On: David Hockney
A lot of the markmaking from my observational drawings at the Barbican Centre began to remind me of David Hockney's work. The line work from the collage material started to resemble sunlines in a pool, and the shapes formed reminded me of midcentury architecture. I decided to research down this path, because I think that his style of work is very different from my typical aesthetic; he has an effervescent, carefree quality that I think I could emote in my work this week.
Another point of reference that I found was a modern dancework by choreographer Rudy Perez entitled 'Cheap Imitation' based off of the summery L.A. pools that Hockney often painted. I think that the title is one of the most interesting pieces, this idea of using another piece of work as a catalyst for your own.
Although this is a bit of tangent from the initial Brutalist brief, I do think that it is necessary to follow this path for a bit. I have learned in previous weeks that it is better to research a wider range of sources before narrowing my scope.
On: The Barbican Centre
I was so greatly inspired by being in a new environment outside of the studio at the Barbican Centre, and I think that it was a very good exercise to have to go out and observe new surroundings. I found a lot of interesting architectural details in the structures, and I found that the best way to capture these in drawing was by continual linework in markmaking.
There was a variety of textures in the structures observed; some were a very rough raw concrete, others were smooth white brick, and glass was even used. Since we will be photographing our samples in this space at the end of the week, I want to keep in mind the textures and range of materializations. Hopefully this will be reflected in my samples so that the environment and final outcomes will be linked together.
I also began thinking about creating contrasts between brighter, more playful samples and the serious, Brutalist environment. I think this could echo the contrasts in materials the building is comprised of.
On: Christopher Wool
The toughness and boldness of the Barbican Centre reminded me of Christopher Wool's work, which takes the form of block stenciled work paintings. Something that I found in my research is that his wordplay is a response to an observation made on the street, similar to the way in which we were working at the Barbican, responding to and interacting with the environment.
Wool's work has a post-conceptual standpoint, which is something that I often try to take into my designwork. Having concept overtake aesthetic ideas is a very interesting concept to me, and I often have this lead my work. The impetus for his word paintings was when he saw graffiti on the back of a brand new white truck; having such a clear concept filter into his work is something that I find fascinating.
I would love to create a text sample, because I think that it is a different way of approaching a textile. Having a piece that the viewer has to read rather than take in for a visual purpose is an interesting way to approach design.
On: Brutalist Architecture
I researched four different Brutalist buildings prior to the week's start to get an idea of the shapes and architectural attributes of this style of work. I became interested in the negative space of the buildings I researched, the Hayward Gallery, National Theatre, Civil Aviation Authority, and Balfron Tower. The repetition of shape and formidable height of each of these are also areas of interest to me.
Brutalist comes from the work "raw", but there is an intricacy to the work in shape as well as a very bold structure that interests me. The way the buildings are built so far upwards in contrast to their surroundings is something to take into consideration as well.
I want to further interact with these images in my sketchbook and develop them by stitching through them. Creating developed compositions and picking an interesting colorway to work with overtop of these black and white images could be very striking as a starting point in my sketchbook.