Sunday, 29 December 2013

Sculpture 'two words' project

The aim of this project is to select two words from a variety of choices and create a sculpture based from your choice of words. I find the concept of this very intriguing and inspirational as you could potentially create anything of different textures and sizes. A few words that stood out to me were 'loose' 'hollow' 'extensive' 'close' and 'intimate.' I considered the outcomes to be something that would spread out or start from a point that could be extended. I considered what materials I could use for the types of words I was looking at and thought that maybe the best media would be plaster or string or wire as this can be manipulated and twisted. For starting points and for a way to test out my ideas, I'd like to use plasticine to play around with extensive positions and to see how I can manipulate the shape into something that bends and twists to test how this would work with other materials.
Out of all the words we were given, i was most drawn to 'intimate' and 'extensive.' The words create an image in my head of something that was close together but also continuos or growing. 
Pictures found using google

I started to look at different shapes and styles to find a way to show something which would show something which both extended into something bigger/taller and also something that was close or tight. 
I want to create something which represents intimacy but also continuous or growing. 

Thursday, 19 December 2013

Artist: Nettie Wakefield

Group presentation on artist Nettie Wakefield
http://www.nettiewakefield.net/

Nettie Wakefield's works titled 'reversed portraits' are A3 sized pencil drawings of the backs of peoples heads. 
She is currently working on a masters degree specialising in drawing and she has been working independently on projects and exhibitions since 2009. She currently lives and works in London.
Her inspiration for the series came to her from sitting in a lecture theatre when she noticed the person in front of her had an interesting hairstyle. As she began to draw the back of her head she starting to consider who she was and what she looked like from the front. This series is aimed at provoking intrigue and curiosity from the viewer. 
The reason she chose to focus on the back of peoples heads is to discover how much information you can gather just by looking at somebody from behind. 
The reason i chose to look at Nettie Wakefield's work is because i found the concept of looking at something from a different prospective interesting. I like the way that her work is designed to make you think about how things which normally go unnoticed can still hold a lot of information about a persons personality, and in this case what they might look like from the front.
In relation to my own work, i really like how simple the subject is but it can stir thoughts in a viewer. I love the realistic style and how each individual hair is captured almost as if its moving. 
In the future, for my own work i'd like to find a simplistic subject which has a lot of meaning that makes the viewer want to know more information.


Wednesday, 18 December 2013

Inspirational Quotes

This quote is derived from Cesar A. Cruz's work titled 'To Comfort The Disturbed, and to Disturb the Comfortable: Onward children of the sun.' 
It is believed that Banksy is related to the quote above in relation to art.
I think that this is a very powerful sentence and i love the way it basically describes that art is something of an eye-opener to people that believe that they live in an 'ideal' world.
Personally i think that some of the best concepts are to show people and make them think about the things they normally turn a blind eye to.
I also think that the part about comforting the disturbed is very powerful as i think that using art at something to express ones own emotions is very effective. 
- Edgar Degas
This is another quote which is pretty relevant to the previous one. The message is mainly about opinion and about concept in an artists work. 
I think that art is showing a message, whether its societal issues, current issues or ongoing problems such as war, racism, sexism ect. 
It also related to the physical subject and how it may not be always aesthetically pleasing or it may be a magnificent art piece but it is essentially valueless as it doesn't have a clear message or mean anything to the viewer. 

Artist: Annette Messenger

While conducting research for the sculpture project i came across Annette Messenger. I also saw her work in the Tate Modern in London. Her work caught my eye as i like the way her work is in clusters and collections.
picture 
trendland.com

I like the way that her work is a collection of things which accumulate to one big piece. The context of her work usually relates to things happening in society such as feminism and culture. 
I like the idea of using a collection of objects to represent what you are trying to communicate and i'd like to do the same with my own sculpture work.
picturehttp://trendland.com/

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Artist: Jonathan Yeo

Jonathan Yeo is an artist that i saw in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Sienna Miller
Pictures from http://www.jonathanyeo.com


Jonathan's paintings vary in size and some are arranged in groups. His popular works are of recognisable people, actors, actresses and politicians. Some of his paintings are sized based on the popularity of his subject. 
The reason i chose to look at his work is because i find the way he focuses on the face of the subject and the rest of the painting is very out of focus and seems a little unfinished. 
picture (http://www.google.com/hostednews/getty/media/ALeqM5iw7yivRcnRibcwwG_SV_f4az0MvA)

Other the the style of his paintings, i like his use of colour. The backgrounds make his work seem very natural and almost make it look like the backdrop used in photography for school photographs. Collectively they look like variations of skin tones and pastels. 
Shebah 2013
picture http://www.jonathanyeo.com/gallery)
I particularly like this painting of the artists wife as the pose is very natural, it looks almost as though it was painted from life rather than a photograph. He has created this with his trademark 'unfinished' look which makes it a little more natural. I also like the way the colours are very neutral and light. 

Saturday, 14 December 2013

London Galleries

The concept behind this really intrigued me, the way that the piece shows that creativity and individuality is controlled and the lack of freedom of imagination. 
Tate gallery, London 
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled 1979
(picture www.tate.org.uk )

I felt inspired by this piece mainly because i liked the concept that everything which begins must have an end. Both the painting and the meaning are very simple yet it makes you think of things related to time and passage.
This has inspired me to take a similar concept with my print work. This could be related to decay and the way things fade into nothingness. I want to execute this by using ink in printing to show how things fade over use/time.
Lee Ufan, From Line. 1978
Picture (www.yiaos.com)

This painting created by shooting at pockets of paint under a layer of plaster, i like the way the marks are very uncontrolled and random.

Niki de saint Phalle, Shooting picture 1961