Showing posts with label MATERIAL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MATERIAL. Show all posts
New Publication 'Thirty-Three'
My
new publication 'Thirty-Three' is now available for purchase in New
Zealand. They are $33 each, plus $6 for postage and handling within New
Zealand. The catalogue features full colour reproductions of the group
of paintings now on tour around New Zealand and an essay about the work
by anthropologist Dr Peter J Howland. Please email me for more
details!
MARTES, EL VEINTE DE MARZO, VEINTE-DOCE
I was interviewed yesterday about my work and exhibition 'Thirty-Three' at the Hastings City Art Gallery by Roy Dunningham. Here's a photo from Kath Purchas of the set-up, as we conducted the interview over Skype. A thank you to Roy for his great questions, the audience and the staff at Hastings City Art Gallery who helped in creating a gremlin-free technology link-up:
I was interviewed yesterday about my work and exhibition 'Thirty-Three' at the Hastings City Art Gallery by Roy Dunningham. Here's a photo from Kath Purchas of the set-up, as we conducted the interview over Skype. A thank you to Roy for his great questions, the audience and the staff at Hastings City Art Gallery who helped in creating a gremlin-free technology link-up:
MIERCOLES, EL NUEVE DE NOVIEMBRE, VEINTE-ONCE
John Seed of The Huffington Post has published an article on my paintings, practice and context:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-seed/matt-couper-painter_b_1080307.html
John Seed of The Huffington Post has published an article on my paintings, practice and context:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-seed/matt-couper-painter_b_1080307.html
LUNES, EL DOCE DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-ONCE
uncanny: de Chirico on the left - 'Metaphysical Interior', 1916 and Guston's 'Rain', 1975. The de Chirico is a hard image to track down, I've only ever seen black and white repros of it in two books, one of them being James Thrall-Soby's 'The Early Chirico' which, according to Guston's daughter, Musa Mayer in her biography 'Night Studio' was "...a book always at hand on my father's shelf...".
uncanny: de Chirico on the left - 'Metaphysical Interior', 1916 and Guston's 'Rain', 1975. The de Chirico is a hard image to track down, I've only ever seen black and white repros of it in two books, one of them being James Thrall-Soby's 'The Early Chirico' which, according to Guston's daughter, Musa Mayer in her biography 'Night Studio' was "...a book always at hand on my father's shelf...".
JUEVES, EL CARTORCE DE JULIO, VEINTE-ONCE
I was very taken recently by a new painting on the Colonial Arts website, owned by James Eddy. The painting (on the right) is titled 'The Nothingness of Man', c.1700's (http://www.colonialarts.com/products/sk ) and the central skeleton figure with the figure captured in its ribs sparked off a memory of the work it is probably based on. I found it yesterday in Hermann Hugo's Pia Desideria (Divine Addresses) which was published in 1628. I'm aware of other example of this biblical ribcage jail motif, but I think it is in a book that's in storage in NZ. On my facebook page, I put together a folder of images called 'Influences of Spanish Colonial Art on Contemporary Painting', which looks at the lineage of imagery borrowed from the Spanish Colonial period by Enrique Chagoya, Manuel Ocampo, Fred Stonehouse, Frida Kahlo and Alex Chavez. The images below will probably be the offshoot of the above research. 
I was very taken recently by a new painting on the Colonial Arts website, owned by James Eddy. The painting (on the right) is titled 'The Nothingness of Man', c.1700's (http://www.colonialarts.co
VIERNES, EL OCHO DE JULIO, VEINTE-ONCE
Yesterday I took my usual LA pilgrimage out to Historia Antiques in Santa Monica and met up with James Caswell to discuss all things Spanish Colonial... it usually goes on for quite a while but is always absolutely inspiring and illuminating.
Here's a photo of some of my paintings in his store amongst
Yesterday I took my usual LA pilgrimage out to Historia Antiques in Santa Monica and met up with James Caswell to discuss all things Spanish Colonial... it usually goes on for quite a while but is always absolutely inspiring and illuminating.
Here's a photo of some of my paintings in his store amongst
VIERNES, EL QUINCE DE ABRIL, VEINTE-ONCE
detail from Bosch's 'Death of the Miser' in the Nat. Gal. Washington DC.
I've seen this work before in the flesh, but hadn't studied it long enough to notice the pencil marks outlining unpainted forms on the shelf depicting part of the miser's material wealth. The rest of the painting has many initial sketchmarks, showing a longer arrow as held by death, the volumous toning for the curtains and some minor compositional changes. I haven't read much about the 'plastic' aspects of the painting, but it's quite odd to see so much sketching and thin paint layers remaining on a 'finished' Bosch painting, especially in comparison to his impasto paintwork on the works I've seen in the Prado. Anyway, what was interesting was that I started noticing pencil marks in a few other paintings, most noticeable in Raphael's small Cowper Madonna, where he's redrawn the position of the shoulder and veil.
detail from Bosch's 'Death of the Miser' in the Nat. Gal. Washington DC.
I've seen this work before in the flesh, but hadn't studied it long enough to notice the pencil marks outlining unpainted forms on the shelf depicting part of the miser's material wealth. The rest of the painting has many initial sketchmarks, showing a longer arrow as held by death, the volumous toning for the curtains and some minor compositional changes. I haven't read much about the 'plastic' aspects of the painting, but it's quite odd to see so much sketching and thin paint layers remaining on a 'finished' Bosch painting, especially in comparison to his impasto paintwork on the works I've seen in the Prado. Anyway, what was interesting was that I started noticing pencil marks in a few other paintings, most noticeable in Raphael's small Cowper Madonna, where he's redrawn the position of the shoulder and veil.
SABATO, EL VEINTISEIS DE MARZO, VEINTE-ONCE
A great little ex-voto that piqued my interest in Albuquerque at John Isaac's Antiques store in the historical area. It's got everything, aesthetically, that I like in an ex-voto, the pinky/cadmium scarlet floor, the soft blue sky and the beautifully crafted vision of Christ.
Things have been a bit hectic at my end due to several things need attending too, so that explains the lack of posts. Once cleared, I'll post the offending pieces here on the blog to catch you all up!
A great little ex-voto that piqued my interest in Albuquerque at John Isaac's Antiques store in the historical area. It's got everything, aesthetically, that I like in an ex-voto, the pinky/cadmium scarlet floor, the soft blue sky and the beautifully crafted vision of Christ.
Things have been a bit hectic at my end due to several things need attending too, so that explains the lack of posts. Once cleared, I'll post the offending pieces here on the blog to catch you all up!
JUEVES, TRES DE FEBRERO, VEINTE-ONCE
A little experiment - I spilt some indian ink the other day over some pieces of aluminum that I had laid out ready to prime for oil paintings. It was damned expensive ink too, so I spread it over a couple of the pieces and let it dry. This afternoon, while watching a doco on Delacroix, I picked up the piece and started scratching into it with a compass. It reminded me of the scraperboard drawings we did at school, but those ones were on cardboard prepared with a layer of clay, then covered with indian ink. In a way I like this better as you get the glistening of the shiny metal when exposed. You can see in the photo below, there were some areas where the ink didn't take to the surface of the metal as there must have been some oil-based residue on the surface, which acted as a resist to the ink and when scratching into it, whole flakes came off. Something I'll need to assess if I want to use this medium and technique.
I like how this technique lines up with my scrimshaw which are halted at present due to not having the tools to make them. This is like the photographic negative of them.
A little experiment - I spilt some indian ink the other day over some pieces of aluminum that I had laid out ready to prime for oil paintings. It was damned expensive ink too, so I spread it over a couple of the pieces and let it dry. This afternoon, while watching a doco on Delacroix, I picked up the piece and started scratching into it with a compass. It reminded me of the scraperboard drawings we did at school, but those ones were on cardboard prepared with a layer of clay, then covered with indian ink. In a way I like this better as you get the glistening of the shiny metal when exposed. You can see in the photo below, there were some areas where the ink didn't take to the surface of the metal as there must have been some oil-based residue on the surface, which acted as a resist to the ink and when scratching into it, whole flakes came off. Something I'll need to assess if I want to use this medium and technique.
I like how this technique lines up with my scrimshaw which are halted at present due to not having the tools to make them. This is like the photographic negative of them.
MIERCOLES, DOS DE FEBRERO, VEINTE-ONCE
After a couple of months, I sat down and decided to finish the spleen painting. I actually posted it back in November, last year, here on my blog. Based on the Catholic 'Sacred Heart', I ended up thinking it would be best to keep the imagery reasonably generic and then went to work drawing sketches of what I thought were good analogies for 'venting', and to keep it kind of upbeat for such a tempestuous subject. I decided on the flick of a rubberband, the violence of the broken bottle as a weapon , wrist-slitting, a gunstapler attack on a penis (as seen on Dirty Sanchez) and a snail traveling over a razorblade.
MARTES, EL DIECIOCHO DE ENERO, VEINTE-ONCE
Painting problems. Usually, I can solve issues with paintings (the issues, if explained, would seem nonsensical and ridiculous, so i'll just say they're 'issues') through drawing - developing sketches and doodles from the original invention/drawing. Sometimes it's along time which helps resolve the problem. Time allows for clarity. But sometimes in a particularly tricky painting, such as the one below, I want it to be something that it is not. That is, an older painting from 2008 called 'Big Garden'. I painted Big Garden after returning from a 5 month trip around the USA and Europe. I actually started this blog on returning to NZ and you can see the painting in development in some of the early photos (that's Big Garden on the ground by Jo). That painting took 4 days to paint, without any prior drawings or sketches. I just knew what and how it needed to be painting. The work below that I've been nursing for 3 months and been through 3 incantations now and I've just painted over the third. I now saw what needs to come out of this painting and to involve the spirit of the original 'Big Garden' I'm going to attack the painting without any prior sketches and develop it in the canvas.
Painting problems. Usually, I can solve issues with paintings (the issues, if explained, would seem nonsensical and ridiculous, so i'll just say they're 'issues') through drawing - developing sketches and doodles from the original invention/drawing. Sometimes it's along time which helps resolve the problem. Time allows for clarity. But sometimes in a particularly tricky painting, such as the one below, I want it to be something that it is not. That is, an older painting from 2008 called 'Big Garden'. I painted Big Garden after returning from a 5 month trip around the USA and Europe. I actually started this blog on returning to NZ and you can see the painting in development in some of the early photos (that's Big Garden on the ground by Jo). That painting took 4 days to paint, without any prior drawings or sketches. I just knew what and how it needed to be painting. The work below that I've been nursing for 3 months and been through 3 incantations now and I've just painted over the third. I now saw what needs to come out of this painting and to involve the spirit of the original 'Big Garden' I'm going to attack the painting without any prior sketches and develop it in the canvas.
MARTES, EL SIETE DE DICIEMBRE, VIENTE-DIEZ
a copy of Sassetta's 'St Anthony the Hermit being tormented by Devils', the original painting being in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena, Italy. I made this copy to emphasise the graffiti on the base of the original, which I adapted into in a large painting from 2006 called 'The Birth of Death (Under Black Light)', but also to try to dodge copyright, which to then,after finishing the drawing, realised that the then 583 year old painting would probably be out of copyright.
You can view the painting 'The Birth of Death...' here:
http://moiv.mattcouper.com/ascendant1.html 
a copy of Sassetta's 'St Anthony the Hermit being tormented by Devils', the original painting being in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena, Italy. I made this copy to emphasise the graffiti on the base of the original, which I adapted into in a large painting from 2006 called 'The Birth of Death (Under Black Light)', but also to try to dodge copyright, which to then,after finishing the drawing, realised that the then 583 year old painting would probably be out of copyright.
You can view the painting 'The Birth of Death...' here:
http://moiv.mattcouper.com/ascendant1.ht
DOMINGO, EL CINCO DE DICIEMBRE, VIENTE-DIEZ
I'm just getting ready to start a new painting. At this point, it feels like I've never painted before and I have no idea what I'm doing. I love that feeling. I have no fear of the starting of a painting though, the most painful aspect is the '3/4th finished' dilemma for me, because I expect the painting to be mostly finished, but then the anxiety sets in because I'm getting closer to completion, and often I struggle to assess whether it's finished or not. That's when I tend to find the original primer colour, remix it and scrape it over the painting with a spatula. It sort of bundles the whole painting up, then i can see a bit more clearly to what needs to be done and clarified to complete the work.
At present, I have Sassetta flying around in my head, so I'll be tapping back into his influence that I strongly felt while painting some of the big works in 2006/7
I'm just getting ready to start a new painting. At this point, it feels like I've never painted before and I have no idea what I'm doing. I love that feeling. I have no fear of the starting of a painting though, the most painful aspect is the '3/4th finished' dilemma for me, because I expect the painting to be mostly finished, but then the anxiety sets in because I'm getting closer to completion, and often I struggle to assess whether it's finished or not. That's when I tend to find the original primer colour, remix it and scrape it over the painting with a spatula. It sort of bundles the whole painting up, then i can see a bit more clearly to what needs to be done and clarified to complete the work.
At present, I have Sassetta flying around in my head, so I'll be tapping back into his influence that I strongly felt while painting some of the big works in 2006/7
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