https://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/2237/Spitzer/James
http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/968/jost-amman-swiss-1539-1591/
http://www.robschoutengallery.com/linnane-armstrong/
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The concept of my block print was based off of a small local artist. Jim Spitzer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1936 and later on continued his education at Madison University. This painting called "Adam and Eve by the Apple Tree Trying to Find a Snake" always caught my attention. A close friend of ours bought it in a gallery for 25$. This print dates back to the 1960's. I loved the geometric shapes in the print, making it seem more abstract. I wanted to do something in the same sort, a lot of geometric shapes. I also wanted the softness of the shapes in my work, unlike most block prints that are very angular. Therefore, the concept inspired me and so did the shapes and lines did.
The second print is based off of Jost Amman, a Swiss-German artist well known for his illustrations in the 16th century. Personally, I find the illustration very interesting. The line work is the best part about it. What I used from this piece to inspire my work was Eve. I wanted her to resemble old illustrations, especially the characteristics like the woman being chubbier. Even though the proportions are off, I find the way they depicted women is elegant and realistic. I wanted that aspect to be in my art along with the lines and detail. Lastly, for the tree in my block print, I wanted a tree that was very angular to contrast the softness of Eve. I chose the work of Linnane Armstrong for inspiration. She makes prints of nature using great use of harsh and soft lines. I also love the contrast of the darkness of the tree against the background. That is another element I wanted in my art. Therefore I used this contrast of line in my work. |
This was my first preliminary sketch. I used the tree of life, with eve hanging from the tree. I used this gruesome display because back in the 16th century and earlier, women were hung for being "out of hand". Behind the tree there is a skull to show the death lurking. I wanted it to be an eerie piece, however I wasn't really fond of the negative message it had to portray.
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In this sketch I tried using new and old concepts. Therefore there would be the woman hanging to demonstrate old, gruesome aspects of feminism. Then the contrast would be the present, where woman in developed countries have rights. Again, I discarded this idea due to the focus of negative aspects in my work. I wanted something positive.
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This is my third and final sketch. I removed any negative aspects of the drawing and decided to go with something much more positive. The tree was something that I always wanted incorporated in my work. This was because I wanted to provide the print with variety, such as harsh lines compared to soft. In addition, I never added a face because I didn't want it to be Eve herself, but a generic version of a woman due to feminism and women's rights a team work rather than one person.
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Here is the tree I made for Eve to go under. I carved harsh geometric shapes into a big piece so I could have a decent sized print. After I carved out the shape of the tree, I went back in to add lines for detail and extra texture.
This is one of the carving tools I used to carve out the plastic. It was a very tedious job, but overall I'm content with the outcome of the detail, as I tried to incorporate as much as I could. This process was used for both the tree and Eve. Here is the process where I took the ink with a roller and saturated the slab to create the print. I went over it 6 to 7 times just to make extra sure that what I was doing was going to turn out with a solid print. These are my two slabs covered in ink. After this I put a piece of print paper and applied pressure with the barrings to create the print. I tried this multiple times, around 7 to 8 times. I wanted the perfect print. |
My work compared to the work off Jost Ammam is drastically different. The lines in his work are very thin and clearly made from an ink pen, however my piece has thick, present lines. Of course, certain elements aren't in my work such as Adam and the tree of death.
The tree in my piece is much different than the work of Linnane. My tree has a lot more negative space than positive, however in Linnane's is positive. Her lines are more soft in comparison to mine. In addition, she has a lot more little details that got lost in my block print. I believe, in the end my block print and the print of Jim Spitzer is very different. He has more organic shapes and the scratching is very prevalent in this piece, whereas mine is more clear and crisp. It also has a lot of abstract elements and that is not something I incorporated. In the end, the only thing similar is the concept of the piece with Adam and Eve. |