DP ART EXHIBITION - Jakob von der Brake

Jakob von der Brake

Influence, 2021

Medium: Pastel’s on A4 paper

Size: Each 12 × 20 cm

The main focus with this work was to show the effect that different influences may have on the final outcome. The art piece depicts the same figure three times, however each painting is still very different to the others especially in colour. The colour of the painting represents the feeling of the cyclist on his journey which is changed in each painting depending on situational occurrences influencing his bike ride.

Center of Attention, December 2021

Medium: Acrylic paint on newspaper and book pages

Size: 80 × 60 cm

This painting consists of a face painted on newspaper and book pages highlighting a time in my life where I was the centre of attention for a lot of people. When battling an illness at a young age a lot of the attention was on me, even leading me to be featured in the news twice.

My intention was to represent this period of my life that tells a story which I can reflect on and be proud of the ending which it had.

Step by Step, 2021

Medium: Pastel on laser-copy

Size: 22 × 55 cm

This piece demonstrates how people do things one step at a time and require patience in order to do so. The work delineates a cyclist riding a bike, but the work is split into four sections. The viewer can focus on each piece individually rather than all at once which represents how the quality of an outcome is better when done in intervals. The art work no longer shows me speeding across the painting but me taking my time in order to take in the world around me.

My Reflection

Medium: Acrylic paint on canvas, and concrete

Size: 20 × 20 cm, and Approx 17 × 20 cm

This painting and the sculpture are self-portraits, with the main focus being a representation of how we reflect on ourselves. The blue colour is used to represent water as a reflective surface while the geometric shapes represent the distorting effect that the moving water creates. The contrast between the concrete sculpture and the acrylic painting shows how we can reflect on our old self (hence the colour grey) in comparison to the current self.

True-Self, Feb 2021

Medium: Acrylic paint on canvas

Size: 60 × 40 cm

This fragmented self-portrait aims to depict one’s true identity. The green and red complementary colours are bold and clash. Green is used to symbolise positive aspects while red symbolises the negative. Positive and negative aspects are present in everyone and accepting them both is the only way to show your true colours. The face can not be identified when only looking at the green or only looking at the red - both are needed to identify the face.

The Ride

Medium: Acrylic paint on canvas

Size: 30 × 90 cm

This painting depicts a cyclist wearing a purple sweatshirt, riding a yellow bike during autumn. The cyclist remains in motion through the entire image. The change in colour shows how the gradient between positive and negative spaces are blurred while the repeating figure shows the speed. The viewer looks at the image for a short time but in that time observes the beginning and the end of the cyclist's journey. The work shows the cyclist moving across the canvas and was influenced by Umberto Boccioni’s futurist paintings.

Shades of Me, December 2021

Medium: Acrylic paint on canvas

Size: 40 × 60 cm

This collated self-portrait portrays various features of myself segmented together. The variety of neutral colours illustrates the colour scheme which makes up my face. The segments of the face are 2D but due to the fragmenting of the image into triangular shapes I demonstrate the 3D aspects and the different perspectives of an individual. The painting highlights the ways in which the diversity of people's physical

characteristics adds to their uniqueness.

A new Perspective, January 2022

Medium: Acrylic paint on canvas

Size: 39.5× 59.5cm

My main focus with this self-portrait was to delineate myself from various viewpoints. I was inspired by cubist artists who focus on showing different perspectives. The painting shows five versions of myself looking in different directions, allowing the viewer to see a new angle of myself each time. Additionally, I wanted it to seem more

natural and real through the use of organic shapes, framenting my face differently from previous paintings to show movement across the image.

Wave of Progress, January 2022

Medium: Acrylic paint on canvas

Size: 50 × 60 cm

My main focus with this image was to show development of a skill through perseverance. The painting depicts a surfer in motion attempting to stand up and surf the wave. It is used to show that the only way to improve is by continuing to practice no matter the challenges faced during this process.

Memories, 2021

Medium: Laser-copy’s

Size: 45.4 × 56.7cm

The intention of this piece is to represent how we view our memories. The photo-collage consists of

multiple faces, illustrating how our memories do not just consist of single viewpoints but may exist in

glimpses of an event which we can piece together to complete the memory.

Curatorial Rationale

My exhibition explores several ideas and concepts, but the underlying concepts linking my exhibition together is the idea of fragmentation, as this can be seen in all pieces in the exhibition. However, I also explored the idea of analytical cubism and futurism in my art work. Moreover, my work is tied together by another theme which is self-identity, as I am the subject in every single piece. In other words, my exhibition is linked together by the idea of self-identity and fragmentation.

One artist who has greatly influenced me was David Hockney and more specifically his work titled My Mother, 1986, which is a photo collage and part of his joiners collection. Although the work was not directly cubism, it is still what got me into analytical cubism. With analytical cubism the idea was to show different perspectives and viewpoints in one image. One method to achieve this in the paintings was by fragmenting them into geometric cubist shapes. Another artist that greatly influenced me was Umberto Boccioni, and more specifically his work titled Dynamism of a Cyclist. His work inspired me and introduced me to futurism. Futurism is the idea of wanting to show time, speed and movement. This was achieved with the help of fragmentation and the use of color. In summary, my exhibition is about showing different perspectives as well as time and movement. Fragmentation was more of a tool that helped me to achieve this objective.

I chose the works in this exhibition, because they were all linked to fragmentation and to each other at the same time. My work, titled “Memories'' was inspired by David Hockey’s photo collage, where I aimed to show various perspectives in one image. Eventually this was what inspired me to get into analytical cubism. The result of my experimentation with analytical cubism are my works titled “My Reflection” and “True-Self” where I aimed to show different perspectives in one image. This then later inspired “Center of Attention” where I experimented with painting on different surfaces. The reason why I decided to paint on newspaper and book pages was because it represented the fact that I was covered in a newspaper once and at the center of attention. These portraits then got me more into looking at myself and I soon saw myself developing futuristic paintings about things I like doing. This resulted in works such as "Wave of Progress", "Riding through Space" and "Step by Step". In these works I attempted to show movement and time rather than perspectives. In these art works the color choices were influenced by futurist paintings where bright colors were used to evoke emotion. All these ideas and concepts I explored then came together at the end when I created "A new Perspective".

I had quite a lot of space for my exhibition which is set up in an L-shape. This gave me a lot of options on how to arrange my exhibition. In the end I split the exhibition into three columns. This made the exhibition appear more structured. The right column features my early cubist paintings. The middle column consists of my futurist paintings that have connections to sports. The left column displays my collated portraits. The artworks are evenly spaced apart and appear very organized.. This neat arrangement allows the viewer to focus on each work individually with as few distractions as possible. Focus on the work is important as I want them to notice the different perspectives and subjects hidden in the painting. The reason why I displayed my work titled "Influence" horizontally was so it fits in with my other work as they are all landscape and horizontal.

The reason why I have arranged in rows is so that in each column that I have has one work that is at eye-level and one above and below. If I had unlimited exhibition space, I

would have arranged all art at eye-level.

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