People have applied paint to surfaces in all sorts of ways. With the help of robotic devices, using the human body and its parts, using animals and natural forces. What else can I create? I realized that if human hands are not involved in process of making, all interest disappears for me. It is like a dull poster in IKEA without a soul.
And for some reason, as absurdity, I decided to wash the picture. Do not apply paint, but rather take it off. After all, the canvas is a fabric. And what we do with a material that is in long use - we wash it.
So I selected a few old works and removed the canvases from the stretchers. As it should be for the washing process - I applied detergents and started the washing machine.
At that time, it was an incredible winter outside the window. And this is my favourite time of the year. I always wanted to convey this state of peace and purity... and I decided to try to do something with the snow. But for the white snow to be reflected on paper or canvas, I needed colour.
So I started, first, to protect the surface, then fill it with various paints, and then, I realized that it was already too much. There were so many colours. I suspected that the experiment itself would no longer receive the proper central position. But anyway, I put the workpiece in frost (it was -15 degrees that night) and it was snowing.
After completing the wash, to be honest, I did not expect that sixty degrees in one hour would bring my canvases to such a state.
One painting was partially destroyed, but paint hung poetically and pretty from the canvas. Another canvas has lost all paint, although I remember there were at least three under-pictures. And in another painting, the first layer came off in a piece - it was my old experiment with epoxy. But, strangely enough, the figure of the person has been preserved completely. And it was very spooky!
All other paintings, even with numerous layers of paint, practically disintegrated, but here... He was one of my first male models while I was studying. But, unfortunately, he died quickly enough, and we commiserated with the whole institute. I don’t remember the story of this canvas, but I didn’t expect to see this portrait. This "discovery" of the face reminded me of Russian icons in which the paint falls off, and the image disappears.
Andrey Rublev. Spas, 1410th [Icon] At: http://andrey-rublev.ru/andrey-rublev-5.php (Accessed 16.02.2021)
Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on Ilyin Street. Velikiy Novgorod, Russia. 1378 year. Frescoes of the Trinity Chapel in the choir. Holy Trinity. [Frescoes] At: http://andrey-rublev.ru/andrey-rublev-5.php (Accessed 16.02.2021)
My multi-coloured board was frozen through and covered with snow. I moved it to warmth.
I pulled the canvases back onto the stretcher and cleaned and refined the images a little.
How could I refine this experiment further?
In the last artist research, I came across Dejan Dukic.
Dejan Dukic #16 Oil on Canvas, 12cm x10 cm [Painting] At: http://www.dejandukic.com/ (Accessed 16.02.2021)
Therefore, my thoughts somehow quickly flew in this direction and mixed with my research on a glitch in the last course in “Sculpture 1. Starting out in 3D”. (https://www.marinawittemann.com/post/7-glitch-3)
So I applied UV paint with my hands to the back of the canvas. Paint seeped through the canvas and appeared on the other side as pixels.
This effect was fascinating, because here the canvas began to work as a material, and at the same time, the absence of paint and its presence on the other side of the picture became essential. The lost parts of the picture seem to have fallen off - it's like a mistake, a glitch. And with ultraviolet light, digital is intertwined with natural tissues.
This idea can be developed further. I can look for solutions for applying paint to the canvas in pieces, such as sewing.
My experiment with snow was boring. And in general, it is not clear what is the matter and what does the snow have to do with it.
In general, the process of work itself turned out to be exciting for me only to the extent that I had to work with my hands and find solutions for new circumstances. I do not agree to remove a person and his movements from work. This has always been and will remain the most important thing for me because it is materiality, flesh and blood as life itself. And man, as a part of nature, has managed, strangely enough, to create artificial, smooth, glossy surfaces. It is very practical and convenient, but it is completely out of touch with life and is artificial. I am for passion, hate, filth, disorder, materiality, pain, suffering and handicraft in art.