Reflective Summary for Term 2, - Self Directed Project

Reflective Summary for Formative Assessment.

Adaptation, Interpretation, Appropriation - Strand 1

By Graham Hadfield, U1374687

(blog page; http://grahamhadfield-contemporaryfineart.blogspot.co.uk/)

and web-site at; http://www.graham-hadfield.com

Positioning Statement;

Being at a point midway through the second year of my (Hons) Degree study in Contemporary Fine Art & Illustration, I am continuing to focus on the recursive cycle of improvement in my draughtsmanship.

Whilst ultimately looking to the longer term to put my artistic energies specifically into the visual arts (Including Illustration), and by that I mean, that I have a particular interest in painting, (in any traditional medium), I am also cognisant that this skill relies heavily on one’s fundamental technical ability to draw.  Therefore, for the majority of this term, I have been experimenting with the notions of “drawing” in different forms.

My decision at the beginning of this academic year, which was to gain as much “studio - practical” skills as I could, - through the adoption of learning methods used by the Great Masters, (for example through the Atelier / studio practices of copying great historical works).  This approach (inspired by Aristides, J. (2011)), has proved to be a good and solid, tried and trusted means to develop my skills, and also, to actively apply them in a contemporary environment.   The difficulties however have been, in being able to devote the intensely focussed labour required to study within an Atelier (there isn’t one); and with access to an actual, successful, “living” master artist… - Therefore some compromise has been required. (Source of Inspiration;

The atelier approach has only really been possible during short one hour bursts of Life Drawing, which have been facilitated by Professor Swindell, once per week, on Wednesday afternoons, together with a more flexible guided 1:1 tuition for 3hrs each Friday morning.  Combining this with ongoing personal responsibilities; the theoretical study of Contemporary Art; contextual lecture attendances and other briefings (plus of course, the time taken with my remote daily travelling to and from the University), these have precluded me from the “total immersion” (which traditionally was up to 10 hrs per day of focussed drawing), which I may have been initially seeking in an idealized sense.  - Nevertheless, despite these difficulties, I can see my own steady improvement in my draughtsmanship over the last 18 months, which was a major motivation for me to attend University in the first instance.  

My current areas of Interest;

The Studio Practice environment at this University affords me the opportunity to explore my drawing skills on a much grander (and literally), larger level, than what I could possibly accomplish in my home studio.  (Inspired by Sheringham, M. 2006, p193). My drawings have therefore been centred, as discussed above, on copying a small selection of Great Master’s sketches and works (Appropriation), but then representing them in a completely contemporary sense (Adaptation), magnifying them to ‘paint’-drawings, at sizes on an order of magnitude far greater than usual A4 sketchbook sizes.  I have particularly been interested in the material composition of the medium too (Interpretation), having chosen to mix my own blacks through the use of Acrylic paints Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue.  I have purposefully left some of the blending of these two foundation colours “un-mixed” in parts, in order to capture a sense of “speed of deployment” (Interpretation) with the colours, so that the ranges of tones and tonality are represented not only in the traditional greys (as a pencil drawing would be (adaptation)), but also the underlying Blues or Browns that make up the Black pigmentation.   I am pleased with the results of this. (See example of portrait - copy (after Harold Speed, (1905) Plate XVII, Demonstration Drawing made before the students of Goldsmiths School of Art)), then recreated very quickly (Approx 1.5. hours) on a scale of 6’ by 4’ with acrylic “paint-drawing” (Appropriation, Adaptation, Interpretation);

I have also explored the use of alternative mediums to create variance of the ‘affect’ of my Great Masters copy sketches (Appropriation).  This has lead me to reposition some of my focus on the primary object materiality of the chosen images (adaptation) and hence has allowed me to translate sketched forms back some way into new material representations (Interpretation) of the Great Master’s works.

Another example I cite here is the drawing made after the original, by Charles Bargue’s “Etude Pour L’Avis Du Modele” (Circa 1860) which forms part of the “Charles Bargue Drawing Course” published in 1868.  The original is a drawing of a woman, lifting her dress that she has been modelling for the Artist, in order to examine the easel of a drawing of herself...   At the time I re-sketched this (Appropriation), I was also researching some of the work of the contemporary artist John Currin, of whom’s works have equally been influenced by many of the Great Masters, but are also somewhat extreme, in their sexual references.  Therefore as a little ‘nod’ of respect to him, my sketch of Brague’s “Etude Pour L’Avis du Modele”,  places the same model and her exact pose (adaptation), in front of an unmade bed (as an equal nod to Tracey Emin’s work of the same title).   The result is a juxtaposition of model and bed stead that looks completely (in my humble opinion), authentic (Interpretation).

(Sketchbook copy - 11” * 6” approx)

      (Paint-sketch in Acrylic, 60” * 30” approx).

A further exploration of the size of this work was made by creating a series of prints based on Silverpoint engraving, which yielded these pleasing results;

In the exploration of the model, my interest started to be influenced by the dress she was wearing at the time of the original drawing, composed sometime around 1860.

Therefore, this dress and it’s folds, pleats and the whole materiality of the textile became an object of interest in itself.

From here, I could only creatively imagine the kind of textiles used at that time would have likely have been fine silks or similar, so based on my contemporary use of Acrylic Burnt Umber and Ultreamarine Blue, for the paint-sketching, I found an acrylic man-made material with a similar visual properties to silk, to create the following object of interest:

 

Current conclusions;

Progress from the copying of Great Master’s works into a contemporary landscape of Research through Practice, has spawned new works, for example, the Bargues drawing “Etude Pour L’Avis Du Modele” (Circa 1860), above, - re-interpreted as roses, then re-created as lithographic prints and then plaster of paris cast.  This onward re-exploration (appropriation, adaptation and interpretation) through, not only the materiality of the representations, but also the actual materiality of the primary sources has continually fueled mine, and the contemporary “practice as research” methodology to create new works (Sullivan,G. 2010).  I am continuing and will continue to explore and create new work through the use of different mediums, materiality and physical phenomenology.

(Word Count 1071)

(Target, 1000 words, +/- 10%)

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References;

Aristides, J., (2011), Lessons in Classical Drawing, New York, Watson Guptill Publications.

Bargue, C & Gerome, J-L, ‘The Drawing Course” (1869 / Reproduced 1926), Paris, Guptill Publishing.

Petherbridge, D, (2011), The Primacy of Drawing, New York, Yale University Press.

Sherringham, M, (2006), Everyday Life, Theories and Practices from Surrealism to the Present. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Speed, H. ‘The Science of Drawing’ (1913), London, Seeley, Service & Co. (Available via the Project-Gutenburg website), http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14264/14264-h/14264-h.htm - Retrieved 26/01/2015.

Sullivan, G. (2010), Art Practice As Research (Inquiry in Visual Arts). London, Sage Publications Ltd.