Damien Hirst at Tate: Color and Hapticity

When couple of years ago I had a short interview with one of YBAs for my MA research, I wasn't profoundly aware of the whole group and their works. Gradually, I went to see some works by Mat Collishaw, Tracey Emin and other artists, and finally this interest brought me to visiting Damien Hisrt retrospective at Tate Modern during my business trip to London this month.

There is a number of iconic works on the show, which set forth the narratives running through his career, while I got interested in those which were created at the emergence of his practice.

A Picture of Tate Modern Booklet

Anthraquinone-1-Diazonium Chloride, 1994
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I like the referencce to the 20-th century abstract art. I find it in geometrical or 'scientific' approach to decisions on forming the plane of the painting, e.g. Josef Albers' Homage to the Square series was based on a pattern made of mathemtically formed square formats.

Hommage to the Square, 1959
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Nevertheless, while Albers explores the subjective color experience referring to his color studies (Albers graduated from Bauhaus, which had a particular approach to color), Damien Hisrt does not use any of traditional harmonies. I believe he does not explore colour from the viewpoint of colour perception, but investigates the colour as a phenomenon itself. I do think though that his works address viewers for their individual experiences of the piece rather than presenting his personal artistic opinion.

Spot Painting, 1986
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This geometrical approach in his Spot Paintings creates a system for generating an infinite, endless series of paintings in a variety of scales. 

Ethyl Fluoroacetate, 2008
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Made with such medium as domestic paint, they look very common and haptically well experienced. Taking the same size and circular shape on a plane they seemed to me like cuts of painted domestic surroundings: doors, windows, cabinets and other pieces. I believe that something Damien Hirst aims to reach in his work is universality, which lets the viewers form their own relationship with his work of art and their own individual interpretation.

Sigalit Landau and her video artwork at the Solyanka Gallery in Moscow

Last Moscow Thursday I had a chance to visit Sigalit Landau retrospective opening at the Solyanka Gallery. I was truly impressed by her video work and felt sorry that I didn't manage to encounter with it earlier on Venice Biennale in 2011, where she presented an installation in the Israeli pavilion. 

Metaphoric and narrated, some of her work obtains a form in a medium of film. While she continually looks into reoccuring themes, their result is highly visual. Sensual, vibrant and full, they are not only a journey towards exploration of particular issues, but possess particular visual qualities, which are powerful both bodily and incorporeal.

DeadSee, 2005
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DeadSee, 2005
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The movement of the depicted within the frame of the video is one of those things I find highly aesthetic in her work. She creates a comprehensive image, which does not obtain motion, but throughout the time forms a continuous sequence or series of images of their own. And so, it seems like there is a natural articulation in universal notion of cycle. Circular image turns into centrifugally unfolding spiral, moving within the volume of the sea. In the latter the changing pattern of light filmed from underneath the water reminds about the recurring pattern of the movement of the waves, governed by the cosmic bodies according to particular cycles. I believe this immersion in the sea evokes a desire for meditative contemplation of the universal image.

Under the Dead Sea, 2005
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The nature of the abjects she films brings in particular colours and light to her work. While being on the plane of the video screen, they are spatial and engulfing, immersing the human body into the depths of the sea and presenting their relation within each other.

Standing on a Watermelon in the Dead Sea, 2005
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DeadSee, 2005
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Being so visually pleasant and mouthwateringly colourful, her works they are fleshy and tangible. Using salt, she preserves watermelons, and the imagination of the taste of the contradiction between the sweetest watermelons and saltest sea water clashes the senses.

The Dining Hall, 2007
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I believe that her works are so touching and sensual not only because of multilayered narratives within them, but also because of the objects she choses to work with: flesh of the fruit, salt and her own body.

Dale Chihuly and his Magical Worlds

Now I am in Moscow and probably for a good while. I still want to continue my investigations and in this post I want to write about the exhibition I have seen in London just before my leave. This was Dale Chihuly at Halcyon Gallery. I would like to point out that the reason why I made a step through the doors was something seen behind the spacious windows of the gallery, and it was not an object, but the atmosphere created by a number of those.

Halcyon Gallery, London
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Dale Chihuly says: 'when you're looking at glass you're looking at light', while I felt like I was looking at the coloured light, which was glowing from the far end of the staircase and flowing into the old boat just in the middle of the gallery space, like if it was brought here from somewhere magical. There light obtains shape.

Halcyon Gallery. Upstairs
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All his works seem like if they were probably not inspired by anything in particular, but taken from some artists imagination reality, which is formed, in my opinion, by practical engagement with the material. His objects are spontaneously developed, which is determined by the process of the glass blowing technque. This kind of work is complex: adding pigments to the glass is done a number of times and glass is melt everytime one is added, and all these should be done quite quickly. While the form is blown, fire and gravity take part in the process, and I think that probably because of these processes his objects look like a result of natural happenings, forming a series of them.

Persians
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Seaforms
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Team Glass Blowing
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Objects from the same series while made in the same technique, look as a result of a playful, experimental approach, like if the artist was curious every time about possibilities of glassblowing in each of them. I believe every object looks like a new step on the way to the whole journey. Nevertheless, his perfect knowledge of technique and high professionalism let him play with hot honey-like lquid glass in such a natural manner.

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While all the objects in his work are done in the same technique by blowing the glass, I find it interesting that each series is a result of particular hand movement. Work is done by a number of people and the steps made each time are the same, nevertheless every object is a result of different movement and every time there is something slightly varying in each of them, so every object and series objects form also become an ambodiment of physical motion.

Outdoor Fiori
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I really do enjoy that his works do have names, but not every particular piece. They determine the movement probably more that the meaning the artist imposes on them, and so by that these objects obtain the wholeness of their own.

Indoor Fiori
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I am simply really happy that I had a chance to engulf myself with the atmosphere, which was created by Dale Chihuly's objects. I believe that his works distinctly express not only his own imaginative reality, but the possibilities of highly masterful approach for the material and genuine fascination by its possibilities.

Milano: iSaloni and Melt Down glass forms

A few days passed before I am ready to post again this time about Milano trip, which definitely gave me a number of things to write about. This time my journey took me not only through the beauties of this wonderful city, but through several pavilions of the iSaloni. While there was a great quantity of acknowledged companies, factories, designers and suppliers, my attention was grabbed by Salone Satelite and those it exhibited.

Melt Down Lamps, Lindstén Form Studio
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I got really excited by the experiments done and the number of techniques applied by young designers in their work and definitely the glass blowing was among those. Not everyone could work out their quality with wood, steel and other materials, while glass works were on the top, providing not only high quality work, but theoretical investigations.

Melt Down Lamps, Lindstén Form Studio
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These pendants by Lindstén Form Studio represent such a wonderful series of colours in translucent glass, evoking a feelings of having a variety of jellylike delights on the tongue. Though the designer was concerned with 'meltdown' while working on the series, I still find its visual performance as something touching senses, almost evoking sensation of color-associated flavorings.

Moreover, I think that their shape suggests as if it was made of one of those gelatin substances, soft and mellow. It's incredible how rigid and fragile material depending on the shape it creates resembles something absolutely opposite than it is. 

Zurab Tsariteli, Moscow Stained Glass

Being on my holidays, I went on an inspiring trip to still snowy Moscow where among other beauties I had a chance to contemplate the splendid of the world famous interiors of Moscow metro.
One of the stations which grabbed my attention was Tsvetnoy Boulevard. I can't state that I am very much attached to works by Zurab Tsariteli as i am not impressed by his sense of proportion, nevertheless his small scale works which are a part of station decor impressed me greatly.

Vitrage 'Vladimir'

This work could be called as stained glass window where the pieces of glass are cut to predetermined design with the help of a stell or carbide wheel glass cutter and then grinded. The pieces are attached with the help of the lead starting from the corner. The lead can differ in the profile section and consistency.

Detailed Section: Lead Profile and Glass
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Nevertheless looking at the piece by Tsariteli one could notice that the profile is hidden between the pieces of glass, and they are profoundly more substantial and solid, almost being a 'brick' rather than a two-dimensional glass plane kept between the sides of the came. Moreover, it is noticable that the pieces were made probably in the similar technique as marble or stone sculptures, which is called hammer and point work. I think that the 'vitrages' are made at that point of techniques mixture, where the artist approaches the light picture plane by means of applying a method for its elements as if they are imposed with mass and weight.

Vitrage close-up

Another curious thing about this work came to me when I was visiting Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Dormition in London. While being inside at some point I realized that the stained glass windows are so at variance with the space for a simple reason that usually I see those bearing a different kind of aesthetics: the one typical for Mideval or Gothic Europe. While I could probably state that in this particular church they were made in regard to its architectural component (it was built in Italianate style in 1846 as an Anglican church), the application of the stained glass window technique in order to represent the icons or bible stories is quite out of ordinary in orthodox world and the paintings are traditionally made on a wooden surface. What I am trying to say here is that the narratives represented in Tsariteli's works while made in an alien to orthodox art techniques communicate visually as religious art.

Orthodox Cathedral of Dormition
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St. Serzhius of Radonezh
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I believe that these works are on the verge of mixture not only of techniques, but narratives in art. At some point they could seem ignorant to the history of techniques and the depth of the reasons for their application, while at the same time the uncertainty and playfulness gives a rise to a variety for interpretation.

Light and Colour in works by Libenský & Brychtová

The other day I was having a tutorial with students and one of them proposed application of stained glass in her project. She was introducing me to some illustrations representing works of art made of glass, when I noticed an absolutely stunning piece from Uměleckoprůmyslové museum in Prague. Though I visited Czech Republic couple of times and once even for art practice with group mates from Ural State Academy of Architecture and Arts, I have never been to the mentioned museum. You can have a look at the website here.

After doing a research it was exciting to realise how many techniques and their mixtures are applied in creating glass objects, nevertheless the one that took my attention included the process of casting. I enjoyed the works by Jan Exar, Frantisek Vizner, Gizela Sabokova and others. I was enchanted by spacious coloured glass objects transcending the light. 

Jan Exnar
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Looking at CV's of some authors I realised that they were in the class at Academy of Applied Arts in Prague, atelier of Professor Stanislav Libenský (e.g. Gizela Sabokova). My interest went into studying works by him and his partner Jaroslava Brychtová. 

Gizela Sabokova
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Gizela Sabokova
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I wish I could see Libensky's and Brychtová's works live, but even on photographs they expose themselves to a viewer as something capturing and seductive. While having a spacious mass (some of them are about human size) they seem like if light obtains colour and by this their substance is formed.

Libensky & Brychtova, Green Eye of the Pyramid, 1922-23
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I believe there is something illusionistic in their works what one might find in holographic works from 70-ies, and this evolving phantasmic dimension is filled with colour. It appears here originated from the engagement of light and glass mass. Nevertheless, the works do seem to me like light paintings in space, glass loses the matter and becomes a coloured light drawing floating in the space of those white galleries. Here the difference in thickness of glass and thus different translucency levels allow the medium to engage with and so reveal the full power of light and its way through the dimensions. Here the new value of these objects is born.

Libensky & Brychtova, Arcus
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Libensky & Brychtova, Arcus I, 1990-99
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Here light becomes a medium which evokes new possibilities of the material it engages with. I do believe though that the strength of these works comes from a number of years of experimentation and practical learning of the technique. 

Stanislav Libensky with Red Pyramid
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I enjoyed looking at his drawings as well. Seems like they explore more the journey of light rather than mass or composition.

Libensky, Triangle in the Triangle, 1996
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Libensky, Impress of an Angel, 1996
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Seems to me that there is always a number of particular techniques working with every medium, e.g. glass casting used for creating these sculptures. Nevertheless, constant technique development and experiments lead to particular unconventionality even in works made of such an ancient material as glass. Moreover, this engagement with the work brings significant progress and development of the narrative.

I hope one day I'll have an opportunity to experience those works in museum or a gallery space and of course I don't forget about my small dream to explore glass as a medium.

Colour and Light in the Works by Mark Rothko

Yesterday I gave my first lecture in Chelsea College of Art and Design named 'Finding a Narrative in the Precedent'. It touched on the subject of methodology in research-based projects, and main idea was to proclaim the importance of practical exploration of the precedents in order to define the area of the interest for the future research.

Lecture Auditorium

A Slide from Lecture Presentation

In my lecture as well as in the tutorial earlier there was a notion brought up several times: light and colour in works by an American artist Mark Rothko. There is a great book about him called 'About Rothko' by Dore Ashton. I read it couple of times while writing up my thesis.

Book about Rothko
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His works fascinate me not only with their aesthetic side, but more with the notion they bring.
Firstly, I adore the power they project on the viewer. When I saw them alive in front of me in a room covered only by his paintings from the same series, I felt like I was absorbing colour, while very dark colours like visible ( visible because there are other colours behind those we see) plum, maroon, black and violets felt as if they were glowing with light. Standing in front of one closely brought a feeling of being 'inside' of the painting, behind its picture plane. It was adorable to realise that the engagement with the depicted on a surface seemed like a spatial experience. These works were on display at Tate Modern and I recommend to certainly come and have a look if they are still there.

Black on Maroon, 1958
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Another point I mentioned in my lecture was the influence of particular technique and approach to work onto the nature of experiences while perceiving it. Every object or space that has imaginative value also has practical means of being created, and I believe that finding area of interest and forming research question happens through practical work. Thus we can gain a better understanding of the narrative it suggests.  Mark Rothko was into a complicated method of work, which included special technique of work with traditional oil paint by mixing it with turpentine, thinly layering it and and polishing every layer in order to achieve this magnetic effect. 

Mark Rothko with One of His Works
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Here is the video about his technique:

Though I like the works which were displayed in London, there are other more joyful and saturated paintings that would be wonderful to experience. I wish one day I have a chance to travel to New York and contemplate his luminous and vibrant works in MoMA. Here is one of those I really want to see:

Untitled, Mark Rothko, 1968
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Rene Lalique Exquisite Glass

After looking at those magnetic pendants I got interested in ways of working with such medium as glass. There is a number of techniques and Rene Lalique is actually the one who was exploring a particular way of working with that material. I believe he created an distinct style of work reliable on the qualities of glass and experimentation with the medium in its actual production phase.

Lalique Serpent Vase circa 1924
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This particular vase is produced nowadays in red crystal and has the same design as the one almost a century ago as it is made using the blow molding, unlike the pieces made with traditional blowing technique, where shape and colour depend only on the master. Nevertheless, in this technique (as well as when using press molding) the mold had to be pulled away from the object, which while fulfils the need of mass production, restricts the design. In order to achieve a more exquisite and complicated shape, another technique cire perdue was used. This kinds of vases could be produced each unique, and still produced in this technique nowadays. Here is the video if you want to know more about cire perdue production phases:

Lalique The Bacchantes Vase (Cire Perdue) Since 1927
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Noticeable, that in his works this technique glass is so masterly done and it looks so exquisite that it turns to be the main accent even in the jewellery piece, and diamonds and pearls are to honour it.

Lalique Roses Brooch
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His works started from involving glass elements into his collections of Art Nouveau jewellery up to creating bigger pieces, e.g. perfume bottles and vases, excelling the powers of the material in it's spatial application in architectural elements. I really adore that the beauty of this pieces is revealed through practice: seek for innovation and experimentation with the material and its qualities.

Poetic Glass Pendants by Alison Berger

My first one <3

The other day while looking for a weekend glass blowing course I encountered these absolutely enigmatic lights trapped into glass by Alison Berger.

Scripted Pendant Chandelier
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I am fascinated with her intimate affinity with the light, and I believe that the references to the Victorian apparatuses and devices truly complement the medium she engages with. They do look like found objects from a dream. I enjoy knowing the story that she collected the fireflies into glass containers as a child and that these lights are a continuation of those feelings that you get when you are in that experience somewhere in the countryside after the sun sets, carrying your little trembling light in a jar around with you. I find this memory of a very personal gesture as something enhancing the poetry of these pendants.     

Lantern Pendant
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I got a picture from my friend (who is an architect) of the project he was involved in. I think Alison Berger's poetic pendants are perfect to warm up this house in the middle of the snowy forest.

Two Storey House
Website of the Architect Here

You can find out more about her art works here