Wk 2 Abstract Expressionism
The (de)Generate artists experienced the intensity and spontaneity of Expressionist mark making during a series of fast exercise paintings designed to stimulate awareness of body energy when painting. Painting exercises lasting only a 30 seconds to a minute challenged the students to “move the paint,” rapidly taking responsibility for the entire surface.
Some of required activities in the painting exercises:
Paint with the brush in your non-dominant hand.
Paint standing as far away as possible from the easel .
Paint as if you have no joints in your arm.
Paint with your brush in a fist that is placed under your chin.
These fast and impulsive paintings loosened the students up and energized them for the next painting—a collaborative work that covered the walls of the entire painting studio. The youth artists were encouraged to let loose, to model their work not on the look, but on the methods, of Abstract Expressionists Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, and Lee Krasner. Paint was flying as the students stabbed, threw, splatted and streaked the paint across the paper creating a beautiful and dynamic group painting.
