Monday, September 27, 2010

The Happening

This hilarious guy named Tom who goes to the Academy with me had a get-together that he called the Happening. We went over and he had nine 3 foot by 4 foot panels prepared and we all had to wear clothes we didn't mind getting paint on. We were then given specific instructions:

1. NO touching the panels
2. NO just "tossing" paint onto the panels
3. NO "things"

This is all abstract action painting. You were supposed to use the dowels and paint and use gestures to create the marks on the panels. It is somewhat ironic, since the Academy is all about realism... and this type of painting is almost the antithesis of realist painting. Tom started by putting the initial strokes onto the panels:


Then everyone else stepping in and starting covering the panels. After the first part, we took a step back and we had this:

After that, we took all the panels apart and each person took "ownership" of a panel.... keeping in mind what the neighboring panels are doing.

The surprising thing was that even after each panel was taken over by an individual, once they were all put back together, that all looked pretty cohesive.

This was really such a wonderful experience and it was nice to get to know everyone. I didn't get a chance to take a photo of the next 2 stages so once I get them, I'll post them.

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