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Gestural ink painting on Yupo paper in pink, brown and black, with a vertical wash between comb-like marks, from a series on emotional response

Gestural Painting: A Step Further

New Works Exploring Psychology and Emotion

I have been painting a great deal lately. The works in my gestural abstraction series are taking on a more specific content: emotional states and ideas drawn from psychoanalysis, rather than a recognisable scene or subject. Some might fit under gestural surrealism, although I have never been very fond of putting paintings into little boxes.

Contemporary gestural ink painting on paper, with ochre and brown forms joined by black lines around broad white openings
Gestural ink painting — Chinese brushwork in dialogue with emotional abstraction.

Abstraction and Emotional Response

What I want is to stir particular emotional sensations in the viewer. Whether I can do that is another question. What someone sees in an abstract picture depends on what they bring to it. Still, emotions are not so abstract, and the attempt seems worth making.

Gestural ink abstraction with two textured brown and black masses linked by long tapering strokes across white paper
Green and black abstract ink painting with an arching gesture, layered washes and active white space

Chinese painting and calligraphy still shape the compositions. The weight of a dark stroke, the movement of a line and the spaces between forms remain important. Within that structure, I am beginning to bring Western concepts back into the work.

Gestural ink painting on Yupo paper in pink, brown and black, with a vertical wash between comb-like marks, from a series on emotional response
Lady Bird, a gestural ink painting with broad brown and black curves, pale washes and textured patches
Lady Bird — curved gestures and layered washes in abstract ink painting.

The pink vertical movement and the broad brown curves of Lady Bird lead the eye in different ways. They may also suggest different moods. I can make these decisions on the paper; what they awaken in another person remains open.

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Comments

15 responses to “Gestural Painting: A Step Further”

  1. rebecca s revels avatar
    rebecca s revels

    I love these, they are very interesting though I’m not going to share what I see in some of them. Sometimes the imagination is a concerning thing 😉

    Reply
  2. zettl.fr avatar
    zettl.fr

    Thank you Rebecca! Yes, our imagination says more about ourselves than we sometimes would like. But I always find it exciting to compare how we see the same picture a few years earlier or later.

    Reply
  3. swabby429 avatar
    swabby429

    Calligraphy still predominates here and triggers some subtle memories in my mind.

    Reply
  4. zettl.fr avatar
    zettl.fr

    I can imagine. Calligraphy is so much more than writing neat characters. Actually in China calligraphy ranks higher than painting.

    Reply
  5. Graham Stephen avatar
    Graham Stephen

    splendid!

    ✨🙏🕉🌱🌿🌳🌻💚🕊☯🐉✨

    Reply
    1. zettl.fr avatar
      zettl.fr

      Thank you so much! Only today I found your blog which reflects my interest. I will read your posts. carefully.

      Reply
      1. Graham Stephen avatar
        Graham Stephen

        Many thanks for taking the time to visit it.

      2. zettl.fr avatar
        zettl.fr

        I have been doing a lot of practice and research on Daosim….

      3. Graham Stephen avatar
        Graham Stephen

        I have only relatively recently discovered the Tao ☯

      4. zettl.fr avatar
        zettl.fr

        If you haven’t yet, you sure should read Zhuang Zi.
        Lao Zi of course is great but harder to understand.

      5. Graham Stephen avatar
        Graham Stephen

        👍 Ha, yes. I read three different translations of the Tao Te Ching and was struck by the variation in how the translators had interpreted various passages.

      6. zettl.fr avatar
        zettl.fr

        Yes, some are quite unique for sure. Personally I still like Richard Wilhelm’s translation a lot. There are other good ones but they are all in German or Chinese.

      7. Graham Stephen avatar
        Graham Stephen

        Thanks. I liked Jonathan Star’s English translation as it also included the original Chinese with lists of meanings for each character.

  6. zettl.fr avatar
    zettl.fr

    I’ve read some translations and some quite intensely. When I talk to Chinese friends who have studied the text more intensively, I first notice how difficult it can be to translate the text into another language.

    I love Richard Wilhelm because he was not only one of the most important sinologists who traslated all those classic texts but also (in his 1925 edition) provides a lot of background information. The meetings with Confucius, the political turmoil …

    Reply
  7. Zettl Fine Arts avatar
    Zettl Fine Arts

    Thank you so much for your kind words! I usually write one post per week, mostly about them about art, often about my work. All the best!

    Reply

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