"Despont Draws Deep": How Despont Creates

In the ART21 video, "Despont Draws Deep" Lousie's creative process is shown. Her art is large, created on many pieces of paper that expand to fill a wall, or the floor of her Brooklyn apartment. Louise’s style is symmetrical and abstract. All of her pieces are created with architecture stencils’, a relatively modest material considering the size she works with. Her work allows an assistant to contribute greatly. Once Despont has an idea for a page she can delegate. Her assistant will fill in the stencils, making the process faster. As her work seems so uniform upon viewing it, it fits that there is a uniform process to it. Much like in the 16^th century when artists had apprentices. Since her work as an element of age and history (through the ledger pages) it is fitting that her style does as well. Although the shapes always stay uniform the pieces greatly differ.

Despont also displays how her style developed. She first began to collage in small books, filling them completely. This process added to her current style, on large ledger pages. These pages are a huge contributor, adding history to each piece. Despont says that, as the pages hold records, they map out the life of her drawings. These pages also give her the freedom to work on her own, on her time.  She shows how calming and meditative her process is. She works from home, combining her home sphere, creative sphere, and work sphere. For Despont this doesn’t add the feeling of stress or pressure but instead creates an environment that encompass her life. How she makes these pieces is a huge factor in her art.

 

Orchard Street, New York, NY September 12–October 24, 2010.” Louise Despont: Christopher Howard. N.p., 2010. Web. 21 May 2015.

Salazar, Rafael. "Louise Despont Draws Deep." ART21 New York Close Up. Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

Experiments in Moving Drawings

Louise used to work is stop action film. One of her projects was, Experiments in Moving Drawings. This can be found on her Tumblr and is a short film by her and Joshua Sullivan. Louise also creates the music. This video was not exhibited or shown to an audience is a professional setting but in stead was posted for the enjoyment of her Tumblr followers. The video is very different from her other work. Although she uses elements of her collage in this piece it is mainly an experiment in stop action and a play with noise. I found that at points, some of the images looked like Rorschach test, with blotches of random colors. The patters in the piece go from very simple to more complex. Combined with an odd clock like soundtrack the video is a playful homemade piece. Although this work may never be classically exhibited it is a useful piece to show the variety of Despont’s work. It also is an excellent example of her use of social media and excitability to her viewers. 

Artbroth. “Artbroth Emerging Contemporary Artists.” Louise Despont. N.p., 2012. Web. 14 May 2015.
Despont, Louise. “Louise Despont , Webpage.” RSS. N.p., 2006. Web. 14 May 2015

Artbroth. “Artbroth Emerging Contemporary Artists.” Louise Despont. N.p., 2012. Web. 14 May 2015.
Despont, Louise. “Louise Despont , Webpage.” RSS. N.p., 2006. Web. 14 May 2015

Experiments in Moving Drawings

"Tide Fulcrum and The Motion of Fixed Stars" : Serpens

Louise Despont's exhibit: “Tide Fulcrum and the Motion of Fixed Stars,” featured Serpens as its focus piece. This show was held at Nicelle Beauchene’s Lower East Side galleries. The piece is large, taking up a huge portion of the wall, and is done on many ledger pages. The viewer is drawn into this work because of its size, color, and composition. When viewed one immediately notices the rich reds in the work. The entire piece evokes the feeling of warmth, with oranges, salmons, and reds. The piece engages the senses because of its rich feel, and it stands out with the red color. It is also the only piece in the exhibit that does not display cool tones. When looking at the exhibit as a whole one can immediately identify Serpens. From a distance one can only really notice these initial warming red tones, with a few blue, green swirls. Again from a distance, the view is struck by the compositional effect of the work. At the very center there is one core diamond, which all other shapes seem to branch out from, finally to create a perfect boarder. The piece is very symmetrical, evenly balanced on both sides; it is only when you are close to the paper that you realize the differences and textures. Close to the work the serpents are visible, swirling around the triangle and boarder. They are the only uneven element of the painting. These serpents take many different shapes and give the impression of slithering over the work instead of being a part of it. Serpents hold different religious connotations in America and in Asia (especially in Buddhism and Hinduism, which Despont is influenced by). In Hinduism serpents are often depicted with gods and are not feared in the way they are in Christianity. Despont plays on this double connotation of fear and comfort. In addition to noticing the serpents when up close, one can see the texture within the piece especially up close. From a far the piece is a cohesive work, smooth and machine looking, yet up close one can see each component separate. The stencils Despont uses are filled in sketchily, leaving holes and little pockets of white. This humanizes the work, eliminating the machine-like symmetry.

One aspect of the drawing that cannot be seen in most pictures is, “the rows of ledger pages themselves, which seem to only be pinned down at their top corners and are partially left to float toward the frame glass, add a sense of dimension and physicality” (Wolf, 1). This adds another element of separation in the piece ending the cohesive initial impression.

 

Heinrich, Will. "'Louise Despont: Tide Fulcrum & The Motion of Fixed Stars' at Nicelle Beauchene." Observer. N.p., 08 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 May 2015.  

Wolf, Alex. “LOUISE DESPONT Draws Deep.” THELAST MAGAZINE. N.p., 09 Jan. 2013. Web. 07 May 2015.