Goya’s Black Paintings really are the power of simplicity of artistic expression. Painted directly onto the walls of his home, these monochromatic works evoke a sense of raw emotion, darkness, and introspection.
Goya’s mastery lies not only in his ability to convey complex narratives and psychological depth but in his minimalistic means. The stark contrast and intensity of black paint became a vehicle for exploring the depths of the human experience during his foray into madness.
Using the technique of monoprint printmaking developing on his work, it perfectly captured the spontaneity and texture found in Goya’s Black Paintings which took me down a rather exploratory route. With the simple process, involving the application of ink and paint to a plate and transferring it to paper, monoprint offered opportunities for my own developing experimentation and outcomes as you can see.
Inspired by Goya’s expressive marks I used a variety of tools, such as oil bar, collage, permanent marker, tippex fluid and even acetate paper, to create dynamic textures, layers and patterns reminiscent of the intensity found in the Black Paintings.
By embracing the monoprint process, I captured the immediate and raw emotion present in Goya’s works even using the layer that I applied the media to and making that a developed piece of work in its own rite. The fluidity of the technique allowed for the exploration of expressive gestural marks eventhough in part i was only tracing and added a real atmospheric effect. The resulting monoprint became unique impressions that embody the essence of the emotional response to the piece.
Drawing in permanent marker offered another avenue for me to channel the boldness and intensity found in Goya’s Black Paintings without the use of using actual oils. The simplicity of the medium, coupled with its permanent nature and boldness of line, allows for direct and immediate expression. Inspired by Goya’s dark and dramatic compositions i attempted to emulate and explore the stark contrast between black and white, using thick, bold strokes to create visually striking imagery in a contemporary way.
The permanent marker provided a sense of finality, which helped to commit fully to my marks. Through the layering and overlapping of lines, I attemted to create depth capturing the complexity and depth of emotions which Goya’s Black Paintings captured so masterfully. The directness of the marker allowed for spontaneous exploration and the ability to respond instinctively to the subject matter.
My ideas inspired by Goya’s Black Paintings using monoprint and drawing in permanent marker I embraced the experimentation and emotions of the works to guide my process.
By drawing upon the printouts embracing the darkness of his works and raw emotion present in Goya’s work helped reflect on my own interpretations and personal experiences that I hope to take forward into my final project.
It was in the final stages here that I started extracting colour from the work “Two men having soup” digitally leaving little more than can be said as an outline that somewhat resembles fingerprints in red like a stain of blood on a clear piece of acetate when I began overlaying this on a variety of different backgrounds that ranged from experimenting with repeat patterns of the actual work and on an inverted Black and white version that added an animated yet monochromatic motion to the flatt pieces, it was here at this point where my development took me further down the avenue of working towards a video piece for my final as Jennie had suggested trying using these effects on a video format.
