Tuesday 12.10.2021. Today’s brief was to paint on a found object. I knew exactly what I wanted to use. I had already ripped apart the different fabrics off a bed mattress and base for my earlier Sculpture brief. Lying in a pile, these mattress foam and hessian-type pieces, plus the timber pieces were still looking at me, very keen for me to utilise them.
Plus, I had recently required a great FIND… TREASURE for me, TRASH for others, which had great potential for this brief. I started off by laying out this very long length of vinyl, ready to paint, but it was far too windy! I could not clean it, let alone paint on it. On one of my neighborhood weekend walks, I had discovered this large drop-sheet piece of vinyl material left out as rubbish on the neighborhood curb. Of course I thought this may come in handy, so I lugged it home. On a finer day, I hope to use it, as it is far too enormous to be inside.
Instead, I grabbed a ripped piece of foam, and instantly did not hesitate. The interesting indented rust-worn marks from the spring steel mattress gave me an idea to paint inside these squares. I enjoyed just following these lines and pretending to play chess. I love geometric shapes and patterns, and by painting small contrasting black and white triangles, and squares I created a checkerboard effect.
On the foam, I noticed an interesting lighter coloured detail of a mountain shape that reminded me of Rangitoto, a special volcano surrounded by sea in our city, Tāmaki Makaurau. I think this pale shape and the portion beneath my painting had faded in the daylight, as it was bent backwards from there in the pile of foam. Therefore, wishing to keep this special natural part, I only painted my black and white geometrical design over the rest of the paler colour, and up to the edge of this mountain curve.
As I was painting, I reflected back to this black and white theme in my work in Week 1, (where I made Pollock inspired drips) and painted a large metre by metre black and white painting. In Week 2, I had chosen an Irving Penn photograph (for Vogue magazine) of a snazzily dressed model in a black and white garment. I had enjoyed making quick charcoal marks and sketches, such as the model’s black hat with facial netting. Here, I realised I was making conceptual links each week, from the criss-cross black and white patterns of the netting to my painting now on the foam.
After painting the first checkerboard type pattern, I rolled it up. Looking like a cream sponge roll, it became a three dimensional sculpture.
As I was photographing it rolled up, the black and white paint from the foam left a residue substance on the paper. This was very amusing. The painted sculpture had transformed, was suddenly alive, and making its own painting marks, and verbs (smear, drag, squash, brush)!!!😀🤩 (See below part of the FOUND FOAM OBJECT’s painting).
As I was using the verbs: SPLATTER, FLICK, DRIP, DROP, DRAG and SMEAR, I also reflected back to my admiration of Jackson Pollock (a great splatterer and dripper of paint!). Pollock has always been an inspirational artist to me, because he was a physical, gestural painter, like myself. I am fully aware of my gesticulation 🤪, tactile 😊 and kinaesthetic 😁 abilities.
Artist Research: Paul Jackson Pollock (Born 1912 Wyoming / Died 1956 New York, United States of America).
Jackson Pollock is a very well known painter connected to the Abstract Expressionist movement. He became recognised for using VERBS such as DRIP, POUR, SPLATTER and SPLASH, and using household paint. Instead of painting upright with the canvas on an easel, his painting support was laid flat on the ground, (like I also prefer to do, because I can physically move around it). It gave Pollock a different viewpoint of the canvas, and he used his whole body to see and move paint around at different angles.
