At the moment I am looking at video artists such as Bill Viola, Clare Langan and Magali Charrier, but I also take inspiration from performance art and abstract expressionism/action painting. Abstract expressionism sought to convey strong emotional and expressive content in the paintings. Chaotic and wild. For me throwing of the paint in my video piece suggests just that; the tension, the arguments, the anger and frustration. The different colors are representing different things; red stands for passion, anger, sexuality, black is power and control and finally green is balance and harmony, growth and rebirth - but could also be seen as jealousy.
I take inspiration from both performance art and abstract expressionism/action painting, the latter because of the use of paint in the video piece. Abstract expressionism sought to convey strong emotional and expressive content in the paintings. There wasn’t any specific rules to follow, it was chaotic and wild. For me throwing of the paint in the video is representing just that; the tension, the arguments, the aggression being thrown back and forth. The different colors stands for different things; red which is passion, anger, sexuality, black is power and control, green balance and harmony, growth and rebirth. Green could also be seen as jealousy, some people might say.
Many of the artists listened to a lot of jazz at the time, which worked well with the artworks as it was improvisational and expressive. They listened to it while painting, which I will do too. I am reshooting the painting scene as I had to do several different cuts due to issues that arose such as wind moving the sheet (when I was outside), not framing it correctly etc. In the video those shots are very jumpy, I’d like to have one long shot and include a second “painter”, so it becomes more of a struggle than only one sided. I will play the track I am using whilst doing it and let it be an improvisation session, let the colors play with each other in a power struggle. The track (Etheric Bodies by A. Chiaramonte) is just that, avant garde/free jazz and I am glad I found it as it is perfect for the video and how it connects to abstract expressionism.
The one artist that feels the most poignant for my own work is Pollock, his dripping, pouring and splashing of paint. There is a control in his creative process but the result is chaotic and aggressive, similar to my own. It is gestural and expressive, it doesn't feel restricted. The creation is where the main focus lays, not with the finished product and the process of the making is an outlet, an expression of the subconscious - just like the painting in my video which is an expression of emotional turbulence:
“All were influenced by Existentialist ideas, which emphasized the importance of the act of creating, not of the finished object. Most had a Surrealist background, inspired by the presence of Breton, Masson and Matta in New York in the 1940s and by retrospectives on Miró (1941) and Kandinsky (1945), and the Abstract Expressionists sought to express their subconscious through their art. “
Blind Spots - Pollock
I looked at Bill Viola and some of his video pieces where he uses the human figure in an abstract manner, for example his two minute video ‘Acceptance’ where a naked woman is portrayed going through some sort of transformation, using water as the metaphor for struggle.
This could be interpreted like it’s a metaphor for life; obscured - birth, life - overwhelming, death - clarity. Or possibly it is a reference to Buddhism and the path to enlightenment (the woman is naked and bold, no more attachment to worldly things). It is a very beautiful piece and I am drawn to the water element in art. What we come from before entering this world. Personally it is a safe space, my childhood was spent in water. I was very comfortable in it, as a toddler I would walk straight out in it and not stop even when my head was covered. My mom had to run after and turn me around so I didn’t dissapear. I also have a vivid memory of being able to breath under the surface. I was in a swimming pool with my family and at one point I fell around in the swimming ring, I was hanging upside down. For many moments I was just hanging there, very peaceful and very safe, looking around at the world around me. I felt no fear and I can’t recall struggling for air. It is quite mystifying but a beautiful experience. My sister came to pull me up in complete panic, she thought I was unconscious. But I wasn’t, I was very happy and relaxed. Bill Viola’s attraction to water sparked my curiosity so looked up what water meant to him and apparently he almost drowned as a six years old.
He said this regarding the incident:
“What he saw at the bottom of the lake was, he said, “the most beautiful world”.
“I sat at the bottom, completely relaxed and I just was waiting—I said to myself, ‘Ok , this must be the next thing.’ And then my uncle realised I wasn’t on the raft and pulled me out.”
The incident, he says, has shaped the kind of art he creates.
“Everything to do with water always is very very connected to me. I have a real affinity towards it. And that’s how my art started, really. And of course when you’re a painter (I was painting in art school), guess what? You’re using water".
I love how it is pitch black with only light source coming from above creating haunting shadows on the face and body. It is made to put her in a very vulnerable position, the light and the water splashing down on her aggressively , and her coming out from the dark into the light. It feels spiritual (Bill Viola is a buddhist). Growth and strength gained by going through something difficult. As a buddhist myself I am drawn to ideas like exploring the human mind, dealing with psychological issues, expansion, growth, introspection etc. His video pieces are slow paced and meditative and focus on the cycle of life with the use of the four elements, and how birth and death are closely connected. ‘Dreamers’ , 2013, is a very beautiful piece depicting seven different people sleeping peacefully in water. It is visually stunning and even though being in water like that could create panic or feelings of claustrophobia that is not what is being portrayed here. Watching these people in the water it feels like they are at peace, like they are in deep meditation.
My piece has a buddhist element to it in the sense that finding peace in relationships (or in any part of life) starts with ourselves. We are projecting and mirroring and the destructive cycle will never stop if we don't take personal responsibility for our thoughts and actions. It is easy to blame the other, or our surroundings, for our unhappiness.
Magali Charrier, a french filmmaker and artist have a couple of videos that has connections to my own, theme vise and the use of the body in a performative way. A piece I really like is ‘Peace Starts With Me’ that was commissioned by PUMA concerning the idea of peace for the World Peace Festival 2011. She combines the use of her own body and drawings, exploring inner personal battles we all struggle with. Similar to my own video, where the struggle is between two people, but it could also be interpreted like it is two sides of the same person. It’s visually stunning, she is skilled at what she does. I like the look of it, the lo-fi grainy feel of the imagery.
Her own statement:
“For films4peace, I was concerned with depicting the intimate battles that occur daily within oneself and the chaotic journey that takes place in order to reach inner peace. A simple setting: one fixed long shot, a human figure in an empty space. Stillness. Suddenly shadows flicker out of the human figure, sporadically first, then frenetically entering and extracting themselves, interfering and frantically disrupting the initial state, building up to darkness. Peace comes as a sudden breath born out of chaos.”
