Essay proposal (rough outline and some thoughts)

Draft thesis/claim : the evolution and rise of Chinese ceramics, especially aesthetics, was to a large extent influenced by other countries

Paragraph 1: introductory information such as uses of early ceramics in native China, brief info about processes involved, importance placed on various types of ceramics (dominant color was black, designs were geometric and simple ones depicting animals or human faces), and from there introduce main thesis. Will also contain basic definition of ceramics and how China is famous for such goods, which acts as a transition to my main argument.

Next few paragraphs will be chronological with events such as opening of trade routes slowly exerting their influence on Chinese ceramics. Point to consider: early ceramics were entirely functional, meant for cooking/storage/carrying water etc and later on became a decorative item/symbol of status/diplomatic gift etc.

I will then compare 2 ceramics found on shipwrecks, either between one used by Chinese crew and one for export OR between one before opening of trade routes/silk road and one after. Assess presence of handles etc to indicate functionality. Chinese began glazing in Shang period, thus more aesthetic options. Early lead glazed wares had figures that were linked to ‘Taoism’ and other native beliefs, later wares had images of other cultures etc.

Porcelain could possibly be a good example as it was only produced in China until the late 18th century due to kaolin existing there, thus if there are signs that porcelains were produced to cater to other cultures it would really strengthen argument.

Sorry for the messy structure but I was just noting down important points to use here while researching. So essentially I plan to argue that even though China is renowned for their ceramics, they owe a large part of their success to other countries.

Looking forward to your comments on my draft.

 

Project 2 initial research (updated 28 Feb)

Reference artist 1: Catherine Kim (the graphic designer)

Screen Shot 2016-02-24 at 4.46.59 pm

Screen Shot 2016-02-24 at 4.47.39 pm

Screen Shot 2016-02-24 at 4.47.18 pm

Screen Shot 2016-02-24 at 4.47.06 pm

Screen Shot 2016-02-24 at 4.46.43 pm

The egg yolk picture was literally the first picture that appeared on my instagram feed as I sat down on the toilet, and I was instantly drawn to Catherine’s ability to  merge 2 different objects (who are related in a certain extent) such as football and chicken wings. She also does this in a clean manner without too much digital manipulation, which really brings out the multiple layers of meaning of objects/their names such as how the word ‘match’ can be used to refer to matchsticks or a tennis match. There is also a creative play on imagery which allows people to see things like the sun in a new light (pun not intended) which is kinda what we’re doing in project 2.

The first word that popped up in my head upon reading the project brief was one I probably came across last semester: detournement. Detournement is a french word that roughly means the ‘reuse of preexisting artistic elements in a new ensemble’ and was coined by the Letterist International, a artist collective based in Paris. The many topics and terminologies involved here are way too complicated but essentially the Letterist dudes were frustrated with the structure of poetry and how rigid it was, and sought to produce a new form of poetry/art simply by used alphabets in its purest form. These are all in a way related to dadaism/surrealism and is essentially a reaction to the perceived limitations/constrains of art at that time.

Long story short, detournement involves more than 1 object that undergoes a process during which their original meaning/importance is lost and a new one created. It makes people think about the original media/piece in a different light.

‘Détournement is thus first of all a negation of the value of the previous organization of expression.’

705535c334c92d14ebb34747eaaaf1c8

iRaq-poster-grn

iraq-poster-yel

cocacola

Reference artist 2: Ilya Kalimulin

weird-brand-products-ilya-kalimulin-1

weird-brand-products-ilya-kalimulin-2

weird-brand-products-ilya-kalimulin-3

weird-brand-products-ilya-kalimulin-5

weird-brand-products-ilya-kalimulin-6

weird-brand-products-ilya-kalimulin-9

http://www.creativebloq.com/illustration/7-alternative-interpretations-love-21619207

very cool article with 7 different interpretations of love.

A shoe from the perspective of a __________ is __________

dog, toy

nose, stench

ground, friction

feet, clothes

olympic swimmer, stupid decision

hypebeast, gun/knife (life lost)

laces, highly unstable

A right hand from the perspective of a __________ is __________

teenage boy, girlfriend

left hander, just a limb

boxer, his income/job

A chinese painting from the perspective of a __________ is __________

Sujatha, visual analysis

african native, nonsense

lion in africa, thin carpet

ink, quicksand

book on chinese painting, another page

An armpit hair from the perspective of a __________ is __________

cotton t-shirt, wet brush

metrosexual, ketchup in coffee (totes EW)

wind, annoying branches

the hair on your head, that retarded cousin who never showers

28 Feb Update

Okay I’ve decided to go with the main subject/theme of chinese paintings.

Why? I want to try something new other than plain old graphic design, it was one of the first books I saw when thinking of ideas in the library and I could really work on my water-based painting skills. Also I think that like many others my age, I’ll admit that I stereotype chinese paintings as being old-fashioned/’cheena’/typical-chinese-new-year decoration or simply not as appealing as Western forms of art and I think it’ll be interesting to challenge that inherent bias.

So currently I plan on using chinese paintings as my main theme and subject them to detournment/interpretation based on artistic styles/genres like abstract expressionism/graphic design/dadaist etc.

However I’m not sure if I should use the chinese painting style to portray things that don’t belong or portray typical chinese painting sceneries with different styles (like pencil, vectors etc)

Questions to ask Joy tomorrow: for the sentence ‘a chinese painting in the POV of an abstract expressionist is _____’ must I have a word for the blank or can I just convey the result with a picture? And also my main concern, which is how do I ensure that the result looks like it is done for a 2d project, rather than one for foundation drawing (more like painting)?

Oh I have a lot of pictures for visual references but OSS’s 3mb upload limit is a real pain in the bass so I’ll just show them tomorrow.

Here are some nice links

http://designtaxi.com/news/357845/Artist-Injects-Modern-Urban-Elements-Into-Traditional-Chinese-Paintings/

http://designtaxi.com/news/351277/Photographs-That-Resemble-Chinese-Ink-Paintings/

http://designtaxi.com/news/354438/Artist-Creates-Amazing-Splatter-Paint-Portraits/

http://www.plumblossoms.com/C%20N%20Liew/exhibition_calligraphic_evolution.html

http://www.plumblossoms.com/C%20N%20Liew/exhibition_calligraphic_evolution.html

A chinese painting in the point of view of __________ is ___________:

abstract expressionist (abstract shit)

graphic designer (show photoshop menu layout/vectors to form mountains etc)

dadaist (dada prints)

obese american (burger/hotdog/fast food joint in chinese painting style?)

comic book fan (comic book panels, superheroes in scenes, ‘swoosh’ effect

de stijl artist (cubist + the 3 primary colours)

cubist (cubist style)

collage artist (collage)

photographer (photographs)

pencil sketcher (sketched)

graffiti artist (using spray cans instead)

typographer (text properly aligned etc)

film director (the screen menu thingy on big video cameras idk)

Andy Warhol (colourful)

Michael Bay (explosions in China mountainside)

kindergarten kid (crayons)

minimalist

 

 

Project 1 final (plus discarded ideas and progress)

A plea for comments

Okay if you’re reading this I would like to ask a small favour of you, which is leave a constructive comment/critique of my work on this post. And if you do I’ll leave one for you as well. On thursday as I laid in bed trying to summarise my first presentation/critique of the semester, I realised that the only comments I got were that people  liked my work (thank you Vimal, ZT and Jo!) and the feedback on my crossword puzzle one (thank you Joy!) and felt that something was missing. I’m not saying I didn’t put in effort for this project nor am I implying that I handed up half-assed work, but as someone with almost no formal design training and a freshmen at ADM my work is almost by definition bound to be really shitty. My work has to suck, and it is through countless critique sessions that I can learn and become a better designer/artist. I’m not saying the ones that liked my work were insincere (I hope not) but I feel that people are either too nice, too shy or just really sleep deprived (which I was too but I still gave some comments). So yeah I hope I get some comments (even if you outright hate street-art and it’s just a personal thing I want to hear it too as it contains insight which can contribute to my growth as an artist, just be tact) and we can all grow through commenting on our ideas! 🙂

On that note I would like to thank Siqi, Eugene, June and Junyuan for giving me feedback, which I will post at the end. I would also like to thank everyone that helped me while I was working on these ideas (like Xinyi Charlimae, Jacob and Kuangjun) and giving tips on how to improve them (more notably Charlene and Zhouyang who really helped develop the Hollywood star idea)

 

The first 2 compositions are traits of myself (using common objects with minor and non-drastic changes to their original nature for reflection) and the last 2 are goals and ambitions which I project onto the world (thus using street art)

 

Hi my name is Andrew and I’m interested in many things but not enough to be an expert on them

interest

My interests define me to quite an extent, be it my taste in music or books, and I have a wide range of them. However even though I am interested in things ranging from martial arts to philosophy, I am only casually interested in them and don’t know enough about them to be a expert/die-hard fan. This composition aims to let viewers experience what I mentioned above by recreating a messy poster wall, but this time with nicer aesthetics and almost zero meaning/content (using dummy text). I chose posters/a wall of them because they are things that were made specifically for attracting attention even though they contain quite little information, and that middle ground between initial interest/hesitation to find out more is what I wanted viewers to experience here. Thus the posters and their colours are more eye-catching/appealing to people, but the dummy text/lack of information will give them even less of a reason to find out what they’re about. Misalignment of alphabets hints at how various topics don’t really ‘fit’ together.

Hi my name is Andrew and I’m still finding myself

finding

Pretty straightforward idea, act of finding ‘ANDREW’ is highlighted by numerous pencil strokes on paper and eraser dust at the side. Was debating between using the picture above or this

20160216_230708

but stuck to the above one as it showed more of the eraser dust.

Hi my name is Andrew and I’m a rebel that doesn’t know when to be serious

retarded
this picture looks really ugly in thumbnail so please click on it to enlarge

Graffiti breaks the law and thus expresses rebellion, and the color pink/playful font/diagonal alignment is used to make fun of the very serious intentions of the sign (caution sign to stay away from high-voltage equipment). New spray painted text also gives the symbol of a man getting electrocuted a different meaning when viewed together, a sort of retarded dancing/behavior for example.

Hi my name is Andrew and I want to be remembered for being different

different

Originally wanted to use obituary/tombstone/honorary signs but then Zhouyang suggested Hollywood walk of fame as most notable marker of a person’s legacy. Intentional misspelling of name and contrast between formal font/placement of star in toilet (hence the shoes and pulled down shorts) highlights need to be different from everyone else. Original idea was simply my misspelled name on normal Hollywood boulevard, but lacked contrast thus I thought of informal places where nobody would expect to see such a thing.

Comments/feedback

  • throughout my work there is a theme of playing with personal and public spaces, as most evidently seen in the Hollywood star one, and crossword puzzle didn’t really follow that theme with the plain brown background (which was just a cardboard sheet) and thus could have been places at public spaces such as an MRT station for example
  • presentation could have been more ‘street’ by sticking printouts on wall, crumpling them, picking them up from floor etc
  • crossword puzzle one doesn’t really fit in with the rest
  • graffiti on could have used a more zoomed-out picture to show more of the ‘WARNING’ sign below or where this place was
  • not everyone knew what a Hollywood star was, could have used something more universal like a tombstone
  • poster wall one looks too digitally altered (it’s not, I pasted them on the wall of the 2d computer lab but good point) and could have been on some public space for example
  • toilet one was the strongest/most easily understood, good use of context

Discarded ideas

grbreakrules
My name in Hebrew
Screen Shot 2016-02-20 at 2.56.20 pm
Original posters

obituary

authority

graffitti
my name in Tajik

Screen Shot 2016-02-20 at 3.00.17 pm

20160217_030322
Discarded idea: Hi my name is Andrew and I pay too much attention to detail/Hi my name is Andrew and I get distracted easily

20160216_220136

20160216_154331

20160216_223835

Project 1 reference artists/research/updates/visual journal part 3

Haiyo another OSS post another 2 minutes spent thinking of ways to begin writing it in a creative way.

So I have decided to stick with the theme of ‘2d text in 3d spaces’ and begin brainstorming for actual/final ideas. Here are the mindmaps oh Eugene and June if you’re reading this it’s too late I want to thank you for your lovely mindmaps (not saying they’re the only ones that did but they inspired me to create my own when stuck with ideas)

Hi my name is Andrew and I like knowing more than reading

20160212_201954

So here I attempted to distill down to its simplest form what I wanted to convey and here are some notable points/ideas

  • I am interested in a wide variety of topics like philosophy and politics etc
  • I don’t have much time to read
  • Our brain in this age of social media has become more adapted to receiving short bursts of information, and hence short bursts of dopamine
  • Attention span of brain is also shortened and less adapted to spending long amounts of time on books etc
  • Reading makes me tired
  • Print (books) vs digital text (social media)
  • Prefers watching videos or listening to podcasts instead

And was left with the main idea of something that looks interesting, but not enough to read/devote attention and time to, which is what the final design/text should convey. From there I thought of creating a silhouette of my name in handwriting, editing it so that it looks a little more ambiguous, and making it look interesting/eye-catching.

20160211_200935 20160211_210940

20160212_231044

The silhouette can also be a misspelling of my name, thus emphasising how people might find the design cool but won’t actually stop to make out what are the actual alphabets represented.

I was inspired by the following posters which I got from googling ‘eye-catching posters’

Barcelona-Hero eat_sleep_read Print studio-airport-03

Where I realised contrasting/bright colours and simple designs/layouts really helped draw attention to them, and I went on to apply these to the above mentioned silhouette

knowingreading

These will probably be pasted on a wall amongst other flyers, which I have yet to find. The design on top is nonsensical and essentially means nothing, and was inspired by this work which I found in a book from the library.20160211_161443

The 3 posters are used to tell people that advertising is actually quite void of meaning and doesn’t communicate anything new, and from afar one would be forgiven for mistaking the posters as just another few well-designed ads. This is very similar to what I hope to communicate, and am still looking into how I can incorporate this idea. I tried this with the first silhouette design above, and if you look closely the pink silhouette actually spells ANRDEW which most people won’t be able to discern.

Hi my name is Andrew and I want to be remembered for being different

20160212_210440

Some points:

  • picture of my writing my name somewhere in permanent marker
  • tombstone in weird locations
  • writing name in cement
  • entry in google images result list
  • mugshot with name
  • ridiculous tattoo of name on body a la Stefan Sagmeister
  • obituary

I’m probably going with the obituary one where I design a unique obituary entry and hopefully photoshop that into a newspaper. This idea is still in its initial phase and will be worked on over the weekend. Here are some creative obituary examples. Will also be a good opportunity to learn indesign.

watchever-obituaries-3-600-11454 watchever-obituaries-2-600-81421 4031ad20585521.562edc3e1534a

Research/inspiration from library books

20160211_140926
The author’s personal collection of nightclub flyers, photos below have interesting text layout/design

20160211_14460720160211_14465320160211_14471620160211_14482520160211_14490320160211_14494720160211_14502720160211_145127

20160211_151846
A book on the various art/design pieces seen in the london underground tube

20160211_151853 20160211_151920 20160211_152157 20160211_161141 20160211_161252 20160211_161443

Reference artist 3: David Shrigley 

01_David_Shrigley_0 01-68730_102388 David_Shrigley-Hanging_Sign david_shrigley2 David-Shrigley-Anton-Kern-AM-11 David-Shrigley-Gong-2012-Anton-Kern David-Shrigleys-exhibitio-006 one_day Shrigley-5 snapz-pro-xscreensnapz020

Stop It 2007 David Shrigley born 1968 Purchased 2008 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T12819

I guess what I like about David Shrigley’s work is how he manages to alter the meaning of a picture with a few handwritten words and the relationship between imagery and text. There also also a certain amount of call to action in the ‘gong’ picture for example, where if it wasn’t in a protected museum viewers would probably hesitate to bang it as the word ‘gong’ seems to almost produce the sound itself.

Still have lots to do.

Fun fact: for some reason I haven’t eaten a single pineapple tart this chinese new year

Stay tuned poopy loo!

 

Project 1 reference artists/research/updates/visual journal part 2

You know one of my biggest issues with posting these updates on OSS is whether to write the entry in a formal manner or simply ‘vomit’ everything out as I do when consulting Joy but I guess at this point it’s pretty evident which option I have chosen.

Also I find the categories very annoying (I have ocd sorry) so I’m just going to create one called ‘PROGRESS’ which include the four main types of information you probably want to see.

So after settling on the ‘2d text in 3d spaces’ theme/style I went on to find similar pictures.

02b7fe2b4bf12e0ae7ea3dc2623d916f 6c19b464886f11868e86e2fa33cab18b 6ce9609a9b5b981c72445870f028a336 7ff67958ffb0c267ef94e22867b15733 8ad029f85cf14382caea32b280ea9163 14c4c8105247046ebe1ef90f674aff7b 0813b249eee5b57a7f502b2c17e96c3b 5774f67c9b9e809e89ee9608de61427b 87622f2e1ab054eeb4aa84ccfbb32c3b 953320315b55d8a6450ee600c5d8494e b46d6fe310404bec776683aa2f08234c cc33f249e582ee007b4462ea9d1ae50e cd69db9b8a51c3e65cc5ed679e2c2545 e0615f88a1a99619d2dd747e962ba668

Reference artist 2

I also came across a typographer Nathan Levasseur who had works that is very similar to the idea I have in mind. The following pictures rely both on typography as well as a certain amount of photography/set-up to convey it’s message which I will elaborate on for each picture.

8c95b599169f139f18991786d968a7a2
Very nice play on the words morning/mourning, hints at dread of waking up early, plight of having to be up so early is possibly made better by coffee (thus the bright orange-red background colour), not too sure what the slab of marble beside represents
BedFinal
Not too sure what this object is but I would guess it’s a bed, text placed on what I assume to be a comfy bed shows that perhaps lazying around alone here isn’t such a bad thing, not sure if the word ‘feel’ is in italics to highlight that particular emotion
Honey+Club+Edits2
Object is possibly a rock, or more suitably a large chunk of clay placed on a sturdy board, text looks handwritten, a little skeptical about the use of colour/type/object in this picture
tumblr_o1xs26w9kJ1slt6wpo1_500
Not really sold with this idea but the use of plastic wrap is pretty interesting, will probably float around at the back of my head for awhile but I think can churn out some ideas from this

Some trials

print
Original idea for ‘Hi my name is Andrew and I like knowing more than reading’. Had this brief idea, decided to try it out but not really sure if it conveys the intended message.
20160212_205516
Another idea I had for ‘Hi my name is Andrew and I like knowing more than reading’ where 2 flyers form my name, preferably at a place where people won’t stop to read (thus the picture being taken from such a distance). So in a sense people walking by will probably only see (and thus KNOW) the word ‘Andrew’, but won’t actually stop to READ what is on the individual flyers. Takeaways from this: could probably form a misspelling of my name instead like AENDRW, find a better location with more flyers (mrt stations/bus interchange?)

20160212_205547

20160212_205554

20160212_205952
Here my name is edited onto a DANGER! sign and the background of high voltage equipment bolsters that message, don’t really know what this is for though was just experimenting

20160212_210046

20160212_213613
Name photoshopped onto SALE signs and yellow tape used to cordon off areas, just experimenting.

After 4 February consultation

I think consultations in small groups is quite a good idea as essentially there are more people to comment on and bounce off ideas, and seeing my classmates put in so much effort exploring also gives me extra motivation to work harder! I really think there’s a lot of potential in Abraham’s idea of playing with Chinese characters and Madeline’s concept of world-building, which if properly executed, would really blow everyone away. All the best to them! The feedback I got from that session was that a recurring theme in my ideas is they all seem to contain a call to action, be it the danger signs or the name in toilet bowl (previous post), they sort of make people want to act on it somehow (by flushing the toilet bowl etc).

That idea is really interesting and after thinking about it I might use that as an underlying/subtle theme in my works to express a comment from Joy in exercise 1 where I seem to invite/welcome people in, but only to hint immediately after that what they find might be repulsive.

During consultation I also showed a mind map of another idea I had where I would use really nondescript/boring traits such as ‘Hi my name is Andrew and I have 2 eyes’ and come up with really creative interpretations for them. This was in response to my concerns about the feasibility of ‘2d text in 3d spaces’ and also to challenge my creativity since I had such critical views of text made with bread etc.

20160212_210454

I have since scrapped this idea.

Stay tuned tooney loones!

Thoughts about Tang shipwreck gallery presentation

Hey Sujatha!

My team and I visited the Asian Civilisation Museum today and the exhibition about the Tang shipwreck was fantastic! We didn’t manage to find the Dehua kiln ceramics, but instead there were some examples of pure-white porcelain which is quite similar.

We decided on a rough structure for the presentation, which will begin with basic information about the Tang shipwreck and its objects/controversies/people involved, followed by a more in-depth exploration of the designs on the various ceramics. This will be supplemented with 2/3 examples of ceramic artefacts found in the exhibition and some information on the choice of design/material/stye of illustration used/possible influences etc.

What do you think of our proposed presentation structure?

We aren’t quite sure how to approach this presentation and how in-depth the content should be so we decided to get your opinion first.

Looking forward to your reply

Andrew

 

 

Week 2 journal: favourite Buddhist temple in Singapore

I don’t have a favourite Buddhist temple in Singapore, but I do have one that I visit every year without fail, which is Bright Hill temple in Sin Ming.

kong-meng-san-phor-kark

My grandparent’s ashes are kept there, and my family will make a trip to Bright Hill temple every chinese new year to pay our respects by offering food and joss sticks etc. We also go during their annual death anniversary, carrying bags of paper money/food items etc all the way to ang mo kio.

Here are some pictures of the temple that I took on Monday.

20160208_122903 20160208_123808 20160208_123823 20160208_124925 20160208_125017 20160208_125508

You can visit their website to find out more about their services etc.

http://www.kmspks.org