Book No.1 - 'Surrealism.' - Amy Dempsey
I find Raul Ubacs photographic method brûlage (French burning, singeing) to be quite intuitive, he referred to the method as ''Automatism of destruction.' Melting the emulsion over an exposed negative (by placing it over a pan of heated water) before printing it. Ubacs had little success in printing his negatives with this obscure technique, but had eventually found success with the photograph displayed to the right of the page in image 1 (excluding the title page) I find the final image to be quite ominous and etherial given the impressions overlaid upon the subjects form. This is a technique I could employ within my work as a means to further imitate the nature of ailments such as retinal detachment and macular degeneration especially.
Marcel Jeans 'Spectre of Gardenia.' 1947 Replica (original made in 1936) Emerges from the page, the head of a woman, with zippers for eyes and a filmstrip collar encircling her neck, composes an anxious portrait. At the same time, its tactile surface of black cloth is charged with the eroticism of imagined touch. Though my work does not explore eroticism, I found the tactile nature of the head to be quite intriguing and initial imagery surreal. Despite not studying the erotics of the art (this year) I can understand the allurence of the seemingly submissive subject. Yonic and Phallic imagery are both something that can ensure shock factor, resulting in recognition to the symbolism embodied within the work. (Image 3) (left) Paul-Émile Borduas 'Untitled Bird' Gouache, charcoal and underdrawing 1942. A piece which was later selected for an exhibition of automatic paintings in gouache, an exhibition which later caught the eye of a young group of artists soon to be dubbed 'Les Automatistes.' I find Borduas work to relate to my practise given the clear automatism based method of working, and the vibrancy of the colours. Though a relatively abstracted image, the mark makings and lines prove to be definitive enough to conjure the subject. (right) Marcel Duchamp Cover for 'Minotaure no.6 Winter' 1935 Though the briefing commissioned through the imagery depicted by Duchamp, I find the image to resemble that of an eyeball, reminding me of my gentle influence of Junji Ito and macabre-esc dark and peculiar images. I enjoy the boisterousness proposed by the overall image.
Though I do not favour the works of Joan Miró given the simplicity and lack of range to his palette, Miró was an avid automatism worker, he frequently painted biomorphic forms, (much like the work of Joseba Eskubi) over saturated layers of pigment, declaring
'As I paint, the picture begins to assert itself under my brush.'
Miró would embark on creating the first part of all images in an automatism based manner, allowing the unconscious to take over and the mind to deviate into a world of its own. The second part of the image would be carefully calculated, as though he wanted there to be a visible deviation between the two, to unite them as their oxymoronic pair and work in union. The act of automatism applies to my working method given the number of paintings I have to create which cater to the visually impaired, creating work which you desperately want to be seen easier by visually impaired individuals amounts to a lot of pressure and causes procrastination to set in. If I were to allow myself to contemplate each and every colour I worked with, I feel the compositions may lose and element of truth. Alongside the majority of Surrealists and Abstract Expressionists such as colour field painter, Mark Rothko, believed in allowing the unconscious to settle within and induce a meditative state during the painting process, amounting to a controlled chaos.
Book No.2 - 'Ways of Looking, How to experience contemporary art.' - Ossian Ward
Rather than strictly adhering to the appreciation of visual stimuli, the book refers to advocating art with association to various environments and exhibiting it within said environments. Sculptor, Karla Black can reinforce stereotypes of gender and domesticity referring to what would be deemed "womanly" through the use of literal "feminine" products as to satirically mock the norms of society, her sculpture work includes objects which smell and stimulate the other senses; materials include: lipstick, soaps, fake tan, deodorant, nail polish, body lotion and tooth paste. Blacks evocative abstract sculptures behold a real worldly relevance to the present, her work emanates with an organic lightness, added optimism and playful exuberance. Innovative ways of creating such as Karla has is relevant to my practise given the multi-sensory opportunities curated for the audience. The book features additional means of exploring art, entertainment vs event, entertainment enjoyable to a group of the audience, but and event allows of optimum input, collaborative opportunities, performance and so on, all factors of which I find to be relevant within my practise.
Book No.3 - 'Seeing Beyond Sight, photographs by blind teenagers.' - Tony Deifell
Tony Diefells' 'Seeing beyond sight.' is a catalogue of images photographed by blind and visually impaired teenagers. I found the contents of the book to be quite intriguing given the number of 'shooting from the hip.', dutch tilts and peculiar family album recreations. This book relates to my current practise and concerns as though the camera is an object devoid of ailment, being controlled by a photographer with lack of to no sight may result in a less exposed or focused image, leading to motion blur, and the perviously mentioned appearances. I found this book to be an insightful observation.
Book No.4 - 'Blind.' - Sophie Calle
Sophie Calle's book refers to the stories of blind and visually impaired individuals recalling the last thing they had seen prior to the loss or deterioration of their sight. Calle compared the responses she had received to the writings of Borges, Klein, Malevich, Manzoni and. number of others referring to the monochrome.
(No names provided alongside quotes within book)
'Nothing, absolutely nothing left, no figures, no colour, nothing.' 12 pages follow suit with relatively the same response.
I had hoped for a more informative source from this book, however I am happy to have read the stories of those who had lost their sight and the last thing they recall seeing. I wish there had perhaps been some experimentation as shown in both 'Seeing beyond sight.' and 'Shooting blind.' However I am happy to report that the vast majority of the book is indicted with braille in order to cater for a blind or visually impaired individual, which I found fabulous to see more accessibility being shown through a book. I attempted to photograph the braille embossed over the whites of each page, thought because of the colour of the page the page appeared empty.
Book No.5 - 'Shooting Blind, photographs by the visually impaired.' - Edward Hoagland
Much like Tony Diefells' 'Seeing beyond sight.' 'Shooting Blind.' is a catalogue of images photographed by blind and visually impaired individuals. Each subject had been trained in using the camera to the best of their abilities, and I have to say, I find the photographs to be phenomenal! The intensive chiaroscuro depicted within each photograph, alongside immersive, peculiar patterning, the two elements work together as one. I noticed an abundance of long exposure photography, relating back to my practise in creating images which imitate the obscurities of various eye ailments such as binocular diplopia - doubled vision and so on.
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