Blog 50

I am back in the studio exploring my black paper samples, in pursuit of the idea of pierced black paper without the use of very messy black pigment added to it. Would the samples be comparable to my original pierced black pigmented artworks? Could they be better, worse, or just different - a different aesthetic / piece of work?

I have also embossed the black paper samples to see how they compare to my previous white embossed artworks.

The reflection of light on the marks on the paper, it's visual clarity, varies so much depending on where the work is placed in the room and at what time of day, including what lighting is used, natural or artificial. This can have it's own meaning, a subject to play with, but is tricky to manage or control. My work is about process with the end results about that process.

You may recall my white pierced sculptural circle:

which led to larger versions of pierced circles: 

And blackened pierced paper circles:






I have now made some mini black pierced paper circles (without pigment) and put them with some white pierced circles.

There is more work that could be done with this idea based on repetition, scale and installation? It feels like I am painting in 3D. But is my material quite right?

So I have been thinking about piercing paper and embossing paper and particularly finding a replacement for the very messy process of adding black pigment powder to the paper surface.

I have been following the excellent #BBCFourGoesAbstract season on the television. It is very informative, abstract art, a subject I don't know much about. 

I see my pierced holes and dots as individual marks within a mass of marks, yet each without a specific meaning. An abstract. Mass. 

After I had taken the photograph above, when I looked at it, it looks like a collage, an abstract composition. But how could I interpret this into an artwork?

You notice a splash of red - red acrylic paint - brushed onto pierced paper to try and find a powdery pigment replacement. I always work in black and white. I am not a colourist in any way. Anish Kapoor says that red makes a kind of black. I have an understanding with what he is saying. Was this an instinctive choice why I used red? Another artist, Bernard Aubertin, introduced to me in 2013 makes artworks only in red or black, sometimes gold. 

But really I like the colour palette of the black paper samples themselves, best of all.

My line of enquiry is to find a replacement for the very messy process of adding black pigment powder to the paper surface. Following the likes of Yves Klein and Idris Khan I feel I need a finished powdery surface which is lighter and more delicate. 

At this stage after many experiments it looks like a Gum Arabic solution is coming up trumps verses Somerset Black 280gsm Paper. I like the idea of using Gum Arabic because it has a relationship with watercolour painting and I use watercolour paper as my base material. But there are more experiments to be done first.

These new works will never be the same as my original black pigmented paper, but perhaps an alternative, causing a different work of art, with a different aesthetic?

I have also been following the conversations on line about Kazimir Malevich's Black Square 1929, in relation to the Tate Modern Exhibition of his work which is open at the moment (16 July - 26 October 2014). This has led nicely onto the #BBCFourGoesAbstract series that I have been watching on television. 

You see I have been making squares and frames for a quite a while now:

And I don't know why I have been doing it specifically...

And this summer, when I was drawing, I made these two sketches:

And this was before Malevich and #BBCFourGoesAbstract series kicked in...

I end by saying that during the summer I was given a box of unused foam mount board, no longer of use to it's owner. I have decided to make 'white cube' boxes as maquettes for constructing visual ideas for display of my artworks. The 'white cube' gallery is perceived as the optimal space for an artist to exhibit their work in, and is not for everyone. But these spaces can be painted different colours, carved into, fabricated, changed, if so desired. I need to find a way to visualise what I see in front of me when I am making, and how I could display it in an exhibition, for the viewer.  At the least it will give me something to work towards.

And look at all the cut off remnant foam board pieces. Those triangles. This material makes building blocks of it's own. 

I think I need to spend some more time looking at what I have done. Study the different elements. Move things around a bit, physically, in the studio, at the desk, and mentally.