For this research, I decided to use a system of Ossian Ward which he described in his book “Ways of looking, How to experience contemporary art”. As my research is not only about one particular work I adapt this method to my goal. Thus I’m trying to build my “critical eye”, I believe to find myself is more important at this stage. I see myself as a creator and not as a consumer and this is a critical point. Philosophers and art critics are working with a ready material – ready object provided by the artist. Meanwhile, the artist is a “blind traveller” - you never know how the emotion will be reflected in the next moment. Thence, this evaluation is subjective artists view and not an art criticism. I consider these artists as teachers from whom I’m going to take the best.
Just as a reminder – O. Ward used letters from the Latin winged expression – Tabula rasa where:
· Time: We need to be a bit more patient before leaving the art work. Not always beauty and idea of the work coming across fast.
· Association: What can trigger your interest? What are your associations when you are looking on this work? These are small inner hints. It can be a colour or shape or something which pulls you in the art work.
· Background: of the artist. The title, description, a context this minimum of information can be a key to the understanding.
· Understand: by this stage you might have a better understanding of the work and relationship with it.
· Look again: a second glance with the prior knowledge normally provides essential information and at this point you can see work with a different eye.
· Assessment: and the most important stage – the judgment. Deeply subjective appreciation of the work will come out of you at this stage.
The adaptation is come out of practice and this way indeed the best for me as it is fulfilling my needs.
· First impression: emotional evaluation from 0 to 5. Print Screen of the first searching page. As we know searching system presents the most popular photos upon the requested information. Why I’m using this way? My logic is: as I never saw, or, at least, can’t say anything exact about the artist, the first place where I search in XXI century (it can change after me or was a different source of research process) is a Google. My first impression forms out of 35/40 pictures which pop up on my computer screen. The first impression is based only on a quick glance at the works and my prior knowledge.
· Connection with nature: This is an attempt to connect the Chinese system of BaZi with the emotional realisation of the artist. At this stage I’m not going to analyse it deep, for this I would need additional 10 years education and practise in astrology, but I will try to collect information and with time I will see the connections and relations.
· Background: Quotes, scientific texts, art articles and art criticism, these are what contain information about history, education, background, etc. of the artist which need to be read at the point of collecting information.
· Assessment: A final statement about the artist. Personal attitude to artist’s work and life. Conclusion out of all information which I was able or interested to absorb.
My first research artist is Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. (April 25, 1928 – July 5, 2011) he was recommended to me for his expressive use of colour. He was an American painter, sculptor and photographer who worked in an abstract expressionism style.
First impression: lines, gesture and colours reflect the character of the artist. My subjective evaluation of the emotions is 5.
Connection with nature: Dragon and Wood Yin
Background: While in the army, Twombly modified the Surrealist technique of automatic drawing by creating compositions in the dark - after lights out. ...Leda and the Swan ..., one of Twombly's most accomplished works, illustrates his career-long attraction to the stories, literature, and events of classical antiquity, an interest that expanded further after he moved to Rome in 1957. ...Each painting in the Quattro Stagioni (A Painting in Four Parts) depicts a different season within the ongoing cycle of life… (The Art Story, Cy Twombly [Online] Available from: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-twombly-cy-artworks.htm#pnt_4 [Accessed 24/09/18])
Assessment: My evaluation of the emotions after background analysis has stayed 5. Emotion embodied in gesture, line and colour demonstrate narrative context. Each work is a personal reflection on the learned or seen story. I feel a personal deep connection with this type of art and its realisation. Twombly combines stains of colour, straight lines painted by brush, crayon scrawls or loops, splashes, smudges on the canvas which represent intricate, vivid composition. Integrated symbols of words increase the expressive potential of the flatness as the meaning behind can lead towards unconscious experience around this subject. In uneven and vibrant spots I can see how the artist was working, how brush or even fingers touched the canvas. This makes me feel the artist’s touch, his character, his attitude to life. I love his works.
Brice Marden (born October 15, 1938) was recommended to me for his expressive and abstract landscapes in ink. Born in Bronxville, New York.
First impression: Most of the works are similar for me. There is no a big variation of texture or type of lines. My subjective evaluation of the emotions is 3.
Connection with nature: Tiger and Metal Yang
Background: 1970s, when he began working with long twigs as his main implements. Marden would sharpen and dip the ends of the twigs in ink, then apply them to the paper with an outstretched arm while standing a significant distance away. … Star (for Patti Smith) is one of Marden's best-known "portraits" and extends his condensation of experience to the human form, particularly representations of family and friends… …A significant portion of Marden's work emerged in the 1980s after he visited Asia and developed an interest in the art of the Far East. (The Art Story, Marden Brice [Online] Available from: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-marden-brice-artworks.htm#pnt_6 [Accessed 26/09/18])
Assessment: Evaluation of the emotions after background analysis is still 3 out of 5. For me, it is a boring and very simple technique. While working, as my taste, even a brush is too removed of the surface, I can’t see the sense to use even longer distance. A twig is standing in between emotions and matter for the artist. He is trying to balancing it and to reach a symmetry and balance in painting while this thinking takes over the essential origin of his depiction wish. Still, I found many connections with Marden – like a presentation of a person in abstract form and interest to calligraphy, yet colours are not juicy and rhythm in his works are basically the same and even.
Michael Heizer (born November 4, 1944) was recommended to me for his desert drawings. Born in Berkeley, California.
First impression: Monumental, big, heavy. Natural colours (as it is a land art) are not important in Heizer art, rather size and a global idea of humanity. Man, as a measure of the values, in front of immense work faces immortal life questions. Evaluation of the emotions is 4.
Connection with nature: Monkey and Water Yang
Background: In Heizer's work, the volume is an absence rather than a presence. By 'framing the emptiness,' the artist invites us to contemplate, or even meditate on very earth we walk upon. … The epic mounds of Effigy Tumuli were created as a sort of restoration effort after the land had been damaged by coalmining. (The Art Story, Heizer Michael [Online] Available from: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-heizer-michael.htm [Accessed 26/09/18]) His aim is simply to forge ahead, creating an art that he considers valuable to society, and following a vision that nothing and no one can alter and deter. … “What people don’t seem to realize is that I’m interested in the issues of art.” ... Heizer, a native of Berkeley, California, is the son of Robert Heizer, a distinguished archeologist currently teaching at the University of California. (ARTnews, ‘There’s No Understanding of My Work’: Michael Heizer on His Monumental Art, in 1977 By The Editors of ARTnews POSTED 06/26/15 1:54 PM [Online] Available from: http://www.artnews.com/2015/06/26/theres-no-understanding-of-my-work-michael-heizer-on-his-monumental-art-in-1977/ [Accessed 26/09/18]) Double Negative was among the first "earthworks" -- artworks that use as their canvas or medium the earth itself. In keeping with the mission of modern art, Double Negative blurs the distinction between sculpture ("art") and normal objects such as rocks ("not art"), and encourage viewers to consider how the earth relates to art. (Double Negative Robert Heizer [Online] Available from: http://doublenegative.tarasen.net/double-negative/ [Accessed 26/09/18])
Assessment: Evaluation of the emotions is 3. These works help me recognise the value of the space and size. In terms of man’s brain, the Universe is infinite, oceans and mountains are massive and majestic thereby everything that is bigger than a building (here I mean the biggest building in the World) is difficult to recognize (understand) especially with a horizontal view. Cities are already a magnificent interaction with earth and “negative space”. Artist's attitude is interesting and sublime, however, works in a Museum or a Gallery much more exact and thrilling. Heizer’s works remind me of pyramids in Giza and Petra in Jordan. Creation was with the purpose of religion or trade zone but current "heavy artworks" as a confirmation of the one person’s idea do not have specific esthetical nor social useful elements. Educational part even can be present (environmental problems which artist points out) but is it worthy of a work hundreds of people aimlessly moving earth from one spot to another?
Bibliography and references
Оссиан Уорд, 2014 Искусство смотреть. Как воспринимать современное искусство. Москва, Ад Маргинем Пресс, 2018
© Cy Twombly Foundation, Untitled (Bacchus), 2008, Acrylic paint on canvas, 3175 x 4683 mm [Online] Available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/twombly-untitled-bacchus-t14081 [Accessed 23/09/18]
Cy Twombly Quattro Stagioni: Autunno 1993–5 Acrylic paint, oil paint, crayon and graphite on canvas, 3136 x 2150 x 35 mm [Online] Available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/twombly-quattro-stagioni-autunno-t07889 [Accessed 24/09/18]
Brice Marden Study for the Muses (Hydra Version). 1991–95/1997. Oil on linen, 210.8 × 342.9 cm. Private Collection. © 2006 Brice Marden/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York [Online] Available from: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2?locale=en [Accessed 25/09/18]
Double Negative. Michael Heizer. Two trenches cut into the eastern edge of the Mormon Mesa, northwest of Overton, Nevada. 1969-70. Belongs to The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles [Online] Available from: https://www.google.com/maps/@36.6132389,-114.340426,2309m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en [Accessed 26/09/18]
Michael Heizer, Potato Chip, 2015, 18-ton granite rock in steel frame. [Online] Available from: http://www.artnews.com/2015/06/26/theres-no-understanding-of-my-work-michael-heizer-on-his-monumental-art-in-1977/ [Accessed 26/09/18]
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