Over the next few weeks I'm doing some work with Creative Partnerships in a primary school in Whalley Range. I'm working with an artist/illustrator Anthony Smith who does all of the illustrations at Chester Zoo and with my flatmate Emily (from Interactive Arts). The project is helping the children to illustrate some stories about animals. Today was the first day, we just had a bit of chat with the children and looked at their basic drawing skills and discussed plans for the next 2 weeks. I had such a funny time, children have the most amazing imaginations! One of the stories was a version of 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' but with Pinky the flamingo as the main character fighting it out with a crocodile over a pair of pink high heeled shoes; the story ends with a hippo (I think) flying around in a helicopter dropping money everywhere. I'm really excited about working with these children and their stories and they all seem so enthusiastic which is excellent. Emily and I are doing some papier mache animals with them next week and then the week after we're painting the animals, making masks and making decorations for an animal themed party in May. I think it's going to be such a great experience having to actually be responsible for something other than myself and having to instruct and manage the children to work to such a short deadline.
Hopefully next week I'll get some photos of the work! I'm desperate for the picture of a penguin with a bob that one child drew, just fantastic.
Friday, 16 April 2010
Monday, 29 March 2010
Terry Gilliam
This week I watched a couple of Terry Gilliam films, I've never really seen anything by him but I've been told many times that I would like his films so I watched 'The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen' and 'The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus'.
I've always been a big fan of adventure films, especially anything quite surreal or unusual, I really love the idea of fantasy worlds and the escapism that goes along with this so I really loved Baron Munchhausen, you can really see how vast Gilliam's imagination is when you see the extent of detail in the different locations of the film. I thought the sets were amazing, in particular the theatre scenery in the opening scenes which was made up of a series of flat sections that folded in and out to create movement and the suggestion of perspective etc. I also loved the scenes on the moon which were also made up of flat scenery which moved sideways and forwards to create a city. It was really refreshing to see a film with so many impossible looking scenes being made without the use of CGI and it made me feel that a lot more is possible for me to create within my work by hand. I really like the idea of constructing sets that move in quite a simple way but the mechanics of the movements would also be beautiful enough to be visible; this is something I'd love to try in an animation or film.
Dr. Parnassus was also a really wonderful film, I didn't like some aspects of the animation in the imaginarium scenes but it would obviously make sense to use more current technology but I still prefer more traditional animation methods. I thought the combination of modern day with the old-fashioned set worked perfectly and the transformation to a modern set was really beautiful. Again there were some fantastic sets and costumes which were really inspiring.
I was impressed with both films as although they are quite weird and strange they never became silly and everything seemed necessary to the story which I really admired, I would imagine that making such unusual films could lead to adding in crazy characters and scenarios just for the sake of being weird but this didn't seem to happen.
I've always been a big fan of adventure films, especially anything quite surreal or unusual, I really love the idea of fantasy worlds and the escapism that goes along with this so I really loved Baron Munchhausen, you can really see how vast Gilliam's imagination is when you see the extent of detail in the different locations of the film. I thought the sets were amazing, in particular the theatre scenery in the opening scenes which was made up of a series of flat sections that folded in and out to create movement and the suggestion of perspective etc. I also loved the scenes on the moon which were also made up of flat scenery which moved sideways and forwards to create a city. It was really refreshing to see a film with so many impossible looking scenes being made without the use of CGI and it made me feel that a lot more is possible for me to create within my work by hand. I really like the idea of constructing sets that move in quite a simple way but the mechanics of the movements would also be beautiful enough to be visible; this is something I'd love to try in an animation or film.
Dr. Parnassus was also a really wonderful film, I didn't like some aspects of the animation in the imaginarium scenes but it would obviously make sense to use more current technology but I still prefer more traditional animation methods. I thought the combination of modern day with the old-fashioned set worked perfectly and the transformation to a modern set was really beautiful. Again there were some fantastic sets and costumes which were really inspiring.
I was impressed with both films as although they are quite weird and strange they never became silly and everything seemed necessary to the story which I really admired, I would imagine that making such unusual films could lead to adding in crazy characters and scenarios just for the sake of being weird but this didn't seem to happen.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Post(er)
I went to the Post(er) exhibition last week at Rogue Studios (possibly the most hidden away gallery space I've ever experienced, I would never find it again alone), I had mixed feelings about the exhibition, some of the work by Rob Bailey and Nick Rhodes was really inspiring (see my faves in images below) I really loved the screen prints and it made me want to try doing some of my own, I have a massive fear of the screen print area though so I need to overcome that. The rest of the pieces were a bit mediocre and a lot of very similar prints were placed around the room so after about 15 minutes there wasn't much else to see. The space itself was also a bit of a let down, the exhibition looked a bit haphazard and didn't look as though a lot of thought had been put into the curation. It was worth a visit though for the work that I did like but I don't think I'd ever be able to find the place again to go back..
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Prague - House of the Black Madonna
This was a really interesting collection of Czech Cubist work displayed in the House of the Black Madonna; a Cubist building designed by Josef Gocar. The last memories that I have of Cubist work are from my GCSE's being told to copy Picasso and Georges Braque so it was refreshing to see some Cubism away from high school. I found myself much more interested in the metal work and furniture in the exhibition; the paintings just sort of passed by without much interest. I really liked the sculpture work by Otto Gutfreund (below) I found the hollow eyes and cheeks of his faces fascinating and I was in awe of the way that he had turned a piece of metal into something with so much character.
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The few pieces of furniture that were dotted around the 3 floors were wonderful, I loved the severe shapes and angles that were applied to such mundane things as dressing tables - it was really beautiful design. The top 2 floors were probably the most compelling, they housed more simple graphic drawings of architectural plans and some of the detailed drawings that were used to plan out the Cubist paintings. It made me appreciate the precision and the organisation of the paintings whereas before I think I just dismissed them as distortion without any real thought. The collection also contained a number of African masks which seemed to be out of place but were fantastic, it made me want to look into more tribal and cultural based art work, maybe during my next project.
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The few pieces of furniture that were dotted around the 3 floors were wonderful, I loved the severe shapes and angles that were applied to such mundane things as dressing tables - it was really beautiful design. The top 2 floors were probably the most compelling, they housed more simple graphic drawings of architectural plans and some of the detailed drawings that were used to plan out the Cubist paintings. It made me appreciate the precision and the organisation of the paintings whereas before I think I just dismissed them as distortion without any real thought. The collection also contained a number of African masks which seemed to be out of place but were fantastic, it made me want to look into more tribal and cultural based art work, maybe during my next project.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Francisco Goya
I managed to see the Francisco Goya exhibition 'Fantasies, Follies and Disasters' at Manchester Gallery recently before it ended and that was fantastic. I was disappointed with the size of the exhibition as I expected it to be much bigger considering it was advertised so much but it was still excellent.
I think I was really excited by the etchings because the content was so creepy and grotesque. I loved all of the scenes of cloaked figures looming over people and the dark shadowy creatures lurking in the background as though they were part of the victim's imagination. I really loved the detail applied to the creatures and the expressions on the human faces, there was real horror captured in the images. I preferred the more mythical/fantasy based images rather than the pure torture and war atrocities but it was all really amazing.
I was also really impressed with the Chapman Brothers piece 'Disasters of War' which was based on the Francisco Goya etchings. I've always been quite skeptical of the Chapman brothers work as it always seems a bit too disgusting, too much shock value for my liking but this piece was really fascinating. The artists depicted scenes from the etchings in tiny figurines, similar in a way to toy soldiers, at first glance it looks like a collection of any small figures but on closer inspection you can pick out the specific details from the etchings and it was really interesting to look at as there were so many details.
I think I was really excited by the etchings because the content was so creepy and grotesque. I loved all of the scenes of cloaked figures looming over people and the dark shadowy creatures lurking in the background as though they were part of the victim's imagination. I really loved the detail applied to the creatures and the expressions on the human faces, there was real horror captured in the images. I preferred the more mythical/fantasy based images rather than the pure torture and war atrocities but it was all really amazing.
I was also really impressed with the Chapman Brothers piece 'Disasters of War' which was based on the Francisco Goya etchings. I've always been quite skeptical of the Chapman brothers work as it always seems a bit too disgusting, too much shock value for my liking but this piece was really fascinating. The artists depicted scenes from the etchings in tiny figurines, similar in a way to toy soldiers, at first glance it looks like a collection of any small figures but on closer inspection you can pick out the specific details from the etchings and it was really interesting to look at as there were so many details.
Alan Fletcher
I visited the Alan Fletcher exhibition at Cube Gallery a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't really sure what to expect as I'd forgotten everything I ever knew about Alan Fletcher but I found his work so inspiring!
I loved the simplicity of his work the most, it was the kind of work that you look at and think that anyone could do it but when you look closer you realise how much thought and attention has been put into everything. I think a good example of this would be the calendars: 3 different themes (weather, events and horoscopes) all of the imagery was made up of simple shapes in block colours but they were really fun to look at and had such a strong aesthetic - straightforward but without losing any charm. A lot of the London Underground posters had the same style, very loose and illustrative but really simple.
An image from one of the calendars (Aries)
My two favourite pieces were the Pirelli slipper holders - illustrated dogs that folded out into stands with a gap in the mouth of the dog to hold a pair of slippers. Again this is a great example of a simple idea with a clever thought behind it. Everything to look at makes you think 'why didn't I think of that?' sort of the obvious idea because it's so uncomplicated. I also loved the 3D monster characters that Fletcher had made for his grandson, originally meant to be something to play with but he thought they were too precious and kept them for himself. I could relate to this work after making so many 3D pieces out of papier mache for my personal project; I liked the fact that he used such childlike working methods, his sketchbooks that were placed next to the models had the same aesthetic, very free and experimental which is the way that I've been finding myself working.
The monster/character models
I loved the simplicity of his work the most, it was the kind of work that you look at and think that anyone could do it but when you look closer you realise how much thought and attention has been put into everything. I think a good example of this would be the calendars: 3 different themes (weather, events and horoscopes) all of the imagery was made up of simple shapes in block colours but they were really fun to look at and had such a strong aesthetic - straightforward but without losing any charm. A lot of the London Underground posters had the same style, very loose and illustrative but really simple.
An image from one of the calendars (Aries)My two favourite pieces were the Pirelli slipper holders - illustrated dogs that folded out into stands with a gap in the mouth of the dog to hold a pair of slippers. Again this is a great example of a simple idea with a clever thought behind it. Everything to look at makes you think 'why didn't I think of that?' sort of the obvious idea because it's so uncomplicated. I also loved the 3D monster characters that Fletcher had made for his grandson, originally meant to be something to play with but he thought they were too precious and kept them for himself. I could relate to this work after making so many 3D pieces out of papier mache for my personal project; I liked the fact that he used such childlike working methods, his sketchbooks that were placed next to the models had the same aesthetic, very free and experimental which is the way that I've been finding myself working.
The monster/character models
Pirelli dogs (image from Maxim's photos Flickr)
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