Process Research : Artist - Agnes Martin

I remembered Agnes Martin from an art lesson a few years ago and thought I would research her again for her process art.

• In the video above by Tate Shots, Martin is described as "sitting in her rocking chair until the idea appeared in her head and she called this inspiration. The sort of presentation seemingly automatically of the image fully formed in her head. It appeared in her head at a very small scale like a little postage stamp, and then when you look at her notebooks you see how she draws the postage stamp sized picture and then does complicated maths to scale it up to meet the self-defined limitations of her canvas".

• The process behind Martins work here is phenomenal. The sitting and waiting for inspiration aspect isn't something we usually think about as artists, but sometimes this is true and we do just find inspiration, almost out of no where it would seem. Martin makes this part of her process and really focuses on the waiting process of the inspiration, and then uses everything to create imagery from the 'inspiration' that comes to her inside her head. 

• When people asked Martin 'what are these paintings? Martin replied" "From music people accept pure emotion, but from art they demand an explanation." And Martins paintings are pure emotion. 

Studio Development: Silver Leaf on Canvas

After the group critique I was very inspired to 'complete' this painting, and make it link in even more with the other works. Thinking about ways to do this even more, I have thought about adding some mild steel sheet metal and creating a thin frame all the way around the edge of the canvas, cutting it to the depth of the canvas and then welding it together. This would be a subtle way to link the pieces together, as well as look aesthetically pleasing.

Adding a mild steel sheet frame:

• Thinking about keeping this frame as the rough exterior that it is so far, so with the raw welded edges, or grinding it back all the way around the frame to be smooth. 
• If I keep it rough, it would match the back section of my other welded mild steel piece, but, if I was to grind the frame smooth and make it shinier, it would also match the frame of the welded mild steel piece:

• Photo (left) of the mild steel frame which has been angle grinded all the way around to make it look like a lighter shinier metal. This clean crisp frame works well to contrast with the welded image, and I think I should keep the work consistent, so I will also angle grind the steel sheet frame for the canvas piece. 

Grinding Back the Steel Frame + Attaching it to Canvas:

Reflections:

• This worked so well to complete the painting. The frame is really in keeping with the mild steel welding piece after I angle grinded it back. 
• To overcome the issue of the frame not being completely flush, I glued, clamped, and added screws to the back of the canvas to try to make the frame as flush as I could get it.
• The frame is not 100% flush or perfect, probably because the canvas wasn't completely rectangle, and the sheet metal was too thin so it bent too easily around the bumps in the canvas. 
• Overall, I am really happy with this piece now. 

Re-reflection of Work & Development, and Materiality Research

• Reflecting on work now compared to the beginning of the term, in this previous blog post from May, which was my feedback from the previous term. At the time I was intrigued about the reflections within the stainless steel and wondered, whether to create a manipulation of the reflective aspect of the steel.

• However, it was in this blog post, after seeing the show at Chelsea College of arts, and when I first experimented with plasma cutting out of the stainless steel, that my work became more process led, and more about what the material can do, rather than the square box form I was working with before and the obsession with the reflective surface. The imperfect details within the steel and the discolouration left over from the heat of the plasma cutter really inspired my practice to expand into what it is today. 

• What also changed my perspective on things was really thinking back to what Andrew said last term in a tutorial, about how if I was to choose one side of my practice to focus on and develop, which would it be. I have taken a step back from the critique of the commercial gallery and artworks. Perhaps, it was the anxiety created through this critique last term, about making an actual object to sell and put into the art world, that forced me to want to make objects rather than just concepts. A kind of reaction to the art markets and the art-world, about being wanted to feel like I belong in it rather than just critique it. 

Further research: More Materiality 

Materiality definitions:

• In the business dictionary online, Materiality is: "Measure of the estimated effect that the presence or absence of an item of information may have on the accuracy or validity of a statement. Materiality is judged in terms of its inherent nature, impact (influence) value, use value, and the circumstances (context) in which it occurs. Opposite of triviality. See also material fact. (Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/materiality.html)
• This could be extended to art in the way that materiality has an impact/ influence, value and use value.

On the University of Chicago website, they go into detail about the definition of Materiality, in an essay by JeeHee Hong , Department of Art History , Winter 2003:

• "1) something material is that which "pertains to a matter as opposed to form"; 2) that which "pertains to matter or body; formed or consisting of matter; corporeal." [1] Thus, although material designates physical matter, it also assumes potential from its association with non-physical matter." Source: http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/material.htm 
• This is a much more thorough understanding of materiality, and expresses that materiality is physical matter over form, much like how my own art practice has progressed. 
• The website goes on to explain: "material carries its most comprehensive meaning yet as the most fundamental structure of the phenomenal world versus the superstructure to which art belongs. Marx's further revelation concerning the relationship between art as a form of production and commodity production in general opens the sequential questions of the value of art as commodities and the fetishism of commodities. [7] "
• Connection with Marx and Walter Benjamin:"Marx's questions regarding the value of art were succeeded by twentieth-century scholars who were engaged in the anxiety of the work of art as a thing whose value can be judged by its material quality as an object. Walter Benjamin questions the lack of "aura" in the work of art in the modern technical reproduction that is indefinitely reproducible through printing and photography. [8]"
• Further connections with Marx,"strictest definition of material in Marx's vocabulary, the second half of the twentieth century saw an interesting amalgamation of the very Marxist notion of material and the Heideggerian reception of the material and things: material that is immaterial. This double-edged meaning can be best articulated by the word "materiality." Materiality is defined currently as "that which constitutes the 'matter' of something: opposed to formality; the quality of being material; material aspect or character; mere outwardness or externality."

Reflection:

• From these definitions of materiality, I get the vibe that it is very expansive, and it doesn't have to be a physical thing, rather it could extend to a concept or an idea, or the code that makes up a computer programme. In my practice however, materiality is how I choose to use the material to create art objects from, how I choose to manipulate and distort it for aesthetic effect. 
• Although my own practice has moved away from art being a commodity and references to Marx, he appears to still be of relevance within the field of materiality, by juding an artwork for its material quality and I think this is still a critique within my own work, particulalry by the use of silver leaf in my canvas painting. 

Reflective Log: Reading - Lynda Benglis by Franck Gautherot, Caroline Hancock and Seungduk Kim

Key Points & Reflections

• Taking the body and landscape as prime references p.5
• Her poured latex floor pieces and wax reliefs are best known as 'Fallen paintings' p.5 This reminds me of my own 'fallen painting' which will be displayed on the floor. 
• Wax landscapes made by "applying one layer of wax over another, changing colours. Each layer of wax exacerbated the irregularities in the previous layer and the accrued levels gradually rose into a geological landscape."p. 11. 
• The above quote seems very relevant to my own practice, particularly my plinth painting that I started, where I applied layers of acrylic paint over and and over each other. This technique is also notable in my first paintings I did this term, and even my floor painting where I used stainless steel as well as paint to create a varying texture-scape. 
• What really inspires me about Benglis' work is her floor paintings. They are diverse in pigment, and they merge together in such strikingly abstract ways that are intriguing for the viewer, it causes them to stare. "the floor is the new wall"p.14. 

• "a power issue arises when considering sculpture over a certain size. It takes a certain amount of physical audacity to manipulate large amounts of matter, whether carving or casting, melting, spreading, or piling things one on top of the other, not to mention the mental ambition of deploying small legions of workers to fabricate and install." p.225.
• This quote reminds me of the power over the viewer concept that I am working with in my work - particularly the mild steel piece, which is the largest piece of work that I have made to date. 

• Overall, I think that Lynda Benglis Beyond Process book is a better book for  relating to my own practice, and I will create an annotated text for this. 

Studio Development: Palette Painting

Before my crit on Tuesday, I was already thinking about ways I could improve the floor palette painting as I felt it needed something, and already inquired about welding the stainless steel into the wood! But after Tuesday's session, which brought new ideas about creating a depression for the steel to sit in.

Rob suggested I talk to Jeff Pashley, but is not sure how feasible it is, you would need to program in each individual shape and it's location, and make sure there are no nails or screws in the way. It Might be easier to draw around them and cut, chisel or hand router out a depression.

Out of all the options, I think hand routering could work best but Jeff is too busy until next week, and then the work shop is closed from the 5th September which is cutting it too close to the deadline. I will try cutting and chiseling a sample piece though just to see how the end result would look.

Testing: Chiseling and Cutting out sections of Plywood

Reflections:

• I created a test piece similar to my palette using plywood, and first drew round a section of stainless steel, before cutting and chiselling it out. 
• This worked so that the stainless steel could slot in, however, it took a very long time, and it wasn't very neat and left this brown wood exposed around the edge of the metal. 
• After a big discussion with the technicians, we decided it would take too much time and effort to router out each individual shape in the board as it could destroy the painting underneath, and it would only create the smallest amount of detail to the image. Also, the process of placing the stainless steel in the first place was quite difficult and I'm not sure if they could go back in each area that they are in currently. I would have considered this if I had the idea a few months ago, but it's too big of a task to undergo at this point in the course.

However, thinking about alternatives to try and close the gap between the stainless steel and the board, we thought of the following:

• Epoxy resin: this would create a smooth shiny layer that would cover the entire surface of the board, and leave the stainless steel exposed but connected more to the surface. The downside to using this is the cost - it would cost £150 for the amount I need. 
• Clear resin: This is much cheaper, but it would take months to completely harden and therefore, its prone to fingerprints and dust, and it would smell very bad which could be off-putting in the exhibition. 
• Standard Resin: Again this would be even cheaper, and set quicker that the clear resin, but, it is opaque meaning the image on the board would disappear. Possibilities would be to paint over the top of the resin (meaning I lose the image that I have at the moment, and have to re-paint a new one entirely). I will have to test this out to see how much I could work with it. 
• A layer of clear perspex over the top: This would just encase the steel and the board together, but after talking to Jeff he said that it would cost about £200 for the size and thickness that I needed. 
• A layer of glass over the top: Again, heading in to vitrine territory here, it could add a whole new meaning to the artwork if perceived this way. Although, it would work well, be cheaper, and simpler. 

Further Tests:

Testing Standard Resin (black):

• This did work quite well to close this gap, and it would be cheaper, but it defeats the objective of this painting, which was to show the painting underneath. 

Testing Clear Resin: 

• This worked way better than I ever expected. 
• The fingerprints are noticeable but nowhere near as noticeable as I thought they would be, and if I am careful I can avoid fingerprints on the resin. 
• I will try to limit resin use by not covering the steel as I want the stainless steel to be as shiny as it can be, and the resin slightly dulls the shine. 

Testing Glass over the top of board:

• The layer of glass would cover the entire surface, encapsulating the image and making the board and the steel more connected, yet the gaps are still there, and I'm worried about the different look that it gives - connecting to museum vitrines.  
• Although on a positive note, it does work well to give the whole image a high shine effect. 
• I would also place a sheet metal frame consisting of mild steel around the entire edge of the piece so that it holds in the glass or resins, and links back with my mild steel piece, and canvas piece using a mild steel frame. 

Sanding Down Pallete

Before Sanding: 

After:

Testing placing stainless on the bottom of pallet:

• I don't feel like this makes sense or goes with the process of the image on the top of the board.
• The steel also looks quite dark with the lack of light. 
• I feel like this is just 'decorating' the palette, and it doesn't need it. 
• Adding the stainless steel underneath the palette felt like adding decoration and didn't fit with the piece. 

Further sanding, down all the bottom sections of palette:

Reflections:

• The sanded palette looks much better and create a cleaner look. The process of sanding the palette reminded me of adding 'value' to the piece. It went from a worn out palette, to a perfect palette almost. It reminded me of the Japanese art of fixing broken things with gold leaf, and some of Susan Collis' work. 
• Thinking about it, I have noticed that the edges have paint on (just like how the sides of the canvas were ruined with extra paint) and wondered whether to also put mild steel frame along the edges of this board too. I have tried to sand the paint off, but it still leaves marks. 
• If I was to place a mild steel frame here, it would tie in with my other two pieces perfectly, but it could also transform the look - going from looking like a palette, to something more like a stage, or even more like a canvas.

Image of paint on sides of board.

 I am thinking about placing a thin mild steel trim around the edge to cover this. 

Studio Development: Development of Mild Steel Piece

The finish:

• The welds on each of the four corners have been grinded back now to give the frame a smooth, shiny and consistent look. This works really well. 
• This frame aspect is becoming quite a consistent theme with my work, and I think perhaps it is important to consider mild steel frames on all pieces of work. 
• Another aspect of this piece was whether I was going to varnish it. I have bought some spray varnish, and oils for it, but I really don't want to use anything on it. The piece looks really good as it is, and I would have only varnished it to protect it from rust. I think I will leave the varnish. 

Studio: Placement within Exhibition Designs

Going into the gallery to see how we would suspend the mild steel piece:

• I will hang it from this metal tubing directly above where I designed my metal mild steel piece to hang from! It fits perfectly in with my designs!

• Above is a view of my space (back wall is where the silver leaf painting would go, then the palette painting on the floor, and then just before the light at the top is where I hang my mild steel piece from. 

Google Sketch-up Designs

Working on the Google sketch design: 

Final Designs:

Reflections & Why I have chosen this placement:

• Hanging the mild steel piece in the middle of the gallery like this really works to force the viewer to walk around it, so that they have to view the other side of the welding. When they walk into the gallery space they will see the raw welded side of the back of the 'canvas', and then they will walk around it see the process of  heat distortion and what welding can do to the metal. 
• This way, having the three 'paintings' working together like this, forcing the viewer to walk around them to have a closer look, and see the connection between all three images. 
• It's important for me to display my three paintings together, as they work together to display paintings as sculpture. 
• The paintings work in this room-style approach, as well, as this format of three creates a room/ gallery-style viewing approach, and reinforces this commercial gallery style setting. 

Who's work is nearby?

• Kenness is to the left of my work, her work at the moment she is not sure whether to build a brick wall or print out an image of a Chinese house. I think the brick wall effect would work really well with the raw materials of my own work, however, if she chooses to print out an image of a building then this wouldn't disrupt my work anyway. She will also be having a film playing which will not disrupt my work as the spacing is far enough that the viewer will experience mine and her work separately. 
• If Orinta has her red lights and performance in Project Space + then these will work really nicely with my stainless steel on the floor, which will reflect red in the shiny metal, and against the monochrome canvas, and mild steel piece. 

Curation Update: Today's Discussion

• Having a line around the studio in grey paint at 155cm or 160cm so that we can centre everyones work easily.
• Cutting out vinyl in gold and placing on this grey line. 
• Creating a showreel of images
• I will be creating a film for the exhibition as a form of documentation for everyone, and to add to my film portfolio. Like the one I made for the university last year on their website here: http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/course/artartub/ 
• I am co-managing the Instagram for the MA show:
• We figured out that 1 post a day should be good promotion on the lead up to the show:

Group Crit with Gerard & Andrew + Further Research

Key Points, Reflections and Development

• The three paintings work really well together and they mirror each other. They are all different yet share the same contexts of what I'm working with. 

Mild Steel Welding Piece:

• Hanging the piece: The metal cable wire approach that I was going to hang it with, looks too 'expected'. 
• When hanging: 155cm centre for paintings, make this a universal standard for the whole exhibition. 
• Experiment with using metal/ mild steel 'rods' and hooking the over the metal bar in the gallery. The mild steel rods would make the painting become part of the gallery this way and I think this would elevate this piece further. 
• Andrew & Gerard both suggested to grind the 4 welded lines on each of the 4 corners of the frame back so that the back frame is nice a shiny and smooth all the way round. This would draw attention to the detail of the welding even more. 
• Overall, I own this work and it needs to be the best it can be, including the owning of the hanging and the curation process.

Palette Painting

• It's a palette but it's not. Playing with language of painting here and elevating the palette through medium. 
• Play with adding stainless steel sections underneath the palette on bottom supports.
• Sand down the bottom parts/ sides of the palette, perhaps play with turning it into a more dressed up palette.. making it more perfect.
• Gerard suggested that I cut about 2-3mm out of the wood under each of the stainless steel shapes, and sink them into the wood so they are more level with the surface of the wood. He said the workshop has something called a CNC router that could do this. 

Silver Leaf Canvas:

• The silver leaf piece needs finishing off around the edges. 
• Andrew noticed the edges of the canvas were left bare and advised to cover these up with something, suggesting silver leaf and continuing the work that I had completed on the canvas.
• Gerard recommended using steel tubing as I had used in the mild steel piece as this would tie it in nicely. 
• I am thinking creating a mild steel sheet frame around it to stick to it, to cover these edges up.  I am thinking cutting 4 strips of mild steel sheet metal that are the width of the canvas' depth, and welding them together & glueing to the canvas. 

Designs for Development:

Further Research

• Gold leaf Japanese art style.. puts gold leaf into cracks..
• Susan Collis
• Wade Guyton photographs 
• Asking rob about technical details/ whether it's possible/ doable. 

Kintsugi

Kintsugi or kintsukuroi is the Japanese art of repairing broken objects with gold. Source: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/broken-is-beautiful-kintsugi-makes-broken-things-even-better-231069 

• This image is from a restaurant, "Carmina and Pilar’s restaurant remains almost the same as in the old days – even the cracked tiles haven’t changed. However, Bury has used copper leaf, which in time will oxidise to give a more subdued effect, grout to fill the cracks," Source https://www.yatzer.com/anahi-paris 

Seam (gold leaf in concrete, 2007), Catherine Bertola; image courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery.

• "Catherine Bertola creates installations, objects and drawings that respond to particular sites, collections and historic contexts. Underpinning the work is a desire to look beyond the surface of objects and buildings, to uncover forgotten and invisible histories of places and people, as a way of reframing and reconsidering the past."

Rachel Sussman

Rachel Sussman

• "brooklyn-based artist rachel sussman has re-imagined this traditional art through a contemporary lens for her ‘sidewalk kintsukuroi’ series. expanding on the belief that something beautiful can be made from something broken, sussman has taken to the streets to ‘repair’ cracked pavement by infilling its fractured lines with gold pigment." Source: https://www.designboom.com/art/rachel-sussman-sidewalk-kintsukuroi-gold-cracks-03-01-2017/

•  This art form is very appealing to me, and is essentially what I have done within my silver leaf painting, where I intentionally filled the 'voids' or gaps in the painting that the paint didn't cover. 
• Although the Japanese art form traditionally doesn't do this for decoration or aesthetics, I do believe it has a very aesthetic side. The gold leaf enhances the area that is not there in the case of the cracks, it draws attention to the void, or the broken, or the imperfect. 
• I would be very interested in working with this style of art again in the future. 

Susan Collis

• "Susan Collis uses a variety of techniques and strategies to investigate issues concerning interpretation, craft, value and labour... Everyday objects are presented etched, splattered and stained with marks of work, wear and tear. At first glance, the marks seem to be the accidental results of normal use, and as such seem meaningless and not worthy of examination. Collis is interested in the shift of perception that takes place upon discovery that they are, in fact, careful, intentional acts, and that the materials used are traditionally valued for their financial or decorative properties. "
• Source; http://www.seventeengallery.com/artists/susan-collis/

Susan Collis, Love Supreme (Black Square after Malevich), 2012, Graphite on paper

Susan Collis, Jimmy, 2010

Coloured biro inks and graphite on paper construction

50 x 32.5 x 28cm

Susan Collis, The oyster’s our world, 2004

Wooden stepladder, mother of pearl, shell, coral, fresh water pearl, cultured pearls, white opal, diamond.

Susan Collis, 100% Cotton, 2004

Overalls, embroidery threads

155 x 25 x 17 cm

Maybe this time - 2013, Platinum leaf on A4 Paper (Acid Free)

Detail of Susan Collis, As good as it gets, 2008

18 carat white gold (hallmarked), white sapphire, turquoise, onyx

Edition of 10

• From reading her bio alone, it's clear Collis shares some interests with me. The aspect of craft and labour has always been a theme within my work, and the intentional material choices to manipulate perception, with association with financial and decorative properties.

• Looking at her material choices, for example using biro pens to colour in the textile design of 'Jimmy' really distorts the viewers perception. 

• Also, 100% Cotton, 2004, is a strikingly good representation of an artists overalls with paint splatters over them, yet the paint splatters have been embroidered, and this connection with the imperfection, and the manipulation of this imperfection through this skilled process, eliminates the 'imperfect' aspect. 

• Maybe this time turns everyday paper into paper with value. 

• Her piece, As good as it gets, 2008, stands out to me due to its material composition which contrasts dramatically with its form. It is white gold with various other precious stones, which of course brings a financial value to the material, yet it's contradicting form of an everyday screw, makes the viewer think twice about it. Perhaps due to its material value, and critique of juxtaposing the mundaneness of its form, this piece is seen as a greater piece of art than if it had been a screw cast from a lower quality metal. 

• How much can material value of an object change the way we perceive it? How can our perception of something become greater when we realise it may satisfy us economically.

• Further research on Susan Collis would be good, and she could be a good person to write an annotated text about.