Medium lectures

Today I attended a lecture about the role of the medium and the language individual mediums carry. We discussed critics such as Clement Greenberg and how he wrote about flatness and how paint was the best language to depict flatness.

I really liked the work of Glen Brown (Fig.1), I liked the deception of layers and texture in his work and the element of trickery on the viewer. He comments on the language of paint to achieve physical flatness but with the illusion of depth. For me I saw the piece as a parody of abstract painting and the style of people such as Auerbach, I wish to trick my viewers on first glance. The subject matters of most of Browns paintings also interest me, I like how he borrows from history and popular culture combined with a very contemporary colour pallet and thoughtful application of paint t0 creates something original.

This links to the work of Jeff Wall (Fig.2) and the way he takes from Art History, I really like how Wall uses a medium accessible and representational of his time and uses it to recreate images originally created in the medium of paint. This exploration into the relationship between painting and photography was mentioned while talking about Marcel Broodthaers piece "A cheap reproduction". When discussing the work of Wall I was equally interested in the medium in which he presents his photographs, borrowing from the world of advertising to present his photos in large lightboxes and this visual reference to mainstream culture outside of art is something I wish to incorporate in my work.

I believe I need to consider the presentation of my work more carefully. I am worried that a small digital print displayed on the wall will get lost amongst all the large installation pieces in the exhibition.

(Fig.1)

(Fig.2)