Spin art
Encyclopedia
Spin art is an art
form that primarily uses paint
, a canvas
and a spinning platform. It is primarily used to entertain and expose children to the process of art creation, although it can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
initially decorates or drips paint onto a canvas
. The canvas can be anything; however, the most common form of canvas is a small rectangular piece of cardboard. Before the paint on the canvas dries, the artist secures the canvas to a platform that can be rotated at high speed. Once the canvas is secure, the artist can then begin spinning the canvas. Most spinning platforms are electrical or battery
operated, with more elaborate platforms enabling the artist to vary the rotational speed.
As the canvas rotates, centrifugal forces draw the wet paint outwards, creating intricate designs. The artist can drip more paint onto the canvas while it is spinning, thus layering paints on top of each other, creating different effects. Using different colors, a skilled spin artist can blend colors together into subtle designs. At any point during this process, the artist can stop the spinning platform to view the canvas. Since the canvas is usually rotating at a high rate of speed, it is difficult if not impossible to view the image on the canvas until the platform has stopped spinning, thus creating a sense of surprise and uncertainty during the creation process.
The father of spin art, that is, the first known artist to produce, display and promote spin art, was Eugene R. Pera. He appeared on US broadcast network TV on the shows What's My Line and I've Got a Secret in New York City in 1958 and '59 with his "Painting Machine" which utilized a vertical spinning canvas at which he carefully lobbed the contents of small paint cans. The show's hosts, Jack Parr and Hugh Downs, as well as their celebrity guests, were enthralled. Mr. Pera's statement to the art world at the time was effectively, "We are living in the Machine Age. Since machines have taken over so many tasks previously done by the human hand, my Painting Machine enables anyone to make dramatic abstract art." He did not patent the invention and it soon became a carnival novelty souvenir and money-maker for those who did.
Since the 1960s spin art can be seen in the works of certain contemporary artists. The artists using this technique often reconfigure their own machines by incorporating a more powerful engine than those belonging to schools.
The variety of results that this technique produces gives us a good idea of the infinite possibilities.
List of Professional Artists:
Alfons Schilling
During the 1960s Alfons Schilling
was one of the first artists to become interested in spin art. action painting also had a large influence on his work and added to its originality. Instead of installing it vertically he did it horizontally.
Annick Gendron
From 1968 to 1973 the French artist Annick Gendron
used industrial wheels to spin paint on plexiglas. At the end of the 1960s she was one of the first artist to use centrifugal force to produce large-sized artworks. Inspired by children's games : spin art, spin painting, her goal was to transcend this modest use to get the most spectacular effects from it. Damien Hirst got the same idea in the 1990s, as her he transcends the original practice, by the use of more spectacular materials, sizes, shapes, and skill improvement. Her work has been shown at the Raymond Duncan Gallery, at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery, at the Salon des Indépendants and Surindependant at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, at the Salon des Artistes Français at the Grand Palais and the Salon d'Automne in Paris.
Damien Hirst
From 1995 the British artist Damien Hirst
started a series of spin paintings. His finished pieces are circular in shape and mounted onto steel frames. This is a series of original works of art and screen prints. He was inspired by memories of the technique of spin painting which he saw as a child on the BBC's Blue Peter.
Mark Chadwick
Mark Chadwick's art is concerned by the use of machines in a production of an artwork, questioning what happens to an artwork once a machine has been used in its production. Chadwick often creates paintings using the spinning technique to introduce the element of chance and questioning the control of the artist. He consistently changes the method and considers all types of aspects to create different works.
Lawrence Stafford
During the late 1960s developed a spinning rotating machine on which he attached raw canvas and sprayed acrylic paint while the drum spun. He exhibited those abstract paintings in the United States and in Germany in 1968-1969. Several are in important museum collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art
.
Abraham De La Torre
Abraham De La Torre a self taught artist from the USA has developed spin painting using different techniques. Rather than randomly throwing paint at a spinning canvas he methodically places paint in specific places on the canvas and then spins the canvas so producing dramatically different results.
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
form that primarily uses paint
Paint
Paint is any liquid, liquefiable, or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film. One may also consider the digital mimicry thereof...
, a canvas
Canvas
Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...
and a spinning platform. It is primarily used to entertain and expose children to the process of art creation, although it can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
Techniques
To create spin art, an artistArtist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
initially decorates or drips paint onto a canvas
Canvas
Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...
. The canvas can be anything; however, the most common form of canvas is a small rectangular piece of cardboard. Before the paint on the canvas dries, the artist secures the canvas to a platform that can be rotated at high speed. Once the canvas is secure, the artist can then begin spinning the canvas. Most spinning platforms are electrical or battery
Battery (electricity)
An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...
operated, with more elaborate platforms enabling the artist to vary the rotational speed.
As the canvas rotates, centrifugal forces draw the wet paint outwards, creating intricate designs. The artist can drip more paint onto the canvas while it is spinning, thus layering paints on top of each other, creating different effects. Using different colors, a skilled spin artist can blend colors together into subtle designs. At any point during this process, the artist can stop the spinning platform to view the canvas. Since the canvas is usually rotating at a high rate of speed, it is difficult if not impossible to view the image on the canvas until the platform has stopped spinning, thus creating a sense of surprise and uncertainty during the creation process.
Fine art
Since the 1960s spin art can be seen in the works of certain contemporary artists. The artists using this technique often reconfigure their own machines by incorporating a more powerful engine than those belonging to schools.
The variety of results that this technique produces gives us a good idea of the infinite possibilities.
Alfons Schilling
During the 1960s Alfons Schilling
Alfons Schilling
- Life :One of the first artists to become interested in spin art.Action painting also had a large influence on his work and added to its originality. Alfons Schilling is apparently a learned follower of viennese actionism-External links:*...
was one of the first artists to become interested in spin art. action painting also had a large influence on his work and added to its originality. Instead of installing it vertically he did it horizontally.
Annick Gendron
From 1968 to 1973 the French artist Annick Gendron
Annick Gendron
Annick Gendron is a French abstract painter, .- Art :In the 1970s Gendron’s innovative way of using and manipulating industrial material and tools as plastic, glass, hydraulics press and centrifuges...
used industrial wheels to spin paint on plexiglas. At the end of the 1960s she was one of the first artist to use centrifugal force to produce large-sized artworks. Inspired by children's games : spin art, spin painting, her goal was to transcend this modest use to get the most spectacular effects from it. Damien Hirst got the same idea in the 1990s, as her he transcends the original practice, by the use of more spectacular materials, sizes, shapes, and skill improvement. Her work has been shown at the Raymond Duncan Gallery, at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery, at the Salon des Indépendants and Surindependant at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, at the Salon des Artistes Français at the Grand Palais and the Salon d'Automne in Paris.
Damien Hirst
From 1995 the British artist Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
started a series of spin paintings. His finished pieces are circular in shape and mounted onto steel frames. This is a series of original works of art and screen prints. He was inspired by memories of the technique of spin painting which he saw as a child on the BBC's Blue Peter.
Mark Chadwick
Mark Chadwick's art is concerned by the use of machines in a production of an artwork, questioning what happens to an artwork once a machine has been used in its production. Chadwick often creates paintings using the spinning technique to introduce the element of chance and questioning the control of the artist. He consistently changes the method and considers all types of aspects to create different works.
Lawrence Stafford
During the late 1960s developed a spinning rotating machine on which he attached raw canvas and sprayed acrylic paint while the drum spun. He exhibited those abstract paintings in the United States and in Germany in 1968-1969. Several are in important museum collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
.
Abraham De La Torre
Abraham De La Torre a self taught artist from the USA has developed spin painting using different techniques. Rather than randomly throwing paint at a spinning canvas he methodically places paint in specific places on the canvas and then spins the canvas so producing dramatically different results.