Jessica's Favorite Paintings

Pope Innocent X, Diego Velazquez (1650)
















Study after Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, Francis Bacon (1953)




















Girl before a mirror, Pablo Picasso (1932)
















Tower of Blue Horses, Marc Franz (1913)





















Girl and Solider at Bethlehem, Banksy (2007)

Sarah's Favorite Paintings!

Salvador Dali
Metamorphosis of Narcissus, 1937

I don't think Beksinski liked to use titles.




















Edvard Munch
"The Scream"























Mark Ryden
"Fetal Trappings in Northern California"



















Alex Grey
"Gaia"

Brook's Five Favorite Paintings

Marc Chagall, 1967


Gustave Courbet, The Desperate Man, 1845


Angela Dufresne, Divining Light, 2005


Alan Lee, 1974


Erik Jones, Store 101 Poster, 2008

Phoebe's Five Favorite Paintings

Wolf Kahn

Barn Behind a Thicket, 2003

Andrew Wyeth

Hill Pasture, 1957

Childe Hassam

Early Evening, Union Square, 1902

Hans Hofmann

The Conjurer, 1959

Georgia O'Keeffe

Blue and Green Music, 1921

Printmaking Exhibit at BU

Another Example of Painting without Paint

Lesley Dill
"Breathing Leaves" 2004
Ink, thread, glue on tea-stained fabric

Siwen's Five Favorite Paintings

Wheat Fields
By Vincent Van Gogh

Underground Subway

by Jimmy

Luc Leestemaker: Allegories & Landscapes

Allegories 102

Mixed media on canvas, 36 x 36"

Madame Monet and Her Son

By Claude Monet 1875

《浔阳遗韵》 (1991)
By 陈逸飞

5 Favorite Paintings

"I am Yours" by Arturo Herra 2000
Wool Felt



"Plants in Love" by Elizabeth Davenport
2008














"The Lovers" by Rene Magritte 1928

"No 14" by Mark Rothko 1960























"The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Diego, Me and Señor Xolotl" 1949

Guest Artist Courtney Jordan

Artist Courtney Jordan creates dazzling paintings that challenge our ideas of perspective. She layers architectural elements to produce complex abstract spaces. Having recently moved to the Boston area after living in Maryland for several years, she holds a BFA from RISD and an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She has attended residencies at Skowhegan, the MacDowell Colony, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and has participated in many exhibitions on the east coast. Courtney Jordan will discuss her process and artwork.

Tuesday, February 24, 1:30 pm in Traina Center Rm 111

Painting without Paint

What is Painting? As artists, we ask ourselves this question because it helps us determine the central qualities of this medium. During the 20th century, artists and critics worked to discover the essence of a medium and by the middle of the century, they thought they had it (according to Jackson Pollock’s champion Clement Greenberg it was flatness). Today, we understand the qualities of a painting to be much more flexible and fluid.

If we remove the physical paint quotient, what are we left with? What are Painting’s qualities? The way it’s created? The way it appears? Its effects? We will create a “painting” without paint to test these ideas. This is an opportunity to experiment with different materials and ways of working. Delve into several ideas and select the best option. Again, any materials and supports (or lack thereof) are open to you, but the end product should express something about your understanding of “Painting”.

Consider
Brainstorm some qualities of painting. What is the process? Visual attributes? Physical qualities? Effects?
Think of some examples that might or might not be painting. Why or why not?
What materials might be useful in creating a work that contains some of these ideas?

Materials
Anything except traditional painting media including oil/acrylic/watercolor paint

Part 1: Designs
Come up with 5 ideas for potential ‘paintings.’ For each, describe the materials, the process for creation, and a rough sketch of the final work. This will be a part of your project grade.
Due Friday, February 20.

Part II: Work
Use your initial ideas to generate a final version. It may be a combination of ideas/materials. Size, materials, etc. are up to you, but it should be something you can present or document.
Due Friday, March 13.

Look at
Cayce Zavaglia

This American artist abandoned traditional oil painting materials after the birth of his daughter in favor of non toxic ones. He began to use wool to create densely packed portraits. These ‘paintings’ still use the wool as a substitute for paint to create color, shape, value.

Rudolf Stingel

Stingel was born in Italy but resides and works in New York. His work explores the qualities of painting using a variety of materials and processes including interactive installation, step-by-step instructions for abstract paintings, and phlegmatic self-portraits in oil. He has an exibition opening Feb. 21 at Paula Cooper in NYC.
NY Times article

Polly Apfelbaum

Apfelbaum creates dazzling installations of fabric that she calls ‘fallen paintings’. Using dyed fabric, she creates vast organic forms that seem to spread and move over the floor.

Simon Evans

This New York based artist creates charts and maps out of snipped text and images. They are often autobiographical, absurd, and extremely literal.

Andreas Kocks

This artist uses cut paper to create wall installations. His work uses a varied and shifting sense of design that seems to spill outside of contained spaces.

Perception Discussion: Observation

How did you create this image?
Were there any particular benefits or disadvantages that you noticed?
How does this method compare with other ways that you have worked?

Perception Discussion: Photo-based

How did you create this image?
Were there any particular benefits or disadvantages that you noticed?
How does this method compare with other ways that you have worked?

Perception Discussion: Imagination

How did you create this image?
Were there any particular benefits or disadvantages that you noticed?
How does this method compare with other ways that you have worked?

Replication

One of the ways that painting has defined itself is by the uniqueness of each object. A painting is the exclusive work of the artist- a combination of concept and craft- that gains its authenticity because of its handmade quality and inimitability (contrasted with the lossless reproduction in photography’s prints and sculpture’s casts). However, we can use this unique quality of painting as a source for reaction, as many contemporary artists do. What happens when we execute the same painting twice? Which is unique? Which is the original?

We will intensify this question by reproducing an existing work of art. Most of our experience with paintings is through seeing replications- either in books, posters, or online. By re-creating these paintings, they become reproductions of reproductions. What is the value of the reproduction? What is the value of the original that has been reproduced infinitely? Students will begin by executing one copy of a chosen artwork and then do a second painting that expands the idea of replication.

Consider
What does it mean for a painting to be unique? Does our appreciation for it depend on this quality?
What happens to a work when it is reproduced?
What are the implications when a work is reproduced as a painting over and over?
How can we expand the idea of replication?

Materials
Source images, books, Photoshop, canvases, & other painting materials.

Part 1: Replication
Use the selected source image and execute it on canvas or panel in a faithful manner. Pay particular attention to drawing, shape, proportion, color, and brushstroke. Your painting should approximate the size of the painting or section.

Part II: Expanding Replication
1. Create the copy painting again (you may also choose to do the 2 simultaneously).
2. Create the copy painting again but invert all the colors. Use Photoshop to do this. Since only the colors change, the drawing, shapes, and brushwork should be the same (you may also choose to do the 2 simultaneously).
3. Create a detail (zoomed-in) version of your first copy where you crop a closer section and increase scale.
4. Create a mirror image of the first painting by reversing the horizontal orientation.
5. Overlay a second image so that the two create a kind of double exposure. Again, use Photoshop to do this via layers. Your second image should be another copy- and one whose composition melds with the first in an interesting way. You may manipulate the colors do this.

Look at
Glenn Brown

This British artist works with appropriated images from art history greats like Rembrandt and Dali as well as contemporary artists Frank Auerbach and Howard Hodgkin. His earlier works involved replicating specific effects through meticulous rendering (like impasto that becomes flat in his representation), while his more recent works have become combinations of different paintings into new hybrids.

Cecilia Edefalk

Edefalk was born in Sweden and work in Berlin and Stockholm. She uses duplication as a means to challenge the act of painting as a unique process. Her works often involve many versions of the same image, a double portrait, Laurel and Hardy, a self-portrait, greek sculpture. In this way, we study the careful way in which she paints and the implications for repeating an image over and over.

David Ording

This Boston based artist uses art history texts as the source for his intensely faithful paintings. He often juxtaposes many images from books onto the same canvas, creating large montages of the art history canon. Again, the images are beautiful as representations- but shifting their context makes us think about the ways in which we encounter these images.

Diego Gravinese

This artist from Buenos Aires has done a remarkable job of showing his process of creating paintings based on photos. He has a nice pop sensibility- think Richard Estes for Facebook.
On flickr - with in-progress images.

Flora in Winter @ WAM

Visit the Worcester Art Museum this week for "Flora in Winter".  WAM's website describes it as "a succulent feast for the eyes and spirit in the middle of winter.  At the Museum, 23 works from the collection are interpreted in flowers.  Public spaces are adorned by area florists."

Check the schedule here- but there are free events on Friday and Saturday.

Leslie Schomp talk

"Art a la Carte" talk with Leslie Schomp, one of our drawing instructors at Clark.  Thursday, February 5th at noon and will include pizza and beverages.  5 pts extra credit for attendance and posting a substantive comment on this blog.

Career Night at WAM

This year's Career Night at the Worcester Art Museum will be held on Wednesday, February 11 from 5:30 - 8 pm.  Come to hear a panel of art professions share their experiences and advice.  Contact debbyaframe@worcesterart.org to RSVP by Tuesday, Feb. 10.

Open Life Drawing Sessions

Open life drawing sessions resume on Thursday Evenings from 7 - 9 pm in TC 100/101, starting this week and running through April 23.  All are welcome.  There will be a model each week, but no instructor.