Project 2: Just Ripe

Kaelyn Okuhata
Advanced Painting
March 18, 2015

Project 2: (Image Interface) Just Ripe

This painting project started with a collage homework assignment that was intended to get me to think of ways that I can incorporate images into my work as a second medium to paint. At first I was going to use the actual photos from my collage in my project, and paint right on top of them, but decided to purely paint my collaged image from scratch. The idea for my collage came up after searching through old images that were stored on my computer. It is always surreal to me when I look back at these memories with my friends when we were transitioning from middle to high school, as I can only slightly imagine what it was like to be in that moment. I decided I wanted to capture this moment of fleeting youth and discovery of oneself in a coming-of-age collage. 

From the album I was browsing through, I found three photos that I thought embodied the theme of growing into oneself and transitioning in one's life. The first photo I selected was of my friend posing for the camera. It was completely dark and I couldn't see what she was doing when I was taking the photo, but once the flash went off, her expression seemed so natural as if she had been ready and knew I was about to take the picture. Her eyes are closed from the flash, but not in the sense that they look forced shut because of the brightness, and instead are completely content and accepting of the circumstance. The rest of her facial expression and body language also suggest that she is fully in sync with her current state and surroundings. Behind my friend, is another one of my friends that happened to be looking over her shoulder at the time that I took the photo. This friend's gaze is fixed directly at the camera, and her overall appearance is a lot darker with an almost cynical expression compared to my joyous friend in the foreground who's brightened by the flash. I thought that this was a perfect element to incorporate into my painting, to represent how there is always other influences in the back of your mind whenever making a significant change or decision in your life. 

The second photo was a scene of the ocean at a lantern festival where paper lanterns were floated out into the sea. When I took the photo, the camera flash distorted the lanterns, and created streaks of glowing lights stretching from the horizon line to the top of the sky. I decided to use this as my foreground to be transparently placed over the image of my friends. The last photo that I layered on top of my collage was of my friend holding three persimmons. Each fruit was different, damaged and bruised in some places, while some were riper than others. I thought of these persimmons as a reflection of how we all mature or "ripen" at different paces under different circumstances. There is no right or wrong way to grow and mature. 

Researching more into the project, I found that persimmons actually do have significant meaning related to my theme in Asian cultures and religions. In China, persimmons are a symbol of joy, and used to regulate energy medicinally. In Japan, they represent victory. What I found to be the most relevant to my project is that in Buddhism, the persimmon represents transformation.  When the persimmon fruit is still young, it is not edible because of its bitterness. The persimmon must be fully ripe in order to be enjoyed, just like how we as humans must transform our ignorance into wisdom by experiencing all that life has to offer with the coming of age. 

References: 

http://www.wikisymbol.com/386/sobi2details

http://www.flavorandfortune.com/dataaccess/article.php?ID=368

https://books.google.com/books?id=dAPQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA98-IA5&lpg=PA98-IA5&dq=persimmon+meaning+chinese&source=bl&ots=Dtk4NRdZFE&sig=X6WOXZS_iWC-XgmXIcIO7d3kHQs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0lQJVa_4Dcu-ggS-4oHQCA&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=persimmon%20meaning%20chinese&f=false

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqi_Fachang

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Persimmons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N8am6hPSoc

Images: 

Individual Collage Images

Finished Collage

Mu Qui: Six Persimmons

Project 1: Sea Slugs

Kaelyn Okuhata
Advanced Painting
February 23, 2015

Project #1: (9 Paintings Series) Sea Slugs

For my first project I chose the subject of sea slugs when my research on the ocean took a detour, after seeing a photo of one of these amazing creatures. While searching for more images of sea slugs, I found that there is almost a limitless variety of sea slug species, all taking different forms, designs, and colors. I immediately knew that I wanted this to be my subject, especially for an assignment that requires a series of nine paintings, because of the many different images and source materials I could get inspiration from. Although I researched facts about sea slugs for my initial presentation to give to the class, I decided to ignore the background of the invertebrates and focus solely on their aesthetic forms.
The first decision that I had to make was what size I wanted each individual piece to be. I decided that I would want all the pieces to be the same size, because this would create consistency among the paintings’ actual designs, which I knew would all be extremely different. I chose nine individual small canvases (about 4x4 inches each). The mini canvases also had a decent width (about an inch) in order to give these small works an extra boost of depth. I planned to utilize the small canvases’ thick frames by continuing the designs off of the main surface and onto the sides, to create a fluid movement on such a limited surface. Just like a sea slug, there would be an endless design on a tiny form.
The second big decision that had to be made was what material I would be using to paint with. After taking a strictly oil-based class for the past semester, I thought I’d try to experiment by going back to my acrylic roots, while incorporating oil in the final process. I also wanted to try something completely knew, and was interested in incorporating enamel paint after seeing how dimensional it could be even after drying in the class demo. I knew that the enamel would create rounded, smooth, and fluid designs, just like those seen on the patterning of sea slugs. The only problem was where to find the variety of enamel paints that I would require to achieve the same robust color scheme of the sea slugs I was trying to portray. After an unsuccessful trip to the hardware store,  I decided that the only way I’d be able to get all of the colors that I need in the right quantities would be to purchase individual nail polishes which are similar in consistency to enamel paint. By doing so, I was able to find even the brightest fluorescents and neon hues that I had been searching for to mimic even the wildest sea slug’s skin.
The process of actually painting my nine pieces turned out to be more difficult and experimental than what I had expected. I started painting with the acrylic, and rediscovered how quickly it dries, and therefore uneasily it blends compared to oil. However, I also struggled with the oil paint’s dry time, as well as its inability to take on any acrylic once it was added as the top layer. After trial and error, I found a balance between using initial acrylic paint as a base, letting that dry, and then covering it either completely or partially with oil. On the pieces that I completely covered the acrylic foundation, I wiped out certain parts to reveal it. I also found however, that the acrylic could be used as a final touch if the oil layer was dry enough. The enamels were also a tricky element to work with, since I had a hard time deciding on which pieces I wanted it to be on the surface versus which pieces I would use the enamel just for a base texture. Some pieces I even used the enamel as both. When I didn’t like how the look of a piece was coming out, I’d quickly paint it over with oil or acrylic, and then use the enamel’s previous forms beneath as a compliment to the new design I created. I also found that if I apply oil over the enamel, I can wipe out the oil to re-reveal the enamel in only specific locations that I want.
Overall, the entire process of making these small paintings was extremely beneficial for me when it comes to understanding the different types of materials, and how they can work against or with each other. The enamel on oil on acrylic was definitely the most successful technique, however, there were some interesting decisions that were made throughout the entire process. It was also interesting to see how order that I ended up working on each piece turned out to be, since I didn’t actually work on one piece only from start until it was finished. I would instead go from piece to piece and add a little bit more to each while transitioning to the next. What I learned from the process of one piece, I would apply to the next, and even make corrections to the first. I wonder what each individual piece would have looked like if I were to have worked on them one-by-one, without even looking at what I had done before, or imagining what they will all look like together. I definitely think each piece would be completely different if I had gone about creating them this way.


 
Reference Materials:

http://a-z-animals.com/animals/sea-slug/

http://www.seaslugforum.net/

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/sea_slug.aspx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD-PHJ7QIKc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv-sbDO2ya0

Images: (I created this collage to visualize the layout of my project)

Project 1 - AGUA

For project 1 I choose to explore the subject of water. Originally I became interested in the subject when I started researching different ways of abstraction and representation of the human body. The way water can illustrate translucency and form at the same time. I was also interested in the form of the feeling of water itself and the different ways of portraying it. I photographed the difference in water when it ripples and splashes above water and my hand underwater. I began editing and playing with the contrast and shadow levels on photos I took of people under the water, this got me really fascinated with the contrasting light between the depths of the ocean and the reflection of the waters surface.

Through out the three-weeks of our project, I experimented different ways to illustrate both translucency and reflection of water with my materials. I worked with a mixture of mediums ranging from oil paint, pastel, acrylic, gouache, oil bar, and inks. For my first three works I worked exclusively with pastel and experimented with different colors and line work for representation of water. I pulled a lot of soft lines from these pieces into my final piece. For my next three pieces I experimented more with mixing different mediums. I first applied thin layers of cel-vinyl, which I learned gives a nice flat background, and then slowly applied acrylic and oil paint, and finally added touches with both an ultramarine oil bar and water-soluble conte-crayons. For my next three pieces I was able to use vellum paper and experimented a lot with inks. I first applied thin layers of ink and then was able to mix both use of acrylic and watercolor paint, I also used a little bit of marker as well. For the final piece I challenged myself to use almost all of the mediums I experimented with. I first applied different layers of ink, flash, gouache and acrylic paint. I then applied very thin layers of oil paint and finished with more detailing with an ultramarine oil bar. The overall look of the piece is successful in its cohesiveness.

I was drawn to artists like the Italian Josep Moncada who represent figures in motion through water with simple hue variations of blue. His play with exaggerated lines in contrast to flat blocks of color gives his paintings a dewy like quality. Wangechi Mutu is another artist that inspired me, even though the artist doesn’t specifically portray water, I was really moved by her use of layers and reserves of color and form that bring attention to and highlight certain aspects in her work. Mutu exemplifies a profound sense of control over her medium and the emotion and chaos the audience feels when admiring her work. I was also of course inspired as well by the British artist David Hockney for his mixture of medium use that effortlessly work together. Specifically his simple color bleeding illustrates water in way that even though they are simple gestures it leaves the audience satisfied. In my final piece I examined my own figure into my own work, something that Hockney demonstrated many times though out his work. Which in turn was a little bit more difficult for me to create but reads more compelling with the relationship to the viewer.  

Experimentation & Production

For the first project, I researched my interest in systems of organization in living spaces for both the organic and the manmade & presented natural structures. This included a look at beehives, anthills, shells, spiderwebs, etc… Essentially analyzing the geometry– shapes and forms found within these occupied spaces. What intrigued me most was as follows:

- intricate beauty

- object of protection, production, tool

- self produced material; act of creation

- found object; act of letting go and then sourcing

- element of community vs. one man household

- aesthetics: sacred geometry, golden spiral

- become relics; eventually destruct

- integrated into something bigger, i.e. the ground or ocean

I Made this preliminary painting of a shell:

I was thinking about purpose in structure...

This awesome BBC video explained why bees use the hexagon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5rWmGe0HBI

I thought of Piet Mondrian's neoplastic city grids & underlying form /color. 

As I started to paint. It occurred to me that I am not necessarily pictorial painter; I am less interested in the act of representing– as a photograph functions. I am far more interested in the art of painting as a process of creating. Beyond this, the materiality of paint– in all it’s forms– is fascinating to me. I love the reactions of paints with one another.

One theme that my process incorporates is the role that chance can and does play. I was reading some George Brecht.

For my first 3 paintings I devised a system using an online dice roller. With the number 9 (prompted), I rolled 9, 9 sided dice, 9 times. I got 9 random number sequences. I then randomly assigned materials (gauche, enamel, vitrail, acyrlic, oil paint, oil, water, etc) to the numbers 1-9. Based on the sequences I applied the materials in that order. I was very interested in the reactions that were occurring on the canvas, and also balance between my control over composition, color, etc and the lack of control due to the system that I had devised.

I began to consider the action of mark making itself. This immediately conjured up notions of Index. I thought back to Semiotics and again the systems of signs. I am very interested in index in art making– the lack there of the artist's mark in production as in Jeff Koons' works... Accidental index, for example, in some of my photographs in which I have unintentionally manipulated the paper…  intentional index as seen is the paintings of Marylin Minter who finishes off her panels with her thumbprints… index as a result of movement, for example Gerhard Richters trowel marks or the work of Gutai painters who swung on ropes above the canvas… Index as a residue, etc...

I thought up my next painting which was a large canvas where I taped off the word INDEX and then used charcoal powder to make handprints around. After removing the tape, the word index is outlined by the indexical marks of my handprints themselves. This was a very literal/over the top/sarcastic iteration of 'Index'. 

I further researched Semiotics, the sign, Icon/Index/ Symbol-- They were all about Cause & Effect. An index could be lingering perfume, paw prints or tracks or symptoms– like a fever simultaneously happening with an infection, or smoke coming from a fire… Lastly, index could be designation, something that points to the object, like an arrow or the word “this”.

On the basis of “symptoms”…

I thought about our senses and phenomenological perceptions of an object through index. Pierce bases signs off of the quality of feeling, reactions, and representations.

I thought about Yves Klein’s work:

Using fire or the body to make marks…

   

In terms of designations, I thought about Jasper Johns leaving evidence of his mark making tool…

In the next painting,  I systematically used a trowel to apply gauche and transferred imprints onto duralar, tracing paper and cellophane… This is about the index of the index– and responds to simulacra in the sense of copying something, through various mediations until the original is no where in sight. Similarly, I did not leave the trowel– mark maker– out for viewing.

On the note of impressions, I was considering how this imprints were the residue of one another– And how I was not creating a mark, but appropriating an old one. Outside the painting classroom, the balcony is covered with indexical residue of paintings past. I made a painting that captured the index of these indexes, by painting black acrylic on the ground and laying canvas over. After rubbing, an imprint of the balcony floor was made on the canvas.

 

From here I was considering ways of mark-making without even touching the canvas Or using an object to create a mark. What would happen if I used physics to move the paint with pressurized air. I placed oil at the center of the canvas and applied black enamel. Then at the very center, using an air pressure gun I spread the paint out in every direction. The oil carried the enamel outwardly in all directions.

 

What other forces of nature could create marks in paint? I considered the modernist gravity paintings.

How about the Index of heat? What kind of reaction could I commence that would be indexical of oil vs. water under heat conditions? I made this painting…

How about Rain?? What are the indexes of the forces of nature? 

My final piece, came together as a culmination of all these notions. I had been working on a canvas for sometime that was simply gesso and water. The painting is a product of many factors, it considers: time, position, and forces of chance and control.  Like Jackson Pollock, I applied the paint aerially without any tools. 

It has been exposed to the elements, transported, left for days on end, folded on itself in the wind, paint applied indexically, and reflects the index of its treatment over time– containing leaves, hair, dirt, staples and other markers of its existence.

 

Natalie Frisinger

Advanced Painting

Project 1 Statement

In the pursuit of spirituality in art, my series was powerfully influenced by certain implications of Jakob Böhme’s theological exploration on the nature of man’s existence. Though his orthodox Christian beliefs have a heavy hand in his hypotheses, Böhme compellingly argues the importance of art and the nature of colors in the purpose of the existence of matter. Utilizing my personal spiritual leanings, which find their roots both in ancient Peruvian and Indian practices, my series utilize the chakra system in the exploration of my subject and my relationship to the subject.

In relation to the exploration of Chakras as energy access points to the physical body, one is thrown into the world of crystals and their ability to carry energies, which mimic the specific vibrations of the respective Chakras. Thus, in the assessment of this specific relationship I selected Vanadinite and Azurite. The former constitutes a crystal that corresponds with the sacral chakra: creativity, desire, emotion, intuition and sexuality. Moreover, the specific crystal enables drive and intuition whilst allowing a connection to the root Chakra (grounding, stability and physical drive). The latter corresponding with the third-eye Chakra represents a tempering of the mind and release of stress and confusion as well as the alleviation of worry and indecision that “lingers in the back of consciousness”. These were selected not only as a representation of the subject but also as a reflection of the self through the subject.

The smaller pieces are examinations of the implications of these respective crystals through color.  Here is expressed a more specific assessment of the form of these crystals both in their refined and unrefined states. The medium used for these smaller-scaled pieces was carefully selected in an attempt to explore the interaction of light within the crystal forms. Thus relating back to Böhme’s theories, which contemplated the polarity of the world as the division between good and evil, light and dark; that light was humanity’s only glimpse of the divine and that art should be humanity’s way back to this divinity. This constitutes a significant element in my spiritual investigation, that through the self, our connection to others and artistic expression, one finds an exploration of the divine.

In sharp contrast to this, the larger piece discards the specific form of the crystals while attempting, through comparable color schemes, to capture the essence of the crystal without specifically replicating its form. The molten, water-like arrangement that fills the human form attempts to enhance the sensibility of the expression of the subject’s character (and thus, my reflection in this character). Furthermore, the intersection of light and dark moments in the background (which appear hazy and smoke-like) are an abstract exploration of sage smudging and the cleansing of the body and soul of negativity (whilst also paying homage to Romanticist paintings which explore Böhme’s theories on light). Sage smudging represents the bringing of clear energy, hence attempting to solidify the piece as an exploration of divinity as well as one of personal relationships and the self.

Influences/ Sources

·      http://www.bestcrystals.com/chakra~1.html

·      http://www.crystalvaults.com/crystal-encyclopedia/azurite

·      http://www.theosophyforward.com/theosophy-and-the-society-in-the-public-eye/411-the-influence-of-jacob-boehmes-theosophical-ideas-on-the-farbenlehre-theory-of-colors-by-philipp-otto-runge (reading on Philipp Otto Runge and the influence of Jakob Böhme)

·      http://www.angelfire.com/biz2/turquoisebutterfly/sage.html

·      Book- The Celestial Property by James Redfield

·      Glenn Brown