Research Point: Contemporary art works with feeling

Julie Brixley-Williams
Untitled drawing from a daily series
from http://www.juliebrixley-williams.co.uk

Tracey Emin
Untitled 2008 White cube

Tracey Emin's drawings often have so much feeling associated with them. This one is sad and heavy somehow.

Unfortunately the example suggested on www.saatchiart.com was no longer there. 

I looked at the artists website and found this drawing which looks as though it was made with wire. This artist describes herself as a sculptor.

This image looks as if it might be a person bowed down through struggling - perhaps with tied feet?! 

Michael Lentz 2012
Nude no 3716
from www.saatchiart.com

I suspect that the expression referred to in the course work would be clearer when the drawing is not apparently representational

Nevertheless, the next drawing I found which was clearly expressing feeling was this one. I thought the way the black area was done gave it a bouncy, playful feel, that didn't seem to be due to the subject matter, or her facial expression on their own.

Presence and Absence X
Henri Kalama Akulez
Link to article

This painting is very well named. When I saw it I got the feeling of lots of jagged feelings irritating, but empty, with no content or purpose. It think this comes from the combination of the sharp strokes in the more focussed area, and the mustard yellow/white/blue colours.

Inner-face
Djochkoun Sami
Ink on paper
from www.saatchi.com/drawings/abstract/

This ink drawing has a very physical feel to it, of something pushing outwards, pressure, and hairy spikes. But despite this, there is something unthreatening about it. Perhaps because of the softness in the tones.

The drawing below is more menacing, to me anyway, with the sharper swirling lines and shapes in a much deeper perspective.

drawing
Dorota Jedzusik
from www.saatchi.com/drawings/abstract/

How might a drawing act as an emotional conduit between artist and viewer?

I suppose I think a drawing can be a non-verbal communication of an inner state, like the way you hold yourself, or how you move your hands and face while you talk.

It's natural to talk louder, gesticulate more sharply and deeply and use short hard words when you are passionate about what you are saying. The same has to be true of drawing - harder pressure, shorter sharper, or bigger deeper marks.

The drawings on this page show that different media can be used in different ways to express different feelings.

And of course what is drawn is going to have a major effect eg the position of a body has its own non-verbal message.


Is it the image, the medium or that act that brought the art work into being that makes it 'expressive or 'expressionist'?

I am assuming that the skill is being aware of how this works and using the image, medium and the way it is drawn together to express what you feel. I expect that different artists have different degrees of control over this, but that generally it can't be done by controlling all these things consciously. (I may learn otherwise during this course!) I can already say that some materials are easier for me to be expressive in, perhaps because they are the ones that don't allow the judging part of your brain to have too much control.