Scholarship – 2009
Painting (93306)
Examples of Candidate Work
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Outstanding Scholarship
This submission demonstrates a well-crafted and consistently purposeful inquiry. The candidate
has engaged in a thorough exploration of the genre of portraiture, navigating various modes of
recording and representation to create a strong connection between selection of imagery and
psychological depiction. In the workbook, the candidate clearly outlines their intent, and identifies
their interest in relationships, personality and identity as a means to investigate the “psychological
insight of people and their morality”.
Early exploratory works operate as finished pieces, not as background research. They set up the
tone for the investigation; painted observations of moments of action, isolated simple events and
everyday emotive situations. Colour has been used to highlight or intensify emotion. Colour shifts
between individual images take subjects out of their photographic origin and reinterpret images
into a painterly context. Handling of paint shows considerable control and fluency. The candidate
has sensitively used photographic devices within a painting investigation to communicate their
ideas, such as scale, facial representation, size of the face to the edge, aspects of distortion, etc.
This demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how to match concept to process and
application.
A key strategy that successfully operates throughout the portfolio, and particularly on the last
board, is the employment of scale as a means to indicate relationships between subjects and also to
suggest narratives beyond what is presented. Compositions take on photographic formats with
ease, such as the exploration of the snapshot and use of negative frames to remind the viewer of
the uncanny nature and everyday casualness of family shots. Established practice, family
portraiture tradition and contemporary portrait painting are inherently integrated. The candidate
has incorporated what they consider appropriate devices and characteristics of various artistic
references. Each new model subtly builds on previous learning to advance the inquiry into new
territory.
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Scholarship
This submission is fluent in its treatment of subject matter, visual development and formal qualities,
such as use of paint, colour, tonality, detailing and composition. This is a good example of a
symbiotic relationship between a pictorial inquiry and the story that is being told. Colour has
effectively been used as a signifier for shifting the dialogue. It is pleasing to see colour management
being employed to create atmosphere and association to imagined spaces and places. The
concentration of paint technique married with colour handling focuses each image within its own
narrative and contributes to the overall refinement of the proposition.
In the workbook we are also made aware of a systematic and comprehensive starting point. The
candidate has constructed an assemblage with objects to identify chosen symbols to represent their
concept of birth and death (rebirth, regeneration, growth and the afterlife). This has then been used
as source (still-life) from which to paint. This approach locates their concept in real terms allowing
them to draw from something real rather than just from their own thoughts. This strategy is effective
in providing strong source and consequently credible imagery.
The work requires the viewer to look closely to find all that exists within each composition. Painted
landscapes and environments are deliberately merged with detailed linear paintwork. It is clear that
the candidate had an interest in how to construct paintings; i.e. they have established a precise
vocabulary and developed the means and ways that these symbols can communicate their ideas. The
facility and handling of detail further constructs a complexity of thinking that translates into a
thoughtful and imaginative story. The presence of narrative (in the form of symbols) as a central
development tool usefully offers new opportunities at each stage and movement into the next phase.
There is evidence of thorough visual research and thinking in the workbook. The candidate has
actively sought out and explored a number of ideas before settling on the preferred option.
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