Interim Review: ViennaSINUO GUO

My InfluencesMy initial development and experimentation was influenced by the artists and works that I’ve encountered in Vienna, including Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, as well as more modern works of Herbert Boeckl. I wanted to highlight the contrast

between the modern and classical architecture, Secession and German Expressionism.

The experiment derived from Klimt’s ‘Philosophy’ sparked my interest in capturing the atmosphere or a specific ‘feeling’ in a piece

Proposal 1My 1st proposal for the Vienna fine art brief is a series of prints on different backgrounds. I’ve started with a monoprint of the Leopold museum on cartridge paper, resulting in a clear image and a ‘hazy’ qualities from the ink imprinted around the image, enriching the texture and atmosphere in the image. From looking at William Kentridge’s works, I was intrigued by his use of newspapers and pages from dictionaries as backgrounds for his drawings and prints, inspiring me to print on toned paper with collaged newspapers. I found that it adds a subtle ground to the image and perhaps a deeper meaning and interpretation as text is incorporated.

Further Development

In order to further develop my idea into my final piece for the fine art brief, I would want to work on the subject of the print, perhaps use one of my earlier compositional studies so it is my personal interpretation of Vienna and the landscape. I was also intrigued by Kentridge’s ‘Twelve Coffee pots’, where the subject gets taken apart and ‘moulded’ into an abstract image, which led me to consider creating an abstracted image of my own composition.

Proposal 2My proposal 2 was developed from my model that was influenced by my main inspirations from Vienna. From my earlier collage experiments I’ve found that they appeared too ‘flat’ which was improved after I’ve created the model, that had a strong sense of atmosphere, adding depth to my collage drawing.

I wanted to incorporate both linear qualities and tonal values. Regarding the colour scheme, I took the bright and light-hearted colours from Boeckl’s Landscape painting in the foreground and the dark tones in the sky, taken from my previous experiments from Schiele’s landscape paintings. This added a sense of perspective and depth to the image. I especially enjoyed combining pastels, chalk and watercolours with pens, playing around with the shading and layering of the materials.

Further DevelopmentTo further develop my 2nd proposal, I’m planning on arranging my composition and precisely using the collage elements to achieve a more illustrative feel. I really liked the way Jon Piper incorporates sections of collages into the images, forming the subjects, instead of only acting as background or texture. I would want to create that ‘bridge’ between the drawn elements and the cut out collage shapes, making them interlinking rather than two separate aspects. I also want to highlight the contrast of modern and classical in Vienna, through the media, colour scheme and composition.