The first thing I noticed with Jaume Plensa's work was how fragile and delicate some of his figure sculptures seemed from afar as opposed to the solidity and strong look of sculptures from artists such as Antony Gormley and Henry Moore who use solid blocks of metals like copper or steel to create some of there pieces.
I think Jaume Plensa likes people to be able to see more then what meet the eye at first glance for example the 'Nomad' sculpture at the entrance to the Yorkshire Sculpture park, I first thought it was just two figures in a sitting position but when you get closer you can see the figures are not complete shapes and they are not made from random metal pieces, they are created by metal characters from all different languages and you are able to step inside it's cage like structure and get a different view, looking out of the sculpture rather then in. His sculptures are not one sided and as simple as what you see is what it is, you can run your fingers over the lettering and textures of the metals and each side you stand at gives a different perspective of the figures. The lettering looks like it is floating and not all connected this is done by the seemless welding and the subtle connections of the metals. I like how he uses light to enhance his work and how shadows cast by the spaces between the scattered letters and steel metal mesh are all an addition to the overall sculpture in pieces like 'Irma Nuria' and the 'Nomad'.
Plensa is different and also similar to artists like Antony Gormley, Henry Moore and Mimmo Paladino. I see similarities in sculptures such as One & Other (2000) and
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Anish Kapoor Svayambh, 2007
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01412/wax_1412031c.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Holocaust_memorial_Berlin.JPG
http://www.mimoa.eu/images/4920_l.jpg
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Manchester University - Degree show.
When I arrived at the Manchester University degree show I did not expect the range of different specialist designs that were available to view, also I did not expect there to be digital and animated pieces of work that you could interact with either.
Some of the work interested me because you were able to see the design processes and how the person who created the work got to the final piece. Also some of the degree students had left blank sketchbooks out so people could comment on their individual shows. I think this was done so they would read comments and other suggestions about their work so in future they could change and improve areas that other people may not have liked.
I found the pieces with an explanation of what it was showing or doing more inspirational and informative rather then leaving me feeling confused and unsure of the work, however I think some designs are meant to invoke different emotions like uncertainty or an uneasy confusion like the videos of the girl rocking on a black and white screen or the videos on several screens that looked similar to the popular Saw films.
There were several sections of the show which I thought were not as well set out as they could have been, in one case there was a few small images on one large wall and opposite there was a wall with multiple large images on it from the same collection of work. The designer could have been trying to draw attention to the smaller images by singling them out rather than placing them next to a larger image but I feel the space didn’t seem like it was used as well as it could have been. However there was a section of the fine arts show that I think was really well laid out, they had hung a 3 tier shelf on one side of the wall to display their influences, this was antiques and other memorabilia from the 1950’s which included old coins, tins and children’s toys amongst much more. I felt the wall of items that had influenced them looked like a piece of art in itself.
The illustration and animation section of the show was the part that interested me most as it was more based around the digital process of design and showed detailed development stages that lead up to the final outcome. It was also interesting to see how university students organised their sketchbooks and how they started out the designs. I preferred the designs that were less based around textile work and more based around the combination of digital and traditional methods as this is an area of design I would like to peruse, although it was still interesting to see what people had created using textiles and embroidery such as Gemma walker who starts off by using inks and stamps then added hand and machine needle work to the image.
There were a lot of sketches of the human form and of animals around the illustration part of the show. I really liked the technical drawings by Peter Carrington who focused his work on the dynamics of animals. He is an excellent draughtsman and his sketches are very life like and clean. I also enjoyed Zia Chan’s sketches; on one of his pieces he combined a human body with an animal head to create his illustration.
When I arrived at the Manchester University degree show I did not expect the range of different specialist designs that were available to view, also I did not expect there to be digital and animated pieces of work that you could interact with either.
Some of the work interested me because you were able to see the design processes and how the person who created the work got to the final piece. Also some of the degree students had left blank sketchbooks out so people could comment on their individual shows. I think this was done so they would read comments and other suggestions about their work so in future they could change and improve areas that other people may not have liked.
I found the pieces with an explanation of what it was showing or doing more inspirational and informative rather then leaving me feeling confused and unsure of the work, however I think some designs are meant to invoke different emotions like uncertainty or an uneasy confusion like the videos of the girl rocking on a black and white screen or the videos on several screens that looked similar to the popular Saw films.
There were several sections of the show which I thought were not as well set out as they could have been, in one case there was a few small images on one large wall and opposite there was a wall with multiple large images on it from the same collection of work. The designer could have been trying to draw attention to the smaller images by singling them out rather than placing them next to a larger image but I feel the space didn’t seem like it was used as well as it could have been. However there was a section of the fine arts show that I think was really well laid out, they had hung a 3 tier shelf on one side of the wall to display their influences, this was antiques and other memorabilia from the 1950’s which included old coins, tins and children’s toys amongst much more. I felt the wall of items that had influenced them looked like a piece of art in itself.
The illustration and animation section of the show was the part that interested me most as it was more based around the digital process of design and showed detailed development stages that lead up to the final outcome. It was also interesting to see how university students organised their sketchbooks and how they started out the designs. I preferred the designs that were less based around textile work and more based around the combination of digital and traditional methods as this is an area of design I would like to peruse, although it was still interesting to see what people had created using textiles and embroidery such as Gemma walker who starts off by using inks and stamps then added hand and machine needle work to the image.
There were a lot of sketches of the human form and of animals around the illustration part of the show. I really liked the technical drawings by Peter Carrington who focused his work on the dynamics of animals. He is an excellent draughtsman and his sketches are very life like and clean. I also enjoyed Zia Chan’s sketches; on one of his pieces he combined a human body with an animal head to create his illustration.
Chesterfield College - Arts Festival.
It was interesting to see work from other courses in chesterfield college, I hadn’t actually realised the amount of different courses based around art and design. Also I noticed while walking around how much life drawing and being able to draw or portray the human body is involved in each course. Such as fashion where you have to have an anatomically correct body shape before you draw the clothing design around the figure.
Near the entrance of the dome as you enter the downstairs section of the arts festival I noticed a display by Joshua Farnon, it was mainly based around drawings and paintings of sheep skulls but one piece in particular impressed me most, it was the large image of a sheep’s skull created with paint, inks and charcoal. He had let the white paint from the skull section of his image drip down to the bottom of the canvas and he had used a section of jagged black strokes in the background to make the image look more interesting. The skull looked realistic and it was interesting to see a sheep skull painting in that size as I have drawn them before and it was time consuming just creating a small piece.
The illustration of a woman singing into a microphone by Christopher Hogan appealed to me as it was simplistic but designed very well, the lines he used were smooth and clean and the block colours of the image complimented the faded black background well. He had done multiple images in this style and looked good as a whole on the white background of the display boards, almost like a comic book. I have created similar images using Illustrator and Photoshop but never really used colour like he has on these images. It was a good source of inspiration and showed me what could be achieved by using simple block colours.
It wasn’t just the illustrations that interested me, I really enjoyed looking through the architectural work by Rebecca Wadsworth she had clearly labelled sections of development which looked very professional and were everything I expected an architectural display to look like. It was stimulating to see a different style of drawing. The muted colour scheme used on the technical drawings of the building she had created were very effective. Also the layout looked professional and organised with the final piece central of the display and the development work surrounding it.
The year 2 graphic design students section of the arts festival was the most informative and understandable to me as it related to the course I am studying. I think it is important to see the process of design through people who are studying and have studied in the area of design I am. Also it gave an insight into what I could be doing in the future. My favourite display was the section with the designs about different evolution stages, in particular the monkeys face with part of it changed to a human face, I liked how the designer had made the area around the human face look like it had been cut out and placed on top. The sketchbooks laid out on the middle table helped me to see how other students have set out their work and how they had gone through each design process. In future I am going to experiment more and try more ideas out before I get my final outcome as experimenting allows you to explore different ideas and focus on the ones that are most successful.
It was interesting to see work from other courses in chesterfield college, I hadn’t actually realised the amount of different courses based around art and design. Also I noticed while walking around how much life drawing and being able to draw or portray the human body is involved in each course. Such as fashion where you have to have an anatomically correct body shape before you draw the clothing design around the figure.
Near the entrance of the dome as you enter the downstairs section of the arts festival I noticed a display by Joshua Farnon, it was mainly based around drawings and paintings of sheep skulls but one piece in particular impressed me most, it was the large image of a sheep’s skull created with paint, inks and charcoal. He had let the white paint from the skull section of his image drip down to the bottom of the canvas and he had used a section of jagged black strokes in the background to make the image look more interesting. The skull looked realistic and it was interesting to see a sheep skull painting in that size as I have drawn them before and it was time consuming just creating a small piece.
The illustration of a woman singing into a microphone by Christopher Hogan appealed to me as it was simplistic but designed very well, the lines he used were smooth and clean and the block colours of the image complimented the faded black background well. He had done multiple images in this style and looked good as a whole on the white background of the display boards, almost like a comic book. I have created similar images using Illustrator and Photoshop but never really used colour like he has on these images. It was a good source of inspiration and showed me what could be achieved by using simple block colours.
It wasn’t just the illustrations that interested me, I really enjoyed looking through the architectural work by Rebecca Wadsworth she had clearly labelled sections of development which looked very professional and were everything I expected an architectural display to look like. It was stimulating to see a different style of drawing. The muted colour scheme used on the technical drawings of the building she had created were very effective. Also the layout looked professional and organised with the final piece central of the display and the development work surrounding it.
The year 2 graphic design students section of the arts festival was the most informative and understandable to me as it related to the course I am studying. I think it is important to see the process of design through people who are studying and have studied in the area of design I am. Also it gave an insight into what I could be doing in the future. My favourite display was the section with the designs about different evolution stages, in particular the monkeys face with part of it changed to a human face, I liked how the designer had made the area around the human face look like it had been cut out and placed on top. The sketchbooks laid out on the middle table helped me to see how other students have set out their work and how they had gone through each design process. In future I am going to experiment more and try more ideas out before I get my final outcome as experimenting allows you to explore different ideas and focus on the ones that are most successful.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Francis Bacon
''I don’t think people are born artists; I think it comes from a mixture of your surroundings, the people you meet, and luck. ''
Francis bacons style of painting is often seen as expressionism and surrealism. He creates images of strange human and animal forms, his work can in some ways look slightly alien and abnormal. The destressed and seem to be suffering figures in his work gives off a uneasy vibe and a feeling of darkness and depression.
There is no real evidence of his earlyest pieces as he destroyed most of his work during a stage in his life in the 1930's where he virtually gave up painting. He returned to his passion of being an artist during the second world war and later gained alot of attention to his work through his controversial paintings of ''Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion'', These paintings realy expressed his surrealist style and were described as ‘images so unrelievedly awful that the mind shut snap at the sight of them.' . He later changed his technique and made his paintings more personal however he still continued his expressionist style and distorted and twisted portraits to make them look mysterious and in some cases unpleasant like images from horror films or nightmares, ''Art is a method of opening up areas of feeling rather than merely an illustration of an object … I would like my pictures to look as if a human being had passed between them, like a snail, leaving a trail of the human presence and memory trace of past events as the snail leaves its slime.''.
Bacon usually based his paintings on photographs of people and despite how much he altered and disfigured his portraits the final images still captured a likeness to the model. He used strong and heavy brush strokes and created a bruised and swolen look to some of his images by dipping his brush in more then one colour at a time then dragging the brush in the desired derection across the canvas. The mixture of colours create a look of texture and create contours of the face, "the brushstroke creates the form and does not merely fill it in".
Richard Dorment review of Francis Bacons work:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3644078/A-fresh-side-of-Bacon.html
Ian Chilvers. "Bacon, Francis." A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. 1999:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Francis_Bacon_%28painter%29.aspx
Francis bacons style of painting is often seen as expressionism and surrealism. He creates images of strange human and animal forms, his work can in some ways look slightly alien and abnormal. The destressed and seem to be suffering figures in his work gives off a uneasy vibe and a feeling of darkness and depression.
There is no real evidence of his earlyest pieces as he destroyed most of his work during a stage in his life in the 1930's where he virtually gave up painting. He returned to his passion of being an artist during the second world war and later gained alot of attention to his work through his controversial paintings of ''Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion'', These paintings realy expressed his surrealist style and were described as ‘images so unrelievedly awful that the mind shut snap at the sight of them.' . He later changed his technique and made his paintings more personal however he still continued his expressionist style and distorted and twisted portraits to make them look mysterious and in some cases unpleasant like images from horror films or nightmares, ''Art is a method of opening up areas of feeling rather than merely an illustration of an object … I would like my pictures to look as if a human being had passed between them, like a snail, leaving a trail of the human presence and memory trace of past events as the snail leaves its slime.''.
Bacon usually based his paintings on photographs of people and despite how much he altered and disfigured his portraits the final images still captured a likeness to the model. He used strong and heavy brush strokes and created a bruised and swolen look to some of his images by dipping his brush in more then one colour at a time then dragging the brush in the desired derection across the canvas. The mixture of colours create a look of texture and create contours of the face, "the brushstroke creates the form and does not merely fill it in".
Richard Dorment review of Francis Bacons work:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3644078/A-fresh-side-of-Bacon.html
Ian Chilvers. "Bacon, Francis." A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. 1999:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Francis_Bacon_%28painter%29.aspx
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Lucian Freud
"I want paint to work as flesh... my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having a look of the sitter, being them ... As far as I am concerned the paint is the person. I want it to work for me just as flesh does." Lucian Freud started working full time as an artist in 1942 after his career in the merchant navy was short lived, he had only served for 3 months.
His impasto paintings and portraits are what have made Freud such an esteemed artist however his early work was more surrealism based, he used thin paint in this kind of work. He later changed his style to portraits and his impasto was much thicker then his early work, he excluded other styles and drifted away from the surrealism style and moved onto painting nudes, most of his renown came from his portraits of nude models. He preferred to use family members or close friends as it would make his paintings more intimate and emotion based. "The problem with painting a nude, of course, is that it deepens the transaction. You can scrap a painting of some one's face and it imperils the sitter's self-esteem less than scrapping a painting of the whole naked body."
He uses strong brush strokes and many thick layers of paints to define texture in his work, the way he paints makes the colours he use seem to merge and become a whole rather then singular patches of paint despite the fact he clears his brush after each stroke. I like Lucian Freud's work mostly because of the detail and textured look of his flesh filled images, you can see every blemish and spoil in the models he paints and sometimes himself. I think this is why he prefers to paint people he is familiar with not only because of the fact that the body and faces are known to him but also he is able to go into detail and depth of the person without really offending them, he has said when he is paying a model he doesn't get the same kind of response as they don't truly want to be there. "I could never put anything into a picture that wasn't actually there in front of me. That would be a pointless lie, a mere bit of artfulness."
He is an artist with a very unique style and overall look to his images, his work is easily recognisable.
Biography:
http://www.leninimports.com/lucian_freud_bio.html
Marion Boddy Evans - Lucian Freud Biography:
http://painting.about.com/od/famouspainters/p/bio_LucianFreud.htm
His impasto paintings and portraits are what have made Freud such an esteemed artist however his early work was more surrealism based, he used thin paint in this kind of work. He later changed his style to portraits and his impasto was much thicker then his early work, he excluded other styles and drifted away from the surrealism style and moved onto painting nudes, most of his renown came from his portraits of nude models. He preferred to use family members or close friends as it would make his paintings more intimate and emotion based. "The problem with painting a nude, of course, is that it deepens the transaction. You can scrap a painting of some one's face and it imperils the sitter's self-esteem less than scrapping a painting of the whole naked body."
He uses strong brush strokes and many thick layers of paints to define texture in his work, the way he paints makes the colours he use seem to merge and become a whole rather then singular patches of paint despite the fact he clears his brush after each stroke. I like Lucian Freud's work mostly because of the detail and textured look of his flesh filled images, you can see every blemish and spoil in the models he paints and sometimes himself. I think this is why he prefers to paint people he is familiar with not only because of the fact that the body and faces are known to him but also he is able to go into detail and depth of the person without really offending them, he has said when he is paying a model he doesn't get the same kind of response as they don't truly want to be there. "I could never put anything into a picture that wasn't actually there in front of me. That would be a pointless lie, a mere bit of artfulness."
He is an artist with a very unique style and overall look to his images, his work is easily recognisable.
Biography:
http://www.leninimports.com/lucian_freud_bio.html
Marion Boddy Evans - Lucian Freud Biography:
http://painting.about.com/od/famouspainters/p/bio_LucianFreud.htm
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Jenny Saville
Jenny Saville's work left me feeling uneasy at first glance, there seemed to be mass amounts of paintings that looked like mangled lumps of flesh and in some cases blood but i was still captivated by the look of the images and how she had captured the fleshy realism of the subjects she had painted.
Jenny Saville is an artist who is known mainly for her large oil based paintings of naked women, however she doesn't conform to portraying today's 'ideal' figure, "I wasn't interested in admired or idealised beauty.", instead she paints obscure images of obese women in destorted and obscure positions, she captures the shape and contortions in her paintings incredibly well by painting layers upon layers with different tones and shades, this helps create a look of texture and depth to her images. She has never realy drifted away from her love of her favourite medium, oil on canvas, but she has tryed other ways to portray her fascination of skin and flesh such as photography, her images of naked bodies pressed on a sheet of glass to create a deformed shape really show the distance she will go to get a true in depth look at the human body and how it can bend and be altered. Jenny saville spent a short time observing the work of plastic surgeon Dr. Barry Martin Weintraub and this is where she got alot of the inspriation for her paintings and sketches of trauma victims and transgender patients.
Jenny Saville has incorperated her own life experiences into her work and created a style that is different and original, "When I was little, I'd go to school and be told what to do. And I'd do it, but it always annoyed me.". She was born in the 1970's and through the 1980's the body and how you portrayed yourself was a very important part of your day to day life, "Everyone was obsessed with the body - it was all about dieting, gym, the body beautiful.", this is why she tries to show that there is feeling and more to the body then just shape and she wants to capture as much emotion in her artwork as possible.
It was interesting to look at Jenny savilles work and compare her images to the ones we see in advertisments and mainly on television, i think she wants to show the reality of all different kinds of body shapes, genders and skin tones and not just one side of the human form that the media depicts.
Biography:
http://www.brain-juice.com/cgi-bin/show_bio.cgi?p_id=77
Interview by Suzie Mackenzie:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2005/oct/22/art.friezeartfair2005
Jenny Saville is an artist who is known mainly for her large oil based paintings of naked women, however she doesn't conform to portraying today's 'ideal' figure, "I wasn't interested in admired or idealised beauty.", instead she paints obscure images of obese women in destorted and obscure positions, she captures the shape and contortions in her paintings incredibly well by painting layers upon layers with different tones and shades, this helps create a look of texture and depth to her images. She has never realy drifted away from her love of her favourite medium, oil on canvas, but she has tryed other ways to portray her fascination of skin and flesh such as photography, her images of naked bodies pressed on a sheet of glass to create a deformed shape really show the distance she will go to get a true in depth look at the human body and how it can bend and be altered. Jenny saville spent a short time observing the work of plastic surgeon Dr. Barry Martin Weintraub and this is where she got alot of the inspriation for her paintings and sketches of trauma victims and transgender patients.
Jenny Saville has incorperated her own life experiences into her work and created a style that is different and original, "When I was little, I'd go to school and be told what to do. And I'd do it, but it always annoyed me.". She was born in the 1970's and through the 1980's the body and how you portrayed yourself was a very important part of your day to day life, "Everyone was obsessed with the body - it was all about dieting, gym, the body beautiful.", this is why she tries to show that there is feeling and more to the body then just shape and she wants to capture as much emotion in her artwork as possible.
It was interesting to look at Jenny savilles work and compare her images to the ones we see in advertisments and mainly on television, i think she wants to show the reality of all different kinds of body shapes, genders and skin tones and not just one side of the human form that the media depicts.
Biography:
http://www.brain-juice.com/cgi-bin/show_bio.cgi?p_id=77
Interview by Suzie Mackenzie:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2005/oct/22/art.friezeartfair2005
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