Recent Developments & Research

Three months since my last work based post … there have been many developments with my work and much research has been obtained. However, I have decided to continue pursuing my nature/trail based work. I intend to go back into the print rooms within the next two weeks and begin creating trails using various basic techniques including collographs (low level printing), relief printing and mono printing.

I am currently researching as part of my development;

• Land Art
• Junk Art
• Assemblage Art

I’m looking into various artists who use these techniques, such as;

• Richard Long
• Robert Smithson
• John Chamberlain
• Walter De Maria
• Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy's Spherical Leafwork, 1988

Goldsworthy’s Spherical Leafwork, 1988 is a sculpture which adopts natural materials, not only as formal elements, but also as tools that hold new shapes together, for example using thorns as a pinning device in this structure. Leaves are a familiar sign of passing time, turning brown and disintegrating with the changing seasons. It is these concepts that Goldsworthy uses that I would like to apply to my work. 

The art of recycling appeals to me as artworks are made from everyday materials and bits of rubbish. Assemblage and Junk Art sometimes evoke a mood of nostalgia, but they also highlight the wastefulness of consumer society and rejected the commercialism of Pop Art.

Land art (also known as Earth art) was developed in the 1970s and drew inspiration both from the natural environment and its raw materials. Land artists work directly onto the landscape itself, sculpting it to make earthworks, or building structures and installations with natural materials, such as branches or rocks.

 

Land art sought to raise awareness of man’s place in both the natural and urban environments. Land art is centred on creating art outside galleries or in public spaces, in the context of the natural world. Goldsworthy’s work is often situated in intimate settings of woodland and seashore, using leaves, twigs and stones. Land artists also occasionally produce their work in galleries, by creating installations made from materials taken from the landscape.

Various examples of Land art include;

Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, 1970

Richard Long's Sahara Line, 1988

Walter De Maria's Lightning Field, 1975

David Nash's Threshold Column, 1998

 

Best known for his constructions of crumpled automobile parts, the sculptor and painter John Chamberlain has combined in his work the methods of Junk Art and the aesthetic of Abstract Expressionism.

 

John Chamberlain's Kora, 1963

With his later car sculptures, assembled from scrapyard materials, Chamberlain brought the spontaneity and dynamic colour of Abstract Expressionism to Junk Art.  

I am going to pursuit my nature trails but incorporate this research into my new developments.