ben groves fmp dissertation

8/14/2019 Ben Groves FMP Dissertation

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My dissertation is composed ofthree sections in which I focus

on a particular artist and relatetheir work to my final majorproject. I have found thatthroughout my whole courselooking at other artists hasbeen an intrinsic part in mybeginning to understand therelationship between artist andart. How an individuals

background and views becomea foundation for building asignature and distinctive style,seems to be a vital part of

moving from making art andbeing an artist.

Hughie ODonogue

Antony Hegarty

Anselm Kiefer

*Front cover image, Light on Millisle Beach, Waterless Lithograph, Ben Grov


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Initial ideas are almost always no use; thats how paintings grow. In Cezannehesitancies led to triumph- the brushwork flickers about the form of themountain. (ODonoghue 2000)

I use this quote to introduce the artist HughieODonoghue as I feel it sums up an attitude topainting that has become clearer to me duringmy final painting, namely, that it is veryseldom that I can decide to paint somethingand then do it. It is in this context that initialideas almost become redundant. It is the tinyalmost indefinable ideas that happen in afleeting moment that all add up to painting,and that as ODonoghue put it, is how they

grow.

I first became aware of the artist HughieODonoghue during a first semester tutorial,Carina had mentioned his use of encaustics,which at the time was a medium that I wasgetting interested in. It was towards the end ofmy pathway stage that I started to think how

his work could tie in to my final major project.When reading about how ODonoghue worksand how he confronts his painting I have begunto understand some of the difficulties that Ihave come across.

Hughie ODonoghue, Baia II 2003. 211x191cm

It was interesting to read in one of his emails to James Hamilton, the author of Painting,Memory and Myth, that ODonoghue was concerned about the interpretation of his works thatcontained images of his father Daniel. Although these works could easily be thought of as being

about his father they are in fact not intended as such. This got me thinking about my ownwork


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what I am attempting to do is to tackle the subject of genderbut using the landscape to portray a third place something nototherworldly but imagined. The textures and colours I will use,will hopefully remind the viewer of a familiar place. I think whatODonoghue is doing in using the images of his father iscreating an image, that people will find within, something

familiar and recognisable despite its obscurity. He refers to thearchive of photographs and letters belonging to his fatherwhich became his after his fathers death as relating to anindividual life during extraordinary times but then went on tosay I think it is likely that if I had stumbled upon an archivelike this in a junk shop I would probably have used it in mywork

I think this is most interesting because what thegeneral public perceive in ODonoghues work in thisseries is far removed from the artists own intentions.

That in itself could become a catalyst on which to basemy own difficulties surrounding my subject matter. To,

in some way defer or project my intentions throughimagery not explicitly connected to the subject matter.ODonoghues describes the link between meaning andimagery in his painting; the search for meaning in theaction and life of an individual is to a large extent whatthe pictures themselves mean.

Hughie ODonoghue,

No.50 Cologne Red Letter Days. 113x113cm

Hughie ODonoghue,No.13 Berlin Red Letter Days 113x113c


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As part of my research into HughieODonoghues work I made a trip tothe IMMA Dublin for a majorexhibition of his work. Seeing hiswork in the flesh had a huge impact

on me, his work is on a huge scalebut necessarily so, to put his imagesand found objects into their rightfulcontext. The visit to his exhibitionenabled me to appreciate the surfacequalities and the contrasting glossand matt finishes that he puts to

amazing use drawing the viewer intothe painting.

Millisle Beach No.2 Ben Groves.

Encaustic with photographic elements

Hughie ODonoghue,Baiae II 46 x 58cm

ODonoghue appears to use encaustic in his workwhich I have tried to confirm in my research butmost pieces are usually identified as Oil OnCanvas. Im surefrom looking at his paintings that encaustic isemployed at certain stages which are then drybrushed, thus building up the pages of thepainting.


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ODonoghue says at the endof his correspondenceperhaps the works point orshine a light in the directionof the obscured (rather than

anonymous) individual.Perhaps what I need to do isfigure out what direction Iwant to take my subjectmatter and remind myselfthat I am in control of what I

produce. I was asked not longago why I wanted to paintand at the time I gave anawkward answer mentioningthe love of the process.Having more time to dwell on that question I think the reason I want to paint

is because it gives me confidence. Before I started this course I lacked anyshred of confidence and suffered because of that, but somehow, by painting Ihave acquired some confidence in myself. The Canadian abstractexpressionist painter Jean-Paul Riopellestated, When I hesitate, I do notpaint. When I paint, I do not hesitate.I think that extends to self confidence, when Im not feeling self confident I

dont paint but when I paint I am confident, which is good, especially for me.

Hughie ODonoghue,(in his studio) featuing,ParableOf The Prodigal Son.


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I think a lot of good painters must beextremely confident about what theywant to do, not in an arrogant sense,but in the sense that painting isabsolutely what they must do even ifit is hard going at times. The feeling

that wanting to paint is a force frominside was analogized brilliantly bythe artist Paul Klee when he said,and yet, standing at his appointedplace, the trunk of a tree, [the artist]does nothing other than gather andpass on what comes to him from thedepths. He neither serves nor rules-

he transmits. (Herbet 1999)

In this sense painting becomes much more

than illustration it is a transformation or atransmission of the source, the painter. Just asthe sap of a tree travels up its trunk up intothe many branches those ideas divide and subdivide almost infinitely and produce foliage orfruit the outward sign of all of that effort.

The changing face of moo cow farm No.7 37x57cm

Millisle Beach No..4, Ben Groves.

I wanted experiment with ODonoghuescolours and subtlety in his compositions.


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During my final major project Ibecame aware of an artist calledAntony Hegarty, a singer songwriter,who recently has exhibited some of

his own artwork at the ISIS gallery inLondon. I sat captivated as I watchedthe tail end of BBCs culture showperforming one of his songs, Hereyes are underneath the ground. Themoment I saw him I was mesmerizedsomething about the way he sangmade the hairs stand up on the backof my neck.

That night I searched for concert dates and booked tickets at his June 1stperformance at the Waterfront Hall. Anthony Hegarty sings about hisexperiences as someone whose gender resides in a third place with songs

such as Another World and For Today I Am A Boy. In my statement ofintent for my final major project I refer to a third place this has been hardfor me to translate into painting and I know it will be a long process for me infiguring it out, but if I can express myself in some way that relates to myexperiences dealing with challenging gender issues, then I feel I will bemaking art that, going back to the tree analogy, comes from my roots. AntonyHegarty is an artist who I feel accomplishes that expression of inner feeling to

an incredible level of sensitivity and for that reason has become a fountain ofinspiration for me and my art.

Antony Hegarty;Image courtesy of www.onlyangels.free.fr


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Antony Hegarty grew up knowing he was an outsider, but itseems he realized at a young age the need to stay loyal toones own truth and not appear to be one thing to the worldoutside and remain another person inside. Reading about hisrelationship with his artwork reveals his deep sense ofconnection with his spiritual side:

The Ocean and The Land (2008)

C Print 33" x 40"(primary materials - paper, print, acrylic,wax, thread, pencil) Antony Hegarty

Drive Me Home (2007) C Print 30" x28"(primary materials - newsprint, tape)

Antony Hegarty

"I have drawn and

made things since Iwas a kid. The visualworld is a place I candream in solitude. Ithink about thepresent and how canI reach out to gatherthe past and thefuture and draw them

towards me. I try tofollow the lines,tracing the invisible.Sometimes it's asimple matter ofbringing somethinginto focus, or drawingforward the spirit Iimagine lies hidden

inside a thing.

This kind of spiritual attunement that Antony Hegarty has,comes through both in his lyrics and his visual artwork. Thepersonal statement supporting his exhibition at the ISIS stated,Hegarty depicts landscapes haunted by the past and thefuture, seeking to identify a sense of crisis, morality and truthupon which a path forward can be forged. I feel the stage Ifind myself in now with respect to my art is one that requires

me to similarly identify my own truth and construct a path thatboth emboldens me and inspires me to continue expressingmyself in my paintings.


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My final artist is Anselm Kiefer, I first looked at his work as part of my photography research as Markhad mentioned his work for contextualising within our photogram workshops. It was Mark who againsparked the re-interest in Kiefers work as during one tutorial he had shown me a thin exhibitionprogram he had for one of Kiefers exhibitions. What I had not appreciated up till that point was thescale of Kiefers work but their scale isnt there just to impose and engulf the viewer, it almostseems as if Kiefer is depicting say a ploughed field then we the viewer must feel as though we areactually in that ploughed field. The scale is almost driven by the type or form of his materials so as

to place them in context, so a clump of straw is just as it would be if we were standing next to it inits original environment.

Anselm Kiefer, Nuremburg, 1982. Acrylic ,emulsion and straw on canvas,2.8m x 3.8m


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Kiefer layers the surface with dirt, straw,lead, tree branches and twigs, seeds anddried flowers, to name just a few. He isalso known for using photography and textwithin his imagery almost like codes thatemit signals from history and memory.TheIndependentsaid in a review of KiefersFebruary 2007 exhibition at Londons WhiteCubes Gallery: Great art is abouttransformation. And transformingexperience and transforming materials arewhat Anselm Kiefer specializes in. Thecontrasting themes of destruction andrecreation, violent upheaval and spiritual

renewal, underpin much of the artist'swork.

I feel my piece for my final major project echoes someof the sentiment that is found within Kiefers workespecially that of transformation. I think of myself asan inventor first and painter second I love to find anew purpose in both objects and materials and I feel Ihave done this in my final piece, a triptych which Imade firstly with bleached cotton material and timberthen with expanding polystyrene, sheetrock, tissuepaper, beeswax, damar resin, household paint,watercolour, acrylic paint, oil paint, tree bark, silicone,rabbit skin glue, raw pigment, enamel, bitumen, andturpentine. The objects I used both came from a burntout car from the beach car park, a section of tyrewhich appropriately had a rather female quality and aradiator fan which in itself only appropriated the

meaning I was looking for so I did alter that slightlywith the use of some pliers a jigsaw a blow torch and a

The Book by Anselm Kiefer, 1979-85 1.9m x 3.3mOil, emulsion, acrylic, pencil, plaster and lead book

Anselm Kiefer,The Red Sea, 1984Oil emulsion and shellac on

Photograph and woodcut onCanvas with strips of lead. 2.74m x 4.18m


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This is a recent photograph taken of my final piece, I have not done anythingto it since Carina saw it on the 9th May. I am pleased with the overallcomposition and after applying some of the comments from Mark and

Elaine I feel it runs well as you read it from left to right with the differentAreas of texture and colour blending well together. My final piece is1.87m x 4.56m this represents both the ratio of dimensionsthat I feel reminds me of a landscape or panorama and logistically thelargest sized triptych I could produce based on the materials I could source,especially the canvas, and the size of my doorway into my studio.


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Hand detail Found objects detail

Distant figure detail

I have included some close up photographsof my work so as to highlight some of theareas within the piece. I was glad of thechat I had with Carol about my idea ofintroducing the figure, which at the timewas in the form of a mannequin. I wasespecially moved by Carols comments

about the role of the hands and how theycan be used to convey emotion. Uponreflection I decided toleave the mannequin idea on the shelf,maybe for another project or piece, insteadI have brought in the figure as a symbol oftransformation alongwith some sweeping brush strokes tosignify the bird gehrl from one of Antony

Hegartys songs.


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Finding a way to visually express thoughts and feelings is a process that bringsgreat happiness but is bittersweet at the same time. The happiness comes fromthe goose bumps when something clicks inside and confirms that this is what Iwant to do with my life, it gives me meaning. The anguish is knowing that whatyou want to express is deeply personal, something kept hidden for so long.Having been at the edge of living or dying has been painful for those around meto see but I found the strength to see past my millstone and came out on the

good side. Small steps in the right direction have led me to this point where Ifind myself enjoying the direction my life is heading. Having the self-belief andmotivation that this course has given me has produced a new spirit in me and amore confident positive person. I now want to get busy being a human being.

IMMA trip photo, blurred lines became a theme in the early development

of my FMP, I also saw a link to the colours coming through using the bitumenIn my painting.

Conclusion,

ben groves fmp dissertation

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