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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Pouring a painting

This is mesmirising!


The painting is by Holton Rower.  If you want to see more about they are "hung" in a gallery see this "pour" page on his website

The Director, Cinematographer, and Editor of The "Tall Painting" video is David Kaufman

What I can't work out is whether there is a sequence to the paint colours or whether this is totally random/  It looked a bit random to me.  What do you think?

Also, how do you think they achieve the specific viscosity of the paint so it all flows at an even rate?  Is the paint thinned or not?

13 comments:

  1. I have no idea about sequence or viscosity, but I was moved by the beauty and simplicity of the process.
    Fascinating.

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  2. Hazarding a guess I'd say they're using fluid acrylics unthinned. I'm thinking the biggest challenge is making sure all the horizontal surfaces are level before starting the pours. The colors appear to be applied randomly, working mostly from instinct. It's something I've never seen done before so thanks for posting, Katherine.:)

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  3. That's so wonderful to watch - like you say, how did he discover what viscosity to make the paint? Trial and error, I suppose. What a fantastic effect though eh? Thanks for showing this.

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  4. That was mesmerizing, and the resultant patterns were fascinating. I would also guess some type of fluid acrylic.

    The process itself is like watching a type of performance art.

    I always enjoy the links you post - thank you.

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  5. Quite fascinating. I'd say fluid acrylics are used too. I'm not sure about sequence of colours. In some of his other pieces there seems to be a more structured colour thought.

    Either way, its quite unique but also rather similar to the technique of marbling on water.

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  6. There are actually a number of ways you can modify the viscosity. They may be using traditional art supplies. They may be using some of the various additives that are available for industrial paint manufacture and processes.

    It's also possible that the later pours do not have the same rheological characteristics (viscosity and thinning properties) than the earlier ones so that they stay on the sides. In that case the colors would have to be planned to some extent.

    (Materials Engineer/Chemist in my previous job.)

    That is definitely pretty darn cool. I love the effect.

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  7. I think the music made it mesmerising. I also think you would need a lot of money to use paint like this. I like it but I also like making wet sand gaudi style sand castles, its playing, which has its place but its a performance and a film, I am not sure if it needs to be in a gallery, although they do look pretty on a wall! Once you have seen it done, maybe had a go your self, a bit like Damien Hursts aintings, meaningless and a bit boring!

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  8. Like spun sugar candies, or the blown glass of Dale Chihuly, and just so original and hypnotic.
    Thank you for finding/posting this.

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  9. I've done a similarish thing with different coloured opaque glass melted through the hole of a suspended terracotta flowerpot in a kiln. Gorgeous!

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  10. Very cool! I see definite colour palettes in the different paintings, as well as light/dark sequences and series of colour tones. So I don't think it's random. I rather guess it's quite intricately planned as a sequence somewhere.

    Not fluid acrylics. I've used them and they are much much thinner than this, almost a watery consistency. These look more of a latex to me or possibly a heavier acrylic mixed with a pouring medium. Or, given the sheer quantities he's using, he may even have a custom consistency created by a manufacturer. I know Golden do that.

    Must watch it again now. :)

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  11. This is so wonderful to watch. I am going to save this video for when I am in a bad mood, as I think it could do wonders in calming me down!

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  12. The process is nice to look at.
    I have done art classes with kids and this video reminds me how the child palette with paint is often more interesting to adults than the painting (although they are often and of course cute and lovely).
    Kids have the same spontaneous way to deal with colours and the random patterns on a palette of a child are like Venetian glass.
    Paula

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  13. Amazing. My feeling about the colours is that the sequence is arranged rather than random. Mainly due to the last one with the cups lined up with the lights & darks and complimentary colours.

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