Having identified a photographic process that appeals to me,
I now hope to proceed with an investigation into the evolution of representation. The primary focus of this piece of work will
examine the works of David Hockney, Michael Wesely and Andreas Gefeller, with
historic reference also to the works of JMW Turner, John Ruskin and John
Cage. I wish to explore what initially motivated
these artists to develop their individual techniques of perceptual mapping, a
way of commonly perceiving the world around us not by manipulation of an object
but of its representation.
A historical background with particular reference to the
English artist JMW Turner will form a foundation for my study. An overview of his rejection of the
Neo-Classical style in favour of a Romantic representation of the world and the
implications this had on art will serve as a suitable forerunner to the artistic
developments of representation of the twentieth century. Subsidiary studies shall also be investigated
with reference to the commentaries and contributions of John Ruskin and the aleatoric
compositions of John Cage respectively.
John Cage - 4'33" (2010 Performance)
JMW Turner - Snow Storm and Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth (1842)
Development
of the proposed study will then begin with an investigation of the work of
David Hockney with particular reference to his exploration of photography
through his self-discovered “joiners” technique of the 1980s using Polaroid
prints at first before moving on to 35mm commercial processed colour prints.
David Hockney - Untitled
David Hockney - Pearblossom Highway (April 1986)
A comparative investigation
will also be drawn of the work of German photographer Andreas Gefeller who acknowledges
Hockney’s innovative collages as important in the development of his own technique
of photo montage in an attempt to create a three dimensional world in a two
dimensional image. Finally, the work of
German photographer Michael Wesely will be studied as a method of representing
the un-representable/unseen through his dramatic long exposure images.
Andreas Gefeller - Academy of Arts, Dusseldorf (2009)
Andreas Gefeller - Untitled; Panel Building 1, Berlin (2004)
'We see space through time...somehow you make space in your head' - David Hockney, 2011
David Hockney discusses the process of making his painting 'A Closer Grand Canyon', interviewed by Christian Lund at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in April 2011 as part of the Louisiana Talks series.
In the discussion he talks about representing space, spatial perception through vision, the limitations of single lens photography and 3d film and the potential for representing space through multiple viewpoints.
The grand canyon is a notoriously difficult space to represent. Hockney discusses how when there, you are forced to move your head to look around and into the space - there is no perspectival view, no point of focus, and how at times the space alternates between being deeply spatial and a flat canvas in front of the viewer. (The scene at the end of the Truman Show comes to mind)
He discussed how as he tried to photograph the Grand Canyon (see below) he realises it is unphotographable, saying that 'cameras push things away....(they) always make things a little more distant'. He found that photographing it, even as a collage with multiple perspectives flattens the sense of space.
The Grand Canyon South Rim with Rail, Arizona, Oct. 1982. Photographic Collage, 43x137 in.
The Grand Canyon South Rim with Rail, Arizona, Oct. 1982. Photographic Collage, 43x137 in.
So instead, he painted it - using smaller canvases to make one large immersive canvas that the viewer 'scans' As the viewer scans the piece, the image of the space forms in their head. The representation is immersive, direct but more crucially navigated by the viewer. They form an embodied image of the landscape.
He then goes on to relate this to work he is currently making using nine cameras to represent the landscape in Yorkshire.
A
Closer Grand Canyon, 1998 oil on 60 canvases 81x291 in.
