I had the chance to go to an awesome PD this week at the Met and one of the talks I went to showed us ways that Islamic art from the 1500’s is being restored and how the restorers are themselves making pieces in the same way that was done hundreds of years ago. They showed us a panel that they’re working on and I loved to see the different levels of finish, as well as the colors. The blue itself was really rich and was actually made of crushed glass.
When I saw the panel, it reminded me a lot of the experimental calligraphy I had done. Again, I was really drawn to the colors and knew right away I wanted to utilize them in my next studio-work. I actually went through a lot of different experimentation from seeing how the different shades of colors worked to using new objects for art-making purposes. At one point I actually attempted to use hot glue to create a raised texture to paint (similar to the Islamic panel) but I felt that it lost that idea experimenting with movement in the actual brush strokes.
The painting itself was really fun to work on and I started to work with firm wire mesh as a mark-making tool that makes really crisp lines. The use of the yellow lines on the blue is more of an abstract approach combined with the more traditional “symbol” in the middle. As for the red, I felt like if I were to use another blue or yellow, it would not pop out as much. Red also has many different meanings from different cultures, including luck and happiness in Asia, but also symbolizes danger and evil in the Middle East.
The middle symbol has no particular intention/meaning (it was about the observation how I controlled the brush and the effect on the paint). It was really interesting in looking at the final piece and seeing all of the different ways that the painting can be viewed. There is no particular way for it to hang, but rather depends on how the observer finds it most pleasing to look at.
Here are the 4 different ways that the painting can be placed.