Tutorial with Gary Colclough
Talking to Gary has always helped me in the field of painting and the process of getting to painting(collage making, choosing of the subject for my art etc.) and this conversation was not different. While Gary was looking at my works, I saw him being interested in one painting the most. The painting titled don’t drown.
Gary mostly spoke about the fact that the painting is being the most cinematic out of the three paintings. He noted that the painting is leaving us in the unknown, not knowing what is actually happening. The painting is leading us to thinking that the person seen on the painting is maybe being drown and maybe just laying in the bath. The viewer also sees the edge of the canvas, which is leading us to thinking there is more of the story to be told, not cutting it. Should I do that, is it helping the painting?
Gary also gave me some references to look at or read into. One of them is the movie Blow Up. He said that the cinematic of the movie is amazing, so I might have a look at it.
Another references were to look at Painting as a Weapon. I hope that I found the right book. The book’s full title is Painting as a Weapon; Progressive Cologne 1920 – 1930. The book focuses on the understanding of art during the Weimar period in Germany thanks to a group of Cologne Progressives, offering a new definition of the relationship between art and politics between the World Wars. American historian Lynette Roth reveals how the group also developed a new and unique formal language shaped by their socially critical stance.
This book examines the artistic practice of the Progressives in a new light.
Following that, I was also introduced to
Karin Mamma Andersson, who is a Swedish Contemporary painter. Her work is often figurative, frequently depicting domestic interiors and snowy landscapes, and is known for its quiet, dreamlike quality. Andersson spoke about her art: ,, I paint slowly, gently, thin, beautiful, ugly, thick, hard. I love it, it’s my life. But I hate it too, It is a quiet, messy, illogical confusing disorder. It is here that dreams and the subconscious come in.”
All that I think connects to my art in its own way and I understand why this reference came to me from Gary.
