While working on this part, I was considering my physical presence and the passage of time. On the one hand, I have always been attracted by such authors as
Joan Mitchell,
Bracket, Oil on canvas, 260.35 x 461.963 x 5.08 cm., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art San Fransisco, California [Painting] At: https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/joan-mitchell/artwork/0822-bracket (Accessed 22.02.2021)
Franz Kline,
Franz Kline, Painting Number 2, 1954, The Museum of Modern Art [Painting] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kline#/media/File:Kline_no2.jpg (Accessed 22.02.2021)
Cy Twombly,
Untitled (Bacchus) 2008 © Cy Twombly Foundation License this image [Painting] At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/cy-twombly-2079 (Accessed 22.02.2021)
Morita Shirou
Morita Shirou on Shibunkaku [Calligraphy] At: https://www.shibunkaku.co.jp/english/art/list/morita_shiryu/ (Accessed 22.02.2021)
I saw in these works life in the movement of lines and spots. I perceived them as a physical embodiment of the inner state of the author, their emotions.
On the other hand, I understand the present moment. Our life is centred on the computer and the Internet. Therefore, I also was encouraged by authors such as Petra Cortright, Matthew Stone or Richard Prince (Instagram Paintings). In my point of view, they present modern art most progressively.
At the same time, working with the material (course on Sculpture 1 Starting out in 3D) made a tremendous impression on me. I felt and realized the material and myself as a part of it. In other words, it dawned on my mind that everything is connected, everything in general - from space and ending with a piece of wood in my workshop. Through the work of Phyllida Barlow, I understood what it means to live through the material. Time flows along with the creation of work, and it is endowed with this time of my life. A screw is screwed in, paint flows, roll up paper with tape, and my life is shortening by doing these things.
Therefore, I decided to figure out what is what for me, what do I feel when I make it and what do I want to do?
It is important to note here, that by the time of the second month of lockdown, my art materials were coming to an end. I had to redraw old works and switched to industrial paints, which I still had in my workshop. And in general, I started using everything I could find around me.
1. Material
Therefore, the first test was a stream of energy coming out of me. Somehow I just started assembling materials and creating. It was like the flow of vibrant and emotional life. Alive wood, paper, nails... Materials begin to interact and tell me what to do. And when the final piece was done, I felt such bliss that there was no limit to happiness. For me, it was like flowers in a vase, for my husband, it was cut human entrails, but it was such a lively and emotional new thing.
2. Colour
Then I decided to develop further my new "finding" with paper. The main interest for me here is the colour. The fact is that for many years at the time of describing the process of painting with oil, I have been making such a hand gesture https://youtu.be/nXQT6KQRwH4 and only now I felt it just at the moment when I mix paint with paper. The paper dissolves, and the new mass appears, which is not a paint substance because this material is durable. It is not falling apart due to the connection within itself. It is not paper because I can change its shape. Why didn't I figure it out earlier? =(
As I said, I ran out of paper, so I started to collect newspapers from neighbours instead. It seemed to me very symbolic since Germans really read a lot of newspapers. And each gave me a solid stack of used newspapers. I thought that not only is the newspaper already a great source of information. But at the same time, the person read this piece of paper. The man held it in his hands, endowed it with his unique energy. Thus, in fact, my painting (object?) gets a kind of enormous energy charge created by many people.
3. Words as an imaginary colour
Looking for ways to convey colour without using a brush, I thought of words. And then I remembered the approach, Lawrence Weiner. The artist considers each word as a separate object and endows them with a physical body. In my case, of course, it is different, but somehow it gave me an idea to write about colours.
FIRE AND BRIMSTONE SET IN A HOLLOW FORMED BY HAND 1988 © Lawrence Weiner [Art work] At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/lawrence-weiner-7743 (Accessed 22.02.2021)
In fact, I have described images with colour, and the picture should appear in the viewer's head. Everyone will have their own imagen colour and atmosphere probably even with small. I painted the colours without using the colours themselves.
Since these were words, I thought it would be logical to use the woodcuts method when printing books. At the same time, it seemed to me culturally close to work with wood. Because, I have a feeling that worldwide my country is perceived as a winter land where everyone walks with a hat with ear flaps, and with bears as pets, everyone drinks vodka, and our houses and cars are wooden. In other words, such a reference to the underdeveloped world and life in the woods.
4. Heute (‘Today’ in German)
Since I had no more canvases and available wood, I found sheets of steel. And here again, the associative array appeared - words, Germany, Rudolf Stingel, and I found myself scratching the metal. I wanted to repeat the same lines as Joan Mitchell's or as in calligraphy, where you can write a book about only one line. Dynamic, bold, screamy. Here I did not use a brush, but the gesture and presence were again the most important for me.
Moreover, I saw myself in the golden reflection and realized that this is 'now'! Therefore, I placed the inscription on one panel, which my husband carries around with him – «Das Gestern ist vorüber. Das Morgen ist dir ungewiss.» and on the other – «Das Heute das nütze.» (German. Yesterday is over. Tomorrow is uncertain for you. Today is useful.) Accordingly, I see myself in the reflection now (Heute).
After the work was ready, for me, it became the embodiment of how I perceive German culture. People are hard as metal and with pure, vivid and very natural intentions, which I represented brutally and poetically in writing.
5. Good mix
And the work on the last piece took a very long time. As a result, I wanted to try the combination of:
- hand movements - small spots and lines
- body movement - spilt paint
- brush movement - lines with defined structure
- elements created by chance – stains that have spread
- representation of the time - big coloured stain
- materiality - embroidery
- digitality - lines are drawn on the tablet and transferred to the canvas.
To put it another way, the artist's time in the visual embodiment.
I would like to continue developing the themes of words, linocuts and woodcuts. I see this as part of a personal project. The search for a person's self-identification, his belonging to a particular country, race, and how this can be expressed in visual art.
In addition to this, the manifestation of materiality, in my opinion, is the essence of all living things. In this regard, I would like to develop this direction through such works as Work 1 and Work 2. Because in these pieces the aspects of materiality are manifested through material and colour.
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