Conrad Bo

The Superflat Art Movement

To understand Superstroke the viewer must first understand Superflat.

Age of Superflat. To mark the first major exhibition outside Japan of the sensibility / style originated by artist Takashi Murakami, a show at MOCA in Los Angeles opening on January 14th called Super Flat, we present a little taste of the bilingual book 'Superflat'. Here is the Superflat Manifesto.

The Super Flat Manifesto

The world of the future might be like Japan is today -- super flat.

Society, customs, art, culture: all are extremely two-dimensional. It is particularily apparent in the arts that this sensibility has been flowing steadily beneath the surface of Japanese history. Today, the sensibility is most present in Japanese games and anime, which have become powerful parts of world culture. One way to imagine super flatness is to think of the moment when, in creating a desktop graphic for your computer, you merge a number of distinct layers into one. Though it is not a terribly clear example, the feeling I get is a sense of reality that is very nearly a physical sensation. The reason that I have lined up both the high and the low of Japanese art in this book is to convey this feeling. I would like you, the reader, to experience the moment when the layers of Japanese culture, such as pop, erotic pop, otaku, and H.I.S.ism, fuse into one. [H.I.S. is a discount ticket agency in Japan. By lowering the price of travel abroad, the company is having a profound effect on the relationship between Japan and the West.]

Where is our reality?

This book hopes to reconsider 'super flatness', the sensibility that has contributed to and continues to contribute to the construction of Japanese culture as a worldview, and show that it is an original concept that links the past with the present and the future. During the modern period, as Japan has been Westernised, how has this 'super flat' sensibility metamorphosed? If that can be grasped clearly, then our stance today will come into focus.

In this quest, the current progressive of the real in Japan runs throughout. We might be able to find an answer to our search for a concept about our lives. 'Super flatness' is an original concept of Japanese who have been completely Westernized.

Within this concept seeds for the future have been sown. Let's search the future to find them. 'Super flatness' is the stage to the future.

The 4 Elements of Superstroke

The 4 Elements of Superstroke

As most people who has been following the Superstroke Art Movement knows is that the manifesto written for Superstroke is as follows:

1. Paintings should be executed using expressive even violent brushstrokes on at least some part of the picture.

2. Should a photograph be used for a figurative painting, the objection should not be Photorealism, but Expressionism.

3. If mediums such as pen, pencil, etc are used, the pen and pencil strokes must at least be overly expressive for it to be considered a Superstroke picture.

4. Paintings can be executed in both the abstract and figurative.

5. Subject matters such as Africa, light, dark, life and death are encouraged.

6. Collage, Stencil and Calligraphy may be used for impact.

7. The concept, Art for the sake of art, does not apply in Superstroke. In Superstroke it is art for the sake of Superstroke, as the artist must always strive for paintings rich in texture, or excessive brush or pencil strokes.

Superstroke consists out of 4 elements, namely The Stylized Image, Non Representative Abstraction, Realism and Combination. All of these elements are of equal importance, and make out the total collection of images in Superstroke. There has been a notion Superstroke should consolidate and focus on only one of the four elements, instead embracing all of them. Several discussions later and it was decided although it means more work, The Superstroke Movement will still embrace all four of these elements. Superstroke is extremely complex, and it seems that it will become even more so as time goes on.

In order to achieve the goals of Superstroke, namely to produce paintings to take art forward, it is important for the Superstroke Art Movement to incorporate all the elements of modern art.
Superflat started what will be a key point in a lot of Art Movements going forward, and that is to incorporate texture as a key element of the movement.

In Superstoke texture or the illusion of texture is always very important, but when you work with pencil for instance it is difficult to add texture in comparison with what you can do in oil or acrylic paint. Then it is important to go for the expressive line. You have to use incoherent type of lines to stay within the spirit of Superstroke as described in the Manifesto.

Superstroke

Superstroke abstraction and the inspiration from Picasso

Superstroke lessons from Picasso

Picassofication in Superstroke

Notice the 3 figures on the right are painted in a normal style. The figures on the right resembles African Masks. This painting almost mark the beginning of Cubism, which started in 1907.

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon was painted by Picasso in 1907. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon appeared in the May 1910 edition of the Architectural Record, a US publication . Although it was labeled a "study", numerous sources confirm that the painting itself was reproduced therein. It wasn't published in France until 1925, when it appeared inn La Revolution Surrealiste.

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon 1907. Oil on Canvas (244 x 234 cm)

Bull ( Plate I. - December 5 1945 )
(eleven developments of a lithograph)
Museum of Modern Art, New York


Pablo Picasso created 'Bull' around the Christmas of 1945. 'Bull' is a suite of eleven lithographs that have become a master class in how to develop an artwork from the academic to the abstract. In this series of images, all pulled from a single stone, Picasso visually dissects the image of a bull to discover its essential presence through a progressive analysis of its form. Each plate is a successive stage in an investigation to find the absolute 'spirit' of the beast.

To start the series, Picasso creates a lively and realistic brush drawing of the bull in lithographic ink. It is a fresh and spontaneous image that lays the foundations for the developments to come.

Picasso used the bull as a metaphor throughout his artwork but he refused to be pinned down as to its meaning. Depending on its context, it has been interpreted in various ways: as a representation of the Spanish people; as a comment on fascism and brutality; as a symbol of virility; or as a reflection of Picasso's self image.





Bull ( Plate II. - December 12 1945 )
(eleven developments of a lithograph)

At the second stage of the lithograph, Picasso bulks up the form of the bull to increase its expressive power and achieve a more mythical presence.






Bull ( Plate III. - December 18 1945 )
(eleven developments of a lithograph)

On Plate III. the development takes a change of direction. Picasso stops building the beast and starts to dissect the creature with lines of force that follow the contours of its muscles and skeleton. He cuts into the form of the bull much in the same way as a butcher would cut up a carcass. In fact, he was known to have joked with the printers about this butcher analogy. Also at this stage, Picasso introduces the use of a lithographic crayon to add more detail to the surface texture of the animal's skin. The overall effect is reminiscent of Dürer's famous images of a rhinoceros.







Bull ( plate IV. - December 22 1945 )
(eleven developments of a lithograph)

Plate IV. sees the artist start to abstract the structure of the bull by simplifying and outlining the major planes of its anatomy.

Ten years earlier Picasso had said that "A picture used to be a sum of additions. In my case a picture is a sum of destructions." In view of this statement, lithography seems to be the most natural choice of media for this series of prints. One of the technical advantages of lithography over other printmaking techniques is that you can both add to and subtract from the image with relative ease.




Bull ( plate V. - December 24 1945 )
(eleven developments of a lithograph)

The simplification and stylisation of the image continues on Plate V. Picasso starts to erase sections of the bull in order to redistribute the balance and reorganise the dynamics between the front and the rear of the creature.

First, he reduces its massive head and compresses its features into the small area that was previously the bull's forehead. By enlarging the eye and flattening its horns into a more lyrical design, he creates a sharper focal point at the front of the animal.

Next, he erases a section of the back which has the counter effect of raising the front. He literally underlines this change with the bold white line that runs diagonally across the animal, parallel to the new angle of the back. As a counterbalance to this movement, he strengthens a line that runs in the opposite direction across the middle of the body, parallel to the shoulders at the front.

Picasso's process of development is like building a house of cards where balance and counterbalance of the individual elements is crucial to the stability of the whole.



Bull ( plate VI. - December 26 1945 )
(eleven developments of a lithograph)

At this stage, another new head and tail are created to conform to the style and direction of the developing image.

Picasso introduces more curves to soften the network of lines that crisscross the creature. Once again he adjusts the line of the back which now begins as wave on the shoulders and flows like a pulse of energy along the length of its body. The two counterbalancing lines discussed in the previous plate are extended down the front and back legs to act like structural supports for the weight of the bull. All three of these lines intersect at a point that suggests the bull's center of balance. Through the development of these drawings, Picasso is beginning to understand the displacement of weight and balance between the front and rear of the animal.



Bull ( plate VII. - December 28 1945 )
(eleven developments of a lithograph)

As Picasso recognizes the balance of form in the bull, he starts to remove and simplify some of the lines of construction that have served their function. He then encases the essential elements that remain in a taut outline.




Bull ( plate VIII. - January 2 1946 )
(eleven developments of a lithograph)

Plate VIII. continues the reduction and simplification of the image into line with another reconfiguration of the head, legs and tail.




Bull ( plate IX. - January 5 1946 )
(eleven developments of a lithograph)

While continuing to have fun with the drawing of the head, Picasso now erases the remaining areas of tone and finally reduces the bull to a line drawing. Only the creature's reproductive organ retains its shading in order to emphasise its gender.





Bull ( plate X. - January 10 1946 )
(eleven developments of a lithograph)

At this penultimate stage, the more complex areas of the line drawing are removed to leave only a few basic lines and shapes that characterize the fundamental forces and correlation of forms in the creature.





Bull ( plate XI. - January 17 1946 )
(eleven developments of a lithograph)

In the final print of the series, Picasso reduces the bull to a simple outline that is so carefully considered through the progressive development of each image, that it captures the absolute essence of the creature in as concise an image as possible.

Erik Laubsher by Conrad Bo

I had the privilege today to see an art from some of the greatest South African artists that ever lived. This includes the usual like Pierneef, Stern and Maggie Laubscher. And I also saw paintings of some of the greatest living South African artist, including Rodger Hodgins and of course Erik Laubscher. I was quite surprised to see a particular painting by Erik Laubscher, the 1952 painting "Still life with mandolin, music score and fruit" (obviously not a title the artist chose himself).

The reason for my surprise was two fold. The first was to see by chance a painting that was in the news so many times the last couple of months and for some bizare reason never failed to interest me. And secondly how different the painting look in real life as oposed to the photographs.

In my own quest to find some sort of artistic success, especially with Picassofication in Superstroke, this is a very facinating painting. Although I think of myself of someone who understands color, and someone who has some type of mastery over it this painting blew me away, and as I write this I am back at the drawing board with my color theory.

In conclusion, Erik Laubsher is a master of color and form, and my new quest is to see if I can master even if it is only a fraction of his ability to use color to exite the viewer.

Conrad Bo

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Conrad Bo Retrospective as Conrad Botha

Here are some more Conrad Botha paintings (I now paint under the name Conrad Bo)

Here is some exerpts from a brochure that was written for me by one of my dealers. At that stage I was still using my original surname Botha to sign my paintings. A lot has happen since then but everything I do today was influenced in some way by the art I did in Generalism.

Conrad Bo

Conrad Botha

Analytical Generalism

Conrad Botha’s career has always been dominated by the 3 movements he started. These movements Generalism, Architecturism, and Television Impressionism will always be tied to any picture that he does, even when he branches out to territory that he is not usually associated with.

Here is an excerpt from Conrad Botha’s manuscript Generalism, Architecturism and Television Impressionism

Conrad Botha believes that all genres of art should be explored by an artist. Whether it is landscape, still life, abstract etc, Botha says an artist only discovers his true self when moving out of a comfort zone. Although Botha is known for his figurative paintings and landscapes (Best described as a mixture of Impressionistic strokes and the dots of Pointillism), he has been experimenting with abstract art from a very young age when he saw a photograph of a Picasso painting.

According to him, his current abstract expressionism works are influenced mainly by 4 artists. The first is Joan Miro (Founding member of the Surrealist group), Hans Hoffman who first experimented with drip paintings in 1940, after him from about 1947 Jackson Pollock took drip painting to the next level and the term action painting (A phrase coined by the journalist Harold Rosenberg.) became world famous. In about 1954 Helen Frankenthaler also used the drip painting technique in some of her paintings, but with brighter color planes and also made a contribution to this type of abstract art.

Conrad Botha classifies his paintings as Analytical Generalism (Art for the sake of art, exploring what the term Generalism can mean in the context of art, with the emphasis in taking the paintings to the next level in terms of the visual and emotional aspect thereof). That being said he concedes that the term action painting can be used for some of his paintings, where like Jackson Pollock he denies the accident from happening. Botha feels that some of his paintings blur the line between action painting and color field painting and therefore his argument of classifying his paintings as Analytical Generalism are justified.

Botha also strays from action painting in certain pictures as he will use brushes, and knifes directly on the canvass to create certain textures that he want to attain. This again blurs the line between action painting and color field painting.

Botha always said that one of the things that distinguishes his art, from that of anyone else’s, is his believe that the unique name given to a painting is just as important as any brush stroke. Unlike the great American artist Mark Rothko (Famous for “Color Field Painting”) that stated that “Silence is so accurate”, Conrad Botha believes that although he does not disagree with Rothko, the impact of the right name for a painting has a severe and powerful effect on the viewer.

Like Joan Miro (Once labeled by Picasso as the only other artist, except for himself who is taking art forward), Botha believes that (Quote from Miro)“In painting, you should be able to discover new things each time you look at it. But you can look at a painting for a whole week and never think of it again. You can also look at a painting for a second and think about it for the rest of your life. For me, a painting must give of sparks. It must dazzle like the beauty of a woman or a poem. It must radiate like the flints that the shepherds in the Pyrenees use for lighting their pipes.”

Botha believes all artists should live by the above statement from Miro, and hopes the viewer can see it in his work.

Here is an excerpt from manuscripts Conrad Botha made regarding Genralism:

Introduction to Generalism

I founded Generalism as an art movement, mainly because there are too many paintings in existence that cannot be defined.

Generalism includes all art ever created, in the past and in the future. Therefore, all art that cannot be; or has not been yet defined as art, within an art movement, can be regarded as Generalism.

However when it is possible to narrower define a painting, like for instance an Impressionist painting by Cézanne, this art movement classification supersedes Generalism, and the painting will be known as an Impressionist painting.

Looking at the definition of the word, general (relating to or covering all instances: not limiting in meaning: not specific) there are many examples of artist all over the world that create art just for the sake of art without any specific movement or statement in mind. These are classic examples of Generalism.

Regarding my own art, I am first and foremost a Generalist. In the spirit of Generalism I paint what I see, what I know, what I don't see and also what I do not know. As the founder of Generalism I declare that there are no rules in Generalism, any means necessary to apply paint to a surface in a sensible way can be and shall be used. The only rule to Generalism is that there are no rules. Generalism includes all art, and is not just limited to paintings.

Manifesto for Generalism

1. Generalism, is art, for the sake of art.

2. All art is Generalism, unless it is narrower defined in another art movement.

3. Whenever art cannot be explained, or defined by the artist or by somebody else, it will be regarded as Generalism.

4. Therefore Generalism unites all art.

5. The onus, therefore rest on the creator, or observer, to explain, or to prove that a particular piece of art should not be regarded as Generalism.

6. Generalism comes down to the fact, that even if an artist has nothing to say, he/she must say it in order to prevent their work to be classified as Generalism.

Once your fear of poverty has been overcame, here is what to do. By Conrad Bo

Now that your fear of poverty has been overcame, the next step is to find ways to stretch your money (In my case it is rands, in your case it might be dollars) that you have left as far as possible, in order for you to stay alive so that you can produce more paintings.

To save money on food I will advise an artist to consider becoming a vegetarian as vegetables are generally cheaper than meat.

If you are still in a situation that you still own a microwave potatoes can become your staple food. No need to peel it, just wash the potatoes under a tap. Put on a plate in the microwave for + - 10 minutes and you have a meal that cost you almost next to nothing.

Remember that almost every cent you spend on luxury food you could have spent on either paints or canvasses. So avoid anything that is packaged if possible.

I will from time to time publish dirt cheap recipes that is still edible.

Regards

Conrad Bo

Father of Superstroke

How to become an artist during a recession by Conrad Bo

I am often ask what is the most important characteristic a person must have to become a good artist?

When I think back on my career I must admit that I think the most important thing is to overcome your fear of poverty. The prospect of losing your middle class status will be the thing that will prevent most people from becoming professional artist. This is my long and short answer to the question.