Art: A Way In

Editor's note: This article was supposed to have appeared in the March 2007 zine, but due to time constraints, we were unable to get it formatted in time to meet our deadline. Sorry, Martin!

Welcome to part 4 of this series. This month I will describe how we can recognize some of the techniques covered previously, and start to relate our own feelings by analyzing the effect. We will look at a few examples of work in many world famous locations of great art such as the Musée du Louvre, Yves Klein website. Plus, of course … EBSQ!

With this in mind, while reading you can look online at the paintings we discuss at The Louvre, the Yves Klein Website, and the work of our own artist Shawn Marie Hardy in her portfolio at Shawn Marie's EBSQ Portfolio.

Okay, let us dive straight in and look at the painting commonly referred to as ‘The Mona Lisa’ by Leonardo da Vinci, located at Musée du Louvre. One specific technique Leonardo employed was Sfumato, which essentially is the blending of tones and hues to give a misty effect, thereby eradicating any hard edges. Combining this technique together with the cooler blue hues used at the top of the painting, this gives the effect of receding distance in the background of the painting, whereby the hues fade and dissolve as in nature. Note also that the medium chosen by Leonardo, oil paint, is one which is technically appropriate for this technique of blending. As an aside, the sfumato technique I also find interesting personally as it presents almost the opposite effect of one which I try to achieve in many of my own paintings. The shapes I see in the landscape are paramount, and so rather than blend edges, I employ Indian Ink to define these shapes (though I sometimes contrast this with varying use of tone to give illusion of depth to different degrees). But less about me and on to the important artists!

Moving forward a few centuries in time, the next painting to look at is ‘RE 1’ by Yves Klein. This is one of his sponge reliefs in a single pigment. The hue is ‘IKB’, or International Klein Blue, his patented colour, and the monochrome technique here seems to me to remove any feeling of expression, while at the same time eradicating most colour associations. The effect it has on me is that I feel it kills off any strong emotions, I feel literally toned down. We have no contrasts, an extremely narrow palette, the atmosphere is cool at best. I would equate all of this to my perceived idea of what the artist is trying to do with this composition of colour and space : to relate infinity. Note here, though, one possible historical association of the colour blue is actually ‘infinity’ ! But, in these latter two observations, I am leading towards bringing in to our analysis a) context, and b) meaning, and these will be looked at in more detail in later parts. For now, we can see aspects of the techniques available to the artist, and we can begin to consider their effect on us in the context of the work, whether intended or otherwise.

Next on this whistle stop tour of paintings and techniques is to Shawn Marie Hardy’s work, specifically “Through a window”. The first thing that struck me about this painting was the palette used. Looking at one technique here, the choice of palette, it is predominantly cool. To me it gives a feeling of calm. Some people might also feel such a range of colours promote a little sadness. Possibly, but to me it works the opposite way too, there is a pleasant and confident joy.

Another technique used in the composition is pulling your eye most clearly and definitely towards the section of seascape in the background. This is achieved partly with the layers of lines seemingly folding back to reveal it, and partly with the dark pointer entering from the left of the painting. This pointer or arrow is making a clear statement of what the artist wants you to see. With the seascape itself being very serene and peacefully portrayed in cool blues and clear white light, overall there is a message I feel of calm: we are being pointed towards a quiet place.

Taking this into the context of the title of the painting, we again are already starting to move the analysis towards meaning, and if, for example, we pulled in some background by looking at this work in the context of other works by Shawn Marie, by studying what she herself states about her work, what others may comment on it, other aspects particular to the artist such as background, upbringing, location, and so on, then we can start to lay some very strong foundation to any interpreted meaning we propose. Of course, during the course of this we may also change, sometimes drastically, our initial thoughts and feelings. We may have to revisit them, rework them, we may feel totally different about the work, we may feel poles apart from our first interpretation. Or we may not. But, this illustrates an earlier point: be confident in your initial feelings and the initial effect on your emotions and thoughts when viewing any work. They are perfectly valid. Put simply, they are the foundation without which you will have nothing to build your developing analysis on.

Well, I hope this has whetted your appetite to look at paintings anew, or perhaps with some different ideas as to beginning to interpret any piece of artwork. Why not visit some galleries and look at art, browse round the internet (including EBSQ of course!), and put this into action! And if you already do, do some more ? The reward of analyzing artwork in this way is worth it, I guarantee.

Oh, one final “ps” type thing, as a thank you for being kind enough to allow me to use her work as an example this month, I would like to take this opportunity to unashamedly plug Shawn Marie’s project, Honor With Art. Shawn Marie is driving this collaboration of art – in a fairly wide and fascinating sense, for example literature and music have also entered the fray - with a goal of providing some much needed funds for groups related to a very worthy cause that is close to her heart. Why not check the web site out now, at…

Honor With Art

Hey, you may even be able to apply some of the methods here to the techniques demonstrated in the art displayed on the site.

Ok, time to fly … the next part of this series will appear in the Zine edition of 1st May.

Thank you for reading.

Martin