Sustainability
Within the world of art, I discovered the use of sustainable outlets and materials with things like live art using moss as flowers, cutting out the need for plastic flowers, as well as using preexisting plastics and materials to recycle into instillations or images. Another aspect of sustainability is the artwork that highlights the issue of the lack of sustainability we have in todays society and some images even depicting the future outcome of these actions.
My favourite image is by digital artist Andrew Hartley titled ‘The Butterfly Affect’ which he describes as representing how small changes over time can have larger consequences, also known as the butterfly affect. The image depicts a butterfly with beautiful wings of planet earth, with smaller parts of the wing breaking off from the rest of the butterfly. I feel that this signifies how the earth is delicate and beautiful like a butterfly’s wing, but little by little pieces of it are getting destroyed. Pollution is endangering our wildlife through the destruction of habitats by things like deforestation and rising sea temperatures. Not only are we affecting the lives of animals and living things around us but we are also creating issues for ourselves and future generations.
Identity
Having pride in what you identify with can help you feel apart of a larger community and for some people, that is something that gives them fulfilment in life. Identity is something that can also divide us as human beings, separating ourselves into groups with apposing opinions, ideas or goals. Having an opposing outlook can inspire us to exchange ideas, skills, knowledge and much more. In my opinion, things like this aid humanity in moving forward and sometimes its those differences that can bring us together.
For this topic I have chosen an image created by an artist called Shannon Kincaid. It depicts Ériu, the goddess of Ireland, the old Irish version of the modern Éire. The centre of the image shows her hair that is tied to the trees surrounding her, representing her connection to the land and the bounty it offers, this bounty is shown as a class of mead in her hand which offered those who consumed it immortality at the feast of Goibhniu. Incasing the land is a ring of knot work, which is holds three stones of division, which is said to be found at the sacred centre of Ireland in Irish mythology at the hill of Uisneach. It is also said that this is where Ériu’s bones were laid to rest, serving as a gateway between the word above and the underworld below.
Innovation
Art began when the world outside was painted on the inside of the cave walls 40,000 years ago. Tens of thousands of years later, Geuttenburg invented the first portable print press that allowed information to be spread to the common man from the church which created the middle class. This gave humanity literature, which without we wouldn’t have had the art form that WIlliam Shakespeare was infamous for. With the industrialisation of the world after the war, technology merged with art and design. Raymond Loewy, designed the first ever locomotive with more than just functionality, to be more aerodynamic with design. It was at this time that it was prevalent that art and design was creating technology. The 21st century is all about design, redesign and the innovation of design and creavity in the work place.
Artist like Andy Warhol have shaped the future we live in today. He was the first to come up with the selfie. His famous painting of tins of soup was the first design with branding in mind and today branding is everywhere.
I chose this image called Earthrise, which was captured on Christmas Eve 1968 during the Apollo 8 mission to the moon because I feel it represents the innovations that have happened to get us to the point to be able to capture that image.
Communication
Semiotics is the study of symbols, signs and icons, their use and how they are interpreted. Signifiers are the physical forms of signs such as a word, image or sound used to communicate the idea and the signified is the concept that a signifier refers to.
Nike is one of the most recognisable business logos of the 21st century and is a brand that offers athleisure wear and equipment. It was created by a graphic design student, Carolyn Davidson, in 1971. The logo named ‘Swoosh’ represents a curved tick but more than that it represents an arc of movement and motion, symbolising speed. Nike dates back to Greek mythology and was the winged goddess of victory. In Ephesus, Turkey there is a stone carving of the goddess Nike that I had the luck of visiting a few years ago and her form is in this arch.
The logo was originally red, moving to an orange background with white tick then finally becoming the black tick and white background its known as today. The signifier aspect of Nike is its slogan ‘Just Do It’, which inspires their customers with motivation to do what they must and to reach the goals they’ve set for themselves. Although the symbol is very simplistic, it is complex in its meaning, history and the message it conveys to the consumer.
Gender
Statistics show that only 1 in 10 artists in Europe and North America are women. This statistic is surprising because 63% of undergraduates and 66% of postgraduates in creative arts and design are women. For most of history, the majority of artists and representations were male-orientated. It wasn’t until after numerous petitions around the late 18th to 19th century, that women were accepted to do so. Londons Royal Academy of art accidentally accepted their first female artist in 1960, because she had submitted her application under her initials LH. Unlike the RA, the Bauhaus accepted women, but they were directed towards a more craft-orientated path with mediums like embroideries and tapestries, which were considered decorative pieces rather than art.
In the last 10 years, the total sales of Arts at auction have amounted to roughly $200 Billion, with 2% of the sales being work made by women. Socially and culturally, there is a shift towards equality and opportunity for women and this influences galleries and art makers to change the landscape for future generations.
Place
Berndnaut Smilde is a visual artist and photographer who has created a series of installations exploring the theme of place by creating indoor clouds. Smilde creates the clouds with an indoor smoke machine, reducing the temperature and adjusting the humidity of the room by spraying water. This creates the environment needed for the smoke to create its cloud-like form for long enough to capture the image. This is because the moisture sticks to the smoke making it heavier.
The image that I like the most is called The Nimbus Green Room. I chose this image because the environment of the photo is visually calming. It almost looks like the cloud is floating over a dark body of water with the wall resembling the colour of the sky. This resemblance could be being made because normally this object is seen in a different setting. I also find the aspect of making your own atmosphere very intriguing. The Mirror behind the cloud shows the room continuing on and the cloud is given more dimension due to this reflection.
