Research

Secondary Research

I began researching decay and the various different aspects of it for example the cycle of decay, radioactive decay, urban decay and rural decay. When researching this I found an article about and upcoming art exhibition that uses organic materials to explore life and death called 'Growth and Decay', it consists of the work of three artists; Sarah Meyers Brent, Jodi Colella and Sirarpi Heghinian Walzer. The link to this articlecan be found below:

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/2/28/works-growth-colella-decay/

I really enjoyed reading through this article, I then continued with this and began researching the three artists individually which helped me to develop some ideas. My favourite work was from Sarah Meyers Brent who uses layers of different textiles such as paint, flowers, dirt and decaying plant materials to give the effect of decay.

Sarah Meyers Brent

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figures1 and 2 show two very different pieces of work by Meyers Brent, what I like about her work is how many different materials and medias she uses as she creates paint work as well as sculptures. The two images above are my favourite pieces as I like how she has included dead flowers and paint as I think this adds texture- I feel that this has also inspired me to think of final idea possibilities.

Jodi Colella

Figure 3

Figure 3 shows a piece of work by Jodi Colella, what I like about her work is also that she uses different and interesting materials to create structures that resemble natural forms, they are often made out of materials that have been thrown out or woven from one material to make another. I think that this process makes her work look aged and decaying.

Sirarpi Heghinian Walzer

Figure 4

Figure 5

Sirarpi Heghinian Walzer's work is very abstract and she also uses different materials and in some of her work includes mixed media. For example she uses oils and acrylics, inks and pastels, she also draws, scrapes and paints on canvas and wood and other materials that have various layers. I like the aspect of layering that Walzer uses within her work which is something I am aiming to include in my own work, I also like how the decay you see in her work is not obvious as you see it more through the materials and colours she uses as well as her techniques. Figure 5 is a piece of work from a series called 'Pentimento', the paintings in this series evolve, decay and morph.