I am writing this blog in order to create my own moving and developing online version of a visual Journal. The sketchbook for me is the highlight of a project, from the research and the links forged, through to the journey of an idea, I am happily filled with a sense of excitement and purpose, I revel in the unravelling of information and in the development and articulation of the idea and spend hours filtering through sources in order to explain my intentions and let others know the map I have created in my own mind. The sketchbook process allows me to absorb my environment and contemplate my world, it allows me to grow and changes my path every time. To challenge myself in this final year I am endeavoring to try a new way of sharing and archiving my journey, putting aside the pritstick and Scissors, pulling up my chair and putting on my glasses this will now be my Sketchbook.
So here it begins a diary of the idea, growing and moving as I go forward with the project. It is what it is. What it will become ... I have no idea and to you the viewer I make no apologies.

Joseph Derby

Joseph Derby
Cottage on Fire at Night, oil on canvas, ca. 1785-1793

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Creation of a World

A World in the eyes of an artist

So far I have looked into the area of landscape that comes from not only sight but feeling and emotion, the images captured by the artists and film makers I have so far collected allow us to see more than a replica of the scene in front of the easel or through the window - they have given the viewer much more, a sense of movement and touch. They have depicted the wind, fire, rain, the coldness on a cliff top or the fear of an exploding mountain. Through the romantic notions of such artists the viewer can understand the turbulent moods of nature and the power that has given centuries of thinkers unanswerable questions about faith and Science. 


The film Koyaanasqatsi gathers together information from the way we live our lives today, it has amalgamated our lives into a chaotic and relentless glimpse of an overall picture. I have never felt as hopeless and hopeful all at the same time. It is imagery like this and questions of humanity and existence that can allow the imagination to roam free, there are no rules, just our own individual experiences and ways of life, those things we have been taught or have had passed onto us.


I will be exploring the artist in terms of there imagination, through literature, music and visual arts.
As a starting point in exploring other worlds I have found Dante's divine Comedy an inspiring and mesmerising read, with an incredible aesthetic encyclopedia of responses from artists.

DANTE &THE DIVINE COMEDY
Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno)by SANDRO BOTTICELLI


Dante Allighieri as a poem that was written between 1308 and 1321 and is seen as one of the greatest work of world literature to date. The poem represents allegorically the souls journey towards God through three stages, as Dante is guided on a journey through the afterlife encountering the realms of the dead, lasting from the night before Good Friday to the Wednesday after Easter in 1300.The journey is divided into three realms INFERNO, PURGATORIO and PARADISO
In the 1800's during the romantic period Dantes divine comedy became increasingly popular, Artists took to illustrating the story and in true romantic spirit immersed themselves in the emotion and theatrics of the work, creating an unusual and terrifying world of fantastical characters and landscapes.
I am interested in the INFERNO, as it is has captured the imagination of artists through the centuries and built up the visual aesthetic that we now have when considering heaven and hell - fiery pits, burning sands and a red devil, Dante's powerful descriptive poem has created a cocktail of visual ideas that are rooted in history. 

For a comprehensive archive of the worlds of Dante, including timelines, maps and chapter breakdowns click here - World Of Dante

GUSTAV DORE (1832 - 1883)
Gustav Dore painstakingly illustrated the entire works of the  Commedia from as early as 1855, financing the publication of the first book of the series himself. His depictions of Dantes Journey have come to be to many a true representation of the afterworlds and realms of death, and when reading Dante are now the visual representations we recognise the most. Dore has illustrated several literary publications including works by Homer, Goethe and Byron, but his work on the Divine Comedy achieved the greatest success 'As one critic wrote in 1861 upon publication of the illustrated Inferno: 

"we are inclined to believe that the conception and the interpretation come from the same source, that Dante and Gustave Doré are communicating by occult and solemn conversations the secret of this Hell plowed by their souls, traveled, explored by them in every sense."

INFERNO
SheWolf
Charon
Gates Of Hell


PURGATORIO
Celestial Helmsmen
Buonconte
Eagle
PARADISO
Glowing Souls
Just Souls
Celestial Rose
HELLISH NIGHTMARES





Rodins Gates of Hell 
La Porte de l'enfer 1880








Francisco Goya Saturn 1821 - 1823

These examples show the vivid and dark imaginations of artists toying with ideas of hell and humanity. Based on Greek mythology or religious content the unknown is depicted as nightmarish and sinister, deep colours fill canvases and the detail overwhelms as you search through and question the information captured.

Peter Nicolai Arbo - Aasgaardreien

CONTEMPORARY REFERENCES TO INFERNO
Depictions of Hell have been part of creative arts for centuries from painting, to sculpture, photography through to film we all have an idea of what we imagine hell to be like. We can pick out details that have been handed down to us through stories and folklore, we could even explain how something would feel with in the imagined landscape - the sands would burn or it would be hot etc, regardless of our religious beliefs. 

I have chosen a particular part of the Inferno to highlight as my favourite. I love the visual aesthetic it conjures up in my mind.
The following images combine the idea of landscape with the human suffering that we understand is represented in hell.


CANTO XIII
The Foliage not green, but of dark colour
The Branches not wholesome, but knotted and twisted
There were no apples but poisonous thorns

The Undergrowth is not so rough or dense
Where the wild beasts, which hate all civilization
Live between Cecina and Corneto

t is there that the filthy harpies make their nests
They who hunted the Trojans from the strophades 
Announcing dismally their future loss

They have broad wings, with human necks and faces
Feet with claws, their great bellies covered with feathers
They make lamentations on strange trees

And the good master said; 'Before you enter,
know that you are in the second ring,'
That is how he began,'And you will be until'

You set your eyes on the horrible stretch of sand:
Therefore look carefully, for you will see
things which you would not believe, if i reported them.

I heard cries coming from every direction
and yet saw nobody who could be crying
I became so bewildered that I stopped

I think he thought that i thought that those voices
and many there were, came from among the tree stumps
form people who were hiding themselves from us

Therefore the master said, 'If you break off
a little twig from one of these plants,
the thoughts you are thinking will be changed utterly'

Then I stretched out my hand a little way
and picked a little branch from a great thorn
And the trunk of it called out: 'why are you tearing me,'? 

Film still - AntiChrist     Lars Von Trier



Canto XIII - The Violent Against themselves in The wood of Suicides
This circle contains those who destroyed their own lives and substance. Suicides are included in this section Punishment: The suicides are encased in thorny trees, their leaves and branches exposed for the Harpies to eat them. The Harpies 
damage the shades, causing them to bleed. Only when the sinners bleed can they speak. The Violent against their Substance are driven naked through the woods by a pack of savage dogs. If caught the dogs will ripe off their limbs, which eventually regrow (continuing their torture).



WICKED TREES















INFERNO MAPS