Final Major Proposal

FINAL MAJOR - Draft 2

Ideas and Major Project - (364 words)

Upon giving myself the title of ‘Anathema’ for the final major, I decided to reflect on my own works and processes that I have used over the course in order to create my artwork. I have compared my own works to those of artists and masters of crafts in order to gain greater depth and understanding of the use of colour, markings, mediums and techniques. They have benefitted my studies greatly, and are to be the main foundation on which I build my final outcome for Foundation Art.

My initial ideas for the final major surrounded the ‘Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ and ‘Armageddon’ as I found those titles rather fitting for 2020 as a whole. The ‘Four Horsemen’ are figures or entities that represent death, war, famine and disease, and appear in the New Testament's final book of ‘Revelation’. The figures are prominent in both pop culture and Marcus Aurelius’ works that I have studied both at a- levels and in my spare time, I have found them quite insightful for my understanding as to how they are portrayed in different lights. I decided that the themes that the horsemen are related to, are quite fitting for how 2020 as it so stands at the time of writing this. With the continued spread of Covid-19 (disease and death), the threat of World War 3 in early January (war), and the overarching troubles with poverty as a whole in both first and third world countries (famine), I saw that the ‘Armageddon’ idea would be highly suited for what is happening in this climate, so have sought to create pieces that represent this.

The ‘Four Horsemen’ are often pictured riding horses of varying statures and colours that relate to each figures tragedy. I find this use of animals interesting, so wish to take into consideration the importance of such animals when planning for and creating my final works.

From the original influences, I have developed my title to be ‘Anathema’1 as it gives me more freedom to explore imagery people and animals. So that I can create a selection of works that are both literal and allegorical in the way that they are presented.

Influences, Research, Sources - (335 words)

The influences behind my work shall originate from a variety of artistic sources. I have found that throughout my studies, literature and research have been large elements for my understanding and expression of topics, and have often been the motifs that I use throughout my pieces.
With my initial ideas having large religious symbols behind them, the bible verses of ‘Ezekiel’, ‘Isaiah’ and also the New Testaments final book of ‘Revelation’, I have decided to look closer into artists that use religious connotations in their work. The French artist Alexandre Cabanel focused largely on Academicism2 and presented symbolic mythology in many of his paintings. I wish to use this influence alongside with his use of medium for many experiments to gain a greater understanding as to how oil paint is used for portraiture, and as to how I can use the medium myself.

Another artist that I wish to use is that of the surrealist and romantic painter Gutav Klimt. Like Cabanel, his work focusses largely on Romanticism3 and Neoclassicism4, and expresses emotions through his works through his use of portraiture and surrounding imagery. I wish to use a variety of mediums, similar to the way that Klimt used appliqué5 in his pieces to apply depth and dynamics to my works, as in my previous projects, I have used layers to create a sense of foregrounding and exaggeration in my artwork.

I also wish to take into account the works of Shakespeare, particularly ‘The Tempest’, as a key reference point. It is the last known play that was produced by Shakespeare, which debates society and isolation; which I find to be rather fitting for my current period in quarantine due to the outbreak of Covid-19. Likewise, I wish to take into consideration William Gouldings ‘Lord of The Flies’ to enhance this theme and also induce a sense of union in my works as ‘Lord of The Flies’ is seen as a microcosm for society, which my own household has became over the isolation period.

Techniques, Processes and Time Scale & Review of previous works - (375 words)

In order to develop my artwork and ideas, I intend to use the influences of my artists and my own knowledge on mediums and processes to create a final major that I am proud of. I shall be experimenting with combining mediums that I am confident with; such as spray paint and watercolour, alongside with those that I am not as familiar with; such as oils and acrylics, to heighten my understanding on how they behave with one another and how they can be used to portray different messages and imagery through texture, opacity and rigidity.

Another way that I have been researching techniques is through watching classical art restoration videos6 as it has allowed me to understand how pigments and uses of paint has changed over time.
My main strengths include my use of spray paint and my use of watercolour, so whilst it may be a safer option to rely on my use of these for my final piece, it seems naive to not experiment with mediums that I am not so confident with. This shall allow me to gain a greater depth of knowledge on how suitable the said mediums are for the work that I wish to produce in the final major. My other strengths are in portraiture as it allows me to explore proportion in my works. Illustrative styles and working on small intricate scales to capture essences of figures and environments well. Also, the recording your process as it evolves which has allowed me to keep a track on my progress and refinement as time passes.

To be brutally honest, my way to remain motivated has been through the use of music7, satire and also through timetabling my weeks to remain sane. I have also found that using my blog as both a platform to add work to and to keep a track of the days that we’ve been stuck indoors, has been a great way to reflect on how far my work has come and keep track of hinderances and mild dilemmas that have occurred.

I have found that throughout my previous projects, my strengths often lay in the initial stages of my work as opposed to the final outcomes. Because of this, I wish to be able to allow myself more time to be able to produce my final major and give myself breathing space for creating a piece that I am truly proud of and can call complete.

Evaluation - (62 words)


To be accounted for weekly and notes to be taken daily on a blog, or recorded in a diary so that I am able to use it at different points in time. This will allow me to evaluate my work as I go along, thus making the overall process easier and more contained.
This can be found at : https://emsfinalmajorart.blogspot.com

----

1 Anathema : noun // a strong curse.
2 Academicism : noun // adherence to formal or conventional rules and traditions in art or literature.
3 Romanticism : noun // a movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century, emphasising inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual. 4 Neoclassicism : noun // the revival of a classical style or treatment in art, literature, architecture, or music.
5 Appliqué : noun // decorate (a garment or larger piece of fabric) with pieces of fabric to form pictures or patterns
6 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvZe6ZCbF9xgbbbdkiodPKQ
7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8&list=RD5IsSpAOD6K8&index=1

----

Appendix

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation 
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zechariah%201:8-17&version=NIV 
https://www.christianity.com/bible/bible.php?ver=niv&q=ezekiel+28
https://www.christianity.com/bible/bible.php?ver=niv&q=isaiah+14 https://www.wikiart.org/en/paintings-by-style/academicism#!#filterName:all-works,viewType:masonry 
https://www.wikiart.org/en/artists-by-art-movement/neoclassicism#!#resultType:masonry 
https://www.wikiart.org/en/artists-by-art-movement/romanticism#!#resultType:masonry 
https://www.wikiart.org/en/alexandre-cabanel/birth-of-venus-1863 https://www.wikiart.org/en/alexandre-cabanel/fallen-angel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Cabanel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt 
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius

William Gouldings - Lord of the Flies
Shakespeare - The Tempest

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oil Pastel

Image
Oil Pastel Experiment - Tyler Joseph After deciding that I was quite enjoying using oil paints, I decided to have a go with Oil Pastels.  Previously, I grew impatient with the medium so sought to avoid it at all costs. But decided that it would benefit this experiment with tone and detail better than using charcoal or pencil. The pastels are also good for making an 'airbrushes' appearance from blending them, so this settled my medium choice for the portrait. I already knew that I was going to create a portrait as I had the line-work for it already. So far I have found the medium quite refreshing, as I have not used it in so long. Unfortunately I do have problems blending out the medium as my hands are always cold, so I cannot melt the medium in my fingers. To overcome this, I have been periodically heating my hands when I need to blend out colours.  Materials used : - white oil pastel - black oil pastel - paper blending stump (large) - c...
Read more

Literary Influences

Image
King Lear Themes in King Lear There were various themes and motifs in King Lear which can be explored in essays. I have put some small examples by each of the smaller titles. Blindness  - Relation to King Lear and Gloucester with both their physical and metaphorical blindness. Nothingness  - Relation greatly to the characters with the referral to "nothing". Cordelia, Lear and The Fool. The Fool uses the word "nothing" often in forms of humor to ridicule the king, but he is also trying to give serious advice to Lear who has reduced his possessions to "nothing" by giving away his land, and thus his title. Nature  - the influences of the storm over Lear, and his relations with the 'gods' Madness  - King Lear's suffering "let me not be mad" Suffering  - a key element of Tragedy as discussed by Kastan, " Tragedy, for Shakespeare, is the genre of uncompensated suffering " and its presence is brought upon many charact...
Read more

Oil Paint

Image
Oil Paint Experiment  My first oil painting and first time using the medium 1 layer before completion I have never used oil paint before for anything. The most experience I have had with it was putting swatches onto pages in my first year of A-levels.  Previously, I did not like the smell nor the longevity of the medium, so avoided it for a long period of time. After watching a lot of art restoration videos on YouTube (particularly  Baumgartner Restoration ) I have grown fond of the way that it has been used over time, and as to how well the paint retains its colour over centuries. The permanence of paint is now quite flattering to me, so thats why I chose to use it for this portrait.  I have had quite a few troubles, which mainly consists of creating and mixing the colours that I need. I found that I lacked the pink hue of the original photo, so took the executive decision to wash out the skin tone, and to possibly put a red hued varnish over the fi...
Read more