On writing with Alexandra Kokoli - 3/12/09 and 10/12/09
With Alexandra Kokoli, we were invited to a seminar on writing as an artist spread out over two sessions. In the first session, we looked into the work of Susan Heiler. Looking into the texts, one can see facts in each one have a different focus and perspective. We also looked at texts the using Derrida's method explained in his quote "il n'y a pas d'hors texte", or in English "nothing is outside of text", which is a way of saying that everything is text and open for interpretation.
The vision of having no such thing as "hors texte" is a principle that seems to have been created for design. In my comics, the white space is not directly part of the comic, but in itself reflects choices to leave empty room, to leave simple void around the characters creating its own invisible grid in the comic. Every time a choice is made in the artistic domain, even if it's a choice that is held as meaningless by the author, it will be interpreted. Non-choices are also open for interpretations: by choosing to use a white background in my comics, I chose not to put a visible grid, the choice not to put a grid is one not visible straight away, but one as open to interpretation as the choice of having just a white background.
Alexandra then talked about Walter Benjamin, an adept of the Frankfurt School. Walter Benjamin addressed the subject of the inexistence of a "pure language", a language that covers all possibilities of communication. The concept of pure language appeared to be something easily grasped by those who were bilingual. Using French and English as examples we can show they are not pure languages by simply observing that the vocabulary in English for anything regarding the five senses is much more expanded that the one in French, but the French vocabulary has a wider expression gage for moods. When Walter Benjamin talks about language, and when Derrida talks about texts, they do not mean the purely word based language, but any artistic expression, like Rolland Bartes' myth.
This theory is perfectly applied to the mixed-media comics I have done. By mixing the languages of photography and digitally drawn stickmen, I combine the two languages' possibilities to create a new message that uses the "vocabulary" from both. By mixing the media, analogue and digital, hand drawn and graphic tablet drawn, backgrounds, white spaces and photos, I create a new message. The combination of each message and each medium creates a whole new message which a unique medium could not have achieved because of its limited range.
In the second session, we looked quite closely at artist statements and artist manifestos. We went through the list of what should be contained in an artist statement, and then created as a group our own list of what should be in an artist statement.
The artist statement should contain:
1. Intent
2. Context in the world
3. Context in the art world
4. Context in our own world
5. Critical context
6. Track Record
When the group read their statements and worked on them, a clear line appeared separating designers' statements and artist's statements. The fine art students seemed to be looking inward, up themselves, and the designers had more of an outward look covering what they could do in the future and how they could do for a client.
The difficulty I found in making a statement was that it had to define your way of working and creating art. I do not have a define technique I am trying to perfect for my art or designs, rather preferred methods and subjects. As a designer, being versatile is a very helpful trait, and over specialising is a weakness as being able to adapt to a client's requirements is essential.
After working through each other's statements, we created a list of what a good statement should be, and what it should not contain:
1. Shouldn't overshadow the work
2. Aware of the exhibition's context (to abide by or subvert - must be aware of the reader)
3. Clarity - Jargon and pretension free
4. Considered and purposeful presentation
5. Help to the understanding of the work
6. Must not over-explain
7. Need not hit all the categories
8. Support the work
Artist statements in our context are very much in the area of an exhibition and for the purpose of an exhibition. In the world of comic books, the work, comics, are produced to be published. The intent in creating a comic book is to have it published so it will reach a maximum amount of readers. In other words, the artistic statement behind a comic books is simply to tell a story to others. Every statement I have come across in the comic book world are closer to the designer statements: the artist justifies why he designed the story, layout, visual, text, grid, colours,... to fit the narration. Comic book exhibitions do exist, but the artwork shown was not created with the idea of an exhibition in mind but simply with the idea of letting the readers of comic books see the original work of the artists.
In the case of my comic books, my statement is brief and clear: tell my story in the most basic comic book visual design possible, and express the maximum of emotions, events and feelings with the minimum of artwork. Although my work is not created with the idea of that statement in mind, I see this as more of a technical statement than an artist statement. In the list of what a statement should be that our group created, the first principle of the statement not overshadowing the work would be my primary concern.
Showing posts with label Seminars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seminars. Show all posts
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Drawing outside
Drawing outside, in the cold, when we could have stayed inside - 26/11/09
During this week's seminar, we were asked to draw. There was no discussion, no introduction to the reason of the work we were asked to do. A brief was simply given to four teams of four. Our group studied the outdoors, a location outside, that we had to draw from different perspectives.
We went outside, to a location where the temperature was all but welcoming. We quickly decided on a spot where we would draw what we saw. Sitting down, I drew the background. I have to say, that as a designer, my drawing skills are very limited. I do not think I captured any of the "precious" essence of the location. This was more confusing than anything else. After drawing the area, drawing poorly I should actually say, we corded off a bit of the terrain we were representing in our drawings and focused on representing that on paper. Once again, my qualities in drawing did not seem to stand out, although I was told I was getting better. I felt very intimidated comparing my work to the one of the fine art students. Even Bianca had done drawing in first year of digital media.
Our representations of the corded location were very different, and the difference in our style only thickened when we went back to the studio and had to draw the location from memory. The only thing from the actual location I did want to put in my drawing from memory was a snail I created in the background of one of my drawings.
This seminar was most helpful to allow me to practice my imagination skills. Out of the most concrete situation, I created a stick-snail character which I hoped would distract from the rest of the drawing. This goes hand in hand with my comic book works. Comic books are a form of entertainment, and one of the prime roles of entertainment is to be distracted from reality, and taken into another world. The surreal of my Wally, the Evangelist snail, allows for those who would be bored by my drawings, or disturbed by my lake of skill to be able to be distracted from these harsh truths.
The seminar about nature and artistic interpretation of nature did not manage to get a lot out of me apart from my belief that all men need to be distracted from reality in order to be able to cope with everyday life. The possibility to be distracted for a bit from the cold of the outdoors, for example, allows stress relief and to be transported out of reality only to come back hopefully refreshed.
During this week's seminar, we were asked to draw. There was no discussion, no introduction to the reason of the work we were asked to do. A brief was simply given to four teams of four. Our group studied the outdoors, a location outside, that we had to draw from different perspectives.
We went outside, to a location where the temperature was all but welcoming. We quickly decided on a spot where we would draw what we saw. Sitting down, I drew the background. I have to say, that as a designer, my drawing skills are very limited. I do not think I captured any of the "precious" essence of the location. This was more confusing than anything else. After drawing the area, drawing poorly I should actually say, we corded off a bit of the terrain we were representing in our drawings and focused on representing that on paper. Once again, my qualities in drawing did not seem to stand out, although I was told I was getting better. I felt very intimidated comparing my work to the one of the fine art students. Even Bianca had done drawing in first year of digital media.
Our representations of the corded location were very different, and the difference in our style only thickened when we went back to the studio and had to draw the location from memory. The only thing from the actual location I did want to put in my drawing from memory was a snail I created in the background of one of my drawings.
This seminar was most helpful to allow me to practice my imagination skills. Out of the most concrete situation, I created a stick-snail character which I hoped would distract from the rest of the drawing. This goes hand in hand with my comic book works. Comic books are a form of entertainment, and one of the prime roles of entertainment is to be distracted from reality, and taken into another world. The surreal of my Wally, the Evangelist snail, allows for those who would be bored by my drawings, or disturbed by my lake of skill to be able to be distracted from these harsh truths.
The seminar about nature and artistic interpretation of nature did not manage to get a lot out of me apart from my belief that all men need to be distracted from reality in order to be able to cope with everyday life. The possibility to be distracted for a bit from the cold of the outdoors, for example, allows stress relief and to be transported out of reality only to come back hopefully refreshed.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Anne Douglas on Paul Clay
Anne Douglas on Paul Clay – 19/11/09
Anne Douglas walked us through the works of Paul Clay. We analysed his drawings and were explained how Paul Clay saw drawing as the direct opposite of photography, and his vision of drawing as an extension of ourselves. We analysed the drawings of Paul Clay and tried to understand his view on the art of drawing. Anne Douglas explained from the start that her definition of “art” was “doing something supremely well”. One of the main focuses that we observed on Paul Clay’s drawings is the idea of referential: he called these the passive, the active and the medial. We were asked to produce a drawing ourselves illustrating a natural event that would take in consideration the referential system and the change in the active, passive and medial elements in our drawings. We then presented our drawings to the class and explained our referential system, and our representation of forces in the drawing. The class then commented not only on our representation but also on our drawing skills.
During our seminar, I tried to question Paul Clay, and could not stop be understand what he was doing what a form of pseudo-scientific representation. Paul Clay’s drawings bother me. For me, they are in direct contradiction with the definition of art given to us at the beginning of the seminar: art is doing something “supremely well”. Paul Clay does no seem to be doing his work supremely well in any perspective. His illustrations are merely pseudo-physics. The system he tries to represent with the water weal is just a very poor tae on the study of forces and referential which has been the method to analyse actions and reactions in the physics discipline for centuries. The physics idea is the same as Paul Clays with the only difference of having a consistent and logical norm of representation. When Paul Clay puts emphasis on one aspect of the forces applied to his schematics, he is simply changing the referential. In other words, he is just changing the “item” around which the whole force system is applied to.
In physics there are precise ways of drawing forces and applying them in relation to a referential. The simplest example is in the heliocentric referential, the earth goes around the Sun, but if we take the Earth as a referential, the sun is the other planets are the ones moving in an ellipsis around the Earth. Paul Clays drawings simply change referential by putting more emphasis on the water, the hammer, or the wheels.
The closest this application could be taken to my work is the importance of some items on others in the artistic representation and how one represents this emphasis. In comics, one can apply more or less emphasis on an item, an emotion or an event, and sometimes all three in the same situation consecutively. Paul Clay’s approach to drawing allows one to consider what he would like to have as the main referential in his drawing, allowing for a view of the drawing in different perspectives.
Anne Douglas walked us through the works of Paul Clay. We analysed his drawings and were explained how Paul Clay saw drawing as the direct opposite of photography, and his vision of drawing as an extension of ourselves. We analysed the drawings of Paul Clay and tried to understand his view on the art of drawing. Anne Douglas explained from the start that her definition of “art” was “doing something supremely well”. One of the main focuses that we observed on Paul Clay’s drawings is the idea of referential: he called these the passive, the active and the medial. We were asked to produce a drawing ourselves illustrating a natural event that would take in consideration the referential system and the change in the active, passive and medial elements in our drawings. We then presented our drawings to the class and explained our referential system, and our representation of forces in the drawing. The class then commented not only on our representation but also on our drawing skills.
During our seminar, I tried to question Paul Clay, and could not stop be understand what he was doing what a form of pseudo-scientific representation. Paul Clay’s drawings bother me. For me, they are in direct contradiction with the definition of art given to us at the beginning of the seminar: art is doing something “supremely well”. Paul Clay does no seem to be doing his work supremely well in any perspective. His illustrations are merely pseudo-physics. The system he tries to represent with the water weal is just a very poor tae on the study of forces and referential which has been the method to analyse actions and reactions in the physics discipline for centuries. The physics idea is the same as Paul Clays with the only difference of having a consistent and logical norm of representation. When Paul Clay puts emphasis on one aspect of the forces applied to his schematics, he is simply changing the referential. In other words, he is just changing the “item” around which the whole force system is applied to.
In physics there are precise ways of drawing forces and applying them in relation to a referential. The simplest example is in the heliocentric referential, the earth goes around the Sun, but if we take the Earth as a referential, the sun is the other planets are the ones moving in an ellipsis around the Earth. Paul Clays drawings simply change referential by putting more emphasis on the water, the hammer, or the wheels.
The closest this application could be taken to my work is the importance of some items on others in the artistic representation and how one represents this emphasis. In comics, one can apply more or less emphasis on an item, an emotion or an event, and sometimes all three in the same situation consecutively. Paul Clay’s approach to drawing allows one to consider what he would like to have as the main referential in his drawing, allowing for a view of the drawing in different perspectives.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
François Matarasso
François Matarasso – 12/11/09
During our seminar with François Matarasso we discussed how the government discusses about the quality of art, and how they use these discussions to decide on their funding and censorship of art. François Matarasso explained to us how he was the one charged of finding the criteria to base the discussions on the quality or art produced by individuals or groups funded by the government. He came up with five criteria to “guide the discussion”, and he was very clear to mention that these criteria were not made to assess or grade the art, but really just to guide a discussion. His five criteria were:
1: Technique/mastery
2: Originality
3: Ambition
4: Resonance
5: Feeling
After the discussion with Matarasso, which chose his words very carefully to make sure we could not interpret anything he said as judgement, it still seemed that Matarasso’s criteria were not only to guide a discussion, mainly because no matter how his great eloquence avoided the subject, he was part of the group that judged artists. These criteria were very specific to the government funded art, and does not have much of a link to publication or artwork funded by a private source. The main question for me was “who was he to judge?” And even if he was not judging, why was he the one that thought he had to set these criteria for “a better discussion”?
After long reflections about if people would use these criteria to judge my artwork and my designs, I have to say I was ill convinced of their usefulness in the comic book world. Although they can apply to government funded projects, comic books are simply linked to the publishing business, and the main criteria in business is “can it make a profit?” Although on the purely artistic point of view, comic books have quite a limited spectrum: they are a narration method, therefore have for sole purpose to tell a story. The story in itself can be put through these criteria and have many functions such as entertainment, political discussion, comedy,… but the design, the technique that transmits the message is even more limited. The comic book design has for objective to tell a story. We could try to apply Matarasso’s criteria to the comic book design:
1: Technique/mastery – The technique of comic book design is how effectively one can enhance and use the message to make the narration have a greater impact on the reader. The main technique in comic book design is choosing which type of design will reinforce the narration.
2: Originality – That criteria is not a simple one seeing as the comic book design technique does not have many variations. Although new ones are introduced little by little, they only tend to work with very specific style of stories.
3: Ambition – I don’t think ambition can really apply to the comic book design. The design is about effectiveness and efficiency.
4: Resonance – It is suppose to be the link with the world. Resonance is probably the main criteria that should be used regarding comic book design: the link between design, narration and story is of the highest importance.
5: Feeling – This criteria seems to be the most subjective. I cannot even fine a precise definition of “feeling” that would apply in this case. I suppose that when one has a very subjective criteria, one cannot be judged for judging.
During our seminar with François Matarasso we discussed how the government discusses about the quality of art, and how they use these discussions to decide on their funding and censorship of art. François Matarasso explained to us how he was the one charged of finding the criteria to base the discussions on the quality or art produced by individuals or groups funded by the government. He came up with five criteria to “guide the discussion”, and he was very clear to mention that these criteria were not made to assess or grade the art, but really just to guide a discussion. His five criteria were:
1: Technique/mastery
2: Originality
3: Ambition
4: Resonance
5: Feeling
After the discussion with Matarasso, which chose his words very carefully to make sure we could not interpret anything he said as judgement, it still seemed that Matarasso’s criteria were not only to guide a discussion, mainly because no matter how his great eloquence avoided the subject, he was part of the group that judged artists. These criteria were very specific to the government funded art, and does not have much of a link to publication or artwork funded by a private source. The main question for me was “who was he to judge?” And even if he was not judging, why was he the one that thought he had to set these criteria for “a better discussion”?
After long reflections about if people would use these criteria to judge my artwork and my designs, I have to say I was ill convinced of their usefulness in the comic book world. Although they can apply to government funded projects, comic books are simply linked to the publishing business, and the main criteria in business is “can it make a profit?” Although on the purely artistic point of view, comic books have quite a limited spectrum: they are a narration method, therefore have for sole purpose to tell a story. The story in itself can be put through these criteria and have many functions such as entertainment, political discussion, comedy,… but the design, the technique that transmits the message is even more limited. The comic book design has for objective to tell a story. We could try to apply Matarasso’s criteria to the comic book design:
1: Technique/mastery – The technique of comic book design is how effectively one can enhance and use the message to make the narration have a greater impact on the reader. The main technique in comic book design is choosing which type of design will reinforce the narration.
2: Originality – That criteria is not a simple one seeing as the comic book design technique does not have many variations. Although new ones are introduced little by little, they only tend to work with very specific style of stories.
3: Ambition – I don’t think ambition can really apply to the comic book design. The design is about effectiveness and efficiency.
4: Resonance – It is suppose to be the link with the world. Resonance is probably the main criteria that should be used regarding comic book design: the link between design, narration and story is of the highest importance.
5: Feeling – This criteria seems to be the most subjective. I cannot even fine a precise definition of “feeling” that would apply in this case. I suppose that when one has a very subjective criteria, one cannot be judged for judging.
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Thomas Hirschhorn Exhibition
The Thomas Hirschhorn Exhibition, Dundee - 05/11/09
Thomas Hirschhorn exhibition was like entering a whole new world where bits and pieces from our own had been taken from anywhere available and collaged together to make pictures, paintings, statues, sculptures and devices. This form of collage brought together items dramatically different meticulously placed amongst each other to accentuate contrast. May it be from small plastic robots held together with tape to carefully designed colossal statues; everything had a feel of recycled items. On a design perspective, Thomas Hirschhorn has perfected the art of making other people’s work his own, and rightfully so, by recycling logos and old items to create something new with a deep meaning to it.
From the start, I greatly connected with the work of Thomas Hirschhorn. I have greatly reflected on my own work after seeing his “Ur-Collage” and “Where do I stand? What do I want?” His work touches me mainly because I cannot stop from making assimilation with the cyber-punk and steam-punk genres and his work. Those two genres are like his work: collage, a mix of worlds, technology, techniques and philosophies. The deliberate choice of simple magazine collage techniques gives the artwork a sense of reality. This technique makes the idea of photoshoped pictures and airbrushed photomontages seem distant and put reality back in the realm of the real, and not the glamorised and over-dramatised media.
The work of Thomas Hirschhorn made me reflect a lot about my own work and my preferred technique of perverting man made industrial type objects from their original purpose, may it be as simple as transforming the wall of a squat into a curatorial space. The closest I do feel with the work of Thomas Hirschhorn is the mix of genres, techniques, and subjects, which I have applied to my mix media comics with real photos drawn over with a graphics tablet. Although I use this means to accomplish the opposite of his: I try to use this technique as a way of getting away from reality, when he uses it to make people more aware of reality.
The exhibition of Thomas Hirschhorn is immersive and manages to totally capture the mind of the viewers into his own world. This is what I have been trying to achieve with spray painted comic books, and what I intend to do with spray painted life size characters on the same wall I have already started working on. My ideal with this type of work is to get the spectators into the world created for them and to make them discover something new. The layout of the exhibition is designed in such ways that there is no other option for the spectator than to be part of the new reality created for them. One of my objectives is to gather all the inspiration taken from this exhibition and create my own curatorial comic book space with sole purpose being the total immersion of viewers into the comic book world.
Thomas Hirschhorn exhibition was like entering a whole new world where bits and pieces from our own had been taken from anywhere available and collaged together to make pictures, paintings, statues, sculptures and devices. This form of collage brought together items dramatically different meticulously placed amongst each other to accentuate contrast. May it be from small plastic robots held together with tape to carefully designed colossal statues; everything had a feel of recycled items. On a design perspective, Thomas Hirschhorn has perfected the art of making other people’s work his own, and rightfully so, by recycling logos and old items to create something new with a deep meaning to it.
From the start, I greatly connected with the work of Thomas Hirschhorn. I have greatly reflected on my own work after seeing his “Ur-Collage” and “Where do I stand? What do I want?” His work touches me mainly because I cannot stop from making assimilation with the cyber-punk and steam-punk genres and his work. Those two genres are like his work: collage, a mix of worlds, technology, techniques and philosophies. The deliberate choice of simple magazine collage techniques gives the artwork a sense of reality. This technique makes the idea of photoshoped pictures and airbrushed photomontages seem distant and put reality back in the realm of the real, and not the glamorised and over-dramatised media.
The work of Thomas Hirschhorn made me reflect a lot about my own work and my preferred technique of perverting man made industrial type objects from their original purpose, may it be as simple as transforming the wall of a squat into a curatorial space. The closest I do feel with the work of Thomas Hirschhorn is the mix of genres, techniques, and subjects, which I have applied to my mix media comics with real photos drawn over with a graphics tablet. Although I use this means to accomplish the opposite of his: I try to use this technique as a way of getting away from reality, when he uses it to make people more aware of reality.
The exhibition of Thomas Hirschhorn is immersive and manages to totally capture the mind of the viewers into his own world. This is what I have been trying to achieve with spray painted comic books, and what I intend to do with spray painted life size characters on the same wall I have already started working on. My ideal with this type of work is to get the spectators into the world created for them and to make them discover something new. The layout of the exhibition is designed in such ways that there is no other option for the spectator than to be part of the new reality created for them. One of my objectives is to gather all the inspiration taken from this exhibition and create my own curatorial comic book space with sole purpose being the total immersion of viewers into the comic book world.
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Location, location, location
Location, location, location - 29/10/09
As a follow up to the session at the Aberdeen beach, we went to visit three different locations which were this time chosen by the class, divided into three groups. We were going to visit The Tunnel, the tunnel under Union Street's venue, and loading bay for Marks & Spencers, the St. Nicholas Kirk graveyard, and the old train station next to the university. We were to express why we took the group to the locations chosen and what these places made us feel. This could be expressed through our own words or through the art of others.
The choice of our group was the Tunnels, which is just the kind of location which makes me excited. Although speaking about the industrial looking abandoned hole which cannot stop but looking out of place especially compared to Union Street. The tunnel is a monument to the steam-punk genre, home of so much of great comic books, and inspiration to quite a few comic books by the comic book duo of Ian Edginton and D'Israeli. Steam-punk it a genre of storytelling generally based in the Victorian times, where technology has greatly advanced but the only source of energy is still steam. The place is also the local gallery for many street artists which have painted on the walls. I even took the occasion of our visit to put my mark there.
The most interesting element about our visit to the tunnels was to see how others reacted to the location. Most hated it and imagined a series of awful things happening in this alley, and many reasons why they would never come here at night. This did set me apart from most of the group as I have spent many a nights in that alley being the person everyone else would dread to meet there. Different views, different opinions and different fears met in this alley during our seminar. Location, stories, inspirations do not affect everyone in the same way.
By each finding different locations we expressed our likes and dislikes about the environments chosen. Everyone had different feelings about different places, even quite a lot of culture clashes about such subjects as how to behave and what was appropriate to do in a grave yard. Everyone has a different story, and everyone tells their story differently.
Being able to see how people tell their own stories and the difference about how one same location/event impacts them was incredibly useful. Most important to me was how the other artists in the class narrated their feelings, emotions, and anecdotes about the locations they had chosen. The art of narration is all that comic book design is about, and hearing how others told their tales gave me greater perspective on how designers decide to lay out a story.
As well, I have been able to see what subjects and what emotions appeal to different kind of artists. The session over the different locations was like a focus group with everyone showing their preferred types of story.
As a follow up to the session at the Aberdeen beach, we went to visit three different locations which were this time chosen by the class, divided into three groups. We were going to visit The Tunnel, the tunnel under Union Street's venue, and loading bay for Marks & Spencers, the St. Nicholas Kirk graveyard, and the old train station next to the university. We were to express why we took the group to the locations chosen and what these places made us feel. This could be expressed through our own words or through the art of others.
The choice of our group was the Tunnels, which is just the kind of location which makes me excited. Although speaking about the industrial looking abandoned hole which cannot stop but looking out of place especially compared to Union Street. The tunnel is a monument to the steam-punk genre, home of so much of great comic books, and inspiration to quite a few comic books by the comic book duo of Ian Edginton and D'Israeli. Steam-punk it a genre of storytelling generally based in the Victorian times, where technology has greatly advanced but the only source of energy is still steam. The place is also the local gallery for many street artists which have painted on the walls. I even took the occasion of our visit to put my mark there.
The most interesting element about our visit to the tunnels was to see how others reacted to the location. Most hated it and imagined a series of awful things happening in this alley, and many reasons why they would never come here at night. This did set me apart from most of the group as I have spent many a nights in that alley being the person everyone else would dread to meet there. Different views, different opinions and different fears met in this alley during our seminar. Location, stories, inspirations do not affect everyone in the same way.
By each finding different locations we expressed our likes and dislikes about the environments chosen. Everyone had different feelings about different places, even quite a lot of culture clashes about such subjects as how to behave and what was appropriate to do in a grave yard. Everyone has a different story, and everyone tells their story differently.
Being able to see how people tell their own stories and the difference about how one same location/event impacts them was incredibly useful. Most important to me was how the other artists in the class narrated their feelings, emotions, and anecdotes about the locations they had chosen. The art of narration is all that comic book design is about, and hearing how others told their tales gave me greater perspective on how designers decide to lay out a story.
As well, I have been able to see what subjects and what emotions appeal to different kind of artists. The session over the different locations was like a focus group with everyone showing their preferred types of story.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
The Beach
The Beach - 22/10/09
Ian took us to a great big beautiful beach. The tide was comic up, and the water was quite agitated, mainly cause the weather was rough as all Hell broke loose. This actually reinforced the power of the location while diminishing our willpower. The weather went hand in hand with the location allowing it to unleash its true powers and its true face, letting us observe the waves beating against the sand the man made walls made to break the strength of the sea. We could observe the wind carrying the sand in whirlwinds right into our eyes and on our close and ruining camera lenses. The beach was untamed for us to observe it and for Ian to express through others artworks what he felt about the beach. We also recorded our own instant feelings about the beach, asking questions about the location and wandering how this untamed force of nature would affect us.
The main observation was the interventions of man built buildings and structures around the beach and our observations on how they barely affect the sea's strength but seem to cheapen and bring down the value of the environment with cheap generic environment leeching as much presence as it can from the beach. We looked into the artificial entertainment centre that is next to the beach; there now seems to be the same layout around any beach.
The environment affects everything around it, may it be the beach allowing a cheap amusement centre to leech on its magnetism and energy and how the artificial "fun" park brings down the beach and the forces of nature by having set up next to it. By putting these two almost drastically opposed environments next to one another they influence each other, and how we perceive them.
These observations are very much observations on curating. By allowing us to observe two elements opposed: a poorly constructed man made entertainment centre and the beach. I suppose I had to see the contrast of these two large elements to understand the importance of curating on a smaller scale and in the case of my research, in the comic book medium. The importance of where we put works of art and how the environment impacts on our work. This may be applied to the publishing of comic books from being spray painted on wall to on the internet, in bookstores, or in museums. The environment impacts incredibly on artwork. That has led me to choose very carefully what subject I should use for the artwork for my comic book designs. What would the people that pass in front of my spray painted comic relate to, understand and have their attention grabbed by? What would be a subject that those who read my comics online be attracted to? The environment, the squat, the internet, should influence my method, my choices of art, and way of publication.
The importance of the environment was crucial in the choice of subject for my first spray painted comic on the squat of the council area. I had to find a subject that would educate the people around and that would use all the benefits of the environment while taking all the advantages and disadvantages of the location into consideration. Aliens are a universal politically correct subject that I wish will attract participation and interaction with all those around the artwork.
Ian took us to a great big beautiful beach. The tide was comic up, and the water was quite agitated, mainly cause the weather was rough as all Hell broke loose. This actually reinforced the power of the location while diminishing our willpower. The weather went hand in hand with the location allowing it to unleash its true powers and its true face, letting us observe the waves beating against the sand the man made walls made to break the strength of the sea. We could observe the wind carrying the sand in whirlwinds right into our eyes and on our close and ruining camera lenses. The beach was untamed for us to observe it and for Ian to express through others artworks what he felt about the beach. We also recorded our own instant feelings about the beach, asking questions about the location and wandering how this untamed force of nature would affect us.
The main observation was the interventions of man built buildings and structures around the beach and our observations on how they barely affect the sea's strength but seem to cheapen and bring down the value of the environment with cheap generic environment leeching as much presence as it can from the beach. We looked into the artificial entertainment centre that is next to the beach; there now seems to be the same layout around any beach.
The environment affects everything around it, may it be the beach allowing a cheap amusement centre to leech on its magnetism and energy and how the artificial "fun" park brings down the beach and the forces of nature by having set up next to it. By putting these two almost drastically opposed environments next to one another they influence each other, and how we perceive them.
These observations are very much observations on curating. By allowing us to observe two elements opposed: a poorly constructed man made entertainment centre and the beach. I suppose I had to see the contrast of these two large elements to understand the importance of curating on a smaller scale and in the case of my research, in the comic book medium. The importance of where we put works of art and how the environment impacts on our work. This may be applied to the publishing of comic books from being spray painted on wall to on the internet, in bookstores, or in museums. The environment impacts incredibly on artwork. That has led me to choose very carefully what subject I should use for the artwork for my comic book designs. What would the people that pass in front of my spray painted comic relate to, understand and have their attention grabbed by? What would be a subject that those who read my comics online be attracted to? The environment, the squat, the internet, should influence my method, my choices of art, and way of publication.
The importance of the environment was crucial in the choice of subject for my first spray painted comic on the squat of the council area. I had to find a subject that would educate the people around and that would use all the benefits of the environment while taking all the advantages and disadvantages of the location into consideration. Aliens are a universal politically correct subject that I wish will attract participation and interaction with all those around the artwork.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Tom & Joanne on their Work
Tom & Joanne - On Their Work - 15/10/09
With Tom and Joanne, we discussed their work and their proposal for the art project for the London Olympics 2012. Tom and Joanne showed us how they made public art and their relation with the public and with the interactions of the public with their art. They pointed out a very interesting and quite daring approach. They said that they were glad that sometimes no one wanted to come and see their work and did not want to interact with the art. They explained how one of the most interesting points of interaction with art is the lack of interaction with art.
Public art is something really essential for Tom and Joanne, and so is the interaction of spectators with the artwork because then, they become a part of the art. It has taken a while to sink in my head and understand that comic books and my research into comic book narration is so closely linked to public art. The comic book is nothing but paper without the reader. The interaction with the world and the very nature of comics being published makes them part of public art.
They have inspired me to make comic books even more public, looking for more interaction with the public and almost forcing comics to those who pass in front them. Their work inspired me to spray paint short comics onto the wall of the squat behind my home. The council area where I live is not inhabited by what could be considered as the comic book reading market. Thus painting them on walls is bringing the comic book medium in its most basic form to the people that pass in front of that wall every day.
In relation to what I have been doing, this is the "analogue" (hand-made) answer to the webcomic. It is publishing basic comics of the internet and in a medium that anyone can access free. Although webcomics need the viewers to access the works via the internet, creating by that a filter of "internet needed" to view the webcomics, but it creates a very easy way to get feedback and comments making the interactive part of public art quite simple to manage and easy to gather. Thus making the viewer an active interacting figure with the artwork, commenting, submitting answers, joining an active conversation and also being able to submit not only a textual response but also links to their own artwork, creating a net of public art on the spot.
This can also happen in spray painted comics. Nothing (a part from the law) is stopping viewers to become active participants and modify what has been originally done. Just like what happened to Tom and Joanne's pyramid public art sculpture. Participants adding their marks to the initial artwork claim a part of the work as theirs and have an artistic say in the works. This almost takes the public art close to collaborative art.
With Tom and Joanne, we discussed their work and their proposal for the art project for the London Olympics 2012. Tom and Joanne showed us how they made public art and their relation with the public and with the interactions of the public with their art. They pointed out a very interesting and quite daring approach. They said that they were glad that sometimes no one wanted to come and see their work and did not want to interact with the art. They explained how one of the most interesting points of interaction with art is the lack of interaction with art.
Public art is something really essential for Tom and Joanne, and so is the interaction of spectators with the artwork because then, they become a part of the art. It has taken a while to sink in my head and understand that comic books and my research into comic book narration is so closely linked to public art. The comic book is nothing but paper without the reader. The interaction with the world and the very nature of comics being published makes them part of public art.
They have inspired me to make comic books even more public, looking for more interaction with the public and almost forcing comics to those who pass in front them. Their work inspired me to spray paint short comics onto the wall of the squat behind my home. The council area where I live is not inhabited by what could be considered as the comic book reading market. Thus painting them on walls is bringing the comic book medium in its most basic form to the people that pass in front of that wall every day.
In relation to what I have been doing, this is the "analogue" (hand-made) answer to the webcomic. It is publishing basic comics of the internet and in a medium that anyone can access free. Although webcomics need the viewers to access the works via the internet, creating by that a filter of "internet needed" to view the webcomics, but it creates a very easy way to get feedback and comments making the interactive part of public art quite simple to manage and easy to gather. Thus making the viewer an active interacting figure with the artwork, commenting, submitting answers, joining an active conversation and also being able to submit not only a textual response but also links to their own artwork, creating a net of public art on the spot.
This can also happen in spray painted comics. Nothing (a part from the law) is stopping viewers to become active participants and modify what has been originally done. Just like what happened to Tom and Joanne's pyramid public art sculpture. Participants adding their marks to the initial artwork claim a part of the work as theirs and have an artistic say in the works. This almost takes the public art close to collaborative art.
Thursday, 8 October 2009
On Research
On Research – 08/10/09
For our first seminar, we discussed research in the world of art and design. This type of research is very different from what I have done so far, which has been mainly business or media oriented research, but mainly literature based research. The research that I would have to start would require not only literature based research but also a large amount of experimentation and artwork. It was explained to us that we would have to explore in a very hands-on approach the subjects we would research. Therefore I would have to create designs and artwork relevant to what I am researching and what I have read in my literary research.
This type of research is very new to me, but is very logical. Researching art through art allows for a more personal research method. Solely literature based research will only allow you to discover other people’s point of view, it is just a compilation of people’s experimentation, but being allowed to do your own experimentation with art allows for first hand experiences to be had and for us to have an experience of what “works” and what does not work.
Regarding my research on the impact of computerisation on web-comics, I will be able to attempt to make my own web-comics based on literature research but also on my own attempts to explore this fairly new medium of comic book publishing which has brought forth a new kind of comic book design and artwork. This research pushes me to try my own designs and to publish them in order to get feedback, or even just to be able to observe the way my comic book designs would be in a finished published form.
This research method will be applied in three different ways to the three different types of artwork that will be produced for my research. Simple black and white stickmen comics will me created by hand and then digitalised and published through the internet allowing research on the democratisation of web-comics as well as the new stickman comics that have appeared almost exclusively on the internet. This research method is also the only one possible to be able to research the impact of democratised, purely analogue, comics. In other words, there is no other way to gage the impact of my theory about the democratisation and universal access to spray-painted comics. This has never been researched which disables the possibility of literature based research. Trying new methods of design and new medium of publication is something that has to be researched first hand. Allowing us to do so is essential to the good function of our research. I have truly embraced the opportunity to apply this artistic method of research to my work. For the third part of my research, literature based research could have been applied, but it would have had very limited results. Only so much can be learnt by looking at the work of others, and by reading what others have written about the subject. Being able to explore and gage for ourselves the impact of our research opens a new dimension to the research possibilities.
For our first seminar, we discussed research in the world of art and design. This type of research is very different from what I have done so far, which has been mainly business or media oriented research, but mainly literature based research. The research that I would have to start would require not only literature based research but also a large amount of experimentation and artwork. It was explained to us that we would have to explore in a very hands-on approach the subjects we would research. Therefore I would have to create designs and artwork relevant to what I am researching and what I have read in my literary research.
This type of research is very new to me, but is very logical. Researching art through art allows for a more personal research method. Solely literature based research will only allow you to discover other people’s point of view, it is just a compilation of people’s experimentation, but being allowed to do your own experimentation with art allows for first hand experiences to be had and for us to have an experience of what “works” and what does not work.
Regarding my research on the impact of computerisation on web-comics, I will be able to attempt to make my own web-comics based on literature research but also on my own attempts to explore this fairly new medium of comic book publishing which has brought forth a new kind of comic book design and artwork. This research pushes me to try my own designs and to publish them in order to get feedback, or even just to be able to observe the way my comic book designs would be in a finished published form.
This research method will be applied in three different ways to the three different types of artwork that will be produced for my research. Simple black and white stickmen comics will me created by hand and then digitalised and published through the internet allowing research on the democratisation of web-comics as well as the new stickman comics that have appeared almost exclusively on the internet. This research method is also the only one possible to be able to research the impact of democratised, purely analogue, comics. In other words, there is no other way to gage the impact of my theory about the democratisation and universal access to spray-painted comics. This has never been researched which disables the possibility of literature based research. Trying new methods of design and new medium of publication is something that has to be researched first hand. Allowing us to do so is essential to the good function of our research. I have truly embraced the opportunity to apply this artistic method of research to my work. For the third part of my research, literature based research could have been applied, but it would have had very limited results. Only so much can be learnt by looking at the work of others, and by reading what others have written about the subject. Being able to explore and gage for ourselves the impact of our research opens a new dimension to the research possibilities.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)