DOGA COBANOGLU
DOGA COBANOGLU
VISUAL ART
VISUAL ART
Drawing Weeds
As a class, we collected weeds around the school. I chose mine as the leaves had an original shape, texture and size. I made sure to choose the roots as I believe the roots would have a deeper meaning when analysing the concept of weeds and what they represent. Thus we first photographed them with a back drop and lighting. From there I drew the work with pencil and then pen:
Photograph of chosen weed
Weed in pencil
Weed in black pen
Through this process, I have developed a metaphorical perspective of a weed. A weed could represent a negative concept, person or/and thought. You can't control when they come as they are self-grown; weeds are not planted. They can plant their roots and are not like as they at times are stated to 'run' or 'displease' the grass/area/pavement they are in. From here they are attempted to be removed, like a negative concept, person or/and thought would be eliminated. We all face weeds in our life, it is how we handle them and see them. You can see the beauty of these negative aspects (weeds) by looking at them through a various perspective.
Michael Landy's perception of weeds
Landy was able to be exposed to weeds through the weeds lifestyle as he watched them grow in the cracks of the pavement and also attempted to grow them in his own pot (which was not successful). He realized that the plants self-grew as they did not require additional watering or fertilizing.
To him, this represented two things: the first, an optimistic being who could keep going in the darkest cracks and drop its seed and continue. A form of motivation as if or direct transformation. On the other hand, the weed represented himself. Before his intrigue with weeds, Landy had destroyed everything he owned - including his artwork - and became concerned as he struggled to make new art. The weeds flourished and reminded of himself becoming something out of nothing. He saw himself in the weeds, self-growing and developing.
Landscape images
Utilising an iphone camera we took advantage of the high elevation of our art classroom and took images of the landscape around us. The picture aside was my favorite.
I then moved on to depict it using charcoal:
As I was travelling I took images of my view in different lights. The destination was east bank cairo:
DAY LIGHT
SUNSET
NIGHT
I made a series of small paintings in black and white acrylic paint based on the three images I took above:
My paintings show the perception of the images above in black and white, I have created various undertones and utilised textures to create aspects of the city. This brings about the question if I have depicted my version of what I see? Can art show my version of a reality?
Art can depict not only what you see but what you feel through colours, textures, layers, dimension and more. This can be used to what you « see » of reality.
For example, a landscape image as a photograph cannot show what an artistic perception of it can. A curated piece of what you see can add more emotion through various methods enhancing how the artists convey their perception of reality..
Looking at John Virtues landscape art of London, it is evident he has a distinct method of thinking. His landscapes only show monumental evidence of life. Thus all 'minor' aspects are elimanted in his work. This could be lights and cars and so onward. Inversely, I have included this in my work as I consider the lights and life of a city to be the focal point of it. Thus the environment of the landscape and the artists perception of what is important in the painting decides the focal and important points.
Virtue's use of black and white empowers the images depicted as one is not distracted ted by colours. This correlates to the idea of abstractism where the landscape visually seen in real life is abstracted to how the artist perceives it.
(The National Gallery, n.d.)
Process of Creation
Lesson 1: Monday 29th April - I began to create my final piece of a landscape utilsing two sexplored technqiues: black and white, in addition to John Virtue's idea of abstract city view.
I chose to recreate image 3 using mix media. I chose a primed peice of a canvas I would rather to work on a white slate rather than unprimed slate that would blend. I want unblended colours on my landscape. My main goal would be to use acrylic paint as less as possible - it stands to me as an 'easy' or 'go to' choice. Thus I began with blacking out my background as it made up a large amount of the piece. I did this with black spray paint. Then I applied molding shapes where the roads and buildings were. I hope to create texture with this and layer media on top.
Lesson 2: Wednesday 1st May - I continued to mold on top of the canvas. Using the image I formed the areas that were most concrete. Once that dried I began to paint with a sponge for additional black area with black acrylic paint sadly, I hope to not utilise acrylic paint as much. I then started blending whites with a paintbrush and making shapes. These shapes represent the city lights and the buildings in the image.
Final piece:
Through my development of art I have understood nothing do I not consider as art but some I dislike more than others. At times normally it is very hard to find art I do not like as I am less judgemental towards how it looks, I would dislike a piece for the artists intention. This could be due to the lack of engagement with the piece, or further the lack of thought placed in the piece. Such as pieces of arts Jeff Koons and Damien Hurst.
On the other hand, I really enjoy pieces that convey thought. For example Gulsun Karamustafa who shows her political views through her art in how woman are treated in Turkey.