fndchrisatkin16

This image contains two dark, bold trees in the foreground that your eyes are drawn to when you first look at the piece. However, the trees lead you in to the ruins of the monument in the centre of the background. The ruins are accompanied by surrounding trees and gravestones. There is a contrast between the dark, murky trees and the pure white snow that covers the ground.

This piece was made using oil on canvas and I believe that this image’s lack of colour evokes a mysterious mood. By doing this Caspar Freidrich has created a somewhat tense and uncomfortable atmosphere.

This piece is of a monastery graveyard in Berlin. The monastery was destroyed in the air raids of World Wor II. All that remains of the once grand abbey is a ruined nave, perhaps of the church. Now used as a cemetery, the trees have surrounded it, but unlike the earlier version, here the trees add majesty and grandeur as they stand like tall pillars around the sacred precepts, rather than intrude upon it as in the earlier version. And the gravestones have been converted into monks, processing into the church. The church is no longer there, and neither are the monks. So the painting is a reflection upon the transistorizes of all earthly things. One could also interpret the picture in a spooky sense: the monks are ghosts haunting their former monastery, and the shadowy bleakness of a winter day makes them almost seem present.

Caspar David Freidrich created ‘Monastery Graveyard in the Snow’ in 1818/19 in Berlin. However the piece was destroyed in 1945.

Gothic Work

After going out and taking numerous photographs, I chose the ones I liked the most and manipulated them to fit the Gothic theme:

Gothic Brainstorm / Sketches

Artist Contextual study

Daniela Gullota

Daniela Gullota’s work depicts large empty interiors, often of an industrial nature. I think her intention is to draw the viewer's attention to the dramatic nature of space. Sometimes individual objects are emphasized and human presence is always suggested though never exemplified. A common way of working for her is the use of mixed media on wood.

The technique she uses to create these is to print grey scale photographs onto a mixture of surfaces including wood and slate using liquid emulsion, then begin manipulating these by adding lines and tone by hand in paint. She also collages several different photos of the same subject into one image, creating an altered perspective.

Daniela Gullota has created a mysterious atmosphere with this piece and it leaves the viewer wondering about the concept of the image and what it means. This is a good effect and it is an ideal creation to take inspiration from.