Formal Analysis

This is a painting of the guitar playing legend Jimi Hendrix by one of my main artists, Yuriy Shevchuk which he titled "Jazz Rock Jimi Hendrix 03". He has created this using a range of materials including pencil and various water colour paints. It has been produced on a medium sized canvas - roughly 70cm wide by 45cm tall.

To create this piece, Shevchuk first sketched Hendrix and his guitar out in pencil, adding only minor detail and outlines with no shading. With this, he had the foundations to begin to add the splashes of water colour paint.
He began with adding colour on the background and surrounding Hendrix's being, using different shades of violet and earthy brown to blend in to create a dark, warm, full bodied background.
He also used the same shades of paint for the tones on Hendrix and his guitar, using more saturated and watered down paint for the lighter tones and more concentrated paint with less water in for the shaded areas.
These contrasting tones blend very well when using water colours, fusing together to create the gradient of tones in between.
He uses eccentric, bold brush strokes on the background of this piece and more intricate brushing for the detailed anatomy of Hendrix's instrument, body and clothing. Also, one of the more distinctive features - along with the use of vibrant colours - is how he has used the technique of blowing the wet paint outwards from the guitarist's body and guitar has been used to suggest the eccentric movement and virtuoso fast playing of the guitar. He uses these methods of production to emphasise the energy radiating from Hendrix in the form of music and talent. Clearly passionately performed onto this canvas.
Unfortunately, the site where I found this image, along with as many other sites that I could find which were relevant to this piece, did not specify it's location or the exact date at which it was produced, however it has been known that Shevchuk has been living in Prague since 1993 and sells his paintings on his website (listed below) directly from his studio in the city.
This artist's work, and definitely this piece in particular, shows that even a two dimensional, still painting can involve movement and expression through music.
Personally I think that, even though the range of colours used is limited, this is a fine example of passionate artwork that I find extremely aesthetically pleasing. However I believe that with a wider range of more vibrant, bright colours would show even more energy and passion and would also link well to the typical "psychedelic" music that the musician that he has painted is linked to.

Link to Shevchuk's website: http://www.shevchukart.com/

Link to the site of the image: http://en.artscad.com/A.nsf/Opra/SRVV-7NVJBA

Yuriy Shevchuk - Artist analysis

Yuri Shevchuk is a Ukrainian painter who attended the Kiev Art School and later the prestigious Kiev Architectural Academy. Among a few other select things, Yuri's passion has been jazz music. This aspect of his life has lead him to produce some stunning pieces of art full of soul, passion, energy and character of performing instrument players.

Here is one example of some of his work; for this, he sketched the picture of the guitarist with his instrument and added watercolour paint for the tones. What catches the viewer's eye with this piece is how he has blown on the wet watercolour paint away from the guitarist to show a sense of energy and eccentric movement, capturing the moment of performance and gives the painting a whole sense of liveliness.

This is another example of his fine work. As a musician myself, I hope to show as much passion for playing my instrument as Shevchuk shows his passion for music through the medium of art. The deep red colours indicate the passion and love this artist has for Jazz music. It also expresses the energy that is radiated from these musicians. 

These pieces have inspired me to use this technique of water colour and blowing the wet paint to create a sense of motion to my own work.

Plan of ideas for my personal investigation

I was originally going to do this in my notebook and upload a picture of my brainstorm, but instead I have made bullet points as it looks neater. Here are the bullet points:

• I enjoy playing my guitars.

• I have a selection of different guitars that I can work from - could possibly make different picture styles for the different styles of guitar.

• I perform in a band sometimes.

• Could do pictures of guitarists performing in a band - lots of movement - links to my artist Cornelia Parker.

• Cornelia Parker - energetic pieces, exploding, lots of movement in her art.

• Parker's work may work well with performing guitarists because of the movement of the piece/guitarist and the energy from the music may be illustrated well with explosive style.

• Use of ink for dark, clean, straight lines.

• May be able to use oil or acrylic paints for bold, energetic colours.

• Use of water colours for more gentle tones

• Blowing the paint at certain points on the piece to create motion in the picture



Cornelia Parker - Artist analysis

 

Cornelia Parker is a sculptor and installation artist from Cheshire, UK. She attended the Gloucestershire College of Art & Design and received an MFA  and doctorates from various universities including University of Wolverhampton, University of Birmingham and the University of Gloucestershire. She now resides and works in London.



This is a photograph of one of Cornelia Parker's pieces. To create this piece, she had a garden shed blown up with explosives, then she picked up the pieces and arranged them hung by thin wire in a room in such a way that you can make out that it was once a shed, almost put back together. The then placed a light in the direct centre of the piece to shine through the destroyed hanging splinters and planks to create a sense of energy and movement, almost as if it is a picture taken of the shed exploding. This piece can be visited at the Tate gallery, London.

This is another piece of work by Parker. It is in a very similar style as the previous example because it has been produced in a similar way, she has set fire to a pile of timber and hung up the results in an organised manner; smaller pieces of debris on the outside of the piece and the larger pieces of these charred planks in the centre, almost like an explosion. Despite not being made in the exact same way as the previous piece, this still has a sense of energy about it. The smaller pieces appear as if they are flying out in a destructive manner.

Selection of photos for our coursework

I was instructed to take photos of any object we could find related to a specific key word. Unfortunately, my phone isn't equipped with the best camera, but I still managed to capture some interesting photographs.

I have also taken some pictures that I found very intriguing that could inspire my work.

The key words that we were given were: 

Hanging,

Angle,

Contrast

Contrast: a fairly simple contrast on this classic car wheel between the black of the tire and the bright, metallic rim.

I found the motion of these two pictures very interesting, they have a certain energy about them that I hope to incorporate into my own work.

Contrast: The black and white on my shoes.

Contrast: Yellow and black give good contrast

Contrast: the contrast between yellow and red produce an image with warm tones

Contrast: Red vs Blue, a well known contrast