Contemporary Master of the Week
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stlukesguild
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Claire Partington
-Sleeping Beauty
Claire Partington is a ceramicist working in a vein similar to that of Christine Antemann (above). She creates ceramic figurines delight in a synthesis of historical characters, myths, fairytales, folklore, and art history. Her figures exist in a world that blends genres and time periods to present historically informed, yet contemporary works. With the hand of a formally trained sculptor, Partington creates exquisite figures... nudes inspired by Lucas Cranach and others clothed in 18th Century Marie Antoinette-style dress, the fashions of Diego Velazquez or Thomas Gainsborough paired with Adidas sneakers, gold chains, cell phones, cigarettes & beer bottles, and carefully placed Chanel logos.
A number of Partington's figures feature animal heads or skull heads that are often interchangeable... suggesting the mythology of metamorphosis.
Some recall Elizabethan, Baroque, or Rococo-era aristocrats. Sometimes these figures suggest faerie tales... such as "Nan's House" which is loosely based on the legend of Red Riding Hood:
In other instances, these figures address social issues of class and colonialism. In a grouping entitled "Taking Tea" the figures are not merely a group gathered for a hot cup of tea, but also address British colonial aspirations... taking tea from the Indians:
-Sleeping Beauty
Claire Partington is a ceramicist working in a vein similar to that of Christine Antemann (above). She creates ceramic figurines delight in a synthesis of historical characters, myths, fairytales, folklore, and art history. Her figures exist in a world that blends genres and time periods to present historically informed, yet contemporary works. With the hand of a formally trained sculptor, Partington creates exquisite figures... nudes inspired by Lucas Cranach and others clothed in 18th Century Marie Antoinette-style dress, the fashions of Diego Velazquez or Thomas Gainsborough paired with Adidas sneakers, gold chains, cell phones, cigarettes & beer bottles, and carefully placed Chanel logos.
A number of Partington's figures feature animal heads or skull heads that are often interchangeable... suggesting the mythology of metamorphosis.
Some recall Elizabethan, Baroque, or Rococo-era aristocrats. Sometimes these figures suggest faerie tales... such as "Nan's House" which is loosely based on the legend of Red Riding Hood:
In other instances, these figures address social issues of class and colonialism. In a grouping entitled "Taking Tea" the figures are not merely a group gathered for a hot cup of tea, but also address British colonial aspirations... taking tea from the Indians:
stlukesguild
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Claire Partington earned studied both fine art and art history/museum studies in college. In many ways, she is an artist after my own heart with a passion for literature, faerie tales, mythology, history and art history. She employs these various interests in tandem with contemporary and popular culture. As Partington explains, subjects and themes explored in her work are drawn largely from the European tradition of “appropriation and reinterpretation (or misinterpretation) of “exotic” styles that can be seen in National Collections across the world.” Partington relishes in borrowing from many styles, themes, disciplines, time periods and countries – blurring the lines of styles and meaning. The resulting sculptures present an intriguing and fantastical story of traditional and contemporary visual narratives.
In the grouping, The More We Are Together we immediately recognize the allusion to Van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding... but the group has become something "more"... a threesome... with the male figure holding out keys to both women. The black woman looks a good deal like the black figures in Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights a painting that addresses carnal sin... especially lust. A detail from Bosch's painting can be seen on the white woman's belly.
Partington brrows not merely from Western art history and mythology, but from the East as well. The Mermaid figures above make multiple references to Japanese art and culture employing traditional Japanese patterns that are used to denote water and the Geisha-like heads. The blackened central figure recalls the fake marmaids from Japan sold to the British that were actually made of a combination of a fish and a monkey:
One of my favorite pairings is that of the Standing Boy with Dog and the Boy at Rest. The pair could be brothers... twins even... from an aristocratic Renaissance family. The standing boy appears in a traditional pose of the aristocratic portrait. He stare ahead, grasping the hilt of his sword, his faithful dog at his side. The second boy... is he the same boy?... sits sprawled. Birds play in his hair (bird-brained?) and he absent-mindedly plays with one of these. In his other hand he grasps an empty or near-empty beer bottle and another empty bottle lays at his feet.
The artist that Partington draws inspiration from the most is Lucas Cranach. His paintings of Eve, Venus, Diana, Lucretia, Lilith, etc...
... have all fueled her works. As ususal, these frequently draw upon contemporary culture as well as the art historical.
I like the elegant tattoo of the word "defiance" on her wrist above the hand in which she holds the apple that she was commanded not to partake of.
In the grouping, The More We Are Together we immediately recognize the allusion to Van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding... but the group has become something "more"... a threesome... with the male figure holding out keys to both women. The black woman looks a good deal like the black figures in Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights a painting that addresses carnal sin... especially lust. A detail from Bosch's painting can be seen on the white woman's belly.
Partington brrows not merely from Western art history and mythology, but from the East as well. The Mermaid figures above make multiple references to Japanese art and culture employing traditional Japanese patterns that are used to denote water and the Geisha-like heads. The blackened central figure recalls the fake marmaids from Japan sold to the British that were actually made of a combination of a fish and a monkey:
One of my favorite pairings is that of the Standing Boy with Dog and the Boy at Rest. The pair could be brothers... twins even... from an aristocratic Renaissance family. The standing boy appears in a traditional pose of the aristocratic portrait. He stare ahead, grasping the hilt of his sword, his faithful dog at his side. The second boy... is he the same boy?... sits sprawled. Birds play in his hair (bird-brained?) and he absent-mindedly plays with one of these. In his other hand he grasps an empty or near-empty beer bottle and another empty bottle lays at his feet.
The artist that Partington draws inspiration from the most is Lucas Cranach. His paintings of Eve, Venus, Diana, Lucretia, Lilith, etc...
... have all fueled her works. As ususal, these frequently draw upon contemporary culture as well as the art historical.
I like the elegant tattoo of the word "defiance" on her wrist above the hand in which she holds the apple that she was commanded not to partake of.
stlukesguild
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Her Lucretia blurs the narrative of Eve with that of Lucretia... and the referrence to contemporary culture in the form of a bottle of hard cider.
In this pairing of "Eves" the Biblical first woman is now a pair of urban beauties garbed in hip-hop fashion with tights, sports tops, gold chains and cell phones... accompanied by their pitbulls.
Or in this instance... she remains nude holding a visor with a pair of flip-flops at her feet.
Like Christine Antemann, Claire Partington has taken an art form that was often relegated to bric-a-brac churned out by anonymous craftsmen and created something both pleasing to look at and thought-provoking.
laf.art
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I agree Arty. I've never liked figurines, for me they're just dust collectors. I can appreciate the amount of work that goes into them but they always remind me of my gran's house, it was my job to dust all of the figurines and polish the silver and copper.I've hated housework ever since haha
stlukesguild
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“Sculpture is something you bump into when you back up to look at a painting.” -Ad Reinhardt
There were times when I truly would have agreed with Reinhardt and his negative view of sculpture... to say nothing of small works of 3-D art and various bric-a-brac. While I identify myself as a painter and work almost exclusively on a large scale, I admire a broad range of art forms... including many small, intimate art objects... and at the same time, I find a lot of contemporary painting boring and/or pretentious twaddle.
There were times when I truly would have agreed with Reinhardt and his negative view of sculpture... to say nothing of small works of 3-D art and various bric-a-brac. While I identify myself as a painter and work almost exclusively on a large scale, I admire a broad range of art forms... including many small, intimate art objects... and at the same time, I find a lot of contemporary painting boring and/or pretentious twaddle.
I like them,
the one with the beer and the first ones, the ones with the odd swappable heads I think I'd like to have them, and the mermaids too, but maybe it's lucky that I don't have money and space.
however I like them, strong what you say about sculpture, for what it matters personally I especially admired paintings or drawings,
statues sometimes yes (but in general much less than now), others ... and therefore maybe I never found this around but at least some statues, small sculptures, perhaps indistinguishable or not really in my taste,
maybe then I saw, or noticed better sculptures like many of those by MIchelangelo or more recently the works of MOschetto (especially with animals subjects) and now I can't make more difference between these means (which for almost all my life was quite present), in the sense that seeing a sculpture can thrill me, make me happy even as what I observe a masterpiece of painting or even more, now depends more on the works I see. I would also like to be able to do something small not too difficult (not knowing the material or what) almost cute but it is still impossible.
the one with the beer and the first ones, the ones with the odd swappable heads I think I'd like to have them, and the mermaids too, but maybe it's lucky that I don't have money and space.
however I like them, strong what you say about sculpture, for what it matters personally I especially admired paintings or drawings,
statues sometimes yes (but in general much less than now), others ... and therefore maybe I never found this around but at least some statues, small sculptures, perhaps indistinguishable or not really in my taste,
maybe then I saw, or noticed better sculptures like many of those by MIchelangelo or more recently the works of MOschetto (especially with animals subjects) and now I can't make more difference between these means (which for almost all my life was quite present), in the sense that seeing a sculpture can thrill me, make me happy even as what I observe a masterpiece of painting or even more, now depends more on the works I see. I would also like to be able to do something small not too difficult (not knowing the material or what) almost cute but it is still impossible.
stlukesguild
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Michelangelo thought like a sculptor even as a painter. His focus was on the figure and not on the surrounding space.
Even on a painting like this, he expends little effort on the background. His strongest backgrounds are almost "abstract"... the architectural settings of the Sistine ceiling paintings:
Even then, the figure is still dominant... with little color or detail in the surrounding space.
I sometimes think I might have looked a little too much at Michelangelo
(Is that even possible?) I usually think of the painting as a stage on which the figure act or moves. I rarely ever crop the figure (the current WIP is an exception) but employ the entire body upon the stage. The surrounding space is abstract: architectural elements and patterns.
As much as I think in this way like a sculptor, I am rather limited in how much I think in 3-Dimensional terms. I suspect this is the result, in part, of various other artists that have been influential on me: Japanese printmakers, Persian painting, European Medieval art, Klimt, Mucha, Matisse, Bonnard, etc...
Even on a painting like this, he expends little effort on the background. His strongest backgrounds are almost "abstract"... the architectural settings of the Sistine ceiling paintings:
Even then, the figure is still dominant... with little color or detail in the surrounding space.
I sometimes think I might have looked a little too much at Michelangelo
(Is that even possible?) I usually think of the painting as a stage on which the figure act or moves. I rarely ever crop the figure (the current WIP is an exception) but employ the entire body upon the stage. The surrounding space is abstract: architectural elements and patterns.As much as I think in this way like a sculptor, I am rather limited in how much I think in 3-Dimensional terms. I suspect this is the result, in part, of various other artists that have been influential on me: Japanese printmakers, Persian painting, European Medieval art, Klimt, Mucha, Matisse, Bonnard, etc...
thanks stlukesguild
I don't think it's possible, seeing too much of Michaelangelo, no, he deserves more and more.
thanks for clarification and information, fantastic examples.
sometimes seeing some paintings comes to think, it seems sculpted, so it can actually be a bit like that.
nice that you quote Matisse,
a few days ago I saw a video, a documentary about the incredible museum of St. Petersburg, they showed a couple of beautiful and impressive works by Matisse (fantastic artist but it was a while that I had not seen, I saw many of his things)
so it came back to me a little, nice to read that it is among the artists you admire and have studied.
In the end, the beauty, or at least one of the interesting things, of the various currents and styles is the fact that you can then create magic, beauty in different ways.
I don't think it's possible, seeing too much of Michaelangelo, no, he deserves more and more.
thanks for clarification and information, fantastic examples.
sometimes seeing some paintings comes to think, it seems sculpted, so it can actually be a bit like that.
nice that you quote Matisse,
a few days ago I saw a video, a documentary about the incredible museum of St. Petersburg, they showed a couple of beautiful and impressive works by Matisse (fantastic artist but it was a while that I had not seen, I saw many of his things)
so it came back to me a little, nice to read that it is among the artists you admire and have studied.
In the end, the beauty, or at least one of the interesting things, of the various currents and styles is the fact that you can then create magic, beauty in different ways.