Abstraction in My Painting

Last semester, we kept a large Visual Diary for sketching ideas and improve creativity through each 2 works per week. My first work was thought to be in abstraction style and yes, I did want some elements like that in my painting. I didn't have much skill in mixturing colours to create the effect or emotion and yet the ability to sketch details well, so ... abstraction is my solution.

I just it them along with my very fresh feeling about what had just happened. The first picture was named Cold Sun. Sitting on the bus and feel the air go through the window is my favourite time each day going to school. That morning was pretty glommy and I could only see the shape of the sun, little and weak shining. It inspired me to draw "Cold Sun".

The swirl occured in many of my paintings and were made by many colours rather than single ones. If there are many swirls, they would also be drawn with multicolours. That's my purpose to show the overlap between 2 mixed up feelings which is my trend, my desire to show hard-to-say things I've been impressed; in this case, they are "hot" and "cold" at the same time.

Relating a little bit to my previous post, I metioned about Minimalism, how strange ... the day after that my lecturer talked about Maximalism in our too long current fashion trend. did I have that style in this work? He said the spiral came from the very soon form of nature, from a big one such as a shape of the Galaxy to the smallest one: the snail. I found it interesting, happy to already have this shape in my painting.

However, I think there is a repetition in my work. I have to admit that I'm partially influenced by someone's work in this style, I found the shape quite familiar in some way after having done it. Though I was taught there is actually repetition and simulation in Art but I will try to develop this trend in a more dynamic and effective way in the future.

Old but Not Dead

Abstration - to be honest is my favourite when I visit or just pass by any galleries in the city or elsewhere. It's not because I could understand what the artist draw, what concepts actually in it, just because I like to see its shapes, colors and arrangement. Everything - sometimes - turns to be clear only when I see the name below the painting.

Reading articles about Abstration Art often made me a little heady due to the explanations that do not fit with my thoughts; yet this time, a right Art article at a right moment really causes the effect. "A Retrospective of Paintings and Drawings" ( Roberta Smith Oct. 2006 - The New York Times) written about Brice Marden's Art Exhibition in New York - an abstraction artist - doubtfully inspired me in certian way of thinking about this Art sort.

Brice Marden is known as an artist that perseverely keep his own way of painting, he gained success but after a long time life chasing ambition in many places. The rhythmic motion of stucco on walls in France made him totally mesmerized. "The basic principles of his work took root: draw from the past, but use a strictly maintained physical process, express an un-Minimalist, even romantic inner life through Minimalist means" (1). "Express an un-Minimalist, even romantic inner life through Minimalist means" is exactly what he did in almost his Art works, especially the most current one as you can see below

"The Propitious Garden of Plane Image"

Ignore the name of the work that I typed in very small size on purpose and firstly try to get the meaning yourself. This is the full version of his work at the Museum of Modern Art. Interesting! At the time Neo-Pop Art currently dominates, an old drawing style with very basic shapes, lines and colours still can create new trend and receive great adoption.

It is said that he began with one single panel first and then move to two and three ... ones vertically, reapeat the theme of the work to create meaning, more powerfull and clearer in the abstraction. The article also includes many interesting facts about his use of paint brushes, colors and how this work realated in theme to “D’après la Marquise de la Solana” inspired by Goya’s portrait.

The exhibition was really successful with this painting, two long six-panels title his impressive work "The Propitious Garden of Plane Image" - the name of the painting after all.

The painting left many thoughts inside me ... We can see his sketches with long lines and different colours which evokes us about some kind of maps filled up with rivers, fields, lands, etc. All was presented on the stage of different backgrounds - Are there different situations in life, does it just simply reflect the way we see things from "top of the sky" or that's what we - different people - see life in different ways? We all see rectangular frames - continuously, lines, colours, but it's not exactly the same. Things change when we see and think differently, things you could not never ever recognise.

Another paintings:

“Untitled # 3,” by Brice Marden

"Post Calligraphic Drawing," 1998

Reference
Roberta Smith, The New York Times, 27 Oct. 2006

The Artist, viewed 28 Oct. 2006,

WELLCOME TO MY BLOG !

I currently have some blogs in many sites but this is my first blog that I made only for Art purpose.

I used to think it's somehow difficult to express what we feel or think about things happening in front of our eyes, it obviously touched your feeling but you hardly describe exactly what it is. To feel it and write it down word-by-word are two seperate things. I sometimes encourage myself to write something like a reflection on Art work, it yet didn't satisfy me. I'm on the way trying to express my feeling, my absorption in certain Art works. Hope this blog is a useful tool for me to improve my critical thinking and writing skills.

Thank you for visting my blog :)