I wanna wake up in a city, that doesn't sleep...

THREE WEEKS!!

This Week:

So... this week has been full on for tutorials, I saw Liz on tuesday about 'Silence', and Clinton this morning to talk Dissertation.

The first tutorial for the new brief went well, lots of discussion and some extra ideas came out of it.  A bit more direction and contact time wouldn't go a miss next week, but I have to make the outcome individual to me, best to just get cracking!  Been working in the studio this afternoon and have generated some new/further ideas.  Some are quite interactive which is something Liz suggested I look into.  Finally feel ready to get out of the sketchbook and do some visual experiments.

Tuesday afternoon, we watched short film La Jetee, I don't think I understood one minute of it, but I liked the still image and narrative combo.  Thought that was quite an interesting idea.

Chris Marker, filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor, and now videographer and digital multimedia artist, has been challenging moviegoers, philosophers, and himself for years with his complex queries about time, memory, and the rapid advancement of life on this planet. Marker’s La Jetée is one of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made, a tale of time travel told in still images.

1962.

La Jetee

Chris Marker

And the dissertation feedback.  This was really useful.  Clinton made some really interesting suggestions for my line of argument, got me thinking in a more specific way as well as suggesting how to gather primary research.  Time to get on with things!

Johnny Hardstaff.

"This is my underwear"

A self proclaimed compulsive doodler who likes to sit and have ideas all day long.  His underwear, ie. sketchbooks have a great energy and you can tell from looking at them that he loves the creative process.

"Graphic Design is a weapon"

Johnny described the 'Paint' advert for Orange as "safe, pretty and charming" but then went on to present the notion of adverts having a political subtext that can sometimes be quite "nasty."  Essentially the message in this ad is saying to us; 'here, have more' and puts the question out there that if something so simple can manipulate, how far can you take things?  What can you do with a project?  This is a great example of the good and the bad involved in our role as a visual communicator.  It was interesting the way he described Norman Clein and how he has laid bare the way in which he directs people with such subjection that he feels guilty whilst loving doing so at the same time.

Advert for Orange

'Paint'

His work is linear and playful.  I find his aesthetic quite interesting, and what I love most is the way Johnny doesn't separate design from art.  I think this makes it easier for the process to flow naturally, just to think of design as contemporary art.  This was a really funny, engaging and interesting lecture and I loved watching Hardstaff's work and hearing his beliefs and confessionals.

Clients also include Sony, LG, Radiohead and MTV.  See his showreel here.

♥

I want one of Woody's Little Treasures...  but they are too spensive for my pocket money :(

This cute lil hand drawn owl pendant is £75!

Design For Life

Just catching up on my sky +ing...

J. Hardstaff introducing Rollerball (1975)

So, Monday night (Oct.5th) kicked off our Kino4 film club.  I am not in any way, shape or form a film buff, but I really enjoyed the evening.  (Guest) Johnny Hardstaff introduced Rollerball by saying a few words on the film and why he had chosen it.  He presented it as a film that is important to us, as people interested in visual communication.  It is a film about  media as a weapon, a corporate world that practices the ethics of manipulation and subversive agendas.  I was surprised at how a film from 1975 is still as relevant today.  It is certainly by no means outdated.  The idea of sports stars as Gods is probably something even more specific to today than when the film was made.

The plot sees The Energy Corporation attempt to force retirement upon Veteran star Johnny E.  The fact that he has become the singular and most recognisable talent within the game opposes the aim - which is to show the futility of individual effort.  His refusal to quit means the game becomes senselessly violent.  He carries on fighting against the corporations until the very end, where he becomes the last man standing.  The film ends with the chant of his name as it moves into a still image of the star, like the start - designed to have impact upon the viewer.  Can't wait for the next film!

Rankin & Sightsavers

Today is World Sight Day.

What better way to raise awareness and capture my attention than to use Rankin?  These two images are just a couple from his striking involvement in the Sightsavers campaign.  I think the make-up is stunning.  It is times like this when I kick myself I didn't take my place at college doing prosthetics.  But then I wouldn't have ended up doing D&AD.  And we wouldn't swap that for the world.

Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made Of...

FOUR WEEKS today til D&AD hit the big apple.  Cannot wait!!

"Liverpool People" by Stephen Shakeshaft

Waves At The Waterfront

"We call them photographs but they are also history;

telling of men, women and children and their part in passing events.

Once the button on the camera has been pushed

those people are given a kind of immortality, 

for the camera is a third eye adding permanence to the sights it sees."

Following The Walker, and a very amusing lunch in Yate's we went to The Conservation Centre for a small photography exhibition.  On display was an interesting and really varied account of photographic reports by Stephen Shakeshaft, taken during his 40 years working for Liverpool's local newspaper.  He evidently has a talent for capturing ordinary everyday life, reflecting individuals, their personality and being.  I love the black and white photography, and I agree with his own account that "the passing years have added to the atmosphere of these images."  It's so true, it adds a quality to it, a nostalgic warmth.

Though the likes of Cilla, Paul and Linda McCartney, and Princess Diana feature, it is the ordinary that makes up the largest percentage of the exhibition.  And this interests me.  It is refreshing to see acknowledgment given to those people as opposed to the celebrity culture of my generation.  It made me realise that local events and stories shown, are part of what shapes and evolves a social, political and cultural landscape, as opposed to what the National/Worldwide press opt to glamourise and present.  It visually chronicled the old communities that have been through so much together and this is something that has now largely disappeared.  Going to this exhibition has made me think about substance and the direction my work could take.  A lot of what we see in our social scape is materialistic and this might be a fresher way to interpret things in the current climate.

"It is a case of looking left and right and not just straight ahead."

Shakeshaft on being a press photographer.

Betty's Paradise, 1983

"Betty lived there and when they decided to demolish the houses she stood firm,

or sat firm, taking her sun chair and banner.

She didn't wish to leave the community she had grown up in."

Another element that I interpreted was his notable passion and this came across in two ways.  The first being that the vast span of his career shows dedication and personal interest, with many being self initiated and from his personal collection.  The second was in the way he poetically described some of his subjects.  An image of an old woman sticks in my mind (above) working the market stalls.  Stephen speaks of her "Lizzie had a face that tells us life was never going to be easy, her potato stained fingers clutched brown paper bags.  Lizzie epitomised the resilience of old Liverpool.  She was real.  She was Liverpool's."  These details aren't fully evident in the image but his memory and account serves to add an additional sense for the reader and viewer here.

Fire in Fazakerley

The exhibition is on til Jan if anyone fancies it, it's only a small exhibition but I recommend it because I think it is one where everyone will leave with an individual response/perspective.

Bridget Riley: FLASHBACK

"Bridget Riley’s art is an exploration of the possibilities of vision."

Whilst at The Walker (Liverpool) yesterday, we visited 'Flashback' - the reason for our little adventure.  Bridget Riley's retrospective exhibition displayed eight large scale, vibrant and distinctive paintings; but for me the most captivating and arresting were the tiny framed pencil/gouache studies on graph and tracing paper.  They demonstrate the trials behind her work and indicate how precise the requirements are to achieve the extraordinary sensations of movement.  Riley's methodical approach also intrigues me as a visual because it is something raw and unpolished.

Riley said of her trials (example above) that it allows

"me to trust the eye at the end of my pencil."

The development and elaboration of these results culminates colour and shape, light and space, energy and rhythm to allow the viewer to experience what looking feels like and I find this a really interesting concept.

Bridget, largely acclaimed for her black and white paintings, also draws/paints with colour.  She explains "You can never see colour by itself, it is always affected by other colour."  Though the colour projects were large and perhaps more complex, I don't feel that they allowed me to experience the movement in the same way as the black and white pieces.  Of the eight there was perhaps only one colour canvas that did have this affect on me, but even still, I did not enjoy it.  I think I prefer the subtlety as they are already quite intense compositions.

'Ecclesia' 1985

'Movement In Squares' 1961

A piece that she credits as her breakthrough into abstraction.

The fact that a painting has the ability to sway our

optics in such a way is intriguing and cleverly demonstrates

just how precise the human eye is.

Of the larger scaler pieces this was my favourite.

Bridget Riley in her studio, 1983.

Bridget Riley in her studio, 1983

Cath Kidston

After visiting two exhibitions we went for a sneaky shop in the centre.  I got me a lovely Cath Kidston bag from her cute little shop in Liverpool... I love her designs, I could have bought them all, but I was very good (unlike when in Topshop).

The Liverpool Cityscape, 2008.

Yesterday part of the D&AD crew visited the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.  Each time I visit I love to look at the Cityscape - by Ben Johnson.  The detail in this painting, is utterly incredible!  I can appreciate that there must have been so much work put into the production.  Each building was drawn on computer, broken down into individual stencils which were then applied to canvas using acrylic.  It took over three years to complete, and in preparation to this Johnson visited Liverpool to observe viewpoints and architecture, make drawings and take photographs... over 3000 to be exact!  The picture I took above doesn't really do it justice, so I've cropped and zoomed a section just to show the detail captured.  I also found some interesting images of the making of the piece on good old google... so have a gander below...

Road signs, traffic lights and brick work finely detailed.  

" "

Yesterday I stopped by a closed down car garage and took this picture.  I only got one before I was told I had to get off of Private Property! Oops!  It is fair to say that I pass by this place most days and it has always gone unnoticed.  I love it when a brief opens your eyes to something in a new or different way.  With Tuesdays lecture in mind, passing this reminded me of the images Mack showed of the advertising ban in South America.  I also thought about Clinton's image of the dead neon sign.  It resonates the absent message that used to illuminate this space and makes me think of how things can lose their ability to communicate and how they therefore become 'silent.'

'Silence.'

Today we got the first of our third year briefs:

You are investigating 'Silence' a key semiotic conduit and vehicle for the communication of emotion, atmosphere and metaphor and allegory - the silent pause, the empty space, the open space for the audience to 'reflect' and project into - You are analysing the psychology of pursuasion.

Initially I thought 'Silence' was challenging as we are being asked to answer some profound questions in a very lateral manner, but I think it will turn out to be an interesting project.  Each tutor spoke about their own interpretation of 'Silence' - some were ideas and visuals that I had thought about last night when I had seen the brief posted, others inspired and opened my mind to the potential of the project and a broader contextual horizon.  This lecture directly explained what is expected of us and gave us inspiration from the word go.  Hopefully this has saved much time umming and ahhing... and procrastinating!  It helped to kick start the project, providing me with ideas of what I am expected to collect and collate for the first tutorial next week.  I really like that the format is totally open, so I finally have chance to experiment on finding a visual style that suits me.  

Edward Hopper

Hopper's work narrates habitats and inner and outer space.  The images have a stillness that keeps the viewer waiting, as if it should be a still from a film that will continue after the captured image has been absorbed.

Rachel Whiteread

A cast house sculpture from unoccupied and empty or lost space -

Created as the terraces were knocked down.

Turner Prize Winner 1993.

Peter Saville

Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division

This image was created from the pulses of a dying star.  I really like the simplicity in the aesthetic.  The black space around the fine image uses space to emphasise a silence.  Interestingly, the back sleeve of the album featured no track listings and 'Side One' and 'Side Two' of the record were refered to as 'Outside' and 'Inside.'

Saville and Whiteread were two of Mack's examples that made me think of silence as a space rather than in the obvious terms of sound, whilst Hopper's work (above) and images shown by Clinton and Liz also made me think of it in terms of a frozen moment or an object removed of its purpose.

"Go find something that makes you silent"

I loved that Sue put the idea out there for us to think about how society can sometimes feel "nervous" about silence.  This made me think about situations where you shouldn't be alone, and about finding something that does indeed make us silent.  Her images of shadows were interesting too.  These will probably be things that influence my starting points, and I also want to look further into Hitch's text and zen like interpretations.

Touchstones Gallery, Rochdale.

Today we ventured out to Rochdale for a little exhibition called "Shop."  (See Sat.19th post).  This was a nostalgic look at the commercial success of the Rochdale borough between 1900 and 1950, with reproductions of displays to reflect the social history.  It featured the local Post Office, Grocers and Cobblers as well as the Clothes, Sweets and Toy shops,  all packed with visual history.  

The most interesting part of the exhibition for me was the old packaging styles and I would like this to be something that influences my design style, moving away from the digital aspects and more towards hand drawn illustrations/collages.  It has been a while since I have done anything like that so it might be a challenge but this exhibition made me realise I want to give it a go.  I adore ephemera and the museum part of this centre also displayed a variety of old packages and posters, and objects such as televisions and cameras throughout the ages.

Notably it was interactive - but Kirsty and I learnt never to 'lift and sniff' - esp. when it comes to the old style toilets.  Let that be a warning to you. 

We plan to go back to another exhibition there that starts in January, featuring the work of Julie Arkell.  Her paper 'Creatures' look so cute!

And when we go -

 Gemma - I insist you buy that gorgeous 'I ♥ Rochdale' bag.

You know you want it.

Nazario Graziano.

I can't for the life of me remember how I came across the work of Nazario Grazino, but I really love his illustrative style.  His portfolio also consists of art direction, graphic design and editorial pieces.  The colour tones, layers, text and hand drawn elements work together to create these unique pieces, I think they are gorgeous and really interesting!

http://nazariograziano.com/

Rollerball (1975)

Ahead of the lecture with Johnny Hardstaff, I've been looking into the film Rollerball (1975).  When I did the Kino4 project, I only designed the logo and therefor feel I haven't become too familiar with any given film, if any of them at all.  So I thought I would have a go at designing the poster to this film as an extension of the Kino4 brief.  It also might be a chance to become familiar with the film before the lecture as it will most probably go straight over this head of mine.

I actually quite like the existing posters for this film, esp. the copy on them and the way that the third one uses it to present the title.  I've been looking at these, and a plot summary... there isn't much time so lets just see how far I get with it!

I also had a look at Johnny's website and showreel... I really like the LG 'Power' ad on this page...

http://www.rsafilms.com/d/rsa/companies/rsa-uk/85

"Shop"

This caught my eye in the paper today... i'mma onto it!

Car Booty.

Up bright and early last sunday morning... it is fair to say that there are rarely ever two seven o' clocks in my day!  I ventured out into Hope with the grandparents for a car boot.  I was hoping to find some lovely old books but despite the lack of these, I found some old dress patterns and some stamps.  Hopefully they will come in use for something, if not, I'm a champ hoarder and they can happily collect dust with all the other  pieces of 'junk' in my room.  Lovely.