Blind

Blind

 

Introducing a new series of works on camouflage closely related to that of Dazzle from last year that continues my investigation into butterfly and human camouflage techniques and surface patterns to conceal themselves from enemies and predators. This technique employs background matching and disruptive colouration and is known as mimicry. Background matching is the most common camouflage tactic, which in its simplest form sees a species taking on the tones of a background colour. 

In its more complex form a creature will match exactly the details of the background such as a Flounder that will blend seamlessly into the speckled sea bed. Another camouflage tactic is disruptive coloration. In disruptive coloration, the identity and location of a species can be disguised through a coloration pattern. This form of visual disruption causes predators to misidentify what they are looking at. Many butterflies have large, circular patterns on the upper part of their wings. These patterns, called eyespots, resemble the eyes of animals much larger than the butterfly, such as owls. Eyespots may confuse predators such as birds and misdirect them from the softer vulnerable part of the butterfly’s body.

In the Dazzle series I created a geometric grid/ground based on that of dazzle ship camouflage employed by the military for ships during wartime. In this Blind series I base the patterns of both the ground and paper butterflies on the camouflage patterns applied to military uniform enabling soldiers to blend seamlessly into desert and jungle environments. 

The adoption of camouflage by the military was introduced during the 17th and 18th centuries. Prior to this uniforms were brightly coloured as a tactic to intimidate the enemy. In 1848 the British army suffered huge casualties whilst fighting the Indian army. The British leaders of that campaign, Sir Harry Lumsden, and his second in command William Hodson then dyed their white uniforms a dull, sandy, tan colour to blend in with the desert environment. They called these newly coloured uniforms khakis - a Hindu word for "dust". Later the regiment went on to improvise dyeing the cloth locally. Other regiments in India soon adopted the khaki uniform, and by 1896 khaki drill uniform was used everywhere outside Europe. By the period of the Second Boer War six years later it was used throughout the British Army. many camouflaged textile patterns have since been developed and adapted to suit the needs and different terrains where combat takes place (woodland, snow, desert). Those following my Instagram account will know that I have been reading author and historian Michel Pastoureau's informative series on the history of individual colours on the spectrum and their development and social history. As a result I devised my own camouflage pattern and decided to be a little more playful with the colours employed in this project in an effort to make the colours as lively as possible like those of the butterflies themselves, and quite different from the range of dull greens and khakis used in military uniforms. The end effect is quite abstract, and a little disorientating as the butterflies in the finished artwork are hard to distinguish from the camouflaged ground which is in effect I guess what I was aiming to create - a successful form of camouflage. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Albert Bierstadt's Butterflies

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), was a German-born American painter famed for his sweeping depictions of the American landscape as part of the Hudson River School. These rugged, romanticised works focused heavily on mountains and rock formations, often illuminated by dramatic natural lighting. They captured the imagination of the American public, driving prices for his works to record heights and making Bierstadt one of the most accomplished and sought after painters of the second half of the nineteenth century.

 

Albert Bierstadt - 1830-190

Albert Bierstadt - A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, 1866

Although a "serious" painter, Bierstadt also had his fun side which came out when he hosted gatherings and would produce autographed butterfly paintings as a party trick as souvenirs for children and women guests who attended these gatherings. About 24 of these charming little butterfly paintings survive, one even found its way into the fine and decorative art collection of the White House. Bierstadt was a house guest of President Rutherford B. Hayes for a week and he charmed the president's family by painting a couple of his butterflies. In 1892, a reporter attending an event hosted by Bierstadt recounted the artist’s process for creating such works—of which she was a happy recipient: “We women were so glad we were women that afternoon, for Mr. Bierstadt presented each lady with a souvenir. This is how he made them. We all clustered about the table and he took out a palette, a knife and some large slips of cartridge paper. Two or three daubs of pigment on the paper, a quick fold, and holding it still folded against a pane of glass, he made two or three strokes of that wizard-like palette knife on the outside, and hey, presto! a wonderful Brazilian butterfly or moth, even the veining on the wings complete! A pencil touch added the antennae, the artist’s autograph was added to the corner, and now we each of us own a painting by Bierstadt.”

Butterflies with Riders, ca 1875