Sustained Investigation Intro

bentbridge
Aug 26, 2021
3 min read

Intro to Sustained Investigation. We will begin to research how you would like to create your Sustained Investigation. You will need to decide on a theme focus that you will develop through 10 artworks and 12 sketches. I made an example of a Sustained Investigation for you.

Ridge MINI SUSTAINED INVESTIGATION PORTFOLIO:

Question 1. What is your concentration?

Clearly and simply state the central idea of your concentration. (500 character maximum)

My concentration explored chance operations of drawn, painted, and collaged surfaces of found materials in a journey to transform these starting points into an imagined semi-abstract landscape of space. This theme is interested in finding the strewn detritus of an industrial, man-made type that have impacted nature or even has begun to replace nature in a world of climate-change and depleted sources of water. Overall, these works explore balance, rhythm and contrast by using materials that emphasize highly textured surfaces to evoke the hard road of a journey through this changing world.

Question 2. What are some specific examples of how your investigation was explored?

Explain how the work in your concentration demonstrates your intent and the sustained investigation of your idea. You may refer to specific images as examples. (1,350 character maximum)

I began the investigation by collecting leaves, stones, grass items from the outside. I used photography to capture the tar repairs of cracks and the erosion of painted lines on pavement, as well as the collected oil spots from car engine leakages in a parking lot. I found sandpaper to begin all the compositions made and committed to using tracings of the collage items to create the formation of compositions. You can see the original texture of the sandpaper in slides #2, #5, and #11. There is a visible evidence of shape tracing development for alternate composition strategy beginning in slide #3, in this work I used the tracing of the leaf edge to create a rhythmic line to create contrast in this work. In slides #4, #5, #6 there is a transformation of a pattern of tar lines into abstract patterning. This progression changes from direct observation of silhouetting into invented formation in subsequent slides emphasizing the imaginary space of each artwork. In this project, I was influenced by the artists John Chamberlain and Thomas Nozkowski. In slides #5, #9, and #10 there is a folding of material and reshaping of materials reminiscent of his folded car sculptures in space. In slides #1, #2, #6, #11, and #12 there are noticeable allusions to an abstract landscape and contrasting textures that evoke an influence of his work in the image-based abstraction movement of painting. In the slide #11 is an image that directly deals with my theme, in which the falling leaves darken and come to rest in a deep canyon made of drywall paper. There is hope left with luminescent color peeking out from the edges of the leaves. In each work there is always signs of a tomorrow, of a quiet truth of a stoic resistance to withstand this new reality.