Presentation Reflection

William Farquhar’s Collection of paintings interest me because I have always loved the look of old botanical drawing journals. This time, I actually get to learn more about the histories behind the drawings. Why were they drawn a certain way, what they were for? These days documentations are open for artistic exploration, and as humans I think we often take inspiration from what is already around us or from our past, our surroundings. Hence, I found it really fulfilling to see how artists of today have taken this particular collection of works and put a new meaning on it or expanded on it.

I enjoyed visiting the different galleries and museums to see the works in real life, and I think it really helped me appreciate the details on the paintings. In a society pervasive of technology, it is nice to go back to the traditional media of hand-drawn works. Working with my team I also get to learn a lot from my teammates research and get a better understanding of how the situation in the past brought about this collection of paintings.

Overall, the presentation was enjoyable and I had a good time reading up on Farquhar as well as getting to know more about the flora and fauna that I am so used to seeing in real life.

2D Project 3: Ego – Bloom

Our final 2D project for this semester is finally over. I cannot believe how fast it feels! This project was a fun one! (well everything else was fun too) This is our first project in colour, and I was excited because I like colourful things! This caused a little bit of problem because I couldn’t just choose colours because I like them, but with research and careful thinking, I made it work out in the end. Without further ado, here is the final work! For more in-depth explanation behind each composition, check out the process post! And to read up more about my research on colours, check out this post!

◊ BLOOM ◊

2d3-1 2d3-2 2d3-3 2d3-4 2d3-5 2d3-6 2d3-7 2d3-8 2d3-9 2d3-10 2d3-11 2d3-12

 

◊ CONCEPT ◊ 

The twelve compositions illustrate my growth as a person. The equations all have the format of

(Me at the start of the school duration) + (School experience) = (Me at the end of the school duration)

Up till now, I have identified myself by the academic institution I am in at any point of time, hence I decided to base each equation on that. The first row is about when I was back in Jakarta. I was naive and carefree, just a seedling. I was kept in a sheltered, reserved world by parents, school and friends, and as a result I was still naive and extremely carefree. When I got to Singapore in Sec 3, I was so keen to continue doing well in school and was extremely eager to please. I was still a bud. However, the school workload was much more intense than I anticipated and coupled with my general apathy towards my Singaporean classmates at the time, I was quite sad and discontented with myself. After going through such experience, I grew into a young flower and was exceptionally determined to turn over a new leaf in junior college. I was ready to face my challenges head on. Needless to say, JC wasn’t always smooth sailing. I have to say, they were some of the best and worst years of my life, it was just like a roller coaster. As a result, by the end of the two years, I feel like I have grown in strength and resilience and matured as a person too. This leads me to enter university with a much calmer attitude and resolve to face whatever comes up with a positive outlook. With graduation still far ahead, I have no idea how this experience will change me, but I’m positive about what is yet to come.

 

STYLE ◊ INSPIRATION

I chose to do the illustration in my casual style instead of my normal style, as this is the style more of my classmates know (and it saves time). I’ve had this style since way back, and it is characteristically me, so I thought that it was apt to make the series coherent and stylistically strong. The main inspirations for this work are the double exposure tattoos by Andrey Lukovnikov and posters of We The Fest Indonesia. 

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Andrey Lukovnikov
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We The Fest collateral

I liked the use of circles in the posters and collaterals of the festival, and thought that I could use it as a frame for my compositions. I felt that the circle framing serve as a distinctive style that wraps the compositions together, and employed different styles to distinguish between the columns.

 

◊ PRESENTATION ◊

I did not include any supplementary materials this time, as there was no need to. I simply put them up on the wall in the default layout and without the plus and equal symbols. Presentation generally went well except that I still forgot to mention some things due to nerves and the time limit, although I did write down the points that I wanted to say. However, I am glad that I got to go back to the basics and stop thinking too much for once. I feel that I have expressed myself and my journey in a simple way that others can understand, and I feel that I have also done this project in a style that is characteristically me, which I’m happy about.

I still have a long way to go in terms of work ethics and time management, but I’m glad that I’ve learnt quite a bit this semester. Looking forward to dying more in the future!

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2D Project 2: Forrest Gump – I Think I’m Kind of Falling in Love with You

I find it a little hard to believe that the project we just finished was only the second one. It felt as if we have been doing this forever. Albeit it being a challenging project, I had lots of fun, and am happy that I finally got to try my hands on silkscreening.

On this post, I will be giving a summary of my four compositions and an explanation of the overall concept. Enjoy!

 

◊ OVERALL CONCEPT ◊

The main concept for this project is the relationship between Leon and Mathilda from the 1994 Luc Besson film “Leon: The Professional”, one that I really enjoyed watching. I’m about to spoil the whole film here so if you don’t want it ruined for you, go and watch it first HAHA.

 

Okay so you’re here either after watching it or you don’t mind spoilers.

 

Here’s your last chance to watch the movie first if you haven’t.

 

In the film, Mathilda’s family is killed by a crazy corrupt DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) officer and she seeks refuge from her neighbour, Leon, who is a hitman. Mathilda, who is only 12 years old at the time, asks Leon to take her as his protégé so that she could take revenge on, in her own words, “the dirtbags who killed her brother”. Long story short, Leon refuses at first, eventually accepts her and the two develops an unlikely bond throughout the rest of the film, each taking a place in the other’s heart that never existed before. I finally selected four quotes from the movie that are key points in the film and describes what happened to Leon and Mathilda, and their relationship in the film.

While initially I wanted to use the many iconic objects from the film to make my compositions, I realised that doing so would make my renditions too literal, which is exactly what the project is NOT about. It was really confusing because after watching the movie, one would definitely have preconceived images directly related to the film.  After enlightening consultations with Joy, I finally understood that there are many ways in which to tackle the project brief. I decided to take a look at the relationship between Leon and Mathilda from the point of views of different assassination cultures from around the world. I used icons and symbols from the different cultures, and also, by Joy’s suggestion, explored the compositions based on the art practices of the area, which I really want to thank her for. (Thanks Joy!!)

Without further ado, here are the final four compositions!

 

NUMBER ONE ◊ INDIA

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The quote here describes Leon’s inherent cold-heartedness towards Mathilda, after spending a lifetime of putting aside emotions as part of his job. This was him rejecting Mathilda’s request of taking her as an apprentice.

I chose India for this piece. I took the Indian Hindu goddess Durga, a multi-dimensional goddess of power and strength, mother of the universe, to represent Leon. The many hands wielding different weapons symbolise Leon’s individualistic and independent nature, as he does everything by himself. Instead of choosing Kali or Shiva who are deities of destruction and death, I chose Durga to symbolise Leon’s hidden kind and caring nature, that he is actually good.

I replaced the head with the head of a thuggee/thug, an Indian professional robber/murderer who typically travels in gangs, gains trust of his victims and strangles them to death during the journey. To describe Leon’s defiant nature, and also his personal code of working alone, I included a group of thugs on the left frame with their heads marked out, showing their irrelevance to Leon. Moreover, the placement of the frames, which is cut off-centre, is done to suggest the presence of other frames containing other pictures of thugs outside of the composition. The framing is inspired by Mughal art, paintings that originate from South Asia, and I used one particular painting to create this piece.

I also used the traditional Indian henna design of the mandala, which symbolises the universe, as a border, to indicate how this is the universe that Leon lives in.

 

NUMBER TWO ◊ JAPAN

clarita_saslim_leon_the_professional_2

This quote is what Mathilda says when she is about to shoot herself in the head in a self-initiated game of Russian roulette. At this point of time, she has nothing to live for anymore if Leon does not take her in.

I chose Japan with the ninjas in mind, but then I remembered about the old Japanese act of voluntary suicide, harakiri/seppuku, and thought that it would be perfect for this scene. The ceremonial disembowelment is usually done with a tanto (short knife), but can also be done with a tachi (long sword). I chose to use a katana (which is a tachi), to heighten the feeling of risk and intensity, making it look more dramatic.

Shinigamis, death gods who lure people to take their own lives, can be seen in the background, giving the piece a slightly eerie feeling of looming death.

I also included two characteristic patterns from Japan, “Nami“, meaning waves, on the screen-dividers, and “Yagasuri“, meaning arrows, on the floor to replace the usual tatami. Nami means strength and represents Mathilda’s courage in her decision. Yagasuri means determination and represents Mathilda’s resolve to kill herself.

Mathilda is represented by the maiko, or apprentice geisha, in an illustration style that is typical of Japanese paintings and ukiyo-e, which I referred to when making this composition. Ukiyo-e, a genre of art that features woodblock prints and paintings, makes use of asymmetry and slight perspective, which I applied in this composition. I divided the piece to foreground (maiko), middle ground (screen-dividers) and background (shinigami), with all of the elements placed slightly off-centre. 

I carefully planned the arrangement such that it is hinted to the viewers how Mathilda is on the verge of death. I made use of the screen-dividers (common image in ukiyo-e) to create a clear division between the living world (where the maiko is) and the underworld (shinigamis). Directly behind her is the opening towards this underworld, and together with the yagasuri pattern deliberately pointing towards the underworld, this illustrates Mathilda’s resolve to head towards death. The yagasuri pattern pointing towards the background also helps to create an illusion of depth and perspective, which is an element of the art of ukiyo-e.

 

NUMBER THREE ◊ MEXICO

clarita_saslim_leon_the_professional_3

These were Leon’s last words (cries) as he sacrificed himself to save Mathilda. He has gone from an aloof, cold-blooded murderer to a man who is again, capable of feeling love and care for another person.

I chose Mexico for this scene, originally just because I wanted to portray Leon as a Mexican sicario, a hired professional assassin that works for the organised drug cartels in Mexico. However, sicarios also used guns primarily, and I thought that this was too similar to the movie’s Western usage of firearms. When I researched about Mexican art, I am reminded of the famous and beautiful sugar skulls symbolic of the Day of the Dead and realised that I could also use this to recreate Leon’s death scene. Branching from Mexican folk art, this colourful, decorative style is used in the Day of the Dead celebrations, or Dia de los Muertos.

I chose a few symbols from the art style and celebration to use as elements of this piece. The calavera, or sugar skull, represents both Leon and death. The scythes are representative of Santa Muerte, the Mexican female folk saint who is a personification of death. She is believed to deliver people safely to the afterworld, and typically holds a scythe, along with a  globe, or other things. The skull and scythes are arranged in a typical skull and bones arrangement, and further emphasises death, with the blades placed at the nape of Leon’s neck. This also alludes to the act of decapitation, characteristic of the sicarios’ way of finishing off their targets by mutilation. Behind is a blooming pattern of marigolds, specifically the cempasúchil, or the flor de muertos (flower of the dead), which is the main flower used for the Day of the Dead celebrations. They are arranged to create a haunting yet beautiful aura that looks like fireworks, and also to represent the explosion of grenades in the movie.

I also did not put the skull in an upright position to mimic Leon’s position of death in the film, where he lied on the floor. I feel that this also made the composition more dynamic and less boring.

 

NUMBER FOUR ◊ BALI

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The last quote is the scene where Mathilda buries Leon’s plant (also an icon of the movie) in the garden of the school where Mathilda found refuge in, after Leon’s death.

I chose Bali for this scene. I have always had an attachment to Balinese culture, and this was the first culture I researched further on, based on my then knowledge of it. I already knew some of the patterns that I was going to use, such as the poleng (which I will explain soon). Mathilda is represented by the girl in traditional Balinese costume used in the pendet dance, a dance that I am familiar of. The dance is characterised by the headpiece. The pendet dance is a welcome dance, a dance of greeting. Here, I used it to represent Mathilda’s welcoming of her new life, and the transition between her previous life and her life after the death of her family and Leon.

The original Chinese Evergreen plant from the movie is replaced by the kamboja (frangipani), a flower that is considered holy in Bali. I made use of its interesting duality as it also represents death and bad luck in the Javanese context.

Behind her is the Barong, a lion-like king of spirits, leader of hosts of good, of the Balinese Hindu mythology. The Barong is a symbol of protection, looming over Mathilda, that hints at Mathilda being safe from then on, after Leon’s sacrifice. Moreover, I used a sheet of poleng fabric at the background to emphasise protection, as the black, white and grey plaid is a pattern used for protection typically seen in Bali.

To complete the composition, I added a border of perada, a fabric used by the rich, inspired by its similar pattern seen in the carvings of typical Balinese furniture.

 

◊ SILKSCREEN ◊

Silkscreen was fun to do. Although I faced some difficulties in the second silk-screening session, when I had to get it printed on the tote bag, I am quite happy with the final result.

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(I will upload a better picture when I get to iron it out)

 

◊ PRESENTATION ◊

This is how I presented my final work.

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I decided to include a supplementary element in the presentation. Under the Japanese composition, I pasted a death poem, in Japanese, that I imagined Mathilda to have written before proceeding to kill herself. Writing a death poem is part of the ritual of harakiri/seppuku, and I felt that it was such a melancholic and beautiful way to leave with your last words in a string of poetry.

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From right to left: Nani mo no tame ni, ikiru tame ni, nokotte imasen, hototogisu.
Translation: Nothing left to live for, the cuckoo cries.
The poem describes how at the point of time, Mathilda has lost everything and is ready to die. “Hototogisu”, or the cuckoo bird, is a bird recognised for its beautiful voice, but is also considered a messenger of death. It is a phrase usually used to poetically signify death.

These are a few things that I tried to make sure were consistent in the four compositions.

  • Overall balance in the composition, even when I arrange the elements in an asymmetrical way. 
  • Presence of central character.
  • Simplicity and subtlety of hidden messages through the symbols.
  • Very subtle dark, light, dark, light look. This is purely for aesthetics (It felt weird with only the third composition one being very dark), to balance the look of the four compositions together, and to create rhythm as the eye gazes from the left to the right.

Presentation generally went well, and I managed to say most of what I wanted to say in the time limit, but I did forget to mention a few things due to a slight panic when the alarm rang. Hopefully next time my nerves don’t get the better of me.

Overall, I really enjoyed the process, getting to know so many different cultures and really putting a lot of meaning into my work, which I noticed is what I like to do. I also got to keep the essence of the movie and managed to bring forth the feelings I have for the movie, and made this project a meaningful one.

On to the last project of this semester!

4D Project 2: Impossibilities of Being – Descent

Task two is down! It was an extremely daunting task but I am glad to have finished it nonetheless. I have always loved thinking about stories visually and in terms of shots for a film. It is something that I realise I unconsciously do, mentally framing some crucial (and most of the rest of the time trivial) seconds of my life. 90 pictures might sound massive at first, but in actuality, I think that contrary to initial thoughts, it is actually very limiting. To be able to narrate an idea that undergoes three key transformations in just 90 images is pretty difficult. Without further ado, here is the final product, Descent! 

Now I will shortly take you through the main concept and the three transformations, along with my artist references and a short reflection.

MAIN CONCEPT ◊ 

Descent is a compilation of dreams that are significant to me. Chosen dreams are not only used for the events in the sequence, but also as settings of the events. The final result is a fictional narrative whose parts are constructed from the various significant, whimsical dreams that I had.

The overarching theme that ties the whole sequence together is the dream of falling, not the kind that gives you that jerky feeling, but the unending falling kind that gives you a rather unsettling feel. This is based on a dream of falling I once had, that I believe was the result of me falling out of my bed. I felt that this dream about falling was apt to illustrate the plunge into our subconscious minds as we sleep, and also to represent the lack of control we have when free falling in an endless pit. The three transformations, then, would be three different dreams characterised by the transition between three main settings: the hole in the ground, the stairs and the sea-sky.

◊ DESCENT ◊ 

The sequence starts off with my sleeping self, and of myself seemingly rolling out of bed. I fall into a bed of cotton candy clouds with cherubs watching my fall, and sink into them, only to find out that I am hundreds of feet away from the ground, falling to my imminent death. I am heading straight for a hole in the ground. 

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◊ HOLE IN THE GROUND ◊ 

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In the ground, the pit seems to be endless depending on which direction I am looking. I exaggerated this with the visual of space as the background.  I fall and fall, trying to stop myself to no avail. At the same time, a knife-wielding astronaut lady character appears and starts throwing knives at me. I dodge the knives, stepping on passing by planets.

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She finally hits me, but I finally see a potential escape: a door at the side of the hole. I grab hold, open the door and crawl in.

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◊ UNENDING STAIRS ◊

The next section is the infinite stairs. I find myself in an exit staircase where the only option was to go down. I go down and finally find myself at a junction with the sea on the left side and more stairs on the right side.

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I go with stairs and continue to go down, but find myself in the same junction then again and again. Frustrated and tired, I make the difficult choice of jumping in to the sea, as it is the only other way out. 

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This section was inspired by my dreams of unending staircases. The only difference is that in my dream I was making my way up instead of down. I changed this, of course, to fit in my overall theme of falling, and thus, going down. I faced difficulty depicting the frustration and the panic faced when being stuck in the same place no matter how hard you try to get out, due to the limit of the number of pictures. I originally had more frames planned, but exceeded and had to cut them down to fit the 90 pictures requirement. This compromised the flow of my story and the mood, but I tried my best to at least still convey the feeling of helplessness in this section.

I also received some feedback regarding the last picture above. A classmate pointed out that it would be better if the sea on the left side was just bounded by a straight line, instead of the awkward zigzag that makes it look unnatural. On hindsight, I should have done that. I only tried to follow the contours of the staircase that was already there originally, and did not think of how it would disrupt the visual flow in the picture itself, creating an unnecessary focal point.

◊ SEA/SKY HYBRID ◊

Here I find myself sinking into the “sea”, except that I can breathe and it is more like I am floating on air. I discover that somehow I am in a paper boat, and marvel at the sights around me, including giant jellyfishes and a huge manta ray, whose tail I choose to grab hold of.

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I get pulled around by the manta ray, until I finally let go when it pulls me over a boundary made of clouds, and the sequence ends with a shot of me free falling through the sky and into the city of flowers, which is the introductory setting.

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This implies that the settings are in a cycle, in a dimension in which there is an eternal loop, and my descent will go on forever.

The sequence closes with a shot of me lying on the floor next to my bed, to show that in reality, I simply fell out of bed.

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◊ STYLE ◊

The style I chose to maintain throughout the pictures is that of a really dreamy, surreal quality. I take inspiration from Coldplay’s magical “Up & Up” music video, and collage artists such as Fajar P. Domingo and Eugenia Loli.

Coldplay’s “Up & Up” music video.

Fajar P. Domingo

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Eugenia Loli

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The two collage artists make surreal images of landscapes and people in an unbelievable, dreamy space. Following in the footsteps of my references, I manipulated scale and put settings in new contexts, unusual places, and merged them with my dreams to create an even more surreal landscape that becomes the settings for my sequence. A particular setting, the flower city, was directly inspired from the city with giant flowers in the “Up & Up” video. To mimic the visual coherence of the subjects in the picture, like Domingo, I used colour correction to ensure that the individual images look cohesive in a picture after editing them in a collage together.

 

◊ FINAL PRESENTATION AND REFLECTION ◊

In the final presentation, I showed the video and played an audio along with it. I chose A Fine Frenzy’s “Sleepwalking” due to its very fitting feel and the dreamy melodies. There is also a theme of falling in the song, which I thought fits my theme very well. I managed to talk about my work well during the presentation, but missed out an important part: about how or why the falling was significant a theme. I forgot to explain that the overall theme of falling alludes to the falling deeper and deeper into our subconscious while sleeping. I made mental notes to mention this but completely forgot about it.

I also enjoyed my friends’ presentations and their comical, outlandish and fresh ideas. I thought that it was motivating how their projects came about and how they carried them out.

Overall, I am satisfied with this project and I have improved in terms of Photoshop skills, as I have minimal prior experience of Photoshop. I also learnt how to narrate a story through sequential imaging, and learnt how to make cuts in order to deliver a story even through minimal shots. Looking back, I am still struggling in terms of time management. I did get a head start on conceptualising, but was stuck in the idea generation and concept development stage for too long such that I did not have enough time for the actual execution of taking the photos necessary and editing them. Moving forward, I would like to try my best to work faster and force myself to carry out my plans ahead of time, so that I have plenty of time to make any amendments. I would also like to be able to apply design principles better in the carrying out of my projects, as I feel that while I think of these things, I do not actually apply them to whatever my final work is.

Plane, Value, and Texture

PVT

Here are our slides for our Plane, Value and Texture presentation!

Elements of Design.pptxElements of Design.pptx-2 Elements of Design.pptx-3 Elements of Design.pptx-4 Elements of Design.pptx-5 Elements of Design.pptx-6 Elements of Design.pptx-7 Elements of Design.pptx-8 Elements of Design.pptx-9 Elements of Design.pptx-10

The simplest definition of a plane is simply a flat or level surface.

Geometry: A flat, two-dimensional surface generated by a straight line moving at a constant velocity with respect to a fixed point.

  •         Zero Dimensions: Dot
  •         One Dimensional: Line
  •         Two Dimensions: Plane
  •         Three Dimensions: Volume

 

Fine Arts: An area of a two-dimensional surface having determinate extension and spatial direction or position:

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/plane

Planes can arise as subspaces of some higher-dimensional space, as with a room’s walls extended infinitely far, or they may enjoy an independent existence in their own right, as in the setting of Euclidean geometry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_(geometry)

The Picture Plane and The Ground Plane

 

The PICTURE PLANE is the flat two-dimensional surface on which we draw or project an image in perspective. The picture plane can be thought of as being like a plate of glass behind which pictorial devices are used to render the elements of the picture in depth.

The GROUND PLANE is at 90 degrees to the picture plane.

http://www.artyfactory.com/perspective_drawing/perspective_1.html

In three-dimensional art, a plane surface is flat like the faces of a cube or pyramid, but sculptors also use the term for any area of a surface which is distinguishable as a separate part and which faces in more or less one direction, even though it is not completely flat.

Planes of reference are imaginary planes to which the position, direction, and movement of the axes and surfaces of the forms of three-dimensional objects may be related. The three principal planes of reference are the frontal, the horizontal and the profile planes. These planes are mutually perpendicular. They provide a complete spatial frame of reference for the forms of the sculpture.

http://www.arcyart.com/ad-plane.htm

 

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Value is defined as the relative lightness or darkness of a color, and can also be called luminosity. The darker the color, the higher its value, as that means it reflects more light. It defines form and creates spatial illusions.

Contrast of value separates objects in space, while gradation of value suggests mass and contour of a contiguous surface. Close values cause a blending effect and contrasting values cause separation.

Hue is the spectrum of colors. Each hue has a value as well. (E.g. shown when color images are converted to black and white images)

When referring to pigments, dark values with black added are called “shades” of the given hue name. Light values with white pigment added are called “tints” of the hue name. A “tone” is produced either by the mixture of a colour with grey, or by both tinting and shading.

 

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– Texture is the perceived surface quality of an artwork. It does not only engage our sense of touch, but our sense of sight too.

– Texture is an element of art that may be used to support or enhance the artist’s intentions. For example, rough > distress, smooth, flowy > calm

-Texture can be divided into a two categories.

> Actual or tactile texture on 3D surfaces

  It is the tactile quality of a surface, how it feels when touched or when in contact with skin. A fundamental element in 3D art. It is related to the choice of materials (wood, marble, steel, plaster, plastic, fabric), process (carving, welding, casting) and the final surface treatment (sanding, painting, polishing, waxing, patination (treating of a surface wth a chemical)).

> Artificial or illusion of texture on 2D surfaces

  Texture also exists on 2D surfaces. It is usually a result of drawing or painting the real texture. It is the illusion of texture. Using values and colour, the impression of texture can be created even if the surface of the base is still flat and smooth.

 

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2D Project 1: My Line is Emo – Sea My Emotions

At last, our first 2D project has come to an end. It was not a smooth sailing journey, but as they say, a smooth sea never made a skilful sailor.

This post will be the summary of this project and a break down of all 18 lines. For a much more detailed explanation, check out my process post for my thought processes and theme research, and my execution post for a behind the scenes look of how I achieved my final lines! I am quite happy with the final product, and I hope you like it too! Presenting, “Sea My Emotions”!


FINAL LAYOUT ◊ CONCEPT

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My final layout is a portrait A1 board with 554×25 mm strips. 

On the first monoprinting session, I brought along random things from my room that I thought would make interesting patterns or prints. From all of the prints produced, I found that most of them reminded me of the ocean. I also found that a toothbrush could make really intriguing patterns. It reminded me of how since I was a child, I would associate bath time with the ocean. This was how the idea of making the ocean my theme and bathroom objects my materials came about. While the association is made from personal experiences, I felt that the bathroom and the ocean are not too disparate for people to be able to make a connection between.

After several revisions of the layout, I finally settled on the A1 portrait as I thought that it would best capture the depth of the sea and could also deliver what I felt about the sea. The lines are divided into layers of the ocean (epipelagic to hadalpelagic), and each line represents a certain animal or plant that lives in that layer of the sea. I also controlled the values of each strip such that when viewed together, a gradual effect of light to dark can be seen. This is not only to showcase the physical nature of the waters (darker as it gets deeper), but also to heighten the visual connection of the emotions being arranged from positive to negative. The reason for this is my love-hate relationship with the sea. I am honestly quite terrified of the deep, dark waters, but I am also in love with its ethereal quality. I love just simply watching the waves break on the shore and the sea disappearing into the horizon. This is why I chose to arrange the emotions according to how I feel about the different layers of the ocean. I imagined myself sinking to the bottom of the ocean and visualised how I would feel while being in every layer. For a more detailed explanation, check here.

Without further ado, here is a break down of my 18 lines.


JOY

◊ RELIEF ◊  

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Every time I dive down into the sea, there is always a huge sense of relief that washes over me when I resurface, take a huge breath and look up to the sky. This is why for me, the sky represents relief. This piece is done by monoprinting on tracing paper using cotton to create a dreamy, cloud-like texture. 

◊ BLISS ◊ 

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As I mentioned before, I love watching the waves in motion. Whether it is still or raging, I like to just watch the waters go up and down, forwards and backwards. When I focus on the waves hitting the shore, I feel as if I am being sucked in and out of an otherworldly realm, even though in reality I am not moving at all. The sea is one of the places that can make me feel bliss. This piece is done by spraying Chinese ink on paper using a toothbrush.

◊ ELATION ◊

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Elation is represented by a clownfish. The striped pattern particularly reminds me of Nemo from “Finding Nemo”. For this strip, I came up with the specific emotion after creating the print. This for me is elation, because the vertical lines exude positivity and directs the eye in an upwards motion, hence showing how when happy, we are usually looking “upwards” and reaching for greater heights.

LOVE

◊ INFATUATION ◊

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This pattern represents jellyfish and infatuation. Jellyfish is one of the recurring inspiration in my art-making. In one way or another, I am sort of infatuated with the creature. The collage of water prints on  cartridge and tracing paper, along with the penned lines create a whimsical visual that I feel describes the state of mind of someone who is infatuated by someone when in love.

◊ PASSION ◊

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Ripped cotton with Chinese ink creates a really cool pattern on paper. There are fine lines and darker blocked areas which together creates a very organic form. I thought that this was reminiscent of clutters of coral reefs in the sea, beautiful in their many shapes and forms, and the dynamism of the lines, I feel, evoke passion.

◊ AFFECTION ◊ 

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While the tiger shark seems to be an unlikely candidate to represent affection, I chose to look at the patterns on its body and replicated it on tissue paper using block printing ink and shampoo. The result was a mellow-looking pattern, which is enhanced by the texture of the tissue paper. The overall softness of the look was what I feel demonstrated affection.

SURPRISE

◊ ASTONISHMENT ◊

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At this point of time, I do not really know what is under the sea anymore, and I imagine being surprised when encountering the different animals in this layer of the sea. I have never before seen giant tube worms, and was quite astonished when I Googled images of them. Hence, I tried to translate this onto the print by making swift motions of the wrist to create the dynamic lines using a toilet brush. I also used cotton bud for the heads of the tube worms.

◊ ALARM ◊

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Angler fish, with a light hanging from their heads, can come as quite a surprise, especially with their carnivorous nature. If encountered, one would feel quite alarmed and would panic for their safety, especially because you do not spend everyday actually meeting an angler fish. This piece is done using a comb to create the jagged teeth of the angler fish.

◊ BEWILDERMENT ◊

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The creation of this piece was quite experimental. After rolling ink using a stencil, I added white whiskers to mimic the limbs of a brittle star. After looking at the final result, I felt bewildered as I did not know how to feel about it. There are many things going on in the pattern, with the ink, the pattern caused by the stencil, and also the feathered acrylics. Hence I felt ‘bewilderment’ was most-fitting.

SADNESS

◊ SORROW ◊

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The eel is slimy and and moves in a slithery motion that feels slow and melancholic. I thought that this particular print looks like tears too, other than looking like the gliding bodies of eels. Hence I felt that sorrow is appropriate for this strip.

◊ GLOOM ◊

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This print replicates the texture of the skin of a dumbo octopus by haphazardly adding baby oil onto an ink-rolled linoleum. The grainy and dark quality of the print makes me feel a little depressed, especially with the overall pessimistic feel of the piece.The darkness enhances the sense of gloominess in the strip.

◊ WOE ◊

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Inspired by Rorschach, I used shampoo, block printing ink, water and Chinese ink to create this piece. Afterwards, I dissected the print and arranged the pieces side by side so as to create a line showing the gliding effect of a manta ray. The quality of spreading ink, as if caught in a paused moment of time, along with the dull colour of the newsprint, felt very sad and ethereal, hence I chose to assign ‘woe’ to this strip. 

ANGER

◊ TRAUMA ◊

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This depiction of a basket sea star is rather explosive and horrific in nature, reminding me of overgrown, abandoned forests with branches that poke the life out of you. It looks rather painful and almost physical, as if like thorns in your mind that grow after a painful experience. Therefore I felt that this represents trauma.

◊ ENVY ◊

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This was one of the most interesting prints that I created, and it was quite a spontaneous result. By adding facial foam on top of ink and pressing it down, This vein-like texture, which looks extremely similar to gills, is created. I felt that the spreading effect of the veins, very meticulous and fine, creates a haunting feeling of how envy could spread throughout our bodies. 

◊ FURY ◊

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This line is quite similar to the angler fish line in terms of execution. However, I created the finer, sharp teeth of a stoplight loosejaw by using a toilet brush instead of a comb. I also angled them to create the illusion of many wide open jaws, which is a key feature of the stoplight loosejaw. The intensity and movement shown through the line quality mimics a bout of fury perfectly.

FEAR

◊ TERROR ◊

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While replicating the physical form of the ping pong tree sponge, I also found out that the circular pattern creates a haunting ink spreading effect that reminds me of evil lurking from within the darkness. This I feel exudes terror in its simplest sense.

◊ NERVOUSNESS ◊

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I have always visualised nervousness as a dark, empty room. And at this layer of the sea, everything is dark with no light at all. There is a feeling of some glowing light like when you close your eyes for too long and start imagining what light would look like. Hence I linked this with bioluminescence, a feature owned by animals who actually live in this depth of the ocean.

◊ DISTRESS ◊

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We have finally reached the bottom of the ocean. I chose to use hair rollers to create disturbing patterns to represent the ocean floor as this is the most distressing part of the ocean, where I feel that there is no hope at all and there is a culmination of panic, worry, and a high level of fear in my mind. In the final strip, I selected the crop mostly the darker area.


PRESENTATION ◊ CONCLUSION

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In the presentation, I played a sea soundtrack to accompany my work. For the first ten seconds, I allowed my classmates to just stay still and listen to the sounds of waves while looking at my work. I included the audio as I felt that this would better let the audience know that my work is about the ocean. I also wanted to create a calm ambience that would naturally lead their eyes to the lighter coloured strips on the top of the work, and afterwards moving their gaze slowly down. Sadly I forgot to document this process and I also did not take a picture of the speakers set-up (which was placed on the floor just under the work).

Sea soundtrack that I used.

The presentation went well and I generally managed to say what I wanted to say within the time limit.

Overall, I had good fun doing this project and managed to pick up some new skills along the way. The feedback given to me by Joy and my classmates were motivating and helpful. I would definitely keep them in mind for upcoming projects. One of the most important improvement that I should work on is to do more actual work and experimentation instead of dwelling too much on ideas. After all, ideas will stay as ideas unless they are acted upon. I also need to work faster, this will allow me to perhaps open up more possibilities in my art-making. For a more detailed reflection on my processes, check out the execution post

Also, I loved watching my classmates’ presentations as they were really intriguing and inspiring. From using scents, mindful placement of their final work, well-thought concepts, beautiful technique to participatory arts, I think G09 has definitely done a good job for project 1. Really, a huge round of applause to my classmates!


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4D Project 1: Picture Story – Curating Self

Three tasks for the 4D foundation module bombed us on the first day of university. Oh mamamia I have never even done real photography before. Nevertheless, I was really excited to finally learn photography/filming, bit by bit. Here are the final work and a short write-up, along with the artist references I used.

For more detailed processes, artist references analysis, reflections and some behind the scenes, check out the WIP post here!!


◊ TASK 1 ◊ ME ◊

4D task 1 I reflect on others 4D task 1 others on me4D task 1 self reflection

Task one’s main theme is reflections. The first two photographs show how I influence others and how I am influenced by others. In a sense, there is a reflection of myself in my friends and there are also parts of my friends that become a part of me. 

In the first photograph, I shot a very natural scene of my friends hanging out, and using a handheld mirror (no Photoshop) I reflected my face towards the camera, effectively replacing one of my friend’s heads with my face. This is supposed to illustrate how my actions sometimes influence my friends in some ways. The use of mirrors is inspired by Nan Golding, who used mirrors in multiple photographs to show self-reflection (psychologically), and the reflection of the true self (physically). 

In the second photograph, I did not use mirrors and used cutouts of pictures of my friend’s facial features instead. This is inspired by Metra Bruno and Laurence Jeanson’s “Identity Project”, where they used magazine cutouts to juxtapose everyday humans with the idea of beauty imposed upon us by advertisements and the media. Borrowing just the method, I tried to illustrate how I am also a reflection of my friends’ habits and way of thinking. The way I speak is usually influenced by those around me, hence I have my friend’s mouth pasted over my mouth. When I spend my time with someone talking about issues, I will also be able to see the world from their point of view, hence the eye. I still have one of my own eyes as I still have my point of view too. Although a little bit unnatural, I chose to show a smiling face as these influences do not bear a negative impact on me.

Lastly is a reflection of myself in the mirror. This photograph illustrates how I show a certain side of me to the world and there is a side that I do not usually show. To do this, I used one of my physical attributes as an analogy. I have a youth mark on my left shoulder that extends to my elbow. I used to always hide the youth mark as I was not confident about it. As such, I always show my “right side” to the world. However, my true self is still reflected on the mirror, which in this case is an object that is impartial and shows truth. This is meant to show how I have come to terms with my physicality and am now confident of my body/true self. Thus the focus is on my reflection in the mirror and not me on the foreground. 

Final layout:

4D task 1 I reflect on others 4D task 1 others on me 4D task 1 self reflection


◊ TASK 2 ◊ OBJECT ◊

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For task 2, I chose my crochet needle and yarn, which I take as one object and for me they come as a set. Crochet was a huge part of my life in 2015, when I had my A Level Art final work submission. It was my choice of medium for my final work, Metastasis. At first I was intimidated by the technique, especially because it was a new skill for me.The first photograph is in portrait, with me at the side as an attempt to make it look more disconcerting. The second picture is an objective shot showing the physical qualities of the needle and yarn. I took step back and took a neutral look at it, and tried to see how I can make use of crochet for both my art making and personal life. In the last photograph, I tried to show how I eventually grew to love crocheting, which is now a very comforting hobby for me. This is what I tried to show using these three photographs. 

Shooting was quite fun and although I was met with some unprecedented difficulties, I managed to make do with what I had. You can check out some behind the scenes here!

Final layout:

4D task 2 fear   4D task 2 neutral   4D task 2 comfort


◊ TASK 3 ◊ MY WORLD ◊

4D task 3 AJCH 4D task 3 Dunman 4D task 3 Hall 2

Task 3 required us to photograph a place that is significant to us or fascinates us. I have a number of significant places back in my home country, Indonesia, but obviously I cannot take photographs of those places as I am in Singapore. Instinctively, I thought of the word “home” in terms of Singapore. I never had a permanent address, so to say, as I have been living in different hostels across Singapore, depending on the school that I am currently attending. I used to refuse to call these hostels “home”, but eventually I grew attached to Singapore, the places, and the people whom I am happy to call my family. These hostels, while temporary, are the place that I can call home.

In all three photographs, the idea is to capture them as a light in the darkness, a lighthouse that guides ships safely to the harbour. I usually get back to my hostel at night, and these buildings are the first landmarks I see that tells me I am finally home, safe and sheltered, and makes me feel very grateful and welcomed. By manipulating the ISO and shutter speed settings, I was finally able to get these illuminating shots. Lighting-wise, I was inspired by Cindy Sherman’s use of dramatic and theatrical lighting in her untitled film stills.

Final layout: 

4D task 3 AJCH 4D task 3 Dunman 4D task 3 Hall 2


◊ FINAL PRESENTATION LAYOUT ◊

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For the final presentation, I decided to place task 3, My World, in the middle as I feel that the place is the centre of the other two themes, which are about me and my hobby. I have spent nearly a quarter of my life in Singapore, and these years are quite the important time of my life. During my years in Singapore, I have grown out of my fake, pretend shell and fully embraced myself for who I am. I found out aspects of my personality that I have not known before, like how I am easily influenced by others and how I influence others. I am also more confident about my body and am no longer shy about my youth mark. Singapore is also where I found my love for crochet. In the middle of this all would be the hostels I have stayed in, as they are the “replacements” that I can go home to.

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Overall, it was a good challenge for me as I am not very familiar with photography, although I am very interested in filmmaking and such. I also enjoyed watching my friends’ presentations and getting to know them a little better through their photographs. There was a key takeaway from everyone’s presentation, and I feel that it is a good way for us to learn too. Bravo to everyone!