IMAGES FROM IMAGES

1 Artists using their own work as source material

2 Existing works modified by artists3 Strategies for remixing images

Experimental Image-Making Namdev Hardisty

February 2014

Course Instructor

Last Updated

1 Artists using their own work as source material

2 Existing works modified by artists3 Strategies for remixing images

Experimental Image-Making Namdev HardistyCourse Instructor

Willem de Kooning was a member of the highly-influential first wave of Abstract Expressionists the movement that brought an American edge to painting—raw, pure, and obsessed with originality. He used various forms of collage to find new ways to make images experimenting with cutting up existing works and reconfiguring them or making studies to collage with later.

Willem de Kooning

American, born Netherlandsb. 1932d. 1997

Willem de KooningRed Eye 1955; 16.3 x 14 in; oil and collage on board

Willem de Kooning Black and White Rome S 1959; 39 1/4 by 55 3/4 in.; enamel and collage on paper, double-sided

Kline was another first-generation Abstract Expressionist who was known for large stark canvasses that looked like calligraphy painted with house-painter’s brushes. In fact, Kline began all his paintings as small, quick gesture drawings executed on phonebook pages, a cheap, abundant and none-too-precious resource. Collaging existing paintings was part of his practice throughout the 1950s but his phonebook collages created from failed drawings are especially interesting.

Franz KlineAmerican b. 1910d. 1962

Franz KlineUntitled c.1948; 58.6 x 76.2 in; oil and paper collage on board

Franz KlineUntitled c.1956; 10 7/8 x 8 5/8 in; ink on telephone book page

Franz KlineStudy for Clockface1950; 11.2 x 9.25 in; ink on telephone book page

Franz KlineUntitled II,c.1952; oil and ink on paper, collage on board

Franz KlineBlack, White, Brown c.1959; 11 5/16 x 8 1/4 in; oil and ink on paper, collage on board

GERHARD RICHTERGerhard Richter is known for a life-long concern with perception that he’s explored through painting: how the rendering of an image affects its meaning, the ways that abstract images remind us of other things, the haze of memory. He’s known in particular for working within multiple styles simultaneously from photo-realism to heroic abstraction and without end. One such project are the Painted Photographs which are exactly what they sound like—photographic prints that have been painted

Germanb. 1932

photo-realism to heroic abstraction and without end. One such project are the Painted Photographs which are exactly what they sound like—photographic prints that have been paintedover using one of Richter’s trademark techniques. In his artists books he explore pieces of his paintings whether photographic details of varying perspectives and depth of field or the remixing of one painting in Patterns. Divided, Mirrored, Repeated.

Gerhard RichterOhne Title 1989; 10 cm x 15 cm; oil on colour photograph

Gerhard RichterOhne Title (7. April-05) 2005; 14.8 cm x 10 cm; oil on colour photograph

Gerhard RichterOhne Titel (25. März 03) 2003; 10 cm x 15 cm; oil on colour photograph

Gerhard RichterOhne Title (19.2.92) 1992; 14.5 cm x 10 cm; oil on colour photograph

Gerhard RichterOhne Title (8.9.1994) 1994; 14.8 cm x 10 cm; oil on colour photograph

“The artist’s book documents Gerhard Richter’s experiment of taking an image of his original Abstract Painting [CR: 724-4] and dividing it vertically into strips: first 2, then 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, up to 4096 strips. This process (twelve stages of division) results in 8190 strips, each of which is the height of the original image. With each stage of division the strips become progressively thinner (a strip of the 12th division is 0.08 mm). Endless more divisions are possible, but they would soon only become visible by enlargement. Each strip is then mirrored and repeated, which results in patterns. The number of repetitions increases with each stage of division in order to make patterns of consistent size. The result of 238 listed patterns is published on 238 double page images.”—from GerhardRichter.com

Patterns. Divided, Mirrored, Repeated 2012; artists book

This slide and next:

Gerhard RichterPage from Patterns. Divided, Mirrored, Repeated 2012; artists book

War Cut, designed by Gerhard Richter focuses on Abstract Painting [CR: 648-2] of 1987, which is located at Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris.

In May 2002, Gerhard Richter took detailed photographs of the picture, in which dark colours dominate and whose rather rough appearance is striking.

Two years later, Richter takes the photographs up again for his book project War Cut. 216 close-up photographs are juxtaposed to 216 texts from the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung of 20th and 21th March 2003, the beginning of the Iraq War. Whereas Gerhard Richter assembles the pictures following aesthetical principles, the texts are mainly printed in their chronological order. —from GerhardRichter.com

War Cut 2004; artists book

PETER SAVILLEBritish art director most famous for designing record sleeves for Factory Records in the late 70s and early 80s including those for Joy Division and New Order. Saville was known for “quoting” art and design history through pastiche and appropriation. He began creating “Waste Paintings” in the 1990s—heavily processed abstractions that used his now iconic designs as source material.

Britishb. 1955

Peter SavilleJoy 3 (from the series Waste Paintings)1998–2008

Peter SavilleJoy 1 (from the series Waste Paintings)1998–2008

Peter SavilleMade of Waste II (from the series Waste Paintings)1998–2008

1 Artists using their own work as source material

2 Existing works modified by artists3 Strategies for remixing images

(beyond the obvious)

RICHARD PRINCEPrince is a pioneer of “appropriation art” turning everything from car hoods to the Marlboro Man into extremely visual and powerful images. His paintings almost always start with a certain genre of image that is then modified to change the tone and meaning. His Tiffany series uses blown-up spreads from The New York Times as a surface to explore while masking out virtually all information besides a Tiffany & Co. ad in the top-right corner.

American, born Panamab. 1949

Richard Prince Even Lower Manhattan (from the series Tiffany) 2007; 65 1/2 x 80 in.; ink jet and acrylic on canvas

Richard Prince Town Without Pity (from the series Tiffany) 2007; 65 1/2 x 80 in.; ink jet and acrylic on canvas

Richard Prince Surf Safari Nurse (from the series Nurses) 2007–8; 90 x 54 in.; ink jet and acrylic on canvas

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERGRauschenberg revolutionized art many times over from using his bed as canvas to incorporating an angora goat into a painting and obliterating the line between art and performance. Still his most well-known piece might be Erased Willem de Kooning Drawing, an investigation into making art through subtraction. After some persuading de Kooning that it wasn’t an insult he was given a densely worked on drawing to erase. It took two months.

Americanb. 1925d. 2008

Robert Rauschenberg Erased de Kooning Drawing 1953; 25 1/4 x 21 3/4 x 1/2 in.; traces of drawing media on paper with label and gilded frame

1 Artists using their own work as source material

2 Artists modifying existing work3 Strategies for remixing images

February 2014Last Updated

1 Artists using their own work as source material

2 Artists modifying existing work3 Strategies for remixing images

February 2014Last Updated

1. Paint Over 2. Photocopy 3. Scan 4. Monoprint 5. Turn into a brush 6. Trace 7. Burn 8. Fold 9. Collage onto 10. Cut-up 11. Turn into an object 12. Cut through 13. Tape over14. Film15. Hide16. Run over17. Bury18. Weather19. Lose20. Turn into a surface21. Wear

February 2014Last Updated This presentation was produced for Namdev

Hardisty’s Experimental Image-Making workshop at Minneapolis College of Art & Design. A 10-week visual arts course investigating chance operations, gesture, speed and quantity produced by MCAD Continuing Education and The MVA Studio.

For more information visit the-mva.com/teach and mcad.edu.