Painting as Illumination (rough notes)
going to talk about recent work - idea of painting as illumination
sense of medieval manuscript - illuminated books handwritten and handscribed , accompanied by elaborate illustrations which were partly making artworks people to enjoy , devotion to practice, often made by monks, religious people who put in time as devotion to work. looking at historical / recent examples / then looking at own work and how these has been impacted by lockdown etc.
the way painting might be made different format from gallery wall, made to be enjoyed smaller scale, publication, hand make book, more portable format - looking at a series of those.
Book of hours: perhaps we think of readily when we think about illumination - illuminated manuscript - it’s a book of ours from V&A collection late 15th century. accompaniment to prayer. Series of texts from bible someone would have read at during the day, aid to personal devotion. very much art objects in their own right. each of them unique made by monks, part of their sacred labour, very very time consuming, supposed to be laborious, took long time, slightly prior to printing, or at least massive access to printing. most books usually hand written very costly to buy, people who own them would have been rich. Fulfilled functions - as unique artwork, seen as investment precious a way to spend some of their wealth. felt valuable to them. But- perhaps more for private appreciation- often kept at home on stand, put away take out at certain times - not something to browse through, very much had a function. interested in painting has direct function in that way. these paintings were made to be viewed in books. how they were intended to be viewed. person using the book would view the paintings accompaniment to these ideas. as main focus of book even more than text at times. that’s where wanted to start this journey book to painting.
-Patent of nobility for Sebastian de Besga
100 years later from previous example. Patent of nobility for a spanish aristocrat essentially a coat of arms, family tree. that proves displays ancestry and acclaimed title that this person has. again from illuminated manuscript, from a book of heraldry, demonstration of this persons rank and placement in society in elaborate way. also beautiful painting in its own right. great example of detailed guided approach to heraldry. we could take today as painting itself. might enjoy graduated blue of background or detail around edge. symbols linked in tree in very literal visual metaphor. painting but functional at time it was made. in which a painting is to be found in a book with different function to what we looked at before. a way painting made in this portable setting.
-George dionysus ehret, ‘papaya’, hand coloured engraving 1750 London
botanical plate illustrating a papaya plant. George painter, engraving made after his painting. he was a botanist and entomologist and he, though German, worked a lot in Netherlands for governors of the Dutch east India company, producing a lot of illustrations, later moved to London, worked from specimens in the Chelsea physics garden, lots of rare and exotic plants were brought and cultivated. time of overseas voyagers treads discovery colonialist, emphasis on collecting specimens and bringing them back to UK. he was illustrating like this papaya plant. show what they are like, people who haven’t seen them. sense of chronicling or charting something for them. the book this would have been in, might have been seen as compendium of plants, encyclopaedia you can look through and find out about lots of different plants. reference book, plates themselves are beautiful illustrations in their own right, would have been valued, function different to previous examples. Made to document. taxonomy of plants. plant shown in different categories details and sections cut away. it’s not as if we were viewing it in nature, it’s very much on the examining table as it were. again different function of painting, made in portable reproducible format
-William Blake Holy Thursday
this is a page from Blake’s songs of innocence, which has a companion volume called songs of experience, and in this set of poems he explores various mystical themes as characterised in his works. this poem called Holy Thursday is quite a positive view of children, orphans being taken by St. Paul’s cathedral on a holy festival day all done up in best clothes, harmonious group, there’s a companion poem in second volume, songs of experience, which is very different, and the plight to poor children of London at that time so sense of ideal and pragmatic down to earth realisation in the two. included this bc great example of a painter making a painting not only accompanied text but involves the text itself. many of you will have seen his work / gone to exhibition recently. so you’ll know much of what he did is produced in small scale he produced a lot of own books - wrote a lot and produced own books, hand painted text decorated embellished bit like medieval illuminations. certainly very deliberate nod to all of that with Blake because he was trying to revive what he felt was best in art before the industrialisation. perhaps a bit like prerapahalites Blake was looking back to a time that he saw as much more ideal before industrial revolution. In his eyes compromised the ideals of humanity’s relation to nature. sense of that in the way he illustrated this text in very organic way, even the way the text is set out. another great example of painting made for a book to be part of a book to be viewed that way.
-Andy Warhol shoe illustrations
Double page. published himself. made series of these in the 1950s 51-56. when he’d been working early career as illustrator, a lot of fashion illustrations, particularly known for illustrations of shoes, almost cartoonish simplified style. in hindsight can see painterly quality of his later work at play here. again this is an interesting example of work of a painter, even if he didn’t see himself as a painter at that time but seen himself as artist certainly. is publication in own right, wants them to be viewed as paintings themselves but also part of larger folio of illustrations that someone might buy just to look at the drawings. perhaps tapping into long running tradition of subscription where a group of supporters would pay a regular fee and the writer of the artist would release a new instalment periodically and use the funds, subscriptions to support the work. I don’t know whether Warhol sold them on the basis but certainly echo of this way in the practice, they’re beautiful works in their own right, playful, sense of products of display being laid out here, in the way many sense very contemporary. our idea that the product is available to view online, clothing footwear many ways preempted here in Warhol’s layout of these things in taxonomic way. echo of the papaya drawings. sense of him taking traditions to second half of twenty first century into moment of pop and mass culture exploding certainly in America in that time
-skate Muties zine 1989 uk
ninth and final copy of 1980s skateboarding zine from the fifth dimension and this was very DIY free colour zine produced by a group of skaters in Bristol, I remember growing up as kind of underground culture away from bigger budget commercial types of publication. this decker great example of DIY zine, anti fanzine, angle of it was to send up and undermine and poke fun at anything considered cool at skate culture at time, sneering in funny way. Archetype of cut up collage, with text juxtaposed lots of images some of them random, and original illustrations. very much work in their own right. even then when you acquire one of these special unusual, not big numbers produced at all. all kinds of zones follow this format he could have chosen. must be strange how he chose this but somehow fit into this way as well even though they’re reproduced, not manufactured, still something very DIY very analogue something creation that’s made to be in this smallA5 format, tiny text that makes you study, and jokes illustrations of the which don’t relate to text or each other. many many tiny works put together to make this whole which is overwhelming. to me this echoes again some of these medieval illuminations which reward repeated looking, searching out. Can’t see work same way blown up on wall. still look pretty good not same intimacy of person interacting and pouring over them. Being young and having something like this, something you can keep distance from adult or authoritative official environment that shape the rest of your life. format and size integral to have this function. perhaps juxtaposition from previous examples.
-Tom cardwell home studio
my own work in recent times and how he relates to idea of illumination. here you can see a shot of my current home studio, pretty small, this is my lockdown studio, as I can’t access a larger studio at the moment. in a way that has changed the way he works, he’d usually work on larger and smaller paintings and not been doing that work at all, but now doing watercolour paintings, got his desk easel set up hobbyist feel to it, quite like that, also can see shelf full of references, CDs, things to keep you going, long hrs of widdling away at a painting. this is kind of a cave he goes into, these works take a long time so he chips away over time. also over lockdown he’s spending a lot of time been looking after his kids, been at home throughout of course. my daytime has been working with you guys over teams etc WCA stuff, homeschooling my kids. time for my painting in evening. felt fitting in small office and make these paintings in this space. almost cell-like not prison but monk cell. so sense of being in small space isolated, burning the midnight oil, think about this theme when thinking about idea of illumination.
-Tom cardwell ‘pete’s jacket’
this is couple of years ago. one of the most important works in series. guy of this jacket, important research subject for PHD, think is great jacket and example of this genre. as panting, a lot of investment in this, good one to signpost this subject. his PHD about these jackets - made by heavy metal fans, called battle jackets, used these paintings as central axis as exploring in different ways. since 2012 this series, eight years now. are a kind of chronicling would relate to papaya, botanical illustration, recording something for others to see what it is like, idea of repeating something in detail as a labour of love. Investigating the subject, find things of value there worth putting effort for. any painter who puts a lot of effort energy time in their work is in some way investing in their subject. these illustrations are a series I see as going on even though other work alongside and breaks. Even years but always something coming back to. current time ideal do at home in this lockdown period.
-Tom cardwell moonsorrow
More recent example- have made since lockdown. result of exchange with a guy on Instagram he’s actually a maker of patches he produces patches for bands craft level. very small quantities, designs him self and gets them made at high quality, weaving technique give nice quality extremely limited runs around fifty real sense of being like artist limited addition print, we struck up an exchange as you do through the internet, ended up doing an interview - decided to make a painting of his jacket partly bc it’s a great example intensely customised- he’s produced but also other similar small operations patch makers. not big commercial. also goes further - cuts up and embellishes patches makes them fit spaces he got. based in Germany, actually by day medical student just start of lockdown, suddenly been moved up in studies because final year medical student hadn’t expected be live on ward - need doctors - filling some gaps left by others. spare time, situation real bearing his life. talked about ironies.one of the productive encounters from this time. increasingly see these as collaborative works - not in the making - painting - but exchanges behind them.
-most recent in series, since lockdown. interested in this example the artwork has not medieval reference but image is based on rasputin the album the artwork is from, rasputins ghost going through astro projection particular historical moment. appropriate for this idea of illumination being anachronistic linking back to past different roots and directions. should also say. another strand, these paintings are going to be in a book. which hopefully done by deadline meant to published next year. as well as series of chapters from PHD research and done since. academic context provide. critical art theory but also ethnography . images of paintings central part of book and contextual chapters. enlarged version of MCP zine format in a way. little behind schedule due to lockdown. couple of chapters to write. idea of paintings - not necessarily been made for book, just part of PHD visualise as text and images work together case for him. extend that and think as book. although shown these paintings in UK and US. they certainly, do like showing them, have way they look as framed. but also lend themselves as small format as book. paintings are small, don’t change that much in book format.
Tom cardwell article
-he published article around time he finished PHD, used texts he’s been working on, talking about them and what they mean to owner. accompany, painting, and photo during project. some other illustrations, unusual for academic journals to publish this many illustrations cause it cost more, publishers - metal music studies more empathic with more images. there are some more creative minded publishers out there. hoping paintings would be full page in his own book. Just him can control. phrase coming back to in his head a lot at this time - making a virtue of necessity - we are in a situation we can’t necessarily change right now so let’s make the best of it, not easy, hopefully ways we can do that. keep making stuff, keep positive, look forward to see you guys well. Goodbye.
-he published article around time he finished PHD, used texts he’s been working on, talking about them and what they mean to owner. accompany, painting, and photo during project. some other illustrations, unusual for academic journals to publish this many illustrations cause it cost more, publishers - metal music studies more empathic with more images. there are some more creative minded publishers out there. hoping paintings would be full page in his own book. Just him can control. phrase coming back to in his head a lot at this time - making a virtue of necessity - we are in a situation we can’t necessarily change right now so let’s make the best of it, not easy, hopefully ways we can do that. keep making stuff, keep positive, look forward to see you guys well. Goodbye.