Category: Art and artists: building a vocabulary

Art and artists: building a vocabulary, Research & Reflection2 Comments

ArtActivistBarbie – a Conversation article

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

The Conversation is an academics-driven publication that takes a sound look at a variety of topics from cosmology through medical research to gender politics. They permit republishing under the creative commons licence and in accordance with their policy of enabling the free flow of information. This article speaks to my growing discomfort at the monopoly male artists, male collectors, and male curators – generally white – hold in representing the history and the body of art. In fact, as ArtActivistBarbie put it with regard to a history of art poster (see penultimate paragraph), museums and galleries are de facto His … Continue reading ArtActivistBarbie – a Conversation article

Art and artists: building a vocabulary, Exhibitions & Books1 Comment

Bisa Butler – portrait artist in quilts

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Somebody remind me of this for when portraiture comes around in this module. I’m a child of the flower-power generation, a hippy, a 1960s Brighton art student who somehow ended up in science. Butler’s colours sing from that palette but they’re singing a very modern tune, setting right some cultural wrongs by depicting black men and women with a dignity they were never quite accorded at that time and which our white world still struggles with. Butler trained as a painter and describes herself as a portrait artist, but uses the medium of fabric and thread to make her art. … Continue reading Bisa Butler – portrait artist in quilts

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Howard Hodgkin 1932-2017

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

One of his works features in the course materials, a vibrant and energetic piece that uses sweeps of complementary colours to evoke mood. The Bay of Naples is a 1980-1982 piece with a flattened perspective and expansive brushwork that makes the result anything but flat. It seems more abstract than figurative and somehow brighter than I would have expected, given it is painted on a dark ground. This one is similar; brilliantly impactful, a red frame bordering the ebullient fields of intense colour within. This image is from Mary Acton’s 2009 book, Learning to Look at Paintings, published by Routledge. … Continue reading Howard Hodgkin 1932-2017

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Colour Theory

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Introduction Colour theory has to do with both the science and biology of colour perception (by humans), and the psychology of it – what minds make of the information they receive. The originators, Goethe and Chevreul in the 19th century, seemingly coming to it from quite different perspectives, provided the working principles by which artists could actively choose colour combinations for their impact rather than relying on instinct. This is from Wikipedia which aggregates the bones of the subject: …two founding documents in color theory: the Theory of Colours (1810) by the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and The Law of Simultaneous Color … Continue reading Colour Theory

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Chiaroscuro

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I came across the term chiaroscuro many years ago and subsequently forgot what it meant then confused it with sgraffito. A little analysis would have clarified that, given the latter’s close approximation to graffiti. Chiaroscuro is about light and the use of paint to create that illusion on canvas. Sister Wendy Beckett (Beckett, 2001) notes an early example of this (see above) and makes the link back from this Roman piece to Hellenistic art. I find this painting startling in its realism; representational without being frozen. It looks alive. The small glass vase in particular has a fragility to it, and a … Continue reading Chiaroscuro

Art and artists: building a vocabulary, Coursework, Part 1, Research & ReflectionLeave a comment

Part 1, Research Point 1, Chiaroscuro

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I came across the term chiaroscuro many years ago and subsequently forgot what it meant then confused it with sgraffito. A little analysis would have clarified that, given the latter’s close approximation to graffiti. Chiaroscuro is about light and the use of paint to create that illusion on canvas. Sister Wendy Beckett (Beckett, 2001) notes an early example of this (see above) and makes the link back from this Roman piece to Hellenistic art. I find this painting startling in its realism; representational without being frozen. It looks alive. The small glass vase in particular has a fragility to it, and a … Continue reading Part 1, Research Point 1, Chiaroscuro

Art and artists: building a vocabulary, Coursework, Research & Reflection3 Comments

Paula Rego – BBC documentary and Gompertz review of exhibition

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Dame Paula Rego: Will Gompertz reviews Obediance and Defiance show in Milton Keynes. BBC News, Entertainment and Arts, June 2019 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48616934?xtor=ES-211-%5B23633_PANUK_DIV_25_ART_PaulaRego_Over35_Mopup%5D-20190623-%5Bbbcnews_damepaularegowillgompertzreviewsobedienceandefianceshowinmiltonkeynes_news%5D I’ve just watched the BBC’s 2017 documentary, Secrets and Stories, on Rego (which is due to expire in twelve days from now but just in case of a reprieve, this is the link https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08kz9qz/paula-rego-secrets-and-stories?xtor=ES-211-%5B23633_PANUK_DIV_25_ART_PaulaRego_Over35_Mopup%5D-20190623-%5Bbbctwo_paularegosecretsandstories_factualarts%5D) and found my first speculations about the deeper issues referred to in short biographies to be both justified and deepened. Being born in Portugal into a world in which fascism and repression – particularly of women – meant much of what was real in terms … Continue reading Paula Rego – BBC documentary and Gompertz review of exhibition