Supporting statement – final project
Introduction – initial ideas.
Having been set the project to produce a series of 4 connected prints based on a theme and not wanting to go down the obvious route eg seasons, I looked to me previous work and decided to develop a small print idea I had worked on for the IPE (International Print Exchange). The initial idea was inspired by the book ‘Experiments for the Future’ and a diary entry by Aleksander Rodchenko, a Russian avant-garde artist who worked in numerous media and was part of the Russian Constructivists art movement. The diary entry related to a series of work based on what I would take as a kind of recipe for making abstract geometric work. The theme then would be Geometric Abstraction – My own Experiments for the Future.
Development of ideas
“In 1920-21 Rodchenko designed six constructions using the following shapes, folded into a horizontal plane:
- 2 circles
- a hexagon
- an oval
- a triangle
- a square”
My initial starting point was the ideas of Aleksander Rodhchenko and his diary notes but I needed to find additional inspiration on colour and form. I have been interested in geometric abstraction as a way of expressing universal forms through painting and printmaking.
To support the final project work, I did a lot of further research into the work of geometric abstract art as a movement and specific artists which led me to wonder if my initial ideas were not strong enough and I thought long and hard about the context of these, about the theme, the colours and the possible titles. I knew there was a lot more work to be done but wasn’t quite sure where to go with it.
I have looked at the work of a number of artists and tried to contextualise this project but I was lacking in time to complete the work and get it sent off to my tutor in time for the last feedback at the end of the course.
Having been inspired by the work of the Cuban Concrete artists in my previous work (Project 14- combination lino and mono prints) I felt that this was worth revisiting to investigate in more depth and could help the development of colour and form. I
I returned to my initial compositional experiments and redrew them, enlarging and improving them using appropriate equipment, ruler, protractor and compass.
From these drawings I refined further and decided on the best 4 compositions based on my own aesthetic judgment. I carved these 4 designs in lino and printed them using black Caligo ink on Zerkall and coloured paper. They worked as a simple images but for me did not fully satisfy the assignment theme of combination prints.
I then experimented further with sections of colour for the different shapes and some of these were more successful than others. Aware of the lack of time Ir nevertheless reworked them using chine colle, monoprinting, gold leaf and masking and finally produced a series of 4 to send off to my tutor.
Issues to be resolved/developed further
My tutor’s initial feedback seemed to suggest that these were less successful than I had at first hoped. She struggled to see the context of them and the backup sketchbook work let me down. I needed to improve them and make them stronger pieces especially as these would be my final project images. I did a lot more work on my blog and sketchbook to make the links clearer with my contextual research. Hopefully, the pieces now make sense with the fuller explanation of the backup work.
My biggest area of limitation was my time management and this has been an issue throughout the course. I have a busy life and did not find the course easy to get started so left myself with too little time to complete the final project to the best of my abilities. Nevertheless, I am pleased with the results given these restraints. I produced all the work in my home studio and feel proud that I have completed the course during the time allowed. The final prints are the beginnings of a body of work, which I am interested in developing further in the future. I showed them to Theo at the Leicester print workshop and he said they had potential, he was reminded of the letterpress work of James Brown, in particular, his alphabet with the overprinted semi-translucent sections.
If I were to do this project differently I would try to do more primary research as I think I lacked enough for this project although I’m not sure how I could have done this part differently as it would be quite tricky to research geometric shape constructions. I did visit several exhibitions but I think the project could have been stronger if I had have done more primary research.
Bibliography
Experiments for the Future – Rodchenko
Widewalls
Adventures of the black square
Becki P Printmaker 