Evaluation – Cityscape

The task was to design a cityscape and create it using with a black sticky-back plastic. The task seemed simple enough, I thought it would be a great idea for my portfolio, seeing as I'd like to study architecture. The difficult part was finding buildings that maintained the same perspective and depth.

I made only one design for my final piece as I was very pleased with it. The most two more noticeable buildings I used were designed by one of my favourite architects, Santiago Calatrava. The Alamillo Bridge in Seville, Spain (1987-1992) and HSB The Turning Torso in Malmö, Sweden (2001-2005) (also the tallest skyscraper in the Nordic countries with 190m). The remaining buildings were taken from a magazine drawing.

Cutting out the pieces required a lot of patience. It was frustrating trying to find out the correct pressure to cut with, if I wasn't careful I would cut through the sheet instead of the first black layer, this happened multiple times & was fixed by taping the cut parts from behind. The small window pieces were also difficult as they were small and fiddly. The material was tricky to use as if it was not cut through completely it would rip when it was pulled, making it look rough and badly done, this was the biggest problem for the positive side of the final piece.

Although I was, in general, pleased, I do feel that I could have added more detail & paid more attention to the aesthetics of the final outcome, it could have been neater. I did think I made an improvement by cutting off the bottom half making it look like a panoramic point of view, like how you'd see central London from Primerose hill. I personally think it made it slightly more unique.

Evaluation – Snowboard

The task was to create a snowboard design on a foam board with acrylic paint. The task at first seemed simple, finding swatch like samples from magazines but creating an innovative, eye-catching design wasn't as easy as I thought it might be. Having said this, it didn't take me long to draw out 2 final designs taking my likings into consideration.

From an old Mandala drawing, I'd done a year ago for a philosophy assignment, I took the snowboard design inspiration. I've always been curious about nature and so far I've included nature in most of my finale pieces, where acceptable, thinking about how consistency in theme could affect my grade, for the better, and how much I liked the original Mandala piece I decided I would try and make it work. Since the Mandala was superficially more spacious than the drawings look better laid out, so on the snowboard I had to cut down and keep the essential parts of the Mandala, my favourite parts; the sky with the blacked out buildings which transforms into the sea with the jellyfish on the other side. The building and the sea show a great contrast of the nature in which we live in. Seeing as it's a snowboard, I thought nature would be a great idea.

I did think about adding text, having researched online for inspiration I saw that most snowboards had text in very beautiful typefaces, as snowboarding is an extreme sport, the typefaces were mostly rough and very street, like graffiti. Because of this, I didn't do it. I wanted a simple yet eye-catching design. I did think of adding text with a lower opacity, giving it a translucent look, over the jelly fish, but thinking over that, I didn't want it to look too tacky.

Although, I thought my design was good, I could have put more effort into it. I like the shape I gave the over all board, but I could have sanded it out more, covering the pores properly, making it smoother or at least painted over it better. In general I thought my design good, but I don't think I showed enough evidence in my book as to how I properly got my final outcomes. I did photocopy on side of the final design to do a coloured experiment, as is required, but I had the coloured idea in my mind and I thought it pointless to redo on paper if I was already going to do it on the snowboard. 

Gerrit Rietveld

Rietveld began his life as a furniture maker focused on practicality of his products and ways to mass produce them.

Once he became an architect his focus was the deigning of houses that could be build in a production line almost like furniture, houses designed to be practical to live in and practical to be built.

Rietveld concentrated his skills as an architect in trying to find solutions to housing problems, his designs were modern for his time experimenting with different materials trying to create standard models of buildings.

His approach to design appeared to always be trying to use his talent to solve problems to increase the practicality of products used for daily living, Rietveld did not seem to be seeking fame, his fame seemed to be a product of his effort to help people.

Rietveld was an innovator, who took risk and experimented not only with form but also with new materials which although are now common in architectural projects such as prefabricated concrete slabs, these materials were at the cutting edge of development and building techniques at the time.

His work was characterised for being practical before being artistic.

FRANK GEHRY

Is a living Canadian-American, modern architect based in Los Angeles, who tries to blend modern art with architecture. His buildings are usually easily identifies and have become a cult, his name being recognised internationally. Gehry's work enters a style called 'Deconstructivism', where form is more important than function and efficiency.

Gehry claims that many of his works have been inspired by the form of fish, something that he started sketching almost by accident, his work in some ways, perhaps, look like a cruder version of Gaudi's style of work, incorporating the shapes of waves and where art takes prevalence to practicality.

 Gehry seems to favour the use of metal and glass to make his buildings seem modern and futuristic, to stand out of their conservative surroundings. His work has been criticised for being too commercial rather than following his own artistic motives. Having said that, Gehry has won a great deal of recognition and awards internationally, including; The National Model of Arts, The American Pritzker Architecture Prize and The Academy of Achievements Golden Plate Award.

Van Gogh

Subject matter

This painting shows a field or a garden of flowers, iris'. Van Gogh painted this whilst he was living in the Saint Paul-de-Mausole asylum in France.

He was influenced by the japanese wood-blok style Ukiyo-e, as were many of the post-impressionist artists at the time.

Technique

This, oil on canvas, piece is done with very hard, rough brush marks, as was most of his later work, with the shapes of the grass, leaves and flowers outlined, very similar to the Ukiyo-e Japanese wood-block prints, a movement that marked the impressionists. These markings give the painting a thick, relief texture.

The painting is a mix of mainly cool colours, the impact of the blue irises, and a transition into a more warmer feel, the brown-green soil and the marigolds in the background, also the mint coloured leaves that’s just between a bright yellow and a cool blue. This combination gives the piece as a whole a cool summer ambiance.

Vincent uses a very detailed show of folding, as clothes would drape on a figure, these flower’s petals droop on their age.

The perspective is as if he were the same height of the irises, or drawing them from a low point of view. There’s a show of depth in this piece as the less-detailed marigolds fade into the background.

Artist's Career

Van Gogh started painting peasants and landscapes in dark, earthy tones whilst the Impressionist movement was beginning to rise with bright and vivid colours, making his work more difficult to sell.  It was his younger brother Théo that told him to continue his work with brighter colours. 
In his brief career he sold only one of his paintings. His most valid and praised works are said to have been done during the last 3 years of his life. 

Links with own work

Van Gogh has a particular way of painting. Like most of the impressionists, the brush marks are very thick & rough. Although most of my work is light, I try to maintain a bright colour theme & I choose mainly landscapes & portraits as I find them more challenging and fun. Also, I out-line most of the basic shapes in my pieces, mainly with a fine liner or a thick marker depending on the object contrary to Van Gogh's as he out-lines his main objects with a darker shade of the filling colours.  I find the Impressionist movement, in general, an inspiration for most of my experimental and leisure works as I find the technique & style of their paintings to be so free, yet carefully placed.

Quotations

"[It] strikes the eye from afar. The Irises are a beautiful study full of air and life."- Theo Van Gogh

KARA WALKER

“One of my earliest memories involves sitting on my dad’s lap in his studio in the garage of our house and watching him draw. I remember thinking: ‘I want to do that, too,’ and I pretty much decided then and there at age 2½ or 3 that I was an artist just like Dad.” —Kara Walker

Kara Walker (42) is a living, Californian African American contemporary artist, who uses paper cutting & silhouettes to express gender, violence, sexual, race and identity themes in an ironic, humorous and sometimes grotesque manner.

Through, she communicates the racism, sexual objectification, torture and violence of the 19^th century slavery.

She uses a narrative panorama of each of her cut outs of black paper on the white gallery background to create a story line, a tall tale by images.

The illusion of depth is added to her pieces by placing images, of a background, higher up on the wall.

Her use of silhouettes is an ironic way to express this specific theme as you can't really see what's going on up front, as the stories of these incidents are now forgotten, she makes us remember by not showing us directly, but, instead, letting us use out imagination, adding colour and life to where she only presents a figure. 

The black, white & the occasional grey Walker uses to present her pieces gives the whole show a feel of antiquity. Her exhibitions are made even more valuable and rare, as Walker destroys her open wall pieces once the exhibition closes.

On pages 3 & four of my sketch book I did a copy of this piece, doing it in both the black against white & vice-versa for a full negative-positive view. This chosen piece demonstrates, to me, a lack of a will to live, the young girl must have been through an obvious amount of abuse. In the smoke you can also observe a female face and a town, this could mean that she's burning everyone along with herself.

LINKS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipd7ZjFcoo8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6t-S_DFxCI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMBvNpEj7WM&

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8uJ6tQRxvo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doD_wxmRepw (review on her work)

Walker's influences 

art 21 blog article

365 artists blog article

SI SCOTT

Is a Uk based graphic designer & illustrator that's widely known for his typographical use of extensions, curves & loops in his letterings.

After finishing secondary school, at the age of 16, he carried on his artistic interest in a two year BTEC, which was followed by a foundation course where he experimented and learned the true meaning of graphic design. Scott's modern fantasy figures and letter types have won him a great deal of exhibitions in institutions around the world.

Si's style has become so well known, it's used as a synonym with his own name, his work is based mainly in modern typography and abstract animal, figures & logo types for Madonna, Kraftwerk, BBC, Adidas & Nike, to name a few, with his unique swirls. 

Si Scott's work is done mostly by hand with gel tip pens & markers, and colour manipulated with digital software. 

LINKS:

Si Scott Designing

Scott's official page

Dvisible Magazine Interview

Format Magazine Interview

Digital Art Empire Feature 

Si Scott on Behance

Si Scott Designing

Scott's official page

Dvisible Magazine Interview

Format Magazine Interview

Digital Art Empire Feature 

Si Scott on Behance

MR. BRAINWASH

  Mr. Brainwash (Thierry Guetta) is a Street Artist & filmmaker who started out following and documenting other street artists at work. He was introduced to doing street art himself by his cousin 'Invader'. Fame came with his first solo exhibition in 2008 which is considered one of Los Angeles' most memorable solo art shows, and, even more so when the Banksy directed documentary "Exit Through The Gift Shop"was released in 2010.

  Although, brainwash doesn't physically create the work himself, he does design it, like an architect would design a building but wouldn't build it himself, he has a creative mind, but, Guetta doesn't enter my definition of street artist. The original idea of street art has that rough feeling of clandestinity, that guerrilla touch of, almost, delinquency, a movement that started as graffiti; an illegal and prosecuted activity that was done at night by mob of angry youth, it was done to express the discontent of young people marginalised in a society with no spaces for them. It's only in recent years that the talent of graffiti makers was recognised and it became art in a different form to the mainstream form of art moving from "vandals" to "artists". It seems that Mr Brainwash is a talented man, an artist that took advantage of the popularity of street art and tried to gain a place amongst the real street artists such Banksy, Invader, Malarkey, etc.

  Street art, like the cave works of Altamira (Spain) about 40.000 years ago, is done just to express the artist feelings. One imagines that it was done from the soul, maybe in anger or to shout out to other people how happy they were, but, when an artist starts planing a work with a mentality of profiting from it and calculating how much "fame" they can get then the definition of street artist may no longer apply to that artist, and it is for this reason that Mr Brainwash although talented, perhaps should try his wares as a mainstream artist rather than pretending to be a street artist.