Formal Analysis - Dark Matter: An Exploding View

 

 





This is an example of a piece by Cornelia Parker of a destroyed garden shed called "Dark Matter: An Exploded View." It has been created using a range of typical materials that you would find in a garden shed; wood, ceramic, some metal and plastic and has been hung up with wire.

 

The dimensions on this piece are only roughly known, about 4000 x 5000 x 5000 millimetres. This is due to the pieces irregular shape and for the fact that it is constantly moving slightly.

 

This piece has been created using fairly unusual techniques; a shed and it's contents have been destroyed using explosives, then re-assembled by hanging the debris with wire from the exhibition ceiling in such a fashion that the shed looks vaguely rebuilt.

A bright light is then hung by wire in the epicentre of this explosive piece. This creates shadows that move as the piece moves and makes it seem as if the viewer is looking at the moment this structure was destroyed.

There is so much kinetic energy in the atmosphere about this piece; everything seems to have so much motion. This is due to how this is hung up - using wire. This thin wire makes every single little piece move and rotate slightly as the people around it viewing the piece move the air surrounding it.

 

The light itself also creates a sense of energy, showing the destructive power of the explosion and turning the piece into a bright blast of movement.

Like the explosion itself, this piece is unfortunately only temporary, as is everything. A metaphor that carries in many of Parker's pieces. She bases much of her work on the flamboyance of destruction and the resulting aftermath, this gives off movement and a vast amount of energy, which is why I have chosen these pieces as inspiration.

 

This piece can be found in the Tate gallery in London, which is the same city as where Cornelia Parker works and lives and was created in 1991.

Georges Braque - Artist Analysis

Georges Braque was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art style known as Cubism. From a young age, Braque was gaining experience in painting and art as he was being trained in the family business as a house painter in , like his father and grandfather. However, he also studied artistic painting in his free time.

This is one of Braque's pieces that I have been interested in as it includes a guitar.  The guitar stands out from the rest of the piece with it's size and less angular, squared shape. The cubism style contrasts greatly to my other artist's styles of production and I think that these contrasts would be able to come together so I can merge the two styles quite nicely.

Cubism involves drawing an object from multiple angles all in one picture, in this picture in particular, the guitar has a sense of freedom and has been fractured from reality into this abstract masterpiece. Braque saw that pictures were only two dimensional and his cubist pieces show that he expressed the different dimensions of the objects he was painting with the various angles he painted them all at.

This is another piece by Braque which includes a guitar. This one uses more vibrant colours than the previous piece, which makes the guitar stand out form the rest of the objects, so much so that the rest of the objects seem to be in the background with just the guitar in the foreground. The highly contrasting colours on the guitar are also very eye-catching compared to the rest of the piece which has very earthy tones like the previous example instead of the bright yellow and deep blue colours of this object.

Personal Investigation Introduction

For my personal investigation, I am hoping to study the painting or production of pictures of performing guitarists. Ever since I became aware of music's existence I have been obsessed with the instruments that produce these sounds. The one which caught my attention the most being the guitar.

After consistently begging my parents and telling them that I would not give up my learning for an arduous few years, I finally managed to convince them to take me to a guitar shop.
After the purchase of my first guitar, I've been learning and practicing how to play constantly and buying new guitars for the past 8 years now and it is definitely the biggest interest and passion of mine.

The theme for my personal investigation will be based around the motion of the guitarist and the energy that they give off when performing at a live venue. This energy is what I see when I am watching a guitarist perform on stage; the talent and passion the player has for the instrument radiates from them into the audience along with the actual sounds bellowing from the amplifiers.

My first artist will be Yuriy Shevchuk, a Ukrainian artist who paints performing guitarists using water colour paints in a very intriguing manner; he adds surplus paint to the parts of the guitarist or guitar that he wants appear in motion, then using a straw, blows the paint gently away from the guitarist/guitar. I will use this technique in my own work.

My second artist that I will look at is Cornelia Parker. She has done a piece that has involved destroying a shed with explosives and then hanging up the pieces in a room in such a fashion that makes it look almost rebuilt. She then added a bright light in the middle of the piece. This effect makes it look as if it is in the process of an explosion. This piece also gives a good sense of motion which I am including in my work by destroying an old guitar and photographing the remains after vaguely re-assembling it.

My third artist will be Georges Braque for his guitar paintings. He creates his work using cubism and I think this will give my work a good contrasting aspect to the detail of my previous artists' work.