A ‘Deconstruction’ of Traditional Modes of Portraiture| BA (Hons) FINE ART
Recoded Tutorial
15.10.15
Franz Gertsch
One outcome from my tutorial on Thursday was to research the work of Franz Gertsch. A photorealist/hyperrealist painter, our conversation were centred around the woodcuts that form a large part of his practise. This may be a direction that my work ca got into in term of fining other ways to translate my work.
Paintings:
Johanna II, Made of Tempera on unprimed cotton
Irene 1980, acrylic on unprimed canvas
Much like the work of Chuck Close whose work I also admire, the unconventionality of the sitter makes for a very interesting image, hence my concerns (spoken about in my tutorial) about issues of appropriation.
Looking at this woodcuts, whether they we portrait based, or landscapes, there is a intricacy and delicacy of the prints that could be beneficial to my practise. This is something that i will practise with (whether with lino or some other way of pruning) alongside my acetate work in order to experiment with the medium and see whether it can be useful to my ongoing practise.
1. Woodcuts:
Woodcut, occasionally known as xylography, is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts; large-format paintings and woodcuts
Typical woodcut (below)
His landscape portraits are beautiful. so detailed yet so simple, I feel that if I really get the feel for the material and medium that this medium could be used to create very interesting portraits which i feel would really help me to develop my practise.
Franz Gertsch Schwarzwasser I, 1990/91 woodcut, 234 x 181 cm, on Kumohadamashi Japanese paper
Franz Gertsch, Black Water. Woodcut 1991/92
Pestwurz Ii, 2002; woodcut on japanese paper, 110 x 134 cm
Das Grosse Gras, 1999-2001; woodcut
Portraits:
Even with his woodcut portraits, there remains a level of detail that i feel would benefit my practise. unlike typical woodcuts that are very angel and attract in nature due to the process, Gertsch’s still have that detailed hand-drawn quality that I would like to achieve if i experimented with this material.
Dominique, 1988; Woodcut on Japanese Paper
Doris; Woodcut, 258 x 196 xm
Bagatelle Iv Silvia; woodcut on japanese paper , cm 130 x 114
2. Portfolio Drawing:
Something that was also discussed in my tutorial was the possibility of a series. As it was agreed that I want a maintenance of the drawing practise throughout my work, we though that in order to stop my wrk being confined to a sketchbook or a wall, that i produce a series of smiley (tiny even) drawing of everyday people that would form a continual method of practise throughout the initial stage of this year. This could take the form of people encountered in everyday events that would become a part of a larger drawing series that I could develop later into Stage 2.
This bears some relation to Peter Zelewski’s photographic series in which he takes images of people encountered on Oxford Street. The only difference with my series of course it that it would be smaller hand drawn portraits and not confined to any area/location.
Peter Zelewski’s photograph of Nyaueth, taken on Oxford Street, central London, as part of his Beautiful Strangers series, is shortlisted in the Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize 2015
“a london based portrait and documentary photographer. For as long as I can remember I’ve always been fascinated by people which has no doubt led to my obsession with portrait photography. I thrive on the art of capturing the essence of the person in a still image. Their expression, their environment and their relationship with me all play an enormous part in capturing the perfect portrait.”
3. Architectural Drawing Translation
Another topic of conversation was the idea of re-tranlating a finished piece into a architectural drawing. My tutor enjoyed the simplicity of the piece and felt that the final outcome could there be re-translated into a similar styled piece that could then act as a finished outcome. This is a interesting thing to as as I am always so determined to have a large, accomplished piece and the idea that she liked the more simple drawing and felt that it would be an interesting way to communicate my work.
Unfortunately this is something that would require me to finish the actual piece before re-translating them into a more simple architectural drawing. Nevertheless the 3D sculptural drawing and its 2D counterpart will be an interesting start to Stage 2.
4. Portfolio of Photos
The final line of discussion was the idea to keep a running portfolio of the images that I keep throughout the years. This was something that I was already doing throughout Stage 1 and feel that in order to keep this mode of collection going, I need to make it official by putting it in a portfolio folder and continuing to collate images throughout Stage 2.
Babak Ghazi
This is in line with the discussion of an artist (above) in Monday’s Lecture whose work was a immense compilation of the image they had collected throughout their lengthy artistic career. As I feel that image appropriation (copying and authorship issues) is such a vital part of my practise, keeping a similar kind of personal library will be useful in helping me to define why I use this method of collection, as well as to see similarities in the images that I am attracted to.
Overall, I feel that this initial discussion in Stage 2 was incredibly helpful. I think that I have developed a number of ideas that can lend itself to my continued studio practise, as well as feel more confident in my way of working and how to define my practise.
Franz Gertsch, Black Water. Woodcut 1991/92
Pestwurz Ii, 2002; woodcut on japanese paper, 110 x 134 cm
Das Grosse Gras, 1999-2001; woodcut
