This is the first mini project for ‘WANDERER’.
First of all, I have to say literature became my hobby much earlier than art. As long as I settled down to this subject, a list of literature came into my mind directly.
- George Orwell, <Down and out in Paris and London> - Sanmao, <Stories of the Sahara> - Jack Kerouac, <On the Road> (and the whole Beat Generation)
- Rabindranath Tagore, <Gitanjali>
- Constantine P. Cavafy, <Ithaca>
…
These are wonderful raw material for my initial practice.
[Challenge]
Most of my previous works are based on reality observation, but this time, I would like to challenge to ‘NARRATIVE COMPOSITION’, to summarize stories happening at different timeline into one whole image.
In Chapter One ‘Space and Image’ of <Space in Art History>, Wu Hung reraised the Chinese ancient concept ‘jingying weizhi’, which can be roughly translated as ‘positioning’. The original meaning of jingying weizhi refers primarily to the artist’s choice and combination of pictorial elements according to his or her own disposition, without connotations of a scientific or technical method of composition, as in the case of perspective. I tried to put narrative to the most important position when I was arranging the elements.
[Form]
As I mentioned before, I spent two months on experiencing different workshops and doing some random practices. Etching became my first choice for this project as it can provide very detailed drawing and rich marks-making.
(1) George Orwell, <Down and out in Paris and London>
Hard Ground + Aquatint
Variation of printings:
Variation of layout:
(2) Sanmao, <Stories of the Sahara>
Soft Ground + Hard Ground
Variation of printings:
Still work in progress...
[Problem]
To some extent I'm pleased with the narrative composition, somehow I think these works are still limited in the area of 'printmaking'. However, they should be 'illustration'. Although I know there's no clear boundary between these two, I should have more bold tries.