visuallanguagelouisem

[visuallanguagelouisem]

In Memory of David Agnew 1941 - 2024

Project Statement / Evaluation 2/12/24

Project Statement

Evaluation

Tumblr Links:

[Process and Enquiry]

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/processandenquirylouisem

[Visual Language]

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/visuallanguagelouisem

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Final Submission Folio 2/12/24

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Emotional Abstract Expression Paintings 2/12/24

[Acrylic paint, house paint and quink ink]

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Emotional Abstract Expression Paintings 1/12/24

[Acrylic paint and quink ink A3 paper]

The first 5 paintings, show my inspiration and connection with the Abstract Expression Movement and the artworks that were produced at the time, most notably paintings.

I really wanted to delve into these experimental paintings during a moment of depression, where I was sitting with the heavy, overwhelming feeling of grief.

The paintings were done in the moment as I played my 'Grief Playlist.' I listened to the music, dipped my brush into my 'pain,' and placed marks and colours onto the paper dragging the brush, tapping, scoring, twisting, pulling and pushing it across the surface in a way that felt satisfactory emotionally.

These intuitive choices have guided my artworks immensely, I had no pre planning going into the painting process. This makes these paintings incredibly emotional and personal to me.

In this moment I was physically pouring myself into these paintings, trying to sort through the deep hurt that I was feeling.

These artworks heavily reflect that emotion, sadness and mourning.

Within them, I have purposefully covered the surfaces with bright, striking colour which breaks momentarily with a very pale pink. This is a representation of the gap within myself that my Granda left behind.

The paleness of the pink perfectly contrasts against the other vibrant colours. Allowing the composition to breathe and gives the viewer a moment, in amongst the madness, to ponder, collect themselves and reflect on what they are seeing and feeling.

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The last painting was purely inspired by the works and methods of Ben Wohlberg.

After watching a video about his life as an artist and how he creates his abstract paintings. I wanted to try some of his techniques for myself.

The most notable being: the initial drip 'underpainting.' (as Wohlberg called it - the bones of the painting.)

I am also fascinated by the layer of watered down paint that he places on top of the drips. Wohlberg would also go back in with a cloth of sorts and dab the wet paint that lay on top of the dried drip forms,. This allowed the white colour of the drips shine through and break up the composition.

Once I had started the painting, I realised that it was going to take too long to dry this close to the deadline.

I wanted to continue making more expressive, abstract paintings as well as pushing myself in terms of creativity and skill.

I had never cracked abstract work in the past and was really looking to delve more into this and continue experimenting.

I am incredibly happy with how my paintings have turned out, even if they have less layers and texture than I'd originally strived for.

I had to adapt to the best approach possible for the last few days before the assessment begins.

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Repurposed Slate with Oil Paint 17/11/24

After a long drying period, the slate was finally able to be moved and cracked into multiple smaller pieces.

The process of cracking the slate was very physically demanding. I attempted using a chisel and hammer but the chisel only chipped the surface of the thick slate.

I then decided to try the hammer on its own which allowed me to break up the surface in a spontaneous fashion.

The process in itself of bringing the hammer down on the slate with force and fast speed was very satisfying, especially as a loud sound echoed in the room (garage) when the slate was hit.

In this way I was also having to use my body in some way to manipulate the surface of the slate as I have done previously with my paintings.

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I chose most of the smaller pieces of slate after the breaking session and decided to arrange them on a teal table top as I felt the colour would make the fiery orange pop out.

In doing this, I realised that the slate began resembling mountains/cliffs and rocks sitting in place while being surrounded by a deep teal lagoon.

This became more prevalent as I began taking closeups of the slate pieces. There is a sense of space created here as I can picture myself standing atop one of the cliffs (slates) overlooking the calm water below.

This also reminded me of something I came across in a video during research of Anne Marchand where she spoke about her travels, specifically in New Mexico, where she stood on top of a mountain overlooking the expanse of the desert.

This gave her the realisation that she was such a small being in the vastness of the land she was surrounded by.

Therefore, I can imagine these photos being of a real location, evoking the feeling of loneliness and lostness.

There is not another soul in sight and no one would notice if I were to fall into the teal abyss below. Losing myself even further.

The tall 'cliffs' symbolise, for me, a sense of human insignificance. Within the large scale of our world and universe, we are so incredibly small that most people do not know we exist much less care what we go through.

We are, with the exception of our friends and loved ones, alone in this world. Left to grow, change, adapt and flourish on our own.

In this way, it's the same concept when you lose someone close to you. The rest of the world doesn't care that you are now fractured, lost and hurt.

To the world, the death of my loved one is like another star in the sky.

The significance of that life lost is placed on those of us who are left behind, because the world doesn't take notice.

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Abstract Expression Prints Part 1 29/11/24

During my placement, I was given the opportunity to explore with lino printing.

Instead of lino however I was using polystyrene tiles.

I had no imagery in mind so my thoughts went to abstract expressionism as I had previously researched.

I scribbled incomprehensibly shapes, lines and forms.

These were then taken to the print station where I experimented with the three colours that were available: blue, red and black.

A new technique which I had learned was to cut shapes out of the polystyrene tiles with a scalpel, print the background and the shapes individually before slotting them back into place and running the whole thing through the press.

This allowed me to create more intricate and expressive compositions while also playing with colour and how it fits into certain areas of a print, not just covering the whole area or even half of it.

I continued experimenting in many ways, making each print unique so that they all differed from one another. I continued this process of experimentation and expression until my time was up.

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Painting with Tears 28/11/24

I came across this concept when I was having a very painful moment where I felt nothing but pure grief and loss.

I felt my tears endlessly running down my face and neck. This is when I had a thought to preserve my tears, to wipe them onto paper and see what kind of shapes they made.

This not only continues my process of releasing emotions onto a surface but literally using my pain and emotion to make art.

After each paper was used to collect my tears, I let the salty stains form to which I drew a black outline over to preserve their form.

After I had collected numerous pieces of torn paper decorated with my tears, I sat on the floor, still completely overwhelmed with pain and mourning, I began filling the spaces within my outlines with watercolour.

In a way I was filling myself back up, building something inside of me as I filled the silhouettes.

This also helped me focus on something healthy to bring myself back out from the depths of grief.

There is no use wallowing in such pain, it must be released and then we move on.

Therefore, once these paintings were complete, I moved on. I did not go back and work on them, try to change or perfect them in anyway as they were made solely in the moment.

Capturing that pain like a photo, stuck in time.

Imperfect and confusing like they are meant to be, true and honest.

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Abstract Expression Experiments /

Colour / mark making experiments 27/11/24

Titles (from the top of post) :

Eternal Love

Miss You

I've constructed a playlist of music that evokes pure grief for me so that I have been able to sit with it and express it through my art as I attempt to navigate the pain and sadness of my loss.

[ Radiohead - Codex]

[Radiohead - Videotape]

[Radiohead - Reckoner]

[Thom Yorke - Suspirium]

[Sufjan Stevens - Visions of Gideon]

[Sufjan Stevens - Mystery of Love]

[Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July]

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For my most recent paintings I have really been leaning into embodying the grief within myself and pouring it out onto a surface to create marks, compositions and choosing colours intuitively.

This process is deeply painful as I am acknowledging my sadness and working with it.

I aim to project my inner hurt onto a surface in which I can release into the world and take off my own shoulders.

I moved briefly from painting on constructed cardboard canvases onto paper which I wet with a thick coating of house paint before taking each individual colour of paint that I had in a box next to me and arranged them on the paper according to the movement of my emotion at the time.

This almost leaves an imprint of how I am feeling in these moments.

Something I am now able to observe and reflect on as it has now become a physical entity.

These painting experiments almost act as a mirror into my heart and soul. I imagine if I could look within myself, this is what I'd see.

I'd see colours of every kind, movement, marks, scars almost, sounds and dancing. Each emotion known to man residing in each of us, creating waves and motions inside our bodies.

These paintings embody that notion.

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Title 'Your Remains' 31/09/24

Plaster Cast Tile

During the technical class of casting with plaster, I decided to create something that would represent my concept for Visual Language, that being grief.

I decided upon sculpting random imitations of human anatomy, specifically organs and bones.

This also represents the idea of separation, I have physically separated various aspects of the human body on the surface of this tile which in turn represents my emotional, physical and spiritual separation from my late Granda.

This could in one way represent him as he is now a separate being from his body, his vessel (if he even is a being at all), it could represent my own body and how I have to reassemble myself in a way that works without that person in which I've lost, picking up the pieces of my own soul or it could represent a burial ground, something that has come to be a socially acceptable way of disposing but also retaining the essence of the dead.

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Ben Wohlberg: Evolution of an Abstract Painter - Notes 30/11/24

(above) Apparition 2016

(above) Water Music 2021

(above) Interlude 2016

(above) Sakui 2014

(above) Incantation 2015

(above) Insurgence 2017

(above) Promiscuous 2020

(above) Saviour Faire 2016

(above) Hummm 2015

(above) Levity 2014

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Abstraction Artist: Anne Marchand Documentary - Notes 30/11/24

(above) Encode 2017

(above) Form and Formless 2021

(above) Messenger 2019

(above) Sphere 2007

(above) Deep Space 2023

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Abstract Expressionism and The New York School Lecture - Notes

28/11/24

(above) Jules Olitski - Tin Lizzie Green 1964

(above) Helen Frankenthaler - The Bay 1963

(above) Mark Rothko - No 6 (Violet, Green and Red) 1951

(above) Barnett Newman - First Station (of the cross) 1958

(above) Jackson Pollock - The Deep 1953

(above) Franz Kline - Blueberry Eyes 1959-60

(above) Robert Motherwell - Personage (Autoportrait) 1943

(above) Willem de Kooning - Asheville 1948

(above) Arshile Gorky - The Liver is the Cock's Comb 1944

(above) Max Ernst - Untitled 1909

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The Art of Grieving by Preston Zeller Documentary - Notes

27/11/24

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3xpaintings on cardboard + closeups 6/11/24

(Titles from top to bottom)

Distant Soul - 2024

Traveller - 2024

Your Garden - 2024

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After a long journey, my Granda passed away on the 2nd of November 2024. The paintings above were created after his passing.

Again, I am using painting and mark making as a way to release incredibly difficult emotions as I deal with this great loss.

Through this process my Granda declined more and more, he was bed bound for seven months where I helped take care of him, helping him feel and look his best to make him as comfortable as possible.

Now that he has passed away, he is more of a stranger now than ever as he is no longer here on this planet.

I am a spiritual person but I have no way of knowing if there is a stage after death, an afterlife even. Is he still around in a different form or is he completely gone? We will never know till we cross that bridge ourselves.

But in the sense of stranger, I am no longer sure of what he has become (if anything) if he becomes a spirit, soul, light, energy or nothing. He is no longer connected to his body which is who I was so familiar with. Now he is a wandering soul or an empty vessel depending on how you want to look at it.

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The process of creating these paintings have been emotionally relieving and a great outlet for my grief and any emotion in general.

The techniques are very Jackson Pollock, I am splatting paint here and there, having a slight direction in mind but ultimately letting go to spontaneity and chance. I've also taken to flicking paint onto surfaces, using thick blobs of paint, scribbling aggressively with oil pastels, soft pastels and charcoal. And an added edition to the process is stabbing the material with an etching needle. This is a great anger release which further adds to the expression of the pieces.

Something I was struggling with previously within my work was seeking control through the writing and the imagery but there has been an intense switch in direction where I've been able to let loose and ignore those compulsive feelings to control every move and mark I make.

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Cracked Tiles 29/10/24

At this stage in the creating process, I am currently dealing with anticipatory grief. Specifically watching the declining health of my Granda. I have helped care for him throughout this journey, he spent months in a hospital where he was neglected and malnourished. We then moved him to his home with my Granny, where he's stayed in a hospital for seven months now.

I find expressing my emotions through my current artworks are not only acting as a healthy outlet but also making for some really personal and interesting pieces.

My emotions explode onto the material I am working on, anger, sadness, grief, exhaustion, fear, love, care, worry, etc.

I want to look at how this can connect with the stranger brief and I have come to the conclusion that, through illness (Parkinson's Disease) my Granda is becoming a stranger. He is no longer the man he once was. He is slowly wasting away and drifting further into delusion and hallucinations.

I know that it's him but he's not the same anymore.

These tile artworks specifically reinforce the feeling of fragility and brokenness. There are many ways I can interprit this work.

The fragility of life itself

The fragility of a person suffering from illness

The fragility of an elder

The brokenness of ones heart

The brokenness of the family dynamic

The shattered emotions

The shattered mental state (instability)

3rd edition to cracked tiles 12/11/24

I am looking further into making abstract/expressive paintings with tiles as I have found the process of working with the material very cathartic and stimulating, not only to create but to break apart in the last stages of the process.

I openly change the colour variety and experiment with different types of movement with the brush, also balancing multiple opacities, a thin layer, a thicker layer then leading up to the final thickest layer that cannot be penetrated almost resembling the stages of pain and how it can lie both on the surface, deep within the soul and somewhere in between the two.

The pieces of broken tile are so incredibly personal, intimate and fragile in their own right, not only with the state in which they inevitably end up in (due to my process) but also the meaning that they hold. That meaning being of great grief, mourning, loss and separation.

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Expressive paintings on cardboard 28/10/24

(Titles from top to bottom)

The Distance Between Us - 2024

Vision - 2024

Deep Blue - 2024

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I knew I needed to drastically change my approach to creating art for this brief as I was greatly uninterested and unmotivated when it came to my previous experiments.

I realised when I was painting with my emotions in a very abstract and expressive manner, that I was actually enjoying the process and getting excited even.

Through this emotional release, I found a process that really worked for me and I found my creative spark again.

My evolution and process of finding myself artistically in itself relates to the stranger brief.

I was in a state of confusion and chaos, unsure of where I was going or even how to get there but I kept wondering into the unknown, however lost I felt.

I've began the stranger brief with the concept of language and the true nature which is meaningless especially when one hasn't assigned meaning to it. I found myself bored , stagnant and uninspired. I briefly moved onto imagery, holding the same theme of reversing the meaning or representing something in a way that portrays pure nonsensical composition.

This also left me bored and seeking passion in making art again. I've decided to follow a personal journey of self discovery through my work. I'm taking a look into my own mind, emotions and experiences in life. I've come to the realisation that I feel like a stranger in myself when it comes to making art.

I don't know who I am anymore, artistically. I don't have a style or a goal in mind when I pick up a paintbrush or pencil. For the stranger brief, I am currently focused on self discovery and expression. I want to find my lost passion and understand who I am now as an artist.

Over the years, I have evolved. Who I've evolved into, is the question.

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Folded Forms Workshop 23/10/24

The paper airplanes were a incredibly simple introduction into folding paper. This led onto creating our own forms which I leading with instinct. I took to folding the paper in various directions and at a variety of degrees and angles. The outcome was where I felt content with the end result and felt there was no more manipulation needed.

We had moved onto using envelopes to write poems onto and then fold to create further interesting forms.

I would like to take this further and create more folded paper forms later in my work and advance the technique, making the forms cleaner and more precise.

The main thing I would like to incorporate into this process is colour, colour would greatly enhance the forms and with that, the overall interest.

Projection workshop catchup 16/11/24

What I particularly enjoyed about the projection experiments were how textured the imagery appears when projected onto a white wooden door.

There is an old fashioned appeal as the sheets were printed in black and white. This almost resembles a very old newspaper included various titles, stories and puzzles, i.e. word search and sudoku.

This was achieved using my earlier imagery and concept of language and how without meaning or interpretation given to it, it's simply nonsense.

The concept is further e