The concept I went with for Assignment 1 – Lines, was Preconceptions

Though some form I wanted to either challenge the viewer’s and/or my own preconceptions.

I set them into two groups, with one side with more experimental methods, and the other with a more conventional line based approach.

Final Lines

Final Lines

 

Left

Left

  • Anxiety
    • I wanted to show the disruptive nature of anxiety in the lives of people who have anxiety disorders. I also wanted to show the constant battle between the two sides with a bit of ambiguity as to which side was considered the positive/negative space.
  • Ambiguous
    • I was hit by sudden inspiration to replicate (to some degree) the look of a Rorschach/Ink Blot test. Tried to keep a balance between the black lines and white lines and not make one obviously dominant over the other
  • Distracted
    • I have a tendency to jump between ideas and tasks easily and I wanted to convey this by stitching together snippets of the various ideas I had through this assignment
  • Psychotic
    • Wanted a very jagged aggressive look and wrote the word PSYCHO in a very angular manner, I also had a light spatter of paint on it. I also used the light splatter of paint in other lines as a recurring motif of frustration.
  • Systematic
    • My first thoughts were that systematic had to be rigid and very line-based, contrary to that, I’ve managed to get an organic yet systematic look from a surprising source, a cotton bud dipped in Chinese ink.
  • Aggressive
    • To get an aggressive look, I frayed the end of a chopstick and dipped it in ink, pretty much stabbed the paper a bunch of times after that. Slashed about (wanted to cut the paper up too, but didn’t) then I finished it off with a bit of the splatter motif.
  • Exhausted
    • There’s a very faint line that drops down at the start and lingers about the lower edge of the page with the occasional attempt to get back up again. With exhaustion comes dulled senses and feeling slightly broken. I tried to convey that with a hazy look as well as some fragments of crushed charcoal. There is also a little of the splatter motif, from the frustration of wanting to have energy again.
  • Embarrassed
    • When embarrassed, I’d want to hide away somewhere and so these are faint circles with a slightly darker central point to show the source of the embarrassment radiating out. They’re also spaced out wanting to isolate themselves and fade away.
  • Indecisive
    • Going with a little of the technique of automatism, I sort of let my hand “walk” and wander about unable to simply walk to the other end. I also twisted the medium to change it’s width and look to further incorporate the indecisive mood.
Right

Right

  • Sloven
    • I decided to show sloven though the perspective of a messy person’s house, from the top-down view. The ends of the lines fading into unkept, crusty darkness and only a tiny bit of clear space right in the middle, for new trash to accumulate and get shoved aside.
  • Bizarre
    • Ran though a couple of concepts for bizarre, but nothing seemed to feel “bizarre” enough. Had a sudden idea of the eyes of the snake in The Jungle Book. His eyes would take on a repeating pattern of circles expanding in order to hypnotize anyone or anything. I thought that it seemed pretty bizarre, tried out a pattern for it, and quite liked it.
  • Turbulent
    • I was inspired by stylized “flat” explosions and representations of wind from a couple of games (Dustforce, Gigantic, Battleborn). Quite quickly found a nice mix of gusts of wind + leaves fluttering about.
  • Spontaneous
    • I tried to stylize fireworks, but I felt like the downward strokes felt a bit “off”. So I tried to keep them very upward with a light and bouncy feel to them. Didn’t want to crowd it up either, and so kept them quite spaced out. The squiggly links also helped convey a lively feel.
  • Fragile
    • I’m quite constantly aware of my mortality and how delicate life can be. This made me decide to convey fragile with the last moments of a beating heart.
  • Lyrical
    • I really like the shifting tones of the lead singer of Purity Ring. My approach for this line, was to listen to the song “Lofticries” and draw the line along as the song progressed. I also used various little quips to depict the layers and dynamics of the song.
  • Sensual
    • To be honest, sensual was rather difficult for me to do, as I didn’t want to show anything overtly body-like nor did I want to go to a slightly more sexual visual. First things that came to my mind were, lips, and other contours of the body and for the final piece I did a mash of the parts in an ambiguous manner, and it was up to the viewer to decide of the aspects.
  • Nonsensical
    • Went with squiggly lines on this one, except I gave myself a nonsensical rule (contrary to nonsense being thought of as without rules). Each line much loop at least once, but never intersect with another line.
  • Awkward
    • This was a quite a tough one. It felt like such a difficult aspect to convey, nothing seemed to fit the mood, which was rather ironic to some degree. I figured awkward has some element of being disruptive. I took that idea and used it to intersect a flowing pattern, thus cutting it at an ‘awkward’ point and disrupting the flow.

I also placed these lines in a particular order, I felt that there’s either a rhythm to the visual order or a story to tell. For example, from Aggressive to Embarrassed, I depicted my emotions when I get angry and it usually is in that order. As for the rhythms, it’s more of a subjective thing. I felt like each line had a certain ‘weight’ to them, and I wanted to have the viewer feel these shifts that range from slightly abrupt, to a smooth comedown. Sort of like how a well planned meal or song, have notes and moments that lift, and then sets you down to a nice finish.

The following images are some of the W.I.P pictures I took along the way

VISUAL JOURNAL

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RESEARCH

Making a visual journal was a very new experience for me. I wasn’t sure to approach it from a “academic” point of view or more towards the concept of what I thought a visual journal would be (though, they could totally be one and the same, personal and presented academically). I tried to do both, but having a tendency to think more in vibes/feelings, phrasing some of my thoughts out comes in the form of sparse/sporadic words. Looking at my classmates rather systematic and seemingly analytical journals made me wonder and worry that I was on the wrong side of the fence. However, in seeing my self-critique, my lecturer, Joy, suggested “letting go” (more on this later).

223-franz-kline-011Prior to the assignment, we were asked to research on some artists. I chose Franz Kline as his artwork was the sort of Abstract art I grew up disliking cause I didn’t understand why it was so highly prized. For me, understanding the mindset and thoughts of the artist, helps me understand their artwork, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Delving into his work, has really opened my eyes. I used to think that majority of abstract art (*koff koff* Jackson Pollock) was just a lot of faffing about but in learning about Franz Kline’s approach to his art, I’ve gained a whole new perspective of abstract art. He put a great deal of conceptualization into a piece before he put brush to canvas. I also learnt that the white sections were painted as well, helping shift the white spaces in to having as much importance as the black portions.

Similarly, I’ve felt the need for conceptualization before starting on my own abstract representations in this assignment. As to “letting go”, being overly picky of what I’ve drafted had the tendency to limit what comes out. In trying different methods, for example, the mind-map, suggested by Joy, helped me further conceptualize ideas by letting my mind roam about linked phrases or concepts.

“Letting go” was a way to stop being so heavy on the self-critique. It also helped me get into more free-form exploration in ways that I hadn’t tried before. I enjoyed the way ideas sprang from this approach. I did struggle at first though, with the technique feeling ‘out of my control’ at times, I sometimes felt like I hadn’t put enough effort into the final product and sometimes felt disconnected from the artwork. Thankfully, I think I managed to find a balance that felt natural to me and it carried on quite well from that point.

I felt that preface was necessary before looking into my visual journal as I’d hope it’ll help the viewer understand a bit of my mindset whilst doing this (like what I needed to understand abstract art), especially since my words are rather few and far between in there.

I’m considering to use Jack and Jill for my poem,

Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down,
And broke his crown;
And Jill came tumbling after.

The poem apparently refers to King Louis XVI, and his Queen, Marie Antoinette.

He, “Jack” was beheaded (broke his crown) first, then she, “Jill”  came tumbling after.

I’m sorta still trying to go for the sinister undertones vibe, but in looking for an olde english poem, I’ve found that a lot of them do have this element.

eg.

It’s raining, it’s pouring
The old man is snoring
He went to bed and he bumped his head
And couldn’t get up in the morning

(Contemplating using this one too)

Trials/Testing for the squares.

The first one is a more literal attempt at visually representing the poem whereas the second one is aiming to be more abstract.

Trial 1Trial 2 - Abstract

I’m not a fan of the white background. So in the second one, i tried using one of the wingdings with 6% opacity to add some texture to the background.

I think it helps quite a bit.

The “literal” representation has some bits here and there to signify some real-life aspects of the poem. eg. the king, the eyes on the hill

I’m trying to mash the parts I like about both together at the moment.

—————

Tried something new, with a black background. I seem to end up leaning towards symmetrical designs, it makes me I feel like I should try more asymmetrical layouts subsequently.

Black background brings something interesting, but a much gloomier vibe. I quite like the look though. Also tried playing with negative space to create some forms.

Perhaps for a resonant point, I’d switch to a different background to make a stark contrast to the other lines?

Trial 3 - Abstract BLACK

Rhymes Research

 

 -Dadaism – 

Dada or Dadaism was born as a response to World War 1 and it’s perceived causes. Influenced by a couple of movements such as Cubism and Constructivism, Dada is known to be difficult to define and is debated between the Dadaists themselves. Visually, Dada is often, but not limited to, an amalgamation of objects or visuals achieved through ‘photomontages’ (images),
‘assemblage’ (everyday objects, more 3-dimentional), and collage (flatter objects, eg. tickets, maps and wrappers). The mindset behind Dadaism, was against the conforming and unquestioning behavior of society as well as the corruption and nationalization prevalent at the time.

Interestingly enough, Dadaism, in trying to be so counter-culture or anti-art, some Dadaists’ themselves are heard saying,

“Dada is anti-Dada”

Dadaism

Examples of Dadaist Art, “Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany” + “Fountain”

These days, the classification of Dada still seems to pop up, living on in similar mindsets of the more unconventional individuals. One of my favorite bands was considered to originate as a ‘Dadaist Thrash Punk’ group, which I found pretty interesting, the aspect of music being classified as Dada.

 

– Constructivism –

Probably one of the most recognizable art styles to come out of Russia, Constructivism was an Art and Architectural movement that appeared around the year 1919. Similar to Dadaism, it came about because of World War 1. Their aims were to break the autonomy of the art they were surrounded by at the time, they wanted art that would bring stir thoughts of social change or that would serve a social purpose, pushing towards a utopic community.

rodchenko_booksel-lissitzky-red-wedge-1919

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the style of Constructivism came though the artists want to display the properties of materials. With a focus on functionality and “truth to materials”, Constructivism has a very industrial vibe to it. Geometric, bold, bright and striking. The reach and influence of Constructivism is still prevalent today in graphic design and architecture. Most famously, Shepard Fairey, most well known for his Andre the Giant ‘Obey’ graphic, as well as his ‘Hope’ poster of Obama.

shepard_fairey_obey_series_wide

I have always been fond of the visuals of Communist Propaganda posters in their strong, stylized look, and I would hopefully like to see if I can bring some of that vibe into some of my poem squares.

 

– Hannah Höch –

HannahHoch

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hannah Höch was a Dadaist artist from Germany. She is known to be one of the people whom photomontage emerged from. Using clippings from mass media (such as magazines and newspapers), Höch, through her art brought up issues about race, gender, and even about the Berlin Dada group themselves.

"Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany”

“Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany”

She preferred metaphorical representations of her message. For example in one of her most famous photomontages, “Cut With the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany”, there’s a small map in the lower right corner, showing the European countries which woman could vote in. I really like, that while at first glance to the uninformed viewer, it would seem to be a mess of figures and objects, she actually had a message and purpose for the pieces. She even stuck a little picture of her face on the corner of the map instead of signing it.

 

 

 

– El Lissitzky –
El Lissitzky

El Lissitzky

El Lissitzky, a Russian multidisciplinarian (artist, photographer, architect, etc.), was a large influence on the Constructivism art movement. He was known to work for the Soviet Union designing propaganda (though not solely).

Proun – The Game

He developed a style with abstract geometric shapes which he called “Proun”. Which happens to be a name of a game. It’s aesthetic and name’s influence now make sense to me.

proun-30-t-1920-oil-on-canvas-500-x-620-mm-private-collection-lissitzky-el-1890-1941

Proun – The Visual Style

Proun had an emphasis on simplifying 3D shapes of various perspectives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

book-cover-for-chad-gadya-by-el-lissitzky-1919

Book cover for Chad Gadya by El Lissitzky

His influence on graphic design is prevalent till today in the way he utilized colour, basic forms and text. I personally am fascinated by the way these objects, arranged purposefully can bring about a certain vibe to the image.

 

 

 

 

– My Rhyme –

I’m still deciding between an Edward Gorey series of poems or a H.P Lovecraft poem.

6rhjtc tumblr_n4av1sJdZm1s1vn29o2_500tumblr_n0723fF3df1rtj3g0o1_500

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are just a few examples of some Edward Gorey poems. I like them cause they’re kinda humorous and seem child-like in their presentation whilst having more sinister undertones that I could possibly play around with in the assignment.

 

 

 

 

 

H.P Lovecraft poems:

Yule Horror

There is snow on the ground,
And the valleys are cold,
And a midnight profound
Blackly squats o’er the wold;
But a light on the hilltops half-seen hints of feastings un-hallowed and old.

There is death in the clouds,
There is fear in the night,
For the dead in their shrouds
Hail the sin’s turning flight.
And chant wild in the woods as they dance round a Yule- altar fungous and white.

To no gale of Earth’s kind
Sways the forest of oak,
Where the sick boughs entwined
By mad mistletoes choke,
For these pow’rs are the pow’rs of the dark, from the graves of the lost Druid-folk.

 

Hallowe’en in a Suburb

The steeples are white in the wild moonlight,
And the trees have a silver glare;
Past the chimneys high see the vampires fly,
And the harpies of upper air,
That flutter and laugh and stare.

For the village dead to the moon outspread
Never shone in the sunset’s gleam,
But grew out of the deep that the dead years keep
Where the rivers of madness stream
Down the gulfs to a pit of dream.

A chill wind blows through the rows of sheaves
In the meadows that shimmer pale,
And comes to twine where the headstones shine
And the ghouls of the churchyard wail
For harvests that fly and fail.

Not a breath of the strange grey gods of change
That tore from the past its own
Can quicken this hour, when a spectral power
Spreads sleep o’er the cosmic throne,
And looses the vast unknown.

So here again stretch the vale and plain
That moons long-forgotten saw,
And the dead leap gay in the pallid ray,
Sprung out of the tomb’s black maw
To shake all the world with awe.

And all that the morn shall greet forlorn,
The ugliness and the pest
Of rows where thick rise the stones and brick,
Shall some day be with the rest,
And brood with the shades unblest.

Then wild in the dark let the lemurs bark,
And the leprous spires ascend;
For new and old alike in the fold
Of horror and death are penned,
For the hounds of Time to rend.

I chose these Lovecraft poems cause I like because they conjure up a dark atmosphere in the mind of the reader, and it’s potency for imagery is what draws me to them.

I’m not sure which one would be better for the assignments purposes, one with more descriptive imagery or one with a series of simple short poems. Both of which I feel I could play around with various aspects.

Dadaism and Constructivism, along with the two aforementioned artists, have stirred up some ideas in my mind to dabble with purposeful placements to invoke stronger reactions to the images, as well as personal quips I could toss in à-la Hannah Höch. Representations of materials or textures, from Constructivism, could come into use to add depth to the pieces as well.