“I think, if one is a painter, all you experience does come out when you’re painting.”- Lee Krasner
My concept is how life is reflected through art
I want to achieve the concept of how life is reflected through art by focusing on the idea of reactions against actions.
The visual art world and artist experiences are a perfect example of this because almost each and every one of their works have a visual influence on their personal lives.
The main aspects of my piece I am focusing on is the relationship between the artist, the artwork, and the external world.
I want my lighting and audio to reflect an analogy of Krasner's life and circumstances.
I also want the canvas to represent how the artist reacts to situations that she is faced with.
The Artist: Lee Krasner
The artwork: unknown, (I will be forming this during the performance)
The External world (life): audio clips over layered- (Snippets of Jackson Pollock documentaries (Robert Hughes, Pollock's sister in law, Narration, vital information) Snippets of Lee Krasner interviews Dis-jointed jazz the represent Lee Krasner's internal voice)
Lee Krasner's life: I wanted to know about Lee Krasner and her work from the very first day I learnt about Jackson Pollock in Art History. She was mentioned briefly in the lesson, about how people believed she was the better artist. This sparked a sudden interest in me, I needed to know more about her. I couldn't understand why people thought that without personally knowing the woman who brought Pollock into the spotlight.
As I delved deep into Pollock's and Krasner's history, I was shocked to realise that Pollock was a very cruel person to Krasner and completely took her for granted. Pollock overshadowed Lee Krasner all through out her art career, and even today people will know Jackson Pollock over Lee krasner.
Lee Krasner I believe is an amazing woman. She was ambitious, she was the only well-known female Abstract Expressionist, and she persevered with art despite all the issues she had to deal with in her life.
I want to show through my performance my appreciation and acknowledgement for Lee Krasner. Despite her circumstances being frustrating and difficult, she still painted, and she never stopped until her dying days.
The Audio: I have composed an audio track on garage band containing snippets of documentaries, Jackson Pollock's dialogue, interviews with Lee Krasner, interviews with people who knew Pollock and even old jazz to juxtapose against the dialogue and bring mood to the mono-toned jabbering in the background. This has been purposely arranged so that the audio becomes disjointed, dis-functional and confusing to listen to. The dysfunctional noise completely over shadows anything Lee Krasner has to say during the audio. You can vaguely hear the sound of her voice, but barely. This I believe is reflected in her life and her time when she was an artist, because her circumstances was that she was a woman around the 1950's and married to one of the biggest names in American Art. No one really knew or cared knew who she was, she was always automatically pushed away into shadow of Jackson Pollock.
The most important snippet I believe in the audio is of Jackson Pollock's sister in law explaining how awful he really was as a person, giving light that this man wasn't all that incredible as people thought he was. I react to this in disbelief and frustration as anyone would of if someone was explaining that your husband was an ass. Afterwards I develop into a moment of utter frustration as I start to accept these facts and loss control with the audio.
I have played around with dynamics, highlighting parts that are more important to create more of a statement and an contextual impact.
The Artwork: The main lesson I have learnt from the abstract expressionist's is that the process of the art is everything. I have chosen to create a painting as my performance to reflect the drama in making art and to highlight Lee Krasner's painting career. What I want my painting to look like is still a mystery to me. I don't know whether I'll like it, whether I'll make a huge mess, whether it will look amateur, or even fitting to the Abstract Expressionist style. All I know is that it will be emotive, inspired by Lee krasner's art, and will reflect how I personally react to the audio as Lee Krasner. What is also important is that the process will be done by my artist hand, bringing my personal layer of Lee Krasner's life in this performance. The reason why I have not planned an initial idea on what this painting will look like is because I am focusing on the abstract expressionist style. Meaning that my work will be irrational, emotive and impulsive. I will react to the audio with the canvas, and by the end of the performance my once blank canvas will be an explosion of emotive colours and gestures. What I don't want is to leave any blank spaces as Lee Krasner worked in an 'all over' style (that had influenced Jackson Pollock).
Painting a whole canvas that is more than a metre in width in the space of seven minutes will be a real challenging experience, thank god Lee Krasner focuses on Abstraction rather than Realism!
I have chosen to work with house paint and large brushes so I can cover more areas of the canvas with out worrying about issues with the paint being too transparent. House paint is also very vibrant when it comes to colour. The texture becomes flat and blocked like many of Krasner's and other Abstract Expressionist work. House paint is also a common material used during this movement because of its distinctive technical purposes.
At the end where I have ripped the canvas off the wall, I have chosen to embrace it and wrap the still wet painting around my body to truly forgive the distressing experience because I had still created art from the stress. I will spread my arms out with the painting behind me to symbolise that my life has an equal value to the piece of art formed around it.
Lighting: I want the lighting to support and react to the audio so it also gives a strong illusion of Lee Krasner's life and circumstances. Part of my painting will be in the shadows, representing the overshadowing career of Jackson Pollock and how Lee Krasner's art career was never truly in the spotlight. It will also give a sense of the closing in pressure and entrapment with moments like the climax by incorporating flashing side lights to be symbolic of the attacks and judgement Lee Krasner had received as being Jackson Pollock's wife.
In juxtaposition I will create moments when I am fully in the light to be symbolic of when Lee Krasner has been recognised and appreciated as a female artist. I have done this at both the very beginning and the end of the performance where the audio is clear. I have incorporated the concept of shadow with the last line of dialogue to support and clarify my decisions to play with the idea of being hidden by Pollock and being found by acknowledgement. "I am Lee Krasner. Female Abstract Expressionist. And I do not work in the shadow of Jackson Pollock."
Acting Techniques:
Voice And Vital Dialogue : I have chosen to keep my dialogue to a bare minimum to highlight important moments and to not drown my already busy audio. I will be mainly using my voice to grunt or mutter how I feel at certain points to create dynamic moments of tension and mood. When the audio dies down, I will project my last few lines with pride and strength to highlight the importance of being heard as an artist.
Movement: During my performance I will rely on my reactions and actions with my process of painting/performing. Meaning that my performance is going to based off raw organic moments of honest reactions. My movement will be expressed with how I decide to paint the canvas. Painting (especially Abstract Expressionism) is a lot more physical than some may think. At the beginning, I am calm and the audio is clear, I start to caress the canvas and make slow, smooth and long brush strokes. As the audio becomes gradually more chaotic, my movements become more spontaneous, fast, and more aggressive. I will let the chaos of my hands create ugly noises with the canvas to.
Breath: My breath is supported with how I have used my voice and experimented with movement. I have incorporated a fake cigarette to give myself a chance to breath deeply and relax, or even use it as a tool breath nervously. I have also emphasised my sense of movement in my chaotic scenes by breathing heavily in a sense of exhaustion or frantically in a sense of panic to show how my circumstances have affect on my mental state.
What I need to work on is breathing through my shoulders as I mainly have my back to the audience. Breathing through my shoulders will let my audience see how my breathing is affecting my body language and how it can create my mood.
Space: I have chosen to stay in one vital area of the stage, and that is the centre where the canvas is to clearly indicate to the audience that creating art was Lee Krasner's priority. I have also decided to stay in one vital area to emphasise the use of lighting to be symbolic of how I am trapped in this state of constantly making work but never being able to reach out to my public.
Lee Krasner's paintings involve (Things To Think About When Painting):
With any great art, there is significant context around it. Decisions have always been made in contrast with the social, the personal, and the wider contextual events.
With Lee Krasner's work, we can see a clear hint of what she was going through and what circumstances motivated her to choose particular colours and move her brush in a certain way. I want to do the same with my performance. What ever I'm feeling, how ever the audio is making me feel, I want my raw emotions influence with how I create the main artwork, and that is how I have realised my concept of how life is reflected through art.
As I delved deep into Pollock's and Krasner's history, I was shocked to realise that Pollock was a very cruel person to Krasner and completely took her for granted. Pollock overshadowed Lee Krasner all through out her art career, and even today people will know Jackson Pollock over Lee krasner.
Lee Krasner I believe is an amazing woman. She was ambitious, she was the only well-known female Abstract Expressionist, and she persevered with art despite all the issues she had to deal with in her life.
I want to show through my performance my appreciation and acknowledgement for Lee Krasner. Despite her circumstances being frustrating and difficult, she still painted, and she never stopped until her dying days.
The Audio: I have composed an audio track on garage band containing snippets of documentaries, Jackson Pollock's dialogue, interviews with Lee Krasner, interviews with people who knew Pollock and even old jazz to juxtapose against the dialogue and bring mood to the mono-toned jabbering in the background. This has been purposely arranged so that the audio becomes disjointed, dis-functional and confusing to listen to. The dysfunctional noise completely over shadows anything Lee Krasner has to say during the audio. You can vaguely hear the sound of her voice, but barely. This I believe is reflected in her life and her time when she was an artist, because her circumstances was that she was a woman around the 1950's and married to one of the biggest names in American Art. No one really knew or cared knew who she was, she was always automatically pushed away into shadow of Jackson Pollock.
The most important snippet I believe in the audio is of Jackson Pollock's sister in law explaining how awful he really was as a person, giving light that this man wasn't all that incredible as people thought he was. I react to this in disbelief and frustration as anyone would of if someone was explaining that your husband was an ass. Afterwards I develop into a moment of utter frustration as I start to accept these facts and loss control with the audio.
I have played around with dynamics, highlighting parts that are more important to create more of a statement and an contextual impact.
The Artwork: The main lesson I have learnt from the abstract expressionist's is that the process of the art is everything. I have chosen to create a painting as my performance to reflect the drama in making art and to highlight Lee Krasner's painting career. What I want my painting to look like is still a mystery to me. I don't know whether I'll like it, whether I'll make a huge mess, whether it will look amateur, or even fitting to the Abstract Expressionist style. All I know is that it will be emotive, inspired by Lee krasner's art, and will reflect how I personally react to the audio as Lee Krasner. What is also important is that the process will be done by my artist hand, bringing my personal layer of Lee Krasner's life in this performance. The reason why I have not planned an initial idea on what this painting will look like is because I am focusing on the abstract expressionist style. Meaning that my work will be irrational, emotive and impulsive. I will react to the audio with the canvas, and by the end of the performance my once blank canvas will be an explosion of emotive colours and gestures. What I don't want is to leave any blank spaces as Lee Krasner worked in an 'all over' style (that had influenced Jackson Pollock).
Painting a whole canvas that is more than a metre in width in the space of seven minutes will be a real challenging experience, thank god Lee Krasner focuses on Abstraction rather than Realism!
I have chosen to work with house paint and large brushes so I can cover more areas of the canvas with out worrying about issues with the paint being too transparent. House paint is also very vibrant when it comes to colour. The texture becomes flat and blocked like many of Krasner's and other Abstract Expressionist work. House paint is also a common material used during this movement because of its distinctive technical purposes.
At the end where I have ripped the canvas off the wall, I have chosen to embrace it and wrap the still wet painting around my body to truly forgive the distressing experience because I had still created art from the stress. I will spread my arms out with the painting behind me to symbolise that my life has an equal value to the piece of art formed around it.
Lighting: I want the lighting to support and react to the audio so it also gives a strong illusion of Lee Krasner's life and circumstances. Part of my painting will be in the shadows, representing the overshadowing career of Jackson Pollock and how Lee Krasner's art career was never truly in the spotlight. It will also give a sense of the closing in pressure and entrapment with moments like the climax by incorporating flashing side lights to be symbolic of the attacks and judgement Lee Krasner had received as being Jackson Pollock's wife.
In juxtaposition I will create moments when I am fully in the light to be symbolic of when Lee Krasner has been recognised and appreciated as a female artist. I have done this at both the very beginning and the end of the performance where the audio is clear. I have incorporated the concept of shadow with the last line of dialogue to support and clarify my decisions to play with the idea of being hidden by Pollock and being found by acknowledgement. "I am Lee Krasner. Female Abstract Expressionist. And I do not work in the shadow of Jackson Pollock."
Acting Techniques:
Voice And Vital Dialogue : I have chosen to keep my dialogue to a bare minimum to highlight important moments and to not drown my already busy audio. I will be mainly using my voice to grunt or mutter how I feel at certain points to create dynamic moments of tension and mood. When the audio dies down, I will project my last few lines with pride and strength to highlight the importance of being heard as an artist.
Movement: During my performance I will rely on my reactions and actions with my process of painting/performing. Meaning that my performance is going to based off raw organic moments of honest reactions. My movement will be expressed with how I decide to paint the canvas. Painting (especially Abstract Expressionism) is a lot more physical than some may think. At the beginning, I am calm and the audio is clear, I start to caress the canvas and make slow, smooth and long brush strokes. As the audio becomes gradually more chaotic, my movements become more spontaneous, fast, and more aggressive. I will let the chaos of my hands create ugly noises with the canvas to.
Breath: My breath is supported with how I have used my voice and experimented with movement. I have incorporated a fake cigarette to give myself a chance to breath deeply and relax, or even use it as a tool breath nervously. I have also emphasised my sense of movement in my chaotic scenes by breathing heavily in a sense of exhaustion or frantically in a sense of panic to show how my circumstances have affect on my mental state.
What I need to work on is breathing through my shoulders as I mainly have my back to the audience. Breathing through my shoulders will let my audience see how my breathing is affecting my body language and how it can create my mood.
Space: I have chosen to stay in one vital area of the stage, and that is the centre where the canvas is to clearly indicate to the audience that creating art was Lee Krasner's priority. I have also decided to stay in one vital area to emphasise the use of lighting to be symbolic of how I am trapped in this state of constantly making work but never being able to reach out to my public.
Lee Krasner's paintings involve (Things To Think About When Painting):
- repetition
- pattern
- biomorphic imagery
- emotive connections- (eg periods where she suffered from insomnia was reflected in her work
- A burst of colour (or monochromatic)
With any great art, there is significant context around it. Decisions have always been made in contrast with the social, the personal, and the wider contextual events.
With Lee Krasner's work, we can see a clear hint of what she was going through and what circumstances motivated her to choose particular colours and move her brush in a certain way. I want to do the same with my performance. What ever I'm feeling, how ever the audio is making me feel, I want my raw emotions influence with how I create the main artwork, and that is how I have realised my concept of how life is reflected through art.
