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The Artful Readers Club for January
Artist's Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures by Cathy Johnson Sat in front of a local church on a sunny Saturday, then picked some flowers to examine. I only had a pencil so I added the watercolor later. Armed with few supplies, I went to one of my favorite spots and doodled. Lines added in Photoshop before posting...timid me. Please note: I recommend this book for any artist at any stage...my reference to 12-13 year olds in this review, is remarked due to the value of journaling. It's actually a very sophisticated book on many levels. In a brief shuffle through the pages of Artist's Journal Workshop , I found myself conflicted. The book contains numerous examples of a style of art making that toggles between the hugely personal and a publishable 'look'. So, with that...the book set up on my shelf for nearly a year. Now, after an honest read, I still feel a bit conflicted...but in a way that offers some inspir...
Veins everywhere, a bloody theme with veins and marbling. The book reads 'Zoo' and 'Art War' and there is something 'spacey' or scientific about the image, as though it had been taken through a telescope - it is no accident that the moon struggles to emerge from the book. The eyes are half-hidden, so is the face underneath the intense light.
ReplyDeleteThe one vein across the face? A scar? There is something about the veins that is very ritualistic. They're like body jewellery or like chains (especially given the connotation from the Zoo). It's uncomfortable to look at and I think what's being emphasised is that human beings are not exhibits and art is more meaningful than that.
The chains could be seen as tears... Or worse yet, blinding... Is this a comment on the relationship between creating the world in the form of art (our pictures of the world and our 'cosmos') and violence?
The book is the Art of War by Sun Tzu. It is a triple image. The main figure is reading a book and looking at the viewer, it is a play off of a picture of me as a child where my mother snapped a shot of me sitting in the closet, reading the newspaper upside down (I think I was 4) and the look on my face was 'hey I am busy' without a doubt mimicing how my mother used to look at me. The picture is cut with two photos I shot of the pavement and sidewalk and sent through color filters. The crackes in the pavement had plants coming out of them which is an area of interest in photography. I mostly like "It's uncomfortable to look at and I think what's being emphasised is that human beings are not exhibits and art is more meaningful than that."
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