Concept Art, Soufflage

Soufflage 

The word suffrage translates to blowing. 

The technique originated with the artist Jimmy Ernst, son of Max Ernst.

Jimmy Ernst, Abstract-Surrealist Painter and second-generation member of the New York School of Abstraction, arrived in New York in 1938 on the S.S. Manhattan. He was the only son of Surrealist, Max Ernst and Journalist, Louise Straus-Ernst; who perished in Auschwitz in 1944. 

His book, “ A Not So-Still Life”. Is a wonderful memoir of his life.

Jimmy Ernst was considered as an artists’ artist. His sensitivity and honesty with his work, life and with his friends set him apart from just being a painter. His paintings and influence came from within, from his experiences and love of jazz. 

His work were varied, oil on canvas, ink and gouache on paper, collage elements and painted sculpture. In his early years in New York, he worked with Rudy Blesh for Circle Records and designed covers for the jazz musician, Baby Dodds.

Figure 1 - Jimmy Ersnt, demonstration of soufflage 

Figure 2 - Soufflage techniques from http://elephantaday.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/elephant-no-39-soufflage.html inspired by Jimmy Ersnt

Figure 3 - Soufflage techniques from http://elephantaday.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/elephant-no-39-soufflage.html inspired by Jimmy Ersnt

As a surrealist concept, it involves blowing liquid ink or paint across a page into abstract forms. This forms are then used to create artwork from, or to further inspire artwork. I blew the ink downwards on the page and it create this funky looking upwards idea that it could be hair. From this I then drew straight onto the design and edited the colour of the fair in photoshop using the stamp tool to make the image more unique and funky.

Figure 4 - Orignial soufflage technique on paper

Figure 5 - Edited soufflage technique

Image references

Figure 1 - Jimmy Ernst’s biography (no date)

Figure 2 - 3 - Singhal, S. and profile, V. my complete (2011) Elephant no. 39: Soufflage.

Bibliography

- Jimmy Ernst’s biography (no date) Available at: http://jimmyernst.net/pages/chronicle.html (Accessed: 1 December 2016).

- Joshi, T. and Ernst, J. (2014) Jimmy Ernst. Available at: http://alchetron.com/Jimmy-Ernst-780237-W#- (Accessed: 1 December 2016).

- Singhal, S. and profile, V. my complete (2011) Elephant no. 39: Soufflage. Available at: http://elephantaday.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/elephant-no-39-soufflage.html (Accessed: 1 December 2016).

- Surrealist techniques (2016) in Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealist_techniques (Accessed: 1 December 2016).