Monday 30 November 2009

A little bit of MoMA pt.7...

I've come across Andy Warhol on quite a few other occasions for instance when i ventured to Berlin not too many years back i managed to see some of his invigorating prints that took up entire two floor walls. They are undoubtedly compelling.

Pop art is something i tend to bemusely sigh at really. I find it influential and inspiring just as much as the next art lover but in all of its glory it just sometimes seems silly. The premise of it all falls on its back in such a world where replications become recurrences and recurrences become replications. They are still, ordinary, recycled.

Fantastic to see the soup cans in a gallery.










Sunday 29 November 2009

Cherry Reynolds...

I came across this awesome Birmingham illustrator in an issue of NEO so i decided to send a quick e-mail her way and find out a few things...

What sort of educational background do you have within art and design?



I studied art and design as soon as I left school because I knew I wanted to be involved in the creative industry from an early age. I went to college to do a national diploma in graphic design. But from being unsuccessful of getting into university at Manchester Metropolitan because my portfolio was shit, I studied a foundation degree at my home town to find my muse in illustration, there I built a style I enjoyed working with. And in 2007 I went onto studying a Degree in Visual Communication at the Birmingham Institute Of Art and Design.


I really admire your focus on the figure, have you ever taken life drawing classes?


Yup, even though it bored me to almost death! I found them invaluable. I have been taking life drawing classes regularly from 2004 until last year, and now I find I understand the human figure enough to draw many poses in my own style without reference. Although I do still have trouble drawing different perspectives.


What kind of influences do you have and do they affect your way of working in any form?


I loved Japanese Anime from the day I discovered it. And I always drew and drew it in my spare time, despite the criticism I received for it (my college tutor advised me to bin all the anime drawings I did). I dropped it for my foundation year to focus on drawing more abstract. Dale Chihuly’s glass sculptures inspired me in my past work, I still use structural forms in my recent work as well as being inspired by organic forms such as shells and leafs. My other inspirations include Egon Schiele, Marcos Chin and Joao Ruas.


From my perspective, your work seems quite conceptual, how do you initiate your ideas?


Most of my illustrations come from my mind. I picture how I want it to look, and begin drawing thumbnails to revise which composition would work best. My figurative style is built on experiments, what I enjoy and is comfortable doing. I work a lot in traditional, and move it into digital. Filling in Colour and playing around with the composition in Photoshop. I always like my illustrations to have a traditional feel, although its finished digitally.


What kind of mediums do you utilise?


I use traditional media, and then transfer it into Photoshop. I use Copic Markers a lot, and ink. But I find I work more detailed in pencil. Right now I’m experimenting with getting a silkscreen print effect with colour, digitally and combining it with my style.

Thanks again Cherry...

http://pink-syrup.blogspot.com/

A little bit of MoMA pt.6...

Although, as surreal as it was to gaze upon this piece with my own eyes, i thought it possessed something quite inexplicable.

There are natural expectations and assumptions made with how such an artistic piece is to be able to affect someone.

In this case, you would assume that there would be quite a pertinent change when baring witness to something like this that attains such a dexterous calibre.

Unfortunately from my own personal perspective, i thought it was rather wank.

Seemingly, from first glance it does embody some form of an evocative ambience, but after a while, i find it just becomes dwindled by an underlying and impending stigma of defiled vibrance.

It feels almost tainted to a degree.

Strange but at the same time illuminating at how my own perception of such a great piece can instinctively change when perceived in the flesh.













A little bit of MoMA pt.5...


Hypnotising...
Profusely visceral...
Intensely evocative...
Magical...
...and huge!









A little bit of MoMA pt.4...

I've seen this photograph many a time before and i really kinda like it. The perspective is unusual and the model fits the movement, it is an unorthodox frame but moulds well as a composition, also considering the monochrome palette.

This was pretty much the only photographic image in MoMAs collection that really caught my eye as the majority were emphatically portrait-based and seemingly mundane but this definitely brightened my day.  


A little bit of MoMA pt.3...

This guy is high on my hero list. He's some kinda Santa Claus. After studying him for quite some time i found out, it is said that he was allegedly shot down from a warplane, crashed unconscious and was revived back to full health by a couple of locals who pasted his body in animal fat and then wrapped him in felt in order to keep him warm. This was considered the epitome of his artistic pioneering. Ever since then the way his work has expanded is a matter of momentum so it seems. No matter how much of a necessity there may be to negate his past, it becomes irrelevant in relation to the way in which he has cleverly mastered the logistics of the era in which he was present and eveything he did to make such a hardened mark as a political activist. Beautiful work to see in the flesh, never thought i'd see the day.

He combined his life with art...quite a sincere sacrifice if you ask me!











Wednesday 25 November 2009

A little bit of MoMA pt.2...

I have come across Hans Bellmer in the past and I studied him briefly over the course of my first year. I first witnessed this fetishistic sculpture in all its glory in the Liverpool Tate gallery. It's quite relenting to see with your own eyes. Its one of those kind of pieces that envelops itself, to be able to see it from every angle, an affirming and discomforting resonance becomes present, and at the same time it occupies more of an embellished sense of beauty. Rather than just looking at it upon a computer screen, it cannot be encapsulated. I definitely did not suspect such a piece to have been part of MoMAs collection, it was quite a smiley surprise.







This piece merely acts as the perverse ingredient into which an erotic blend of naivety and temptational desire fervents the youthful feminity of a childlike infancy and brands a new-found semblance of sexuality and maturity. The piece as a singular element resists this incarnation, only through the photographic lens can it be accomplished and through Bellmer's personal experiences of carnality is it truely revealed. I just find his photographs undoubtedly enlightenening. There is an unsettling authenticity evident within them to the point where they also most seem unfathomable.










Monday 23 November 2009

A little bit of MoMA pt.1...

I think one of the most special things from going to the MoMA in New York was a very small corner displaying a selection of some very eclectically astounding Polish posters. I have seen this one before many a time across the web but to set eyes on it in the flesh is oh-so-much-more mesmerising. Personally i never grew much of a great fondness for the Polish shizzle but when having the opportunity to square up to one of these, an inch away from the composition, there is an underlying quality of illustrative grandeur they unseemingly possess that just cannot be ignored. They become so much more admirable and indulgent. I wanted to steal them and place them all above my bed to remind me on a daily basis of what illustrative awesome-ness is out there.










this is a nice lil' video...

thought this would be worth a mention...
i love the feel of the animation...
i have no idea who it's done by...
despite it being so basic...
i think it's just pretty...



Lord Bunn...

This is some pretty funky shiz. The band is 65daysofstatic, song Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here. I have loved them for quite some time but i wanted to allocate this video with some special merit as since I've loomed over animation briefly this video is quite an admirable piece of gorgeousness. The drawings are done by Lord Bunn (http://www.lordbunn.com), who's pretty simplistically decent, and the incorporation of movement is done by Tza and Medlo (http://www.medlo.com). 






Friday 20 November 2009

Chiho Aoshima...

Now this girl really takes the piss...as you may not have guessed, the majority of her work is created using the incredibly fist-clenchingly annoying tool of Bezier curves on Adobe Illustrator. I find it unbearable to even contemplate how long and soul-destroying these kinds of pieces must take to produce, as if i were to dare attempt something of such calibre i think i'd end up cutting my tongue off. Fair play to her as they play perfectly to the themes of her imagination. There is consistent use of certain elements such as ghosts, zombies and schoolgirls that are exquisitely organic inhibiting the beautiful landscapes she illuminates. She is very good at what she does...plus she has a nice face.















Wednesday 18 November 2009

polaroids of polar bears...

i bought a book in New York, it had lots of really nice and encapsulating polaorid photographs in it of strange-looking people, flying birds, whittling trees, tall buildings and lakehouses...and now i only have one thing on my xmas wish list. 


i adore the feel of polaroids. they are the surface of stories. they hold so much to them. within the flash of a shutter they ensnare the reality outside of them and form the dimension of something more unveiling the hidden truths we sadly miss. they are the cherishable wonders of life. 


Raped by my childhood?
What the hell do I know about rape anyway?
Well, I guess it's fun to pretend.
Sorry.
Just a thought that occurred when I wasn't quite awake enough
To dismiss it.

It's easy.
(You always used to stay within arms reach.)
To cheapen an event.
(Now it seems I'm all by myself)
By pretending it happened.
Only by pretending it happened.
(Save my life.)
Life.

(My life was taken tonight.)
My life.
(My life was ended tonight.)
My life.

Boring cliched self-destruction.
I think I should start doing aerobics.
And the rest...

Boxes of cats,
People with Taz tattoos,
Explosive personalities,
Self-centeredness,
Protractor from your new geometry set,
Inability to do math,
Geography.

Polaroids
(Tonight)
Of polar bears.
(Tonight)
Polaroids
(My life)
Of polar bears.

Polaroids...


(Alexisonfire : Polaroids of Polar Bears)

 

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Mulberry Fashion Brief...

Okay, just to state now, i am not the biggest fan of fashion. Clothing would have to be one of my major flaws to representing any sense of my own personal style.


The brief that we have been given is to produce a design to work as different elements within a Mulberry store. The main requirement is to incorporate this design into a 15cm x 30cm format to act as a huge carpet. The elements that are required should work as separate motifs as they would be used to decorate around the store. 

Apparently Mulberry attempt to combine `the cool of the city with the craft of the countryside`. Personally, i think that's a load of wank. On the Mulberry website their recent selection of glamorous things have no style, no etiquette of originality or substance, every item seems to identify one spot colour and some kind of fancy material that will complement an eye-popping price. They are empty residues of crap. 


This being a slight dilemma as where to begin, i was very unsure of how to make such a cool and crafty combination. I decided to venture for some different resources and purchased a Vogue magazine. This helped a lot. 


Utilising such pretty pictures contained within, i initiated some templates from whatever was feasible and drew out some basic shapes. After further inductions in Adobe Illustrator, i began reworking my sketches and transformed them into Vector shapes. 


I became a little subdued by how i couldn't actually integrate any of them into a basic composition. My initial idea was to incorporate the selection of shapes i had and copy them over the template, however, after a few attempts,it kinda ended up looking similar to something along the lines of Matisse which didn't really fit the brief in my eyes.



After major frustration nearly resulting in suicide, i just kept it all simple and using some novice tools on Illustrator repeated some of me shapes and made some circular patterns out of 'em...

and here we are...



Disney Pixars UP...

Last night for the first time in years, i decided to actually do something to fill my night with joy and went to the local cinema. UP was the only majorly appealing movie that was screening. 

In comparison to Pixars past animated feature-lengths that i have seen, UP was quite an impeccable triumph. It was unbelievably wholesome and uplifting but also carried a mature feel of childish ingenuousness that was warming to the heart. There was a deep connection with each personality of the characters. The sense of adventure progressed beautifully. I found it unorthodox of Pixar as the story proceeded so quickly, there were so many turning points and changeovers, it was incredulously enveloping. As soon as one thing happened i couldn't wait to see the next. Without a doubt the animation was undeniably top-notch as always and really complemented the purity of the film. At times i was actually in stitches, Pixar has definitely up-ped (pardon the pun) the scale of infantile comedy, the humour was simple yet just perfectly convivial. I am contemplating a second watch and i would most definitely recommend anyone else to come with me.