Artist Research

David Salle:

David Salle hugely inspired my music project final piece as I was completely in awe of his bold and loud use of colour and his pop art style. I also loved the fact that he incorporates a collage type feel to his paintings and uses layering which make his pieces really stand out. I think his bold use of colour and unapologetic use of paint was my first inspiration as it made me feel happy and excited when I looked at his paintings. I think his pieces feel nostalgic at the same time as fresh and new. I also love the way he mixes old and new together incorporating comic like sketches with realistic paintings. I think throughout my music project I wanted to illustrate music as being nostalgic but at the same time refreshing and new which is why I was influenced so hugely by Salle’s work as his pieces have both nostalgia and freshness. Salle’s colour palette is bold but also not too overpowering he is able to use a range of intense colours without it being too overwhelming or clashy I think he is able to do this due to the whole piece is never fully painted objects or people usually he incorporates some sort of line aspect or unfinished section to balance it out which I would love to explore more within my pieces. What also interests me about Salle’s work is how he somehow makes so many seemingly random objects work and integrate together and somehow makes them all make sense.

Sigma Polke

Sigmar Polke was a German painter who experimented with chemical reactions of paint and how paint reacts with various different substances. Polke earlier on in his career was very photography based but later started to explore the use of paint and is ‘widely considered to be one of the most influential painters of the post-war era.’ I think what interests me most about Polke’s work is his fluidity and the sense of freedom you get when looking at his piece this is largely due to the fact his work was so experimental and always changing dependant on what materials or substances he was working with. In a lot of his works he incorporates realistic drawings which juxtapose the fluid nature of the rest of the piece but somehow it works. Similar to David Salle and his balance of line and realism I think Polke uses this juxtaposition to balance out the pieces. Again, this is defiantly something I would like to explore further within my work and try balance the fluid with the rigid or the abstract with the reality. Polke’s colour palette is bold and striking yet he challenges this with muted neutral tones at the same time, it feels like a balancing act which he executes perfectly. Although I am incredibly interested in Polke’s work I do think that there are huge elements of a lot of his pieces which don’t quite work or where his colour palette is too muddy and he hasn’t got the balance quite right. I think I’m much more drawn to his more cartoonist realism pieces instead of his completely abstract fluid pieces.

Hannah Höch

Hannah Höch was a German artist who was one of the creators of photomontage. Höch’s work has a lot of metaphorical imagery as she preferred it to using more direct confrontational imagery as her contemporary John Heartfelt used. Höch’s work focuses heavily on gender issues as she was a pioneering feminist of the 20th Century. I think what really inspires me about Höch’s work is the simplicity of it, I think too often I over fill my collages/photomontages when they need more space. I also love the way she is able to mix old and new together within her collages creating this nostalgic yet modern feel to them. She also juxtaposes black and white subjects with coloured backgrounds which I think really makes the subjects a more prominent feature in her photomontages. I think something I would like to take from Höch's work is her ability to be able to balance space and how she is able to balance all of these varying juxtaposing features (colour with black and white, old with new) whilst sticking to her message of highlighting how unrealistic modern beauty standards were as she was creating these collages in the wake of industrial advertising and the birth of high and unobtainable beauty standards. I think that Höch also unintentionally illustrated women as objects in the most literal sense throughout her work by surrounding the figures with objects but also overlaying objects over the female form as if they’re trapped underneath these objects, underneath societies expectations of them and the way their represented.

Barbara Kruger

Kruger is an American conceptual artist and collagist who focuses on addressing cultural contractions of power, identity, consumerism and sexuality through artistic expression. Kruger stands by the idea that art is not truly art unless it stands for something or has a meaning behind it. In much of her work she sends powerful messages concerning feminism and women’s rights by using bold, often controversial black and white imagery along with text spread daringly across the photo dragging all of the viewers attention towards the message the work is trying to illustrate. The male gaze is able to turn women into objects that are unable to think for themselves as if thier every thought, movement or opinion is solely based and originates from male judgements. Kruger confronts this stereotype by placing the issue right in front of their faces and using bold text it means that the message she is trying to get across engulfs the viewers line of sight. Kruger throughout most of her works tries to untwist societies relationship with the female form by facing them with the issues society has For instance in her piece; Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground) Kruger voices her opinion of protecting women’s rights through an image that also raises issues of power, patriarchy, stereotyping, and consumption. Similar to the work of Hannah Höch who also uses collage as a way to confront gender stereotyping and the idealistic beauty of a women.

Linder Sterling

Linder Sterling’s collages fascinate me hugely, similar to Höch’s photomontages they confront gender stereotyping, sexuality, the way women are represented in society and the idealistic beauty standard. My favourite piece by Sterling is Untitled 1976 where an iron is pasted strategically over a women’s face whilst her hands are above her head and she is naked and oiled. I think this piece is incredibly clever as it highlights so clearly the domestic enslavement of women through the symbol of the iron. By covering the woman’s face not only is her identity lost and we are no longer looking as a woman but an object but her freedom to speak, to see or to hear is also lost.. I also think that this piece illustrates how women’s strengths and capabilities are masked by societies expectations of us. Similar to Höch’s work Serling has the ability to create spaces and provide that balance to make the form/subject the focal point of the piece. Sterling’s work exposes the dangers that glamour ensues on us on a day to day basis by playing with porn and consumer culture mixing both domestic and porn magazines to create her collages.

Kirsten Glass

Kirsten Glass’ use of bold text was what first drew me into her work. It’s explosive and unapologetic and completely questioning. I think not drew me in because she doesn’t give too much away, her work leaves me questioning why, how, what and who? Who are these people who’s name she uses? What significance does that word have to her or the painting or subject within the painting? I think this has inspired some of my later collages as when I first started they were giving too much away there was nothing which the audience could question or be curious about whereas in my more recent collages and the collages I based my triptych off of I leave more for my audience to question which I love. I love it when there is an element of secrecy behind the work such as Glass’ work where you’re never entirely certain what they’re trying to tell you so you become curious about the piece and the thought process behind it. Glass also heavily uses the female form as a motif throughout her pieces. She uses them in brash contexts splaying them across the canvas, this paired with her bold use of text for me creates a sense of uneasiness as if we shouldn’t be portraying the female form in this way but at the same time this is the female form, we can be sexy and brash when we want to we don’t need to be polite and apologetic about ourselves or how we portray ourselves. This is especially prominent in her piece; She Thinks She’s Brenda Star, which makes me feel this exact uneasiness. Confusion as to why she’s lying down but also a sense bold unapologeticness coming from the insane use of colour then mixed with this questioning text on the right you’re left questioning who the subject is, what she’s doing, how she’s feeling and instantly the audience can come up with their own narrative for her based solely off of their opinions and thoughts and experiences. Which all lead them to see the subject in a completely different light.

Melissa Gordon

I’ve looked at Melissa Gordon because I’m fascinated by her use of layers, shape and line. Gordon’s work is very abstract and she uses mixed-medias to create her works. In her piece Female Readymade she incorporates chainlink fence with a list of financial terms paired with acrylic, net, silkscreen and many other various objects and materials. I think this piece is one of my favourites by Gordon as I love the way she is able to create such a playful feeling piece out of materials which are seen as so unplayful and rigid in everyday context. Such as the fence and the list of financial terms which are seen as conventionally boring and unwelcoming. The way Gordon incorporates line through this piece also fascinates me as it juxtaposes with the straightness of all the other objects/materials and gives the piece a sort of roundness. The line also links it all together and brings all these random shapes and forms together. I think something that I’d like to incorporate more within my work from looking into Gordon’s is her use of mixed media and brining ob sects into my work and experimenting more with using objects as a form of material.

Wayne White

I looked into the works of Wayne White as I was drawn to his use of text throughout his work and the way he is able to question the viewer. I also love the way that he incorporates digital collage within his pieces and it really inspired me throughout creating any photoshop collages.

Artist Research

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