Art decision tree in Cyprus

At the end of November 2016 I attended the Symposium/Artist Residency Dysfunctionalities of Contemporary Art 2, organized by the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts (E.KA.TE.).

During the Symposium/Artist Residency I wanted to examine the input and the results that artists get when they show their artwork to the public -art-fairs, internet or  a closed circle of friends. Is it worth the time and money?

In the video, you can follow the workshop of the Art decision tree and see how you can visualize your choices and the results through a model by giving values to [money/time], [status], [social capital] and [our inspiration] input and expected results.

The idea came about by following these two Massive Open Online Courses.

• https://www.coursera.org/learn/gamification
• https://www.coursera.org/learn/model-thinking

As a result, I have concluded that I show my artwork to expand on my curiosity and inspiration and I see the importance of using  [status] and [social capital]. By making use of the art decision tree tool I also noticed that other artists could make a quicker analysis of their own situation.

Presentation under the Heroes Square, Limassol Cyprus

 

Model, testing the results for an artist’s workshop for artists

 

The Symposium/Artist Residency Dysfunctionalities of Contemporary Art 2, was organized by the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts (E.KA.TE.) and took place at the 30th of November until 4th of December 2016, with the support of Cultural Services of Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture, the Department of Fine Arts of the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) and the International Association of Arts (IAA).

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low polygon oil paintings

Low polygons are hot.

Nowadays you can DIY your own polygon art online. Google for ‘low polygon art generator’ and let the web turn any digital image into a techy triangulated image, select from 100 palettes or brew up some of your own colours, tweak the triangulation and before you know it you are ordering an online poster print of your very own polygon art.
I feel that I am a bit of an expert on the subject having 5 years experience making paintings of low polygon object. On my onepage website http://k-van.nl/ you can see my artistic development. (For full enjoyment of the site use a smartphone or a tablet so that you can swipe or pinch at the screen.)

New oil paintings of the low polygon.

Only recently have I gone for the large canvases 200 x 200 cm (almost 80 inches) stretched on aluminum frames.  With a larger canvas size I have also changed my painting approach. Now it is out of the box, out of the lines.

HIFA 2014 day 3

A month ago while preparing for a solo show in Harare, I was finishing off one of the sculptures. My chisel slipped off the wood and dug deep into my little finger. In the ER they told me I cut my tendon. The hospital staff on hearing I was an artist arranged the best hand and wrist surgeon in Holland to sew the two strands of tendon back together. The recovery will be long.

My 3d work clearly stopped, but with one hand I could still draw the Utsi Mutsies (that is what my son Mickey and I call these imaginary creations). I used a Cintiq digital drawing tablet drawing directly on the screen and so creating the prints for the show.

HIFA Day 3

In the morning I go to the first floor gallery,  known for its innovative programming, to hang up 2 rotating objects and 2 drawings. Yutaka Hirose and Yuki Kamiya come to visit the galley and Yutaka takes my photograph using a very large format camera for his 100s Zimbabwe project.

At 17:00 the show opens with a good crowd of people

detail of Terrence Musekiwa’s sculpture ‘fruit tree’

K_Van: one-piece cold formed body featuring a black oxide finish

Open Call for Proposals 2014

In this particular proposal, we were asked to send in a YouTube video pitch. In a kind email explaining the selection process and the intensive process, my pitch is rejected,  but according to my YouTube click statistics, no one has watched this video since I put it on-line. No hard feelings but Ireland’s Biennial Limerick City International 2014 you are not playing a straight game.

Dear K_ Van,

Many thanks for your proposal(s) to participate in eva International 2014.
There has been an incredible response to this year’s open call with an extraordinary range of proposals from artists based in 96 countries worldwide. The selection process has been a very interesting and intensive process, identifying many artists who I would like to work with for eva International 2014 and also for future projects.

I regret to inform you that on this occasion your proposal(s) has not been selected for inclusion in eva International 2014. Due to the number of proposals it will not be possible to offer individual feedback, but I would like to let you know that the selection process has often not been about the quality or scope of the proposals but about the exhibition as a whole, so the final selection has been made on this basis rather than the quality of proposals.

Thank you for taking the time to prepare your proposal(s) and I would like to wish you every success with future projects.

Warm regards

Bassam
Bassam El Baroni
Curator

eva International 2014
Ireland’s Biennial
Limerick City

 

What is the significance of these last notes.

[from 5 top pieces of art work ever].

The lecturer stood in front of us. On the powerpoint projection, a single line of notes glared at us.
”What is the significance of these last notes?” the teacher repeated.
We did not know.

”It is the end. Listen if we take the last note away and loop it, it sounds like this. When we put them back, it sounds like this. The last 3 signify the end.”

”Look at this painting.”
A yellow painting came up on the display with 3 figures.
”Each painting has an end. This painting has a soft end, but look how it changes when we apply a hard end to the painting.”
The next slide came in, and the 3 figures in the painting all had a large penis painted over them.
”This,” continued the lecturer, ”is a hard end. A painting has a start middle and end. Sometimes, like this painting the end is too strong and the painting ends abruptly. Like the three ending notes. Go to the museums and to your art work and see if you can find the end of the painting and determine how strong the ending is.”

I had to think about this when I was awake. The ending of French composer Erik Satie’s piano composition Gymnopédies is so soft that the piece can start again and end at any moment allowing the listener’s attention to drift anywhere with in the music. Paintings also (as I discovered to my surprise) have a clear or subtle ending. The quieter the endings (as in music) allow the viewer to absorb the work more and experience their own being. The paintings Beyond the imagination also deal with tones and loops, three in fact and with endings. It is my intention to soften the ending. I do not know how, that is for later.
The note is made.

5 top pieces of art work ever.

The best art pieces that you will ever experience will come through your dreams. I sometimes wander through museums in my sleep, see exhibitions or come across the most  amazing art works. Some of them are so powerful in fact, that they wake me up. Those are rare and blessed moments. Especialy when I can process the image in my mind, rotate the object and remember it the next day. It is not uncommon for artists to see art in their dreams, musicians to hear music and dancers to see performances (see post The photograph had won several awards).

In a dream (a few weeks ago) I was in Ireland, backstage for a dance-group. I met up with some of my fellow students from the Burren College of art. And for some reason I landed up in Cork. I looked down through a window at the floor of a large art studio building. There were many artists painting on several paintings that were laid out flat on the floor, they were painting dancers. What impressed me in my sleep state was this: the artists where working together on the collection of paintings, moving from one painting to the next, sometimes two people to one canvas. I remarked to myself that the status and professional position of the artists had evolved. The artist now worked together, rather than in solitude. They worked like musicians in an orchestra, together bringing along their own talent and movements towards the artwork.  Because of their unity they were now respected for the work that they did.

From the window where I stood, I turned and followed a corridor that led to a flight of stairs going down into the building. I walked down, looking at some drawings pinned to the white flakey wall. The building seemed like a school and I entered a lecture hall. A critique/lecture was in progress. Five statues on the front stage, a number of students spread in the room and the teacher stood in front. He greeted me. I sat down.

What is the significance of these lines. In a power-point projection he showed music notes on staff.
Again he asked what is the significance of these notes. Then he hummed it.
a long silent pause. [to be continued tomorrow]

images of the first threads being applied on the canvas

In the last 3 years what has your position been as an artist, active or passive?

Please take your time to fill in my poll

The photograph had won several awards.

I was in a house, there were a number of picture frames leaning against the wall. Black and white photographs. I recognised the work as being mine. The first photograph in particularly was striking, a man sitting and looking at the sea, while another man walked passed behind him. I remember the photograph had won several awards and was published in magazines and books. When I took another closer look at the image I knew that it would make the subject for a very interesting painting.

In this instructable you will follow how a painting is made up using many layers of paint. I have applied acrylic paint with paint rollers and brushes on a wooden panel. It took me several weeks to complete the painting.2000 http://www.instructables.com/id/painting-102/

 

Beyond imagination,cleaning up

Friday I picked up my order of canvases (150x100cm)
Saturday, stuck A3 printouts together and hung them in the project room.
The print outs of the drawings is too small, will have to redo them.
Outlined the dark area’s that will be painted grey.
Sunday started to rearrange the studio for the paintings.
Changed the order of the drawings
Monday prepared boxes for storage.

Todo: assemble the rest of the boxes….done

Beyond imagination, the start

Two years ago I got bitten by the 3D print bug. It was after reading an article in the Make magazine. The 3D printer enables you to design an object in 3D programs such as Blender and Auto-cad. You upload your design file and the  3 D printer company prints it out and post the  object back home to you . The process is not new, in the 90ties a friend of mine working for the motor industry would some times  use rapid prototyping for engine parts.  But now the 3Dprinter online shops are more common and geared for small models and gift items.  Up to then I had been modeling wooden objects using CNC, with the draw back that it is 2 and a half D. You need to CNC mill one side of the plane, then you flip it over and do the other side. (Utsi Mutsi) An object such as the one below would be difficult to mill. Being in awe of the new possibilities available  I send out for a material sample package from one on-line print company, went to a 3D printer get together, followed a few blogs, designed a number of objects, rockets, toys. Up to now I have not uploaded a single file to be printed, I still have my discount coupon from the sample package. I found that the image on the screen was more inspiring that the curiosity to have a object printed in a white powder. This has spurred me on the paint the objects that I have made on the screen. From 2011 up to today I have made 20 paintings of 3D object that can be seen on http://www.saatchionline.com/profiles/portfolio/id/342950/p/1
From the toys that I designed two years ago, I have taken the images below.

I have ordered 3 canvases 150x100cm.
The commitment has been made.
Next preparing the image.