Katy Thompson, Associate Director of Education
The Education department here at FWMoA likes to play a game we call “Would You Eat That (Artwork)?” It consists of us going to art museums (or walking around a newly opened gallery at our own) and pointing out works of art asking: “Would you eat it?” (Note: Please don’t actually eat the artwork).
Take a minute to look at Garden, an oil on canvas by Nicola Simbari. Would you eat this painting?
Our answers vary dependent on color (that green looks delicious), texture, materials, composition, and brushstroke. When looking at a work that employs the impasto technique of painting, like Garden, the answer to would you eat that is almost always yes.
It’s not just that impasto being close to the word “pasta” makes us hungry, but the textured surface that arises when the technique is employed creates a tactile experience between artist and visitor. While we don’t condone touching the art, it does feel like you could swipe your finger across the thick surface for a taste, like icing from a can. Italian in origin, impasto relates to the verb impastare, to knead or to paste. When painting impasto, the artist applies the paint thickly, using a brush or palette knife, to create a raised paste that adds texture once dry. The paint appears 3D, emerging off of the canvas.
David Shapiro’s Mudra 35 is an extreme case, as he plays with using texture to push the 2D painting space into a 3D sculptural rendering. Action painters, like Jackson Pollock, used the technique to record the action of painting, as the thick application reveals the brushstrokes (or knife-strokes), a visible record of the artist’s hand. The traditional medium is oil paint, used by Simbari, because of its thick consistency and slow drying time–it’s easier to blend. Shapiro, however, chose to use acrylics which require an added gel to thicken the paint. How do the two compare? You won’t see an impasto watercolor, either, as the medium is too fluid for the build up required. Soft pastels can produce a limited impasto effect when pressed firmly against the paper, seen in Tara Will’s gestural landscapes. While they don’t have the true, built-up true texture like Shapiro’s Mudra 35, Will’s gestural, layered landscapes are a feast for the eyes.
Simbari’s painting is textured but glossy; impasto is often employed to ensure light reflects off the work a certain way, this gives additional control to the artist over the play of light in the work. How have Davisson and Forsyth, two Impressionist painters who focused on light and its movement, used impasto?
Davisson’s thick application of paint creates the craggy, rough textures on the rocks by the river in contrast to the placid water and soft, leafy trees while Forsyth uses thick, layered areas to create movement in a bustling outdoor market. By adding expressive brushstrokes, Forsyth illuminates the speed with which he completed the composition to capture the light at a specific time and place.
First noticed in paintings of Venetian Renaissance artists, Titian and Tintoretto come to mind, impasto slowly increased in use until it exploded in 19th century landscapes and modern art. Modern art places precedence on the surface of the painting having its own reality, discovering that the texture of the paint and shape of the brushstroke or mark could convey feeling. This gestural style, often referred to as “painterly”, directly expresses the artists emotional response to their subject, whether an object or a feeling, while emphasizing the innate qualities of their medium. By involving the senses, impasto creates a more dynamic and tactile viewing experience.
Take a look at this work by Jiha Moon, now on view at the Museum. How does her use of impasto add to her work?
In BYH, Moon achieves a balance between thickness and texture as too much or too little can cause issues with depth. Moon’s use of impasto balances a busy work and adds to the feeling of movement and spontaneity held in many of her artworks, 2D and 3D. Applied using a brush or palette knife, artists can use a myriad of palette knives to create different effects, whether fine lines or sharp edges, broad strokes or blended areas. What application has Moon chosen? Applying the color directly to the canvas they can also scrape the layers back to create even more textures. When worked minutely, impasto moves beyond suggestion and illusion into reality, accurately depicting wrinkled skin or texture of more intricate surfaces like jewelry and fabrics.
The next time you visit the FWMoA, see if you can spot a work that makes use of the impasto technique and determine why the artist applied it.
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