Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Gerhard Richter Inspiration: Stage Two



Stage Two - 28" H x 25.5" W
Deconstructed Printing, Monoprint, Stitched



This is my third posting relating to work inspired by Gerhard Richter. I began by monoprinting a 45" x 45" piece of fabric which has been cut in a number of pieces and I am making new work from that and incorporating additional fabric. My use of the idea of "Stage One" and "Stage Two" references the ongoing use of the original fabric.

In "Stage One" the fabric was presented in relation to a very dramatic fabric with heavy black painting and I used intense stitching on the "Richter" fabric to emphasis shapes and colors. For "Stage Two" I am using a larger cut of the fabric and I have combined it with a light fabric with a rough spiral design. The second fabric was made using the Deconstructed Printing process. This relationship is more unified in that it is more likely to be read as one rectangle rather than a diptych. The surface of the work is very active but feels light and the many layers of dye and dye markings are emphasized by the stitching.

I choose to quilt the left side with straight line stitching and the right side with organic free-motion stitching. I wanted to acknowledge the differences in the two fabrics but still keep the stitching "in the background" and allow the surface and color be the most important of the composition.



Detail 1 Stage Two
Free-motion quilting with multiple colors of thread.




Detail 2 Stage Two
Straight-line stitched with off-white thread.



Due to the slightly larger size of this piece, I have decided to use a facing rather than frame the work as I plan to do for Stage One. I have begun to add the facing but as I look at the image as presented here, I may go back and alter the composition by removing a couple of inches from the top. It just doesn't look comfortable yet. I'll let you know if I do that.

I still have more of the Richter inspired fabric so there is more to come. If you haven't visited his website please do. It is wonderful work.

Thank you for visiting and I love hearing from you.