Wednesday 10 June 2009

The Tube


'The Tube' (Unfinished state) (27/5/2009) Dimensions 8ft x 8ft. Oil and acrylic on board.

A massive painting (certainly for me) which hangs opposite the 8 'War on Terror' paintings. The difference in scale was important to me, I wanted the viewer to see the small paintings and this large one and draw comparisons

I can smell ammonia..


'I Love the Smell of Ammonia in the Morning...' (May 2009) Dimensions 250 x 70 x 2.4 cm. Oil and spray paint on copper.

This big painting represents the city, how buildings connect in an abstract way, and how despite this beautiful geometry citys can be alienating spaces.

War on Terror Part 2


'Tanguy Underpass' (14/4/2009) Dimensions 20 x 15 x 2.5 cm. Oil on patenated and incised copper.


'Kennel Club' (22/4/2009) Dimensions 20 x 15 x 2.5 cm. Oil, gouache and acrylic on patenated copper.


'Double Yellow' (March 2009) Dimensions 20 x 15 x 2.5 cm. Oil, gouache on paper and patenated copper.


'Terror' (28/4/2009) Dimensions 20 x 15 x 2.5 cm. Oil and acrylic on patenated copper.

All 8 of these paintings are part of my degree show. My works aim to convey the idea that the threat of terrorist attack, however vague or unsubstantiated is often used as an excuse to remove the liberty of a minority of people, and how this inevitably leads to it being used on the majority of people. By juxtaposing large, almost overwhelming paintings of ambiguous architectural spaces with titles such as ‘The Tube’ which suggest a sense of danger, against much smaller images suggesting the subtle everyday effects of the ‘War on Terror’ as well as its darker heart, the works try to convey the underlying issues which I want the viewer to think about. In these paintings I also wanted to look at modernist, futurist, brutalist even corporatist architecture.

These are all examples of movements promising to change society for the better which to greater or lesser extent failed.

War on Terror


'The Overpass' (20/4/2009) Dimensions 20 x 15 x 2.5 cm. Oil, gouache and enamel on patenated copper


'Towers' (15/4/2009) Dimensions 20 x 15 x 2.5 cm. Oil and pen on patenated copper and plastic.


'Working' (14/4/2009) Dimensions 20 x 15 x 2.5 cm. Oil on patenated copper



'Mass Games' (29/4/2009) Dimensions 20 x 15 x 2.5 cm. Acrylic on incised and patenated copper.

'Utopia'


'Utopia Living' (April 2009) Dimensions 10 x 15 x 5 cm. Oil, gouache and spray paint on copper.


'Grassy' (April 2009) Dimensions 10 x 15 x 1.3 cm. Oil & gouache on copper.

High Riggs


'High Riggs' (February 2009) Dimensions 30 x 45 x 2 cm. Oil and pen on copper

High Riggs


'Rooftops' (March 2009) Dimensions 30 x 45 x 2 cm. Oil and enamel on copper.

Roz


'Roz' (1/12/2008) Dimensions 10 x 15 cm. Oil and varnish on board.

A painting I did of me lovely girlfriend, Roz! I wanted to get as much detail into the clothing as possible particularly the pattern the knitting makes on the green jumper. It brings me great pleasure to spend endless hours painting dots onto things.. this little painting let me practice layering skin tones which I have wanted to do for some time. I admit it isn't as good as I wanted it to be! In the end I felt I didn't really need to layer skin tones, i preferred the skin tones I created in the past using flat colour.

With Love From Me to You


'With Love From me to You' (22/12/2008) Dimensions 81 x 108 cm. Oil on board.

This painting is part of the group of paintings where I have been looking at the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In my last post I said I wanted a large painting to be displayed opposite the mass of smaller paintings, this painting was going to be that one. I decided however 'With Love' is not big enough, although the imagery in the painting is very close to that I will use in the larger version.

With this painting I wanted to show a different view, almost humorous, certainly a little ludicrous. To juxtapose with the smaller paintings I wanted a sort of propaganda image, I was looking at both photos of the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq as well as Socialist Realism.

Iraq War Series (part 3)


'Street Market' (2008) Dimensions 15 x 10 cm. Oil and acrylic on acetate, concrete and board.



A view of the paintings from an angle that shows how I hung the paintings on a concrete frame.


From the third year show, how the paintings hung as a group.

Iraq War Series (part 2)


'The River' (23/11/2007) dimensions 10 x 15 cm. Oil on Board

Most of the paintings that I have made in this group took approximately 4 months to paint. I worked on them all at once going between them, this helped me not stagnate on any particular painting.

This group of paintings is intended to be hung together, relatively closely so as to form a large group. By grouping smaller images into a large mass, I wanted to show what I felt was the huge mass of unseen and hidden evidence of abuses taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan. This was intended to be displayed opposite a single painting, in a slightly more tongue and cheek style based upon propaganda imagery. 


'Detention' (27/11/2007) Dimensions 15 x 10 cm. Oil and linseed paste on board.


'Teeming' (9/12/2007) Dimensions 15 x 10 cm. Oil on board.


'Hospitalized Child' (5/12/2007) Dimensions 15 x 10 cm. Oil on board.

Iraq War Series



Part of a series of paintings I made in 2007/2008 based on the war in Iraq which subsequently influenced the paintings I have made in 2009. This painting is of a bombed out building. It is oil on board (dimensions 15 x 10 cm) and is shown here on concrete (finished on 12/1/2008).

I was looking at placing strong images on abstract or surreal surfaces thereby heightening the reality of the building. This method came from looking at media portrayals or war, and Iraq which consist mostly of strong images with very little context. By using less jubilant imagery than much of the media used in the beginning of the war I wanted to expose the underlying issues that the conflict brought up.


'Street and Rubble' (1/11/2007) dimensions 15 x 10 cm, oil on board.

'Street Scene' (13/12/2007)  dimensions 10 x 15 cm. Oil & soap on board.

Friday 5 June 2009

The Whale Painting!

Otherwise known as 'Made in Japan'!
I painted this over the summer 2007 and finished it in the December of that year..




I painted all the blue circles, which took a few weeks to do which I believe was worth it because it created an intricate pattern I have used many times since.

Close up detail of the aforementioned whale

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Hanging the Degree Show



Moving into the space May 2009



Sally hanging wallpaper with Lawrence's bookstands. An idea of how the space will look.



Everybody's work is so different which makes it all the better in my view. Rachel's castle (left) and Lawrence's book stands (middle)

The room looks best in the late evening sun, as shown in the photo below. The architectural shapes cast by the windows add another dimension to the paintings as well as bringing out the most of the coppers shine.


Artists Statement

Artists Statement for June 2009 Degree Show

The effects that people have on our environment, and each other are the underlying themes that underpin my work. I am interested in the strata of society, how this is manifested, be it visually or in a more subtle manner and questioning it through a visual means. The human environment, that is to say one that humans have specifically and systematically sculpted, has been a particularly strong theme that permeates through my work. What interests me about these environments is both their psychological effect and the social/ideological issues that they establish as well as the layers of history they reflect.


The architecture of the 60s, modernism, brutalist and corporatist style interested me particularly; they are all examples of grand attempts to sculpt society for the better which haven’t always succeeded. The blurring of Civil Liberties in recent years has been a strong element in my works this year, influenced by my paintings based on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the ‘War on Terror’


My works aim to convey the idea that the threat of terrorist attack, however vague or unsubstantiated is used as an excuse to remove the liberty of a minority of people, and how this inevitably leads to it being used on the majority of people. By juxtaposing a large, almost overwhelming painting of an ambiguous architectural space titled ‘The Tube’ against much smaller images suggesting the subtle everyday effects of the ‘War on Terror’ as well as its darker heart, the works try to convey the underlying issues which I want the viewer to think about.

www.andrew-smith-artist.co.uk/