Object study

Diploma Art task 1

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Choose an object that interestes you for both it’s visual qualities, and
its symbolic value. Preferably something small enough to hold in your
hand. This will be the object/s you will study so choose carefully.It
helps if the object is interesting to draw, and can lend itself to multiple
meanings

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Draw your object
using as many
different techniques
as you can and from
different points of
view. Variation is key.
Pages here are from
student Ewa
Nizalowska’s visual
arts journal. Ewa
takes a simple
object (a common
drinking glass) and
using different
media and contour
lines, shading and
refelections, she
obseves it from
many different
points of view.
Ewa practises observational drawing of a
glass using cross hatching to create
subtle variations in tone. She has written
“This is not a glass” boldly across the top
of the page, referring to René Magritte’s
famous painting “The treachery of
images”. With the addition of this text,
she is introducing a conceptual way of
thinking about the subject.
The treachery of images by Renee Magritte
Place your object in different contexts and draw. Alter
the surroundings, the composition, color, and/or
juxtaposition (place it next to something else.) How
does this change the meaning of the object?
 Use different materials
to interpret your object,
such as pencil, paint,
clay, words, fur, film,
cardboard, wax. Here
Ewa has turned her
glass into a cartoon
where the characters
discuss the
philosophical idea of
“the glass half
empty/full”.
Investigate meanings of
your object in other Art
genres- here we see the
cup and iconography.
This is a “Vanitas “ painting
by Francisco de Zurbarán.
The water in the cup
symbolises purity and the
flower a ‘mystic’ rose.
There is a religious
symbolism as well as a
reference to the transitory
nature of life where the
“bloom of the rose” is
fleeting. This is also an
excellent exammple of a
keenly observed
observational painting.
Meret Oppenheim’s
“Object 1936” (Also
known as breakfast in
fur) began as a joke.
However it became an
influential Surrealist
piece, cementing
Opeenheim’s
reputation. The soft
tactile surface is
directly opposite to the
usual normal surface of
the cup and the mix of
messages and
associations are varied
and both humorous
and disturbing.
Object study expectations:
• You are expected to make at least 8 different detailed drawn studies
of your objects in a very experimental way, and one 3D.
• You need to link two of your studies to two visual ideas taken from
two very different artists that you have researched – using their style
or genre in your work.
• Your final piece needs to combine your two objects in an unusual way
with links to at least one srtist you have researched.
• Plan class work and homework in your planner, and add agreed
deadlines so that your work is finished in time.