Painting Into Thin Air

I wonder what it would look like to paint into thin air?  Perhaps not so very much unlike this?

(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls
De-installating Hallway in Peachy Dream and Grey.

(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls
De-installating Hallway in Peachy Dream and Grey.

Another way of painting out of the conventional frame of a canvas dawned on me when I was de-installing my Hallway in Peachy Dream and Grey.  I was pulling up the contact from the floor, that I’d ‘sneakily’ (well I thought it was pretty sneaky) painted upon to avoid the wrath of the building overlords.  As I pulled up the contact, the paint is in three dimensional space, and ‘hello’, I thought – that’s something I can play with.

I’ve also been thinking about painting onto some balloons.  I’d love to get a really bit weather balloon-type to paint on and put inside my normal wall paintings, but I need to find a place to source them.  I love how many completely random things I need to learn about in order to make art the way I want to.  This week, it’s where to source comically oversized balloons.  Next week, the world?  Actually, this week, I think I will be content with average sized party balloons.  I just want to experiment at this stage and see what happens.

Here’s a test I’ve done already of painting into thin air.  I started with some clear contact, the type I have been sticking to the floor to paint on.  I installed it diagonally across a corner and painted from the wall, onto the contact and then onto the wall again.  Then I cut around the paint and presto.  It’s kind of alive.

It reminds me a bit of James Nares, but in space.  Space!

At this stage, it’s just a ‘disembodied’ brush stroke by way of a test.  We shall see where this method reappears in the coming weeks.  Oh the suspense.

Hallway in Peachy Dream and Grey

 

(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Hallway in Peachy Dream and Grey
Acrylic paint, vinyl

 

(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Hallway in Peachy Dream and Grey
Acrylic paint, vinyl

 

(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Hallway in Peachy Dream and Grey
Acrylic paint, vinyl

 

(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Hallway in Peachy Dream and Grey
Acrylic paint, vinyl

 

 (c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Hallway in Peachy Dream and Grey
Acrylic paint, vinyl

 

(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Hallway in Peachy Dream and Grey
Acrylic paint, vinyl

 

(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Hallway in Peachy Dream and Grey
Acrylic paint, vinyl
Hallway in Peachy Dream and Grey is a painting in a hallway one both walls.  Shades of peach and grey are rolled onto the wall and down onto the floor.  Lines have been stencilled – rectangular structures that appear to be behind the surface of the wall/floor.  This is stencilled through different layers of colour, and some lengths of the line are not stencilled, but are completed with green vinyl.  Two large odd-rectangles of navy blue and royal blur float amongst the atmospheric peach and grey.  Three lines of royal blue vinyl extend from one of the shapes diagonally across the floor and run up the opposing wall to a height of approx. 5m.
This work took a few days of work, and a few days of looking.  The hallway has a very high ceiling, yet the wall on one side is only about 2m high.  So there was a lot of negative space to consider.  I like to leave a lot of negative space in my work.  I feel it’s as important as the painting and vinyl.
Due to the regulations of the building, I wasn’t allowed to paint onto the surface of the floor, but I wanted to get off the wall and out into the space of the room if I could.  I had a brainwave to use clear contact on the floor, as I had earlier worked out that the paint does, in fact, stick to it well enough.  So down onto the floor I went.  Such a great thing to be able to continue rolling from the wall and down onto the floor.  More of that to come, no doubt.
The contact actually has a lot of possibilities.  I could potentially paint in places I wouldn’t normally be allowed to, and then just remove the contact, leaving behind no residue.

Circulation: Trades Hall Loading Dock

(c)2012 Naomi Nicholls, Circulation, Installation view
White vinyl

 (c)2012 Naomi Nicholls, Circulation, Installation view
White vinyl

(c)2012 Naomi Nicholls, Circulation, Installation view
White vinyl
(c)2012 Naomi Nicholls, Circulation, Installation view
White vinyl

(c)2012 Naomi Nicholls, Circulation, Installation view
White vinyl

(c)2012 Naomi Nicholls, Circulation, Installation view
White vinyl

(c)2012 Naomi Nicholls, Circulation, Installation view
White vinyl

Have you ever been to Trades Hall in Melbourne?  Quite an amazing building with an fascinating history.  Have you even been to the loading dock at Trades Hall?  I have.  Today actually. 

There are a lot of beautiful rooms throughout the building, but the one that jumped at me was the most drab – the loading dock.  So this is where I started planning this project a few weeks ago; with a site assessment, preliminary sketches and by sourcing materials.  The most exciting of these was getting my hands on some vinyl.  I took myself off the the sign writing supplier.  Bless their hearts – they helped me out.  I was able to get everything I needed cheaply and they cut the rolls to size too!  That made installation a delight.

Installation took about three hours straight, rolling around on an office chair leaning right over to the ground in front of me.  After a light sweep and a bit of measuring, I could lay the vinyl.  It has adhered beautifully to the concrete, as the concrete is quite smooth.  However, some parts were rough and dirty, so that may not last too long there.  I had my trusty vinyl applicator, which helps apply even pressure and avoid bubbles.  The classed as ‘three year’ vinyl, so I think it will hold it’s spot for the three weeks it needs to stay in place.

I love the way the glossy vinyl seems to sit above the matte surface of the concrete.  The gloss also picks up some great reflections of light, which play spatially.  Love that.  The work refers to the loading dock’s space of transit and storage, with each white line acting as a kind of trail in and out of the space and references the circulatory system of the building.  It also references circuit boards, mapping and crowd directional lines.
My love of sign writing vinyl continues…

Work in Progress and New Materials

Aqua has been appearing in my work a lot recently.  Time to put the aqua away.  I like variety – except of course when I don’t like variety?  And I put lots of aqua in my work?  Yeah, not then.  Anyhoo, I’m 80% finished an installation in a hallway and remarkably, there is no aqua to be seen.

Painting on the floor.  I’m living dangerously. 

This hallway has a gap between the floor and the wall (the skirting board sits behind the plasterboard).  I thought it might interrupt the work too much, so I thought about how I could cover it.  Clear contact.  Yes.  Which opened up the next possibility, painting from the wall and down onto the floor, thanks to clear contact.  An exciting prospect, to be sure.  As soon as I have some parameters for myself, I like to see how far I can bend them.  Off the wall and onto the floor we go.

I had a recent fortuitous trip to a sign writing supplier to buy some vinyl, and was able to get a proper vinyl applicator.  What a gem of a thing those things are!  Excellent for applying vinyl without bubbles.  I am still mastering the art, but I’m improving.

At first, I applied the clear contact all the way along one of the walls, but I’ve now cut that back, since I decided not to make the painting ‘droop’ down onto the floor all the way along.

Here are a few shots of the work in progress.  More photos to come when she’s finished.

I love finding new materials to work with.  And I feel like I am finding just what I need recently. 

I visited an automotive paint supplier and have gotten a hold of some of their fine line tape.  Great stuff.  I can now mask off lovely narrow lines.  Plus, it’s a super colour just by itself!  The only drawback is that it’s not great on a painted all surface.  The paint does bleed a little bit.  It does beautifully crisp lines on very smooth surfaces, like the vinyl/contact – as you might expect, since it’s made for car panels.  But it still suits my purposes.

More to come on this installation.  Stay tuned.

Other Points of View

 (c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Other Points of View (Installation view)
Wool, nails, acrylic paint, vinyl
(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Other Points of View (Installation view)
Wool, nails, acrylic paint, vinyl
 
 (c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Other Points of View (Installation view)
Wool, nails, acrylic paint, vinyl
 
  (c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Other Points of View (Installation view)
Wool, nails, acrylic paint, vinyl
 
 (c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Other Points of View (Installation view)
Wool, nails, acrylic paint, vinyl

 (c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Other Points of View (Installation view)
Wool, nails, acrylic paint, vinyl

 (c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Other Points of View (Installation view)
Wool, nails, acrylic paint, vinyl

  (c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Other Points of View (Installation view)
Wool, nails, acrylic paint, vinyl

Just a little catch up from last week.  Here is an installation that I completed last week.

An installation that sits inside an enclosed room with four walls, only one wall is blank.  From the doorway woodgrain look vinyl triangles are adhered to the floor tiles and project away from the door, toward the radiator.  Grey wool shoots up from the same point as the vinyl at the door and spreads out, attaching to a series of large hooks, already existing in the site, on the adjacent wall.  More grey wool launch from the corner of the radiator and fan out to attach to the opposite wall.  The wool creates a kind of half triangle in the space.  On the walls are a series of geometric shapes in pastel aqua acrylic paint and more woodgrain vinyl.  An outline in graphite of an interior is drawn with an untrue perspective and intertwines with other shapes.  Above the row of hooks is a patch of rolled peach acrylic paint.  Combined these various geometric shapes create an illusory space within the wall and appear to be a series of untrue perspectives combined.

This space had a lot of existing features to respond to, like the hooks, radiator and window.  I focussed a lot on perspective and line in this work, with only a small area for a painterly element.  I like painterly elements.  More painterly elements next time! I like coupling geometric shapes, lines and brushstrokes – or in this case roller strokes.

Conducting a Site Assessment for Site Specific Artworks

Work in progress: the beginnings of a new site specific installation.

My installations are site specific.  That is, they are made to exist in specific places, and they respond to the elements and features of the site.

I have been refining how I approach a space.  If my work is to respond to the site, I need to do a bit of research and thinking before I rock up to a site and slap some paint on the walls etc.  That’s where a site investigation can be so helpful.  I need to make notes all about the site and its features.  It may also be helpful to document the space with photographs/video – which could help you to see what you wouldn’t normally notice.

When considering a space, think about:

  • Light conditions: Is it dim, bright, dappled, changing, etc? Time of day, sunlight or artificial light?
  • Shapes and forms present
  • Floor level variances
  • 360 degrees view
  • Pay attention to your body as you walk through the site: this may be assisted by using ear plugs.
  • Temporal nature of the space
  • Site historical information
  • Areas of transit: are there walkways through the space, etc?
  • What people use the space? Who owns the space? Who has responsibility for the site?
  • Interview someone about the site (user/owner/etc)
  • Scale: How high are the ceilings, etc?

I’ve started work in a small space (see above photograph) with lots of elements to consider.  Just briefly: It is a basic rectangular shaped room with a door and a window.  The floor is tiled red and grey.  The walls are white and feature two plaster walls and two masonry walls with the outlines of painted bricks/tiles on its surface.  There are a number of clothing(?) hooks up high in the space, and a radiator in the centre of one wall.  Light pours in from the window, and there is a small amount from fluorescent light overhead.  There is no air movement unless the window is opened. 

I often find the challenge is knowing what to utilise, what to ignore – and is it too obvious to draw varying levels of attention to a particular feature.

Stay tuned for developments to this installation.

Work on Paper and Off Paper

Over the past couple of days, this work happened – or part of it. This is a 100cm x 45cm work on 300gsm watercolour paper.  Paper has a memory.  How I wish it would remember the time when it was flat, not when it was on a roll.  Makes it really hard to flatten out and paint on without marking the paper. 

This work is a bit of a new direction (not really) and definitely a work in progress – this is not the finished product!  Acrylic, gesso, watercolour, graphite, vinyl on paper – and off paper?  Vinyl and wool.  The plan was to extend out from the paper with vinyl onto the wall, and from the paper to the floor with wool.

I’m not sure if this is a step backward from my wall works, or an extension of the idea.  But, it’s something I’m willing to explore – let’s not overthink, shall we?  I just like the presence of some form of painting tradition sometimes (like the frame or substrate), then I can ‘do stuff’ to them.

Here it is installed, with the addition of some more vinyl and wool extending to the floor, anchored by more vinyl.  In comparison to recent work, this feels positively minuscule!  But, it’s an interesting exercise.  This is about 2m x 1.5m.  This straddles 2D and 3D, not merely a drawing and not completely an installation.  I think I’d like to see this in series.  Maybe 6 of them, along a wall.  Individual works, or perhaps linked by a common anchor point.

Deinstalling: The Sad Part

Now we come to the sad part.  Saying goodbye to another artwork.  I pulled out the nails, collected all the wool, peeled off the vinyl and then I painted it (at length) back to white.

Covering red is a struggle!  It took two coats of grey and I can’t remember if it was 2 or 3 coats of white – it is a blur of sore-back and watching-paint-dry, literally.  Line Drawing Extrusion now lives on as photographs.  I actually slept badly the night before I painted over it.  I was worried about losing it forever.  That anxiety doesn’t usually go away until about halfway through the painting-out process.  But at that point, I start to get excited about the next thing I can cover a once-white wall with.  And I will be sending red to the backburner for a while, it’s pretty high maintenance.

Dimensions of Space: Documentation

(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Line Drawing Extrusion (Installation view)
Acrylic paint, vinyl, wool, nails
(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Line Drawing Extrusion (Installation view)
Acrylic paint, vinyl, wool, nails
(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Line Drawing Extrusion (Installation view)
Acrylic paint, vinyl, wool, nails

(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Line Drawing Extrusion (Installation view)
Acrylic paint, vinyl, wool, nails
(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Line Drawing Extrusion (Installation view)
Acrylic paint, vinyl, wool, nails
(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Nebulous & Nebulous II (Installation view)
Oil on canvas

(c) 2012 Naomi Nicholls, Dimensions of Space (Exhibition Installation view)

These are some of the photographs from the Dimensions of Space exhibition.  It’s so hard to photograph a work that you walk into and around.  So I’ve captured lots of angles.  I’ve also taken some video footage which I will edit together in the next little while and post up here somewhere.

I’m really pleased with how the work has turned out. The negative space in the room is as important as the work itself – the places in the work that you can walk in to and think about yourself in relation to the work.  The lighting provides additional line drawings add extra punch to the wool ‘extrusions’.  Unfortunately, the yellow wool doesn’t show up very well in the photographs, but rest assured, there was plenty of it. 

‘Extrusion’ is such a nice word to describe what I wanted to do; pull apart a painting so we could walk in.  To extruuuuuuuude the lines and shapes so we could enter.

Exhibition Opening: Dimensions of Space

A lot of string.  Hundreds and hundreds of metres of the stuff.  Each of the three shows at the gallery have string in common and there was a bit of ducking and weaving to be done by the art-goers at the opening last night.  But I think a good time was had by all.  Myself included.

It was good fun to shamelessly talk about my work to people.   In attempting to describe my practice, it helped me articulate it to myself as well, and talking about it inadvertently extends my ideas.  There always is so much to make, but an exhibition gives an even greater boost forward.  Very worthwhile, I say. 
Thanks to all those who made it to the opening.  If you couldn’t get there, don’t worry, it’s open until 5th April (It’s not open good Friday).
28 March – 5 April 2012
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday 11am-5pm

Saturday – Monday CLOSED, Good Friday CLOSED

Location: First Site Gallery, Storey Hall Basement, 344 Swanston Street, Melbourne
http://link.rmit.edu.au/first_site.html