Conversation Piece
A collaboration between artist Martina Šišková and photographer Jon Archdeacon.
This first piece, an introduction to an open-ended venture; visiting artists’ studios, homes or exhibitions. The result of that encounter; a capsule of photographs, capturing not only the work and the artist, but also the little moments and details that allow us to peek into the artist’s world. Alongside this, a written piece, an interview. Questions asked that are invitations for the artist to reveal what is key and important in their work and their worldview.
And the first piece below is an answer to a question Jon asked Martina about her paintings.
Why the Tondo format?
I came to paint on a round board through a coincidence. I wanted to make a painting for somebody’s birthday; I thought painting a bouquet of flowers would be a good idea; and out of the boards and stretcher bars I had, a round wooden panel 20cm in diameter seemed to be the one.
Something different happened in that painting; the painting took on a life of its own; and I have not returned to a square or rectangular format since then.
The format; the shape that creates the border between life and the flat surface we wish to turn into something other; a drawing; painting; a window into a different world, to an extent dictates what might or might not happen within that space.
Any format that is square or rectangular imposes a language; as if it is a window to a room; single point perspective, imaginary lines drawn by our imagination from the corners to a ‘distance’ into the picture. Everything within that space is in a relation to the lines that denominate it; the tension in that space quite firmly defined by the proportions of the sides. I find that with a round shape, a lot of that is lost; there is no ‘golden ratio’ in a tondo - there is the centre, and the edge. You have to create the inner structure of the ‘happening’ within the picture, so that you create those moments of tension; and they can be anywhere. It seems that despite there being no straight lines to denominate the space, the composition often creates triangular relationships between elements of the picture; abstract geometries, I like to think of as constellations, that drive your attention throughout the picture.
When looking through the history of art, there aren’t (and I am happy to be corrected) that many examples of truly round compositions. Often you find there is an architectural element; be it an indoor space; or an outside one - like a building on a hill. To me that seems almost in defiance to what a round picture can do.
Something else is happening in Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo; a tondo depicting seated Virgin Mary, Joseph and a baby Jesus, at the foreground, just behind a seemingly straight, but gently rounded, horizontal line. They appear to be existing in that space that stretchers from the edge of a painting towards us; as if, really, the painting was projecting a spherical space. The shapes and proportions of their bodies and limbs seem to be stretched and misshapen too; confirming that sense of ‘other’ space.
My kids got monoculars for Christmas; and looking through them made me understand how the round paintings work for me. On one hand, there is a sense of distance; of being removed from the world. On the other there is a sense of intimacy; of being alone with the subject matter but brought closer to it; not alienated.
With the suggested linear perspective gone, there is an opening for more subjective seeing of space. One that is guided purely by observation of the relationships between the leaves, stems, flowers; or other subject matter and how they interact and exist together. But given that the edge of the painting is round, I am also guided by the sense that all this is happening within a sphere; a space that is enclosed; soft; safe, but that somehow feels infinite and free at the same time.
The Photographs of the paintings are taken in Martina’s exhibition Primavera at The Angle Gallery, Bury st. Edmunds, Suffolk. The show is open Thursdays - Saturdays until 28th June. Martina is hosting creative workshops during the exhibition; which will be focused around the themes of Tondos; Perspective, Colour and Depth. For more info visit www.growingcircle.live
Text Martina Šišková, photographs Jon Archdeacon.