antony clarkson
  • CODEX
    • plane >
      • Apophenia: An Uncanny Presence.
      • Control(s)
      • Personal Topographies
      • The Self-Isolation Residency
      • Americana
      • Mauve Skies
      • Scotland
      • Selected Drawing & Paintings,
      • The Teaching Years
      • Spatial Paintings 2006-2008
      • Paintings 2006
    • mass >
      • The Blind Men and the Elephant.
      • Spatial Conceptions 2014 - 2022
      • Painted Objects
      • Autograph
      • The Newtonian Nightmare
    • volume >
      • Enso nest
      • Someone else's storey
      • Shower, The Process Residency 2013,
      • Concrete Haiku
      • Atypical
      • The Murder of Crows.
      • Composition in White (Painting), The Breathe Residency:
      • Composition in White (Sculpture), The Breathe Residency:
      • Floorplan
      • Paper Scissors Rock
      • Pilgrimage
      • The Fifth Column
      • Tension
      • Arch
    • blogs >
      • The Self-Isolation Residency: Blog 2020-2021
      • Apophenia: An Uncanny Presence. 2022
    • artist statement
    • cv & education
    • contact

The Athole House Studio
Self-Isolation Artist Residency
30th March 2020 - 7th November 2021

​

Picture
Over my career I have taken part in many artist residencies in various parts of the world; I have even organised and run a residency program myself. 2020 has brought new challenges to us all, I however intend to treat these challenges as opportunities. With this in mind today, the first day of my self-isolation having arrived back from my studio in the Untied States last night, I I launch my new blog which will become an integral part of this website as I redesign is over the coming weeks.

Artist Residencies give artists the space and perhaps more importantly the time to make new work; I intend to treat my time in self-isolation in the same way that I would if I were on an artist residency in another studio in another part of the world. Athole House Studio maybe one of my home studios but for me it is a work space, and lets face it, we all now have the time.

THE SELF-ISOLATION RESIDENCY 9th FEBRUARY 2021: DAY 317

2/9/2021

0 Comments

 

New painting: "The things that I have seen."
Oil paint on canvas, 254 x 254 mm.

Picture
19, 20, 21: Finding a reason to paint, in search of the sublime. 9th February 2021.
Part 26: 'Interpretation, abstraction, illusion. 
An Unsettling Appeal: Insearch of the Sublime

However, another artist whom I have been interested in for a long time and whose work has once again found a place in my recent research is John Martin. Martin can in many ways be considered as the English ‘Friedrich’; both were painting dramatic, ‘Romantic’ landscapes at about the same time and in both cases these landscapes included, significant, human figures. Having said that, the way in which these figures are portrayed as interacting with the landscapes in the paintings differs greatly, even to the point of contradiction.

Martin was not just a painter of Romantic or spiritual scenes, he was also a religious painter. His works set out to capture a religious sublime by taking as their subject’s biblical passages or stories. This making his paintings something akin to altarpieces; these were paintings created to instruct and often to intimidate an errant flock. They are very much paintings of fire and brimstone and the inhabitants of them are victims caught up in Martin’s divine infernos; they are actors, at best, they spectators of the scene.

Friedrich’s paintings by contrast owe their spirituality to something very different. Friedrich seeks the sublime through encounters with nature, a common theme in German art. Consequently, the figures in his paintings play a very different role; if Martins figures are spectators then Friedrich’s are observers. In fact, Friedrichs figures are often almost so far outside of the landscape that to an extent they break the fourth wall and join us in the gallery, beyond the frame.  These are cool, contemplative and very Germanic paintings, paintings in which it appears that their inhabitants are themselves on a quest for the sublime.

To be continued...

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • CODEX
    • plane >
      • Apophenia: An Uncanny Presence.
      • Control(s)
      • Personal Topographies
      • The Self-Isolation Residency
      • Americana
      • Mauve Skies
      • Scotland
      • Selected Drawing & Paintings,
      • The Teaching Years
      • Spatial Paintings 2006-2008
      • Paintings 2006
    • mass >
      • The Blind Men and the Elephant.
      • Spatial Conceptions 2014 - 2022
      • Painted Objects
      • Autograph
      • The Newtonian Nightmare
    • volume >
      • Enso nest
      • Someone else's storey
      • Shower, The Process Residency 2013,
      • Concrete Haiku
      • Atypical
      • The Murder of Crows.
      • Composition in White (Painting), The Breathe Residency:
      • Composition in White (Sculpture), The Breathe Residency:
      • Floorplan
      • Paper Scissors Rock
      • Pilgrimage
      • The Fifth Column
      • Tension
      • Arch
    • blogs >
      • The Self-Isolation Residency: Blog 2020-2021
      • Apophenia: An Uncanny Presence. 2022
    • artist statement
    • cv & education
    • contact