The Day that Cardillacs Stands up

Artwork Review

(Source taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Ranch#/media/File:Cadillac_Ranch.jpg)

Title: Cadillac Ranch

Artist: Chip Lord

Year created: 1974/1994

Medium: Installation

Overview

Cadillac Ranch is an installation of 10 Cadillac’s buried nose deep in a line, in the dirt along route 66 west of Amarillo.

Its almost as if they were droven off a cliff and plunged head first into the ground. Now useless, the owners wander off looking for help and the Cadillacs lay, left there buried with their tailfins in the air waiting for travellers to chance upon it.

After awhile, the work was subjugated to the whims of the travellers, meaning they were either defaced with graffitti or ripped apart as souvenirs. Whats left of these cars are but a line of rainbow coloured skins of their former selves, rebirth into comic relief for a travellers amusement.

Cadillac Fatality.

(Source taken from: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220)

Ant Farm

As mentioned by Constance Lewallen, in his writing ‘Still Subversive After all These Years’

Ant Farm — a collective of radical architects who were also video, performance, and installation artists but, above all, visionaries and cultural commentators — offers an intriguing look into the conceptual activity of the late sixties and seventies, a time that has proved to be seminal for succeeding generations of adventuresome artists.

Their work embraces ‘the latest technologies to disseminate its scathing criticism of American culture and mass media’.

In the case of the Cadillac Ranch it is a commentary about consumerism and maybe pop culture. What a car and a crashed car is in society. More interestingly is how members of the online communitty take to the idea of a crashed car.

Its almost Ironic, how one can act so indifferent and even gleeful of the idea of chancing upon a crashed car. How satirical their photos get when they interact with the car itself.

Decades have passed. The Cadillacs have now been in the ground as art longer than they were on the road as cars. They are stripped to their battered frames, splattered in day-glo paint splooge, barely recognizable as automobiles. Yet Cadillac Ranch is more popular than ever.

As quoted from roadsideamerica.com

The pink period was one of the most popular.

in an attempt to cover the grafitti

And in a way it is quite interesting as it changes in an unsual way with time.  The artwork evolves with evey added touch of a new tourist own creativity into the mix. It keeps conversations going, give people something new to talk about.

Sources:

  • https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220
  • http://www.stretcher.org/features/still_subversive_after_all_these_years/
  • http://amarillo.com/stories/070404/fea_artbeat.shtml#.WpaDXK6WbIU
  • http://www.spatialagency.net/database/ant.farm
  • https://www.moma.org/collection/works/107284
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Ranch
  • https://www.eai.org/titles/cadillac-ranch-1974-1994
  • http://slide.ly/buzz/view/0753e05835bf697ae7eee5b1329f801f

 

Let us DIWO

DIWO and Maker Culture

During our Week 5 lesson we had the chance to have a lecture with Marc Garrett. He talks about the Furtherfield and how the idea of ‘Do-It-With-Others’ (DIWO) has allowed them to achieve greater heights.

What is so great about this idea of DIWO though?

Whilst many artist are able to create artworks by themselves, DIWO brings across this idea of community, a sort of shared experience that can be felt amongst others. It becomes a more accessible art, and even in the case they are almost like volunteery projects that help the community, or ‘Values-In-Action’ as we call it in Singapore.

Image result for furtherfield projects

(Source taken from: https://www.facebook.com/Furtherfield/)

On their website thery have various workshops like ‘Design 4 ACTION! Permaculture Course’ and exhibitions all aimed towards helping the community.

It explores the extent of which those who view and interact with work, including those from under-represented groups, becomes co-producers in the network, rather then the ‘audience’.

(Source taken from: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/beuys-7000-oak-trees-ar00745)

When I think large scale community progects I think of this art project by Joseph Beuys, ‘7,000 oaks’. ‘7,000 oaks’ start with 7,000 basalt stone, each a pair to one of the 7,000 trees, were piled in front of the Museum Fridericianu. Everytime a tree was planted the pile was reduced. While the project idea was started by one man, it took a community to help make this project successful, and later the project spread further into other communities with this idea of wanting to change.

Maybe in a way, its because this issues are important to the community, which will eventually become the drive, all the call to action.

Subsequently there is this idea of pooling ideas together to create something better.

Furtherfield connects people to new ideas, critical thinking and imaginative possibilities for art, technology and the world around us. Through artworks, labs and debate people from all walks of life explore today’s important questions.

Similar to them, our Experimental Interaction lessons aim to nuture this idea of collaboration. In our micro-project the tele-stroll,  we made use of the idea of the third space to create a video where two people in two different locations could interact as either a single person, or keep the company of each other. It is playful and brings together the ideas of two individuals to create something  even better.

Even a bit more recently, there is the idea of our glitched art works, which is a combination of the ideas of various people. It comes out differently, sort of representing how different each and everyone of us thinks.

The Conclusion

Thinking about it now, two heads are always better then one, and thats because our ideas are different, the way we work is different, and thats probably why DIWO would be a good thing for the makers culture, as the ideas of many would result in something far more creative then just the ideas of one.

 

Image Making Through Type Final

Final thoughts

So this is the out come of the past few weeks labour.

The first two looks a lot like each other, due to my set mindset of having them take on the similar aesthetic.

 

Subsequently, the third one is vastly different, where I tried to do things in a different perspective. This one was more exploratory then finished I feel.

The Last one is more grounded in how it branches away from the similar style of the first two, but it is also due to the fact that this one was referencing a style that already exists.

In conclusion, I think there is still a lot I can improve on for this project.

Image Making Through Process

For the next few days I went about illustrating my job in font. I didnt like the idea of scrolling through free font sites looking for a base font to build on my illustration.

The Sketches

This sketch was for an initial idea of the Chemist, however I realised that i too many options of which I was more interested to pursue, hence dropped the idea in its early stages of developement.

These were the basic sketches that eventually become the base for the pattissier illustration. I had a hard time deciding whether I wanted to portray the finished product (all the cakes) or the process of making a cake, so I did a short study of both.

These were the sketches that I had done up for the idea of the magician/circus performer. I wanted it to be very narrative with alot of things going on. However there were several factors that would lead me to change that idea eventuall. Thus the early stages of development had resulted in less defined alphabet sketches, but more details into how an actual object can look like an Alphabet. (Also without colour it is quite hard to differentiate the alphabet from the background).

This was the last of my sketches, but not the last of my exploration. I was really enthusiastic about this job prospect as there was a lot of things that i could play with to create my name. Different toys and tools, and I event had time to play with the prospect of creating my full name.

Playing with digital media

So I took to illustrating the Pattissier first, since i had a rather clear idea of what aesthetic I wanted to achieve from it.

I used Illusrator as I wanted a flat, pop art style that makes it ‘cute’. I did illustrate the two different ways that I mentioned above, one being with all the cakes all lined up as my name, and the other being the one where I illustrate a cake and the process of making the cake.

I went with the finished cakes, as it was more adorable, and it illustrated the idea of pattissier alright (my friends could tell what job it was, so it means I got my meaning across just fine).

I had a bit of trouble when creating the cakes, because it is not very easy to recreate texture on a vector system.

Image result for tart

(Source taken from: https://www.thespruce.com/fruit-tart-with-pastry-cream-filling-995161)

Image result for cake

(Source taken from: https://celebdear.com/product/velvet-chocolate-cake/)

There is only so much detail you can put in on a tiny illustration and there is way too many things I want to put on my cakes like the shine on the fruit, and the crispness of the tart.

Subsequently I illustrated the Toymaker idea in the form of ‘Doll maker’ again on Illustrator. I felt that by doing so I could kind of merge the idea of fashion designer and doll maker into one, seeing as both may end up doing this similar process (One making the doll the product and the other the doll as a mock up for their actual dress).

It is set in the workshop, as I felt that by showing the process i can have a variety of things go into the illustration, not just the idea of ‘collecting’ toys.

I did this with the similar style as the first. However, I had feed back to try and do something different, so I tried to branch out for the third piece.

The third piece has a mix of Photoshop and Illustrator. I wanted a museum curator because i like the idea of arranging collections as an aesthetic. So i created the halls of the museum in Illustrator before realising that if I was going to photo collage this, Photoshop would be more effective.

It got a bit messy after that as I started to piece images together.

There is a lot of things I can improve on for the composition, but I did not have the time to do it. However I think its mostly due to the perspective of with I based the entire illustration in.

I did the last one entirely in Photoshop, trying to branch away from over relying on the style of illustrating.

I had an initial idea of having it in a similar aesthetic as the first two but I was dissuaded from continuing down that line, so it remained like that.

So this illustration was supposed to be about being a magician or a circus performer. I was searching under ‘magician aesthetics’ for this, and ‘circus aesthetics’ when I came across a circus poster, and went with that as the main aesthetic for this final illustration.

Image result for circus posters

(Source taken from: https://www.etsy.com/listing/87011761/vintage-circus-poster-circus-procession)

Image result for circus posters

(source taken from: http://www.elcheapoposters.com/ringling-bros-barnum-amp-bailey-circus-poster-6-circus010.html)

I really liked the animal ones, and also it was easier to find pictures that would reflect the style of these posters.

 

Image Making Through Type Research

So for this project we are tasked with illustrating our name (nickname, initials, surname, etc) in a way that would describe our future job.

When I think of future jobs, I mostly think of artsy things like fashion, working in a museum, and making toys. However, that would make the scope rather narrow, so I branches into other fields and thought of how I would like to portray myself in an aesthetic manner. Hence i came up with being a magician or circus performer and a pattissier, which I felt had a more whimsical touch to it.

Toy maker

When searching ‘toy maker’, most of the search results show images of wooden toy makers.

Image result for toymaker

(source taken from: https://theaudienceawards.com/films/the-toymaker-86476)

Th source above is about Venezuelan folk artist Mario Calderón and features the toys that he makes. They are mostly humanoid beings painted in bright highly saturated colours. His theme for his tys is a relflection of childhood, and has a very fun and whimsical aesthetic.

Image result for artist Mario Calderón

(Both sources were taken from: https://www.folkartmarket.org/artist/mario-calderon/) The above are just some of the examples of Mario Calderón’s work.

In this case i would have my illustrate the workshop and the process of the toys created.

However, I felt that there are many example of toys (Stuffed toys, collectibles, dolls, board games) hence maybe I would like to dive further into what kind of toys I would like to ‘make in future’.

(source taken from: Pixar Animation Studio’s Toy Story 2 (1999))

I remembered this scene in Toy story where Woody had to have his arm reattached, and I thought of how interesting the tool box full of doll touch up parts were.

I also watched some Youtubers who make custom dolls.

(Source was screen shot from Youtuber Dollightful’s video ‘ Your First Custom: Selection + Preparation [Part 1]’ at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fen8kUQHfjE)

(Source was screen shot from Youtuber Dollightful’s video ‘ Sewing Doll clothes tutorial Part 1’ at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdUviy9uYpk)

Her videos provide the process of customizing your own dolls.

Subsequently, there was another aspect of the finish products that I could portray, with the toys kept neatly in the shelves like a toy seller instead.

Fashion designer

So as a fashion designer, there are a few stages in designing, first being ideation in the form of sketches, second is the gathering of materials, third being production of the clothing and lastly the runway.

Image result for fashion designer workshop

(source taken from: https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-25592858-stock-footage-fashion-designer-draws-sketches-for-a-new-collection-in-her-workshop.html)

Image result for fashion designer workshop

(source take from: http://www.loveandotherbugs.com/fashion/decoding-fashion-terms/)

I want to illustrate the process of producing the clothes, and maybe incorporate parts that suggest ideation and material gathering. Which also means that I would have to research clothes designs.

Curator

So I had the idea of being a Curator as i like the idea of this large collection of things.

(Source taken from: https://broadway.showtickets.com/new-york-tours-attractions/american-museum-of-natural-history-new-york/)

Image result for national history museum new york

(Source taken from: https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g60763-d210108-i145902047-American_Museum_of_Natural_History-New_York_City_New_York.html)

I visited the National History Museum in New York a few years ago and was drawn instantly to how they curated their large collection of taxidermy and fossils. Its almost as if visiting the zoo as seen by the above picture where the ‘animals’ could be seen in the ‘natural habitat’.

I hope that this would not become too detailed to the point that it would become a narrative.

Magician or Circus Performer

In the case of a magician, i would be illustrating certain props that magicians use.

Image result for magician

(Source is taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hat-trick_(magic_trick))

 

However, thinking about it, I find that only using the props of magicians might be a bit narrow, hence widen the scope to more of circus acts.

(Source is taken from: https://www.thedodo.com/ringling-bros-circus-close-down-2182308918.html)

Image result for circus

(source take from: https://gazette.gmu.edu/articles/13399)

Image result for circus

(Source taken from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4861954/Escaped-tiger-killed-Georgia-owned-circus.html)

Related image

(Source was taken from: http://mypieceofculture.tumblr.com/post/159451338879/witch-aesthetics-circus-witch-chaos-witch)

The only problem i had with this was that it may be a bit too narrative.

Patissier

I like sweets, they come in many forms, many colours. I specifically like walking into those high end bakeries to stare at the sweets.

Image result for patisserie kitchen

(source was taken from: http://www.windsorstar.com/life/news/Gallery+Nadege+Patisserie/6522454/story.html)

Image result for patisserie kitchen

(Source taken from: https://ganachepatisserie.com.au/10-essential-pieces-of-patisserie-equipment-for-beginners/)

For this illustration, i am considering between having it illustrate the process of making a cake vs having and illustration of a store front.

In the case of the former, i would be referencing more on the tools and the processes used to make the cake like the above pictures. Hence maybe only one letter in my name will be a pastry and the rest will be tools, emphasizing on the fact that it has just been completed.

Subsequently, I could also have a store front to show the cakes that I have ‘made’. In that case, i would be studying the various kinds of gourmet desserts and how they will become the letters of my name.

(source taken from: http://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/recipes/recipe-search/chefs-recipes/2013/1/strawberry-shortbread/)

Image result for gourmet desserts

(source taken from: https://www.gettyimages.ae/detail/photo/mixed-gourmet-desserts-royalty-free-image/159719686)

Image result for tart

(source taken from: https://www.tastemade.co.uk/videos/matilda-tart)

However this may come across more of a cake seller rather then a patissier.

When your N̸̰̙̻̖̮̭͚̊͆̑̄͐̉̕̕̕͝í̵̛̫̞͖͇͕̲̤̗̳͈͍̝͋͆̕g̶̡̡̡̛̣̙̹̣̠̳̞̞͉̻̱̓̎̽̈́̂͋͑͌͌͠h̸̨̨̟̺̙̖͉̺͈̻͔̻̱̗̓̏̒̄̍̀̓̾̚ṫ̶͓̠͎̗̞̬̺̟̲̭̀͐̂͆̽̔̒̒̀̇͗́͆́m̷̰͊̆̏̅͋̓̈́́͊͘a̷̢͙̤͇͓͉͇̹̞̯̰͈̮͑͑̃̈͝͠r̵̡̤̰̥͙̝̄͒͂̾̾͑̋̈́͑͌͠ͅe̵̛̼̲͕͖̗͙̝̣̝̍͗͗̓̂͝s̴̱̼͈͇͕̣͍͇̝̍̉͝ Become Reality

Micro-Project 5

So we were playing with G̴͔̘͚̞͚̞͓̭͈͛̓͆̏̈́̅̀͒͂ļ̵̫̓̾́̃̈́́̐͝í̴̢̧̝̰̱̗̰͙̘̖̼̜̪͎t̶̬͓̙̹̊ͅč̷̨̢̜͖̪̪͇̫̼̭̳̎͒̈́̆̈͐͗̂̈́̕̚͝ͅh̸̢̭͈͈̟̖̖̙̱̼̠̝̽̑̇͛͜ͅ ̶̲̠͉̭͍̦͎̬̪̙̣̜́͐͆̎͛̉͑a̶̡̧̟̺͎̫̜̳̗̤̣͎͗͐͂̉̎͛͛́́͐̇̚͜͜͝͝r̵͇͆̓̾̓̈͊̀̅̇̇̓̉ẗ̴̨̡͓̩͎͖̦͎̘̪̟̲̲̬͔́̈́̀͆̀͌̑ Today.

We were asked to edit one group mates image and then save it. Next we pass it to the next group mate to re edit again. the process repeats till everyone has edited the image once.

So my group members edited my image something along the lines of the image below.

Its quite fun actually, defacing  each others pictures, in fact most of them did not look like ourselves after the entire transformation was over. Its more interesting when we don’t look like ourselves anyway.

Together, a story of many

Week 3 Essay

Hello World! Or: How I Learned to Stop Listening and Love the Noise

Artwork title: Hello World! or: How I Learned to Stop Listening and Love the Noise

Artist: Christopher Baker

Medium: Multi-channel multimedia installation

Year created: 2008

The Review

Hello world is a video installation where 5,000 video diaries of various individuals are played along a wall. The people in the videos can be seen speaking in their rooms, kitchens, a space of comfort.

Walking into the gallery space, one is instantly immersed in layers of voices, overlapping to the point that the words blend and become noise. It is as though you are listening to them talk about something intimate, nd at the same time, their personal issues are made public. You hear everything but at the same time you hear nothing in a sea of voices.

His works is a visual representation of the modern lifestyle of being constantly interconnected despite being far apart.

The concept is similar to that mentioned in Randall Packer’s writing ‘The Third Space’ in regards to the art work ‘Hole in Space’. He mentions the idea of a ‘third space’ being created, or a virtual identity being transimitted from one party to another through technology.

Image result for hole in space art

(source taken from: http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/hole-in-space/)

In this case the works differ in the the sense that ‘Hole in Space’ is a live broadcast, which is ephemeral, it is ever changing depending on the people and how they interact. On the other hand, ‘Hello World!’ is a collection of pre-recorded videos, hence the interaction becomes one-way. That means that there would be a distinctive lack of communication between the people whose videos are put up.

When we were in class, we talk about how communication is important when working as a collective whole to make a work cohesive. So it is amazing to see the images contrast with each despite the lack negotiation.

Credits

  • Christopher Baker: Hello World! (n.d.). Retrieved February 07, 2018, from http://www.huhmagazine.co.uk/3200/christopher-baker-hello-world!
  • Gallery, S. (n.d.). Christopher Baker. Retrieved February 07, 2018, from http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/artpages/christopher_baker_hello_world2.htm
  • Packer, Randall, Open Source Studio, IEEE Spectrum, 2015

Telematic Embrace, Together but Not

Mirco-Project 3 

The review

During lesson, our class went through what was coined the ‘telematic embrace’.

During the lesson we held a online conference on Adobe Connect. Then we were asked to do a few tasks in front of our web cams. From where we sat, we could all see most of our classmates undergo each task rather differently, resulting in a wall of rather interesting imagery.

(Source was an image shared by our proffessor Randall Packer)

The task above was to share a photo we have on our phone. Through this exchange, we are able to learn alot about our own classmate. The photos we have on our phone says alot about who we are personally. In a situation where they are placed next to each other it is a playful contrast of of our personalities, despite sharing the same major.

(Source was an image shared by our proffessor Randall Packer)

The task above was to place our clear water bottles over the screen to create and interesting effect. Despite being quite easy to create, to achieve such a synchronised collaborative art work, one must be willing to cooperate and negotiate. In each photo that we have contributed to, it is only due to our willingness to follow the instructions given to us that we are able to create a cohesive combined image.

The conclusion

This idea of ‘Do-It-With-Others’ would have rather unpredictable results despite the contributers having the same set of instructions. It makes the outcome of the works surprising and unique as various ideas contrast and complement each other.