Paul

ca. 190 x 190 cm / Oil on Canvas

Another try of a -more or less- randomly chosen face, that I encountered. This time I´m more happy with it, as the backround is more seperated from the face - the foreground. I wanted to lead the eye of the viewer to his eyes, the hair is a bit more blurred, a bit like in an out of focus photograph. The backround turned a bit too much into yellow, because of the use of linseed (maybe too much) , but I had good response to this yellowing effect from other students. The black and white imagery gives it a slightly historic touch. Many people said, if it is someone they should know. It´s an interesting effect, that making portraits big seems to be the indicator of someones famousness. Interesting to confuse people that way, questioning importance, and unimportance.

tutorial / jessica dez.2010

1. What points were discussed during the tutorial?

we talked about the content of a picture in relation to the size. we discussed, whether applying paint and marks is or is not influencing the content which is communicated. We also talked about the disjuncture between the written context (in the proposal) of the work, and what is actually seen on the canvas.

Furthermore another issue discussed was the idea of translating the imagery of CCTV into painting, and how there could develop a project out of it. We also talked about the presence or absence of people within this project, and how the absence of people could perhaps even support the theme of people in this context. Jessica showed an application on her I phone which could be interesting for me in this context .

2. What issues will be thinking further on as a result of this conversation?

I will think about refining my proposal and reconfigure it around what I´m actually making - or what is actually seen for the viewer on the canvas. I will think about size in relation to the context, and how size can support, or disturb the content communicated.

I will also predict a small, rough work plan within the proposal which makes clear, that I am planning to experiment the first month with different themes (as things are coming too fast in my head to realize a complete project of it) and decide afterwards which theme to furter develop, and which to throw over board.

In context with the CCTV idea I ´m thinking about where to get the images of CCTV footage or if I make fotos myself at exactly the places I see as appropriate. I will also start to experiment with this project practically and try to find a good way to execute it via painting.

STAFF COMMENTS:

When we discussed the proposal fitting what you were doing better it wasn’t about the proposal fitting around the paintings you were currently making, but that the ideas expressed within the proposal were something that you wanted to pursue further within the paintings as you hadn’t yet addressed the ideas that were in the current version of your proposal. The idea is that the proposal will still push your work forward and that your work will progress. If the proposal is written solely to work around your current practice than how will it progress? The new version of your proposal should relate more to the specific themes that currently interest you and that you are addressing within the paintings. As we discussed, the series of CCTV paintings will do this. But to keep the images true to the relationship (and implications) of CCTV, they should be genuine CCTV images rather than constructed ones, otherwise you are created a false truth. Unless that is your intention, it could be very misleading.

Working Process_Paul

study for a riot

From Alexandros Vasmoulakis and Manolis Anastasakos:

"During 2010, Greece came under the supervision of IMF and EU. The fear of poverty and financial recession has built up a feeling of social unrest. Memories of the Greek riots of 2008, according to the media, have created the expectation in Greece and abroad, of a new, more violent riot. Influenced by this atmosphere, we created in a deserted ceramics factory in Athens a series of actions during May 2010. At the time we wanted to give form to feelings intuitively provoked by the signs of unrest we received from all around us. We used the objects that were plentifully scattered in the ruins of the factory: red powder, ceramics, wood and ropes. We installed sculptural structures and we recorded, on video, short collision-scenes. Red powder represented the outcome of every human violent act. The deserted industrial setting was used as a metaphor for the financially devastated country. The multiple-screens structure of the video is a reminder of the surveillance cameras used by the police. The sound was recorded live during each of the actions. We doubt the efficiency of violent rioting and search for a new way. Essentially we have found nothing yet, however, we enjoy searching".

without title

A encounter, and a resulting image. no one important, just one of many meetings in life, one face, that is interesting.

I think, we built the wrong idols, and make them big on screen, surrounding our lifes with them in television, magazines, and billboards. I never met the Beckhams, Angelina Jolie, Heidi Klum or Johnny Depp. But I met this person on the Street near Camberwell Green, had a chat, and loved his face (and the voice as well). So I decided to make a homage of this meeting, as it is one of the many, that make life interesting.

Formally I tried to get the backround and the face together, to make it one layer. It did not really meet my expectations, and I think seperating backround and foreground fits more with me. I wanted to support the fact, that he did not have an easy life with a quite expressive, painterly appliance of the paint, scrached in his face, nearly punched it (which was not easy, as I really liked him). I think the next face I paint, will be less expressive, and foregroung and backround should be more seperated again.

Michael Borremans

Just to share one of my favourites of Michael Borremans.

I just love the way he leaves the details of the clothes undefined, leads the eye of the viewer to her eyes and then keeps the gaze within the picture, with a mixture of arrogance and shyness.

tutorial from 25.11.10

STUDENT TO FILL IN:

1. What points were discussed during the tutorial?

We talked about art forms that already try to sell a lifestyle such as pop art and how they relate to my work, as I tried to make work that shows authenticity that is not shown in media and advertising. I should think about, how to make clear, that I do not paint someone famous, as it always seems that way in the scale that I work in. I shall not only write about my antipathy against media, but to look deeper and also write about the power that advertising and media has, perhaps even use that power for my own work. As I paint from photos, how can I make clear, or use it as an issue, that I don´t paint from live objects or people, but use photos as a basis for that.

I also mentioned my interest in the imagery of CCTV cameras, but wasn´t very clear which direction to take.

2. What issues will be thinking further on as a result of this conversation?

I will do some research in the pop art, and how they exactly used media and also mainstream in their work and what aspects of media did they use and exploit for their work. I also have a recommendation to have a look at the film " the century of the self I" which deals with the roots of the power of media.

I will also deal with Jamie Wagg, Jason Brooks, and for sure Chuck Close as they already work in the field that I want to work in. I also think about options how to make clear, that I am working from photographs - or prints of photographs, in contrast of for example Lucian Freud.

With the theme of CCTV I want to formulate clear aims, as I think it could be an interesting project. I want to point out, which role people will have in this project, and if the narrative quality of these pictures should be an issue or not.

STAFF COMMENTS:

Max gives a good, clear account of his thinking and the issues we discussed. At the moment there is a slight disjuncture between how he is contextualising his work and what we are seeing, in this sense his ideas are yet to realized. However the work is strong and it may be that he needs to re-configure his proposal around what he is actually making. The large portraits are a good progression from the pixilated imagery and they are visually arresting. It would be worth thinking more about how he is applying paint, his gestures, surfaces and marks and looking at other contemporary painters; Michael Borremans might be an idea, or UK based Kaye Donachie, Andy Stahl and Tim Stoner. Re the ideas around advertising and billboard imagery it is always worth re-visiting Andy Warhol, in particular the debate around his ‘portraiture’.

Impression of the Studio

Die Entstellte (The Blemished)

ca. 170 x 170 cm / oil on canvas

The problem of the modern human is his materiality. The fact, that we are physical creatures is insufferable for the modern man. We are touchable, smellable, present. Our materiality makes us slow going, avoids omnipresence. Apparently, digital social network sites seem to bring the solution. It makes us favoured people, gives us hundreds of so called friends, and enables us to be all over the world at once. Apparently.

In fact, it´s a dream world, which creates real desires, and dependencies.

Human has to accept his physical presence, his evolution from nature, as one day the freedom that digitalism seems to be able to offer us will be the acid, that dissolves us in our dependency.

Frank Schirrmacher writes in his book "payback" (translated by me from german into english):

"We are being eaten by the fear to miss out on something, and by the force to consume every information. We will lose our independent thinking, as we don´t know what´s important, and what isn´t. Furthermore we will subdue ourselves under the dictatorship of the machines. THe thinking exceeds from the inner, and moves onto digital platforms.

The feeling, that life is predetermined mathematically, and nothing changes destiny is one of the effects of overflow of information."

pixação attack

my research about construction and deconstruction reminded me of a action of pixação painters in brazil / sao paolo. on september 6th, 2008 choque was showing a collection of paintings by well-known "street artists" gerald laing, speto and titi freak among others,

when a group of 30 individuals stormed into the gallery brandishing spray cans. the group 'tagged' the entire gallery, also over the artwork hanging. on the walls. the organizer of the pixação attack stated in a message to other members, that the intention of the act was to protest against the ‘marketing, institutionalization and domestication of street art’. they want it to remain in the streets, reaching a mass audience and owned by no one. after the invasion the gallery was (in my opinion) visually much more surprising and interesting than before. the clean, framed artworks made from so called street artists have nothing of the noncompliant attitude graffiti once had. it visualizes how deconstruction, or destruction is actually always constructive.

i think it´s maybe also a good example of the visualisation of chaos and order.

construction vs deconstruction

A theme get more and more interested in is destruction or vandalism. This game between construction and deconstruction, and howthey are dependent to each other. what is being seen as construction, and what is being seen as deconstruction.

in graffiti there are crossers, mostly kids who destroy others writers work with found spraycans, mostly just for fun, sometimes unconciously, because they can´t differentiate between a good graffiti piece, and tagging and spraycan vandals. they are just trying to make their own marks.

so here are a few pictures i found in an old mag from brian a shabaglian, who pasted a poster of marily monroe in public, and then noticed, how people interact with them.

these images in the mag reminded me of the very famous photo shooting with bert stern, where marilyn monroe crossed out the contact slides she didn´t want to become published . Quite ironic, that these photos became one of the most successful - and most published. A good example where destruction becomes construction - very successful construction.

mother of povacrvs - nicolas pol

my first exhibition that I saw in london this spring, and it was a quite lovely one. nicolas pol was a completely new name for me (yes, shame), so I was happy to get this recommodation. it was curated by Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld.

great combination of silkscreen and dirty, expressive painting on quite a large scale, but crappy stretched canvas.

two pictures of nicolas pol´s work

by the way, paint was still wet.

Project Proposal

Proposal