The course offers an overview of fundamental practices and conceptual loci of processual abstract painting, framing it in the wider field of contemporary art practices.

This course is designed to offer practical tools, ideas and foster an informed discussion on abstraction and processual painting. The course is directed to those students who have a basic understanding of painting techniques and principles and want to start unpack the complexity that lays under the category of abstract painting. The course revolves around three ideas: units of language, actions and procedures. The course will offer a critical and practical exploration of ideas such as deconstruction, rhythm, chain reaction, pace, time, pattern, manipulation and disruption of the surface, erasure, layering, mapping, code and diagrams, attitude, interference, performance and instructions. Students will be encouraged through critiques and group discussions to develop a peer exchange-based studio culture. The course is articulated through a series of workshops and projects both in the studio and to be done independently as well as visits to contemporary art shows aimed to let the students mature a more informed appraisal on process related issues in painting.

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The studio-based course is structured around three modules and a final project. Each phase of the course has homework to be done autonomously, project to be discussed in class and theory to generate an informed conversation. The course explores and challenges the conventions of painting as a merely visual artefacts, and how that relates to conceptual contemporary art, performance and relational art. Rather than rely on a fixed set of art materials and conventions, students will explore a wide spectrum of approaches and stimuli. The exercises, critiques, reviews, and small self-directed projects serve as tools to help students gain an increased awareness of the relationship between concept, medium, and process.

The first module (WEEK 1 to 6) revolves around experimentation, the concept of deconstruction, units of language, organisation of marks and rhythm. As students develop their own approach to mark-making, this section emphasises conceptual as well as perceptual and procedural components at the root of abstraction with an emphasis on the medium specific friction.

The second module (WEEK 8 to 11) is centred around disrupting and challenging the surface unity along with the image coherence. Cutting and rearranging, folding and masking, centre and periphery are the subjects of this second part of the course. The aim of this phase is to spur a confident and intimate relation with the support, understanding it as a membrane and a filter, a physical and psychological body challenging the given of flatness and integrity. A focus of this section will be the conceptual and material dialectic between object and subject.

The third part of the course (WEEK 12 to 14) is centred on the instructional, performative, narrative, diagrammatic, code based and relational approach. Through short lectures, readings, exercises, re-enactments of performances, workshops and self-lead projects students will learn about the different approaches to instructional, performance based and relational painting.

Across the course students are required to keep a notebook with their notes, projects, ideas, observations, etc.

Students are required to work on their studio projects one hour outside the class for every hour scheduled in class.

Attendance is mandatory (every two unjustified absences one mark will be subtracted)

Required course materials and expected expenditure for the students

The studio fee will cover most of the expenses and the material used through the course. However, additional and personal material is required to be bough:

1 One notebook A4 10€

2 Fabrics of different kind (they can be bought in textiles shops or found) 25€

3 A found object (it can be bought in a flea market or found)

On completion of this course, students should:

· Have improved their understanding of the methodologies, techniques, with a focus on process, workflow and attitude in painting, developing a personal sensibility toward materials, understanding the fundaments of a studio practice.

· Have improved their ability to look at with sensibility and discuss contemporary painting and art and being able to broadly frame it historically and conceptually.

· Have improved their ability to critically assess their own work and to elaborate on and learn from looking at the work of other artists developing a peer-based studio culture.

ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY

Attendance is mandatory due to the studio-based nature of the course (every two unjustified absences one mark will be subtracted).

It's necessary to make up for every absence.

You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed. The final exam period runs until ____________

WEEK 1
Introduction

Illustration of the course and deconstruction/abstraction

Mark-making explorations

Drawing fast and slow, pouring, moving the paint, erasing, etc.

Start First Project: copy of an abstract painting

To demonstrate the deceiving nature of abstract painting (Rothko, Amy Sillman, Charline von Hayl) students will be asked to copy an abstract painting facing the difficult complexity of casual vs deliberate surface explorations, materiality, density of paint, conceptual attitudes, ways of thinking, intentions. A1 paper

60 mins

WEEK 2

Continue First Project: copy of an abstract painting

To demonstrate the deceiving nature of abstract painting (Rothko, Amy Sillman, Charline von Hayl) students will be asked to copy an abstract painting facing the difficult complexity of casual vs deliberate surface explorations, materiality, density of paint, layering, transparency and opacity, pace and time, gesture, body, conceptual and psychological attitudes, ways of thinking, intentions. A1 paper

2 hours

After the exercise we will discuss the difficulties and the problems encountered, comparing and commenting.

45 mins

Homework:

due by WEEK 3

Students have one more WEEK to work on the First Project (it will be part of the midterm assessment 20% of the final grade)

WEEK 3

Extracting marks (deconstruction/abstraction)

Start Second Project: Patterns, marks arrangements and layering

Deconstruction of a chair - building a vocabulary of marks:

QUICKLY WITH PENCILS

1-Draw the chair simply using a soft pencil 6-7B. Pay particular attention to the curves, the joint, the thickening of lines, the correct shape and proportions, no shading.

2-Draw on a new page curve by curve, line by line all the parts of the chair. Think about it as annotation. Make sure you Isolate all the parts of the chair one by one, draw the exact curve with the exact intensity. This activity is abstraction in its primary and literal sense.

3-Chose one of these marks and put it on a new page. We will try to find different ways to organise the marks.

First organise them in a chain: where do they link? There is more than one way to link them?

Then overlap them, rotate, repeat, scale. Do it methodically, keeping the process under control. The mark’s shape is in the limits of its possibilities consistent throughout the drawing. Do five compositional drawings on five different pages.

30 mins

There can be, and usually there will be, multiple building blocks in a single work.

Deconstruction of a chair - building a vocabulary of marks with paint:

First we familiarise with the brushes and their ability to make marks on paper.

15 mins

1-Draw the chair simply using a brush and acrylic on paper. Pay particular attention to the curves, the joint, the thickening of lines, the correct shape and proportions, no shading.

2-Draw on a new page curve by curve, line by line all the parts of the chair. Think about it as annotation. Make sure you Isolate all the parts of the chair one by one, draw the exact curve with the exact intensity. This activity is abstraction in its primary and literal sense.

15 mins

3-Chose one of these marks and put it on a new page. We will try to find different ways to organise the marks.

First organise the marks in a chain: where do they link? There is more than one way to link them?

Then overlap them, rotate, repeat, scale (change brush if needed). Do it methodically, keeping the process under control. Keep the mark consistent throughout the drawing. Do five drawings on five different sheets of paper.

45 mins

Guided activity in class

Introduction to layering and patterns: different kind of patterns

0- We cut out the same shape and we do some exercises together.

30mins

1-Make three or four stencils cut out shapes from the marks of the deconstructed chair.

15mins

2-Using acrylic color we paint the stencils in different arrangements: repetition and variation of patterns based on a grids and diagonals, intuitive broken order, etc.

30mins

3-With these tools (the stencils you just produced), paint a fridge, a dog, something hanging from the ceiling, a coat hanger.

45 mins

4-We paint a background first and then we start arranging some marks through the stencil technique. After, we layer a new set of marks.

45 mins

Homework:

Continue independently the project started in class

“Gone With the Wind” by Ketty La Rocca

Make your own version of “Gone With the Wind” by Ketty La Rocca. Choose a postcard and paint it in four degrees of simplification. This will force you to create a hierarchy of marks.

Mimic the process in the work by Ketty La Rocca.

What are the marks we can give up and still retain the image?

What is the threshold where we stop recognising the subject?

What marks are more or less “important” in both terms of composition and for recognising the subject?

WEEK 4

Continue Second Project: Patterns, marks arrangements and layering

Homework

Finish the Second Project due by WEEK 6

Readings

Amy sillman

WEEK 5

Continue Second Project: Patterns, marks arrangements and layering

Homework

Finish the Second Project due by WEEK 6

WEEK 6

Units of language

Guided activity in class

Exploration of negative and positive space using stamps made with cut vegetables as units of language. A3 paper.

75 mins

Discussion of units of language as more abstract concepts, “The game of life”, complexity emerging from simple rules.

Chose one unit: one hour, one word, one mistake, one memory, how to combine and make interesting things emerge from it.

What I’m thinking does influence how I paint?

Attitudes, Time and Pace

Painting and Poetry, Coding Informations, Diagrams

Guided activity in class n1

We will read together a poem and color code it.

30 mins

We will look at projects about color coding and diary Maria Morganti

We will make some of the classic surrealist games

Diagrams

Amy Sillman, Louise Bourgeois, Ad Reinhard, Cage, Philip Glass

Guided activity in class n2

Make a diagram of your relations in Rome: use distance, thickness of lines, size of the elements or any other tool at your disposal to make “clear” the relations between the different parts.

30 mins

Guided activity in class n3

Make a diagram (no words allowed) of the plot of your favourite movie or book

30 mins

WEEK 7

Midterm

Each assessment session will be in the form of a group critique very similarly to the ones done in class during the course.

It is mandatory to make a portfolio for the midterm and one for the final exam with clear, neat pictures of the project, complete with captions, photos of the notebook, sketches and projects, observations and any other relevant material.

Midterm (40%)

-        Project one (20%)

-        Project two (20%)

Attendance is mandatory due to the studio-based nature of the course (every two unjustified absences one mark will be subtracted).

Homework and readings are mandatory (every two missing homework one mark will be subtracted).

Keeping a notebook is mandatory (if absent or poorly done one mark will be subtracted)

Homework:

Bring to next class some flea market objects/toys that you are willing to dispose of

Bring to class 1 meter of three different fabrics

WEEK 8

Workshop on stretching unconventional materials

We will experiment and observe what happens when we paint with different tools on unconventional materials: eco-leather, velvet, plastic, printed fabric, regular cotton canvas

Starting Project 3

Work on unconventional materials

Homework:

Continue Project 3

WEEK 9

Continue Project 3

Work on unconventional materials

Homewok:

Finish Project 3 due by WEEK 10

WEEK 10

Starting Project 4: 20 Works A2

Getting in troubles and decision making

Washes, contradictory layers

Guided activity in class n2

Layering through rhythm and washes

1-We will work with acrylic and gouaches on more than on sheets of thick paper or light cardboard at the same time. First there will be a demonstration of the process done by the professor. Time is key, students will be guided to observe and understand the paper absorption qualities and drying time.

20mins

2-The work procede like this: first we draw or paint something (using if we want the cliché we produced in previous classes as well as all the other tools we have at our disposal), we either decide if we want to let it dry or to wash it. Then we proceed with a second layer of marks and repeat the process. Produce at least six works. Focus will be on difference and repetition, contradictory layers and interaction between different densities of paint and layers.

We will work on this for the remaining time

WEEK 11

Continue Project 4

Disruption of the surface

Order and disorder

Looking at the work of Shaun O’Dell

Guided activity in class n2

Cutting

Observing and analysing the work by Shaun O’Dell, we reverse engineer a methodology in the breaking of order and logic. What is the difference between Amy Sillman and Shaun O’Dell’s work?

We will create our own work breaking the surface with cuts. We can use masking tape as a starting point.

The objective is to have at least 5 works done by the end of the class.

Homework

Finish Project 4 due by WEEK12

WEEK 12

Starting Final Project

2 work on canvas at least 50x70

WEEK 13

Visiting Artist Studio and art Gallery

WEEK 14

Final Review to finalise the final pieces.

Planning of the final show.

WEEK 15

Final critique of projects three - four and final project

and small show

Each assessment session will be in the form of a group critique very similarly to the ones done in class during the course.

It is mandatory to make a portfolio for the midterm and one for the final exam with clear, neat pictures of the project, complete with captions, photos of the notebook, sketches and projects, observations and any other relevant material.

Final exam (60%)

-        Project three (20%)

-        Project four (20%)

-        Final project (20%)