How to Look at Thick Textured Painting – Studies in Visual Cultures

Alice Mendelev, “ASAP Rocky Dior Campaign” Painting. Ryerson University. 10 February 2022.

When it comes to art works that use oil paintings with different techniques, they all represent a different texture to represent the art piece. Each painting can be used with different tools to show a different technique, such as; paint brushes, paint knives and fingers. They can all represent a different story that comes to life in an oil painting.

For instance, the painting that I am analyzing is an art piece that I’ve personally made with specific painting knives. They look like metal spatulas that create a thick and pertruting texture that intrigues the viewers. Texture helps create a story when looking at a painting, whether it is smooth and soft or thick and rough. This painting is made with the use of a palette knife, the knife is supposed to provide a thick texture that makes the painting look effortless and modernized. The technique is used to create art that looks ‘effortless’ to the naked eye, even if it may have taken hours to create.

The painting is based off of an artist named ASAP Rocky, he was in a campaign shoot for Dior, and it inspired me to create a modernized version of that campaign by using the spatula knife to create this desired look. The use of different media helps create a textured canvas that presents a pattern to the piece, in this case the globs of paint that protrude from the painting provides this immense amount of texture and mixed media.

Elkin’s would focus his work on the smallest details that people would not pick up on, he would focus on the crackles that are forming from the painting, which he would indicate the age of the art piece. Although Elkins focused on the paintings that were displayed for centuries, my painting was created years ago, where the paint is still vibrant and the texture is still amplified with the globs of paint. The use of the spatula helps create the 3D like aspect to the painting, this type of effect helps provide a modern and conceptualized version of art today, the use of oil paints that are used with brushes can eventually fade years later. Elkin’s view on oil paint represents the crackles being shown in his studies, however when it comes to the new technique of knife painting it helps preserve the texture and prevents the effects of crackling.

The use of textured art techniques help provide unique ideas and perceptions of different styles of art. As for classical oil paintings, the painting I have done is used with new and improved techniques that became popularized recently. The thickness and texture of the art can create a whole new meaning to the naked eye and how people can appreciate the new types of art forms that are being represented nowadays.

Work Cited

Mendelev, Alice. “ASAP Rocky Dior Painting.” 10 February, 2022. Private Collection.

Elkins, James. How to Use Your Eyes. New York, N.Y: Routledge, 2009.

Images in this online exhibit are either in the public domain or being used under fair dealing for the purpose of research and are provided solely for the purposes of research, private study, or education.