London Art@Site www.artatsite.com Ian Davenport Poured Lines
Artist:

Ian Davenport

Title:

Poured Lines

Year:
2006
Adress:
Southwark St
Website:
Fresh colours in an awkward place
Shape
Narrow vertical lines have many colors: primary, greyed to saturated. When the work is viewed between two fingers, each section is shown with it’s different color combination and atmosphere. If you look closely, you see that the work is made by hand. Most lines have one color along the entire height and thickness, but sometimes there is a subtle gradient. This can be seen only after careful study.
Material
Paint is brought on a large smooth shiny sheet. Such work is exceptional in public space; is this space paintings and also works with color are a minority.
Location
The work of art fulfills a clear function, namely it reduces an annoying feeling on an awkward place, namely under a bridge. Here the walls are frayed and dirty and there are many shades of gray.
Impact
Under a bridge, many people tend to walk briskly. Therefore, the artwork is viewed volatile. At the same this artwork is hard to read and interpret because of the large number of colors that evoke many different emotions. Therefore, the impact is not what it might have.
Meaning
Each artwork can be classified by function: by an aesthetic function, an artwork can make remember, can shock, can be cheerful. An artwork can also play a role in an awkward space where people stay only for a short while. If there was made a choice for certain effect, a certain emotion, this artwork would have been stronger and more effective.
By Theo, www.artatsite.com

Compared with other artworks
In the evening offices are empty along a river. On top of one of these buildings Dainton Neon Tower by Philip Roger Vaughan (London, picture 1, more information) is standing. This artwork is visible from afar. The colors bring merriment and take the uncanny feeling away, not only for the area immediately around the building but in a larger area.

At a crossroads, next to an entrance to the subway and a shopping area, this work Mural by April Greiman (Los Angeles, picture 2, more information) is does not imposes itself. The work is both in day- and night-time (with the help of a perfect lighting) atmospheric and brings me a spiritual longing for harmony and cohesion. After examination it appears to depict a finger and bowl by the use of a rich palette of colors.

On a dark spot in the city, a small light on a roof is suddenly seen. It turns out to be Uomo Della Luce (Man with Light) by L. Bernardi Roig (Milan, picture 3, more information). The man is bared chested and has difficulty wearing his charge. This is a powerful hopeful artwork. Happiness can be brought apparently by a stranger on an unexpected moment.

At first nothing is noticed but suddenly it becomes apparent: the artwork Four Seasons by Rob Birza (Amsterdam, picture 4, more information) changes continuously. Because of the changing of the colors, the artwork express different emotions. The artwork is formed by four faces. Because of the simultaneously changing of color, this makes a different combination of spheres. This wakes the emotional life in the seeming endless and impersonal walkway in the airport.
By Theo, www.artatsite.com

www.news.bbc.co.uk:
At 48m long and 3m tall (157 x 10ft), Poured Lines, due to be unveiled beneath a railway bridge near London's Tate Modern art gallery, is longer than five London buses and one of Britain's biggest outdoor paintings.
When abstract artist Ian Davenport agreed to create a huge painting at the gateway to London's Bankside, he had no idea what he was letting himself in for. The idea was to create a local landmark at the entrance to the cultural district, home to the Tate Modern, the Globe theatre and National Film Theatre. The noisy, previously pigeon-infested railway bridge might not have been every artist's idea of the best location to showcase their work. But Turner Prize-nominated Mr Davenport liked the idea of the mural being on Southwark Street, used by more than 1m people a year, many of whom may never set foot in an art gallery.
He didn't realise it would take two years' work to create the massive piece which depicts painted lines, and which is hopefully sturdy enough to withstand grime, rain, vandals and pigeons."I've worked on large pieces before, I did a piece for Tate Britain a few years ago that was 17m long, but this was a bit of an epic, " Mr Davenport, 40, said."It's a long time to work on one painting."
Just getting the necessary permissions from the various road, rail and local authorities took a while. Strips of colour
Then there was six months of research to find the right material to make it sturdy enough to stand the test of time as a permanent outdoor fixture.
When Mr Davenport finally decided to use fluid enamel on steel panels, fired at 825 °C, he and his wife had to head to a remote factory in Germany, 50 miles from Dresden, to find somewhere with furnaces big enough to take the panels.
They stayed for three and a half months, setting up a studio in which to mix up the thin strips of 300 different colours.
Each were applied using special syringes to the 1m by 3m panels, which were then put in the furnace. Once the work was complete, it was shipped back to England. The pieces have since been hung"French door" style beneath the bridge, so they can be swung back when railway engineers need to carry out inspections.
It is part of wider efforts to regenerate Bankside, a well known cultural quarter. The £290,000 bridge project has been largely funded by developers Land Securities, alongside Southwark Council. The council hopes the work will draw people to the area for decades. Councillor Richard Thomas said public art played a vital role in regenerating an area."The project...helps to reinforce the emergence of Bankside as the leading cultural quarter of London, " he said. Mr Davenport was keen to see people's reaction at the unveiling on Wednesday."It was a huge commitment, I had no idea it was going to take so long. I'm really looking forward to working with a smaller team for a bit." The piece has been covered in vinyl for the past few weeks, but was briefly unveiled for some publicity photographs. Some people went up to touch it, some liked it, at least one man shouted abuse from a passing car.
"That was quite amusing. It will have a lot of different reactions, " said the abstract artist."The first thing the public sees is the colour, then hopefully over a period of time people walking past it everyday will be able to see subtleties and colour and textures." Whether or not the enamel paint will resist the inevitable graffiti is yet to be seen - Southwark Council is nervous about calling it"vandal proof", for fear of attracting challengers.