Assignment 02

This second assignment is called Repetition and Ritual. We were asked to choose a photograph that interests us and then make 100 drawings (studies) from it. 10 drawings of 5 minutes duration, 10 drawings of 3 mins, 20 drawings of 2 mins, 20 drawings of 1 minute, 20 drawings of 30 seconds, and then 20 drawings of 15 seconds. From the last two sets of drawings, we are making a painting. Here are some of the results:

I figured that I would make a painting about the repeated series of gestures in these studies, erase it, then go over it again with the same gestures. Let's see what happens . . . I might have to work the negative space as gestures too . . . otherwise, it might be boring . . . or too much like a cliche of Kline or DeKooning.

We talked about Philip Guston's work today with regards to repetition. He reuses icons in his works that act as tools for him to create a painting. We talked about types of marks as tools as well. I'm a little baffled about Guston's work: I don't get why you'd purposely paint so awkwardly. I guess he was battling with the snobbery of AB EX and the "lie" of abstract painting, and I'm thinking he was after evoking an emotion, a narrative, an engagement with the viewer that these previous styles of painting didn't hold for him. 

I'll have to do a few more hits on my painting before I know what's really going on here lol.