I’m lightly researching these artists to skim off thoughts that appeal to me from each one.
Marc Quinn – The Toxic Sublime.
Marc-Quinn-The-Toxic-Sublime-O8@du5JPnfZx-2015-screen-res
The Toxic Sublime is a series of works produced by Quinn, part of which is a number of sunset photographs applied to a canvas. Quinn then bends, folds, sands down and grinds the image on the streets of London using detritus, nails and chains to derail and despoil the nature illustrated. The image is then bonded to a sheet of aluminium, kicked and twisted. The art has the formal elements of a classical landscape, that is then wrecked. The process of disintegration and decay.
Quin questions our everyday behavior and our inability to align it with our knowledge of global warming. We all seem to have this complex relationship with nature and our environment and are not able to get it in order.
Susen Reuter
Reuter shows the beauty of our planet by using rich colours and shapes found in infrared and radar images. These are transformed into paintings which then provide an insight into the different patterns and structures that then become visible to the human eye.
Ann-Marie James
Full Fathom Five – Acrylic on aluminium 2019 – 450 cm x 630 cm
Taking inspiration, re-inventing and re-imagining historical imagery, James’ paintings are a force of nature within themselves. Filled with energy and repeated layers of paint, look wild, with such a sense of gestural freedom. Despite being an abstract piece, I see the fluidity of the water and the froth of the waves within.
Margarethe Vanderpas
Dancing Light on Water
Vanderpas’ waterscapes series are alive with colour, light, warmth, flow and movement. The reflections are so beautifully executed, the complexity of the motion and the intensified colour makes the image pop off the canvas.
Matthew Cusick
Genevieve´s Wave
These elaborate collages crafted entirely from recycled maps, using textbooks, atlases, road maps and encyclopedias, Cusick uses colourful shades to represent the ocean, complete with powerful waves and a crest of foam.
The maps are a surrogate for paint, each image meticulously pieced together by pasting and layering small map cuttings together, re imagining the places on the maps and nautical charts into something new.
Thoughts
There are a few common denominators from these artists’ however one particularly stands out for me and that is the colour blue, in all its hues and shades. Along with these are water, textures and layers.
Our complex relationship with nature and our environment, our inability to align with it, and acknowledge global warming with a real sense of urgency. I always feel despite Heads of States meetings, protests, strikes, demonstrations and sheer outcry, this subject never seems to be in the forefront of our news. The aftermath is, flooding, storms, high winds and heatwaves, however there never seems to be any sheer sense of urgency.
Derailed
Disintegration
Decay
The beauty of our planet
Sensitivity and respect for our heritage and also what we have.
Fluidity
Colour
Energy
Gestural freedom
Warmth
References:
The Toxic Sublime. Marc Quinn http://marcquinn.com/artworks/the-toxic-sublime. Accessed 3rd December 2024
Accessed 4th December 2024.
https://www.susenreuter.com/ Accessed 5th December 2024.
https://geo-art.info/ Accessed 5th December 2024.
https://www.kettlesyard.cam.ac.uk/bio/ann-marie-james/ Accessed 5th December 2024.
Accessed 6th December 2024.
Accessed 6th December 2024.
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/11/map-collages-by-matthew-cusick.html
Accessed 6th December 2024.
https://www.hollyjohnsongallery.com/artist/Matthew_Cusick/news/38/
Accessed 6th December 2024.
Viv King. Level 3. BA Fine Art 