CW 1
Week 1 – Sustainability
‘Floral poetic still life photography’ by Doan Ly.
Doan Ly created a poetic photographic series in 2019 based on Ecocide (human activity that violates the principles of environmental justice, by damaging, destroying ecosystems or by harming the health and well-being of a species). Initially, the series has florals and bright colours. Her photography normally incorporates high-key lighting, this is to show positivity. Gradually gloved hands are introduced for our deploy of economic ruination. The series ends with dark colour palette and decay. However, in this photo there is chiaroscuro lighting representing the ominous existence of the Earth’s future. Knocked over cans spilling over the plastic-coated table with chartreuse marine pollution, symbolises marine life dying. Ly has used a plastic cover over the table to show her audience the responsibility that cheap manufacturing and factories have over the sustainability of our environment. Air pollution roams the black background changing into smog grey skies, symbolising greenhouse gases. Hand crushed cans holding wilted flowers, shows our desperate final attempts to save ourselves. The scattered composition of the objects is messy around the surface; representing our disorderly mindsets and how we think this planet will save itself. We are beings made to defy sustainability.
Sustainability bibliography:
https://www.collater.al/en/still-life-doan-ly/
https://www.mindfood.com/article/david-attenboroughs-7-actions-to-save-the-world/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/greenhouse-gases/#:~:text=Greenhouse%20gases%20have%20far%2Dranging,change%20caused%20by%20greenhouse%20gases.
Week 2 – Identity
Untitled, (edition 30) from ‘Domestic series’ by William Kentridge
William Kentridge created the ‘Domestic scenes’ in 1980, with up to fifty completed monochrome print editions of people being extremely personal in their own domestic spaces in the series. This series started as an advertisement that eventually failed due to lacklustre. This print is minimalist with only structure and tone focusing on the sitter/man and prominent bathroom features, who are inextricable. This sitter/ man in ‘Edition 30’ is trying his hardest to manufacture his own identity (identity is the distinguishing character or personality of an individual) into something he is not with ‘perfect’ white straight teeth, ‘perfect’ height, over six-foot-tall and a ‘perfect’ muscular body. The background of this bathroom has little to no detail due to Kentridge wanting to exaggerate how brainwashed and zombie like this sitter/ man is towards his own reflection. There is too much pressure to look ‘perfect’ on not just women today but men as well, leaving anyone who does not fit ridiculous influencers standards are left dissatisfied. Watching someone try to pursue this fake status of visual aesthetics is very intimate, we are adjusted to beautiful people who have limited flaws and seeing someone be themselves normal ruins it socially for ourselves.
Identity Bibliography:
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/william-kentridge-untitled-from-the-domestic-scenes
Week 3 – Innovation/ Provocation
‘NSFW’ by Ugur Kayan
Ugur Kayan is a young freelance photographer based in Istanbul, Turkey. His works are part of a broad and sexualized view of the world with a primal expression of people’s desires. In this online magazine series made in December 2020, shows women’s bodies and their expressive potential as central focused objects and protagonists of the photographs. Kayan’s aesthetics unashamedly reveal the sensual nude aspect of female bodies; they are disturbing and provocative images that lay bare both the performer and the viewer. His style includes the seduction of sight unseen and explores the intense contention between light and shadow. As long as Kayan is based in Istanbul the photograph series is extremely provocative, since ninety-seven percentage of Istanbul is Islam and Muslim woman must cover up in their religion. His reasoning behind this sheer fabric covering the nude woman is to resemble a transparent allusive Burqa (a garment that covers the head and body which has a grill shape in the fabric for the eyes) or a Niqab (a veil that covers the woman from head to toe with a small open slit for the women’s eyes to be shown). Hence why this can be construed as ignorant, otherwise innovative for his Muslim background.
Innovation/ Provocation bibliography:
https://www.collater.al/en/ugur-kayan-nsfw-provocative-photographs/
https://guides.library.cornell.edu/IslamWomen/DressCode
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/burqa-burkini-bans-debate-rages-europe-survey-muslim-majority-countries-rules-women-dress-saudi-arabia-a7229881.html
Week 4 – Communication/ logo task
Lindt Chocolate
Lindt is a Swiss manufacturer brand of luxurious chocolate, which was established in 1845 by Rodolphe Lindt. The current Lindt logo features the name of the brand in a gold elegant calligraphy font. The most prominent letter ‘L’ is the capitalized initial, with a distinctive curl. According to Lindt, the italics symbolise “the flowing melted chocolate.” In contrast to the flowing font, the white ‘Lindor’ (translated from Latin as ‘he who seduces’) title is in block writing font for the hard outer shell of the chocolate balls. To the right of the brand title is a small golden dragon, which is from the Lindt family coat of arms. The fierce creature makes sure that the chocolate “can’t flow too far away.” As Lindt explained, the logo shows “you can indulge in Lindt chocolate without fearing of losing control.” Depending on the type of chocolate it will have a different coloured background for visual communications within colour psychology, for example above shows the original milk chocolate with red. Red symbolises passion and love, hence why this most common bought chocolate for romantic partners is this colour; creating a psychological reaction that if you are to buy this you will have a passionate experience. All these essential elements to the Lindt branding/ logo present the idea of consuming this chocolate will seduce you, leaving you with a sensual escapade.
Communication bibliography:
https://www.lindt.co.uk/history
https://www.truevaluepaint.com/color-101/color-psychology/
My company logo
The purpose of my logo company was to originally help me choice which main workshop I wanted to choose because I will have a career in which main workshop I choose. Hence why I made a logo for my own print making company with the main elements of print making, ink and a roller. I stayed with the black and white colour scheme as I would want to work with black ink as my ink preferred and personally I think black and white colour schemes looks more professional. The reason I decided to call myself ‘the happy printmaker’ because it makes myself sound inviting and it is straight to the point.
Week 5 – Gender
‘Mathematician Sofia Kovalevski Print’ by Ele Willoughby
Ele Willoughby is a young printmaker from Toronto, Canada. She created a print series starting in 2015 inspired by her love of science and her passion for art to show young girls who should inspire them in this world. This linocut portrait is of the great Russian mathematician who became the first woman (in the black ink) to have a doctorate in mathematics in Europe, Sofia Kovalevski with her most successful theorems of the dynamics of Saturn’s rings (in the gold ink, like the colour of Saturn). Kovalevski had a short but remarkable life as she overcame the prejudices regarding women’s education, rights, and orientations. Originally, she has plans to study math and physics in university independently, but in Russia at the time (1869), women could not attend university without permission from their father or husband. As an attempt to receive the education she desired, she entered a marriage of convenience with a young palaeontology student, Vladimir Kovalevsky. In 1883 she travelled to Stockholm to become a professor, as well as winning several important prizes for her work and meeting Anne Charlotte Edgren-Leffler. While each was married to men, they kept a very close friendship until Sofia’s death in 1891. Anne Charlotte wrote a biography of Sofia in 1892 to remember their true intimate friendship, referring to their ‘friendship’ as a ‘literary partnership’. Her tragic story has a domino effect of discrimination starting with being an intelligent woman in a man’s world and ending with not being able to live her true authentic outed self.
Gender bibliography:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/180234509/mathematician-sofia-kovalevski-print
https://esme.com/resources/lgbtq/women-on-fire
https://www.strillobyte.com/blog/lgbt-history-month-lgbt-pioneers-that-changed-tech
Week 6 – Place
‘Installation view’ by Melissa Gordon
The pictures above are from the ‘Confusion Condition’ exhibit displayed in the Cosar HMT art gallery in Germany between April – July in 2014, the series original is called ‘Installation view’ by Melissa Gordon, created in 2013. Gordon was born in London, England in 1981. Her work as a painter and printmaker follows the relationship between modernist representation and abstraction. The textured printmaking has visual onomatopoeia, as sections of the primary-coloured screen print has various angled lines and often enlarges details to reveal hidden structures. To truly apprehend the textual dot matrix (a dot matrix is a 2-dimensional patterned array, used to represent characters, symbols and images) of the collection the viewers interact with the suspended screens interwoven with elastic. Viewed from one angle, Gordon creates a grid through which the printmaking on the wall mounted canvas’ appears as a dense field of colour, yet never one-dimensional. The screens are held with sandbag weighted ropes, allowing the series to be adjusted however the artist wants throughout the exhibit. As the viewers moves between the print and screen installations, she employs the idea of perspective to explore the ways in which visual information is perceived and reproduced.
Place bibliography:
https://melissagordonworks.weebly.com/
https://www.cosarhmt.com/exhibitions/own-exhibitions/confusion-condition
Week 8 – Aesthetics (2D)
“Koi Prints” by April Wilson
The left reference is called, ‘Koi III’ 40 x 30cm. The right reference is called ‘Koi XIV’ 40x30cm.
April Wilson is a young printmaker from London, England and currently based there at Central Saint Martin’s college. She was born into an artistic family and now is following in the footsteps of her printmaker mother. Wilson claims it was her mother who got her into printmaking as a child, as she would print beside young Wilson giving her the leftover of material to play and create with. The references above are from Wilson’s most popular linoleum relief print series, entitled “Koi Prints” . As Wilson was developing this concept for the series, she wanted to manufacture a brand-new way to print as most prints are constructed of the same elements, identical images and a definite border. Breaking with the past convention each print ‘Koi’ series is individual, not one print is the same. Koi fish normally swim within groups while continuously changing compositions in their school, this inspired Wilson as she focused on the Koi’s compositions on paper. Wilson did achieve this aesthetic by printing the Koi fish in different paths with directional twists and turns that work harmoniously on top of the rippled water design in the middle of her print. This square of water is centred in each print in the series to show that square borders can be deconstructed for not only the margin placement.
Aesthetics (2D) bibliography:
http://april-wilson.com/koiprints.html
https://www.kraftykoi.co.uk/s/koi-symbolism
Week 8 – Aesthetics (3D)
‘Sedge’ by Judy Barrass
Judy Barrass is a seventy-one-year-old Australian artist who is woman of all trades, practicing in small sculpture, art-in-nature installations, digital media, illustrations and printmaking. Barrass’ series “Artist Book’s” is her artistic protest against the digital age, as the new generations today have a concept of the death of books. She believes, “The book may not survive exactly as we have known it, but it will survive both as an abstract notion and an object, in some form.” (Barrass, n.d.). Paper/books has been a huge part of her practice since the early 1990’s when she took a ‘Paper and Book’ course at the University of Tasmania Art School. Her sculptures are created with the intentions of interaction with an audience as her personal installation is to be experienced intimately with each induvial through smell or touch and not just independently supported with a viewer’s imagination. ‘Sedge’ is sculptured with hand-made paper with expressionist intaglio prints of natural terrains, interwoven with dried bamboo and grass to keep the sculpture standing tall. These prints consist of the same natural colour schemes of dull blue hues and rustic yellow hues for a visual representation of landscape. This aesthetic is not just thought provoking it is innovative as a statement piece of how we take the littlest things for granted.
Aesthetics (3D) bibliography:
http://www.judybarrass.com/Artist_Books.html
https://www.hillendart.com.au/judybarrass
Week 9- Collaborative (2D)
The collaboration of Yoshijiro Urushibara and Frank Brangwyn.
These two images are references from before their collaboration. The left reference is “Six Geese” by Yoshijiro Urushibara, made in the early 19th century. The right reference is “Above the fishing village” by Frank Brangwyn made in 1887.
These two images are references from their collaboration. The left reference is “Le Quai Vert, Bruges” by Yoshijiro Urushibara, made in 1919. The right reference is “The Garden of the Mosque” by Frank Brangwyn made in 1922.
Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956) a welsh painter born in Belgian, who was always fascinated by the Japanese art style of Ukiyo-e (translated as “Pictures of the Floating World,” referring to the style of Japanese woodblock print and painting from the Edo period (1603-1868) depicting famous kabuki, beautiful courtesans, city life and erotic scenes), even when he was an apprentice to William Morris. Yoshijiro Urushibara (1888-1953) born in Tokyo decided to travel to London in 1907 for an exhibition of Japanese woodblock printmaking, he was eventually hired by the British museum to help restore the prints in their collection. Brangwyn and Urushibara met in 1910 through their open minds for each other’s love of art and nature, beginning their friendship and their ‘East-to-West’ collaboration. They collaborated by sharing sketchbooks, styles and each other’s heritage as Urushibara made woodcut prints from Brangwyn’s watercolours. Before the two met their styles were very stereotypical of their origin countries (see references above to understand styles before and after collaboration) with Brangwyn’s style having bright water colours that celebrated the small details, while Urushibara had Japanese traditional unsaturated colours layered with printed tone and textures. Until his death Brangwyn continued to practice in Ukiyo-e woodblocks, honouring his collaboration with Urushibara, who honoured everything he had learned about the Anglo style before having a huge printmaking career across Europe. They both learned from each other and expanded their thinking of how you can collaborate to very distinctive opposite styles, making a new Anglo-Ukiyo-e hybrid combining both original styles together.
Collaborative (2D) bibliography:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2017/feb/14/frank-brangwyn-yoshijiro-urushibara#img-3
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1039520/the-garden-of-the-mosque-print-frank-brangwyn/
http://woodblock.com/urushibara/miscellaneous.html
Week 9 – Collaborative (3D)
‘Big Bambú’ by Doug and Mark Starn
Doug and Mark Starn are American identical twins who initially created photographic screen prints using their own photographs of veins of leaves, moths and other elements of nature that interest the human questions of meaning, death and desire. Leaning away from their normal collaborating print style, they have branched out into architecture sculptures, in particular their ‘Big Bambú’ sculpture series built across the world. The construction appears haphazard and chaotic, but every pole placement is knot-tied with string and has been thought out meticulously. The concept of ‘Big Bambú’ has nothing to do with the main material bamboo; it is the invisible architecture of life and living things. Through this work, the Starn brothers have shown that it is possible to create multiple pieces of contemporary art that despite being presented as a sculpture embraces organics and life, relating back to the purpose of their initial prints. In 2010, “Big Bambú: You Can’t, You Don’t and You Won’t Stop” installation by Doug and Mike Starn was on display at the Metropolitan Museum in New York; it was the ninth most visited exhibition in the museum’s history and the fourth most visited in the world that year.
Collaborative (3D) bibliography:
http://www.dmstarn.com/new_work.html
https://www.artsy.net/artist/doug-and-mike-starn
https://divisare.com/projects/219107-starn-studio-doug-mike-starn-big-bambu
Week 10 – Audience (2D)
‘L’Oréal (Hair Care) 1926’ advert by Jean Claude
This vintage French advert for L’Oréal hair dye was a popular advert in 1926 to convince woman that you will look old if you have grey or white hair. The poster advert is 279.4 x 391.16mm. The illustrator is Jean Claude, who was regularly commissioned by L’Oréal to create poster adverts to promote their hair and beauty products, this advertising relationship lasted from 1919-1934. The French translation on the advert says, “Plus a white hair still thirty years old.” Making the woman of that era (their audience) question their appearance and if any grey/white hair will make them look old and that they should be sad, ashamed and unattractive if so. L’Oréal is still very popular today in the hair and cosmetics industry however their marketing attitude is less pessimistic towards women’s self-esteem. This advert considers audience successfully as the woman who were targeted would not have the education of the woman today who know that having grey hair does not matter within love and being non-desirable. Other adverts created by Claude directly say that you can only be happy if you make the standards to look youthful and that no man will embrace unless you use L’Oréal.
Audience (2D) bibliography:
https://hprints.com/en/adverts/
https://hprints.com/LOreal_Cosmetics_1926_Jean_Claude-44222.
https://www.google.com/search?q=google+translate&rlz=1C1VDKB_en-gbGB945GB945&oq=google+translate&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i20i263j0l2j0i433l2j0j0i433j0j69i64.3567j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Week 10 – Audience (3D)
‘Nature Study’ by Louise Bourgeois
Louise Bourgeois was a French American sculptor and installation artist, who has in the past created loose figurative prints based on the human bodies and relations using human bodies. Her ‘Nature Study’, 1986, is a free-standing bronze sculpture, consisting of tubular coil knotted tightly from the centre of the sculpture directly falling into a hand holding a petite figure of a female. She worked on this sculpture between 1984-1986 with various combinations of mouldings and cast to create the perfect elongated hand. All of Bourgeois creations are therapy for her and her way to show audiences that we might all have negative experiences that we can channel into art to make something inspirational. Bourgeois thought behind ‘Nature Study’, “The spiral is important to me. It is a twist. As a child, after washing tapestries in the river, I would turn and twist and ring them. Later I would dream of my father’s mistress. I would do it in my dreams by ringing her neck. The spiral – I love the spiral – represents control and freedom.” (Gardner | Louise Bourgeois) The feminine figure dissolving into the maternal cradling hands to portray that Bourgeois has control over her aggressive thought, since this figure has a fully formed torso yet no arms symbolising that she has the power to commit such a heinous act. As an audience member viewing this and knowing this reasoning behind Bourgeois’ fascination with the many spirals in this sculpture is quite disturbing but that is how she wants us to feel. She wants to feel normal in her art and have someone finally relate to her within her own twisted mind-set.
Audience (3D) bibliography:
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bourgeois-nature-study-al00228
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/louise-bourgeois-2351
CW 2 – ‘Challenging gender as we know it’
For CW2 my group consisted of myself, Ruth Hagans and Aoife Hamil. The three of us decided to work with the theme of gender/ gender identity as we all agreed that this theme could be very board and expressive as gender is only a construct that branches out into innumerable ‘personas’ and/or ‘labels’.
Mine own artist choices:
Gender Identity (2D)
The left reference is ‘Nude in Blue 1’ and the right reference is ‘Nude in Blue 2’. Both by Alexandria Coe.
Gender Identity (3D)
‘Dreamer’ by Rob Kolhouse.
Ruth’s artist choices:
Gender Identity (2D)
‘Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum?’ by Guerrilla Girls
Gender Identity (3D)
‘The Dinner Party’ by Judy Chicago
Aoife’s artist choices:
Gender Identity (2D)
The right print is ‘Two Boys Aged 23 or 24, 1966‘ and the left print is ‘In the Dull Village, 1966‘ by David Hockney.
Gender Identity (3D)
‘Maman’ by Louise Bourgeois
After we all deliberated we decided that I would analyse Aoife’s research, Ruth would analyse mine and Aoife would analyse Ruth’s research. My thousand word first draft analysis of Aoife’s research is below. (To see my finished 0011 CW2 go to ‘011 – Cw2, final draft’ blog page.)
‘Challenging gender as we know it’
Aoife choose ‘Two Boys Aged 23 or 24’ by David Hockney from his series ‘Cavafy Suite’ in 1966. Hockney originally from England, born 1937, moved to Los Angles in 1964 where he started discovering new domestic lifestyles and spaces, inspiring his long six-decade career. Hockney defied socially accepted constitutions in his art and in his own life as being an openly homosexual for most of his career in a systematically oppressed society; he expressed his voice and choice not to conform in his art as imagery through his years had a consensus of the experience of white gay males in 1970s Los Angeles. This etching print is very minimalist with no explicit narrative, yet we see intimacy and depictions of love as Hockney wanted to break the stereotype of gay men being loud and eccentric but by showing two men sleeping in a bed together, making them appear traditionally orthodox.
In relation to our chosen theme of gender, the definition of gender is “the physical and/or social condition of being male or female” (Cambridge English Dictionary Online, 2021a), and what makes these people look male or female or androgynous, “not clearly male or female” (Cambridge English Dictionary Online 2021b). Hockney states these are men together, yet they are not oozing strong brute like masculinity. They are represented as feminine, vulnerable and delicate in the way there are positioned together with their bare skin intimately on display. These elements depict them as if they were women, since this is how woman are stereotypically portrayed. Hockney has explained that when he views this etching, he glances with the no interest of using gender norms, “It’s a picture of two gay men, but it’s not, to my eyes anyway, desperately erotic or racy or controversial. It’s two people, obviously in some kind of intimate relationship, lying next to each other in a relaxed way in bed.” (BBC | David Hockney, 2014). In an ideal world Hockney would not have to state their gender but does in a means to subvert heteronormative structures.
Aoife’s choice of ‘Two Boys Agreed 23 or 24’ within our theme is very successful. The etching challenges homophobic oppression as it queries an audience whether they should worry about two people lying together who have the same gentiles but instead praise those who have the courage to step out of their own gender stereotypes and live their own life they authentically want to. Confirming how successful Aoife has been in her choices, this thought-provoking print also contributes to the theme of identity, ‘who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others’ (Cambridge English Dictionary Online, 2021c) within the deeper theme of gender; as the idea of men being feminine can also relate to the theme of identity by representing the concept of non-binary and that person having a heterogeneous identity, “consisting of parts or things that are very different from each other” (Cambridge English Dictionary Online, 2021d).
Aoife’s second choice is Louise Bourgeois’ striking sculpture, ‘Maman’ 1999. Bourgeois was a French American sculpturer and installation artist, 1919-2010, who uses her art to fight fears from childhood trauma. Growing up Bourgeois’ parents were married, even after her father had an affair her mother continued being a strong female role model, she decided to stay with Bourgeois’ father so she could continue her childhood with supportive gender differentiations. Gender differentiation is defined as “related to separate programs for labour market and family needs, shaping claims to benefits: women claim benefits as wives and caregivers, while men make their claims as family providers and earners” (Sainsbury, 2001). Bourgeois always favourited her mother from an impressionable age until her death when Bourgeois was twenty-one years old. In memory of her mother nurturing calm ‘Maman’ was created, as ‘Maman’ translates into ‘Mummy’. “The friend (the spider – why the spider?) because my best friend was my mother and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and as useful as a spider. She could also defend herself, and me, by refusing to answer ‘stupid’, inquisitive, embarrassing, personal questions. I shall never tire of representing her.” (Tate, 2010) Every young girl should have a strong empowered woman as a role model, someone who does not crumble under a dictating abusive man. Bourgeois frequently represents strong woman that have inspired her and the influences of weak men, as she previously created an installation called, ‘The Destruction of the Father’, 1974, based on her volatile anxiety-causing father.
Aoife’s choice is successful as ‘Maman’ does relate to our theme of gender by breaking down unfair stereotypes that maternal mothers and housewives are weak under the iron fist of the man of the house. Bourgeois destroys these gender norms throughout her career by constantly psychoanalysing the ambiguities of gender identity often through the denial of individuality – particularly when women are forced to find their own identity through the terms of a man. Bourgeois explored patriarchy, motherhood and women as subjects, rather than objects of art to create a balance of beauty and rage. Not only does this successfully consider gender but it also successfully considers identity, as Bourgeois identifies her nurturing mother as an enormous spider, this is conflicting as this feminine figure is represented by a creature that most find sinister. However, that was how Bourgeois saw her mother, a protective female she could admire.
In contrast from Aoife’s first choice, ‘Two Boys Ages 23 or 24’ is very feminine and delicate, yet ‘Maman’ is meant to be feminine but is depicted as masculine and strong. Aoife successfully questions why gender stereotypes should be extinct when masculinity and femininity is not constricted onto just one gender but to those who identify as those terms. The characteristics and traits of how a person acts should not be pre-chosen for them based on their gender. Therefore, by Aoife choosing work that is on a spectrum of stereotypes/ gender norms she has successfully worked towards the theme of gender and how that does not identify a person. In addition, these choices co-exist with the theme of equality, demonstrating how Aoife was further successful over, as she readdresses why woman can only be allowed to feel feminine, beautiful and vulnerable while only men are expected to be burly, strong and masculine. All gender should be able to have equal rights to claim both the feeling of femininity and masculinity without being prosecuted. Men can be gentle and express love openly, while a mother can be dominant and affectionate.