Sculpture techniques and processes

This class is very much like my course at camberwell in that you are invited to develop your own project in a very independent manner. Then regularly check up on the other students work and all discuss specific reasons for techniques and materials. I was keen to maintain this kind of practice so as to keep the ball rolling when i return. 

Painting

This class is just open studio time with three scheduled critiques with other students between now and Christmas. its good to study such a liberal class after some of the more structured classes. I have  found that the painting is a useful class as i can come up with ideas in this subject that i can then translate into all the other mediums in the other classes. I have found that it helps to have a concurrent theme throughout all the classes otherwise working on 5 different projects aswell as the blog becomes a bit much! I have been actively photographing madrid as a means of stimulation for the paintings and i am working on a concept extracted from them.

Fundamental Sculpture

This class focuses on production and technique also, the emphasis seems to be on the translation from drawing to maquet, then maquet to sculpture. We learn basic carving techniques and can buy lumps of wood or stone from the college. I was asked to present a hundred rough sketches of some organic forms, as proposals for maquets.

Lithography

This class again is very open in that you can bring your own ideas into the class and adapt them to the techniques we learn. Firstly we are beginning to learn how to print using the large slabs of what I think is lime stone. The initial chore is again to remove the previous image that was put on the stone by the previous user. To remove the last image you need two of the stones, you have to rub them together file off the old image and smooth the stone to create a good printing surface. You have to turn them so the printing surfaces are the ones that touch, on one of the printing surfaces you need to splash some water and then cover it in a dusting of iron filings, the filings act as the abrasive removing the previous image and the top layer of the stone. You have to use two different grades of the filings, a more coarse one to remove the image and then a fine one smooth the surface. This is process took me two lessons, so about 4 hours, as you have to apply several applications of the filings, and then rub the stones together for about ten minutes in a figure of eight, then wipe off the paste and start again. This is the stage I am at currently and I will update the rest of the procedure and photographs as it happens.

Mural Painting

The first class I chose was mural painting, the course is really open to interpretation in terms of what u want to create, the class is more about learning the techniques rather than what we paint. We were put into groups of 2 to 4 people depending on the size of the wall, the wall we chose is really interesting as it is a large (maybe 3.5m tall by 2.5m wide) concave archway similar to what you might find in the walls of an old cathedral or church. We chose the wall due to its curiosity and the connotations that come with it. The mural painting studio has two levels with really high ceilings and different sized and shaped walls for interesting murals, there are also a number of designated walls around the college that you can apply to use as well. The first few lessons were covering different materials we need and protective clothing, then we looked at the types of plaster used for fresco murals, and then got told to collaborate on some designs.

The first lesson when we got down to work involved removing last year’s mural from the wall. This was a messy job with twenty other people in the studio at the same time the room was a cloud of dust. We were required to by face masks with breathing filters, goggles, and gloves. For the entire three hour lesson we had to chip away at the old plaster work with a pick-axe until just the bare brick was remaining.

The next stage is to re-apply the plaster (or Cal) to get the wall smooth and level. after the wall is smooth, we need to draw a scale drawing, in a scale of 1:10. then create a grid over the drawing, so we can tranfer it onto a sheet of paper the same size as the wall. when we have the drawing to the size of the wall, we pin it up onto the wall. to transfer this image onto the wall behind, you take a sharp point of pencil and stab holes along the lines of the drawing. this allows us to take the pigment and dab it over the lines, tranfering the image exactly onto the wall behind.

when the drawing is mapped out on the wall, we have to mix another batch of plaster, and fill in small sections of the drawing one at a time. the pigment has to be applied to wet plaster to ensure a rich colour and that stays on the wall.

Starting classes

For the last three weeks at the university we have been choosing which lessons we wish to attend. For one semester each lesson is 6 credits so I have to choose 5 to make the 30credits. I have chosen two painting classes, two sculpture classes and one printmaking.  The variety of possible courses is really extensive, and as an Erasmus student I had the ability to study in any of the classes for any of the year groups. this was a really time consuming activity as there are no real course outlines, so you just have to attend as many classes as you can, they range from starting at 8am to finishing at 9pm, and most classes last 3 hours, and are twice a week.

La Reina Sofia

La Reina Sofia houses the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Madrid. It regularly hosts large international exhibitions. It has an extensive permanent collection of works covering the last century including numerous by Dali and Picasso, including the world famous Guernica, which was previously held in Museo Del Prado, but later moved to La Reina Sofia along with all other works from post 1920. The building is a combination of 18^th century Spanish architecture, and a modern 1980’s extension. I think the combination of styles really adds to the atmosphere of the building. The old building was previously a hospital and the space makes an amazing exhibition space, with an abundance of natural light. The extension is a large steel and glass construction with a large 4^th floor mezzanine looking out over the city, and down to the museum entrance.

The current exhibition held is of works by the post modernist Artist Hans Peter Feldman. He works largely with repetition, using archiving and re-representation to create his scenarios. One of his works displayed consisted of hundreds of front pages from news papers across the world on September 12^th 2001. The work creates and interesting historical documentation of global reactions to the event, ranging from headlines like “declaration of war” to (ironically) a Spanish news paper where the headline is “jugar sin mierdo” (to play without fear) referring to a Barcelona football match, then with tiny thumb nail picture if the twin towers!

My favorite Feldman work is called ‘shaddowplay’ and is an elegant montage of shadows projected onto the gallery wall. The work consists of a seemingly random objects such as; a gun, Bambi, the Statue of Liberty, Barbie, a palm tree, a sailing boat, a helicopter,and a Tyrannosaurus rex. These symbolic and familiar objects are placed on a revolving trays, this turns the shadows into a revolving clockwork reference to life and contemporary culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqAjPJlbMJ4




The simple shaddows create a cartoon-esque effect, it seems like the simple shapes and images are creating a simplified sumary of a busy image obsessed society. I also like how the artist hasnt tried to cover up the obects and making of the work. and hasn't bothered staging it with plinths etc, covering up wires, it looks kind of hap hazzard, or a work in progress, as the tables also have random bottles and gloves for example which arent actually part of the 'shaddow play' which enrich the sense of experimenting and temporality of the work.