How does the canvas hang'? Part 4 - Canvas as relief

Canvas as relief 

9 Andrea della Robbia 

Madonna and Child with Cherubin,

 (1485)

10 Daniel Sinsel Untitled, (2010)   

 "Daniel Sinsel 2011

      Photo: Andy Keate. "

Daniel Sinsel’s recent approach to the canvas has put new breath into the perception of it’s surface, display and boundaries. He undoubtedly feeds in inspiration from Fontana in his incision canvases, but adds a new twist weaving objects in-between the incisions. His thinner subtler slices however don’t focus on the mysterious black void behind them but instead on the illusionistic life of its upper surface. This is seen particularly in the slices shaped like crosses that fold into the canvas a bit like the bottom of a packaging box. What’s great about his works are their subtlety and how gently incised they are, aided in some works by replacement of canvas with linen. He seems to reignite the heartbeat of the canvas, taking it to what seems like a much needed new level. Some works take on an organic approach, with the use of sagging linen as canvas (seen above), overlapped, hanging loosely, yet ordered by squares and circles. He personifies the work of say Nicholson via the use of more organic materials which are more free-flowing and flexible. The absence of identifiable human features anchors

8 Daniel Sinsel 

   Untitled, (2008)  

           32 x 26 cm           

the personification to the canvas itself. Another work (to the right)
pays respect to the Renaissance framed reliefs. Sinsel takes the canvas and cuts a square hole in the centre transforming it into a three-dimensional window. Within it’s boundary, not outside it. He places material which looks like it’s covering something almost human in shape within the hole. You could say it’s outline resembles reclining nudes of the Renaissance. However again it’s strength resides in its absence of identifiable humanistic features, its surreality, appearing as living matter but unidentifiable as human. However as the Renaissance masters did he uses drapery to identify movement. The material used however is ‘almost rubbery’, adding an uneasy tension, a link to suffocation, almost as if it’s trapped something within its surface.

There are artists who have reintroduced classicism into the modern ‘non-framed’ canvas such as Agostino Bonalumi. Their Minimalist character

12 Donatello Lilla,

 Banchetto Di Erode, (vers 1435)

however  separates them from the Renaissance. Stone reliefs within the Renaissance were influenced immensely from Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Persian relief. Stiacciato relief was an extremely subtle type of flat, low relief carving associated with 15th-century sculptors Donatello and Desiderio da Settignan. Sinsel, Bonalumi and Sanchez treat the canvas as a low relief via a modern twist, you could definitely see it like this. The Schiacciato technique was dependent upon the use of white marble and how it’s sculpted grooves reflect light to create a

11 Agostino Bonalumi, Bianco (1966) 

180 x 257 x 25cm shaped canvas  and vinyl tempera

unique subtle depth of realistic space. Zilia Sanchez treats the canvas as a sort of relief also in her works, slightly elevating the surface subtly to create different shaped creative protrusions which exude elegance and skill.

8 & 10   http://www.chisenhale.org.uk/

http://research.ncl.ac.uk/fineartvisitingspeakers/infoSinsel.html    

https://www.frieze.com/issue/article/hide-seek/

9 Author: Sailko Location: National Gallery Washington D.C.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:National_gallery_in_washington_d.c.,_andrea_della_robbia,_madonna_and_child_with_cherubin,_1485_01.JPG

11 Archivio Bonalumi, Milan.

12 By Vassil (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons