Gustav Metzger
I came across this artist when i walked past a poster of his exhibition, neon greens and pinks were shouting out at me and forced me to stop and take a closer look.
This particular exhibition was called Liquid Crystal Environment. Heat-sensitive liquid crystals are placed between glass slides and inserted into projectors. The heat causes the crystals to change colour and morph into new shapes. This work is similar to that of Klari Reis’s, her work is made in petri dishes, though the material she uses is paint etc. and Metzger blows his projections up to a huge scale, if you compare an image of work from each artist the result is quite similar. This shows that it is possible to recreate the visual effect of nature if the artist chooses to. Reis is not trying to recreate nature though, she too like Metzger is inspired by science and chooses to use that to create something that is reminiscent of natural forms.
Metzger’s work surrounds you; the darkened room forces all your attention on the work, making it almost hypnotic. It is like a sensory environment, where one can get lost in the colours, shapes and in this case, motion. Metzger is interested in destruction and growth, this piece is almost like nature sped up, something that’s so beautiful can be gone within seconds, and then can just as easily reform again.
However the work becomes less of a natural process when you realise its being controlled by a strict computer system. But the images are still left to chance in the fact that you can’t know the exact shape that will form next. Liquid itself is a temperamental medium which you can’t control completely, which then goes back to ideas about the power of the sea and the possibility that nature can be destructive if and when it wants to, and man is left powerless.
Samantha Keely smith
Samantha Keely Smiths work is very atmospheric. It is about the border between dreams and reality. Her images are all imagined, not copied or from life. They are unknown landscapes which remind one of the sea or obscure structures hidden under the earth.
They have depth because she uses a lot of layers, but not just building them up, taking parts of them away. This creates even more depth because you can see through all the top layers right to the bottom one.
With one of my circles, I want to achieve this. I have done it before with my video painting, where the layers I put on are made up of thin tangled lines, which build up a network of shapes and colours that you can still see through.
I think Smith’s work has a much more flowing quality to it, I feel my circle will be more linear. But still, I need to create a dense tangled image because I want the viewer to feel lost.
Paul Baxter
Recently I went to a small exhibition in Needham Market. To be honest, the majority of the work there didn’t appeal to me, but there was a few pieces that caught my eye and when I got closer to view them, oh my goodness. They were beautiful.
They were by a local artist called Paul Baxter, the works were completely different to everything else in the exhibition. They were abstracts, with blues and purples which swirled and morphed into images that could remind one of space nebula or reflections in water.
Looking at the description I saw that the artist had only used ink as his medium, quite like I used to do with my inky paintings. I mainly loved the colours he had used and they had a beautiful glossy finish to them.
It made me think that maybe I could try using inks again, though I would probably have to limit myself to one layer of ink as it easily ‘re-wets’ and blends where you don’t want it to, and I would have to use A LOT of ink to get a depth of colour.
If I had more money I would have bought one of his works but all I could afford was a book mark.
Water has always been involved in my work somehow, whether it’s a painting inspired by ripples and reflections, or the use of water on the canvas to react with the paint.
I feel that one of the reasons I am drawn to water is that my star sign is Pisces, and I also think this is why I am drawn to the colour blue.
The colour blue has been constantly in my work for about 2 years now, it is a colour that can mean so many things at once and provoke lots of different emotions.
Pale blues can be tranquil and calm,
a strong ultramarine can mean power and strength,
and dark blues and navy’s, provoke a sense of sadness and mystery.
In my previous projects I have been inspired by only the surface of water, I.e. ripples, patterns and reflections. And the water I was looking at was puddles, lakes, and swimming pools for my collaboration project with Crown Pools (Ipswich).
I also use water in the process of painting, I water paint down to provide fluidity and wet the canvas to allow the paint and ink to flow better. A wet canvas allows ink to bleed out and create beautiful lines and patterns.
So thinking about how to push my ideas further, I need to challenge myself. I decided that only looking at the surface of water was not enough. I want to push forward my ideas about the natural world and make paintings about the sea. I want to start looking much deeper and think about the sea’s mystery and power when making work. I build up lots of layers in my paintings as I try and achieve a sense of depth. I want the viewer to feel immersed, drawn in.
I think that it is very enjoyable to watch the process of my painting, and it’s quite personal and intimate, especially as I am the one creating it.
It’s between me and the painting.
Video painting
The process of this painting was slightly different, as I filmed each layer, (approx 8-10 layers).
I also used a new medium by Liquitex, which stopped the colours from blurring into one another. This combined with not using any ink ( just acrylic ) made the outcome completely different to Twilight Zone, even though I used the same colours and painterly techniques.
The filming process encouraged me to sit back and watch more. I really enjoyed making little rivers and paths for the paint to flow and watching the shapes form.
The finished image has depth and reflects the outcomes I wanted from Twilight Zone, depth built up with colours from the sea.
I wanted the viewer to feel immersed, with no sense of direction and can no longer see the surface.
