CONCEPTS OF MY PROJECT

In the process of art history, we have been through the time when painters depicted the delicate pictures regarding the myth and the legend. We also have painters who captured the actual scenes they would like to record before the invention of the camera like wars and portraits. What we have now in contemporary art history are artists who would explore and express their thoughts and feelings through the brushes and paints. We communicate with art. We stand in front of the piece, observe and analyze every color and brushstroke on a painting in order to build connections with the painter and get to know what he/she is trying to express in the work.

Every era has their characteristics which have made impacts to art. The biggest impact of these days is the COVID-19 pandemic for no doubt. Since we are all isolated at home, there is no other way for us to build connections with art and the others but using the internet. The network is just so universal now that we can look up thousands of photos of the artwork just by typing a few words. There are a few galleries that I initially planned to visit and now they have all turned into online format. As I visited these online galleries and looked at the painting that showed on my small screen, knowing the fact that the actual colour of this work should be more terrific than what I was looking at, there were questions in my head that I wanted to find out — would galleries be replaced by online galleries in the Information Age? Could we still connect with the art without looking at the real work? 

In this project, I plan to combine painting with documentary media art — recording me putting paints on an apple as well as on the fabric and to photograph it. At that point, the photograph should look like a painting. After that, I will take a photo of this “pseudo apple painting” and see how the audience would react to the work. Would the audience  still be able to connect with the art in a virtual format with the confusion of the medium? Would they be tricked? Or would they rather look at the real work?

It is an exploration of the essence of paintings by processing it and receiving reactions from the audiences.

“Can we still connect with the art without looking at the real work?”

 

OUTCOME

• A video for documentary process of the creation
• At least one / a series of digital image of the outcome of the work

 

EQUIPMENTS THAT I MAY NEED

• • Sony NEX-5T
  • Oil paints
  • An apple
  • A fabric
  • A desk light for the lighting
  • Location: home

 

BRAINSTORMING

• I build layers to my painting to create a thick texture
• I examined with colors in order to get closer to colors that we see through our visions
• Li Songsong’s thickly layered painting
• Making art is a process of exploring oneself
• As a painter, what is the essence of my painting?
  • Various types of essence in art
    • Focus on human suffering and war
    • An exploration of human nature starts with oneself
    • Place oneself in the context of the world (nature and others) and examine the relationship between himself and the world in the context of the universe
    • Express a value proposition, an idea, a thought
    • Explore truths, explore a more real existence beyond vision
  • Painting itself is a carrier

“载体不是目的，精神内核才是本质。”

“它很朴素，因为它至始至终所描绘的都是人类自己的精神世界”

“The carrier is not the purpose of art. The core of spirituality is the essence of art.”

“Art is simple, for from beginning to end, what it has been captured is the human spiritual world.”

Li Songsong, Beihai (II), 2016, oil on canvas, 240 cm × 480 cm × 12 cm (94-1/2″ × 15′ 9″ × 4-3/4″) © Li Songsong

 

WORKING PROCRESS

 

 

Some screen shots of my footage video:

 

Research for Major Project