artist research

Helen Frankenthaler

Helen Frankenthaler is a significant figure who expanded the possibilities of abstract expressionism by exploring the ways of color-field painting. She truly created a bridge between the two movements. She is known for her experimentation with different mediums and unique ways of interpreting landscapes and subjects. Frankenthaler Invented the Soak-stain technique where she would use unconventional methods such as acrylics on unprimed canvas to let the colour soak into the canvas. She lets the colours puddle, on the surface. This way the colour does not sit on top of the surface, it rather sits within the surface. She engages with her subconscious and spontaneously lets herself create these pools of colour. Without looking at the title of this work, the placement, the shapes, the colours and the way the paint stains the canvas on “Beach Scene” already suggests the beach scenery in the work.

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I believe that Frankenthaler’s work connects to the way I have utlised my medium and surface throughout this brief. I am interested in with the way she embraces and showcases the way the paint soaks and moves on its own on the unprimed canvas. In my work I also let the wash move on its own, letting the droplets of paint slowly seeps into the surface as it dries.

Francoise Petrovich

French artist Francois Petrovich is known to work with a wide range of mediums, exploring themes such as adolescence, childhood, and nostalgia. Petrovich also experiments with different formats and scales through her work. She enjoys working with large formats, allowing her to work on the floor where she is able to incorporate body and movement as a process to create her paintings. Petrovich shows the relationships between lines and colours through using mediums such as Ink and watercolour. She believes that drawing is a critical part of creating stating that “It is the drawing that gives the line, the frame that sets the colours, It is a whole.”

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I think this connects with my work, as I find importance in the final outline that I place on top. The drawing on top of the wash of colours in my painting truly acts as a frame that set the colours in their place. Petrovitch also finds that the outline is also an important aspect which truly brings the piece together.

Rita Ackermann

Lines play an important role in Rita Ackermann’s work. She creates Illusionistic paintings where figures are both seen and disappearing, bridging the gap between the figurative and abstract. Ackermann is able to let figures and recognisable imagery emerge from unintentional, spontaneous marks. Working on a large scale with her body movements is important to her too, to make gestural marks on the canvas. The Lines in Ackermann’s work is able to shift in and out of figuration and abstraction. She also utilises newspaper clippings, photographs, within her work which also brings textural elements which compliment the figurative/abstract marks which she makes.

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I am inspired by the way Ackermann is able to engage viewers with her combination of figurative and abstract marks. I feel that her process and outcome is almost like directing the wash, drip, outline mode which I have painting with. The figurative outline drawing sometimes sit in the background while the chaotic bundle of colours are in the center foreground. It is interesting to see how I can play with the sequence and layering of the different processes I can paint with.