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Artist Research Paper by Hillary Du 2009-2010
Citation preview
Du 1
Hillary Du
Mr. Gallagher
AP English Literature
16 April 2010
Raissa Venables: Painting the Soul of a Room through Photography
Raissa Venables is a photographic artist. By combining modern technology with
art techniques resembling neo-cubism, she presents a warped and psychological point of
view of a rather dull place. Venables’ artistic style reflects a great influence from many
noteworthy contributors to the history of art. One of the more important ones is Jan Van
Eyck from the Early Renaissance age who painted portraits with vividly bright and
precise details. Although she uses high-end technology, she distorts the photographs’
angles and symmetries to generate different perceptions. In contrast to David Hockney’s
notion that old masters of art attempted to present hand-painted portraits to look more
realistic, Venables seems to attempt to do the opposite by composing her photographs
into a hand-painted looking piece of art. Wagner and Uhrmeister observe “the seemingly
inert settings of everyday life are sensual and living places” in which she strategically
chooses to challenge our humanly creativeness to bring out our natural connection to fine
art. She suggests that as we “mark the environment, our environment marks us” in
which case inhabitants and visitors of said places permanently leave them with a story
containing their “deeds, dreams and nightmares.” Without any physical human presences
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7in her photographs, Venables aims to implicitly tell a story through raw human intuition
(sec. “Raissa Venables” par. 1).
Venables was born in New Paltz, New York in 1977. She attended the Kansas
City Art Institute to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from 1995 to 1999. She
then continued her studies at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard
College to get her Master of Fine Arts degree from 1991 to 2002. Although she is from
New York City, she is quite active in Germany where she holds many of her solo and
group exhibitions at places such as Kunstverein Ulm and Galerie Herrmann & Wagner
(sec. “Vita” par. 1). She is currently teaching at the School of Visual Art in New York in
the Photography Faculty. She has been there since 2003. She has held many lectures
around the country in the states of Connecticut, New York, New Mexico, New Jersey,
and Missouri. Venables has also completed residency programs in Berlin, Germany in
2004 and New Mexico from 2006 to 2007 (sec. “BIO”). Her work can be found in public
collections and also in a book dedicated solely to her work by Hatje Cantz Verlag with an
essay by Matthias Harder and an interview by Lori Waxman (Verlag).
Venables uses a complex technique of digital image processing to manipulate her
art to achieve many different perspectives at once. Once she chooses an interesting
location, she then takes pictures of that place in as many angles as she can. The frames
are then scanned and rearranged on her computer. Venables fulfills the task of
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combining many focal points into a single photograph. This is comparable to a film
sequence (Harder). She is most likely inspired by filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock
who believes that “making a film means to tell a story” and the “installation of the
camera at a given angle [should] give the scene its maximum impact” ("Alfred (Joseph)
Hitchcock”). This would support reasoning behind Venables’ many angle shots because
in the end she merges all of the shots into one perfect photograph that ideally serves her
overall purpose. Her style also resembles neo-cubism, which is an “attempt to represent
multiple points of view of space and objects simultaneously.” It is a “combination of
cubism and new media technologies” and is done by utilizing four video cameras to
capture an object in a 360° view, “one integrated 3D space.” The original concept of
cubism was originally developed between 1908 and 1912 and was greatly experimented
through the works of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque (Amaoka par. 3). Venables
displays the “cubistic structure and expressionistic colors of her plates” that “integrate the
classic modern stylistics in contemporary photography” (sec. “Raissa Venables” par. 1).
Renaissance art greatly influences Venables’ work. She is particularly drawn to
the famous oil painter Jan Van Eyck who is credited to being the inventor of oil painting.
That is in fact untrue because the art of painting with oils dates back to much earlier than
Van Eyck’s time. However, Van Eyck is certainly recognized to have mastered this
technique and is credited to developing a “stable varnish that would dry at a consistent
rate” made with linseed, nut oils, and resins. There is “striking realism in microscopic
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detail” in his portraits. He “infuse[d] painted jewels and precious metals with a glowing
inner light by means of subtle gazes over the highlights” that manipulates the lighting in
his paintings (Pioch sec. “Biography” par. 3). This gives the paintings an unreal amount
of excess light, which is observable through Venables’ photographs of naturally dark
crevices and rooms. Every object in the photographs is clearly visible and holds lucid
details, things which might have been lost without the excess light because of the natural
shadows of the chosen area. Van Eyck’s portraits were known for his “precision” in
which he was able to even “capture the individual hairs of a fur collar” with “neither
microscope nor telescope” (“Jan van Eyck” par. 6).Although the places where Venables
chooses to take her pictures are naturally shadowed and dull, this addition of aesthetic
light illuminates the many details that shadows would originally mask. The extra
lighting can also attribute to a religious context.
David Hockney’s thesis in his book Secret Knowledge in which he tries to prove
the reason behind how hand-painted art started looking more and more like photographs
taken with modern technology today. His thesis was that they might have used an optical
device known as the “camera ludica.” It is a “prism on a stick” that reflects the image
only a piece of paper below. Tracing the image would allow for better symmetry and
detail for each portrait as opposed to how much less precise it would turn out if drawn by
freehand. Hockney attempted to prove his thesis by juxtaposing artwork in chronological
order ranging from northern Europe to southern Europe over the course of approximately
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five hundred years. This was not done to insinuate or assume that this means the artists
“cheat[ed].” Hockney put into consideration that “it requires great skill” and does not
make drawing any “easier.” The use of an optic lens simply showed the advancement of
mankind and a new approach to the world of art. It “demonstrated a new vivid way of
looking at and representing the material world” by allowing artists to create more
“immediate” and “powerful” images (Hockney, “Through the Looking Glass” par. 7).
However, now it is contemporary fashion to “rediscover the lost techniques of the
old masters” by attempting to do the same, but this time with our own updated
technology. It is no longer too difficult to create a portrait to look like a photograph
taken by a camera. Venables does the opposite and attempts to recreate the perfect
images that modern technology produces into painting-like artwork. She achieves this by
distorting an otherwise perfect picture. The many captures of different angles diverge
into a single image, but the warping technique generates the imperfections that unguided
painting would naturally enclose.
One of her photographs depicts a church in Duomo di Orvieto, Italy. The church
is brightly lit but does not have many windows. There are eight visible windows, but the
light sources come from three main windows in the center and one to the left and one to
the right. There are also three outstanding turquoise blocks of architecture on the ceiling.
The turquoise symbolizes strength and protection from harm. This aspect resembles Jan
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Van Eyck’s portrait named the Annunciation in which “three bright windows” represent
the Trinity “and of how Christ is the light of the world” (Pioch sec. “Symbolic light in
van Eyck” par. 1). Both portraits render religious symbolism. Venables’ main focus of
the photograph is the altar. The altar is simple and, although inanimate, truly exudes
power. The most light and color from the religious paintings comes from the middle
where the altar is and everything else surrounds it. Wagner and Uhrmeister praise that
the colors are especially “intoxicating” (sec. “Raissa Venables” par. 1). They also bear a
resemblance to Van Eyck’s jewel-infused oil paints. This is partially credited to the
excess lighting because it accents the hue of each individual color, especially the bright
turquoise ceiling, reddish mahogany floors, and sandy colored steps.
The largest and most eye-catching objects are the oversized steps. Perhaps
suggesting that the altar is divine and sacred, the stairs would lead to a higher place,
namely heaven. The left side of the room is noticeably darker and much more cluttered.
It bends towards the altar, which is similar to the act of begging for mercy. The right
side is tidy and noticeably more illuminated as light is reflected off of the floor in a larger
surface area than the left side.
Venables could be suggesting that the people who come into this church possess
two qualities: good or bad. This is probably based on her moral values, but the main
point of this photograph is to tell of exactly what kind of people go to church. There are
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good people that are frequently cleansed of their sins and there are the impure souls that
seek forgiveness. She is able to achieve this through her lighting contrasts between the
two sides of the rooms. Although the photograph is illuminated as a whole, the left side
is considerably darker in color. This is also true for Jan Van Eyck’s portrait as well. He
also sections off places where the lighting differs in luminosity. Although the portrait is
warped, every detail is kept in contact and explicitly precise and deliberate.
Another photograph is named The Jesse James Room. The bright red on the
walls and the overall red theme can either stand for love or rage. Both are very
passionate emotions and the room implicitly signifies a struggle with the heart. It is a
bedroom that seems to fall into the center. The most eye–catching object is the bed
because the color contrasts with the redness of the whole room. The pure white bed is
bent in an awkward angle, and the floor seems to guide along the same angle. The room
is not symmetrical as the walls can be seen to be bent at unusual angles. The room seems
to oppose the laws of gravity because the chairs, bed, light stands, and dresser resist
falling to the ground. The objects bend with the room as if it were natural to be so. The
door is severely slanted. This room is particularly darker than the rest of Venables’
photographs. The floor is dark, probably black. However, she still manages to
incorporate the perfect amount of light to the room so that there are no shadows that
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would potentially block any details. The window is exuberantly bright which indicates a
sunny day on the outside of that gloomy room.
In this photograph, Venables may be pointing out that the person that lived in that
room had a glimpse of hope right outside the door. The lone bed signifies loneliness and
the white bed sheets might suggest a very pure and innocent person lived there. That
person’s story contains a plot concerning internal struggles with the heart and problems
socializing. Another interpretation could be that the person is harboring a lot of anger
and holding a grudge against the outside world. It is a punishment for him/her to stay in
the room because as the room closes in, they suffocate from their own extreme emotions.
It is Venables’ ultimate goal to allow her photographs to be interpreted in as many ways
as they can. She is training the audience’s imagination and human intuition. Venables is
able to represent these different interpretations by her attention to color. Red is a
particularly diverse color in which it holds more than one meaning. By allowing some
darkness in the photograph, the shades of red differ and therefore the emotion of each
area of the room differs.
Venables also has a photograph named Opened Tent. The outstanding colors are
orange, purple and blue. There is a blinding light right in the center of the tent. Venables
manipulated her frames into a final picture that portrayed a 360° perspective within a 2-
dimensional plane. That blinding light is from the top of the tent and is from the sun
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outside. The light is blurry and not typical of the morning sun. It provides more than
enough light to distribute around the entire tent. The lining of the top of the tent is how
on the side of the tent. The sides of the tent get drawn into the center of the photograph
creating an illusion that makes it seem farther away. This actually stretches the tent out
and makes it much more spacious. The objects in the tent are neatly arranged and
diversely colored. The natural wrinkles of the tent and the sleeping bag are kept. There
are no straight lines in this photograph, which aids the fact that it should resemble a
painting more than a picture taken by a camera.
Notice that all of her photographs always have some sort of presence from the
sun. This gives off a very optimistic feel to her overall personality. The areas being
photographed often originally have no persona, but after manipulation of lighting, the
whole room’s aura changes. Venables manipulates the idea of neo-cubism and applies it
to her artwork. There is no need to rotate objects to see 360° perspectives anymore
because all the angles can fit into one single frame. What she is suggesting from this tent
photograph is that even in a closed and cramped environment, it is appropriate to look on
the brighter side of things. If you stay positive and think brightly (i.e. the bright colors)
then the enclosed feeling will stretch out and become non-existent.
Through observation of Venables’ artwork, it is possible that photographs can
mimic paintings. David Hockney still admired those “old masters of art” (Hockney) that
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used optic lenses because it still takes a true artist to be able to create fill in the empty
spaces after tracing. Raissa Venables can be accredited with the same accomplishment
and title because she explored a new way to portray art. Although warped, her pictures
are still able to demonstrate techniques involving details and management of lighting.
Venables proves that the physical presence of a human is not necessary to understand
human emotions. Human intuition can perfectly understand the emotion and soul of a
room through the techniques executed. Perhaps over the years, humans have forgotten
about human intuition and their connection to art had gotten dim. Raissa Venables’ goal
was to reinforce that relationship with nature because it is important to understand art. It
can forever preserve our existence.
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Works Cited
"Alfred (Joseph) Hitchcock." Contemporary Authors Online. Gale, 2003. Reproduced
in Biography Resource Center. Michigan: Gale, 2010. 5 Nov. 2003. 7 Apr. 2010
<http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/servlet/BioRC?
vrsn=149&locID=mlin_b_bpublic&ste=47&docNum=H1000045947>.
This is a very detailed biography of Hitchcock’s life and passion for filmmaking.
It touches on theme, style, and film effects/techniques. Venables was influenced
by his approach to movie making from his techniques.
Amaoka, Toshitaka. “NeoCubism.” Amaoka. 22 Mar. 2010
<http://www.amaoka.com/neo/index.htm>.
This site gives a summary of the history of neo-cubism and how it came to be. It
describes its concept and its process through technological terms. Venables’ style
resembles neo-cubism through the process of gathering many perspectives and
joining them all into one.
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“BIO.” Raissa Venables. 22 Mar. 2010
<http://raissavenables.com/raissa_venables_bio.html>.
This is Venables’ official website. The “BIO” section includes the history of her
exhibitions, collections, lectures, awards and honors, etc. It also includes a section
filled with articles all about Venables and her artwork.
"Jan van Eyck." International Dictionary of Art and Artists. St. James Press, 1990.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Michigan: Gale, 2010. 1 Jan. 1990.
11 Apr. 2010 <http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/servlet/BioRC>.
This contains Jan Van Eyck’s biography.
Harder, Mathias. “Raissa Venables.” Roswell Artist-in-Residence Foundation. 2005.
Helmut Newton Foundation. 22 Mar. 2010
<http://www.rair.org/MarshellGallery-Venables.htm>.
This part of the website displays Venables’ works present in the Marshall Gallery
in 2007. It also gives a short analysis of her stylistic approaches and techniques.
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Hockney, David. Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old
Masters. New York: Penguin Group, 2001.
Hockney attempts to prove old masters of art used optics and lenses to aid in their
masterpieces. He observes that paintings advanced to extremely precise detail and
angled precision within mere years from each other. Venables also uses
technology in her artwork.
Hockney, David. "Through the looking glass: David Hockney explains how a question
about some Ingres drawings led to a whole new theory of Western art. (Point Of
Departure)." History Today Ltd., 2001. Expanded Academic ASAP. 7 Apr. 2010
<http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-
Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T007&prodId=EAIM&docId=A80163110&so
urce=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=mlin_b_bpublic&version=1.0>.
This gives a more in depth preview of David Hockney’s thesis in his book Secret
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Knowledge. He notices how paintings started to look more like photographs from
modern technology. Venables does the opposite by trying to make her
photographs looks like paintings.
Pioch, Nicolas. “Eyck, Jan van.” WebMuseum. 19 Sept. 2002. 22 Mar. 2010
<http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/eyck>.
This site gives the biography of Eyck’s life and historical contribution through oil
painting in which he is credited to be founder of (although he was not the original
creator). It analyzes some of his art to show his oil-painting and lighting
techniques. His lighting techniques greatly influence Venables’ use of light in her
photographs.
Verlag, Hatje Cantz. “Raissa Venables.” Hatje Cantz Verlag GmbH & Co KG, 2006.
A book of Venables’ artwork that includes an essay by Matthias . and an
interview by Lori Waxman.
Wagner, Cai, and Margret Uhrmeister. “Raissa Venables.” Wagner + Partner. 5 Feb.
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2010. 22 Mar. 2010 <http://galerie-wagner-
partner.com/dox/1371.ghiFv.H.1.En.php>.
This site gives a short overview of Venables’ film sequence technique and
purpose behind her art. It also displays some of her photographs along with a list
of her exhibitions, education, public collections, private collections, and grants
and awards.
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Works Consulted
Baldass, Ludwig. Jan Van Eyck. London: Phaidon Press, 1952.
A collection of Van Eyck’s paintings. Venables is greatly influenced by his style.
"Cubism." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 7 Apr. 2010
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/145744/Cubism>.
This article briefly tells about how cubism came about, its founders, and its effect
through multiple perspectives. This relates to how Venables takes many shots of a
single area and combines it into one single perspective.
Dhanens, Elisabeth. Van Eyck. New York: Art Books Intl Ltd / Alpine, 1981.
An art book displaying work from both Van Eyck brothers, Hubert and Jan. This
is to show more examples of how the Van Eyck technique of lighting influenced
Venables.
“Eyck, Jan Van or Jean.” Dictionary of Artists. 2006. Print.
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A biography of Van Eyck’s personal life as well as a short analysis of his style.
Venables is greatly influenced by his style.
Eyck, Van. The Holy Lamb. Belgium: Editions Marion, 1946.
A collection of Van Eyck’s paintings. Most are of religious context and displays
his mastery of oil painting. His use of color, detail, and lighting is crucial to
Venables’ own artwork.
"Hubert and Jan van Eyck." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale
Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills,
Mich.: Gale, 2010. 12 Dec. 1998. 11 Apr. 2010
<http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/servlet/BioRC?
vrsn=149&locID=mlin_b_bpublic&ste=47&docNum=K1631002104>.
This is a lengthy biography about the two Eyck brothers. It talks about their
contributions to the art world through oil painting.
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Jansen, Marten. “Pablo Picasso cubism.” Paintings.name. 7 Apr. 2010 <http://pablo-
picasso.paintings.name/>.
This site gives the definition of the art of cubism and its origins. It connects this
form of art to Picasso and how he integrated it into his style. Venables’ style is
similar to neo-cubism, which is a modern twist to this older style.
Lucie-Smith, Edward. “David Hockney.” The Artchive. 7 Apr. 2010
<http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hockney.html>.
This is a section about David Hockney from Lucie-Smith’s book Lives of the
Great 20th-Century Artists. It is a small biography about Hockney. Venables is
influenced from his film stills and collages.
"Robert Campin." International Dictionary of Art and Artists. St. James Press, 1990.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Michigan: Gale, 2010. 7 Apr. 2010.
<http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/servlet/BioRC?
vrsn=149&locID=mlin_b_bpublic&ste=47&docNum=K1639000066>.
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This is a biography of Robert Campin, a Flemish painter and a significant
contributor to art history. It includes style, works, and publications. He
experimented with oil paints with egg based tempera to achieve bright colors.
This is reflected through Venables’ vivid photographs.
Specialy Graphic Imaging Association. 22 Mar. 2010
<http://www.sgia.org/graphic_imagers/technology/digital/abc/abc1.html>.
This gives a short explanation of what digital image processing is.
"Stanley Kubrick." Contemporary Authors Online. Gale, 2003. Reproduced in
Biography Resource Center. Michigan: Gale, 2010. 19 Feb. 2003. 7 Apr. 2010
<http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/servlet/BioRC?
vrsn=149&locID=mlin_b_bpublic&ste=47&docNum=H1000056241>.
This is a detailed biography of Kubrick’s road to becoming a filmmaker. It talks
about his contribution to contemporary films. There is a list of his works
including periodicals and screenplays. Venables’ work may prove some
inspiration from Kubrick’s film techniques.
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"Technological Innovation and Aesthetic Response." History of the American Cinema.
David A. Cook. Ed. Charles Harpole. Vol. 9. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 2000. [355]-396. Gale Virtual Reference Library. 7 Apr. 2010
<http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/ps/i.do?&id=GALE
%7CCX2584500023&v=2.1&u=&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w>.
This is an overview of cinematography. It discusses Kubrick’s use of a “series of
snap-zooms” in his films and their effect to the overall outcome. Venables uses a
similar technique to snap-zooming to capture different perspectives of one area.
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Venables, Raissa. Duomo di Orvieto. 2008. 16 Apr. 2010
<http://raissavenables.com/duomo_orvieto_l.jpg>.
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Venables, Raissa. The Jesse James Room. 2009. 16 Apr. 2010
<http://raissavenables.com/jesse_james_room_nm_l.jpg>.
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Venables, Raissa. Opened Tent. 2002. 16 Apr. 2010
<http://raissavenables.com/opened_tent_l.jpg>.
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