Art historical context - a brief overview
I've been looking back at art historical references over the last few weeks. There is an obvious nod in my video work towards religious iconography, baroque painting (particularly the Italian Baroque) and to symbolist artists. In my last series viewers noted the references to classical beauty ideals; high foreheads, white faces, wrapped head coverings and the fact that the figures appear austere and devout like an 'abbess' or a 'monk' (those words were put forward as descriptions).I have taken a look at different areas of art history that are referenced in my work and tried to pick apart a little of why this is the case and how I can work with it more fully to consciously use these references rather than them being somewhat unconscious decisions on my part. This isn't an in-depth analysis of these works, but more of an overview of some of the stylistic influences that I have been exploring and that have been expressed in my work.Starting off with painters from the Baroque period who use a similar tenebroso technique. This is an extreme form of chiaroscuro where there is a violent contrast between light and dark, with the darkness being a dominating feature of the image. These dark shadows and deep foreground colours have come through in my video pieces "Hive Oracle" and the "Sublimation" series. Figures emerge out of the darkness with no fixed setting. The figures often have intense or unusual expressions and the action in the paintings has a viscerality that was not present in works from the Renaissance. Women have action and agency that was previously absent from most artwork.
An outtake from my Hive Oracle (2015) series where the figure emerges out of a formless, dominating blackness.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1604) St John the BaptistSt John emerges out of a black background into stark contrast where his skin takes on an almost deathly pallor.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1598 - 1599) Judith Beheading HolofernesLooking at Caravaggio's "Judith" the pose and gesture are quite awkward, the image focusses more on getting everyone in shot and making sure the composition is pleasing than of the realities of actually cutting someone's throat in this way. Judith isn't exerting much force, so even though the image is visceral, it misses the violence of how a scene like this would play out in reality. Skip forward a few years and we see an artist I love, Artemisia Gentileschi, taking on the story in a much more believable way. The beauty of the gesture and composition is sacrificed to realism and violence, the women are powerful, determined and dominant.
Artemisia Gentileschi (1614-1620) Judith Slaying HolofernesThe figures are foreshortened and stacked behind each other - very different from the ideal composition at the time. I like examining this painting in contrast to the Caravaggio so wanted to include it here.This links to another aspect of my video work I have discussed with faculty and peers; the subject of gesture. I use a certain amount of posed and unusual gesture in my work that reflects the gestural tone of classical painting and sculpture. Often the gesture and pose in these works is expressive rather than natural, they are poses you could make but probably wouldn't. The gestures create a theatricality in the work, an elegant exaggeration of reality.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1447-1652) Ecstasy of St TeresaIn this flowing marble work St Teresa swoons in ecstasy as her heart is pierced by a beatific angel.
Artemisia Gentileschi (1610) Susanna and the EldersA very early work by Gentileschi that has not yet adopted the intense chiaroscuro of her later paintings. The figures make exaggerated, theatrical gestures.
Pose and gesture in my own work Sublimation Fig. 3 (2015) The austere appearance of my central figures draws on ideals of the sacred, of dedication and otherworldliness.
Jan van Eyck (1430-1432) Ghent Altarpiece (Interior) One of the most famous examples of the the altarpiece with christian iconography. The imagery covers both the interior and exterior of the tri-fold screen.I spent a bit of time revising the stylistic conceits of religious icons and altarpieces. The set's of 1 or 3 central figures and the ability for a narrative to be told across a presentation that can be viewed all at once have some parallels to what I have been working with in video. The central figures are often realistically imagined (in line with the stylisation of the era) but with ornamentation behind them in gold and this is something that I have also observed in my more modern influences.
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1875) Virgin of ConsolationA more modern approach to the religious icon and one of a series of paintings of the Virgin Mary by Bouguereau. She displays the exaggerated gesture, the ornamentation in gold behind the central figure and the central, vertical composition seen in earlier icons.
Mary MacGregor-Reid (2015) Hive Oracle (still shot)
Maitreya Altarpiece 5th year of the Zhengguang era, dated 524; Northern Wei dynasty (386–534)Hebei Province, China. Gilt bronze; H. 30 1/4 in. (76.9 cm)
Tibetan White Tara thanka (section) Date and artist unknown.Bhuddist iconography in sculpture and painting for comparison. Elegant symbolic gesture, ornamentation and central placement of figure.This use of ornamentation and gesture appears to have influenced some of the Symbolist artists and unsurprisingly they are a movement that I have always enjoyed. My favourite painter, right back from when I was still in school, is French Symbolist Gustave Moreau. I had the chance to see some of his work in the flesh, so-to-speak, a few years ago and was entranced by his use of colour and brushwork. Works that I thought were probably quite tight and formal in their painting style were actually wildly expressive and loose. Many of them utilise the stylistic elements I have picked up on in this post - the use of chiaroscuro, the prominent central figure, the mix of realism and stylised ornamentation, the expressive gesture. He painted Salome many times, 2 variations are below: 
Gustave Moreau (1875) L'apparition
Gustave Moreau (1876) SaloméI've been fascinated by the use of overlaid ornamentation in this work for a long time. It's so unusual and it creates a a film or screen over the subject that sets them apart from us - definitely 'otherworldly'. Moreau's women tend to be voluptuous and bejewelled rather than austere.Another artist from this era that has been useful for me to revisit is Gustav Klimt. His work has unfortunately been aped by a lot of contemporary decorative artists and so it almost looks cliched, but observing the real Klimt it becomes obvious that the imitators can't come close.
Gustav Klimt (1901) Judith and the Head of HolofernesOh look, it's Judith and Holofernes again! The symbolist artists loved depicting the strong, passionate women with a touch of darkness about her. Here Klimt is riffing off the stylistic elements of icons with the rich, gold, flattened ornamentation setting off painterly naturalistic figures.
Gustav Klimt (1907) Adele Bloch-BauerThe patterned ornamentation also calls to mind Japanese kimono design and woodblock images. I love the juxtaposition of flat pattern with 3 dimensional flesh.Recently I have been considering my use of black backgrounds in video and wondering how the work might fair with other colours or tones. The use of white on white appeals to me because it retains the otherworldly strangeness but loses the usually dark connotations that go with magic and the occult. Looking back on all my work over the last 2 years there is a funny switching from dark to light to dark to light, in that my work both stylistically and literally switches black and white! I enjoyed working with the white and gold/yellow of the first honey/wax works and the live performance ritual so would like to explore that further. I'm intending on shooting the same sequences on different backgrounds to see how the change from the black tenebroso effect to the white on white effect plays out.
Tim Walker (2011) Tilda Swinton, W Magazine
