Milwaukee Within Me
Exhibition Text
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Planning Sketches
For this project, I wanted to explore the realm of abstract expressionism. I experimented with the use of watercolor to deliver feelings and emotions. First sketch is more disperse with more empty space, however there is still a show of contrast between the trees and the city. Second sketch is more dense and overwhelming with the amount of warm color and the contrast between nature and man-made materials. The third sketch is also chaotic with different primary colors. For the final painting, I decided to use acrylic as the medium and go for a more abstract feel to let the viewers wander and discover for themselves. I wanted to incorporate the use of vibrant color inspired by Joan Mitchell to deliver my feelings and emotions about Milwaukee. My goal for the final product is for the painting to be more abstract and let the viewer wander through the painting instead of telling the whole story up front.
Inspiration
For my Milwaukee Landscape painting, the inspiration came from Joan Mitchell. She graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1947 and received James Nelson Raymond Foreign Traveling Fellowship in 1948-49. As she spent her fellowship in France, her paintings moved toward abstraction, and she later referred to herself as the “Last Abstract Expressionist”. Her works are inspired by two American Abstract Expressionist, Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline. Mitchell’s works are abstract, vivid, and wildly improvised inspired by landscape and nature. She once said, “My paintings are titled after they are finished. I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me—and remembered feelings of them, which of course become transformed,”. This is an important value of an abstract impressionist because it is a movement that focus on expressing feelings, emotions, and thoughts through the capture of color and light is important. One inspirational painting of Mitchell is the City Landscape because it has a vibrant color representing the heart of the city with tension between the horizontal and vertical brushstrokes. Another inspiration came from Mitchell’s Untitled work in 1951. It is a post-Cubist with a spirit of American Abstract Expressionism because of the distorted shapes within the painting combining with the explosive use of color. Both canvases are light-filled of bright color to create an energetic and excitement feeling of a large metropolis, which I plan to incorporate into in painting. I want to use vibrant primary color to express my love and hate relationship toward Milwaukee. The planning that I've made will only guide me through with the use of the medium because I did not have a specific vision for what the final product would be like. Improvisation will be a very important tool in my process because It would requires a lot of reflection on my emotions about Milwaukee during the painting process.
Experimentation |
Process |
First, I went to visit the Milwaukee Lakefront to get a feel for the energy of the people and the city. I took some photos from the harbor looking into the city. From the photo, I noticed the clash between the green trees and the tall buildings. Using these photos, I created several watercolor painting that would reflect the landscape of the city. However, I noticed that the amount of color and brushstrokes that I used was overwhelming. Therefore, I practiced with the use of color and brushstrokes that will truly represent the tone and mood of Milwaukee. I switched from watercolor medium to acrylic on canvas as an experiment to test the different effect of color between watercolor and acrylic. Blending wise, the water color dries more quickly so the colors tend to not blend very well. In comparison, acrylic colors take a little longer to dry, therefore they can be blended and easy to pull across the canvas. However, I had to be careful when pulling the paint across the canvas because excessive amount of blending will cause the paints to turn brown.
CritiqueThe first studio piece Milwaukee Within Me, shares some similarities with my inspiration from City Landscape by Joan Mitchell. Similar to my inspiration, the idea of expressing emotions and feelings through colors is important. Both of our pieces evoke tension between the vibrant colors to show the spirit of our own city. In the paintings, there are angular brushstrokes which inspired by Cubism. Some brushstrokes are random and indecisive. During my process, I stepped back to listen to my painting for the next which was inspired by Joan Mitchell’s technique. However, there are also differences between my piece and City Landscape by Joan Mitchell. The City Landscape is 80 x 80 in, which is much larger in comparison to my canvas of 18 x 24 in. In City Landscape, there are more variety of brushstrokes comparing to my primarily use of vertical and horizontal brushstrokes. The color in my painting is more isolated in comparison to City Landscape, which has a mixture of bright and warm color to create tension and chaos. Overall, in my opinion I was able to deliver my feelings about Milwaukee in the painting, which might changes tomorrow.
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First, I collected all of my paint and set them up for the painting process. I used a combination from cheap craft acrylic to utrecht acrylic paints. For painting tool, I used a plastic palette knife. Next, I reuse my 18 in by 24 in canvas and put it on a sheet cover to prevent paint from staining the floor. As the foundation layer, I scattered primarily white paint and little bit of brown onto the canvas and used the palette knife to pull the paint vertically and horizontally. For this abstract painting, I approached it by layering lighter colors first then darker tones. I squeezed some yellow paint onto the canvas toward the left and drag it down. Next, I added green on the right side of the canvas and pull it vertically and horizontally. I also added a small bit of black paint on top of the green to create value and variation within the area. I then worked on the left side by adding warmer colors such as red, orange, pink and cooler colors such as violet and blue. I often stepped back after adding a layer of color to see how it speaks to me then continued to work on it based on how I feel about it. The color choice changes as my feelings change or new ideas come up about Milwaukee. In my painting, there is a primary color that is in isolation from the cluster of color. Some my brushstrokes are indecisive and random. I think that the painting will never be finished because my feelings will always change throughout the course of time.
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Reflection
The process of this painting was exceptionally brief comparing to my painting experience in other artistic movement, however it was conceptually challenging. Before painting, I came up with a plan as to which direction my painting will take because I knew that the process had to be fast to prevent from drying before finishing. However in the painting process, the plan could only take me so far because my feelings and emotions change constantly as I step back to view the painting as a whole. I took Joan Mitchell’s words to heart which were to step back and listen to the painting for the next steps. I stepped back after each layer and remember details about Milwaukee that deserve to be expressed on the canvas. After 35 minutes of painting, I completed my expression of Milwaukee on the canvas. However, I think that the painting will never be truly finished because as I’ve said earlier my feelings changes constantly. Therefore, my feelings toward my expression of Milwaukee now will change in the future, thus giving the painting a sense of ephemeral.
Meaning
For my first studio piece, I’ve created an abstract impressionism Milwaukee Within Me as an appreciation for the city that has adopted me and my family. My family immigrated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin roughly six years ago. We struggled for the first few months with couple of hundred dollars. However, with the assistant from my relatives and the government, my family was able to pull through the difficult transition to American culture. Therefore, I always remain thankful to America and especially Milwaukee, where I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with. I feel bittersweet about Milwaukee because of the diversity that America represent but I am also aware of the unspoken segregation and racial tension within the city. However, I stay open-minded to the beauty that the city has to offer such as the art and the Lakefront. Therefore, this painting is a depiction of my emotions toward Milwaukee. The use of vivid primary colors evoke a sense of vigor, energy, and chaos. In contrast to the heart of Milwaukee is the green nature. On an occasion to visit my auntie in St. Luke hospital, I've noticed the green that surrounded the city from the 7th floor, however the view is completely different when I drive around the Milwaukee neighborhood because there are more cars and residents underneath those green trees. I'd like to imagine myself rediscovering the city with features that usually would go unnoticed. Similarly in this painting, I am exploring the emotions within me that often go unnoticed during my years living in Milwaukee.
Connection to ACT
- The inspiration has a significant impact on my artwork as shown through the abstract impressionism style. My work focuses primarily on the emotions of the artist through the painting.
- Joan Mitchell focuses on feelings when painting City Landscape as she once said that she would wait until the painting tells her what to do next. The use of color and shape in her abstract cityscape are keys to a better understanding of the piece.
- In my inspiration research, I’ve made a generalization that in abstract impressionism you have to listen to what the painting is telling you and follow your feelings, which could be very difficult or second nature. In abstract impressionism, the capture of emotions and feelings through light, and shape is essential.
- The central idea around my inspiration research is abstract impressionism on cityscape. I wanted to create a piece that the viewers could emotionally connect to.
- During my research, I’ve made an inference that the Mitchell uses a palette knife for her paintings and the process is brief because the feeling and emotion is a flowing stream that need to be captured in one sitting, for it could be hard to pick back up after an interruption.
Work Cited
- Foundation, Joan Mitchell. “Joan Mitchell Foundation.” Joan Mitchell Foundation » Work, joanmitchellfoundation.org/work. Accessed 27 Aug. 2017.
- The Art Story Contributors. “Joan Mitchell Artist Overview and Analysis.” The Art Story, 2017, www.theartstory.org/artist-mitchell-joan.htm. Accessed 28 Aug. 2017.
- “Joan Mitchell.” Joan Mitchell | artnet, www.artnet.com/artists/joan-mitchell/. Accessed 31 Aug. 2017.