Sol Lewitt Research

In looking for artists to study I found that sculpture was the way to go rather than 2D paintings as the subject matter I'm photographing is more three dimensional. I want to start taking photographs that are more minimal but still have interesting lines, I'm going to start focusing on photographing stairs as my main subject matter as they are an everyday structure and always contain different interpretations of the same fundamental shapes. I tried to find a contemporary artist that creates geometric work and I came across the work of Sol Lewitt. Many artists in the 1960's we using none traditional materials so create art and re invent art moving away from European tradition and making new 'American' art. Lewitt has influenced by the sequential photographs by Eadweard Muybridge presented in a grid formation. 

While researching Lewitt I came across his sculptures 'Incomplete Open Cubes'. Lewitt wanted to create something that initially looks chaotic however when you see the sculptures in different lines of sight they become orderly and you 'untangle the puzzle'. Individually the incomplete cubes are brilliant pieces of minimalist sculpture and although each sculpture is based on a cube they are all different. 122 individual cube variations make up the complete piece, individually the sculptures work well but they work better when placed in context with the other 121 as they create an overall idea. For my gallery piece I think I will present 8 or 10 photographs as a set because the photographs will work much better in narrative form along side other images than if they were presented individually, the photographs will all most likely contain steps but it is how different architectures have interpreted that shape that will come out in my photographs and how something as simple as a staircase that you see everyday can contain these beautiful shapes and lines. From Lewitt's work I have learned that you can present different versions of the same thing and make it interesting when presented as a narrative like the individual cube sculptures when presented as a set express a larger interesting idea.

 

Turner and the Sea Exhibition (06/04/14)

Turner and the Sea was an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, this was an exhibition I really wanted to visit because his painting 'The Fighting Tameraire' was in the exhibition and this is a painting I really wanted to see. The painting was great to see in the flesh and being able to see the texture of the canvas was brilliant however I wasn't as amazed as I thought I would be, probably because I have seen the painting so many time on books and on the internet so when I got to see the painting in real life it didn't seem that new. On the other hand his painting 'The Battle of Trafalgar' was a truly amazing painting to see, when you see the painting in a book you just cant see all the small details in the painting. 'The Battle of Traffalgar' is the size of a wall so when you look at it you can make out every little detail of the painting such as the small ships in the background and the figures on the ships, you could stand and stare at the painting for ages. Another painting I was glad to see was his painting 'Fishermen at Sea' this was the first oil painting Turner ever exhibited, Turner was just 21 when he painted it but the painting has very ambitious lighting and detail. The work of Turner has been a key influence on my colour photography in terms of his late afternoon light, which is my favorite time to shoot and also his compositions and how he uses the whole canvas keeping your eye moving around the composition. He also uses the golden ratio of 1-1.618.  From the National Maritime Museum I had to make my way back to The British Museum (Bare in mind I'd only been using the tube for a day this was quite a challenge). I had to make 2 train changes and the central line was closed so I had to get off at Oxford Circus and walk 20 minutes to get there. I don't think I've ever walked as fast as I did to get there as I had to get there before it closed.    

J M W Turner 'The Fighting Tameraire'

J M W Turner 'The Battle of Trafalgar' 

J M W Turner 'Fishermen at Sea' 

The National Gallery Visit (05/04/14)

The main paintings I wanted to see in The National Gallery was the paintings by J M W Turner and Claude Lorrain the main painting being Turner's 'Dido Building Carthage'. It was amazing to study their paintings up close and actually see the texture of the canvas rather than just see them in a book. In 'Dido Building Carthage' Turner has been able to take Carthage during antiquity and put his own spin on the city and create a new landscape more complex than the original city. I have to say I was moved more by Turner's painting 'The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire' more than 'Dido Building Carthage' as it just seemed to have a more intense light however both paintings are incredible. One painting in the National Gallery that amazed me was Joseph Wright of Derby’s ‘An experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump’. The painting had an incredible sense of realism in terms of its detail and how realistic he painted the light and shadow and people’s faces. I hadn't seen the painting before but I like this style of lighting both in paintings and portrait photography, it is like the Caravaggio style of lighting a subject with hard light creating hard shadows that blend into darkness. This is my favorite style of portrait lighting. I also saw his painting ‘An Iron Forge’ in Tate Britain and that was equally impressive.

J M W Turner 'Dido Building Carthage'

Joseph Wright of Derby 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump' 

Joseph Wright of Derby 'An Iron Forge'

David Bailey Stardust Exhibition (05/04/14)

From Tate Britain I walked to The National Portrait Gallery to see the David Bailey Stardust Exhibition, Bailey is a portrait photographer I admire greatly (along with Avedon) and he has shot some of my favorite people such as Cartier-Bresson and Keith Richards. A highlight of the exhibition was the room of Rolling Stones photographs as they are one of my favorite bands and he took photographs of them when they were in their most creative period and the end of the 1960's and early 70's. For me the best photograph of the exhibition was a colour photograph he took in 1968 of The Rolling Stones in a field walking towards the viewpoint. They all look to stylish with their colourful clothing and look very natural as if they are just having a quiet walk and don't even know Bailey is there. The photograph gives the impression that that period was a very free time for fashion and the arts which it was. Another photograph that stood out for me was Bailey's photograph of Cartier Bresson, the photograph was printed very large and contained Bresson in black and white with his Leica. I think the reasons these photographs were highlights for me was the fact they were of people I admire so you have a personal connection to the photograph. The show was very inspiring and it was great to see his work up close, there were also various personal objects and contact sheets that were a great insight to his life and his work. 

The Rolling Stones (1968)

(Unable to find Cartier-Bresson portrait)

  

Tate Britain Visit (05/04/14)

The first gallery I visited in London was Tate Britain as there were J M W Turner paintings I wanted to see and I also wanted to see the John William Waterhouse painting 'The Lady of Shalott' as this is one of my favorite paintings. J M W Turner is probably my favorite painter and his landscape paintings have been a key influence in my landscape work in terms of composition and colour pallet. Out of all his paintings I saw in London the one I was most impressed by was the painting titled 'The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire' at Tate Britain. The painting has an amazing sense of presence due to its large scale and vibrant colour pallet, the most amazing thing I found about the painting is how Turner has managed to create sunset light and shadows, all the architecture has a late afternoon orange glow and long shadows, it is like looking at a photograph in the lights sense of realism. I also saw his painting 'Dido building Carthage' in the National gallery so it was nice to see his version of the city in its beginning and end. Another painting I was looking forward to seeing was John William Waterhouse's 'The Lady of Shalott' (I visited London last year and was hoping to see it however at the time the painting had been lent to the Birmingham Art Gallery so I didn't get a chance to see it). Seeing the original painting was amazing as it is very beautiful in its appearance and poetic subject matter, however the painting was exhibited high on the wall and the light glared of its glass frame so you had to stand very face away to see the painting which was quite annoying. Another highlight was seeing William Holman Hunt’s painting ‘Our English Coasts’, I was shocked at how small the painting was as it holds an amazing amount of detail so I thought it would have been much bigger. The Pre-Raphaelite movement is one of my favorite art movements and a lot of their paintings are in London, Manchester and Birmingham so I’m privileged to have seen a lot of their work. I didn't stay in the gallery long enough to see everything as I had to go to the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery before they closed. 

J M W Turner 'The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire' 

John William Waterhouse 'The Lady of Shalott'

William Holman Hunt 'Our English Coasts (Strayed Sheep 1852)' (I couldn't believe how small this painting is.)

London Visit (5&6/04/14)

Last weekend I visited London as I wanted to look around the galleries and museums and had an brilliant time, I arrived in London early Saturday morning as I caught the train at 7am and caught the train home 7pm Sunday night. In a two day period I visited Tate Britain, The National Portrait Gallery, The National Gallery, Tower of London, National Maritime Museum and British Museum. The main things I wanted to do in London was see the David Bailey exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, see the Turner exhibition at the National Maritime Museum and have a look around the British Museum. I only took my 35mm camera and phone to take photographs on as it didn't want to kart my heavy digital camera around and wanted to shoot mainly black and white 35mm . A key highlight of the trip was the huge pillow fight in Trafalgar Square which I photographed, I went right in the middle of it taking photographs and also shot some double exposures, I can’t wait to get back to Uni and develop the film to see what I got. Other than the galleries (which I will talk about in individual blog posts) highlights of the trip were seeing Roman coins from the time of Emperor Nero and seeing marble statues of Roman Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus from the Roman period. I also saw armour belonging to King Henry VIII in the Tower of London, this was interesting as it gives a sense of scale and shows his weight gain throughout his life. I wish I could have stayed in London longer as I could only stay in each gallery for a short time if I wanted to see everything I wanted to see.   

Pillow fight in Trafalgar Square. (35mm photographs coming late April)

Marble bust of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in British Museum 

Marble bust of Roman Emperor Lucius Verus in British Museum

Armour of King Henry VIII aged 23

Himley Hall Shoot (03/04/14)

This is my first shoot from coming back home from Manchester, where I live is close to both city and rural areas so I can shoot in both. I walked to Himley Hall which is a local park and woodland area, trying to find geometric structure in a rural area is different to what I have done in Manchester so my work would contrast nicely. Firstly I found some cut down trees which made an interesting composition but the subject matter wasn't that strong so I moved on. Next I found a set of metal steps leading to a door which had an interesting composition, I shot the composition side on as they looked good in a more silhouette two dimensional form. Eventhough I didn't plan on shooting steps I always seem to photograph them as they always have interesting lines and structure. I made sure all the vertical lines in the composition were parallel with the side of the composition to reflect the geometric structure, plus this is something I naturally like to do when composing a photograph. Next I found a wooden set of stairs leading into the side of a wooden sailing building. The stairs had wooden panels heading in a variety of directions and the contrast between horizontal, vertical and slanted panels created an interesting aesthetic. I shot the stairs quite close up taking the overall shape of the stairs out of context and creating a new shape out its lines. I think shooting objects and architecture up close will work better as the photograph focus on pattern rather than an existing structure. 

From the shoot I learned that I can find geometric structures in rural as well as urban areas and that if I shoot structures up close I can create a new pattern. I just have to maintain 'the everyday' theme and not shoot structures that are too complicated and shoot things people could see everyday. I think I will also start focusing on shooting stairs as they seem to be my main subject matter and although they all have the same use every set of stairs has a different aesthetic. 

  

Post of the Day (31/03/14)

I started off this morning my going into Uni and editing my photograph from Saturday (in the blog post below). One I done this I wandered around the photography section of the building to see if Alan was about but he wasn't so I went into town and brought the Nikon FM I was saving for, I'm glad I've got a 35mm camera of my own so I haven't got to keep hiring the FM from the AV Store. I also brought it to take to London because I'm going there this weekend and want to shoot film. When I brought the camera I got a free roll of film so I walked around the city shooting, I didn't shoot with a real objective I just wanted to test the camera and explore to find some interesting compositions. I will process the film in the morning before my group seminar. I also completed my research post for Deidi von Schaewen who's book I found yesterday in the library, her work is very inspiring as she is able to photograph wall people see everyday but as the photographs are displayed in a book they work as a narrative very well. Tomorrow I've got my cross group seminar in the morning then I'll go into the city and take some photographs, I want to focus on both 2D and 3D structures then over the Easter break narrow down my subject matter to find what I want my gallery pieces to consist of.  

Re-shoot Photograph

This is a photograph from my shoot on Saturday taken in the parking structure under the Convention Complex, the white walls have a cubist shape with their sharp jagged corners showing how something as simple as a stair set can contain interesting abstract shapes. I liked this composition as the background is symmetrical emphasizing the jagged shapes of the walls. I post processed this photograph quite a bit to get the aesthetic I wanted. The photograph consists of two exposures, one for the background and one for the white walls. It was impossible to correctly expose that walls and background in one photograph so I used a tripod to to take two different exposures and combined them in Photoshop, I edited each exposure individually to get them how I wanted them and combined them later. I had to use the spot removal tool in Lightroom to patch areas of the white wall as it contained a lot of dark marks and scratches and I wanted the wall to a flat shade of white so it would emphasis its form. I like how the photograph came out and would like to focus on similar geometric subject matter as it makes for an interesting photograph and is also fun to shoot, I have to make sure I keep to the 'Everyday' theme and photograph things that can be seen everyday and not photograph things that are too extravagant.       

Deidi von Schaewen 'Walls' Research

I found Schaewen's book 'Walls' in the library and took an instant interest in it. The book links to my work in the way that she has photographed a piece of subject matter that people see everyday but never really take any notice however when you photograph it and present it as a narrative it becomes interesting. There is a quote in the book that reads ''A subject that they look at everyday, but never see'' this represents that fact that although these things are interesting they have become such common place in society that people never notice them. Schaewen documents how nature and weather over time has effected the walls changing the texture of the wall creating new textures and patterns, she if finding new patterns and textures in an already existing piece of subject matter, this is similar to what I am trying to do in finding interesting geometric shapes in architecture and objects. The book contains photographs taken in Berlin, Barcelona, New York, Berlin and many more, the book flows so well you cant even tell which countries the photographs were taken in. The walls have changed from on type of art form to another, they were initially used as a canvas for painted advertisements and over time the wall has been subjected to the elements so the wall has been transformed making new patterns and textures. Each wall contains a different texture and pattern so she is managing to find different versions of the same thing, this is something I've been trying to do especially this last week I have focused on mainly photographing different types of steps and staircases finding how a simple design can be interpreted and presented in different ways. 

The 4 photographs above show how the photograph work much better as a set that represent a narrative, individually the photographs don't really convey the message of the work. For the gallery showing I want to present around 6-8 photographs as that will express the narrative of my work far better than an individual photograph. 

I chose to show the photograph above (New York, 1970) as it contains interesting lines created by shadows, much of the wall is a consistent texture however the shadows dissect it like the lines of a Piet Mondrian painting. Yesterday I went out photographing walls trying to find interesting lines and contrasting textures however my subject matter is more modern architecture than brick structures. 

Schaewen's work has been influential as it has shown me that this type of work works better presented as a set as it successfully displays a narrative, it has also showed me that banal subject matter can become interesting when photographed and presented in narrative form.