How to post a large chunk of words with pictures on OSS and become as famous as Damien Hirst

Hello everyone I am getting really sick of OSS so I’ll keep this short.

Final zine

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Yeah so for this zine I wanted to do a similar concept as my previous project, a sort of idiot’s how to guide, but this time on the infamous artist Damien Hirst. I don’t know about you but from what I’ve been reading/hearing he’s very well known especially in the art/design world, and everyone has an opinion on him. Unless you want nothing to do with the art world you should really check him out, especially since they teach his stuff at the exclusive NYAEP *jeng jeng*

(the following are his actual art works and all images belong to the official website of master Hirst)

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Mother and Child Divided exhibition copy 2007 (original 1993) Damien Hirst born 1965 Presented by the artist 2007 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T12751
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To sum it up Damien Hirst is one of the richest living artists in the world, and is most commonly known for placing dead animals in tanks (usually filled with a blue liquid called formaldehyde for preservation purposes) and giving them long pretentious names. Obviously there has been lots of controversy on whether Damien Hirst’s works can be considered art, especially since he didn’t actually ‘do’ anything to the objects/bodies. Personally I was very intrigued when first coming across one of his books in the library, but have gotten more suspicious after reading reviews about him. Honestly now I don’t quite know what to feel about his work, whether they’re actually great pieces of art or just the product of a rich man being pretentious, and that feeling is what I hope to convey with this zine.

And so this zine is like a handout/booklet trying to teach people how to be like Damien Hirst, but ends up failing.

I initially thought of simply photoshopping weird things into pictures of Damien’s works but nah where’s the fun in that. So I decided to construct my very own Hirst box. The first 3 pictures are of some discarded box found on top of the b1 lockers and they served as a reference during the construction process.

Making the box

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cutting (more like scraping) acrylic sheets
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lots of duct tape and hot glue
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first layer of duct tape, was deciding between using white or black tape, but in the end the white tape I had was too wide

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random flower plucked from b1, first trial
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my reservoir of blue watercolour water

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using newsprint sheets as a backdrop
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the paper towels didn’t really help tbh

More trials

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the project 3 brief lol
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garlic chilli packet
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curry sauce
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do you ever feel like a plastic bag
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drifting through the wind, wanting to start again
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random flower from b1

 Initial draft

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Feedback: longer/more pretentious titles, edit lighting in pictures to that of one taken in a real museum, short description on who Damien Hirst is and why he is famous, include price tag of works/materials needed, increase size of name in front cover, use glossier paper, include fake gallery contact information, wrap zine with ribbon etc to make it more formal, fake artist description, increase the satire, be mindful of font size hierarchy

So yeah and we arrive to my final zine. Don’t think it needs much elaboration/description as I think it is simple enough to be understood on its own. Here are some reference pictures of actual Damien Hirst books.

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Research paper on Chinese paintings (lol jk project 2 final post)

DN1234- Introduction to Chinese paintings

Research paper

Andrew Wong Su Jun

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Tutorial group: G-ken-nuggets

Question 6: How can Chinese paintings be interpreted in 6 different ways?

Chinese paintings are paintings done by Chinese people in the land of China, done using Chinese ink and Chinese paper, and usually depicts Chinese landscapes or animals in China or various important Chinese figures. They are usually accompanied by Chinese words or more commonly known as Chinese calligraphy. Chinese paintings also also sold in China. In this essay, written by a Chinese boy, I will attempt to show that Chinese paintings can be interpreted in 6 different ways.

So hello everyone I chose Chinese paintings not to coincide with the art history essay (which I did on ceramics) but because I saw a book on it when brainstorming for initial ideas in the library, and also because I wanted to try something other than plain ol’ graphic design.

I also think that there is a certain inherent bias against Chinese paintings (more so if you’re Westernised like me) and people usually consider them to be ‘cheena’, ‘obiang’, old-fashioned or simply not held in such a high esteem as Western art. And that presents a perfect opportunity for me to change its meaning.

So when researching I found that there are 6 principles/characteristics of CP that was formulated by this ancient Chinese homeboy Xie He (who probably has eyes as small as mine) which you can read about here:

http://www.ink-treasures.com/artworks/ink-painting-paper/spiritual-artwork/125-philosophy-methods-chinese-painting/

BUT I know most of you probably are too lazy to read it so Imma distill it here for you

RULE NUMBA 1: Spirit resonance, which basically means one needs to paint with ‘Chi’/’energy’ of which is innate, and results in your painting looking vivid and powerful

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I really don’t feel like visiting Chicago anymore so I’m just going to dump the link here http://www.paintwalk.com/2015/06/chinese-painting-principles-applied-to.html 

RULE NUMBA 2: Bone method, or essentially how good one is at mastery of the brush and it’s various strokes/pressures

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RULE NUMBA 3: Correspondence to object, or how well one depicts the correct form of the object/scene

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RULE NUMBA 4: Suitability to type, or correct use of colour

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RULE NUMBA 5: Division and planning, or how you compose your painting/place elements to create visual hierarchy for ease of viewing

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RULE NUMBA 6: Transmission by copying, or learning from copying old master’s examples and preserving long-established principles

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So what I did for this project is to interpret CP in 6 different ways, from the perspective of 6 different people who directly oppose the 6 rules above.

For example the first one, a kid’s drawing, is more of a kid’s interpretation of CP which everyone knows lacks any ‘spirit’/’Chi’ of sorts, thus directly going against the first rule of CP.

Maybe I’m thinking too much.

Okay so without further ado, here is my manual called The 6 Canons of Chinese Painting, where is it a colouring book of sorts to let people practice the 6 rules. A consistent template is used for all 6 pages, which is that of a cherry blossom tree.

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Chinese painting in the POV of a kid 

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  • use of crayons and style of drawing etc makes it the furthest thing from what one would imagine to be a painting with ‘Chi’
  • comical style totally contrasts with that of esteemed Chinese paintings

Chinese painting in the POV of a graphic designer

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  • graphic designer’s interpretation totally lacks any use of brush/mastery of stroke, and is done entirely with vectors and flawless digital gradients (eat that watercolour!)
  • this design was pasted on the book rather than printed out on the page itself because to be consistent with the narrative of this being a colouring book, thus being was the only way the graphic designer would have to show his work (as he uses computers instead of brushes)

 Chinese painting in the POV of an abstract artist

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  • an abstract artist’s interpretation of CP totally lacks any visible form of a tree or cherries

Chinese painting in the POV of a fauvist

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  • Fauvism is an art style that was popular around the 1900s, where Fauvists would paint with non-naturalistic and wild colours
  • Fauvism paintings are also simplified, lacking depth, and the above mentioned qualities are expressed in this composition to contrast with this fourth rule
  • In hindsight the background could have been executed better where the pink/green line doesn’t follow the shape of the tree

Chinese painting in the POV of a De Stijl artist

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  • De Stijl is an art movement that advocated abstraction and depiction using shapes and colour (more specifically the 3 primary colours red, blue and yellow)
  • De Stijl pieces were very still (lacking movement) and had no visual hierarchy or place where a viewer’s eyes could fall on, thus contrasting with the rule by having ‘bad’ composition/layout

Chinese painting in the POV of a Dada artist

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  • I’m sure most of you should have a rough idea of what Dada stands for but it essentially seeks to break away from rules/established principles and refuses to be defined
  • So this composition contrasts the last rule of CP by portraying something that doesn’t resemble anything like CP, using the famous Dada collage style (but not too dark/disturbing don’t worry)
  • The cut-outs were entirely from a discarded magazine found outside one of the prof’s room (Jesse Thompson I think)

And there you have it! Not much explaining to do cos I think it’s pretty straightforward. Now on to my visual journal (which is the culmination of artist reference, initial sketches and idea generation)20160318_013501 20160318_013508 20160318_013512 20160318_013520 20160318_013524 20160318_013530 20160318_013533 20160318_013540 20160318_013543 20160318_013550 20160318_013553 20160318_013559 20160318_013602 20160318_013606 20160318_013610 20160318_013622 20160318_013731 20160318_013737 20160318_013749 20160318_013805 20160318_013830 20160318_013843

I was also very inspired by this series of inappropriate drawings on kid’s colouring books

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Last but not least thank you to everyone who gave me comments, I was a little too preoccupied with making sure the stopwatch alarm didn’t ring for too long so I didn’t write a lot of notes but I’ll definitely look through everyone’s posts here and comment!

Really looking forward to making fun of more art styles for the next project!

Toodles noodles!

Or rice.

Project 2 initial research (updated 28 Feb)

Reference artist 1: Catherine Kim (the graphic designer)

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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.’

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Reference artist 2: Ilya Kalimulin

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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

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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

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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

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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

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My name in Hebrew
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Original posters

obituary

authority

graffitti
my name in Tajik

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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

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

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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.

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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
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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

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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.
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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?)

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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

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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.

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I have since scrapped this idea.

Stay tuned tooney loones!

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

So after coming up with many concepts/ideas (as listed in last week’s post) and many days of doodling I decided to chose a few I thought had potential and come up with ideas for it.

The first idea I settled on was ‘Hi my name is Andrew and I think a lot’ and here are some thoughts that immediately sprang up:

  • image of messy bedsheets (late-night anxious worrying/pointless reflections)
  • crease of messy bedsheets forming alphabets that make up ‘ANDREW’
  • messy bedsheets with a piece of paper with my name typed out on it (preferably crumpled)
  • bedsheets with name written on it with permanent marker, and made messy/creased
  • substitute above bed ideas with pillow?
  • close up image of hands scratching back of head, maybe with ‘ANDREW’ written on individual fingers/hand
  • biting fingernails

The above ideas had photography as a common theme/element and it didn’t take long for me to realise that I was probably inspired by a work from Stefan Sagmeister which I didn’t include in last week’s post.

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This is a campaign to discourage drug use with the main tagline of ‘Drugs are fun in the beginning but become a drag later on’, and coupled with the disturbing/weird imagery I would say the message has been communicated pretty effectively. The chosen images had nothing to do with drugs nor were they carefully selected, but instead were from an old tv show that Stefan had seen, and decided to replicate the 6 ‘scenes’ as best as he could. What struck me most about these 6 images is the very creative use of text, namely that they are on the objects in the pictures rather than typed out in photoshop during post-production. I couldn’t quite put my finger on where a campaign like this stands in the art-design spectrum nor could I quite articulate what I liked about it, but I felt it was a good direction to head in.

To elaborate on that last point, I decided to explore this particular ‘genre’ as I promised myself to do something different (other than plain graphic design) but also to avoid projects like these:

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No offence to anyone but I think real-life typography like the above are not only really cliche but don’t actually communicate anything other than the large amount of time spent shaping mashed potatoes or whatever chosen medium. It looks cool and probably will be really popular on sites like designspiration.com but okay enough ranting #positivevibes #enoughnegativeenergy #youhavedistractedfrommycreativeprocess #wizwearscoolpants

So I printed out my name in various fonts and went on to explore what I call 2d text in 3d spaces and its resulting meaning.

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rolled around in bed for 30 mins, paper wasn’t crumpled enough
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crumpled
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wet paper, and proceeded to stick it on wall
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watercolour (super cheap ass one, not the $40 van gogh one that Don loves so much oh hell no)

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plastic bag
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wiped off ink

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Reference artist 1

I also discovered the artist/graphic designer Marco Ugolini, and to be perfectly honest I have no idea what exactly he does, but I kinda like it. Marco’s works explores the interrelation between graphic design and visual art and “readjusts objects within a context for reflection”.

You can check his work out here: http://www.jesuismonreve.org/about/

I think what ties all of Marco’s works together are the strong concepts, and one particular project that stood out to me was ‘removed posters’.

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Marco took a picture of a wall with many leftover pieces of flyer paper, printed the image out and pasted it on the same wall, only to remove it later. I like how Marco ‘contributes’ to the wall’s meaning, and I wonder how the end result might be affected if Marco pasted a regular flyer for example. Still not very sure what to call this particular type of art/design, so I went on to instagram to look for inspiration/similar images.

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So my choice of medium/theme/style (you get the point) will be experimenting with 2d text on 3d surfaces and the resulting meaning. Within these dimensions I have lots of variables to play with such as:

  • design of text (font, kerning, leading, upper-case etc)
  • material used to form text (ink, charcoal, paint, unconventional ones etc)
  • type of paper/thing/object that text will be on (normal paper, newspaper, tape)
  • placement of text and supporting object (dustbin, carpark, tree etc)
  • camera effects like lighting/angle

I am also really leaning towards using all 6 rectangles to express 1 single trait of myself.

Or not.

Stay tuned looney tunes!

 

 

Project 1 research/reference artist

Reference artist

The reference artist I researched on for this week was Stefan Sagmeister, a famous graphic designer/typographer who is known for his playful approach to typography.

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Stefan Sagmeister has always been a name that appeared when reading about famous graphic designers and I thought his works were really innovative in their use of unexpected materials to form words, thus I borrowed his book “things I have learned in my life” to hopefully understand his creative process.

I was not impressed.

Here are 4 of his works and the story behind the respective taglines.

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‘Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.’

This is a billboard created for a visual arts school using images of butterflies in their various life stages which complements the warm, autumn vibe of the brown background. The text is skilfully made out of sticks, and the main words ‘stupid’ and ‘now’ being bigger from the others really helps to emphasise it’s message. The word ‘now’ also seems a little bolder than ‘stupid’, thus driving home the importance/urgency of living in the present.

Long story short, the tagline was a quote from an acquaintance in a backpacking trip Stefan made to Austria in his early days, where the group got robbed of all their belongings one night. Stripped of their possessions, the group decided that this is where their trip/fun would officially start, and eventually Stefan made it back home with a sleeping bag that the aforementioned acquaintance gave to him.

In my humble freshmen-in-design-school opinion I think that the chosen imagery/style is completely random and has no link to the tagline, and it actually contradicts the school’s aim, which is to provide an education for a better future.

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‘Complaining is silly, either act of forget.’

This was done for a Portuguese brand of beer, and was done using large pieces of newsprint with stencilled alphabets. The newsprints were left in the sun for 3 days, and the un-stencilled parts turned yellow, resulting in the typography seen above.

Again, I think the choice of font/materials used was pretty random/arbitrary and the layout could have been done better.

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‘Everybody who is honest is interesting’

This quote came from writer/gay icon Quentin Crisp at a press conference. Quentin initially told reporters that everybody is interesting, only for the reporters to claim that they knew many people who were simply boring. Quentin thought for a few moments before updating it to the quote used here.

The quote is represented in 5 different posters, each decorated with childish/fantasy-land characters and unique typography made out of things like ladybirds. Overall the colour scheme is pleasing, and there seems to be a certain narrative throughout the 5 layouts, but perhaps Stefan could have made words like ‘honest’ bigger than less important ones such as ‘is’.

The reason behind this choice of style seems to be influenced by the location of these posters, which is in a non-profit library for young kids in poor neighbourhoods.

What I hope to learn from researching Mr Sagmeister’s work is to have a concrete link between the text and chosen imagery/style in this upcoming project.

Typographic inspiration

I also borrowed a book on typography by Emil Ruder which was very informative.

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These last 2 pictures interest me the most as this current project will be focusing more on designing/expressing a single word rather than entire paragraphs, which is what the majority of Emil Ruder’s book was about.

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I really like these posters done for D&AD’s 2013 award ceremony which uses simple manipulation of a letter to express something entirely different.

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Here the ampersand has been slightly tilted/edited to create an entirely different word ‘dead’ from the original ‘d&ad’. I’m really inspired by this and am still trying to see how I can incorporate this into my work.

A poster done for the following year’s award ceremony is also really nice in it’s use of yellow umbrellas to enhance the text.

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Posters with nice use of layered text.

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Alphabet design by Greek fashion designer Mary Katrantzou.

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Thoughts on attributes.

I spent some time writing down a list of potential attributes and I realised that the things people say about themselves can be further classified into 3 main groups: plain/everyday facts or characteristics (as seen by others), deep hopes and aspirations (as contemplated when alone), and quirky views on almost anything.

Plain/everyday facts or characteristics about me (as seen by others):

  • I am funny (at least to some)
  • I don’t take many things seriously/ like to joke around
  • I don’t often try out new foods
  • I am weird
  • I like walking/exploring different places
  • I am indecisive
  • I procrastinate
  • I tend to do/say the wrong things at the wrong times
  • I am a student/live in the east/favourite sport is MMA and blah blah all that boring stuff which I probably won’t use

Deep hopes and aspirations (as contemplated when alone):

  • I don’t actually know who I am ( due to loss of identity in a postmodern world, which I explained in last semester’s project Ego, so if you’re interested you can go have a look )
  • I am constantly changing/never the same person
  • I am composed of contradictory aspects
  • I want to be remembered for being different/breaking stereotypes
  • I am obsessed with concepts
  • I am a pessimist
  • I like to think (maybe a little too much)
  • I like knowing more than reading
  • I want my work to change society
  • I like to break stereotypes
  • I have more interests than hobbies
  • I rarely construct/reinforce my identity ( links to postmodernity again)

Quirky views on almost anything

  • I think handshakes are a little too formal when meeting someone new
  • I am starting to not like coffee as it gives me the jitters