Genre Study - Abstract Realism

Abstract expressionism is an art movement that consists of two conflicting terms, “abstract” and “realism”. Shortly after the invention of the camera, people refrained from realism and started to distort the realistic form and invent unique adaptations of their subject. Artists had started to combine their own thoughts, feelings and beliefs with the real life subjects they were originally painting and drawing. Photographers were taking over the realism side to art, which meant that artists were forced to create new compositions that engaged the audience more successfully than a photo; this is why abstract work has been evolving over the years.




"This Thing Called Art Is Really Dangerous"
Agnus Cecile
https://leconcretisation.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/watercolor-this-thing-called-art-is-really-dangerous-by-agnus-cecile/
Date unknown
Mixed media

Cecile's piece is a great example of abstract realism as the original subject has been distorted yet still obvious what the subject is. The expressive marks alongside the realistic shape and textures of the face, lead to a very successful abstract realism composition. The expressive marks in not only this piece, but every other abstract realism compositions are used to symbolise and evoke certain feelings and emotions.



"Woman III"
Willem De Kooning
1953
Mixed media
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_de_Kooning#/media/File:Woman3.jpg

Whilst there are some abstraction compositions that do not resemble a real life object, like Piet Mondrian’s work, some artists want to make a statement through their work for political, economic and social reasons, which requires some form of abstraction to get their point across.

The main leaders that founded the movement were Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline and Willem DeKooning, for their distinct visual styles (for example, their vigorous and lively brushstrokes). They were mostly known for their recognisable technique called ‘action painting’, originally used by the art critic Harold Rosenberg. The technique of action painting involves the impulsive movement used to produce paintings. De Kooning begins by painting the image of a woman and then layers on top of this his more violent, energetic, less controlled brush strokes.

After having looked at abstract realism, I have found out that both Amy Hamilton and Vince Low, two of my main artists, follow the abstract realism movement. This is due to the fact that they both aim to represent realistic features and objects, yet they still manage to create an interesting composition through abstraction. The shape and scale of the subjects are very accurate, which leads to the obvious shape, whilst their lines, form and colours lead to a slight distortion creating an abstract theme.

There are significant similarities and differences between Amy Hamilton’s work and that of Willem De Kooning’s. In both pieces shown in this piece of writing, the contrast in marks is very high, whilst the marks are slightly more chaotic and less controlled in De Kooning’s than Hamilton’s work. Meanwhile, the colours in both compositions have been exaggerated which reinforces the fact that they have both been inspired by surrealism. However, the shape in De Kooning’s piece has been distorted more than the shape in Hamilton’s composition and the composition in both is different; De Kooning’s work fills the background however Hamilton’s work is centralised with negative space around the outside. This only goes to show that abstract realism has adapted and evolved over time as although the images have been distorted, the marks appear much more cleaner and more controlled.

Additionally, I chose to study this genre as I am fascinated by how an artist manages to distort an image without fully destroying the shape and form of the realism. Also, when looking for inspiration from a site such as Pinterest and visiting galleries, I am always enticed by this genre of work. The fact that this work can evoke mood and feeling with just one type of mark really interests me and is something that I want to show in my work.

“You might think of the technique of abstract art as looking at an object through the bottom of a clear glass. The image is still there, but it has been misshaped by the refractions from the glass.” – Steven J. Miller - http://www.ehow.com/info_8716099_definition-abstract-realism.html

Initial experiments with watercolour - in the style of Amy Hamilton

To start the more abstract side to my artwork, I have started to look at the work of Amy Hamilton (as shown by my analysis of her work on a previous blog post). I created some initial experiments to see what kind of marks I could create with the watercolours and then went on to replicate the pieces created by Hamilton so I could get used to her style and find what part of her work I want to take inspiration from.

I first created these marks so that I could get used to using watercolours as I have never really used them before. Some of the marks I prefer to others as they are more abstract and expressive. For instance I really like marks number 2, 6, 8, 11 and 13 as they are all unique and would be used to represent something quirky, which links to the portraiture photography that Andy Gotts creates. Meanwhile, some of the marks created formed a block of colour which would really only be useful for figurative work.

In order to get comfortable with her style and technique, I created a transcript of her  "Orca" piece and then painted an extreme close up of the fin on the orca. To create these marks , I used water to mark don the shape of the whale and then I applied the paint and it dispersed out and blended with other colours. Hamilton uses colours that reflect the nature or lifestyle of the animal to create a slightly surreal piece - she used blue in this piece as the natural habitat for this whale is in water. one main aspect that I wanted to capture was the fact that her lines aren't crisp, they are free as it is clear that some of the watercolour has bled outside of the drawing. 

This transcript is a part of Hamilton's "Deer" composition. When it comes to painting fur on an animal, she uses less fluid marks when compared to the "Orca" painting. I used a very light wash as the base layer and then built more marks on top of them with a darker shade of the same colour; I built the form by building the contrast of the piece with layering darker tones on top of the lighter tones. In a similar way to the Orca piece, I marked out the shape very lightly with pencil and then dampened the page with water and applied the paint so it would bleed slightly and spread.

Next, I am going to work on using one or two aspects from her work and link it into my work whilst also comparing her work to that of Sarah stokes (an artist who's work I found in a gallery in Leicester).