The significant guest speakers who have related to my own creative background are William Bardebes and Carsten Kudra, these two speakers each have different areas of interest, all three of these speakers practice in a creative area which I am interested in and the three different practices which were discussed about that relates to my creative practice is graphic design and film making. both of these practices are used in many different contexts and identifying how they use it in their own practice is important, as I think this will help me find a path to where I want to take my creative practice.
William Bardebes is a guest speaker who is a graphic designer. Bardebes is focused more on engaging his viewers with his work as he says that ” a successful graphic designer is someone who understands other story worlds and telling stories”, he believes that graphic design isn’t just a tool to tell produces and that there is more to it. Bardebes uses meaningful signs and symbols to communicate with his viewer’s, his inspiration and ideas of using graphic design as a communication tool came from being raised around watching news on the television about the Viet Nam war which included text and imagery. He also mentions how typography is important with communicating with viewers and should be practice a lot with, an example was given” fines are necessary for those street signs that are thoroughly confusing”. Bardebes context has impact on me because graphic design is one of the practices I’m interested in, I admire how he uses graphic design to communicate with his viewers, as I think it is important to use graphic design in a way which is not creating meaningless symbols, signs or text and as graphic design is widely seen and used around us we should consider not just having the main focused of graphic design for advertisement’s but as a tool to give a message to the viewers. From what was said I consider taking that away with me and betraying it in my own creative practice.
Carsten Kudra is another guest speaker who has a creative practice I am interested in. Kudra’s creative practice is based on the filming area, and he works on editing films. Kurdra uses editing to create a message in films to his viewers, he is interested in the genre of ‘alternative realities’ and this idea came to him from the influence of being born in a communist country which is East Germany and the changers happening there as he was growing up, he also read a lot and watched a lot of film’s growing up which has influence him to be interested in film making. Some areas Kudra has worked in are investigative journalism and documentary, he is currently a freelancing editor which has gave him the option of working some big companies and film directors like Vincent Ward. Kurdra is also interested in script writing his passion for this came from his personal hobby for Dungeons and Dragons as this requires him to write a scrip to create puzzles from the other players with his imagination. Kudra’s narrative impacted me because I have an interest of editing films in my creative practice, I find that using films to send a message is one of the best ways to give a big impact to your audience as it works with visuals, imagery and a story which makes your viewer feel a part of the film itself and here editing is important because every detail in the film is part of the message that is given for example sound effects lighting or the music and so I will consider that working with editing the film well is important as it has a big influence on the story or message.
As for my own creative DNA and what i’m influenced from comes from three areas from my life, the first is hobbies growing up, my history of reading books and also my love for music. Growing up I didn’t have much to do and most of the time I was bored at someones home who would be looking after me as my parents were working, which lead to me using pens and paper as a way to spare time and later on as I grew up I found out drawing was one of the things I was best at, as I started getting older I got the chance to go into different areas in art including photography, painting and others and these became my favourite subjects and also my best subjects as I would always find myself not enjoying other subjects and also not very good at them too. The second area in my life that impacts my creative DNA is my love for reading, this was were I got all my ideas from when I was about to draw if i had no ideas, because my imagination was very vivid I found it very interesting to create what the characters or settings looked in from the words in the book as they are very descriptive and this also brings me to my interest in film making because this allows me to put what I visualise to images. Lastly music was another big part of influencing me to my creative DNA as growing up I was surround in a area with music playing from peoples backyard everyday, I would close my eyes and visualise a surrounding based on the songs played because the area I lived in wasn’t the nicest I would use the music and my imagination to capture a different setting of location and this brings my interest to photography to use a device to capture images that contain images that don’t show a meaning but can be what ever we want depending on what you see.
overall both guest speakers William Bardebes and Carsten Kudra work in different practices in the creative field however they both have the intention to use their practices to send a message to their viewers, both their pracitces graphic design and flim making are a interest to me as it is something I would like to get into for my own creative practice and also using the idea of using your work or creations to send a message or a story to your viewers so my work as a meaning.
Figure1. Schmerz. (Monet,2014).
I View the process of painting as an extraordinarily form of discovering the world”( Alison M and Gingeras 98). Neo Rauch is a painter from German, who paints surrealism and figurative imagery, his work has an interesting content however I found his piece “Schmerz” some how not that gripping as his other works because of the colours, subjects, and the texture.
Rauchs canvas painting “Schmerz” was produced in 2004 and where the painting was produced is unknown, the materials used is oil paint, is 106.33 x 82.66 itches, 270cm x 210 cm (Picitify), the themes going through out this piece is surrealism (Zwirner). This painting has a theme of surrealism, the reason for Rauchs painting to have a surrealism theme is because his paintings are based of dreams he has about his childhood memories (Volk). Surrealism was a very big movement in art, this started out from the Dada movement in 1924 and this was during ” rebellion against middle class complacency”(The art story), this is a theme used in art linked to artist and their dreams and emotions.The colours on the piece look very dull, the colours in this painting is one of the reasons why I dislike this piece, as we can see Rauch uses neutral colours in his paintings, however it makes his painting look very emotionless and dull other piece of his work that gives off the same look is ” Haus Des Lehres” and the mood on this piece is known to be gloomy as the colours used are quite dark and it has a lot of shadows and a hint of light (Neue Rollen 31).
The subjects in Rauchs painting ” Schmerz” are painted in a way that makes the subjects look flat, this is not very appealing to me because it almost makes the painting look like a paper collage but however he says he does this for the viewers to notice the space in the painting ” Flat graphic style to a vivid realisation of space” (Neue Rollin 9). Again the subjects used in his paintings are also linked to his dreams and past experiences as well as the themes in his paintings “Surroundings, exposing the inner layers of an experience that had always been there” (Hate Cantz Shattered Units), the subjects in his piece “Schmerz” have subjects that are related to the military, this is because Rauch has a history with the military service (Zwirner),all his subjects or objects in his paintings are from personal experiences. Rauchs subjects in this painting are all placed in different scales to look abstract, Rauch does this in all of his paintings to challenge his viewers “Pantings the way I would have theme are in positions to lead viewers off at the path of a right angle” (Alison M and Gingeras 99).
Another reason why Rauchs painting “Schmerz” is not pleasing to me is because of the texture of this piece. Rauch uses oil paint in his paintings however in this piece he makes the texture of the paint look like acrylic paint. The piece “Schmerz has different images laid on top of each other along with smudges of paint in his work bringing different textures, this makes it difficult to focus on the painting as a whole another example of this is his piece ” Hinter dem Schilfgurtel, 2004″. Rauch isn’t really self aware of what he’s painting when he is working on his pieces as he says ” when I stand in front of a blank canvas, its if I’m standing in front of a wall of fog”( Alison M and Gingeras 99), this creates quite a messy texture in his paintings, his piece “Schmerz” also has a messy texture and because of this I think this makes the painting look hurried.
Figure2. Hinter dem Schilgurtel (Cantz, 2004, p.11).
“I View the process of painting as an extraordinarily form of discovering the world” ( Alison M and Gingeras 98). Rauch not only discovers the world in his paintings but also more about himself as most of his paintings are based of personal experiences, his piece “Schmerz” may not be the most pleasing piece of painting to me but all his paintings have a greater meaning behind it.
References
Figure 1
Monet, C. (2014). Schmerz. Retrieved from https://thngs.co/things/860
Alison m, Gingeras and Centre Georgers Pompidou. Dear Painter Painter Me. Paris: Centre Pompidou, 2002. Print.
Author Unknown. “Schemer by Neo Rauch, 2004”. Pictify. n.d.
Zwirner, David. “Biography”. David Zwimer. n.d. web.
Volk, Gregory. “Neu Rauch”. Art in America. 01. Jun. 2010. web.
Author Unknown. “Surrealism”. The Art Story”. n.d. web.
Neue Rollen. Neo Rauch. Germany: Dumont Literature and Kunst Verlag, 2006. Print.
Hatje Lantz. Neo Rauch Arbeiten auf Papier Works on Paper 2003 – 2004. Deutschland: Albertina, 2004. Print.
Figure2
Cantz, H.V (2004). Neo Rauch Arbeiten auf Papier works on Paper 2005. Alberten.
figure 1. Harper’s Bazaar, April 1965 ( The Richards Avedon Foundation, n.d)
“His style reverberates through the work of contemporary photographers such as Steven Meisel and David Sims” ( Design and Reed 54). Jean Shrimpton In Harper’s Bazaar Space Age, April 1965 by Richard Avedon intrigued me because it gave off a vintage look, associated with fashion and also it had a surrealism theme.
The texture of this image looks vintage, this was one of the reasons why I found the image interesting , Avedon uses the materials such as umbrellas, beauty dishes and elinchrom strobes in this photography and he also used a Rolleiflex camera for this shot as it is the camera he uses to shoot portrait images (Buffalo), as seen from the picture artificial light is used and focused on the subjects face and I say this because the lighting looks unnatural, the space where this picture was taken was indoors and for the background a backdropped was used and this method is suitable for this shot because another background had to be edited behind the subject and this image was shot in the 60’s , there for it looks vintage. Avedon got asked to shoot for the April issues magazine for Harper’s Bazaar, they requested him to set a trend by using his photography and fashion for the 60’s ( Shadbolt) and the other themes that were in this magazine was Pop, Rock and Youth because it was suppose to aim towards the youth (PaperPursuits).
Avedon associates most of his work with fashion as he is a fashion photographer, Avedon started photographing fashion at young age because he found interest in his parents clothing store, he showed his interest by taking pictures of the clothes (Biography). Avedon shot Jean Shrimpton in a space suit because in the 1960s space fashion was the trend, the idea behind the image was for a influential female to represent in the space suit to show a trend for space fashion, and also the idea of a female astronaut as this was never seen before ” Jean Shrimpton space girl represented of the face of youth culture” (Shadbolt). The ideas behind the image was achieved by using a real space suit in the shoot, this was borrowed from NASA (Shadbolt), the reaction of this image and the magazine as a whole was that it became the most influential fashion magazines in the 60’s ” one of the most memorable fashion issues of the 1960’s ” (Shadbolt), I think the reason why this issue was so successful was because it achieved what trends the viewer’s in the 60’s were looking for and also having the right photographer to shot the trends, with the right subject to influence the audience.
The shoot for Jean Shrimpton In Harper’s Bazaar Space Age had a surrealism look as I viewed it, I think it was because of the artificial lighting which gave Jean Shrimpton’s face a flat look, this also made her look doll like this had caught my eyes and for that reason I find the image interesting. Avedon pass history of taking portraits started in 1942 and went on for two years until 1944, during these two years he was working as a photographer for Marchant Marine ,taking pictures of sailors (Biography) and I think that Avedon was chosen to shot for the April issue because of his talent with portraits and fashion photography.
In conclusion Jean Shrimpton In Harper’s Bazaar Space Age, April 1965 by Richard Avedon was a piece that had great 60’s fashion influence and also influences of the youth. I choose this piece because of the vintage theme , I think this gives off an asesthetic, association with fashion and this caught my interest because of the space suit used to represent space age fashion and the surrealism look in the image caught my eyes because it made the subject looked lifeless in a way.
References
Design, Museum and Paula Reed. Fifty Fashion Looks That Changed The 1960s. London : Octopus Publishing Group, 2012. Print.
Buffalo, Bob “what Camera did Richard use”? . Who use what camera. Web. 7 Sept . 2014.
Shadbolt, Paul. “What can be more sixties than Jean Shrimpton In a pink space helmet on the cover of Harpers Bazaar”. Foundation Design. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
Paper pursuits. ” Harper’s Bazaar April 1965 “. Blogspot . Web. 12 Nov. 2009.
“Author Unknown”. “Richard Avedon”. Biography. Web. 5 May. 2017.
Hayn, Cathy. ” How Avedon Blurred his own image “. The New York Times. Web. 13 May. 2009.
The Richard Avedon Foundation (d.n) Harpers Bazaar, April 1965. Retrieved from https://www.avedonfoundation.org/harpers-bazaar-april-1965/
Weenier Larm.
I admire Josef Muller Brockmann’s piece ” Weenier Larm” because of the contrast, text and space.
Josef Muller Blockmann’s Weenier Lärm graphic design piece eye gripping piece to me because of the contrast with the black and white working around the fonts in colour bring out the word ” Weniger Larm”, the black and white filter used for the subject brings out the fine lines, showing detail in his face expression. I find the black and white contrast gives off a effect of making the face the focal point because everything around it is darker.
another reason why I admire this piece is the placing of the text looks like it’s almost working with the subjects emotions to show the text screaming out of the subjects thoughts in a way, the overlaying of the text gives the piece a playful look and yet simple. The subject placed in a certain angle makes me think about what position the subject was placed in before the photo was taken and the way he was placed his arms almost looks like a way to full up the frame.
I admire how the artist is working with space around the subject. The white space around the subject tones down the detail because of the texture of the subject from the black and white filter, giving the the work a soft look overall although it has a harsh look because of the texture. The white space also evens out the amount the black there is on the lower part of the image and the features around the subject and I think that works really well because of the red in the text, giving a fair amount of each contrast.
Overall I think the contrast, text and space around the image work really well together.
Teresia Taiwan’s blog post “I was once seduce by Disney but no longer”,a topic on the film Moana. I admire how she has talked about disney’s misconception on the movie Moana. Because majority of disney films based on a culture has been filmed in a way to show false facts and is very misleading and a lot of disney films give a messages as a result to a lesson but it also comes with false messages from ones culture. culture as a material is also mentioned,I think Disney using culture as a material in their films is a good and bad thing and it is a good thing because of the diversity in Disney films however it can effect a lot of people given that fact of the false or wrong facts in the movies.
Karlo Mila’s blog post ” why Disney Maui is so wrong” another opinion piece on Moana, karlo’s opinion is based of on more of the character looks of Maui and she has talked about how Maui’s character was created inaccurate ” disney serving up a pot – bellied, barrel- chested man- baby, with eyes too close together, pupils perfectly aligned with his widespread nostrils in nice savage symmetry”, I think that karla saying this is a bit of a overrate because in my opinion characters in films are not real people after all however they maybe based of stories of people, the character isn’t a symbol to mock anyone or anything and it is just a cartoon character.
Louisa Afoa’s blog post “Fat maui: how he broke the internet”, this is a opinion piece on Maui(demi god)a character from Moana and society is comparing the character with real life pacific buff celebrities ” comparing Disney’s maui to the Rock and Jason Momoa”. Lousia is against the character looking perfect I acknowledge this because the build of a character shouldn’t have to be based of on having a perfect build because of its roll and here maui’s roll is a demi god, and since this is a children’s movie maui’s character look isn’t so bad,this lowers the chances of children to feel the need to grow up and have a perfect body.
The five key words I have chosen from my mind map are surrounding, music , art, photography and culture. Music is important to me because some songs holds memories, or it inspires in a way to create things and see things visually and also music is a big part of my life because I spend a lot of time around listening to music growing up and I’ve grown a love for music because of that and also helped me become who I am today in a way because of the different category of music I explore. Music has this effect of connecting with people or helping other people connect with one another, I’ve realised that a lot of people that I’ve met are through the interest of music and these are people from over seas sharing their music interest with me or friends close to me. Art is important to me because it makes me who I am I’ve followed my hobby of my interest in art such I was little because growing up there wasn’t much to do and I would draw or create objects with found objects and this bought out the creative side of me and as I started growing up I kept anything to do with art a hobby this has also helped me choose what I pursue what career I want to do in the future which is a graphic designer, my interest in art made me make a choice of leaving school at 16 and starting a art course to pursue my future practice. Photography is significant to me because I use photography to capture objects or anything i glimpse that inspires me, also it is other way how I express my self however I don’t capture important moments in my life through a camera because I think that being present in that moment and just enjoying it this a way of capturing a image using your memory. Lastly culture is important to me, the type of culture that is important to me is lifestyle, when I’m located in a place like the city it inspires me by being surround by different cultures.
Emily Shen 