Drawing Three
Mapping Project
Nathan Netterlund
Febuary 22nd, 2011
For my mapping project I wanted to specifically represent something that was actually quite general, or generally true. I wanted to tie into a over-arching tradition or reality that expressed the nature of life. To me this was structured into a limited number of shapes. Basically from one single point comes all other points. This formation symbolizes creation, evolution, regeneration and also linear perspective. In strictly symbolic terms it would look like a dot or point, surrounded by a circle, surrounded by another circle. Also there would be other circles being generated from the original circle in radial symmetry. I made several studies exploring this in strictly representative terms and it looked interesting, but also quite static. I decide to approach it from a different angle.
At first all I had was a crude perspective layout, the 3-D rendering of my radial design. I broke up my canvas into divisions of thirds and created to vanishing points to generate opposing points of linear perspective. After this I developed a visual language of rising spherical forms reaching up and down towards a mutual horizon. I added intense contour lines to give well-defined form to these shapes. I generated cast shadows coming from the heart of darkness, my two vanishing points. I used a very thick coffee wash to create different tones for the different shapes. I used a variety of washes to separate foreground, middle ground and background.
My work is inspired by a wide variety of artists. Certainly, the mapping of artists such as Mona Hatoum and Julie Mehretu helped generate allot of my original thinking about structure, mathematics and topographical mapping. Without thinking about their more linear rendering I would have struggled to find the genesis of this assignment. Beyond this there is an obvious Surrealist reference in this piece. Namedropping Salvador Dali or René Magritte may seem redundant, but it is their visual language that I am most directly tying into. In particular the innovative use of perspective in Magritte’s visual puns influenced my ethereal dreamscape. While my perspective is actually quite accurate and not distorted as say, Mc Escher, there is still that idea. This is presented in both the dual perspective, there inverted direction and the shared horizon. Finally, my choice in media was influenced by multi-media artist, such as the illustrator Ben Templesmith, who uses inks, ink washes and other washes in a similar manner to me.
As an Artist I lean heavily toward process oriented art. Certainly in Drawing II and to a lesser extent Drawing I, Professors have remarked that my rendering skills were sufficient and I should focus on pushing my conceptual boundaries. I tried to take my time with research, brain storming, and refinement of concept. I tried to reserve the actual studio production until I had resolved a strong philosophy as the basis for my process. I think the ideas behind this piece are just as strong as the actual composition. Additionally, my dynamic use of perspective makes the linear concept come alive in an unexpected way. I think this works well. Also, the amount of texture that I managed to build up with a variety of washes, splatters and mechanical lines gives richness to the entire composition. Finally, the steady variation of tones works well some of the darker areas of the foreground.
There are a few areas I am looking forward to improving through Drawing this Semester. In this first composition I had repeated forms throughout the composition. This was a reflection of my concept and in that context quite appropriate. However, in future projects I want to avoid repeated forms in even more dynamic compositions. Also, my lines are a bit generalized and in the future I want to push myself into sharper line quality. The use of coffee washes was interesting and innovative. I would like to continue this journey into different forms of multimedia drawing throughout the rest of this course. I also may continue to increase the scale of my drawings, from the watercolor paper to something bigger. I also feel that I have been working in black and white and low saturation sepias for too long and that these forms of expression have become a bit comfortable for me. In future projects I will be raising the saturation and expanding my use of color in my work. Finally, in future projects I would like to work with more of a figurative reference, with less emphasis on general abstraction.
