The Gothic Path

Its Sunday night and I would have to admit to being a bit tired but a couple of things have been running through the sump that seems to pass for my mind .

Here are a few pictures:

 

Skull      2011      oil on canvas         4' x 4'                            Frank Rafter

 

You may get some idea of scale from the size of the easel

 

Here are two more  - these are about 10in square

 

 

Skull Parts 1 & 2  2011 oil on canvas

 

It may seem a little full on to be putting these in at this time but the main reason they are there is to demonstrate my own surprise that I have been making gothic images for some time and I simply never gave them that name.

 

Here are some more rather different pictures:

 

 

These come from an extraordinary book of photographs called 'The Unseen Eye' 

The book features work from the collection of W. M.Hunt and is brand -new having come by inter-library loan from DIT; this reader is the first to sample it and the images are stunning. There was another which I thought about  showing but I have to admit that it was a bit much even for me -  get the book.

 

Too tired....

 

Starting to document the putting together of my show in the Source in Thurles in November and will put up some pictures and diarise(?) it.

 

 

A pointy bit of the path

Well it doesn't be long about getting started .....  today we had out firstY3 tutorial with a review our proposals for our self-directed brief which is to cover this term.

I showed some pictures of a ruined abbey and while that will continue as part of the Gothic seminar the brief has veered somewhat in direction:

 

This piece of wood is a stake (......not a pipe)

 

and you should expect for a while to see more of it -I have already done a lino/cut and a screenprint (moderately successful -in the process of a second run) pictures of which I shall show shortly.

 

The provisional title for the project is Dissolution and it involves a study of one definition of that word which is a separation into component parts, or a return to whence one came (pinned to the earth) or simply ageing.

 

The stake and:

 

 

....the bone

 

represent the pinning back and the reduction of ourselves to our 'component parts'

 

 

 

I intend for a while to explore various image-making techniques around these and also to explore another definition of dissolution - dissipation and degradation. Two

 of the artists I have chosen to research for this are 

Vladimir Velickovic:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is not hard to see that here you have dissolution fairly well covered; - I should point out also that the lowest work is about 5 metres long and these pieces when seen in a big gallery space such as Les Abattoirs in Toulouse (where I first encountered his work) leave a deep and abiding impression.

 

The other artist to whom perhaps Velickovic may owe some debt is Francis Bacon:

 

 

 

 

 

Velickovic is a Serbian artist who has spent a large part of his life in Paris where he teaches and has probably carried out most of his practice life later than that of Bacon (London) but it  seems unlikely he (V) would have been unaware of the other.

 

This is a day later so now I have some pics of where I am going with the stake:

 

 

Lino/cut

 

Silkscreen

 

Silkscreen

 

 

.....and the wall in its first incarnation for this year

 

I think its time I thought of something like the ground alphabet or the spot diary to keep you all amused, so leave it with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The familiar worn cobbles of the path reappear

...but nonetheless welcome for all that; of course, as usual the minute we resume time seems to accelerate and here in the blink of an eye a week has gone by.

I would have to say it has been satisfactory: I have managed to do some printing already - essentially things I want for the November event but also I have received a lot of welcome help from Alan and Bob in doing a full record of the Kildare Book or to give it its proper title :

 

Apologies for the white stains - letters are done in gouache which marks if touched; it needs to be cleaned and varnished - tomorrow

 

Here are a couple more shots of the interior:

 

 

 

The full copy has been saved as a PDF and I am not sure yet if I can post  - will try later.

 

Anyway, - first brief - to write a proposal for a semester -long project - this is a similar assignment to last year, but nothing as fully formed as Façade Edge has yet leapt to the inner eye. I have had vague notions about light and dark and views out from darkened rooms, tunnels, day/night and similar binary opposites but nothing really concrete.

I have surprised myself however in the seminar I have chosen  - 'Gothic'- given by Tracy Fahey with whom I have had a chance meeting since and on that basis am really looking forward to the course.

I think though that I can work this in with the proposal in that I might be able to work on the concept of dark/light in relation to faces, buildings both in ruins or partially destroyed of distorted and even perhaps overlapping and running into one another.

Here is one quick drawing which could be elaborated:

 

 

 

Now I know that is rather clichéd but it may provide some ideas; also our old friend the tower could undergo some modifications:

However, I went on a photo hunt this evening for ruins - for the first time in a week there were no decent crisp shadows but I got some interesting shots at Holycross Abbey:

Obviously, I have experimented a little with these but I have a few other places in mind for images.

The other thing I have been working on are possible artists and I have a few in mind.

One interesting aspect to all this is that I can see some intriguing experiments with photography, print and drawing already, but as yet no definite unity to the project.

More thought required.

Holidays done

Sunday night and tomorrow a new year begins - wow! 3rd year already - how is to going to go? .....well I suppose one can do no more than give it your best shot (cliché I know, but it fits.

I never properly covered the visit to IMMA that I spoke about before, did I? Great exhibition of photos from the David Kronn Collection which I think has been given to IMMA, and a retrospective covering the work of a Brazilian  artist with whom I was not familiar - Helio Oiticica (1937-1980) - a very wide range from painting to conceptual art.

When I arrived I discovered that the museum did not open till 11.30 so I had an hour in which I did a bit of drawing:

 

admittedly it wouldn't be the first one of that scene but I happen to like it

Once again I had to go to the B'rock Clinic and as usual did a bit of drawing:

 

 

this is on the roof of the actual clinic next door to the hospital.

 

 

 

This was a pen drawing of an imaginary character in a book I was reading at the time.

 

One of the reasons I have made no posts is that I was working on the Kidare Book - now called  -" A Good Book" - and that is finished I will take some more pictures of the second half a little later and post them.

 

The other project -the woodcut book took a lot more work than I anticipated but I now have five book blocks sewn and endpapered.I have started on the cases and have got so far but am not entirely happy so I may step back and restart this part of the project.

Anyway here are some images from the initial drawings to the print stage.

 

 

 

 

 

Right - tighten the belt and off we go!