The Art Gallery of Ontario currently has small exhibit of works by Ben Woolfitt. Photography really doesn’t do this artists’ work justice, as it is very 3 dimensional, despite being done in sketchbooks, and incorporates metal foil.
There were two aspects of the artists’s work that I found quite interesting. Firstly, many of the sketchbook pages start as rubbings of objects palced underneath. Sticks and other forms deformed the pages, and then captured with graphite. The result left the pages smudged slightly blue from the graphite.
Second, the artist would pinch or crinkle the paper and then use metal leaf on the raised ridges. In the work, here, my mind conjures a stand of birch trees from the irregular vertical lines.
I never really have much to write, when I put pencil to sketchbook so it is intriguing that Ben Woolfitt uses these pages as a journal, incorporating words into the abstract forms he creates.
- Where are they using Line vs Non-line, and where?
From what I was able to see, the artist used line to highlight the raised surfaces created by objects placed underneath the surface, or the ridges created by crinkling the paper.
This reminds me of my materials tests in assignment 2 where I was testing the use of gesso on the brown paper. It caught the crinkled paper in a way I liked, but didn’t have use for in that particular assignment.
- How much tone and where and what is it doing?
All the pages I saw were smudged with graphite, which created bluish haze on the page. It often was deeper towards the center, creating a sense of fog and space.
Second, the were often spots and shapes formed from metal leaf. In the photos above they appear black, but in person they are incredibly striking in how they catch light. This is intriguing to me, and I’m thinking about how I could incorporate something like this in my own work. Perhaps creating reflections in water? Or is that too expected?
- How are they using space, and where is the space?
Very often, the artist centered the composition on the fold in the center of the page — each page being lifted from a sketchbook. This is particularly the case when the composition is raised crinkles and seams.
When the composition was about sticks, they drawings ranged over the entire surface, but with the main stem roughly splitting the page through the middle.
In all cases, the artist made journal entries to the left or right of the composition.
There is also a single painting from the artist, in the exhibit, which I neglected to catch the name of. But process wise, it is built up with super-thin layers of acrylic gel and kept wet from overhead sprayed water. The effect was incredibly organic, and somewhat disturbing — flesh like. I don’t think i have the patience to work like that, but it would be interesting to try.