Block Print
Blind and DulledBlock Print
15 cm x 23 cm September 2019 Exhibition TextBlind and Dull is a piece inspired by the post WW1 works of Kathe Kollwitz and the symbolism found in Salvador Dali's works. This piece is supposed to portray the modern american youth's desensitization of violence through the media and the abundance of hate, violence, and death that we see in our news. As well as the sheer innocence a child possess not being able to comprehend such tragedies as important or impactful.
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Planning
Inspiration
My inspiration for the design of my piece cam from the works of Kathe Kollwitz's Fettered man and The people, I really enjoyed her use of expression and the way the subjects in her pieces emoted and made you feel the sorrow they go through. Another inspiration for my piece was Salvador Dali, in particular i enjoyed his use of symbolism with the cabinets in his pieces. Dali saw them as gates into the mind in general and i liked that approach to psychoanalysis. Both of these artist also explored the result and nature of war and conflict in the world and that inspired the nature of my piece with the more melancholy and disturbed mood. I also wanted to translate that post conflict message and bring it into a modern setting.
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Planning sketches
My sketches started off as just one subject who had the top of his head blurred and distorted as then i was looking at the Artist Francis Bacon for inspiration but realized his style wouldn't translate well into block print form.
As I progressed through the thought process i built my idea to a man and a child in front of a TV. I thought the concept and the design with the lighting was a good idea. This sketch was an exploration of that in a somewhat dali-ish style but it was a complete failure in my opinion as i don't usually distort figures in my drawings or sketches so I tried taking inspiration from Dali's Face of War. I'm was not very pleased with the result.
This was the final sketch i used It was a good combination of expressionism and the symbolism in Dali's work with the lock which suggests the boy's mind and thoughts are hidden, but I gave him a blank expression to suggest that he doesn't have any deep emotions or concern on whatever he is watching while the other subject is crying and seems pained as to what is happening.
Experimentation
On the right you can see the different prints I made throughout this process. If you look closely you can see small changes as there were somethings i was not satisfied with such as the couch the subjects are sitting on and the boy's hat. At first I realized that i didn't apply enough ink to the brayer but as I progressed my errors became less and less as far as the application of the ink. Another problem that came up was some extra ink seeping into the pores of my cut, I solved this by cleaning the cut and carving deeper. I still found ink seeping in and making some areas thicker and it made my cut lose detail. This was my fault as the way i carved my cut made it easy for stray ink to seep into little imperfections in my cut.
(top left My 2nd print, top right My 1st print, bottom right is My 3rd print, bottom left is my Linoleum with ink on it ) |
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Process
I started off by looking for my inspiration and found it in Salvador Dali's and Kathe Kollwitz's art. Then i chose from one of my planning sketches and used a graphite transfer method to apply the image to the linoleum block. From there I carved out every thing that was not shaded in, the fine lines were dealt with tediously with the small v shaped tool. For the more spacious areas I like the TV's outline and the border I used the smaller u shaped tool. I strayed away from the larger tools to keep myself from making huge errors such as lines cutting through other lines instead of staying where it's supposed to be.
From here I would take the print to the back table and get My brayer, baren, ink, ink tray, and paper. From here i would use about 2 spoonfuls of Ink to cover the tray and i would use my brayer to roll out the ink and cover the brayer. After applying the brayer with ink I would then use it to cover my print and make sure it would be covered fully in ink.
After applying the brayer with ink i would line up the paper with my print using a ruler. From there I would take paper and apply it to the print and then use the baren to really get the ink onto the paper and then make sure all the ink gets on the paper. Remove the paper from the print and put it on the drying rack and make sure none of the ink spreads.
From here I would take the print to the back table and get My brayer, baren, ink, ink tray, and paper. From here i would use about 2 spoonfuls of Ink to cover the tray and i would use my brayer to roll out the ink and cover the brayer. After applying the brayer with ink I would then use it to cover my print and make sure it would be covered fully in ink.
After applying the brayer with ink i would line up the paper with my print using a ruler. From there I would take paper and apply it to the print and then use the baren to really get the ink onto the paper and then make sure all the ink gets on the paper. Remove the paper from the print and put it on the drying rack and make sure none of the ink spreads.
Reflection
This Piece was somewhat of a disappointment for me. Even though the Piece looks nice and some of prints came out really nice I wish i would have captured the style of the artists i took inspiration from better. The Message is also blurred when one views the piece I want them to be able to understand what message i'm trying to get across but when i take a look back on the piece it does not seem like I really captured that message. Most of the prints I made came out decent some of them could have used the more ink but i caught on to that fairly quickly. The process of making the print went for the most part smoothly there were only a few mishaps that for the most part would go unnoticed such as fine lines that weren't where they were supposed to be. I would also argue that I didn't Use the medium to my advantage as I should have also taken more time to put greater detail as far as the shadows and more detail in both faces should have been a little more expressive.
Compare & Contrast
ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
I realized some of the themes of loss and tragedy from the Kathe Kollwitz pieces and the symbolism from Dali's work rubbed onto my piece with the ideas and themes it explores. Dali's psychoanalytic ideas also made their way into my piece with the lock in the child's head and the title i chose.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The sites I used for the most part just showed the artwork and the information regarding dimensions and such which was a let down since the pieces themselves are so interesting to look at.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I drew the conclusion that many artist such as Salvador Dali and Kathe Kollwitz find the tragedies of war repulsive and see the outcome of such conflicts as nothing but a cause of suffering and decay.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea is that of each generation being more dulled to conflict than the last.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can conclude from my research that expressionism as a whole is used in most cases to show the viewer how the artist feels on certain topics in the world.
I realized some of the themes of loss and tragedy from the Kathe Kollwitz pieces and the symbolism from Dali's work rubbed onto my piece with the ideas and themes it explores. Dali's psychoanalytic ideas also made their way into my piece with the lock in the child's head and the title i chose.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The sites I used for the most part just showed the artwork and the information regarding dimensions and such which was a let down since the pieces themselves are so interesting to look at.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I drew the conclusion that many artist such as Salvador Dali and Kathe Kollwitz find the tragedies of war repulsive and see the outcome of such conflicts as nothing but a cause of suffering and decay.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea is that of each generation being more dulled to conflict than the last.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can conclude from my research that expressionism as a whole is used in most cases to show the viewer how the artist feels on certain topics in the world.
Bibliography
Fettered Man. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://quod.lib.umich.edu/u/ummu/x-02-02899/*.
Kollwitz, K. (n.d.). Käthe Kollwitz. The People (Das Volk) from War (Krieg). 1922, published 1923: MoMA. Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/69688.
Tate. (1970, January 1). Salvador Dalí 1904-1989. Retrieved from https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/salvador-dali-971.
Kollwitz, K. (n.d.). Käthe Kollwitz. The People (Das Volk) from War (Krieg). 1922, published 1923: MoMA. Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/69688.
Tate. (1970, January 1). Salvador Dalí 1904-1989. Retrieved from https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/salvador-dali-971.