Somerset House

AOI Illustration Awards 2014

The picture that caught my eye most as I walked into this exhibition was Laurindo Feliciano's 'L'inutile est essentiel. This picture combines different mediums and dimensions to create a bold, surrealist piece.

"What do you get if you mix a lifetime’s collection of vintage books, magazines, postcards, letters, essays and records sleeves, with the rigid creative process of an architect? Well in Laurindo Feliciano’s case you get a fantastic collection of nostalgic, surrealist illustrations apparently".  Jack Daly - FormFiftyFive™/ UK

"Inspired by his own collection of vintage books, magazines, postcards and letters, he has created an impressive amount of beautiful works in the last years. All of his collages and posters share a certain nostalgic flair and a great passion for surrealism."  Nini Baseema - Lost at E menor/ AU

"Laurindo produces collages in the spirit and tradition of the Week Goodness by Max Ernst, but with a sense of temporal distance, spatial and cultural even stronger, offering contemporary small enigmas that relates to the question of memory, both individual and collective".  Alexandre François - La Blogothèque/ FR

Another piece of work that sparked my interest was Eoin Coveney's 'The Art of Superstition'. Peter Donnely exclaimed that the picture represented superstition itself, below is what he defined this as:

1. An irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome.
a. A belief, practice, or rite irrationally maintained by ignorance of the laws of nature or by faith

in magic or chance.

b. A fearful or abject state of mind resulting from such ignorance or irrationality.

This picture is interesting as the artist has managed to combine pen, ink, watercolour, acrylic, oils, pencil and digital work to create this illustration that appears to be completely done on the computer. He has created a strong sense of chiaroscuro to dramatise the scene and convey the amount of light coming from the rocket, which reflects on their faces, highlighting their theatrical expressions.

Here is Lesley Barnes' '1984'. This picture interested me as it is very large and pattern-like. I liked the use of colour and how it was quite repetitive to convey a crowded-like appearance. She has also combined people and objects, to imply that they are one. It also appears machine like and the eyes almost look like cogs in a machine, the reflects the new machines and inventions that were being created at this time. The background appears dusty and dirty to convey pollution from the machinery and factory. The picture as a whole has a very chaotic appearance, this is why I like it, as there is a lot going on. 

Above is Marcus Reed's 'Animal Alphabet'. I liked this piece as it is very creative. I like the way he has incorporated the letters with animals whose species begin with that letter. It could almost be used for a children's book. I think it is very clever and playful how he has done this. I also like his muted use of colour, and they give a sense of warmth, and add to this idea of playfulness.

My Manifesto

Our task of the week was to create a manifesto that reflects ourselves. I felt that I am quite messy so I wanted to use this idea to create a manifesto that reflects my messy and creative personality. I began by experimenting with different text fonts, sizes and colours to convey a feeling of the word it is showing, for example, I have used a handwriting font for the word messy to convey a messy appearance. I have done the same with the word 'spontaneous' as I changed the font, colour and direction to make it appear spontaneous. 

Once I had come up with an idea, I wanted to neaten it up but lining up the words so they would fit perfectly in a square, I then made it all black and white because these are my favourite colours but I wanted the word 'Messy' to still be in a different font so that attention would immediately be drawn to this section of the manifesto, reflecting its main subject of messiness and my personality. I preferred the appearance of this manifesto, as it would more aesthetically pleasing and easier to read without getting mixed up on each line. I mostly used the font Helvetica as it is a very neutral font and is also very bold. I have enlarged the word 'Happy' to add importance to this element of the manifesto. 

I then wanted to look at different backgrounds, so I used a previous acrylic painting I had done in my sketchbook as I thought it could be quite interesting to put black and white text over the top, and it also reflected the 'messy' subject. I then placed the lettering over it, changing the fonts, like my first idea and making the word 'happy' appear more exciting. I still thought it appeared a little unorganised and difficult to read so I decided to simplify the text and manifesto itself. 

Here is my finished manifesto. I decided to add colour to reflect the new main subject of 'life', I thought it made it appear more happy but also kept with the idea of messiness. I painted a large piece of card black, and then waited for it to dry, I then added primary colours to represent the excitement of life. I then added typography and cut out the text and stuck it on to, colouring the words 'LIFE' and 'LIVE'  to enhance the idea of 'Life'. I think my finished manifesto is successful as it is simple but has a bold message. I enjoyed the process as I came up with many more ideas than I thought I would and I had to reject many in the process. I also enjoyed using colour and text in a painting, which I am not used to using.

Tate Modern: Transformed Visions, Facing History

Transformed Visions, Facing History: Leon Golub and Hrair Sarkissian

The Tate Modern exclaimed 'This room brings together two bodies of work that confront the violence and atrocities of contemporary war and ciivl society'. 

Leon Golub

Golubs' monumental painting named Vietnam II, shows the Vietnam war of 1973 and belongs to a series of tree large paintings. Golub was involved in the protest movement against the war and wanted his paintings to remain universal and timeless. I found this painting very interesting as it is very expressive and clearly shows the impact of war on people. It is bold and large and very in-your-face to almost intimidate you, this makes you aware of how frightening war is. 

Hrair Sarkissian

Sarkissian's 'Execution Squares' depicts the sites of public executions in Syria in 2008. He took these photos early in the morning where the streets were quiet in Damascus, Aleppo and Lattakia. The subject of an execution will usually be brought to the square at 4:30am but their body is routinely left there in full view until around 9:00am. Sarkissian came up with this idea when he saw his first execution when he was a child walking to school and saw three bodies hanging in the street.

These pieces of art work well together in the same room and facing each other because they depict the same subject but in different ways. Golub is very bold and obvious in the way he depicts the impacts of war, whereas Sarkissian's work is less obvious and we only realise what is being shown when we read the title of the piece. They work well in the same room because it shows how long war has been going on for and how hardly anything has improved in the last 40 years because war is still going on and still has the same amount of impact on people. Sarkissian's piece shows that war is still happening right under our noses even though we might not know about it, and this is modern day war. The pieces also compare 2008 to 1973 and make us feel as if our present day is still old-fashioned and war is still affecting people. The whole room gives us a comparison of the past and the present.

Passport ID

The Passport

I created my own passport using an expired one and replacing the pages with plain pages. I then painted the front using black and white (my favourite non-colours). I then cut out triangular shapes so the bright orange on the front page would be seen from the outside. I also wanted to show the idea of organisation in mess, the messiness of the paint contrasts with the neatly cut triangles, but which are also placed randomly across the page. I thought this front cover expressed myself because I like contrasting fluorescent colours with black and white because it creates a very dramatic and bold effect. Below are some of the pages in the passport I created to express myself and show my identity.

This image shows my name and D.O.B. and I have painted a small composition to show my favourite colours and how I like to paint in a linear way to create a balanced composition using counterbalancing lines. I also like it because it is messy but in an organised way. I did this by holding up a ruler and roughly painting next to it to create a perfectly straight line.

This picture conveys some words to describe myself. I wanted to express my creativity but still use the theme of dark colours and messy writing. I also wanted to show there is organisation within mess, therefore I have placed the words around the page so they are balanced.This picture shows some of my likes, such as festivals, skiing, the 90s and cities. The 'cities' page also conveys my love of photography and travelling as I have taken these pictures myself (the cities page continues onto the next page and includes NYC). I enjoyed this task as I was able to express myself in a creative way by combining photography and painting.

Brian and Perseverance

The Grass is Greener

I began by making my own story. I began by creating a character and putting them in a setting; I made a character named Brian who lived under the sofa. Brian is depressed because he is lonely and a big heart to share. Unfortunately due to his big heart and height, he is unable to climb the stairs to reach the Teddy Utopia with all the other bears. Therefore he decides to do something about it and go to engineering school, here he learns how to build an aeroplane. He goes about building the aeroplane with everything he had tried so hard to learn, he then flies the plane to the top floor to Teddy Utopia where he is not alone and makes many friends. The moral of the story was; if at first you don't succeed, try and try again. This moral shows people that in order to be happy, you must work for it and in this story, Brian worked at being able to reach his goal and eventually made it. I think I could've improved this story by adding more drama, for example, he could've almost crashed the plane, this would make it seem more like an achievement once he got to his destination eventually, it also would've added suspense and made the viewer feel more emotional. The theme to this story is perseverance, and our next task was the create a photo of something illusionistic and that also conveyed the theme.

Perseverance

I decided to chose the flight part of the story because I thought it was the most dramatic part and the aeroplane was the reason for Brian achieving his goal, so it is representational for succeeding. I made a paper aeroplane and then photographed it by the window so that it would have a strong sense of light and shade. I photographed it from every angle and put each photo in black and white, one of the images is shown here. Once I had done this, I printed off each of the pictures and stuck them onto a large strip of cardboard, adding 3 dimensional parts to counterbalance the 2 dimensional photographs. I made the cardboard into a set, with one section slightly open so I could get a photo of the inside. 

Below are some images of the set I made from the photos. I then put a lit on the top and photographed the inside, edited the photos so they are fully black and white and I increased the contrast for a more dramatic effect. 

The illusion here is there it is difficult to distinguish which areas are 3D and which areas are 2D. Here are the three final photos of the set. I thought these pictures are successful because they are purely abstract and it was interesting to see what could become of a simple paper aeroplane. It is also not obvious that the pictures represent the theme perseverance. They also represent repetitiveness to show the theory of if at first you don't succeed, you try and try again.

Penny

Our first task was to bring in 5 personal objects, the objects I brought in include a key necklace, which I received for my 16th birthday present and a purse with dalmatians on it. We each used our objects to come up with ideas for 6 characters. We then made up three unique stories with one main character and a plot, following the theories of Aristotle. This theory exclaims that there is an introduction/ exposition, a complication rising action during the middle of the story, a climax, then a peripety/turning point, falling action, and at the very end; new stability. We followed these rules to come up with a story of our own. 

Penny the Purse

We came up with the idea of a purse, named penny. The character needed to have mental pain in her life, so we wanted to chose something that would give her immediate sympathy from the viewer so we decided that she was depressed from the fact that she is a purse and doesn't have legs. The first picture (above) was supposed to she her, quite lonely and depressed, on her first step as she is unable to climb any higher as she is limbless. To gain more sympathy from the viewer, we said that she had attempted suicide, this explains the second picture in the image above, the jumps from the first step. Unfortunately for her, as she wasn't able to climb high enough for the suicide to kill her, so she gets back on her feet, and tries to see the bright side of things. The third picture shows her 'seeing the light' as she decides she wants to do something about her depression. She then uses her savings to buy legs for an operation she had been dreaming about. She buys the legs cheaply from a black market, this is why they appear different in the 4th picture. She is given them and, to her, they appear to be given to her by the hand of god (metaphorically). The 5th picture shows her on a higher step as she has the legs to be able to climb higher, which makes us feel happy as the viewer because she has got what she has always dreamed of. The last picture shows her feeling adventurous and wanted to explore the outside world. This story has a happy ending and we wanted to make the plot so that the viewer would feel a range of different emotions in only 6 photos. 

I enjoyed this task as we discovered what makes a good movie from Aristotle's theory. In some ways I thought our story was successful, in the way that it makes the viewer feel different emotions, but it is only set in one area. It is also not very colourful and it doesn't show penny as a hero because we feel as if she didn't earn the legs, but only received them from the hand of god. We could've improved this by adding another picture showing how she could've earned the money for the legs, this makes us feel as if she earned them more and worked hard for them. 

Cropping and Fall, Crush, Echo, Happy, Jump and Sad

Over the weekend, our task was to take 20 photo graphs of our surrounding environment. I took a photo of cranes Lewisham because this area is newly developing and I like to draw cranes as they bring hope to the public and show that that area is improving and things are getting better. I am also intrigued by their skeletal, linear design and I like the way they penetrate the more pure blue and white colours of the sky. I made the photo black and white so it was purely tonal, and then created this drawing using charcoal and acrylic paint and black marker. Once we had covered the whole A1 sheet, our task was to crop the drawing using another piece of paper, to get rid of all narrative and to create a new narrative by simply cropping the picture. Below are a selection of images to show how cropping can change a narrative and how the viewer may question what they are seeing.

This picture created by the cropping process becomes more abstract, and we are unable to be sure of what we are looking at. The cranes also appear to be coming from nowhere as we can't see the ground, the foliage is also unclear what it is. This shows that all narrative has been removed from the picture and we are questioning what we are seeing which creates more interesting photography as we are lingering on the idea of the meaning of the picture.

I also cropped the picture into a triangle to create more questions. I did this as it went against the linear directions of the cranes structure and counterbalances the vertical lines, creating a new narrative. I have also made the picture 95% sky and the picture has become completely abstract as I have removed the base of the crane and therefore we are unclear as to what it is, it simply becomes geometric shapes.

I then cropped the bottom half of the picture, removing the main subject matter and the sky. We can only see the beginnings of a building and scaffolding, and there is a fear of the unknown as we cannot see above this section, we question what is being built, how it is being built and what the scale is as there is nothing to compare it to. It also becomes very linear and messier than the simplicity of the cranes. 

I enjoyed this task as it was interesting to see how a simple, unquestionable picture could have a changed narrative by simply cropping the image. It was also interesting to see what kind of questions arose from each cropped section and how some of them became completely abstract.

Our next task was to take photos and produce images that would make the viewer think of particular words that we were given. We were given the words: fall, crush, echo, happy, jump and sad. Above is the image I took for 'fall'. I took this image because I thought it could make the viewer feel suspense and feel as if they were falling from this height, I also thought it could make the viewer feel almost panicked and invigorated. 

This is the image I took for 'crush'. I found a crushed wrapper on the floor, which had been trodden on by everyone walking up the stairs. I thought it was interesting because the wrapper is very small in comparison to the whole picture and shows that it is quite insignificant. I also lined up the edge of the stairs with the picture plane to create a more balanced composition. 

This is the image I took for 'echo'. I found this word more difficult as an echo is something unseen by the human eye, but I wanted to convey 'echo' by showing the size of the building and also an echo of numbers that seem to be lingering next to the pillar. Similarly to the previous picture, I lined up the pillar with the picture plane to balance the composition and also create a counterbalancing vertical to the diagonals of the wallpaper.

This picture represents 'happy'. I thought this picture was happy because I feel that 'happy' images have high saturation and are bright and cause excitement within the viewer. I thought this bright orange light was a happy colour an it interested me that the source of the colour is lights under the table, which could represent the growth of happiness and a smiles affect on other people and how it is contagious. 

This picture shows 'jump' as it doesn't stop on the 6th and 8th floor and has 'jumped' these floors.

I thought this image represented 'sad' because it shows fire extinguishers and a list of instructions on what to do when there is a fire. I thought this was sad because I feel that fire is associated with burning, death and sadness.

I enjoyed this task because it challenged me in the way that it made me look at taking photos in a different way, and not simply because I like the way they look but I want to represent something and create a narrative in one single image.