Multiplicity

graphite & putty eraser, digital composite
original source: 'The Guardian' G2 06/10/08

Of course, the obvious thing to do with the series of drawings processed from the original source of a selection of Warhol's Polaroid portraits was arrange them together, in serial fashion, as reproduced in the newspaper, & working very much in the 'multiple', mass-production style of Warhol himself. We're also back in familiar 'Modernist grid' territory, a homely place.

Two interesting articles in September's edition of Modern Painters feature illustrated variations on the theme.
On the subject of Warhol's one & only visit to China, he professed himself an admirer, as one might expect, of Maoist multiplicity & such socio-cultural phenomena as uniformity of dress, & the ubiquity of the mass-produced & disseminated Little Red Book & the simplicity of its ideas, all very much in accord with his own aesthetic philosophy & production.


Andy Warhol modelling 'Mao' jacket
photographic contact sheet/1982

Mark Wallinger, meanwhile, by simple dint of the application of a little drawing, using a felt-tipped pen, upon standard photo-booth passport-type self portraits, produced in multiples, transforms his appearance into a number of ethnic (stereo)types, (dis)guises, whilst remaining the same person underneath, suggesting that such significant differences as are habitually perceived might be more a matter of superficial surface appearance than the more profound, essential factors human beings share.


Mark Wallinger 'Passport Control'
colour photographs/1988

Addition 28/10/08


graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm
original source: 'The Guardian' 22/10/08

Closely related to the Wallinger photos & the creation of multiple identies from the same essential, individual source, this drawing was subsequently processed from a newspaper reproduction of a selection of 4 original photo booth images (arranged most seductively & irresistibly in our beloved grid format, note) of Jacques Mesrine, the so-called 'man with 1,000 faces', a master-of-disguise French criminal of the 70s (yeah, dig some of those hair & spectacles styles, very redolent of the period), which status also of course references Warhol's serial images of 'most wanted' & other mug-shot felons & gangsters, the glamour of which endures, particularly in cinema & TV: indeed, the Mesrine article which the photo-composite accompanies by way of illustration details a just-released 1st-part-of-2 biographical film of the subject, made topical by such.

Similar to the drawings of the 1st moon landing astronauts processed during the 'summer', the source of this drawing is of a suitably degraded nature through both technical considerations of its time & the various stages of reproduction to which it & its constituent components have been subject.

Soundtrack:


Nick Drake 'Five Leaves Left'
The Delgados 'The Great Eastern'
Charlotte Gainsbourg '5:55'
Sol Seppy 'The Bells of 1 2'
Luna 'Best of'

Polaroid Process #9

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm
original source: 'The Guardian' G2 06/10/08

Being the final drawing in the series processed from newspaper reproductions of Warhol’s original Polaroid portraits, this one incidentally (to The Project, at least) being of another artist, Joseph Beuys, by whom a self portrait drawing is included below, another conceptual & stylistic approach to the representation of identity.


Joseph Beuys self portrait drawing

In relation to the work of Warhol & its concern with, its exploration of, celebrity, it’s notable that Beuys himself cultivated & promoted a distinct artistic persona & sense of identity, not least through a series of iconic performances & lectures, themselves illustrated by blackboard drawings.



Soundtrack:


Lambchop 'Is a Woman'
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 'The First Born is Dead'
Belle & Sebastian 'Push Barman to Open Old Wounds'

Polaroid Process #8

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm
original source: 'The Guardian' G2 06/10/08

Continuing the series of drawings processed from newspaper reproductions of Warhol’s Polaroid originals dating from the 1970s, &, although it isn’t the purpose of The Project as such (or even this ‘project within’), in this instance making specific reference to the subject of the portrait, the late artist Robert Rauschenberg, in terms of drawing.

Renowned for all manner of ground-breaking work in numerous media – painting, sculpture, collage, assemblage using found objects, printmaking, performance & various combinations of, operating in, as the artist himself claimed, “the space between art & life” – one particular, iconic piece is Rauschenberg’s ‘Erased de Kooning Drawing’, which is, essentially, as titled.


Robert Rauschenberg 'Erased de Kooning Drawing' 1953

With the consent of Willem de Kooning himself, Rauschenberg chose one of that artist’s drawings & proceeded to erase it, thus creating a new work of art in the process of doing so: in order that the ‘work of art’ involve significant effort, de Kooning specified that the original drawing chosen should not be made merely of more easily-erasable graphite but rather of mixed media – Rauschenberg’s finished work as labelled (by fellow artist & one-time cohort Jasper Johns) indeed makes reference to traces of ink & crayon on paper.
Given the date of this act of Rauschenberg’s – 1953 – the appearance of the erased drawing relates closely to his recently-preceding series of ‘White Paintings’, thus establishing aesthetic consistency. The erased drawing itself is therefore not negative in either conception or production, but a positive act: as one thing – a de Kooning drawing – disappears, another – an erased (being a performative process) drawing – appears, leaving a faint trace of the original, creation results from an apparent act of destruction.

Interesting to note a relation between such a process & that habitually employed in the making of my own drawings, where the utilisation of a putty eraser often removes part or all of some original marks in the process of resolving tonal areas to accord with those of the photographic source, & the act of drawing itself, the process, involves a formal dialogue & maintains a constant tension between the addition & subtraction of marks.

Also, acts of erasure in specific relation to newspaper images coincide in examples of the work of the artist Matt Bryans, again creating new works from existing sources, to which my attention was directed by a post on Kirsty Hall’s exemplary & always informative blog.

Soundtrack:


Stendec 'A Study of 'And''
Belle & Sebastian 'Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant'
Go-Betweens 'Tallulah'

Polaroid Process #7

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm
original source: 'The Guardian' G2 06/10/08

Another in the series of drawings processed from newspaper reproductions of a selection of Warhol's Polaroid portraits, this one, by virtue of displaying large areas of very pale tone, involving a significant amount of erasure of the initially-made marks forming its basis, rather neatly relating to what should comprise the following entry...

Soundtrack:


The Divine Comedy 'Victory for the Comic Muse'
Pulp 'Hits'

Polaroid Process #6

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm
original source: 'The Guardian' G2 06/10/08

Another in the series of drawings processed from newspaper reproductions of original Warhol Polaroid portrait photographs. In this instance, the subject’s check-patterned jacket provides suitable scope for the realisation of a more obviously apparent ‘all-over’ surface & reacquaints us with our old friend the Modernist grid.

Soundtrack:


Low 'Secret Name'
Rufus Wainwright 'Want' & 'Want Two'
Belle & Sebastian 'If You're Feeling Sinister' & 'Tigermilk'

Polaroid Process #5

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm
original source: 'The Guardian' G2 06/10/08

Being another example of ‘a project within The Project’, this drawing was once again processed from newspaper reproductions of Warhol’s Polaroid portraits. The seriality of such an endeavour establishes an obvious link with the particular artist’s work, as does its ‘reproductive’ aspect.

Soundtrack:


Sparklehorse 'Good Morning Spider' & 'It's a Wonderful Life'
Cocteau Twins 'Lullabies to Violaine' vol. 1

Polaroid Process #4

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm
original source: 'The Guardian' G2 06/10/08

Continuing the series of drawings processed from newspaper reproductions of a selection of Warhol’s Polaroids currently being exhibited as part of the Hayward’s ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’ show.
Although closely associated with celebrity culture & the depiction of, the celebration of, & perhaps therefore an easy target for playing a not insignificant part in the development of the phenomenon into its all-encompassing nature today, it’s worth noting at this point that Warhol only features subjects – such as this one - famous for actually doing things, achieving things & status, being celebrated for something other than merely fame in & for itself, as is so often the contemporary example & aspiration.

Soundtrack:


Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 'Abattoir Blues' & 'The Lyre of Orpheus'

Polaroid Process #3

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm
original source: 'The Guardian' G2 06/10/08

Presenting the third in the current ongoing series of drawings processed from newspaper reproductions of Warhol’s Polaroid portraits, in this instance also utilising the skull motif to which the artist made regular recourse, again characterised by the harsh, high-contrast, flattening & detail-suppressing light of the original medium.
Interesting to contextualize the image with a similar one in which Warhol pictures himself in the company of the skull.


Andy Warhol Self Portrait with Skull
acrylic & silkscreen ink on canvas

Soundtrack:


Velvet Underground & Nico 'Gold'

Impossible to resist the temptation of listening to the glories of the Velvet Underground whilst drawing from & thinking of Warhol...enduringly magnificent stuff.

Polaroid Process #2

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm
original source: 'The Guardian' G2 06/10/08

Being the second in a series of drawings currently being processed from newspaper reproductions of Warhol Polaroid portraits which themselves served as source material for his own paintings, as in this example.


Andy Warhol Truman Capote
acrylic & silkscreen ink on canvas/1979

Soundtrack:


Lambchop 'Nixon' & 'Is a Woman'

Polaroid Process #1

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm
original source: 'The Guardian' G2 06/10/08

The original source of the newspaper photograph from which this drawing was processed is an historical one, actually dating from the 1970s, being one of Warhol’s Polaroid portraits made topical by its inclusion in ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’, an exhibition of the artist’s work currently showing at the Hayward Gallery. As a contrast to, for instance, the daguerreotype photographs of Chuck Close (as previously mentioned & used as source material), the instant nature of the flash-lit Polaroids gives a much harsher & considerably less detailed result from which to work, something that lent itself to the habitually flat, graphic, ‘posterized’ manner in which Warhol worked & produced his typical painted silkscreens.

Soundtrack:


Lamb 'Lamb', 'What Sound' & 'Between Darkness & Wonder'