Starting Something

Through watching the one show on Monday, I was given the name of a Scottish artist who I knew about, but just completely forgotten the name of. Through that show, I found out the artist was called Paul Cadden, and he is by far one of my favourite drawing artists.

Caddens work is within a genre called "Hyperrealism". Hyperrealism is a genre of painting, drawing and sculpture resembling a high-resolution photograph. Hyperrealism is considered an advancement of Photorealism by the methods used to create the resulting paintings, drawings or sculptures. This is something which I am a long way from achieving, but it is artists who work in this way that inspire me to improve not only the overall look of my artworks, but also to improve the methods which I use within the creation of the work. Artists that work in this way, as well as Cadden, include Chuck Close, Robert Bechtle and Ralph Goings.

Below you can see an example of some of Cadden's work.

As you can see from the above, the images resemble a photograph in their realism and their intensity, but the images are created using pencils, in fact exactly the same pencils which I use. Cadden also uses the same technique to replicate the photograph that I do, by using a grid system, which then makes it easier to accurately replicate an image, especially when working one a larger scale than that of the image you are working for.

The most interesting thing that I heard from listening to Paul Cadden speak, was when asked "Aren’t you just copying from a photograph?" his response was "Aren't photographers copying from life" and I believe this is a very interesting point to make for anyone who works from a photograph to create work. To find out more about Paul Cadden's work, click here.

Through seeing Paul Cadden’s work again, this has inspired me to create some work for myself, but not only to create a drawing, but to look at how that drawing is created, and looking into every aspect of my drawing with a lot more detail, time care and attention in order to create a more realistic image. So, I have decided to look back at the idea of celebrity and idolisation to look at someone who I have been listening to ALOT over the past year, Ed Sheeran. Ed is a singer/songwriter who has been my music of choice for a long while now...and as of yet, I have not created a study of him.

Today I started this drawing, and just under 4 hours in, I have created a basic outline, to which I am going to begin working into. I expect this study to be complete in 2-3 weeks, but I am hoping to update this page a lot more often, so keep checking back for updates on my progress.

Below is the image I will be working from:

Changing Spaces

I have recently been working towards making a series of work to put forward for the 'Changing Spaces' scheme which currently runs in Cambridge. The scheme invites local artists to present work in disused shops within the city centre of Cambridge, both bringing a new use to the shop whilst un-occupied, whilst also providing exposure for local artists.

With this opportunity available, I have began to work towards an- as of yet- untitled response to enter into the scheme, which will continue my work into the study of celebrity culture. The work looks to both assess the current situation as I see it, but also work with the title of scheme- changing spaces. Through this I am beginning to make my own newspaper front covers which feature a celebrity...generally celebrities which are commonly found in the newspapers for other reasons that the reason they are famous. Through this the drawing again becomes an important feature, but then there is also reference towards celebrity culture, text, branding, current affairs...

Below is a teaser to some of the work to be exhibited.

Inspiration and Desire

Since graduating from University (well at least completing the course) there have been many practical obstcles that have prevented me from remaining in the constants of planning, researching and indeed creating my own artistic responses. Through learning new mediums of creativity such as Photoshop, creating a website for the first time, and of course being part of the age old wage slavery, time has been non existant for the simple idea of being creative.

Hopefully though, from now, I can begin to devote more time to my practice, and try and find the inspiration and knowledge to explore new avenues of expression in terms of subject matter: if not in medium. For the past 2 years, I have been researching the events of the Holocaust, and trying to gather as much information as I can on this subject. Reading texts by Filip Muller (see not 1) about working in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, and Primo Levi's (see note 2) account of his time at the same camp, you begin to understand some of the daily challenges faced by prisoners. Through films and documentaries, you begin to understand some other little facts visually (although not taking films as a gospel realistic image of life in a camp). After all of this, I am trying to synthesise this material into something, anything that puts my own impression of this event...with such a difficult subject matter though, how does one go about this?

'Portrait of Stefan Antoniak' after Francisek Jazwieki (2011)

I have a few ideas of things to do so far, and I plan to continue exploring the idea and how best to represent this. It will more than like involve drawing, and could also look at issues of erasure, memory/knowledge and propaganda. To me, I think it is important to understand these events, even if history of this event may not seem relevant to many, history informs the future, both in art and everything else.

[1] Filip Muller- Eyewitness Auschwitz- Three Years in the Gas Chambers (1979)
[2] Primo Levi- If This Is A Man/The Truce (1979)

The Heart Juggler...

So, I have been approached by Dave McPherson to use one of my drawings (The Heart Juggler) for a tee shirt design. Naturally, I agreed.

I have spent about 4 days now taking photographs and furiously editting, as if you photograph a drawing with strong graphite work with the flash on, it ruins the image. Lighting is a bitch for this sort of thing, but finally I think it is done.

New Facebook Page...

I have created a new facebook page for my art.

Check it here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew-Rowland/205546859486751 and then like and repost please. See if we cant spread the word a little...

Anne Frank Drawing

"Anne Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films. During WWII, as persecutions of the Jewish population by the Nazis increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in the hidden rooms of Anne's father, Otto Frank's, office building. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were eventually transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they both died of typhus in March 1945."

This drawing is a representation of the infamous child and her story...

The Heart Juggler

This is a piece that I have been doing on the basis of a commision for a tattoo. The idea is based around the Dave McPherson song "The Heart Juggler"...

I will upload a better picture when I get one...