Four Seasons, 2012
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| Spring |
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| Summer |
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| Autumn |
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| Winter |
As promised, I have uploaded the pictures of the short-lived art piece that I did recently inspired by the phenomenal Andy Goldsworthy.
Well, before I start blabbing on about my artwork, I shall talk about the marvellous works and the unique art personality/style of the artist himself.
First and foremost, one may ask, who is this artist and what makes him so remarkable? The British artist who was born in 1956 was a naturalist. He was concerned with, not money, not development, not war, but nature.
Yes, nature. He responses to nature, places and seasons. Making use of natural (mostly biodegradable/environmentally-friendly) materials like leaves, sticks and stones. I would say that he works with almost anything he can find in the wild! How practical eh?
Also, majority of Andy Goldsworthy’s works are made plein air (outdoors) and is left out in the open to slowly disintegrate, fall or melt. Certainly, he takes photos of his works and records them,collecting them as a portfolio/book before leaving it.
The artist is the perfect example of manipulation of composition. He creates works by experimenting with the orientations of his materials, arranging them and piecing them together like a jigsaw puzzle. Interesting and entirely avant garde! Analysing most of his works, I also realised that he had a flare and passion for swirls and curvilinear lines (inspired by the late Post-Impressionist Vincent Van Gogh perhaps?). His works Ice Spiral: Treesoul and Pebbles Broken & Scraped (which can be viewed in this link: http://www.morning-earth.org/artistnaturalists/an_goldsworthy.html) are demonstrations of this observation I made. A justification for this idea can be like how nature is like a spiral, like a cycle. Things are born, and nurtured. They grow and eventually they die. This whole cycle repeats. It could be that Andy Goldsworthy wanted to push for this message through his work? Maybe.
Rounding up, we are now certain that Andy Goldsworthy created artwork related to nature and offered new intepretations to nature. He responsed tonature.
Four Seasons is the title of the work I have created with respects to Andy Goldsworthy’s visions and artistic styles. It is a work of 4 series, whereby I am picturing 4 scenes of 4 seasons in a year, namely - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Why seasons? Seasons are evidently a huge part of nature. It is a natural occurrence. Just as Andy Goldsworthy was so fascinated by this cycle, I am too, and I have thus created a mini series of work to show my perspective and take on seasonal changes and how my materials can be manipulated in terms of composition and style to show my views on nature.
In these 4 scenes, I am using the charcoal piece (wood) to act as a symbol of a tree. It undergoes all 4 seasons, and I am in a way, documenting this process, by taking pictures of it in each of the season.
Spring:
Flowers on Tree (Coal)
Spring is the beginning of a year. It is a fresh start and is almost very cheery and bright. Flowers are also often associated with spring. The hues of pink, red and violet are most representative of spring. The placing of flowers on the coal acts as a symbol of the season of spring and the beginning of a year or a cycle. They add vibrancy, and rejuvenation to the work! The flowers on the coal also brighten up the coal, creating a cheerful and spirited atmosphere, just as spring should be.
Summer:
Leaves on Tree (Coal)
Summer is the second season of the year. It is when things grow and evolve. Singapore experiences summer all year long, and I have observed lush greenery in here. Trees are covered with crowns and crowns of green leaves. Thus, in this segment of Four Seasons, I have chosen to use leaves to depict the summer season and the growth summer encompasses. This green contrasts with the pink on the flowers previously in spring, which indicates a change, or a metamorphosis. A new season, a new style is shown. Or rather, I feel that this shows the second stage of a cycle.
Autumn:
Pencil Shavings on Tree (Coal)
This is the third stage of the cycle – autumn. Thus, there is change again in nature. Anyway, pencil shavings are actually made of wood. I feel that pencil shavings are extremely representative of the fall season mainly due to its colour. It is tinted brown, nearly oak-coloured. In other words, it comes in a very warm shade. Furthermore, its edges are painted red (because of the pencil coating itself), also suggesting a warmer tone, creating a very cozy atmosphere, suggestive of autumn. The angular, geometrical shaped shavings resemble maple leaves too, which are known icons of autumn. Hence, it is evident that these elements push the idea of autumn and evokes a homely and comfortable setting. Seeing this, it jogs my memory of one of my favourite holiday song by 90s’ musician Billy Gilman, “Warm and Fuzzy”!
Winter:
Hole-punched paper on Tree (Coal)
I bring to you the last segment of the series, which is the winter segment, symbolic of another seasonal change in nature. The “snow” you see on the coal are actually hole-punched papers. Their repetitive circular shapes resemble snowfall. The crispness and whiteness of the paper is also reminiscent to snow. One is thereby able to feel tranquility and calmness amidst the paleness of the paper, once again, like how winter feels like. In addition, snowfall is much uncontrolled. The numerous tiny punched pieces of paper is able to be sprinkled randomly (like salt) on the coal and this illusion of liberation and freedom is created. The white hue of the paper seemingly juxtaposes against the cool coal-black colour of the charcoal. A strong sense of contrast is evoked in the viewer. On the whole, serenity and Zen is an apparent mood in this stage – winter.
As I look back at Four Seasons, I feel that I have encompassed Andy Goldsworthy’s theme on nature partially. I have utilised natural materials, and I have depicted seasonal change (a part of nature). Also, I have manifested the idea of playing around with composition to create symbols relative to nature. Certainly, I feel that I could have done more, or perhaps created a larger-scale work.
I hope you have enjoyed this post! Thanks for reading!
Au Naturale.
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