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METAPHORICAL EXPLORATION WITH FOAM-RUBBER AND

ACRYLIC

ABSTRACT

The paper is a study in the use of foam-rubber and acrylic paint on canvas. The project was

tackled as an experimental research, culminating in fourteen works, of which three are

focused upon in this paper. These relief works were seen by the artist as first, a hybrid of

painting and sculpture, metaphorically explored to interrogate prevailing sociocultural

consciousness of the artist - the sociocultural setting within which the works were produced.

The study contests the traditional art history model of analysing works of art, encouraging

the art observer to "read against the grain”, leading viewers of art to go beyond the

aesthetics on the surface, in order to actively "demystify" the work, and not leave the artist or

art historian alone to set the bottom-line of interpretation.

Key words: Phenomenology, Tactile, Deconstructs, Sociocultural, Foam-Rubber.

Introduction

This paper is focused on an explorative project with foam-rubber and acrylic paint on canvas.

Some experimental pieces were undertaken before tackling fourteen works, of which three

are discussed in this document by reason of space. The paper is therefore presented as a

heuristic reflection of research through art (Lisa, 2008), in order to communicate and share

the experience.

The history of art is rife with relief works of many forms in different cultures. The way of

relief was chosen not just for the mere reason of change in medium, as using “materials once

designated for another purpose” (Binder, 2010), away from the routine of paint and canvas,

but also as a move in “dissolution of traditional categories” (Atkins, 1990). For

organizational, ideological and administrative purposes, any field of study may have to

remain on its own for the purpose of categorisation; however, effective discourse in the

situation of contemporary visual culture should thrive best in an interdisciplinary context.

Relief is a method of carving or moulding in which a design stands out from a flat surface.

Apart from giving the three main types of relief from the lowest to the highest; bas relieve,

mezzo relieve and alto relieve, Myers (1967:10) further relates a negative or sunken kind of

relief as “cavo relieve”. Countless artists have expressed themselves in relief works over the

years in many parts of the world. Here are a few; “Bull heads” a rock engraving found in

Tassili, n’ Ager, Sahara in Algeria, could be cited as one of the earliest examples.

Renaissance art is prevalent with several forms of relief works. Picasso and his friends were

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among the earliest painters artists to start alluding to surfaces closest to relief which led them

not only to “build paint structure” but by “adding sand and other materials in order to convey

certain tactile values” (Gardner, 1948: 703). Schwitters, the leading German Dadaist used

trash for his works “…he proves that an artist can arrange the unlikeliest material into a

meaningful statement (Lamm, 1988:16)”. The following artists are among those who have

worked in different forms of relief works; Max Ernest, Arthur G. Dove, Jean Dubuffet, Henri

Matisse, Jean Hans Arp, Ben Nicholson, El Anatsui, Atta Kwame, Emmanuel Adiamah and

Quattara.

By metaphor, the author refers to Aristotle’s definition as quoted by Susan Sontag (Brunk et

al, 1997: 603), that “metaphor consists in giving the thing a name that belongs to something

else”. Many layers of metaphorical associations came into mind as the work progressed.

Central to this were the materials, tools and processes involved in manipulations into a given

production, as a reflection of the effect of socio cultural events and institutions in producing

people of specific inclinations. To use Thompson’s words, “cultural production means we are

produced by cultural machines and we in turn produce them” ( 2011).

Words such as relief, metaphor, phenomenology, tactile, deconstruct, sociopolitical, values,

glue and foam rubber steered the exploration of relevant literature and works of artists in

order to identify the various methods they had employed in similar projects. Following these

the author divergently and concurrently did an experiential, visual, journal and studio

research resulting in a number of experimental pieces and final projects. The concurrent

nature of the different modes of research adapted, makes writing sequential narrative quite a

difficult task. Arguably questions posed in contemplation of the procedure of an artistic

venture could be more daunting than the process of execution of the actual project.

The first section of the paper deals with steps for the experimental phase of the project.

Materials and methods that were employed and the rational for the selection of those

materials are also found in this section. The second segment describes how the final pieces

were designed based upon the knowledge and principles acquired at the experimental phase.

Three pieces selected from the main studies are then presented. The following section

considers the result and interpretation of these three works, followed by a discussion using

the theoretical frameworks of Aristotle’s metaphor and Forster’s critical theory.

Experimental Phase 1

Randomly, the artist collected materials available in his environment. the only criteria being

(a), the object’s ability to compose any kind of relief effect, and (b), ability of the material to

set on a two dimensional surface by pasting with glue. The interest here was for anything to

be felt by touch on the surface, something tactile. The following were eventually collected

from the artists surrounding ; sand, gravel, jute rope, wood blocks, pieces of ply-wood,

plastic pieces, leather pieces, video cassette spools, cardboard pieces and foam-rubber. There

was the need for an appropriate adhesive to hold these materials on canvas. Several kinds of

glue were researched into and polyvinyl acetate commonly known as PVA or carpenters’

glue proved best for the job. Next, a prepared canvas of twenty by thirty centimetres was set

in the studio, to serve as the support for the materials. The elements that needed to be further

cut or trimmed were done using a pair of scissors or a utility knife. With a painting knife and

bristle brush, glue was applied to the selected materials and spontaneously (without a

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previous drawing on the canvas or elsewhere), organized on the canvas. In applying the sand

and gravel, the glue was poured on to the canvas before setting them in the glue for a better

adhesion to the support. The work was left overnight to dry and painted with acrylic paint

(Plate 3) to complete.

Experimental Phase 2

Foam-rubber was selected as the main relief material to be manipulated on the support for

further experimental research. Three reasons accounted for this choice. Firstly, its flexibility

was matchless, pliable and easy to work with in any given situation. Secondly, it has a good

adherence with the glue on various surfaces including canvas, wood panel or (as later found

to include) even glass. Thirdly, its texture facilitated well, the application of acrylic paint that

was finally employed to complete the composition.

Having selected foam-rubber as the main material for the work, the artist felt the need to run

further experiments in familiarization with its strengths and weaknesses as regards the project

in view.

Among others the following questions served as basis for the experiments that followed;

• What kind of foam-rubber should be most appropriate for the work? (The supplies

available came in high, low and medium densities).

• Do these different densities have the same absorbency on the surface and if yes is

there the need to increase or reduce it?

• What forms of design could a tool like a hot soldering iron register on the surface of

the foam?

• Would the effect be the same on all the different densities?

• How about using the artist’s utility knife to incise the surface for texture?

• Could it be possible to pinch and tear as well in order to create a different kind of

texture?

• PVA has been useful in fixing the foam-rubber to the support. Would it be equally

suitable in joining two pieces of foam-rubber?

• Could PVA hold foam-rubber to say wood and glass?

These questions that led to further experiments resulted in the composition of different piece

through five main steps; drawing for the composition on the foam-rubber, cutting the foam-

rubber, pasting the foam-rubber on the canvas, texturing of the foam-rubber (either by

burning with the hot rod or by pinching with the fingers), and finally painting the surface of

the entire piece.

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The three main Pieces

The first piece was based on a sculpture of an ancestral figure from Bakota in Gabon. After

the drawing was developed, it was replicated on the foam-rubber and cut using a surgeon’s

scalpel (bought from the market as expired good). Another elliptical cut was made in the

chest, and a vertically slanted one at the lower part of the body. Further cuts that needed to be

done were left till the foam-rubber had been pasted and dried on the canvas. This is because

horizontal cuts to the surface paralleled to the canvas gave better results when the foam had

already dried on the canvas than when it is cut before pasting. The cutting this time, was done

with artist’s utility knife. With this kind, one could assess the longer blade necessary to cut at

such an angle. One only need be careful not to cut the canvas beneath. Finally more v-cuts

were done along the edge of the fan-like crown. Painting these pieces, the artist started by

covering the entire surface (both relief and background) with white before painting over with

other colours. Such priming has two counts of relevance; first, it reduces absorbency of paint

into the foam-rubber, and also enhances colour purity during the final painting. (Plate 4).

The second piece is an image of a hybrid guitar with actual metallic strings and a gourd

beside it to enforce the previous form. The guitar has an African gourd body (from which

Ngoni is made) joined to a western guitar neck. The guitar was the first to cut out of the

foam-rubber followed by the oval hole within, and then pasted on the canvas. The next was

the gourd that sits beside it. The frets on the neck and the tuning keys on the head were cut.

The second gourd was cut along the joint of the body of the Ngoni to position it partially

behind the Lute. The designs observed on the gourds were done with a hot soldering iron.

Painting was the final step. (Plate 5).

The third piece has a ceremonial horned-headdress from Northern Ghana and an imaginary

jug. The relief covered only the headdress which has a hanging rope to be knotted at the chin

of the wearer. This was cut and pasted on the canvas, allowed to dry and then carved with

utility knife and a surgeon’s scalpel. The hot soldering iron was employed to design the

headdress before painting. (Plate 6).

Results and interpretation

The first piece is entitled “Foolishness of the Ancient” an ironical appropriation of an old

Akan adage: “se panin nni wo fie a due” literarily interpreted; “woe unto you if your home is

devoid of an elder” based upon an ancestral figurine from Gabon-Africa. The work comments

on the contemporary insinuation that the ancients were devoid of wisdom. The artist works

out foam-rubber to capture the essential forms in this figure. The face alone with its down-

cast look is the only part with human semblance. The rest of the body, though well poised has

nothing to the semblance of human body part. Behind the main figure one observes figurines

strolling in the shadows. There are colour blocks that are minimally applied in the tones of

reds pinks and blues that usher in the viewer along the edge of the painting. The piece has

been put together for a conceptual rather than a pictorial effect, achieving what could be

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described as irrational and pleasant, composed and disconcerting at the same time. It is a

metaphor of our past, of precious and cherished values not only long gone and forgotten, but

now perhaps condemned and resisted.

The second piece was titled “Touch play not” in reference to many of the state institutions in

the artist’s home country that seem to have lost their essence and sense of purpose, which

now only remain by name due to lack of original thinking and blind copying of western

values. To build institutions relevant to the need of the people, Nkrumah made a better

statement;

“Go to the people

Live among them

Learn from them

Love them

Serve them

Plan with them

Start with what they know

Build on what they have”

(Nkrumah, 1969)

The work depicts a hybrid guitar with a western guitar neck and a gourd body. Another gourd

partially exposed, sits behind it. The guitar has actual strings that seem to tell the observer

“play me” but if the invitation is heeded it shall certainly end in a disappointment. These two

objects form the relief part of the painting. In the background one observes what looks like

colour panels minimally arranged, with some partially overlapping. Though the concept

seems quite confrontational, the artist uses the piece to bemoan and comment the many

postcolonial challenges in developing countries that confront the future amidst the twin

oceans of bureaucracy and corruption.

The third piece is an untitled composition of a ceremonial horned-headdress from Northern

Ghana and a huge flask-like jug. The headdress, the only form in relief is set in the

foreground of the painting. Behind it is the flask-like jug, very towering, almost filling the

vertical space of the frame. This jug was the artist’s conception and seems to have been

designed from gold and emerald. The upper part is like a pot widening out down to form a

broad square base. These two forms have overlapping colour panels and what looks like a

mesh being penetrated with intense light at the upper part for the background. The work gives

the impression of two completely different cultural elements set in one location. Though

untitled, the concepts of interculturalism and hybridism are loudly hinted with all of its global

implications.

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Pate 1. Production Plant of Foam-Rubber Plate 2. Fresh Foam-Rubber forming in the

plant

Plate 3. Mixed media Experiment 2001 Plate 4. “Foolishness of the Ancient” 2002

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Plate 5. “Touch Play Not” 2002 Plate 6. Untitled 2002

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Other works

Plate 7. The Wish of the Bottle 2002 Plate 8. Wonders and Mysteries 2002

Discussion

The project shows how foam-rubber could be used on canvas for relief compositions. The

works could be described as in limbo between painting and sculpture, aiding in the deletion

of unnecessary traditional lines of compartments in art. (Atkins 1990). The artist could best

play her/his role on a boundless field as an artist, and not as a painter or sculptor, but as one

consciously contributing to multidimensional reality. Metaphorically, the works interrogate

social norms of postcolonial observations as well as politics of social institutions and art

production. The entire work could be seen as a metaphor of a burgeoning society and its

establishments. An arena where the studio artist could play with rules, and also dream against

rules as s/he contemplates life on the globe. Gaye comments that, “Critical thinking in art

reflects four basic characteristics … metaphorical thinking, experimentation, challenge of

prevailing thought and meaning within sociological context (Gaye, 2006: 50). In this project

metaphorical works were developed through experimentations to interrogate popular views

and meanings within a sociocultural context.

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Jacques Maritain, stood against art as simply existing for its own sake, when he stated that no

matter how superior the technique of an artist, “if he unhappily has nothing to tell us, his

work is valueless” (1971: 31). Hadjinicolaou (1978) hinted the basis for art bereft of meaning

and touch with the whole society, when he suggested that “Pictures are often the product in

which the ruling classes mirror themselves” (p.102). The interrogative poise of the works

therefore becomes a paramount characteristic.

Further, the works could not be said to possess any one particular philosophical lineage, since

many ideological principles in rendition could be identified. The minimalist effect is felt in

the direct and succinct way some of the elements and paint are laid to organize the

composition, of typical examples are the overlapping colour panels that seem to essentially

distill the colour field upon which the composition is based. From the idealist perspective,

one discerns an affinity since the structure of relief and painting in the composition follows a

certain formal order, even though aspects of the paintings were done arbitrarily, without

following any rational organization of form or a painterly finish. Beautiful finishes and

standards of perfection were obviously not the concerns of the artist, rather, the issues it

addresses. “What is beauty?” or “why is this work beautiful?” must be replaced by the

materialist question, “By whom, when and for what reason was this work thought beautiful?”

(Hadjinicolaou, 1978). This is perhaps the only means to extricate art productions from their

superficial beauty and perfection, in order to “reveal” them in the values and culture that

produced and consumed them.

Phenomenological research helps one to go beyond the usual ways of doing or experiencing

things in order to gain precise knowledge of something. Deeply involving in their studio

work, artists are able to bypass common ways of renditions, to get to the depth of concepts.

“…cutting through the clutter of taken-for-granted assumptions and conventional wisdom”

(Lester, 1999:1).

Art productions could be examined and analyzed as “text”. In this approach, the observer

strips the work of all “garb” capable of misleading a dispassionate analysis, so as to

‘research’ the work afresh without inputs from either the artist or art historian. By so doing,

the observer convinces her/himself of the acquired information, seeing, it bypasses agents

that might have vested interest in the work. Therefore laying aside all artist’s claim and

intentions, the observer is therefore free to “dissect”, demystify or deconstruct these

compositions as desired for maximum appreciation.

In Kurt Forster’s paper; “Critical History of Art, or Transfiguration of Values? (1972), he

dismisses traditional art history arguing that “because its practitioners admired the objects

they studied, these art historians could not study them critically- that is, they could not see

that the objects served the vested interest of the classes in power.” (Barnet, 2011: 244).

Forster believes that “the only means of gaining an adequate grasp of old artifacts lies in the

dual critique of the ideology which sustains their production and use.” (1972: 463).

These lines were penned by T. S. Elliot.

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

(Bastos, 2006: 20)

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Conclusion

The study has shown the process and concepts of metaphorical relief paintings, capable of

addressing social ails and ills. Through phenomenological, exploration of unique artistic

content and process could be pursued to illuminate and enrich the experience of artists and

their audience. Rather than advocate for one ideology over another, the works as discussed,

incorporate multiple purviews of many ideologies seeking a “dualism which does not

encompass an opposition of boundaries that dismisses each other; [rather], it is about

boundaries that are interwoven.” (Bodjawah et al, 2012), allowing the observer not only to

interact and deconstruct the rubrics which underpin an art production, but also be ready to be

pleasantly “assaulted”.

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