Callum Colvin

Callum Colvins works are unique in the fact that at first look they seem to just be regular paintings, however they are intact carefully constructed 3D sets that are painted in a way that when photographed from a certain perspective they show an illusion of a two dimensional image.

 

 

 

 

Colvin often uses old masters paintings as his illusions. Specifically in a series called Sacred and Profane. Pictured right is one of Colvins works from that series based on a piece by William Etty; The combat: Woman pleading for the vanquished. This series was commissioned by the National Gallery of Scotland. There are other artist inspired works within the series such as Titan, Rubes and Canova. Colvin is giving the viewer a  new viewpoint for these masters paintings. Mixing modern contemporary art with historical works.

 

What i  really enjoy about Colvins works is all the objects he choses to use within his ‘sets’ that are then hidden and disguised by the paint. so the more you study the pieces the more individual objects you stat to be able to make out. I also like that even though the paintings are often copied from existing paintings they still have Colvins own personal painting styles within them.

Picasso

Picasso’s life almost started with his death. When he was born he was suffocated and would have been left for dead if not for his uncle, who blew cigar smoke into his face causing him to catch his breath. He came from a family of painters, his father being a mediocre painter himself. He encouraged Picasso in his art from a young age and by the age of 13 he has passed his fathers skill in painting. He was an art prodigy who attended the art school La Lonja in Barcelona. He moved to Paris and was attracted to the art work of Toulouse-Lautrec. He would also look at the works by Cézanne, Degas and Bonnard. He became estranged to his parents as they didn’t understand his bohemian attitudes and lack of control with his art.

 

Heavily influenced by Degas and Toulouse but with his own freedom, he created pastel drawings. Picasso had many phases of style within his work while perfecting his style. The first of his artistic styles he had was his blue period. It started with the death of a close friend in February of 1901, who shot himself after being rejected by the woman he loved. Picasso’s blue period didn’t start till the summer of the same year but was the direct result of the death. The blue hue in these paintings was to express his grief. This period lasted around four years. After finding love colour and objects started to return to his work, thus entering his rose period.

 

His next style was cubism from 1907 till 1917. This was a big turning point in his art. it was a revolt against western art. In 1918 Picasso married Olga Koklova, this brought about even more change to his art and his person, showing more pride as a master painter, in this period he painted more classical pictures. finally his post cubist phase led him to works that were fragmented. Picasso continued with more styles and experimentation up until his death in 1973.

 

 

 

What i enjoy about the styles within Picasso’s work is you can see how his personal life and the world around him effected how he perceived art and how he chose to express him self.

Van Gogh

Van Gogh had a hard life starting from his birth. He was named after his parents first born child, who was a still born a year to the exact date that Van Gogh was born, they even gave him the same name. Throughout his life he was financially dependant on his younger brother for a lot of his life. This always left him worrying about the fact that the funds could stop at any time. He also had no luck in his love life. With all of his struggles he turned to art as an outlet. As his skill as an artist grew he began to withdraw more into himself, creating a loneliness he couldn’t handle. By the age of 36 Van Gogh went of his own free will to Saint Paul de Mausole, a hospital for the mentally ill. He was allowed to leave the asylum unaccompanied to work on his art alone. He suffered from epileptic fits, during his attacks he suffered from hallucinations and would become violent. He used his artwork to drag himself out of his depressions, this art at this time did not reflect his illness, they were his attempt to not give up. They also helped him connect with life. He died from a fatal gun shot to the chest. on his death bed he claimed the gun shot to be a suicide attempt, however there is some speculation that he was shot but protected the person who shot him.

What i like about Van Gogh’s paintings is that he has a certain playfulness with his style and colour. Even though he was a man who was suffering he saw the world as a beautiful place. You can see this in his use of colour and his careful brush strokes. I like that he used his art as an escape from life, but avoided projecting his suffering onto the paintings.

 

Tracey Emin – My Bed 1998

My bed was the piece that Tracey Emin submitted when she was nominated for the Turner prize in 1999. The piece was created as the direct result from a mental break down Emin had suffered from in 1998. She spent four days in bed sleeping and semi-unconsious. when she eventually left the bed and returned she couldn’t believe the state it was in, a complete mess and decay of her life. She removed it from her home and into a gallery space, leaving it in the state that she had gotten into. Empty bottles, cigarette butts, stained sheets, used underwear and more clutter the space around the bed. Revealing the bed as a piece of artwork she is showing the public that she is imperfect and insecure much like other people.

Guerilla Knitting

Guerilla knitting is when a knitted/crochet piece of art is placed in a public environment. They can be placed on trees, lampposts, bikes, walls, fences or any other object in the public view. It is a form of non destructive graffiti. It’s aim is often to reclaim urban city spaces. The german group Strick & Liesel have a project named ‘Fluffy throw up’ where they knitted yellow and black radioactive signs around public objects to protest nuclear power. Guerilla knitting is something that has been done all around the globe. It is something that looks fun and quirky but can evoke strongly political, feminist meanings etc. depending on the group/artist who creates them.

Doris Salcedo – Atrabilious 1992

Doris Salcedo uses her work to address the effects of war, political oppression and other acts of violence. she uses found materials within her works. Atrabilious (pictured below) is a response to the information she received from relatives and loved ones of those that disappeared during the Colombian civil war during the 1960’s. It is made out of shoes, cow bladder and surgical thread, assembled and hung upon a wall. The female shoes represent the missing bodies and the way they are presented is to parallel the reliquaries fro the remains of saints. I feel this piece is very haunting with the worn shoes ghosted behind the hazy film of the cow bladder.

Outsider Art

The term outsider art was first introduced as the english equivalent of Debuffets term Art Brut. This term meant raw art as it was art that was unadulterated by culture,  the works were original and unique and their creators would not see themselves as artists. Art brut is pure visual creation, a spontaneous flow from brain to surface. Outsider art is often the work of children, psychiatric patients and prisoners.

Madge Gill

Born in 1882 in London, Gill was an illegitimate child who’s mother hid her from society for quite some time. At the age of 7 she was sent to a Canadian orphanage until the age of 19. She then was sent to live with her widowed aunt back in England. She married her aunt’s son and had three sons of her own, one of which died at age eight. She also had a daughter who was still born. Gill lost her left eye due to illness, during her recovery she turned to art. She would enter a trance like state to create her drawings. She would work alone and late into the night. Her works contained warped patterns and faces creating a patched up reality.

 

Bill Traylor 

Born around 1853 Traylor was a slave on a cotton plantation. After the civil war he worked as a sharecropper and labourer  for the Traylor family. In his 80s Traylor was drawing on the streets when an artist Charles Shannon noticed his work and supplied him with materials to work with. He became a big collector of Trailers work. Traylor’s works are founded on realism depicting mainly people and animals. They are simplistic giving them a primitive feel.

 

 

Adolf Wölfli 

Born in 1864 in Switzerland, Wölfli was the youngest of seven children. At the young age of 5 his father left leaving his family in extreme poverty. His mother died around three years later. He worked in various farming and labour jobs until he was imprisoned for molestation. He was later placed in an asylum where he spent the rest of his life. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He started drawing nearly four years after being admitted to the asylum, He became consumed with his drawings helping him to become calmer. He would create massive labyrinths of information within his work.

Art Therapy

” Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life” 
                                                                                                    -Pablo Picasso 

Art therapy is the use of art to create a therapeutic process to help improve the physical, emotional and mental well being of a person. it is used to express yourself artistically to help you get a deeper understanding of your inner self. Art therapy can be used by anyone as it id a way of  communicating one’s self. there are many different forms of art that you can produce in art therapy, there is drawing, painting, sculpture, collage, musical response drawings, crafts and many more. The point of it is to release certain emotions that you have built up, the art therapy helps you to relieve you from them so that your mind is able to heal and recover