Year 3 Degree Project by Elaine Hedges

Henri Mattisse’s Paper cut-outs are a huge inspiration for my work. His use of layering, colours and interweaving has influenced mine the most out of any artists. Compared to some they seem incredibly simple, but I feel this is what gives them so much effect.

Mattisse’s series of paper cut-outs were born in the final chapter of his career, which he described as ‘carving into colour’

He uses vibrant bright colours and very simple shapes to create a variety of forms such as flora, the human body, most noticeably usually women’s, circus scenes and performers.

The Tate describes his work as: ‘ Bold, exuberant and often large in scale, the cut-outs have an engaging simplicity coupled with incredible creative sophistication.’

Tate.org.uk, (2015). Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/henri-matisse-cut-outs

The reason that Mattisse switched from painting to paper cut-outs is due to his ill health preventing him from painting. But through this a new medium was born and the cut-outs are what he became most famous for.

Moma states that Mattisse used Scissors to create his cut outs: ‘An unorthodox implement, a pair of scissors, was the tool Matisse used to transform paint and paper into a world of plants, animals, figures, and shapes.’

Moma.org, (2015). Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs. [online] Available at: http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2014/matisse/the-cut-outs.html

What i find intriguing about different papercutting artists is the different tools that they use. Some find it better to work with scissors and some find it better to work with scalpels or laser cutting. It makes me wonder why these artists use this range of different instruments.

I myself use a scalpel because it feels most comfortable in my hands and I find I work faster and more precisely with them than scissors, scissors block my vision too much to make for an effective tool in my case.

I like how he mixes solid colour with pattern, and overlaps the images over each other. This is something I will experiment with in my own work, mixing solid colour with complicated patterns.

He also uses interweaving in his work, again something I will explore in later pieces of work as my current pieces are too solid for this to be successful.

This Fuchsia and Green coloured cut out based created whilst also creating my larger circular piece as I wanted to create a much longer rectangular based one to experiment which when I couldn’t face looking at the larger one for a while.

It was interesting to experiment which how the colours overlapped, and by using the fuchsia one to have solid colour in certain areas. I feel these solid colours worked as they separated more successfully from each other and it made it less simple, it gave it a complexity and precision that is hadn’t had before.

I did wish to add a yellow layer behind it, but felt it would look overly done and would drown out the other two colours.

I feel it has been successful as an experiment and has been a learning progress for the remainder of my project as I shall begin using the solid colouring rather than just pattern and symmetry in order to further emphasize the different colouring of the different layers with opposite colours.

Grayson Perry

Perry is a contemporary artist that uses craft materials in his work. From his pots, such as the Huhne Vase(2014) and We’ve Found the Body of Your Child (2000), which are reminiscent of Greek pottery in the way they are presented and which depict the narratives that Perry creates. His series of tapestries such as The Vanity of Small Differences, which features six tapestries. Influenced by Hogarth’s 18th century series, A Rakes Progress (1733), Perry has created a narrative in each piece which has been influenced by contemporary society.

I really enjoy how Perry presents his work, very inconspicuously and innocent, but once you look more closely it is incredibly lurid and crude. It gives his work a sense of hilarity in what is usually seen as a very serious media.

Take his most recent piece, The Huhne Vase (2014).  Reminiscent of Greek pottery in colour and style, it depicts the disgraced politician Chris Huhne who was jailed for attempting to pervert the course of justice by asking his wife to take the blame for a speeding penalty. The vase depicts the politician’s face numerous times, car tyres, his personalised number plate and a phallus each encircling the pot in a repetitive pattern. All of these are symbolic of Huhne.  The phallus being a universal sign of masculinity and the personalised number plate which names him but also symbolises a car.

As part of a channel4 series produced by Perry he states that ‘He represents what I call Default Man,” said Perry. “A white, middle-class, middle-aged, heterosexual man, an identity group that hides in plain sight.” (Perry, 2014)

Channel4.com, (2014). Grayson Perry reveals artworks as part of Channel 4 series on identity – Channel 4 – Info – Press. [online] Available at: http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/grayson-perry-reveals-artworks-as-part-of-channel-4-series-on-identity

Perry has a very mixed reaction to this work as he identifies as a ‘Default Man’ and yet he doesn’t want to be associated with it because of what it symbolises. Perry’s work is a rollercoaster of concept, emotional and intimacy which always resonates with the viewer deeply. This is the type of art I really enjoy as it makes a lasting impression

His exhibition, The Tomb of the unknown Craftsman caught my attention as the title is pretty self explanatory. He curated his own works alongside a variety of hand chosen piece from the British museum and created this vast exhibition of completely unknown makers. Its most interesting as the artist of works are usually known in art galleries, but the British museum is not an art gallery. And so these works live on without a maker and are identified as craft and the people who made them as craftsman.

The difference between an artist and a craftsman is an interesting debate which I discussed in my dissertation. There are arguments that in contemporary society and art conceptual artists are forced to choose between identifying as craftsman or artists when they use a craft media.

I don’t feel this is the case, from what I’ve seen craft is becoming more popular in art because artists are adopting old school methods of experimenting with their work.  Perry is one such artists that has always positioned himself on the cusp of art and craft.

I’ve found a variety of patterns in Islamic art, often in their architecture and especially in their religious places. This is because their god cannot be drawn or portrayed and so instead they use the concept of infinity in their patterns to portray their god as infinite.

The museum of the Arab World in Paris is a prime example on how Middle Eastern art is affected by pattern and repetition due to the appearance of the building. It has the same repetitive and distinctive pattern around every area of the building, a constant symmetrical flow that doesn’t end.

Pattern is also used in Christian churches, in the architecture, the wood work or stone work and all over the textiles. It is also common in Biblical art, textiles and stained glass windows.

Examples I’ve found are panoramic views of Church ceilings and fish eye perspectives which show Repetitive and symmetrical Patterns. All of them are distinctive and inspiring because of the range of patterns, colours and places that they come from which influence them.

For my Paper cuts I have focused on the theme of repeatable patterns. I’m very interested in the construct of symmetry and mathematical pattern making as it means I can create an infinite possibility of pattern through my work.

It is something that can be layered again and again, intersecting and interweaving with each consecutive layer of paper. It also gives me freedom to work with different sizes which is can also be made infinitely larger because of my paper media.

This Theme of Pattern and Repetition is influenced by Islamic, Christian and Gothic art from a variety of sources. Such as Architecture, Textiles, Gates, Stained Glass windows, as well as a variety of Artists.

Islamic Art in particular has influenced me because of its basis on the concept of infinity. Their patterns and designs are often portraying this concept and due to this, repetition is heavily used.