Assignment 1: Research

Edward Ruscha – Miracle 64 1975

Pastel and zinc oxide on paper depicting a beam of light.

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruscha-miracle-64-ar00052

Ruscha states that this series (of which this is one) of drawings reference Hollywood and the movie industry, Los Angeles being where the artist lives and works. He thinks of moves as being, rather than a story but a ‘ray of light’ much like the light coming from a projector.

The pastel white and yellow lines give a hazy almost smoky effect. My initial reaction to this picture though was that of looking at the lines down the centre of road from a moving vehicle.

James Gillick – Bronze Skillet and Blue Eggs

http://www.gillick-artist.com/gallery/Still+Life-7/

I was interested in this oil painting due to the subject matter and the diagonal darker shadows behind the pan and eggs. James Gillick is an artist who lives in Lincolnshire and makes all of his materials by hand using 17th century techniques. His still life paintings combine a combination of traditional and contemporary subjects, often using contrast between light and dark. I was particularly surprised to see his painting of ‘Four Bowls’ which is very similar in subject matter to that which I had chosen in Project 3, Tonal studies.

 

Nina Murdoch – Lake Hall 2010

http://www.marlboroughlondon.com/artists/nina-murdoch/

British born artist Nina Murdoch uses light and colour to create dramatic paintings. Her paintings are mainly urban settings and uses the dramatic shadows and play of light to create almost abstract paintings. I was interested in Lake Hall, again due to the diagonal streak of light that runs across the plane of the painting, almost as if it is painted during a sunset.

Yasuhiro Ishimoto 1921 – 2012

Chiaroscuro plays an enormous part in contemporary photography and the work of Yasuhiro Ishimoto is testament to that.

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/119595/untitled?artist_ids=Yasuhiro+Ishimoto&page=2

His Hana series is a selection of black and white photos showing flowers at various stages of their life cycle. Often with a black background, light is used to emphasise their features and form. It is this dramatic effect that I want to try to portray in my painting of a Lamp and Egg.