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| The poster advertising the event |
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| Katrin directing us all. |
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| Two of my drawings/paintings on the right here. |
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| Katrin's drawings |
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| The magnificent studio space in Jabukovac |
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| In great company with Katrin, Mona, Appolonia |
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| The party in full swing. |
Sunday 11 December 2016
December doings in Zagreb
A celebration of the work of students in the Academy was organised by Katrin Radovin of the Students council during the week which was to showcase the work done in life drawing as an inspiration for first year students. It was a party night but with some serious organisation behind the scenes to gather the work of a large number of students, including my own. I helped Katrin to mount the exhibition on Thursday. The work is stunning, I think and is indicative of the high standards I've witnessed here in the study and execution of Life drawing. It is a subject taken very seriously by all students and I really enjoy being a part of this module. It is challenging and involves high levels of concentration but totally absorbing. I love it.
The exhibition and party was held in the location for the drawing processes module, the beautiful Education Centre in Jabukovac. This building was the studio and home of one of Croatia's most famous sculptors, Ivan Mectrovic.
Dorothy Cross in Zagreb Part 2, Friday 11th November
Zagreb Academy of Fine Art kindly hosted a breakfast in the college on Ilica this morning. Dorothy Cross, accompanied by her minder [don't know the woman's name] and a beautiful black dog, engaged in a question and answer session. She was very interested in hearing about painters as she had never really followed that particular path. Word had broken about the death of Leonard Cohen and, while those present who knew and loved him voiced our sadness at his leave taking, the topic came around to the entity that is Trump and a spirited discussion ensued. Now, some people would say that politics is not related to discussions about art but I totally disagree. Life is politics and, in my opinion, artists need to be aware of the issues that are to the fore in all arenas. But that's just me and many, it seems, would take the opposite view! Everyone to their own. I like that fact that Dorothy Cross is passionate about what's going on in the World and is not afraid to speak out. Sadly, that approach may not be well understood in some parishes! Sin an doigh!
On Friday evening, another event was staged in the Museum of Contemporary Art in the city. A number of films were shown and it was a wonderful opportunity to see this work on a big screen. Dorothy Cross was fascinated with the story of Maud Delapp from Valentia Island in Kerry, who devoted her life to the study of jellyfish, a very unusual pursuit for a woman back in the 19th century. The film, Medusae [latin for jellyfish] explores Delapp's pioneering work and personal life and it reveals her meticulous documentation of her research. This was a three year project and Cross and her brother, with funding from the Wellcome Trust in London, collaborated in Australia on a project where they studied the swimming techniques [biomechanics] of the box jellyfish, the most dangerous of the species. Cross filmed the process. The balletic movement of the jellyfish is mesmerising and the most glorious element to this project was the scenes shot in an isolated lake in Palau in Micronesia, where Cross is filmed almost totally submerged underwater, surrounded by thousands of soft and beautiful jellyfish. Silence prevails so it is totally visual and it is a truly beautiful work. I believe Cross was exploring the experience of re -positioning humans in nature and reflecting on how the artist can highlight the environmental changes looming in the not too distant future.
The next film was called simply, Antartic and this was a black and white video where deep sea divers are tracked in the waters of this region. The monochrome film is reversed and what we see
are negative images of icebergs and caves which creates a very eerie atmosphere. At one point, I am reminded of cyanotype images where the divers appear with crisp white outlines framed with the dark backdrop of the sea. Cross wanted to create a sort of slimy, oil like appearance in the sea's surface and this works. It refers to the ongoing colonisation of this part of the world, kept pristine and pure for centuries but now being hijacked by the clamouring hordes of avaricious nations eager to cash in on the valuable resources so far untapped. Is there any hope for our poor, beleaguered planet?
Stage was a project that Dorothy Cross undertook in collaboration with her friend, the actress Fiona Shaw where they both became involved in a residency in the Galapagos Islands, funded by the Gulbenkian Museum. The silence of expectation and issues of abdication prevailed in this piece. I found it to be somewhat disjointed but Dorothy later explained that many of the artists involved in this project returned home very depressed possibly because of the growing 'civilizing ' effects on these unique islands. The population has greatly increased and tourism is the primary industry.
The sublime short film, Teacup was shown. This is such a deeply moving piece and there is no need to go into details about it. It speaks for itself.
The final work of the evening was Chiasm, an opera written by Cross. An astonishing work, this is a recording of the performances of a soprano and tenor who are located in two separate but adjoining handball alleys with a dramatic images of video footage taken in the wormhole seawater pool in the Aran Islands projected onto the floors of the locations. It is a mesmerising visual and aural experience and represents a new direction in Cross' oeuvre. It is reminiscent of the glorious phenomena of fractals aligned with memories of playing with kaleidoscopes light years ago.
I left the museum on this windy night with rain lashing down feeling energised and inspired. My admiration and respect for the artist, Dorothy Cross has greatly increased.
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| Dorothy Cross relaxing with students in the Dean's Room, Academy of Fine Art, Zagreb. |
The next film was called simply, Antartic and this was a black and white video where deep sea divers are tracked in the waters of this region. The monochrome film is reversed and what we see
are negative images of icebergs and caves which creates a very eerie atmosphere. At one point, I am reminded of cyanotype images where the divers appear with crisp white outlines framed with the dark backdrop of the sea. Cross wanted to create a sort of slimy, oil like appearance in the sea's surface and this works. It refers to the ongoing colonisation of this part of the world, kept pristine and pure for centuries but now being hijacked by the clamouring hordes of avaricious nations eager to cash in on the valuable resources so far untapped. Is there any hope for our poor, beleaguered planet?
Stage was a project that Dorothy Cross undertook in collaboration with her friend, the actress Fiona Shaw where they both became involved in a residency in the Galapagos Islands, funded by the Gulbenkian Museum. The silence of expectation and issues of abdication prevailed in this piece. I found it to be somewhat disjointed but Dorothy later explained that many of the artists involved in this project returned home very depressed possibly because of the growing 'civilizing ' effects on these unique islands. The population has greatly increased and tourism is the primary industry.
The sublime short film, Teacup was shown. This is such a deeply moving piece and there is no need to go into details about it. It speaks for itself.
The final work of the evening was Chiasm, an opera written by Cross. An astonishing work, this is a recording of the performances of a soprano and tenor who are located in two separate but adjoining handball alleys with a dramatic images of video footage taken in the wormhole seawater pool in the Aran Islands projected onto the floors of the locations. It is a mesmerising visual and aural experience and represents a new direction in Cross' oeuvre. It is reminiscent of the glorious phenomena of fractals aligned with memories of playing with kaleidoscopes light years ago.
I left the museum on this windy night with rain lashing down feeling energised and inspired. My admiration and respect for the artist, Dorothy Cross has greatly increased.
Sunday 27 November 2016
A busy week in the Academy
This was a hectic week here in Zagreb. Our tutor, Kisenija Turcic advised us to submit a proposal for our work for an upcoming exhibition, a collaboration between Zagreb Academy of Fine Art and Galerije Klovicevi Dvori in the Upper town. My proposal is entitled Blackberry-Picking, based on the poetry of Seamus Heaney which is the inspiration of my work here. I doubt that I'll be successful but I'm happy to have made the effort.
Regards sur le Sommeil by Veronique Dalmasso - 23rd November 2016
On Wednesday evening, I attended a talk given by a visiting French lecturer, Veronique Dalmasso, based on her recently published book, Regards sur le Sommeil, written in collaboration with Stephanie Jamet-Chavigny.
Ms Dalmasso outlined the background to her research on this work, which explores the representation of sleep in Western Art, from the Renaissance period to modern day. Works of art from distant eras are presented alongside contemporary pieces in diptych format, which provides an interesting juxtaposition of concepts and styles. 'For instance Bellini's Drunkeness of Noah [1515] is printed alongside Francis Alys' Sleepers 11 [1999/01]. Two works with different ambitions on behalf of the artist but when seen together, initiate an interesting conversation. I was somewhat disappointed to
discover that this lecture was not based on a discussion of the importance and relevance of dreams in art generally but it was, nonetheless, an intriguing topic.
The Use of Stencil in Painting by Dulce Osinski, assisted by Iriana Vezanni - 24th and 25th November 2016.
This was a series of two three hour workshops organised by The Academy of Fine Art in Zagreb in conjunction with the Fine Art Department of the University of Parana in Brazil where Dulce is a lecturer in the History of Art. She began the workshop by discussing the techniques of artists who used stencils in their work - Piet Mondrian, Matisse, Roy Lichenstein, Sigmar Polke and introduced us to her work and that of other Brazilian artists, Paolo Sister, Alex Fleming and Adriana Tagalipa.
We were then asked to create our own stencils
using x-rays provided by Professor Turcic, possibly attained from her personal collection!
I chose to create the word FEAR and it was
a steep learning curve to cut this out without losing the interior of the letters. It was my response to the recent catastrophic outcome of the US presidential election. [In my opinion, of course, not everyone would agree!] I also cut out images of stars, a reference to the American flag. We used acrylics, foam rollers and paintbrushes to work with the stencils. I worked with just three colours, blue, red and white. I didn't get this work finished but I will return to it later on and will use the stencil and its negative format in future paintings.
For the second workshop on Friday morning, I wanted to explore the theme of presence/absence and drafted a stencil of a hand and coffee cup and circle. I wanted to curtail my palette but was also interested in creating neutral colours, so the work below evolved. Orange, pink, dark blue. It was kind of freaky working with these images of someone's interior body parts and I feel I should explore more of this type of work but using the actual imagery in the x-rays. This reminds me somewhat of my work with cyanotype a few years ago. A good session with plenty of food for thought for incorporating these stencils in other work, not just painting but with drawing and illustrations. It was lovely to work with Dulce and Iriana and their work is really unusual. Back in my studio, I worked on the palette of left over acrylic paint and some interesting imagery evolved from it.
Regards sur le Sommeil by Veronique Dalmasso - 23rd November 2016
On Wednesday evening, I attended a talk given by a visiting French lecturer, Veronique Dalmasso, based on her recently published book, Regards sur le Sommeil, written in collaboration with Stephanie Jamet-Chavigny.
discover that this lecture was not based on a discussion of the importance and relevance of dreams in art generally but it was, nonetheless, an intriguing topic.
The Use of Stencil in Painting by Dulce Osinski, assisted by Iriana Vezanni - 24th and 25th November 2016.
This was a series of two three hour workshops organised by The Academy of Fine Art in Zagreb in conjunction with the Fine Art Department of the University of Parana in Brazil where Dulce is a lecturer in the History of Art. She began the workshop by discussing the techniques of artists who used stencils in their work - Piet Mondrian, Matisse, Roy Lichenstein, Sigmar Polke and introduced us to her work and that of other Brazilian artists, Paolo Sister, Alex Fleming and Adriana Tagalipa.
We were then asked to create our own stencilsusing x-rays provided by Professor Turcic, possibly attained from her personal collection!
I chose to create the word FEAR and it was
a steep learning curve to cut this out without losing the interior of the letters. It was my response to the recent catastrophic outcome of the US presidential election. [In my opinion, of course, not everyone would agree!] I also cut out images of stars, a reference to the American flag. We used acrylics, foam rollers and paintbrushes to work with the stencils. I worked with just three colours, blue, red and white. I didn't get this work finished but I will return to it later on and will use the stencil and its negative format in future paintings.
Friday 25 November 2016
Some done.... a lot to do....!!
Just a sample of some of the work I've been doing in the Academy over the last two months. Works in oil on canvas, acrylic on paper and canvas, pencil and charcoal.
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| Life drawing class - acrylic on paper |
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| Battlefield - Oil on canvas - 175 x 135 cm. |
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| Life drawing class - Charcoal and watercolour pencil |
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| Between Heaven and Earth - Acrylic and oil on canvas 50 x 50 cm [unfinished] |
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| Dream - Oil on canvas - 70 x070 cm |
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| Life drawing - Waterolour and charcoal on paper |
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| Life drawing - charcoal on paper |
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| Life drawing - oil pastel on paper |
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| Life drawing - acrylic and charcoal on paper |
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| Life drawing - charcoal on paper |
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| Life drawing - quick sketches - pen on paper |
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| Life drawing - charcoal on paper |
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| Life drawing - charcoal on paper |
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| Life drawing - charcoal on paper |
Sunday 13 November 2016
Dorothy Cross in Zagreb 10-11th November 2016 - Part 1 Thursday Lecture.
I had the great privilege to be able to attend a number of talks/meetings with internationally acclaimed Irish artist, Dorothy Cross who visited the city this week.
She gave an illustrated talk in the Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday evening with an insight into the inspirations for and processes of her work. She discussed a number of past projects beginning with Ghost Ship [1999]. This involved the painting of an old lighthouse ship with phosphorous paint and anchoring it off the coast of Dun Laoghaire in Dublin. The eerie image of the ship could be seen best at nighttime from the shore and eventually, the paint faded. I witnessed this work. Memory and recollection was the theme she explored in this piece and it was a poignant moment when she revealed that her father had photographed this very ship years beforehand in Cork. There it is, synchronicity, but more of that later.
Her work is well documented online so there is no need for me to go into detail about each individual project but what I would like to express in this blog is my reaction to some of the work. I am familiar with Cross' oeuvre and I am a big fan but some objectivity is also required when discussing certain elements of it. What struck me about this artist is her willingness to share her ideas and sources of inspiration and techniques. She is honest and straightforward in her delivery with none of the obfuscating 'art speak' that can be a feature of many [though certainly not all] artists lectures. I find her work to have a clarity and accessibility that is refreshing.
Sharks are an ongoing motif in Cross' work and she displayed a number of images of various projects with this much maligned animal. The train of her themes relates to memory, loss and transience and this emerges in particular in the work with this animal. I am struck with the continuity of theme in her projects and I think of Borges belief in the Stoic theory where everything in the Universe is linked. Cross' oeuvre reflects this. Buoy is a particularly poignant piece. A ragged Blue shark skin, the remnant of a once vibrant and potent entity, has been treated and gilded with pure white gold leaf and is attached to an eighteenth century easel, bought from the Royal Academy in London. Beneath this, resting on the easel is a thin slab of transparent Italian alabaster. I am struck by the contrast here between the frailty and vulnerability of the shark, juxtaposed by the sturdiness of the thick easel and offset by a thin sheet of alabaster. The image jars the senses on many levels. As it should, perhaps.
Shark Heart Submarine also involves the use of the easel on which rests a small man made submarine, painted in white gold in which is contained, in a glass jar, the heart of a shark. Cross relates the story of the initial plan for this project when she proposed the concept as an installation in Chichester Cathedral some time ago, albeit with a different emphasis on elements. The original concept was to use a dead human heart and she explained to the selection committee that the work was about the necessary obliteration of this organ, a symbol of love and desire, in order to gain access to the 'other side' through death, using the vehicle of the submarine, a motif that represents adventure. The proposal was rejected although it was acknowledged that it was theologically sound! The work was adapted to contain a shark's heart instead.
The connectivity of theme extends then to the showing of an extremely emotive and heart
rending scene filmed during Cross' visit to the New Ireland island in the South Pacific where she investigated the ritual of shark calling. The natives of this island believe that the shark fishermen, vested with magical powers they believe, are guided by their ancestors to find the shark through rituals and songs. She interviewed one old man, Saalem Karasanbay [interviewed thirty years ago by Jaques Cousteau] and what is very sad is that this fisherman is believed to have lost his magical aura possibly because he was filmed. He sings a song but cries during the rendition. It is heartbreaking to witness this. Cross tells us that he sang this song at sea, as a thanksgiving to his ancestors, whenever he caught a shark. This was the first, and probably last time he would sing it on land. He cried as he was aware of the impending loss of this ritual in the future due to 'developments' on the island.
Connemara, an installation that was shown recently in Margate was a culmination of many sculptural pieces that reflected many of her marine concepts and and was linked to her working environment and home in Connemara, Galway on the rugged west coast of Ireland. Themes of vulnerability, religious belief, loss and transience abound in this work.
I walked away from this lecture feeling inspired, refreshed and longing to see the wild, wonderful west coast of Ireland.
.
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| Dorothy Cross in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, |
She gave an illustrated talk in the Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday evening with an insight into the inspirations for and processes of her work. She discussed a number of past projects beginning with Ghost Ship [1999]. This involved the painting of an old lighthouse ship with phosphorous paint and anchoring it off the coast of Dun Laoghaire in Dublin. The eerie image of the ship could be seen best at nighttime from the shore and eventually, the paint faded. I witnessed this work. Memory and recollection was the theme she explored in this piece and it was a poignant moment when she revealed that her father had photographed this very ship years beforehand in Cork. There it is, synchronicity, but more of that later.
Her work is well documented online so there is no need for me to go into detail about each individual project but what I would like to express in this blog is my reaction to some of the work. I am familiar with Cross' oeuvre and I am a big fan but some objectivity is also required when discussing certain elements of it. What struck me about this artist is her willingness to share her ideas and sources of inspiration and techniques. She is honest and straightforward in her delivery with none of the obfuscating 'art speak' that can be a feature of many [though certainly not all] artists lectures. I find her work to have a clarity and accessibility that is refreshing.
Sharks are an ongoing motif in Cross' work and she displayed a number of images of various projects with this much maligned animal. The train of her themes relates to memory, loss and transience and this emerges in particular in the work with this animal. I am struck with the continuity of theme in her projects and I think of Borges belief in the Stoic theory where everything in the Universe is linked. Cross' oeuvre reflects this. Buoy is a particularly poignant piece. A ragged Blue shark skin, the remnant of a once vibrant and potent entity, has been treated and gilded with pure white gold leaf and is attached to an eighteenth century easel, bought from the Royal Academy in London. Beneath this, resting on the easel is a thin slab of transparent Italian alabaster. I am struck by the contrast here between the frailty and vulnerability of the shark, juxtaposed by the sturdiness of the thick easel and offset by a thin sheet of alabaster. The image jars the senses on many levels. As it should, perhaps.
Shark Heart Submarine also involves the use of the easel on which rests a small man made submarine, painted in white gold in which is contained, in a glass jar, the heart of a shark. Cross relates the story of the initial plan for this project when she proposed the concept as an installation in Chichester Cathedral some time ago, albeit with a different emphasis on elements. The original concept was to use a dead human heart and she explained to the selection committee that the work was about the necessary obliteration of this organ, a symbol of love and desire, in order to gain access to the 'other side' through death, using the vehicle of the submarine, a motif that represents adventure. The proposal was rejected although it was acknowledged that it was theologically sound! The work was adapted to contain a shark's heart instead.
The connectivity of theme extends then to the showing of an extremely emotive and heart
rending scene filmed during Cross' visit to the New Ireland island in the South Pacific where she investigated the ritual of shark calling. The natives of this island believe that the shark fishermen, vested with magical powers they believe, are guided by their ancestors to find the shark through rituals and songs. She interviewed one old man, Saalem Karasanbay [interviewed thirty years ago by Jaques Cousteau] and what is very sad is that this fisherman is believed to have lost his magical aura possibly because he was filmed. He sings a song but cries during the rendition. It is heartbreaking to witness this. Cross tells us that he sang this song at sea, as a thanksgiving to his ancestors, whenever he caught a shark. This was the first, and probably last time he would sing it on land. He cried as he was aware of the impending loss of this ritual in the future due to 'developments' on the island.
Connemara, an installation that was shown recently in Margate was a culmination of many sculptural pieces that reflected many of her marine concepts and and was linked to her working environment and home in Connemara, Galway on the rugged west coast of Ireland. Themes of vulnerability, religious belief, loss and transience abound in this work.
I walked away from this lecture feeling inspired, refreshed and longing to see the wild, wonderful west coast of Ireland.
.
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