Agnus Cecile Analysis

Cecile is an artist who takes styles from both figurative work and expressive work, which links into my fascination with Figurative Expressionist work. Her emotive compositions are created through the layering of watercolour and expresses how she feels on topics such as culture and relationships. Although she only took part in a few art classes, Cecile is mostly self-taught, meaning her extensive research and experimentation resulted in very successful compositions, which present her own unique watercolour style. She focuses more on technique than meaning when creating her work, as despite the fact that she presents her feelings and opinions through the compositions, like a visual diary, her desire was that her audience would read it as something else that is personal to them.

Her unique style of layering allows the colours to become more prominent, when compared to the areas with one layer of colour. This watercolour and acrylic painting has been produced as a 2D format, however the layering of the marks gives the piece depth and therefore creates a very slight 3D form. These layers are built up as this results in more dominant colours and darker tones when compared to the areas that have only been made with one layer; these will be the lighter colours and tones. Her technique when creating contrast in tone is by either adding more water, to create lighter colours or adding more paint to create the darker colours and tones.

           In order to create an accurate, yet unique style, she uses watercolours, which are known for their smooth properties; her marks show a similar texture to silky hair and even in the expressive areas, she is able to create a smooth smoke effect, which is something that I am fascinated by in her work. This is why the expressive marks are shown to be free and flowing. As a result of using a viscous medium, Cecile has managed to achieve contrast in marks by using the viscosity to aid her (for example; the drips and the cloudy areas).

            One other aspect that really captures my attention, is the use of colour to create a slight surreal atmosphere. Cecile’s use of contrasting areas of colour (blues and orange) could give off the implication of juxtaposing ideas that the piece is trying to discuss. Meanwhile, in each area of colour, harmonious colours are used (for example, in the area that is mostly blue, other colours such as purple, pinks and dark and light blues have been used). In order to create the impression of the subject blending into the smoke, Cecile has used a similar colour to the expressive marks on the top right of the piece; this creates a subtle harmony throughout the composition.

Furthermore, I really like her use of composition within this piece, as the subject has been centralised in the middle of the page, leaving negative space around the face and expressive marks. This creates a much bigger impact on the viewer, similar to a piece of art in the centre of an empty room in a gallery. As there is no body connected to the face, I receive the impression that she has been highly influenced by the genre surrealism as it appears like the head is floating in a dream like vision. Surrealists were attempting to recreate visions of the subconscious, in a distorted, unrealistic way, mirroring a dream in their artwork. I can see that Cecile has also tried to do this, like many figurative expressionists and their work. She has also taken inspiration from an artist called, Carne Griffiths, who creates similar work to her, yet creates more raw compositions that are quite busy and involve natural, earthy colours.

Overall, I am mostly influenced by the genre of artwork that she uses; figurative expressionism. However, in particular, I really like her use of expressive free marks that contrast with each other, in a similar way to the juxtaposed colours. I have been interested lately in how one certain mark can evoke a certain mood or feeling. When it comes to practical experimentation, I am going to start by creating a variety of marks that I believe represent mood, feeling and location (I will look at location due to the fact I am still looking at animals). Cecile’s marks are fairly similar to that of Amy Hamilton’s as there is a lot of contrast in marks and the use of colour is fairly surreal. I will refer to both artist’s when starting practical’s. Additionally, another good way to experiment using inspiration from Cecile’s work is by maybe placing ink into water, to create this cloudy effect, whilst also placing a portrait of someone behind the ink. This will allow me to experiment with her style, without actually copying her work.

Source 1 - https://agnes-cecile.deviantart.com/art/this-thing-called-art-is-really-dangerous-320675040