Self Evaluation

ISSU presentation

Powerpoint link:

https://1drv.ms/p/s!AiQXbyiG1n_DgRmWsavVFscDRstM

Issuu link:

https://issuu.com/indiapenny/docs/studio_brief_3

Ahhh I don't know what to do my presentation on - Studio Brief 3

Right now I have two vague ideas that I am interested in (which I have just drawn out of my research):

1. This idea of commercial art having a focus on aesthetic values is something which cropped up a lot in my essay. It was described as something which is numbing and reassuring thats main aim is to grab out attention. It was argued that that it exists simply to draw us in so that we can be sold something and told what we already know. (- Read and Swanger)

I am interested in weather or not this theory can still be applied to contemporary illustration // this idea of aesthetic values vs. conceptual ones. Which come first? - I am interested in weather there are illustrations with a primary focus is on aesthetic values and nothing more, if so how do they function / in contrast to illustrations with a focus on communicating a concept (where aesthetics just exist to aid this storytelling). It would also be interesting to explore weather or not one can exist without the other. Can illustration move in the direction of some fine art and become purely conceptual or does this totally defy what illustration is because it is no longer able to clearly visually communicate anything.

If I were to look into this I like the fact that there is such a strong focus on illustration and I wouldn't have the struggle of having to keep trying to link it back. It also feels very contemporary because it is comparing illustration at present to past views on 'commercial art' in general. I also find this idea of aesthetics really interesting and I could maybe even go into explore the psychology of it?
However, I am not sure how much I would be able to dig up on the relationship between aesthetics and conceptual values (particularly in the world of illustration) and I'm worried that I'll go off on a tangent and start looking at the psychology of colour in advertising or something.

2. The word 'taste' also cropped up a lot in my research, particularly in the discussion of the elite as the 'taste-makers' in an elitist society.

This idea of taste and style in art and why it changes is something that I find really interesting. I could look into what determines taste and why styles come and go - the psychology of it. It could be interesting to explore why we have moved away from intellectual standards - hierarchy, order, geometry towards work that is irrational and instead uses intuition. - why are things that are off balance now pleasing to us when they weren't in the past.  - what is taste and where does it come from?

I feel like maybe this second concept feels a bit thinner but I am not sure if it is just because I haven't thought about it as much.

-- I have just realised that these concepts are super linked, so I might even end up exploring both. (taste and aesthetics/ psychology)

Finished Essays - Studio Brief 1

Synthesis List - Study Task 8

 

I have completed my synthesis list for each step saying what I did, how/ why I did it and what I found as it said on the study task. From what I read on the study task it sounds like this should for the basis of my essay. However, on the powerpoint it says I need to look at two specific works of art that I produced and evaluate their success/ content/ how they relate to my theme, compare them to an image in essay 2 and use 4 quotes from 3 of my sources. This has baffled me and I now have no idea how to structure my essay. Is the whole essay just me talking about two specific images and how my research lead to me creating them instead of talking about my research in order of how I did it? Also It says not to speak in the first person. I'm not sure how to do this if I'm discussing work that I created. Do I just refer to me as they or if its an image analysis I guess I could be like this stemmed from this research (rather then I did this research).

I am going to post this query on the group chat.

***(forgot to put in) - RATIONALE. This helped me to re define what I was doing and helped to get my intensions straight in my head. Before writing it I was in a phase of just producing lots of work and not stopping to think and reflect upon what I was doing. I stuck perfectly to the intensions in my rational. I think that this was because I was very clear on what I wanted to achieve and I was already quite close to the end of my journal.

My two images for the analysis:

The first image would be interesting because it is was one of my initial drawings based on my essay themes which directly lead me to explore this idea of mass production and the one off. It also visually relates well to 'Campbell's Soup Cans'.

The second image would work well because it would allow me to this desire for authenticity and its value. As well as weather or not this can be technologically simulated. This would work well because it would allow me to easily link it back to my original concept of status and what is desirable.

I definitely want to discuss the third image because it is one of the final images of my book and it represents what all of my research lead to. It allow me to discuss my 30 page mountain series and my findings.

Cop Journal - Repeated mountain

WHOOP WHOPP MY JOURNAL IS OFFICIALLY FINISHEDD!!!

What ideas was I exploring?

• I am looking into what separates commercial art from fine art and I came up with mass production/focus on communication v.s. the one off/ artists touch; form for forms sake. I am continuing this exploration into how the different art forms are valued differently and the relationship between value and status. I am looking specifically into the role that authenticity plays in how art is valued and this idea of the one off. I used a photograph which I took of a mountain, which looks quite like clip art - a very reproducible image and looked at how far I had to push it to make it one off. 

What Works well?

• I thought that the images (second to last), where I allowed chance to make the marks are really interesting. Here, I printed the photograph onto newsprint, so that the ink wouldn't dry properly and left it in my bag for a couple days. This was interesting because although the images are now one offs, there is no sense of the hand of the maker - key to the valuation of art. 
• I also think that the mono prints are interesting because as much as I tried I could never get the same image twice, even though I was tracing the photograph. All of the results are truly one off. I love also the delicacy of the line in contrast to the fuzzy misprinted ink. I would love to work with it again. I think that with some practice I could create some really interesting results. I would also like to try working with the oil based inks in the print room (I had lots of problems with the dying time of water based ink).
• I am so glad that I didn't just stick to using mono print as I think that each of the different uses of media make you think about my concept in a slightly different way.
• I was very tempted to add text to some of my images but I am so glad that I didn't. I think that the images speak well on their own and my concept is communicated clearly. I also like the repetition of the layout across the many pages. Adding text would have disrupted this.

What doesn't work so well?

• I think that I could have chosen a better image to work from. I struggled to create depth within this image because of where lights and darks lay - I did not like the big white mountain at the front. I think that maybe if I had chosen a more simplistic image (maybe of a single mountain?) I could have been more experimental with what media I used. I wanted to play with leggo and food and other three dimensional media but there was just too much going on.
• I think that I could have done more mono printing (I wish that I had left more space). I really like how they look as a series and I think that there was a lot more room for experimentation with this media. I could have tried using different drawing tools, paper, line/tone etc. 

How am I going to move forward?

• Now that I have finally finished my book I need to start thinking about who all of my ideas link together and how this related back to my initial quote. Eesshh - maybe do some mind mapping?

Study Task 7 - Rationale

• What is your theme?
• How are you exploring it visually (methodology)?
• Why are you doing it this way?
• Materials?

I begun by looking into weather or not the artist has status and their place within society, which evolved into looking at weather fine art or commercial art has more status in society. I am currently visually exploring what separates the two art forms, causing them to be valued differently and the relationship between value and status. I am specifically looking into the transition between the mass produced and the one off by taking mass produced images and working into them, as well as redrawing them to make them one off. I am interested in weather authenticity is proportional to value as well as this concept of the artist's touch and its effect on value. I am currently using mainly collage and photoshop to visually translate my ideas but I would like to use a much wider range of media. I like the series drawings where I have taken a mass produced image and looked at how far I need to push it to make it one off. For the last 32 pages of my book I would like to push this exploration further by taking a single image and repeatedly retranslating it across many different media.

Visual Journal - Transcription Research

Goya's painting 'The Third of May' (1814) is an iconic war painting, originally created to represent slaughter and sacrifice of the Spanish for victory. It had been transcribed and reinterpreted by countless artists, who have in effect altered its meaning.

Here, Picasso reimagines the image - to represent the South Korean/ American aggressors killing the innocent in the Sinchon Massacre. He emphasises the aggressors' lack of emotion by making them look like machines or robots. - the image has been reimagined by lots of artist in history to represent different times of conflict.

 

 



The imagee also continues to be remade across lots of different media - in paint, leggo etc. In doing so, it has essentially lost its original meaning. It is essentially just its aesthetic qualities that have been transcribed.

 

I feel like the same sort of thing has happened with the photograph of Che Guevara but through mass production. It has been remade and remade as a print. You see it everywhere now and everyone would recognise it but not necessarily know who it is or that it that it is an image that represents revolution.

The image's aesthetic has also been adopted by pop stars in contemporary culture. This transcription has also lead to a loss of meaning.

Through transcribing these images, all of these artists have altered their meaning and therefore their status. Even though through transcribing my image (using lots of different media) I am doing something slightly different, I am still interested in how the transcription alters an image's function and therefore its status. 

Visual Journal - Tutorial Feedback

What feedback did I receive?

• my group really liked my series drawings and this turning of a gimmicky image into something one off and more personal. They thought that the evolution of a single image across a couple of pages worked well. 

• They agreed that the one off amongst a grid of mass produced images idea had been exhausted but they thought that I had found an interesting way of working that I should stick to. They suggested just taking one of my images and spending the last 30 pages of my sketchbook making as many versions of it as possible. They suggested using mono print because it is quick and impossible to get the same image twice. 

• They also suggested that I look into famous images, which have been transcribed. i.e. the Che Guvara image and the 'Third of May' painting

How am I going to move forward?

• I am going to start by researching the suggested images and looking into how they are transcribed. 

• I think that taking one image and exhaustively remaking it is a really interesting concept and I like the way in which it will allow me to utilise the space in my sketchbook. It will really emphasise this idea of the one off as well as allowing me to explore how far you need to push an image for it to be original and one off. However, I would like to use lots of media to do this rather than just mono print - to see how each of the different media have a different effect it and its status. 

Media to try:
- Digita manipulation - vecors, painting, pop art effect, oil paint filter
- Ripping up, collaging original image, drawing into photo
- Analogue media - resist, papercut, pastels, paint, pencil, charcoal, thinners
- 3D - food - sugar?, leggo, plasticine
- Monoprint - Line as well as shape and colour

Visual Journal - Where am I at

What ideas have I been exploring?

• I looked into the filters on photoshop (i.e. oil paint) that electronically simulate a hand made process. I was looking at weather using one of these truly makes an image one off as well as people's attempt to make mass produced products have a one off, authentic feel. Is this because one off things feel more valuable? I wanted to look at the images you see in places like Wilko where prints have a canvas texture printed onto them but I couldn't find any.

• I followed the advice from my last crit and started playing around with mass produced commercial images. I used my own images to keep this project personal but I chose the a couple that looked like they could be clip art. I.e. a posed one of my friends/ over photographed tourist destinations like Angkor Wot and The Camera in Oxford. I think that the mountains look particularly like clip art (colours etc.). I started playing around with cutting and ripping up the photos as well as drawing into them to make them one off then presenting them next to one another. In doing so I was continuing to look at this question of what separates fine art from commercial art - the one off and the mass produced/ the artist's touch. I was also looking at mass produced images as a pieces artwork that anyone can own and wether turning them into one offs somehow made them more authentic. In separating the two I was also trying to raise the question of which has more status.

• I also went on to create some series of images that showed a progression from a photograph to a one off drawing through manipulating the photograph then drawing from it (to reflect the same concept). 

• I also tried laying out the one off image amongst all the mass produced images in the same grid format that I used earlier in my journal to more clearly illustrate this idea of the one off amongst the mass produced. 

What works, doesn't work?

• I think that the photo to drawing series' definitely reflect my concept better than the ones where I have two images on each page because they show a progression. I also like the way in which they use the journal space - spreading across multiple pages rather than using them individually.

• I think that my way of representing the one off amongst the many mass produced works really well visually and I also like how it is spread across multiple pages. I like the sense of intense repetition that it gives my sketchbook (to represent mass production). However, I think that I have now fully exhausted this idea and I now need to move on to something else. 

• I know that it is all part of my concept but I hate working with such gimmicky gross images - it makes me feel like I'm producing bad work because it's not aesthetically pleasing. I need to remember that it's all about visually representing a concept in an interesting way, not creating pretty pictures. Although it may be interesting to turn these clip art images into something beautiful??

How am I going to move forward?

• I think that I am onto an interesting concept and I like how much It has been distilled since the beginning of my journal. However, I don't really know how to move forward because I have visually represent my idea as I wanted to and I now feel like I have slightly run out of ideas. Have I already exhausted my concept? - Book one on one tutorial Thursday 

• It may be interesting to add text to some of my pages - to more explicitly raise questions and highlight what I have discovered on each page. I could use letrasets for this?