Thesis (M.F.A.)--West Virginia University, 2010. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iii, 42 p. : col. ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 23).

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in fine Arts Johannesburg 1992 / This research examines some ways in which source material is interpreted in still life painting. These interpretations will be explored from two positions in painting. For my purposes, these positions will be termed opticality and tactility. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version][ / MT2017

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Contrary to the common definition of still life painting as a grouping of inanimate objects, I want my still life paintings to be full of life. I have always been intrigued by the numerous approaches and different mediums used by artists for still life arrangements. I want the objects I paint to appear three dimensional. I strive to effectively create the illusion of actual senses: smell, taste, and touch. To accomplish this, I carefully arrange objects in my composition so color, line, and form work to enhance a rhythmic flow. Contrasting warm and cool colors help add to this flow. My brush strokes turn with the curve of the objects to help create the illusion of depth and motion. This is what I call the Un-Still Life!

This work focuses on the cross-section between classic still-life art and complex personal issues. It uses traditional and nontraditional still life photography to tell individual vignettes about my life. I explore unresolved issues, which offer subtle suggestion of an experiential narrative. All of the backgrounds and objects included are intentional and represent specific places, people, and events. I allow the viewer to bring their own experiences to the photographs, by not giving them specifics of my stories. I used this work as a way for me to move past these experiences and my hope is that they might also help others. I have created beauty from my dwelling.

My creative process is a ritual I use to examine my personal narrative. Digital photography is a way for me to mine an object or environment with an obsessive emphasis, and extract an image that signifies something relatable. By employing tropes derived from my personal narrative, and filtering them through image manipulation software; I am able to dramatize aspects of perspective and scale. With an automatic mark guided by printed images and projections of digital panoramic images, the surface and resulting picture comes into focus. This is a way for me to move past my experiences. Achieving this level of intimacy with the mundane objects or environments makes it possible for me to develop a personal iconography.

Inaug.--Diss.--Munich. / Bibliography: p. 140-141.

Viewed from odd angles, the ordinary looks new and the commonplace becomes unusual. The purpose of my creative project, Re-envisionina the Ordinary: A Study of Vantage Points in Painting, was to use unusual vantage points and multiple viewpoints as compositional devices to show familiar household scenes and objects in a new way. Analysis of artworks and writings by realist painters such as Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne and Pierre Bonnard helped me learn how each of these artists used unusual or multiple viewpoints While researching these artists, I began to understand why space is one of the fundamental issues of art. I found that, as an artist, I cannot use vantage points and viewpoints without considering the larger issue of space.Artists throughout time have wrestled with the question: how does one represent three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface? By presenting different treatments of space, I showed how various artists have answered the question. Leonardo da Vinci solved the problem using linear perspective. Edgar Degas and Pierre Bonnard answered the question usingoriental space and unusual or multiple viewpoints. Paul Cezanne's solution was a new system of unified space.Contemporary artists provide other answers to the question of space. Rene Magritte used the illusionary devices of linear perspective to paint his surreal world. Philip Pearlstein returned to Degas' and Cezannes' concept of space to emphasize both the three-dimensionality of the figures and the twodimensionality of the picture plane. David Hockney found his solution in the multiple viewpoints of cubism.My creative project is my answer to the question. I integrated unusual vantage points, and multiple viewpoints to create ten paintings with unified space. I used some conventions of linear perspective to show depth. For example, sizes and details in my paintings diminish with distance. I then contradicted the three-dimensionality by using some conventions of oriental space that flatten the picture plane: oblique perspective, overlapping and positioning an object next to the front surface. / Department of Art

The objective of my research is to develop a body of work for exhibition based on an examination of the ways that corporate space, as exemplified by the foyers and conference rooms of contemporary corporate offices, reflect societal anxieties about wealth and power. These works will draw on the history of painting, with particular reference to 17th century Dutch still life painting, as a framework within which to conduct the exploration of contemporary space. This will be done by applying or interpreting the principles, motifs and techniques used in that period in the visual representation of the connection between wealth and decadence and western culture's ambiguous attitude towards the creation and accumulation of wealth. Boardrooms, corporate foyers and office interiors have developed into instantly recognisable types of space with a particular atmosphere, typified by large empty space and the use of materials such as marble and granite and surfaces with reflective finishes.. These spaces are often open to the public, but the intention is for people to be impressed by the wealth and power of the occupants, an idea initially perfected in Ancient Rome. The impression of wealth and power created in these spaces is balanced against a need to demonstrate prudence and restraint - the corporations need to avoid creating an impression of extravagance or wastefulness. The emergence of the genre still life painting in the Netherlands during the 17th century provides useful source material for their representations of restrained prosperity as well as the moral content related to the virtues of modesty and the transience of material life and wealth. The illusory space in the church interiors of Saenredam and de Witte, with their sense of expansive space and light, are echoed in the real space of contemporary corporate foyers and provide a basis for considering the format, composition and modes of representation of constructed space.