mixed media

In the Studio

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Two new pieces that are to be exhibited in the Hearth Gallery, Llandough from 9th July – August 1st, along with work from the other artists working at Kings Road Yard Studios.

Working on the backs of reappropriated carpet tiles, I begin with some expressive mark-making using gloss house paint. This is viscous enough to ‘write’ over the canvas using an old paintbrush to dribble the paint Jackson Pollock-style. When dry, a layer of dark paint is applied, and then partially scraped away to reveal the final, textured shapes. This sgraffitio technique is more widely used in pottery, glass and candle making, but surrealist artists such as Max Ernst experimented with it in the 20s and 30s as a way to explore freedom of expression, randomness of gestures and creative use of materials.

spirit horses I

Spirit Horses  – Mixed Media on Tile 50×50

guardians I

Guardians  – Mixed Media on Tile 50×50

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New Work

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Once again using set parameters of reclaimed tile 50x50cm, and circular form, I am continuing to experiment with elements of relief using plaster and glue to create texture (inspired by Ernst’s experiments). The composition, apart from these self-defined limits, is automatic.

luna

“The joy in every successful metamorphosis conforms . . . with the intellect’s age-old energetic need to liberate itself from the deceptive and boring paradise of fixed memories and to investigate a new, incomparably expansive areas of experience, in which the boundaries between the so-called inner world and the outer world become increasingly blurred and will probably one day disappear entirely.”

“What is Surrealism?” (1934), Max Ernst

Homage to Hannelore Baron

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Image result for hannelore baron box constructions                           Image result for hannelore baron box constructions

There is something raw and deeply absorbing about Hannelore Baron’s multi-layered work. Found materials are combined with enigmatic text and abstract figures in her collages and box constructions.

The work suggests both the condition of entrapment and the possibility of release, no doubt informed by her early traumatic experiences of war in Germany in the 1930s. Unlike Joseph Cornell, her box assemblages are not wrapped — or trapped — in the air of poetic-romantic longing. Baron’s boxes and notations insist that the human spirit can persevere, however damaged.

 

 

 

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Hannelore Baron website: http://www.hannelorebaron.net/