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Robert Swain- Colour Pioneer

23/10/2014

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The Dynamics Of Colour

PictureUntitled 2014 - Robert Swain
The explosion of knowledge about colour or should i say light, for they are synonymous, changed the face of art forever and was triggered by the colour theories of French chemist Michele Eugene Chevreul from as early as 1855. France was a hotspot for innovation during the mid to late 1800's and artists followed and incorporated the latest technological developments into their work including new tube oil paints and innovations in photography.The first systematic study of the properties of colour by Chevreul revolutionised the way artists thought about and applied colour in their painting. 

The Impressionists were the first group of artists to experiment with and then embrace a method of applying complimentary colours to the canvas in dabs adjacent to each other to achieve an illusory optical effect of a third colour, eg. a blue next to a yellow creates the sensation of a phantom green. Many Impressionist works are essentially experiments in colour and this is important to grasp aside from the fact that they are paintings of "life." Next come the Fauves in the early part of the 20th century with their wild use of colour earning them the nickname "Wild Beasts." The use of colour becomes a bit more scientific with "Orphism" a movement of painters around this same time as Cubism who were interested in the use of colour in abstraction. A key figure is Robert Delaunay and his wife Sonia who painted for the purpose of experimentation. Of course there are other very important figures some of whom often worked independently such as Seurat, Macke, Klee, Kupka, Kandinsky and Leger not to overlook the preceding breakthrough work achieved by Cezanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin. 

You're probably wondering where i'm going with this but i'm trying to compress a large period of time in order to get to the present. Simply put, the modern use of colour came by way of experiments by a host of individual artists and scientists over time. The early adoption of a new colour sense formed the modern "way of seeing!" The point i'm trying to make is, we see how we see because of innovations in art; our modern perception has been "formed," it is not incidental! Colour became the critical element in the large scale paintings by Barnett Newman, Clifford Still and Mark Rothko. A few decades later we have Morris Louis, Noland, Frankenthaler and Olitski all taking the use of colour one step further into new territory. For the longest time art informed fashion and culture including advertising and much of this art was innovative and if you will, "avante garde." 

Around this time in the early sixties two really key artists appear on the scene, Bridget Riley in the UK and Robert Swain in the USA. These two artists have made colour and its operation essentially the core of their artistic pursuits. Maybe their fantastic dedication to exploring and uncovering the secrets of colour have inspired me the most but it is Robert Swain that i want to look at briefly here. Take a look at the video here produced by James Kalm (Loren Munk) in New York to get a sense of Swains work in an expansive "space." 

Robert Swain realised early in his art practice that he didn't really understand "colour" so he started off by painting colour charts in order to analyse it more extensively. Colour ended up being the "subject" of his art and since 1966 he has painted a multitude of large scale colour charts revealing colours and their hues in a host of permutations. "For Swain, the experience of color is a transfer of energy on a physical level" says Sharon Mizota in her review of his solo show at the Santa Monica Museum of Art for the LA Times. Swain is obsessed by the notion of colour as "form" and by creating large scale works divided up into 12 inch squares for the most part he has found a way to contain the efficacy of hues by placing them adjacent to other hues that inhibit their tendency to "slippage." Swains paintings are not merely "scientific" or "clinical" observations, they are an attempt to understand and harness the emotional power inherent in colours. This is in some ways similar to what Bridget Riley has been doing since the unveiling of her astounding black and white painting in the sixties now unfortunately titled "Op" art when she subsequently turned a corner and began to experiment with the fugitive nature of colours. Riley prior to Swain also became intrigued by the difficult nature of colour. Swain has remained steadfast for the most part to the grid and hard edge "geometric" charts whereas Riley has been working with a more organic or "curvilinear" use of line in her compositions.

Check out the Minus Space website here for info on "contemporary abstraction."
What amazes me is Swains steadfast commitment to his "project" of unmasking the beautiful properties of colours! This isn't for the fainthearted as this type of work is far removed from the merely "decorative" or more harmonious figurative art that is much more easily accepted by the mainstream. Many have questioned the "validity" of colour charts as art and this requires a determination on the part of the artist that i would carefully term "heroic." I mean, think about what it takes in time and money to paint these beautiful charts that can be likened to "optical tone" symphonies not unlike the more traditional works by Bonnard, Seurat and Matisse with their genteel everyday scenes but far more direct and objective in their presentation. Robert Swain has left a remarkable body of work that if it could be seen in its entirety i'm sure would convert the most ardent critic or detractor. 

Swain has succeeded in creating an extensive suite of visual poems large and small by making "colour" the central theme of his artistic journey. Through a process of experimentation the artist settled on a colour chart in the 70's containing 30 hues as the foundation for his methodology in painting. Settling for a system based on three components, hue, value and saturation, every colour mixed has been assigned to a chart with a corresponding sample colour card. He has also taken the time to document his process painstakingly by amassing a staggering 4896 containers of archived batch colours that have each been assigned an "HSV" number. This approach to work appears to have a clinical or scientific or maybe even mathematical disposition but the artist assures us this isn't the case.  
Like a skilful composer, Swain organises the inner workings of his images by playing with "dynamic equilibrium," "duration," and "symmetry" producing a host of parallel and contrasting relationships and effects between the picture elements in an attempt to create "tension." This process has occurred as a result of a step by step accumulation of knowledge over a more than 45 year period. Ultimately, Swain wants to categorise "colour sensation" which to my understanding would be the first time in human history someone has attempted to do this. This is a great example of what artists can and do achieve and what those accomplishments mean for collective humanity. The work of Robert Swain is not only a marvel to look at in the "flesh" but a great contribution to the knowledge we have about our world. After all, what could be more important than understanding how and what we see or think we see!     
Robert Swain, like other artists i have written about, is an inspiration because of what he's achieved through diligence and lateral thinking. There was indeed a vacuum in the 20th century in which many artists were working, unaware of all there was to learn about colour and its function in art. Swain saw this lack and proceeded to fill in the gaps enabling others to study his work and learn more quickly about the operation of colour in art in general and painting in particular.

Please take the time to check out this highly informative series of video interviews with Robert Swain by Matthew Deleget of Minus Space.

Part 1: New York & The Early Years 

Part 2: Color System
 
Part 3: The Grid: Harmony & Contrast
 
Part 4: Technology & Process
 
Part 5: The Brushstroke & Beyond 
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Dale Frank

15/10/2014

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Pure Painting

PictureNew Paintings - 2003 - Dale Frank
Dale Frank is an Australian painter who rose to prominence fairly rapidly in the early to mid eighties and hasn't looked back since. Today his work is in many major museum collections all over the world. His work is an enigma to many critics in an age where painting is viewed more or less as an anomaly or a second rate adjunct to other more trendy contemporary media practice. The paintings are highly colourful, abstract works fashioned by pouring and manipulating different combinations of resins and varnishes over the surface, sometimes in conjunction with other materials. Tracing his production over the last 15 years it appears to me though, that there are two bodies of work in his total output. The more dominant group is painted with a wider range of colours and leans toward a louder lyrical abstraction with plenty of colour and movement in the compositions. The second group leans toward the more minimal and austere monochromatic tradition in Western painting. This second group is more interesting to me and i'd like to have a quick look at it.  

PictureThe Big Black Bubble - Installation - 2009 - Dale frank
Here you can see an installation of large paintings from 2009 at Anna Schwartz Gallery in Melbourne Australia. The photo gives some idea of the visual weight of the paintings. Physical scale makes them a challenge to paint and to control the flow of liquids across their surfaces. The luscious quality of the gloss surfaces alternately attract and repel the viewers gaze making them awkward to engage with because of the question of content. The viewer may well ask, "What am i supposed to see?" There is something obtuse in the way these paintings obfuscate immediate gratification but that's the point! The only speedy thing received from looking at these works is a feeling of discomfort and exclusion from the world that these images represent, namely, the unknown. Ah yes, these paintings are about the mysterious world of painting and the birthing of images that do not reveal themselves easily. To enter here, there will be a struggle and it will take time, something not many who engage with the work are willing to do. 

Look at the surfaces though, slick as they are! Juicy, sensuous, slathering, dripping and pooling of monochromatic shades of colour appear as if suspended or trapped in a moment of time. This is the trick though because in reality the paintings were composed by the artist manipulating flows of varnish from underneath at periodic intervals as they coagulated and dried during a protracted period of time. In fact we are looking at a series of symphonic colour shows frozen at their apex by the conductor. Revealed are the possibilities inherent in the nexus of artistic choice and the deft manipulation of materials based on Frank's extensive knowledge of their behaviour. The picture gallery below depicts the beautifully enigmatic and sensitive nature of the more monochromatic paintings that have appeared in Franks oeuvre periodically over many years.     

Jeremy Davies - 2000 - Dale Frank
Untitled 2010 - Dale Frank
Untitled 2008 - Dale Frank
In recent paintings (see slide show below,) Frank has upped the ante a bit by provocatively pouring his paint and solvent mixtures over various types of coated plexiglas and mirror combinations. This move opens new avenues for surface exploration by the artist. Where do you go, can you go when you are in the corner but back out of it! Abstraction is a corner that the artist must continually work his/her way out of. This is the challenge! Take what you have and make it new again or at least fine tune what has gone before. 

These new works are opalescent in quality, analogous of blurry underwater or foggy/smoky scenes in some strange netherworld. There is a continuation of that beautiful, sensuous  and often diaphanous flow of muted colour swirling across each surface. The difference with this series of paintings is the introduction of a wavering and sometimes almost indistinct horizon line moving through what appears to be a background. This changes Franks methodology from flat paintings sans depth to paintings that at least introduce a sense of spatial depth onto the picture plane. It appears to me that figuration is attempting to elbow its way into these new works as allusive as they are and i feel this must be intentional on the part of the artist. 

The introduction of gold frames takes Frank full circle back into the history of "framed art" and the politics of "framing" a picture. Is this an attempt at creating distinct fictions or simply a device that the artist felt conducive to featuring the qualities in the work. Or is it a joke, a sly jab at the world of "high art" which for the most part has embraced his work and given him the success he enjoys today. This, in the face of what some critics have called an art "empty" of content, superfluous, "eye candy" for the aesthete and for the most part irrelevant in this "digital age." 

Whatever the artists intention, these are enigmatic and paradoxical paintings but at the same time optically distinct and unique. Give credit where it is due, as i think Frank has managed to pull another rabbit out of the hat in addition to extending the current dialogue on "painting." These pictures are a departure from his previous work yet they remain true to the "ethos" of "pure" painting. Frank understands the issues in painting that make it both a difficult yet necessary practice in an impersonal age of "new media." The artist is always ready with sardonic witty titles for his works that befuddle but his belief is in the creation of handmade paintings that totally involve the artists sensibility and humanity.  

Download this balanced review from Art Guide about Dale Frank.
9_frank.pdf
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Dale Frank has been an inspiration to me for some time mainly because he is engaged with painting as "practice," experimenting with the possibilities of the medium in the face of a sometimes hostile and unreceptive critical agenda. Some academics can't understand why painting just won't die and go away. For some reason they fail to grasp the limitless possibilities of this "human" medium so enchanted are they by the conservative "museum" program of control. 

Frank is a reminder of the inventive potential of painting and a demonstration of why it'll never disappear. I admire his tenacity  and belief in the painting project. I also admire his moments of calm (lucidity?) where his paintings take on an ethereal quality that is hard to define. For me, these paintings in particular set up a mysterious vibration that is hard to turn away from. 


Below are some links with informative reviews of Dale Frank's work.

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/aug/21/review-dale-frank-nobodys-sweetie

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/12/1060588374303.html

http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1055623/the-fluid-dynamic-of-conceptual-painter-dale-frank-at-roslyn

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Howard Hodgkin's Beautiful Allusions

7/10/2014

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 "I am a representational painter, but not a painter of appearances. I paint representational pictures of emotional situations."

This is a great example of an installation of recent paintings by Howard Hodgkin at Gagosian Gallery where the artworks don't interfere with each other and have room to "sing" on the wall and plenty of neutral peripheral space to frame them.
PictureInstallation View - Gagosian Gallery - 2014
Howard Hodgkin is a well known British painter who recently celebrated his 80th birthday. Reaching this age doesn't seem to be a big deal these days with all the benefits of modern technology available to extend our lives. I guess what amazes me is the creative flow that has issued forth from an artist who for the most part now relies on a wheelchair and assistants for daily support. What is even more astounding is that this surge of activity follows a recent bout of ill health. In my opinion, Howard's latest paintings are maybe his best, simply because the paintings have become like punctuation marks, compressed but simplified statements exquisitely contained on intimate, "Icon" sized, flat surfaces.  

PictureArabian Sea - 2008 - Howard Hodgkin
A large part of the artist's oeuvre has been the practice of painting on/over framed canvases of all shapes and styles as pictured below in this highly evocative work "Arabian Sea." As far as i can ascertain, incorporating the frame into the picture as an integral part of the composition is "innovative" and in a sense "novel." Traditionally the "frame" has been a "containment" mechanism used to separate and differentiate the created art "image" from its surrounding environment. There is a whole history of framing, click here, showing the development of the "idea" of framing from inception to its present modern counterparts. The key concept was usually the "embellishment" or "protection" of the "precious" painting and sometimes to such a degree that the frames became massive works of art in themselves, often holding symbolic power due to the materials and structure of their design being conversant with the contained image. 

The interesting thing to note here is that initially the frame and picture were one item carved from the same piece of wood starting somewhere in the 12th - 13th century and because this process was expensive to carry out it was abandoned and so the manufacture of elaborately crafted frames as separate items sprang up and became an industry in itself. 

It seems to me that Howard Hodgkin essentially is the first modern artist to return to this old tradition of seeing the picture and frame as requisite parts of the "one" thing and i'm not sure whether he's done this knowingly or unwittingly. The difference is very contemporary and "transgressive" in that he went one step further and painted the frame also as if it was part of the composition. If we look around we can clearly see that the vast majority of cheap factory frames today are used to "delineate" the edge of the artist's composition and direct the viewer's gaze into the central square, rectangle or oval, becoming for the most part demarcation devices. The point i want to make here is that Howard Hodgkin has literally made the frame his own and created a new way for contemporary audiences to 'view" or "consider" what a painting is or can be by violating the traditional function of "frame" or "boundary!" 

The following set of slides show paintings completed by Howard between 1991 and 2011. Only one painting, "Leaf" uses the frame solely as a discrete framing device. Look at how the frames become extensions of the composition. When seen for the first time, these paintings challenge the eye and force the viewer to reconsider the "state of things" when engaging with traditional notions of what pictures should be or do.
For a long time Howard Hodgkin when asked, denied that his pictures were about "beauty" because he felt that it would interfere with the subject of his work which he felt related to feelings and emotions of significant memories remembered! I think though that beauty is a part of what his paintings are about even if it is a beauty that results as a by product of working with the colours and compositions he develops. In recent times Howard has said he doesn't care anymore if people think his paintings are about beauty but maybe he has grown tired of the argument. It would be naive though, to think that when working with colour, beauty in some way wouldn't emerge and for that matter the same can be said about black and white or monochromatic works. Put the right elements together and in particular with colour and in most cases you naturally get some form of "beauty!" In this way maybe Matisse is the progenitor of the simplified form and bright palette used by Hodgkin and other artists like Patrick Heron and David Hockney.  

To sum up what his art is about, in his own words, "I am a representational painter, but not a painter of appearances. I paint representational pictures of emotional situations." His paintings then are not only allusive in a general sense but more particularly, to his own very personal memories. 

PicturePain - 2014 - Howard Hodgkin
The "beautiful" thing for me about Howard's work  is the way he has transitioned from "unframed," framed paintings into painting intimate "frameless" flat wood panels. Dispensing with the frames to me was a great move and links him back up to the painting tradition of the European Renaissance period where painting on wood panels was common. Some of the most beautiful masterpieces were painted on wood by Van Eyck, Durer, Da Vinci and Rembrandt to name only a few. Wood panels have been used from antiquity and date back to the beautiful "Fayoum" portraits from Egypt. There is a whole history of wood panel painting which can be found here. Two recent examples of his small, wooden panel paintings are "Pain" and "Indian Waves" shown here. The artist has come full circle and condensed emotional experience into a few paint strokes with sensual dexterity. He has gone from compositions that allude to views through a door or window to a look in the mirror. To the uninformed these would appear as "gibberish" or 'child's play" but to those who have taken time to understand what painters do and usually over a lifetime, these small wood panel paintings are loaded with human gravitas, the pain and pleasure of a life lived and the inventory of attempts to reflect and make sense of it all in the end. He has transitioned from frame as decoy, a sign promising boundlessness to frameless or unbounded boundlessness and maybe that's where true painterly freedom really lies ... beyond the edge!

Picture
Indian Waves - 2013-14 - Howard Hodgkin

Howard Hodgkin is an inspiration to me because he is one more example of a painter who has stayed the course over a long period of time. That is getting harder and harder to do with the constant clamouring for "novelty." From out of his own peculiarity and agenda he has made a whole body of work that resonates with human emotional experience, universality and timelessness. 

For more information about Howard Hodgkin click here
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    William M Boot

    An eclectic compendium of artistic and philosophical musings on ideas that have fired my imagination and inspiration over many years.

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