Personal I nvestigation Owen Corbett

For my A2 Personal lnvestigation I have chosen to work to the theme of Fear. I

chose this theme to challenge myself in different ways. I wanted to move in a newdirection by being more expressive in my work, Iooking at images and ideas thatevoke strong emotion beyond the traditionally pretty.

I began my work by thinking about the different possibilities within the theme Fear.This involved researching and asking people to find some of the most commonphobias and childhood fears, and looking at the emotion of fear itself and the way itis expressed. I explored the presence of fear in myths and superstitions, and somemodern interpretations such as film. This helped me to find images that appearcommonly in relation to fear, so that I could further investigate what it is about themthat gives them the ability to unsettle or frighten us.

Possibly the most universal of all fears, and also the most understandable, is the fearof death. I started with photography, capturing images of things commonlyassociated with death such as skulls and cemeteries.

I looked further at skulls, completing apencil study of skulls stacked on shelveslike in a crypt. I felt that pencil wasappropriate to capture the detailed structureof the skulls, and the way the shadows

reveal the facetsand texture of thebone. The work ofPaul Schwazinfluenced thispiece, specificallyhis own pencil work involving the skeleton. I particularly likedthe way he has combined finely detailed and anatomicallyaccurate drawing with light, smoky lines at the edges whichgive his work a mysteriousatmosphere and reveal a deeper

level of thought.The artist Tom French'spaintings combine fine,delicate portraiture withthe abstract andexpressive, formingskulls out of humanforms and finding abalance between the

Tom French

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beautiful and the unsettling, I completed severalexperimental pieces inspired by his work, using arange of media including charcoal, ink and acrylicpaint. I enjoyed theopportunity to workin a moreexpressive wayand to develop myown approach. I

decided to involvesome colour andwas able to applyinks and then spraythem with water toseparate them,giving a decayingfeel to the piece.

I looked at the graveyard photographs I hadtaken. One gravestone with a Victorian air to itappealed to me. I used pastel and charcoalfor this study, to capture the marble textureand the subtle colours of the stone. I

particularly liked the way the dark braches inthe background contrast with the paleheadstone giving a confined feel, RobynBauer's pastel and charcoal studies ofcemeteries and twisted trees capture well theatmosphere I felt when I visited the graveyard.I was able to contact Robin Bauer via email

what her feelings were towards the subject

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She replied with this:

"l was probably drawn to Toowong cemetery because of its historicat significance, itsatmosphere, and the sculptural elements of the gravestone,s, some of which are incredibly

beautiful wrth the way they have weathered and decayed. t donT think t fett fear as such but Iwas acutely aware of the sad sfonbs some of the tombstones telt. Pafticutady about peoplewho died very young or in tragic circumstances and also the pain of loss when a tombstone

said simply "Mothef.t liked thte fact that noone else around here has thought to draw in the cemetery. t did thedrawings or on the spot in the cemetery. lwas very aware of the norses of bird life aroundme and traffic notse while there were thousands of dead people just under the ground. t

found this poignant but was not scared. (l donT believe in ghosts)."

I was interested to find that her feelings were very simihr to my own on visiting acemetery; perhaps this shared view is what drew me to her work in particular.

My next experimental piece wasinfluenced by illustrations by FredBanbery. He uses a palette of black,white and blue to evoke feelings ofisolation and fear, and give theimpression of darkness and moonlight.I used this same colour scheme in myown mixed media piece of a moonlitgraveyard. I found it very interesting towork with this limited colour palette, anddiscovered that a simple palette can

make a bold statement andimpact.

can be utilised to create a very specific emotional

Fred Banbery

The next facet of fear that I decided to look at was some of the common phobias ofcreatures. Some creatures are feared in their own right, because some of them atleast are dangerous. Others are seen as bad omen, associated with death and badluck. The first I chose to look at was the raven, often seen as a symbol of death. TheAlfred Hitchcock classic "The Birds" shows clearly the potentialfor intimidation that

Deb Kirkeeide

these creatures possess. The ravenpaintings of Deb Kirkeeide capturethe mysterious and sternpersonalities of these birds well, andher use warm yellow and orangebackgrounds in contrast with thepurple-blues of the raven influenced

the backdrop of my ownpainting. I used chickenwire over the painting to emphasise the menacingatmosphere that I was trying to create and create afeeling of depth.

The raven alsoinspired anexperimentaldigital painting,where lexploredthis bird as a

symbolic representation of fear and nightmares. I

found the digital mediurn to be very different totraditional art forms and it took a while to adapt to,

but it can also beextremely diverse and

allow a lot of freedomartistically. Aditya lkranegara isa digital artist whose workinvolves subtle use of colourand flowing forms to evoke air ofmystery and enchantment. Iwasparticularly drawn to his paintingentitled "Medusa" which inspiredthe pale human form in myexperimental piece and, alongwith the illustrations of FredBanbury, influenced the coloursI used in this digital painting,

snakes were the next creature I came to. I

chose to use pencil for this study, to capturethe intricate details of the snake's scales andthe way they catch the light, This is somethingthat the artist Lori Dunn does marvellously inher scratchboard works, where she skilfullycaptures the finest details of these creatures,

Aditya lkranegara

She also shows their eerie,unsettling charactersthrough the black backdropand intense contrast, I foundthe same use of darkbackdrop very useful toencapsulate the fear that

these creatures can instil.

As a class we had the opportunity tospend a day at the Seacourt PrintWorkshop. In preparation we received aPerspex plate and used an etching tool toengrave our chosen image into thesurface. I used this opportunity to lookfurther into the image of the snake. I

decided on this after finding the drypointprints of Bill Flowers, an artist whospecialises in snakes, I liked the way hetexture of the reptilian scales.

used the intaglio technique to capture the

We spent the day at the workshop learning different techniques of applying colouiand shading and creating a large number of different prints. I found it exciting howone plate could make such different effects through the way the ink was applied, andI really enjoyed the opportunity to learn new skills, use the specialist equipment andleam from a skilled professional.

There are some fears that we almost allimages that terrified us in our early day,and these fears can remain right intoadulthood. One such object is a doll.Jeremiah Ellsworth captures this fearwith his creepy photographs whichhighlight the unnatural feel of thesechildren's' toys possess, the contrastbetween their human features and their

experience in childhood, certain objects and

lifeless, inanimate nature. I took some ofmy own black and white photographs ofdolls, trying to capture the fear that the

Jerer"niah HIIsworth

dolls can instil. I used a mirror in someof these images to invorve idea ofreflections and msvements caught inthe corner of yCIur eye which can bringobjects like dolls to life. I then workedfrom one of these irnages to create apencil study, using again the contrastbetween light and dark to enhance thescary atmosphere that these dortscreate- I enjoyed working on thisstudy, with the chailenge of capturingboth the hard, smooth quarity of theplastic doil and the details of thewoollen knitted fabrlc.

Clowns are anotherconcept which,although intended tobring amusement,have a sinister aspect,emotions hiddenbehind painted onsmiles. I came acros$a rather terriffing

,*jffi;rY.ntnen-_monstrous grin, and used this as the basis of an acrylicpainting' James Guentner has a series of horri*cpaintings of ctowns which capture ini, tri"t"d idea. ,n' "o" a sertes ot nonificpaint bring out a gritty, oa* rlringinspireo by Guentny""ffainting

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:"_:.::r1:r'ly makes these concepts scaryin the corruption of innocence and chirdhood,and this red me to an experimentar piece.

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lnspired by the mint tin curios compositions of"Jenuine", t creates a sort of chitd's treasurebox- The inside surface had pages from *TheLittle Match Girl", a children'* *iory which to rnerepresentsthis conuption

of childhood' t included matches to further supportthis tale' The piece is meant to demonstrate theinnocence of a child, its loss represented by theaged and battered effect.

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I thenmoved on tolook at theidea ofHorror as apopulargenre of entertainment. I lookedat DVD covers, whose arhruorkrepresents the imagery andconcepts commonly used in these films. My firstpiece was based on the film "Under the Bed". Thislinks back toa commonchildhoodfear. Theimage used

is quite simple but the scenario it portraysexpresses intense fear, evoking the idea ofbeing dragged away into the darkness. I

retumed to look at the illustrations of FredBanbury, who frequenfly includes handsreaching out of the darkness in his drawings. I

again worked with a limited palette, with whiteacrylic onto black card- I developed my own tecnnique for this piece, taking a freer,painterly approach, using a broad brush and drybrush technique and usingdirectional strokes to create texture. I then used a blue-green ink to stain the piece,creating more depth of tone and eerie effect inspired by that of Banbury,s work.

A common image that comes up in manyDvD covers in the eye, retating to the ideaof the eye as the window to the soul aswell as the fears of seeing things whicharen't there, or things which shouldn,t beseen. I used elements from several ofthese images to create my own pencilstudy, which shows a graveyard sceneenclosed within a human eye, and a hand

reaching out like something trying to escape. lt wasinteresting to compose this piece from several differentimages, combining the movie art with my ownphotographs of Highgate Cernetery,

I also looked at some of the more traditional figures inhorror which have survived to permeate modern horror,

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one of the most iconic of these is the vampire. r focused on the mouth todemonstrate the contrast befueen human and inhuman aspects, shown by its fangs.Around this painting r incruded the definition or "

,rrpire combining words andimagery to capture the essence of the creature.

Wire sculptor Richard Careycreated a scurpture based on thesci-fi horror classic film Atien, withteeth bared and craws extended. r

liked the idea of a rnetat monster,relating back to the chirdhoodfears of monsters under the bed. r

created my own wire sculpture ofa three clawed hand of anightrnarish monster. I reft thearm unfinished, flowing out tocreate a base for the sculptureof unreality, like a nightmare

I headed in a different directionfor my final page, looking at theemotion of fear itsetf and theway people physically expressit. I researched Chiaroscuro,the traditional technique ofusing dramatic righting to createdramatic or expresslvepaintings, Caravaggio usedthis device to give is paintings adark undertone. His works oftenconsisted of chaotic sceneswhere peopte demonstratedanger or fear, and this lightingstyle emphasised theseemotions. Rembrandt alsoutilised Chiaroscuro in hisportraits, adding a newdimension to the ancient tradition of portraiture, and ni" r5flbr"niflr:f often

.had a unique kind of metanchoty air.

This research red me to investigate *r" u." "iirrr"ic rightingfurther' r took photographic portraits rooking at different waysthat the face can show fear. r then chose one image, whereonly part of the face is ifiuminated, and used it rorin acryric

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painting. I it challenging to capture the interface between tight and dark, as there islittle intermediate tone.

I then moved on to look at how more abstract or looserstyles could be used to capture emotion. Agnes Cecileis an artist who works in a range of media includingacrylics, watercolours and inks. Her work is defined byits free, intensely expressive nature, combining thehuman subjects with abstract, flowing forms. ln particular

I was drawn to her ink works, -ry*t'*L

the emotion the person portrays. ffi .' ; #hI completed two self portraits frH*# ;using this style, the first an A4 #one using watercolour and ink, /

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f t , i}ink will do, and so the outcome is partly determined by thenature of the medium itself, I also used the painting styleinspired by Fred Banbury again, with white acrylic onblack, stained with ink to give blue tones, ln this imagesomeone is covering their face with their hands in fear,hiding away, one eye peering out through the spacebetween the fingers. I found that the placement of thehands can express a surprising amount of emotionthrough these studies.

It was curious to compare working in both the moretraditional, detailed painting style and the looser, freerones, and the very different approaches that I had to taketo do each.

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Something that really helped me todevelop a looser technique was alife drawing class that I attended inearly December, taught byprofessional Life Model ClareBroome. Her classes wererecommended to me by the

Northern lrish artist and teacher BillGatt, who provided an introductionto life drawing for our class duringmy AS year,ln this full-day class I had the

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opportunity to do a range of '

drawings of both a male and femalelife model. We went through anumber of short poses taking between one and five minutes for each, includingseries of one-minute sequential poses, followed by a long 45 minute pose from eachmodel. I found that the short poses required a more free and dynamic approach todrawing than I had previously experienced, capturing the form in just a few strokes.

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to consider theemotion oratmosphere that apose expressed,and to usedifferent lines andstrokes to reflectthis.

I contacted herlater for more

information on this and she replied with the following:

"Expressive poses in tife drawing are often sfiorferpos es with the feeling of movernent oremotion to inspire the afiist, design to canvey an emotion through the shape of ttte body

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Heavier, firm lines can be used to denote where the weight of a pose iies, and give a sotidityor strength of emotian. Dark, scratching lines can oe usea b describe a da* mood - fear aranger, while clear, swooping lines can express ioyfutness, playfulness and rhythmicalmovement."

I found this experience to be both very enioyable and extremely valuabte. lt helpedme to develop a painting style based on loose, expressive brushstrokes to not ontycapture an image but also an emotion, in this case fear.

When planning my final outcome I first thought about pencilwork, linking back toartists Paul schwarzand Lori Dunn. I liked the strong contrast and tonairange thatthis medium Gan capture, as an expression of fear. t atso thought about a number ofmixed media pieces covering some of the different painting and drawing styles that Ilooked at. ln the end there were some factors which were a strong influencethroughout my project, and that I

therefore wanted to include, Theillustration work of Fred Banberywas one such influence, leadingto a more experimental paintingstyle and the use of the black,white and blue palette that hefavoured, For me this paintingstyle represented the nature ofthe fears themselves - dark andintense, evocative of shadovqymoonlit night and the things thatlurk in the shadows. lt also however has a suneal and nightmarish effect,highlighting the insubstantiat nature of fears; they are not real, and only exist within

our minds.

I also wanted to incorporate some aspects using amore traditional, realistic technique. Throughoutthis proiect I have enioyed contrasting theserealistic with the abstract - playing with theboundary behrveen real and not real. Although ourfears themselves are insubstantial and imagined,the effect of fear is a real and very physical thing.The final design consisted of a portrait in acrylic ofa person expre$Sing fear, using a more traditionalstyle influenced by Caravaggio and Rembrandt inthe use of chiaroscuro, dramatic lighting used toevoke emotion. This represents the physicalaspects of fear, the way we express the emotion.

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This portrait then opens down themiddle to reveal a surreal landscapecomprised of the different fears that I

have looked at in my work, using theexpressive style that I developed.This action of opening up the portraitis like looking inside the head of thescared person, to see the fears, thenightmare, that is causing theoutward expression.

I found the process of creating myfinal piece to be challenging butenjoyable. The outer portrait was

particularly satisfying as I had never produced a single portrait on such a large scalebefore. the high contrast in the image made it very interesting to paint, and I wasvery pleased with the end result.

In my A2 core portfolio I investigated various aspects of the theme of fear. Throughthis I worked in a wide range of media and experimented with new media andtechniques. By researching contextual artists and attending additionalworkshops I

extended my skills and knowledge and this influenced my work, allowing me to drawinspiration from a wide variety of sources. I developed a better understanding of theemotion of fear, and I produed a final.outcome which I feel demonstrates what I

have leamed both in terms of understanding of my theme and artistic techniques. I

have very much enjoyed the work I did this year and I am pleased with what I haveachieved.