Annotated Bibliography : Research and Enquiry module, MA Fine Art, part time year 1, semester 1.
Allthorpe-Guyton, Marjorie, et al. (2009). Ian McKeever: Paintings. London. Lund Humphries.
This monograph looks in detail at the work of Ian McKeever from 1986-2008. It contains 4 essays: Allthorpe-Guyton provides an overview of the artists development, highlighting his process of painting in series, with smaller works on paper in between to clarify and develop concerns before starting a new series; Dr. Michael Tucker then investigates ‘the body’ as a motif in his work; Catherine Lampert looks at a particular series of works; the Temple Paintings; and there’s a piece by McKeever on the subject of light, (a highly significant factor in his work). There’s also a large selection of colour plates of the artists work over this period. Existential philosophical themes run throughout; the idea of spirit, body and world being inextricably connected and the body as the core of all experience, underlying the artists work. I particularly like the way the artist layers paint to play with light; either building shadows into or out from the picture plane to engender the ‘aura of a bodily presence’.
Borchardt-Hume, Achim, (Ed.). (2009) Per Kirkeby. London: Tate Publishing.
This monograph was produced to coincide with the exhibition at Tate Modern in London from 26 September 2009 to 10 January 2010. It contains an introduction by Borchardt-Hume, an essay by Richrd Shiff, a large number of colour plates and selected texts by Per Kirkeby. The introduction highlights the wide range of media used by the artist including performance, film and writing and cites influences ranging from his training as a geologist, through pop art to art history and involvement in the Fluxus movement. Central to the artist’s work is the relationship between nature and culture, with the hut being a recurring symbolic motif of this. In Shiff’s essay, he quotes Kirkeby; “A store of unprocessed, unnameable feeling remains beyond language. Good pictures address this realm.” I’m particularly interested in Kirkeby’s paintings; the use of colour and what Borchardt-Hume calls the, ‘acceptance of contradiction and ambiguity, rather than striving for false truths’.
Chevrier, Jean-François & Sadler, Mark. (2013). ‘Whoever Wants It – Jean-François Chevrier talks to Mark Sadler about his new book on artistic hallucination.’ Frieze. [Online] 153 (March – Interviews). Available from: https://frieze.com/article/whoever-wants-it [Accessed 7/11/2019]
Chevrier is an art historian, and the new book in question, L’Hallucination artistique. De William Blake a Sigmar Polke, published in 2012, has yet to be translated from French to English. In this interview, Sadler and Chevrier talk about hallucination and the distinction between artistic and psychotic or pathological hallucination. Chevrier describes hallucination as a ‘critique of reality, whereby the mind produces the effects of actual perception’… ‘…as real as the reality it stands in for’. He suggests that the distinction between madness and visionary creativity is whether one experiences ecstasy or suffering. They touch on the notion of voluntary hallucination and the Surrealists’ explorations of dreams and visions experienced in the hypnagogic state of being between sleep and full consciousness. Chevrier quotes from Arthur Rimbaud; ‘the poet makes himself a seer by a long, immense and reasoned unsettling of all the senses.’ Generating visionary experiences by constantly feeding the mind with an eclectic range of experiences greatly interests me.
Gillam, Barbara J. (2017). ‘Figure-Ground and Occlusion Depiction in Early Australian Aboriginal Bark Paintings.’ Leonardo. [Online] 50 (3). pp 255-267. Available from: http://muse.jhu.edu/article/662401 [Accessed on 2/11/2019)
In this article, the author examines the skills of Aboriginal bark painters from the perspective of a psychologist specializing in visual perception. Gillam looks at the construction of the paintings to understand what makes them visually engaging as well as conceptually interesting. There’s a detailed analysis of figure-ground and occlusion effects, and how Aboriginal artists use sophisticated techniques to produce visual effects of depth perception. Gillam states that, ‘Aboriginal painting uses occlusion relations rather than linear perspective to depict depth’; suggesting that, although it does not try to represent the way things really look from a fixed point in time and space, (as in the western tradition) it reflects a variety of perspectives throughout space and time; so that the paintings do in fact represent some real world perceptions of things, combined with more abstract conceptual meaning. This is important to me because the combination of figure, concept and a sense of ambiguous space is what I’m working with.
Little, H. (2014). ‘Alan Davie: Entrance to a Paradise.’ (curatorial essay on the painter Alan Davie accompanying his BP Spotlight display at Tate Britain during 2014). [Online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/display/bp-spotlight-alan-davie/essay [Accessed 7/11/2019]
This essay surveys Davie’s life, focussing on the development of his work after he re-engaged with painting following a trip around Europe in 1948. The author refers to paintings held by Tate and material from Davie’s personal archive to chart a progression from purely abstract gestural work, to more clearly defined figuration using symbolism to convey narrative and myth. Little shows how the artist’s work is inextricably linked to his poetry and music, (he was a professional jazz multi-instrumentalist); and heavily influenced by surrealist automatic drawing, Zen Buddhism, primitive cultures and Jungian ideas about symbols indicating a collective memory. Two points that stand out for me are: – that Davie’s process is intuitive and directly analogous to musical improvisation; and that despite an in interest in chance and purely expressionistic techniques, he believed that complete abandonment of “IDEA” was not worthwhile. As I understand this; – a painting must have something symbolic of meaning, but that intellectual analysis cannot explain or add to.
Morris, Susan. (2012). ‘Drawing in the Dark – Involuntary Drawing.’ Tate Papers. [Online] no. 18 Autumn 2012. Available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/18/drawing-in-the-dark [Accessed on 12/11/2019]
In this paper Susan Morris talks about her work, referring to other artists, philosophy, art history and psychoanalysis for context. She discusses her attempts to remove herself, the ‘I’, from the work; to record that which is beyond the conscious act, that which cannot be apprehended or understood. Morris describes various processes using various devices to capture data about the movement of her body over time, which is then traced onto an ‘organising structure’, such as a calendar, which serves as a ‘holding place’ for that which is otherwise invisible or unknowable. This digitized data is then translated into lines that are either printed on paper or woven into tapestries. I find this text challenging and intriguing at the same time. I’m interested in involuntary processes; but as a way of gaining access to some aspect of the subconscious in order to investigate the self, rather than to negate it.
McKeever, Ian & Deacon, Richard. (2010). ‘Royal Academy of Arts, Artists’ Laboratory 01, 2010 – Hartgrove Paintings and Photographs – Ian McKeever and Richard Deacon in Conversation.’ [Online] Available from: http://www.ianmckeever.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Artistss-Laboratory-01-RA-Ian-McKeever-and-Richard-Deacon-in-Conversation-2010.pdf [Accessed 11/11/2019]
In this interview, Ian McKeever talks to the sculptor, Richard Deacon about the series of paintings and photographs he made when he moved to Dorset. They discuss the relationship of his work to place. McKeever thinks of his paintings as being outside the body but not landscape; not projections of the inner self either; but ‘existing somewhere in the zone between’. McKeever talks about the way he perceives a painting as a whole whilst making it; describing the process as ‘holding’ the work as a complete thing throughout. Deacon shares this sense in making sculptures and relates it to the idea of gestalt. They talk about scale and the importance of paintings and sculpture having a relationship with the size of the human body. This is deeply interesting as I’m working with both painting and sculpture, looking at ways of exploring a sense of identity and of mystery.
Miller, Barbara L. (2014). ‘“He” Had Me at Blue: Color Theory and Visual Art.’ Leonardo. [online] 47 (5). pp 460-465. Available from: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/LEON_a_00677 [Accessed 21/10/2019]
This article takes Roger Hiorn’s installation, ‘Siezure’ as study around which to discuss the philosophical and scientific history of colour perception. Miller addresses the questions of ‘what is colour ?’ and ‘where is colour?’ She looks at the way the dynamic properties of materials and changing environmental conditions result in constantly variable light information hitting the eye. She also looks at how colour perception is more than just physiological; being equally dependent on psychological factors. Miller highlights the emotional power of colour, and how perception is affected by and dependent on environmental and cultural context, as well as personal experience. In addition, she shows how we process visual information in an adaptive way, compensating and adjusting perceptions to meet expectations. I’m drawn to the colour of things first and foremost, and am fascinated by the constant flux of the relationship between colours and their effects on me.
Thaut, Michael H., 2008, Rhythm, music, and the brain: scientific foundations and clinical applications. London. Routledge
This book, written primarily for research and rehabilitation professionals, surveys current understanding of how music, specifically rhythm, affects the brain. It examines knowledge from the arts and sciences in the context of recent developments in neuroscientific research. Of particular interest is the chapter that looks at the structures and functions of rhythm, where the author describes a systematic relationship with specific areas and levels of innate psychobiological functioning. He identifies how temporal ordering in a rhythm creates anticipation and predictability, and how an interplay between expectation and temporary suspense can generate arousal, tension and release. A key point is where the author equates temporal rhythm to spatial rhythm. I’ve always loved and been moved by music, and I’m interested in why, for me, the success of a painting or sculpture depends on the sense of rhythm within it.
Tucker, Michael. (2010). ‘Passage(s) North.’ Visual Culture in Britain. [Online] 11 (3). pp 373-390. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/14714787.2010.514731 [Accessed 11/11/2019]
In this essay Tucker looks at the work of Alan Davie, Iain Roy and Ian McKeever, proposing their art has a common thread; a ‘northern orientated’ pursuit of a ‘heightened reality’ and sense of the ‘mythopoetic’. The author cites influences from the 19th century Romantics who looked north for wilderness and a sense of the sublime, Scandinavian existentialist philosophy, (such as that of Soren Kierkegaard) and the fact that all three artists had early childhood experiences of the wild outdoors that provided, as Davie put it, ’…true knowledge which is really of the animals…’. In Davie’s work, Tucker identifies a Celtic, shamanistic sensibility to the world, drawing on linear symbolism to speak of mystery; whilst in McKeever he sees an introspective, existential investigation of personal identity, exploring the relationship between body and landscape, shadow and light. I’m interested in the work of both these artists, but this article reveals connections I’d not seen, but that start to put some sense to the ideas I’m exploring.
Van Geert, E., & Wagemans, J. (2019). ‘Order, Complexity, and Aesthetic Appreciation.’ Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. [Online] Available from: https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000224 [Accessed on 7/11/2019]
In this paper the authors seek to address the question of what determines aesthetic appreciation. They review current literature which examines the role of order and complexity in this respect. The first problem that emerges in the studies is the distinction between objective and subjective measures of both order and complexity. They also consider two other issues: 1. multidimensional complexity or order; ie. complexity/order with more than one factor, (colour, size, shape etc.). 2. the conceptual dimension as distinct from that of visual perception; ie. the order or complexity of ideas or meaning for example. The authors then identify that, [unsurprisingly,] personality, intelligence, education and experience have profound effects on preferences for varying degrees of complexity and order, and thus aesthetic appreciation. What is interesting to me is the relationship between order and complexity; being both complementary and antagonistic, and the variety of ways that visual elements can be ordered or complex.
Wagemans, J., Elder, J. H., Kubovy, M., Palmer, S. E., Peterson, M. A., Singh, M., & von der Heydt, R. (2012). ‘A century of Gestalt psychology in visual perception: I. Perceptual grouping and figure–ground organization.’ Psychological Bulletin. [Online] 138 (6). pp 1172-1217. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0029333 [Accessed on7/11/2019]
This is a dense and very technical text. It first looks at the history, development and current status of Gestalt psychology. It then goes on to examine perception and cognition of visual elements by; Grouping, (proximity, similarity, etc); Contour Integration and Completion, (good continuation, convexity etc.); and Figure Ground Organization, (boundary ownership, depth perception etc.). It looks at neurophysiological mechanisms and concludes that processing operates at the cellular and whole-organism level, and that there is a combination of autonomous and conscious processing, both of which are context sensitive and influenced by learning. Three key threads interest me: 1. The way we experience vision in a whole and immediate way, perceiving a scene in terms of depth, organisation, patterns and shapes before a conscious cognitive analysis of the elements. 2. The various and subtle ways that the visual elements of a picture can be manipulated to affect perception. 3. The way we perceive is influenced by context and personal experiences.