https://drive.google.com/file/d/101VoWtQMSDBaF1mp7Oyzh15xL7O96788/view?usp=sharing

I have appropriated someone else’s song in order to create my own film. To view the film, click the link above.

I filmed all of the footage for this project before I even decided what I wanted the sound to consist of.  I felt uncomfortable appropriating someone else’s work in my film but due to the approaching deadline I didn’t have much scope for other options. I have also put my own sounds over the top, and cut a few bars out of the middle section of the song to allow the film to be shorter. The fantastic thing about using a pre made song was that I was able to use it as a structure. As my film has no particular narrative, the song was an integral framework for my editing.  In the context of this first film I think it is justified as I don’t intend to use it for commercial purposes. I plan to make another, longer film with more of the footage I didn’t use for this initial one and I will avoid using someone else’s music because apart from the fact that getting copy rights can be a difficult process, I like the idea that the whole thing is my own intellectual property. My view is that I wouldn’t want someone else to use my work and take the creative credit for it, and therefore in this instance I feel uncomfortable doing the same thing to someone else.

 

This installation work involves the idea of human interaction so the ability to be able to touch the artwork is very important as it focuses on textures and sounds to be main interest for the viewer, by scaling up the piece it would create an exhibition that you could walk through and fully immerse your body within the space instead of just having the ability to touch, this would complicate the artwork in the way that you would need to expand the amount of garlands used therefore adding the potential for knots if viewers are walking through the art; along with this the installation would then need to fill an entire room in order for it to look grand and well presented instead of half hearted. Overall I believe that the artwork would be better developed on a larger scale as it would add more of an emotive effect with the higher levels of interaction therefore probably becoming an installation the you would want to return to to be able to get that same sensation.

My blog overall looked at very different areas of art theory such as the development of my own work; contextual artist theory’s and their understandings of certain topics as well as looking at the presentation of artwork and how it can change the effect of the entire image. From this I have specifically learnt how to develop my work further by looking more into the process than the final outcome as well as how the idea of scale can majorly effect the way the viewer sees the final image. Looking into concept, I have learnt about how artists specifically use narration/lack of to make the viewer think more about the ideals behind the artwork.

Colour Schemes,
Gender Stereotypes,
Characterisation,
Stylisation,
Photographic,
Light Imagery,
Subtle

I chose this Wes Anderson image as a reference to my own work because it depicts a large number of the focus points that I am interested in. The initial thing you see is the colour scheme and how they have selected a small number of colours that all flow together with the exception of one that contrasts, I personally am extremely interested in the idea of colour and how it can be used as the main focus of an image. The characterisation within the image shows a single figure sat, I am intrigued with the idea of gender stereotypes and masculinity so the fact that this guy is wearing a pink scarf (a colour commonly associated with girls) relates with my interests. Within a large selection of Wes Anderson’s work the stylisation of the imagery is very similar, something that I like to focus on as I like my work to flow together whether it be with the style or the colour schemes. With the image being a film still it shows how my practice is generally based off real imagery and how an image can be transformed to become a piece of fine art.

 

Tracey Emin’s sculptural piece named “My Bed” was an incredibly controversial outcome nominated for the turner prize in 1999; Emin herself describes the work as a self portrait of a low point in her life so she is developing and changing the idea of what a classic portrait could become. The level of theory that I would like to look at within this piece is the idea of the artist herself being the art. She is producing an outcome that could work towards the feminist movement; this artwork battles the societal norms of how a woman should behave in a performance art style as even when Emin is talking about her work she is still keeping up the similar standards of being a “bad girl” and someone who wouldn’t particularly want to follow the rules.
Taking this theory further, you could say that artwork is as much of a performance piece for the artist as whatever they produce will be scrutinised in a way that is effected by how they put themselves across within the art world.

Here you can see a woman in the back of a car with a man’s arm around her shoulders. She looks away from him, her expression is sombre. There is a large gap between the two of them and the man’s face and body is cropped out of the frame. The distance between the two figures appears to be not only physical but there’s also a great emotional distancing. This photograph is one of a series called ‘Parts’, in which Lee has photos of herself in different scenarios with different men and in every case the man is cropped out of the photo, apart from a nondescript part of his body, commonly his arm. I feel like Lee might be making a point about the fact that there is always more to a story than what one can see at a glance. Even though this is a photograph, and the nature of it is still and silent, I can imagine that this car journey was almost as silent as the photograph itself. There appears to be some sort of disdain and discomfort coming from Lee towards the man in the car. He desires more intimacy and she does not want to comply. Lee may have made this photo to highlight how many women feel trapped in relationships that aren’t good for them. There’s no obvious evidence that he has physically abused her but the distant look in her eyes looks like she could be close to tears. There is not any amount of affection left for him. It doesn’t seem like a temporary argument, this photo seems to represent a long term scenario. The way Lee has used the technique of cropping a larger image effectively visually emphasises the sense of unease and discomfort.

Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: https://nmwa.org/blog/2013/11/01/fluid-identities-the-parts-and-projects-of-nikki-lee/ [Accessed 6 Dec. 2017].

Tonkonow.com. (2017). Nikki S. Lee. [online] Available at: http://www.tonkonow.com/lee_parts.html [Accessed 6 Dec. 2017].

Chicago Board of Trade || 1999
The above photograph depicts Chicago board of trade in the form of  a repeated and superimposed  photograph which I viewed in Tate Liverpool. The scale of this work is 1574 x 2840 mm which is important as it gives the viewer more opportunity to understand what is going on in the work.
So if I was to scale this down it would alter the way it would then be viewed by the public and become a form of distortion in order to cause confusion. Perhaps complication of the artwork would make the viewer more intrigued about the concept and add to the already disruptive nature.

Research and Communication Skills has given me the opportunity to gain new skills that have influenced my practice outside of this module. Appropriation in particular was not a term that I had  come across, I didn’t realise it was a way that some artists liked to work. I found this to be a valuable task as it taught me about a different way of working that I hadn’t previously considered. Another task I engaged with was a choice of different artworks to analyse, I chose Nikki. S. Lee Part 14 2002 it inspired me to look at photography within my own work and that it could be used as a sole way of working and showed me how much could be read by the viewer from cleverly composed photograph.
In my opinion the two stated tasks made more of an impact on me than others such as task 7 which I found quite challenging to understand. However it taught me that perhaps I need to improve my knowledge of the English language to allow me to progress further in my practice.

EMOTION LOVE EXPOSURE WOMEN APPEARANCE EXPRESSION POSSESSION CONFUSION VULNERABLITY JUDGEMENT
I believe it is my most recent piece that best embodies my way of working at this time and the words chosen reflect the issues I am currently addressing in my practice. I like to combine paint and other mediums such as charcoal and in this particular work, I have done so in an expressive way to enable me to release my emotions in relation to the words above. With the use of a self portrait in the form of a photograph as reference I worked on an exposing scale which allows me to be free and focus less on the appearance or the idea of perfection.
I liken my practice to an explorer, traveling on a journey to expand my vision, I choose not to limit my work to a particular medium such as paint, using whatever I deem to be appropriate to create the desired appearance. At this moment in time, I am motivated by issues in relation to feminism, using it to reflect my own negative experiences as a woman.

My blogs has covered a wide range of art research skills in the beginning it had ushered in a new emphasis of thinking around the process rather than product and seeing my art works as an open-ended piece specifically in the earlier tasks. It was challenging but these opened a new direction of development of my own practice and to think outside what I already know about art. It helped me refine my analytical and critical thinking skills through ways of seeing art in real life and apply different theories both old and new to art works. It has also encouraged me to create more experimental art beyond a traditional canvas exploring different materials with mixed media, creating art that doesn’t entirely reflect on my usual mode of practice which is etching. Painting is one of my weaker skills, yet the tasks have encouraged me to not concern myself with the outcomes and see my paintings as works in progress which is clearly seen in task 10 when I had photographed an old watercolour paint and processed it through different filters. This gave a whole new nature to the piece that iv always thought was finished. I have more confidence in assimilating another piece of work into my own pieces and in fact it has helped me create more fascinating works from it. The hardest task for me was task 7 where I struggled to interpret the ideas the authors were discussing as it was hard for me to filter the main arguments and conclusions though I learnt a lot about the impact of picture planes and the risks that come with creating sight specific art. Overall I have definitely found it a difficult and confusing at times but I have learned some useful skills and ways of thinking that I has aided me in my art practice and made me more open minded in general when it comes creating art.