UNDERSTANDING ABSTRACT ART #70

“Hephaestus – God of the Anvil and Forge”

                                                             (Acrylic)                                                                       90x120cm 

ABOUT THIS PAINTING:

This painting is one in a series of paintings called “In the Image of Goddesses”.  The series was shown at an exhibition of the same name in Brisbane, Australia.  The theme of the exhibition was to honour those aspects of myself that are personified by the classical Greek deities.  This pantheon of deities comprises all the varied characteristics that are displayed by humanity.  Therefore I have taken most of the major female Goddesses and depicted those aspects that they celebrate, as aspects of myself – thus exploring my own personality traits.  This is not so very unlike the Personality Tests of today, such as the MMPI-2RF (Minnosota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) which identify personality structure. 

I also included a few male Gods in the series because according to the psychiatrist Jung, each person embodies some characteristics of their opposite gender.  The painting discussed here is about Hephaestus - God of Fire, Metalworking, Stone masonry, and the Art of Sculpture.  Hephaestus is to the male gods as the Goddess Athena is to the females, for he gives skill to mortal artists and was believed to have taught humans the arts.  I chose him as representing my creativity.

Hephaestus was married to the Goddess Aphrodite.   He was believed to also have great healing powers which are similar to my therapeutic abilities.  During the best period of Grecian art, Hephaestus was characterised by his hammer and anvil.  I have depicted the anvil in this painting – can you see it?

Artistic techniques used in the painting:

Could this painting be loosely said to fall into the genre of Portraits?    I think that it could.  It does attempt to represent aspects of a person – myself.  Also it is an abstract representation of a God.  In the recent exhibition “Portrait of Spain – Masterpieces from the Prada” held at the Queensland Art Gallery, the painting of King Philip IV of Spain by Velazquez (1635) is depicting the King as the God Mars.  That particular painting would be classified as a portrait.  Therefore I would suggest that my painting of “Hephaestus” also falls into the genre of a portrait.

Of course the style is Abstract Expressionism.  This movement comprises many styles but shared several characteristics. The works are usually abstract; they emphasized freedom of emotional expression, technique, and execution; they display a single unified, undifferentiated field, network, or other image in unstructured space; and the canvases are large.

The colours used for “Hephaestus” are complimentary and the pallet limited to blue and orange (plus white and black).  A restricted pallet enables the artist to create more congruence and harmony in the overall colour scheme.

The tone is low to mid-tone with medium contrast.

The form is flat and abstract with flat planes of colour.  I allude to the anvil which is a symbol for Hephaestus.  This can be seen in the pale dusty orange image in the upper centre of the painting.  This is the most prominent  feature of the picture and honours his creative powers as well as mine.

The composition is static, flat and balanced which is typical of much of my art work.

Having studied psychology for many years, I tend to put a psychological bent on a lot of things, and when I completed my Masters Degree in Expressive Art Therapy, this line of thought was further developed.  So it is to be expected that many of my paintings originate from a psychological perspective.  Psychology has been monumental in changing humanity since its inception more than 100 years ago and will continue to do so in the future.  Much of the visual imagery we see in the mass media and advertising has been scrutinized by psychologists to influence the behaviour of the viewer.  Are you aware of that?  If not, start looking – it’s not hard to see.

http://www.buderimartstudio.com 

UNDERSTANDING ABSTRACT ART #20

                                          “Sandplay”  (Acrylic) -  90x120cm  

ABOUT THIS PAINTING:

”Sandplay” is a painting about the beach, surf, sun and fun.  It was created during a time that I was land bound and far away from the sea.  I have for most of my life lived by the sea having grown up in Surfers Paradise, I now reside on the Sunshine Coast.   But for 3 years I spent time in Louisville, Kentucky when I was studying for my Masters Degree in Expressive Art Therapies.  Louisville is situated in the mid-west of North America. It was there that I painted “Sandplay”

One of a number of therapeutic techniques used in psychotherapy is a therapy called Sandplay Therapy.  It utilizes a tray of sand and an array of symbolic objects.  During therapy the client creates a scenario within the sand tray and then discusses it with the therapist.  It is very successfully used with children but adult populations also benefit from this therapeutic technique.  Sandplay Therapy was included as part of my training as an Expressive Art Therapist.

Both of the above personal experiences have influenced this painting.  While representing the beach with all its light heartedness, the elements associated with Sandplay Therapy are also seen within the painting as obscure (symbolic) objects in the sand.

Artistic techniques used in the painting:

The painting has my characteristic flat planes of colour and deliberate lack of perspective.  However a sense of depth is achieved by the placement of the red/brown line upper centre just inside the bands of green.  The painting captures the feeling of being on a beach with the sea breaking and the top of the painting representing the horizon.  If you have spent time on the beach like I have, you will definitely relate to this sense of space and expansiveness which is characteristic of a beach scene.

The colours used are reminiscent of a beach (particularly in this region of Australia) where the sand is a golden yellow.  The brightness of the colours depict light and sunshine.  The objects scattered throughout the scene are up to you, the viewer, to imagine.  The clear sharp light of the Australian beach casts shadows that call for bright unapologetic colours.  Have you experienced this?   Can you relate to this? 

UNDERSTANDING ABSTRACT ART #15

Title “The Hierophant - Chiron - Master of the Spiritual Realms” 

 (Acrylic) 

 90x120cm 

ABOUT THIS PAINTING:

My academic training is in Psychology and Expressive Therapies. Expressive (Art) Therapy uses art as a counseling tool. I have also been a painter for most of my life. These two disciplines are therefore woven into my paintings.

The MMPI or Personality Inventory is a tool used in Psychology to assess different personality indices within the spectrum of an individual’s personality. It is a Personality Test and a useful tool to sort people into different classifications based on qualities which makeup each person’s personality.

 

The ancient Classical Greeks have a pantheon of Gods and Goddesses that represented similar qualities. Freud and Jung’s psychological theories drew heavily from the Greek myths and philosophy. When I painted the Goddess Series, I was examining aspects of my own personality. According to Jung, men and women each have both male and female qualities within their personality. A man will generally have those characteristics that are celebrated as male such as “strength” etc., but also will have to a lesser extent, qualities that are attributed to females such as “caring”. A woman also will have those qualities that are specifically female such as “gentleness” but can also have qualities attributed to males, such as “courage”.

The Goddess Series focused mainly on female Goddesses and those qualities within my own personality. Included in this exhibition however were some of the Greek Gods.

This painting "The Hierophant" was shown at the end of the video by Natalija Brunovs that was recently released called “Tanmayo – Abstract Artist” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ2MzRmoKBA . Figure 1 (above) shows how the painting evolved.

Artistic techniques used in the painting:

The finished painting has a strong diagonal emphasis in its composition. A diagonal often is unsettling to view and suggests discord. However the overall composition is balanced. The tonal value between the reds and the darks is relatively consistent contributing to the flat look - an example of a very high tonal value would be if the reds were changed to whites.

Acrylic paint lends itself well to abstract painting in that it provides coverage to a large canvas and the new acrylics offer a wide range of colours, the consistency and drying time being similar to that of oil paints. In this case I started with no specific idea in mind and just applied paint, but as the painting progressed I sort to bring order to the overall image using the artistic techniques discussed above.

Some artists have a number of paintings on the go at once, however I do not work like that. I usually work on a painting until I have reached a conclusion. I may however recycle an older painting over time.

Over the past three weeks I have reviewed some of the paintings shown in video. This post concludes with a few comments on what it was like for me to be videoed. I am an introvert by nature and am not eager to be “out there”. However being introverted does not mean that one does not have well thought out opinions, and it is with this in mind that I grasped the opportunity of this video. Due to Natalija’s sensitivity and skill, the video captures the essence of what I strive to achieve in my painting. I am not a natural performer and I think that Natalija has done a superb job in portraying what my painting is about.

The Goddess Series should be seen as a whole because it was painted as a celebration of my being and exhibited at an important turning point in my life. Has it helped you to better understand abstract art? Has your attitude to abstract art changed? If so, I would love to read some of your comments.