Adrian Villa Rogas

Adrian Villa Rogas is a sculpture who recently had his first solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery. He is known to use organic materials such as clay to create his work. He states "Clay is soil. It'd refined soil" almost showing he wants to go back to times where sculpture was only made by materials that can found in the earth.

He is mostly inspired by the environments. He creates his work around the environment which he is given and uses it to his advantage. He as taken most of his inspiration from a group of Italian artists known as the Arte Povera movement, who were around in the 1960s. The Art Povera chose to make art that was rooted in nature and the fragile human past. Literally translated as 'poor art' they used everyday materials to create pieces which were surprisingly contemporary. This group seemed to inspire Rojas' work in the way that he works. Creating organic pieces using one of the ost ancient art materials, clay. His art is about the fate of the planet, which is ironically made out of the planet.

Working with colour

These white painting where painted over MDF boards that had a coat of colour. This was to see how much it would change the outcome and tone of a predominantly white painting. We had to create grey tones without the use of the colour black. I believe it resulted in some nice quiet paintings without any harsh bold shades.

These were the outcomes of painting colourful objects, but only using the three primary colours.

A4 MDF board

A4 MDF board
Painting without a paintbrush

A4 MDF board
Mixing Primary colours to try and create grey tones

What is Art?

A Form of Expression
Art can be thought of as your thoughts and ideas and can be portrayed through the materials you use and the way you create the piece. As well as expressing your thoughts through experimentation, we could argue that art is culture. African culture has progressively integrated art into their culture as a means to depict their beliefs, rites, spiritual world and ancestors' worship.
     Art can also be highly subjective, there is not a right answer on what makes good art, as everyone has completely different opinions and interests.

Art Changes
As the years have progressed, art has become less about skills and become more conceptual. In modern society, even objects have been perceived as art. An example of this is Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain 1917'. This piece was so controversial and groundbreaking it in fact helped shape Western art and the way in which we think. Traditional paintings are sometimes perceived as outdated, and even seen as boring and repetitive, where likened styled can be seen through some traditional paintings.
     Nowadays people want the shock factor. Instead of appreciating the skill of traditional paintings, we are more likely to notice art if it's shocking and controversial, such as Damien Hirst.


Art is Propaganda
For many years symbols have been used to relate to a particular belief, for example the Swastika, something which could have been considered artwork before its relation to the Nazis. Art is revolutionary, it was almost always used in political posters to keep morale high in times of need such as war.

Art is Money
Does money define art? In modern society, the quality of artwork is often defined by the amount it sells for. Money has almost taken over the art industry, where when we create or view a piece of work there is always that voice in your mind wondering about the price. The name of the Artist is almost more important than the work itself.