One of the ideas I like within my work is that the image or sculpture, lets say creation will continue to change over time. Unfortunately as the creator this is not always something you get to see through to fruition. For example one of the things I like to do is add atomised metals to my paintings, my hope is that over time these metals will oxidise with the air or mix with chemicals within the paint and will continue to change and develop over time. When I say that I may not get to see this through to fruition in this case I don’t mean never finish the work. What i actually mean is that the image may change beyond recognition but i would never know as the creation may have been sold or no longer in my possession. Personally I like this, I can also see the other side of the coin though. In some cases I may not wish for the image or creation to change but by this point it is too late, that decision was made many steps earlier.
(Image By Rowan Johnston, 2016)
In Kiefer’s work “Salt of the Earth” he has taken large sheets of lead and exposed large images of landscapes on to the sheets. After this he has used electrolysis to tarnish or verdigris the sheets which has several effects. one effect is to age the lead, make it feel old and tarnished. The other effect is to give an almost glowing green & turquoise vanishing point to the image.
Germano Celant comments that “the large slabs of lead that house images of landscape as expanses of sea and/ or land in which a solitary figure appears walking on the beach are treated with electrolysis, in order to give them a green patina, the colour of hope. This fusion of nature and fiery material, positive in sign, reveals an optimistic desire on the part of the artist to expand his completeness, setting profound forces in motion in the whole of the perceptible world.”
(Celant.G, 2011, Salt of the Earth, Venezia, Fondazione Emilio e Annabianca, P.26)
(Anslem Kiefer, Salt of the Earth, 2011, Fondazione Emilio e Annabianca Vedova)
