Mixed media is an umbrella term for art that has been created with multiple mediums, such as oil, acrylic, pastel, pencil, aerosol, and more. Cubists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque are often credited with the creation of the first mixed media pieces, due to their collages that incorporated paint, newspaper, and found objects such as rope, chair caning, and sewing pins. Since their experimentation in 1912 the umbrella of fine art has expanded, and mixed media has grown to encompass any works of art combining mediums.
While mixed media was revolutionary in and of itself in the 20th century, contemporary artists are now using the freedom of mixed media to explore themes such as discomfort, human curiosity, and complex intimacy. As well as exploring concepts, mixed media is also being used to examine connections between medium and the subject.
At Rhodes we have many artists exploring the potential of mixed media, such as Billy Bagilhole, Delia Hamer, and Peter Doyle.
The ability of mixed media art to further express the exploration of human curiosity is perfectly represented in Billy Bagilhole’s works. In an interview conducted with us earlier this year, he discussed how his artistic purpose is to become a medium for wonder in day-to-day life. This has led to the creation of a surreal, bleak, and some may say intimate series of landscapes on display in his solo show at Rhodes Contemporary until the 31st August. Mixed media in Bagilhole’s work paves the way for his desire to create unimaginable and enthralling scenes, due to the mixture of characteristics and textures the mediums create. In ‘Cracked Ash and Brittle Grounds’ Bagilhole has used a combination of acrylic, oil, and charcoal in order to create vast planes of blue broken up by detailed figures, striking shadows, and thick flecks of flames. This combination, created through the mixture of mediums, instils in the viewer a sense of urgency and bewilderment while imploring us to look closer at the curious details.
Delia Hamer explores the potential of mixed media to communicate with the subject matter itself, as well as express her own complexities. Hamer’s works often feature the motif of a single woman, eyes shut, looking inward. In this way, due to the solo composition of many of her pieces, the multiple mediums provide energy and interaction in contrast to her secluded nudes. Hamer’s experience growing up in the sunny Mediterranean, as part of the Charismatic Evangelical Movement, may be what has given her inspiration for colourful serenity. However, she is also aiming for calm on the canvas, fluidly using whichever mediums are necessary to both represent the fullness of life, but also the clarity of an inner peace. Her piece ‘La Paloma Volvio’ is on display until the 31st of August in our ‘Embraced – A Lived Experience’ portrait exhibition, created from acrylic, pencil and oil bar. Her love of mixed media has also been translated into a giclée print edition, finished with gold leaf detailing.
Framed in Wood
Our final exploration of mixed media at Rhodes is with Irish artist Peter Doyle. Doyle’s approach to mixed media is based on his artistic past as a graffiti artist, rather than a formally trained art student. Mixed media for him involves combining aerosol with acrylic, oil, or whatever he feels like to most accurately depict his pieces. Doyle has often said he is grateful for his untraditional beginnings, as it means he can use the speed of graffiti to attack a canvas with pace and passion, and when this is combined with the informality of the medium, there’s little room for doubt. Combining aerosol with more traditional mediums produces works of discordant colour and line, creating what Doyle fondly names a fever dream affect. The discordance, in conjunction with speed and freedom, often leaves the viewer feeling uneasy. ‘Silver Eye’ is one such piece, where the meeting of detail with rough planes creates an intense and unique experience. ‘Silver Eye’ and ‘Inkwell’, another mixed media by the artist, are on display in our portrait exhibition until the 31st of August.
27 1/2 x 21 5/8 in
If you are interested in any of the artists or artworks mentioned, please email us at info@rhodescontemporaryart.com
