Further investigation into 'Practical Abstraction'; Camouflage

Last Tuesday afternoon, I spent a good few hours searching through the library's online catalog for books with references to facade, camouflage, design, Melbourne Buildings, exhibitions about the architecture of Melbourne and art about architecture etc etc.... By Wednesday I carried home an armload of books on topics ranging from architectural landmarks in Melbourne, the buildings and art of RMIT University, a radical history of buildings across the city, a book about disfigurement therapy and skin camouflage from 1977 (horrendously outdated and awful in it's use of language, however proving to be an interesting read, may have to post a review in the coming days.), all the way through to essays on How To Read Desperate Housewives.

Also following the suggestions of both Fran and Louise during a recent tutorial, I sought out books on Disruptive Pattern, or practical applications of abstract painting as a means of concealment. In a historical context, as with Project Facade (see earlier blog post) and the advancement of re constructive/plastic surgery, the application of geometric patterns as camouflage during WW1, was necessary due the significant increase range and sophistication of weaponry.

I'm particularly enjoying reading up on the history of "Dazzle" ships, the avant-garde artists who may have influenced them, and those who were in turn influenced by them. The idea of the Dazzle patterns painted on British war ships, was to do just that; dazzle, or mis-inform the enemy (namely German U-Boat Captains), as to the shape, size or direction of the ship, thus making it almost impossible to target. Anyway, the idea of this blog was not to give lectures on history (or to rip off the research of others!), however, if you're interested in the subject, I'm currently reading;

• Aurandt. D, McElroy. G, (2008) Razzle Dazzle: The Uses of Abstraction , The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Ontario, Canada
• Hartcup. G, (1980) Camouflage: A History of Concealment and Deception in War, Charles Schribner's Sons, New York, United Stated of America

Subsequent Google Image searches on artists featured in both of the above mentioned texts including; Ray Mead, Jock Macdonald, and Edward Wadsworth, (whom is one of the artists most frequently associated with Dazzle, [McElroy. G, (2008)].) led me to a particularly interesting blog-site Coleg Menai, which is more or less an image catalog of avant-garde Modern Art movements.

Anyhoo, next on the artistic agenda, will be many more colour studies, getting through the books I've borrowed and returning them on time, and during the week I've planned another day of photography around the city - maybe I'll follow one of the walking tour guide books?

Oh, the image above is the Edward Wadsworth painting, Dazzle-Ships in Drydock at Liverpool (1919), National Gallery of Canada, and I sourced it from FFFFOUND! who in turn, quoted Oobject as their image source.