Through the Layers of Encaustic Skin: Fusing Print and Paint

Location

CSU 202

Start Date

27-4-2009 8:00 AM

End Date

27-4-2009 10:00 AM

Student's Major

Art

Student's College

Arts and Humanities

Mentor's Name

Brian Frink

Mentor's Department

Art

Mentor's College

Arts and Humanities

Description

My intentions are to create a bridge between painting and printmaking, by means of encaustic painting (a wax-based medium for oil paint) have manifested through six paintings. I have worked in nursing homes since I was sixteen, and this has caused me to explore the aesthetic qualities of the sick and dying. In Waxing Poetic, Stavitsky explains: "Functioning as a seductive skin or membrane, encaustic is an unusually malleable and mutable medium that evokes bodily sensations, emotions, alchemical transformations, religious rituals, layers of history, and the passage of time" (19). My work investigates the physical layers of the body, metaphorically. I make art that is dependent on the human hand, and refer to contemporary artist Ghada Amer and modem artist Jasper Johns. Amer's body of work includes large-scale paintings that incorporate embroidery, which asserts the hand-made. I examine the quality of the hand-made and the juxtaposition created when combining etchings and abstract painting. Jasper Johns uses wax to encapsulate objects and paper onto the painted surface. My collage experimentations with Japanese printmaking paper fuse the disparate elements of painting and printmaking. Making handmade characteristics palpable is reflective of the work of Amer and Johns in this body of work. My experiences working with the elderly have been a foundation for conceptual exploration. The encaustic process allows me to work in layers and explore the physical deterioration of the human body. The outcome is a delicate balance between metaphorical skin, handmade qualities, and the concurrence of the distinct materials implemented.

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Apr 27th, 8:00 AM Apr 27th, 10:00 AM

Through the Layers of Encaustic Skin: Fusing Print and Paint

CSU 202

My intentions are to create a bridge between painting and printmaking, by means of encaustic painting (a wax-based medium for oil paint) have manifested through six paintings. I have worked in nursing homes since I was sixteen, and this has caused me to explore the aesthetic qualities of the sick and dying. In Waxing Poetic, Stavitsky explains: "Functioning as a seductive skin or membrane, encaustic is an unusually malleable and mutable medium that evokes bodily sensations, emotions, alchemical transformations, religious rituals, layers of history, and the passage of time" (19). My work investigates the physical layers of the body, metaphorically. I make art that is dependent on the human hand, and refer to contemporary artist Ghada Amer and modem artist Jasper Johns. Amer's body of work includes large-scale paintings that incorporate embroidery, which asserts the hand-made. I examine the quality of the hand-made and the juxtaposition created when combining etchings and abstract painting. Jasper Johns uses wax to encapsulate objects and paper onto the painted surface. My collage experimentations with Japanese printmaking paper fuse the disparate elements of painting and printmaking. Making handmade characteristics palpable is reflective of the work of Amer and Johns in this body of work. My experiences working with the elderly have been a foundation for conceptual exploration. The encaustic process allows me to work in layers and explore the physical deterioration of the human body. The outcome is a delicate balance between metaphorical skin, handmade qualities, and the concurrence of the distinct materials implemented.

Recommended Citation

Hunt, Gina. "Through the Layers of Encaustic Skin: Fusing Print and Paint." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 27, 2009.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2009/oral-session-01/3