As the two middle ones are larger, it creates a focal point in the piece, but the red is already doing this so it is puzzles the viewer. Having a photograph of two soldiers demonstrates the team aspect of being in the army. I believe that any more would make each piece appear crowded and any less would appear liked it was purely based on one individual person.

Week 10 and 11 - including paper cutting

Following on from experimenting with monoprinting and polyprinting, I have incorporated this into my work.

 

Here, I stuck the monoprint to the piece of corrugated card and cut into it, revealing the textured underside. I peeled away so that corrugated and more smoother sections of the card could be seen to create more texture.

Moving on from this, I started looking at how to hide someone's identity; still using the monoprints and polyprints.

 In this image, I took the idea of collaging that I have been using and did so over the face to make the soldier unrecognisable.

 Instead of using the monoprint in the foreground as I did above, I used it in the background instead. This can only be seen where the head of the soldier would be and so it represents the frantic state of mind that the soldier has displayed through multiple marks like horizontal lines and dots.

For this I wrote part of an identification number in biro over the top of a polyprint. The shade of green that is used is too bright and should be darker to represent camouflage more accurately. Also, using biro doesn't provide a vivid or good quality outcome.

 I have removed the figures of two team players to represent the fallen in battle. I have done this to represent how, after so long, the deceased are no longer remembered.

 I have cut out individual numbers in the style of the printed identification on equipment like kit bags. I cut these out of a darker green polyprint and I think that this shade is a lot more representable of the military theme.

Paper cutting

 Paper cutting is where you take an image and secure it to another piece of paper, you then cut away the desired pieces using a knife on top of a cutting mat. Whilst doing this, some of the useful things I found were: cutting a thicker line adds more dimension, that cutting out a solid object creates a template and to be able to create detailed outcomes you must leave tabs around the edge of the image.

Artist Analysis - Matthew Cusick

Matthew Cusick

Matthew Cusick was born in New York City in 1970 and went onto graduate from the Cooper Union with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 1993. His work has been exhibited internationally since 1996 including New York City gallery shows at Andrew Kreps in Kent. In 2006 Cusick got a New York Foundation of Arts fellowship, later in 2008 achieving a fellowship from The Bernis Center for Contemporary Art. His work is held at places like the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art and the Progressive Art Collection. Cusick is a multimedia artist, using paint and collage  materials like maps, atlases, encyclopedias and school textbooks to add more depth to his work. He is ‘known for warmly coloured paintings’* which depict a lot of Southern California including the celebrity culture. Much of his work expresses the darker side of American culture and he develops a complicated enigma of our existence by adding collage materials to his paintings.

In the piece, “Cat’s Wave”, Cusick uses inlaid maps and text on a panel. There is a collection of pieces that depict the sea, completed in 2015. In “Cat’s Wave” there is one sea wave going diagonally across the panel from the bottom left corner towards the top left which rolls to the right. There is a white splash the forms towards the back of the wave. The colours of the sea are provided by segments of maps that have been arranged to interlock and form the wave. In the background, text is merging with the sea at approximately a 175 degree angle towards the sea. This appears to be representing rain.

The colours that are provided by the maps are blue primary shades, blue violet tertiary and blue green tertiary too. For example, colours like greenish cyan, turquoise, aqua, teal and cerulean. This piece of work is 2D and has relatively strong variation light and shade between the colours to depict the many reflections that bounce of the water. Although a flat surface is used, the maps and text adds more depth to the piece. The maps are cut and assembled together so that they interlock. The viewer’s eye rolls with the wave as the eye is attracted to the lighter blue shades along the middle of the piece which leads to the wave.

Using maps expands the limits of a representational painting, creating a more complex form of existence. Cusick’s pieces provide a geographical and historical timeline within the image. I think this piece creates a motion of being lost as the sea is choppy and so presents confusion and disorientation. The rough sea displays how the weather is unpredictable, mirroring the path of our lives. I believe that Cusick is trying to portray how there is more that encapsulates us than just our achievements, like our history and our ventures. However, he could be trying to reveal using maps that people shouldn’t be so individualistic and closed-minded as he believes that travelling the world opens the mind to opportunity and current social affairs. I also think the text that appears like rain could represent the newspapers and the sea, the public. As the newspapers fuels the public to behave in a certain way and believe certain values about the world, but in effect this leads the public into confusion and turmoil which I represented by the choppy wave.

I have been influenced by Cusick to use collage and interlock images as he does. Each of the sections that form the way reminded me of camouflage shapes and so I began to look at my Dad’s service in the military. I have used maps and other materials like photographs to create objects like trousers. I was inspired to try creating tonal representation by adding collage to objects such as bottles. Cusick has also inspired me to look at the deeper meaning behind my developments and so I have started looking at ways to portray as soldier’s identity and how the country create a level of anonymity in our troops.

*www.artsy.net/artist/matthew-cusick