AP Studio Art at Woodstock: artist research

Part 1:

Aya Takano, "Birth of Land Dance, Izanagi, Izanami", Acrylic on canvas, 2008

Larry River, “Dutch masters”, Serigraph with lacquer and oil

Kiki Kogelnik, Crazy Bird, Serigraph and pencil, 1978

Ilinca Balaban, A Matter of Mass, graphite on Paper, 2008

Karen kroul, “Back to the Earth,1”, watercolor and paper cutouts, 2011

Part 2:

These were most interesting to me. The use of one prominent color is all apparent and appealing to the eye, however it is the context of the works which all deal with an expression more so than an observation and the awkward appearance and personal symbolism used in the works that attracted me most.

Part 3:

I could use symbols to somehow express my own themes. Also I would like to adopt use of a prominent color and bold strokes. Aya Takano and Kiki Kogelnik use self invented characters in their works, which was inspiring in a way, as I had been thinking about repeating characters in different concentration and breadth pieces.

Part 3: In depth

I choose Aya Takano. The piece above is from an exhibition she called “towards eternity”. Her Influences include Klimpt, Gaugin, Yayoi Kusama (polka dot lady), and Japanese science fiction writers and Manga artists. She uses awkward looking female characters to illustrate ideas. Her scenes are complex, with much movement, and so fun to look at. Sometimes some of her works have more negative space than she usually uses, and often have personal interpretations and symbols, like at the piece above. Going through her works was influential to me because the theme she builds upon is a sense of change, exactly the same as mine (Often her characters morph into insects and strange animals and she which was refreshing to see). An example of imagery she uses is that all her characters have the color red on the extremities of their bodies (e.g. Knees, elbows etc.) to show a constant state of change of their bodies. All her characters are transforming and in doing so travelling into a dream of another world (or so she explained), my own ideas are not developed enough so that they should all lead to a climax of events and emotions, like Takano’s seemed to, however I hope to find that eventually. For now I hope to imitate that sense of movement.