soft crystals

Painting 321 Spring 2010

Inspiration Series

So maybe right now I am inspired more by things than people. There are definitely some clear connections between my recent work and say Pop artist Claes Oldenburg/ Pat Muschinski and Op artist Bridget Riley, Professor Cynthia Camlin and my best friend Maggie Wong. However things like crystals and cells, ‘Dazzle Camouflage’ and patterns on posters that cannot be attributed to any one person also inspire me. On top of that the whole time I was working on these projects I was pretending to work on the next assignment. I focused more on breaking out of my rigid idea of painting than on who I got my ideas from.

My first painting for this project is a random assemblage of triangles and squares of canvas sewn together to form a soft geometric shape. I then covered the different ‘faces’ of the crystal with patterns from all over the place. I referred to Oldenburg/ Muschinski but I don’t admire their aesthetic.



The second painting is another random assemblage of canvas but this one is gessoed and therefore hardened. If I had my way I would have dipped it in gesso and created an entirely different look with drips between the many pieces of string and canvas hanging from the crystal. I covered this with a cellular pattern that that I picked up from somewhere in between Ellen Gallagher and Eva Hesse.



My third painting was a paper construction held together with staples. It is also a random arrangement of triangles and squares that form a crystalline structure. For this piece I wanted to represent some sort of transparent geometry. I researched crystal structures and gem cut patterns and looked at James Sienna, Mark Francis, and Tomma Abts for my line work.



My fourth piece was an attempt to create a structure that defied three dimensional space. It was inspired by “Dazzle Camouflage” a technique developed by Norman Wilkinson during WW1 to confuse the shape, size and kind of battle ships during all weather conditions by using contrasting colors and angles intersecting and overlapping to distort space. This idea intrigues me but I do not think that my study really expresses my ideas as I would have hoped.



My fifth painting is the only two dimensional painting in this series. It references Sergej Jensen and his construction paper paintings. I would like to explore both the two dimensional and three dimensional aspects of representing crystals. I also really like his color pallet.