17/03/2015

Georg Baselitz: Form & Subject Matter

Post WWII German painter - “An object painted upside down is unsuitable as an object. I have no notion about the solidity of the depiction. I don’t correct the rightness of the depiction. My relationship to the object is arbitrary. The painting is methodically organised by an aggressive, dissonant reversal of the ornamentation. Harmony is knocked out of whack, a further limit is reached.”

By flipping his work upside down Baselitz removes the usefulness of the subject matter as an object in and of itself - it provides a framework for him to focus on the paint and how he uses it - focus on form and the overall piece as a cohesive whole

Farewell Bill exhibition inspired by Willem de Kooning's painterly stye of working - the forms depicted (in this case Baselitz's self portraits) gradually diffuse and fall into one and other, infusing a strange type of deconstructed colour field - we forget we are looking at an upside down face - seeing the paint as purely paint



Can I apply a similar way of thinking to how I collage - accentuate the paper and its material qualities?

"The reason for [adding mixed media and collage] is that I like the effect of the inner coupled with the outer. I feel it is a good combination to take the viewer into, for example, depth and richness of color, totally abstract, to a recognizable element such as what the collage imparts. It adds interest and dimension, and thus enriches the work." - Bela Fidel

"Rapid-collage prevents any elevating movement toward a fixed goal. To 'be nowhere' is to let oneself be." - Josh Goldberg

"Collage is like a hall of mirrors. Every direction you look, you see something different and visually stimulating." - Nita Leland

"You get a linear quality from collage that is more rapid than the swiftest drawn line." - Conrad Marca-Relli

"A layered printed image is torn indiscriminately to reveal parts of the image that lay just below its surface... In this way the images are brought together in a rather jarring and forceful manner, with often marvelous results." - Richard Misiano-Genovese

"In collage you're doing it in stages so you're not actually doing it right there. You first of all draw it on the paper, then you cut it up, then you paste it down, then you change it, then you shove it about, then you may paint bits of it over, so actually you're not making the picture there and then, you're making it through a process, so it's not so spontaneous." - Paula Rego

Through collage I am able to create abstracted interpretations of the recognisable forms, forming clear reflections of my imagination and it's relationship with the chosen subject matter on paper. 

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