AY1617 S1 FDN2D1 G2

Josiah – Ego

A Heartland Christmas

This was the first composition that I worked on and the beginning of my struggles. Up until now, I still think that I have a lot to learn about colours but this was a good start to have.

Colour Palette Choice & Meaning

I wanted to make use of traditional Christmas colours. I also foolishly attempted to use split complimentary colours on my first 3 frames. I made composed each frame in this set before adding the colours. I also made use of monochromatic colours to create shadows.

Other than the obvious relation that Red and Green have to Christmas-

Red was used to evoke a sense of passion and enthusiasm for the arrival of Santa Claus and the celebrations of Christmas. A deeper red was used to represent my mother for “a mother’s love”.

The colour green was used to compliment the colour red. The green used here is also meant to evoke a sense of life. Green was used to represent my father as he is the down-to-earth one. In this way, my parents compliment each other.

Blue was used to create a sense of quiet in the each frame. While the feelings about Xmas are quite lively and energetic, we spend time together in comfortable silence. This is especially true because we all sleep early. We treasure sleep very much.

Cream? Very light Yellow?: I thought about using white because it is commonly associated with Xmas, but Singapore does not experience a white Xmas. Instead, I opted for something different. I used this “cream” colour to give the composition a little warmth to contrast with the cool night sky and the cool living room.

The gold of the bells and baubles are such because that’s the colours that they normally come in. Also, the use of different colours gives off the sense of celebration and cheer.

David vs. Goliath (Bullies)

Colour Palette Choice & Meaning

For this set, I wanted to make use of triadic colours. The most dominant colour is red and it is used to represent the danger in the first two frames as well as aggression in all the frames. I had the blue which is used to represent uniformity and sadness. The yellow and blue were mostly used in tribute to my own primary school which uses the same colours. Yellow often represents cheerfulness but in this, it represents youthfulness. Next to the blue and red, it represents the sadness and pains of growing up.

Sesame Street

Colour Palette Choice & Meaning

For this set, I used mostly monochromatic colours with a a little use of analogous colours. Monochromatic colours of grey-ish green was used to bring out a sense of bleakness and depression. The analogous yellow was used to evoke a sense of hope, which was why it was used so sparingly. In addition, Oscar’s colour is in a particular shade of green, which represent trash and dirt.

The Perfect Pair

For this set, I used mostly monochromatic colours. I find monochromatic colours to be generally more harmonious to work with. To make other elements stand out, namely the character of me, the significant other, and the priest (and also sock Jesus), I made strong use of vibrant, bright colours for me and my significant other. Because the priest is part of the church, I used blue to make him not completely pop out in the frame; blue also represents faith and devotion. Sock Jesus happens to be white to represent holiness and purity.

After completing this assignment, I feel more keen to experiment with colours because I have still so much to learn. This was a good kickstarter and I hope that I will be more conscious in colour decisions. In film, colour grading plays a big part in setting the tone. I need to get better at this.

Things that I have learnt:

Live paint (Illustrator) is pretty amazing – Thanks Kim for teaching me how to use this.

Paletteon.com is great.

Shortcuts with pen tool. (I have become more proficient with Ai.

Good job, Highsock. Maybe you didn’t score, but at least you failed and you learnt. You learnt something and that is the point of school.

Egoism – To make an omelette

You have to break a few eggs.

And break a some eggs, I did.

I wish that I had taken screenshots of my first try at working on the compositions, but I was really just trying out the pen tool in Illustrator.

As you can expect, it didn’t work out so well.

I worked on the Xmas composition first, thinking that because of the usual Xmas colours (Red, Green, White), I would not have to think about the colours so much. How Rong was I? I was so wrong.

There was something about it that just looked bad. I could tell, but I just didn’t know what. I approached The Kim Nguyen of G2 for advice.

She brought to my attention the use of colours as tones – something that we had learnt in Foundation Drawing while working with pastels.

She also showed me a couple of illustrations that she was inspired by and that got me thinking about illustrations that I liked – namely Steven Universe (A cartoon show). I chanced upon the artwork of one of the art directors of Steven Universe, Elle Michalka.

With this newly acquired knowledge, I started working on the compositions, proper.

My first attempt at using a colour palette.

screen-shot-2016-11-13-at-4-28-10-pm — A more successful attempt with a colour palette (in my opinion)

screen-shot-2016-11-14-at-12-38-40-am — A great amount of time was spent making this tiny santa

Egoism – Ideation

This project is the one that I dread the most because I have huge difficulty working with colours. I just don’t feel that strongly for the effects of colours when I am using them. I can recognise good use of colours some times, but most times I just don’t feel that strongly for that one type of red over the other type of red. Woe is me.

For this project, my main objective is to be able to create harmonious compositions in terms of use of colours.

I will be using illustrator because that is the only medium I know where you can cmd+z.

To start off, I based all depictions of characters off my instagram name: Highsock. (A name that people in G2 have come to associate me with)

From there, I did mindmap of potential ideas; some more dark than others.

After this, I decided on my final four equations.

Me in Primary School
Me having Xmas with the family
Me in love
Me in Sesame Street

Josiah – Forrest Gump

Visual Elements:

The quote means that beauty is a lure to death. The angler fish is frightening and also a representation of that lure to death and the lure of the angler fish is a flower, which is the representation of beauty. I used a hibiscus flower as it represented acknowledging beauty in Victorian times. The pistil of the hibiscus is a line that draws your attention towards the flower itself – just like a lure.The halftone of the angler fish gives it a level of depth as it looks like it is in the shadows. This is in contrast to the flower that is clear as day. The painting frame is a nod to the film, where a character says the above quote in response to not wanting to give up a painting. Coincidentally, a painting is also a symbol of beauty. The frame gives depth to the image within which enhances the feeling of being lured into the void that is death, hence the use of a black ‘canvas’.

Design Principles:

Unity/Harmony – Perspective is used to show depth or distance between the frame, the angler fish and its lure.

Symmetry – The symmetrical balance of the composition gives off the feeling of calm and patience; like being stalked by a predator. “It’s quiet…too quiet.”

Similarity/Contrast – Contrast of the negative space and the angler fish make the subject pop out, like from the shadows.

Dominance/Emphasis/ – The flower is at the centre of the frame and the halftone of the angler fish makes it recede into the back. This makes the flower the centre of attention.

Hierarchy – The frame and lines leading you into the elements within it. The angler fish has the subject of the flower within it. Each of these things lead your eye to the flower in the centre.

Scale/Proportion – The flower is a lot smaller than the angler fish. This is to make the angler fish seem larger and therefore increase the sense of danger and tension.

Visual Elements:

The quote is about sacrifice and letting go. I started out with the image of a nut, used to hold all the elements within. The wolf is a representation of the Iron Giant. It is leaping out of the sphere that is breaking apart. It leaps to the void to protect the innocent boy. The boy looks on at the wolf. The way the boy looks at the wolf feels like a farewell. The sphere at the centre of the composition is a representation of the world. The sphere is breaking apart. It is literally about the world that is about to be destroyed, leaving the Iron Giant to protect it. It is also about how the boy’s world is about to be shattered because the Iron Giant is about to leave to sacrifice itself.

Design Principles:

Symmetry/Asymmetry – While the composition looks almost flat and symmetrical, the breaking of the sphere breaks the symmetry. This adds to the feeling of unease at the loss of something precious. It also makes the composition more dynamic.

Hierarchy/Scale/Proportion – Apart from the broken bits of the sphere directing your attention to the wolf, the size of the wolf is much bigger is also leaping out. The lines of the principle axis of the wolf leads you to the boy who is looking towards the wolf, forming an imaginary line.

Visual Elements:

The composition is almost all in pixelated halftone. This makes it feel as though freedom is a blurry mess and it disorientates. The American Bald Eagle is a representation of freedom and it looks down on us and makes us feel small. The sunset brings about a sense of freedom but the sharp lines cut through the cloud, pointing towards the eagle almost as if to say that freedom is painful. Lastly, we have the feather which are shaped like crosses, implying that freedom is a burden.

Composition:

Unity/Harmony – The repeated use of the feather cross gives a sense of unity. The different sizes of the feather crosses gives a sense of perspective and depth to the composition.

Scale/Proportion – The size of the eagle makes it the first thing you see.

Similarity/Contrast – The different sizes of the feather crosses. Most of the images look clearly halftoned except the feathers and maybe the eagle.

Balance – While the composition is hardly symmetrical, there is a sort of balance in elements in the composition that gives a sort of symmetry to it.

Visual Elements:

The quote is about ‘taking it easy’; very much like inner peace hence Buddha being in the centre. Buddha is seating on mandala ‘carpet’ – a subtle reference to the film where the Dude’s rug is ruined. The mandala is a spiritual symbol in Indian religions for the universe. In a way, the worldly issues of the world are beneath the Dude. The roundness of the bowling ball and the balanced composition gives off the feeling of peace; there is no tension or turmoil. The textures of the ball gives off a hippy, psychedelic feel. This is to set the mood of the composition as being very spacey (as in the Dude being spaced out). The three holes in the bowling ball are meant to represent the 3 marks of existence – Impermanence, Unsatisfactoriness or Suffering, and Non-self. The marks of existence are all behind Buddha. In a way, this says that the Dude is not bothered by these things. The shades on buddha makes it much more obvious to see that there are no worries.

Design Principles:

Balance – The composition feels balanced even though the three holes of the bowling ball give it a little bit of asymmetry. At the centre of it, Buddha. This is very similar to Early Christian/Romanesque Christian art where the Christ is at the centre of attention.

Hierarchy/Scale/Proportion – Buddha is the most prominent element in the piece because it is huge and in the centre. Behind Buddha is the bowling ball and the in Buddha’s palm is the bowling pin.

Similarity/Contrast – It feels like two main elements. The bowling pin and the sunglasses seem to add to Buddha and not stand out from it. This is because these elements are representative of the character (they are of the character). The bowling ball is the external and therefore is contrasted with Buddha.

Unity/Harmony – The mandala is done in perspective to give a sense of depth to Buddha. This also creates a slightly unnatural and surreal effect because the bowling ball is supposed to be flat. So while it creates distance, it feels surreal.

The Tote Bag.

We printed our chosen composition on A4 transparency so that it be used for the whole silkscreen thing.

Bam. In the flesh. We then did the blue chemical thing on the silkscreen in the dark room.

You have to coat it evenly on both sides if you want the exposure to be done nicely.

Definitely not wasting time inside the dark room.

After the blue chemical thing dries, you tape your transparency onto the silkscreen.

Place the ink side of the transparency onto the outer side of the silkscreen; that is to say, the side without the wood block.

Now do the exposure thing.

After you do that, you have a piece of silkscreen that is still covered blue. Of course it’s still covered blue. You have to wash it off with a water jet, silly.

Also, silly me, I did not record the water jet process. haha.

Now that you have your silkscreen print. You can apply ink and squeegee the ink onto whatever surface you want; even your face.

Don’t forget to tape up any excess exposed parts with tape (especially the edges. Then place a coin on all four edges of the wood. This gives you a better print. I don’t know. The elevation helps.

I did all this knowing that I would redo. I just wanted to see how it would turn out. I wanted to redo mine because this was too small and I liked ‘The dude abides’ better. So I rushed off to the printing shop at North Spine and printed again.

So back to doing all that again. Also, this time I recorded the process of washing away the exposed bits. (SFW)

I then tried inking it out on paper a couple of times

Do or die. Okay, I died a little, but here are the tote bags!

They aren’t the best in terms of quality, but they are okay. It’s okay.

I also managed to sell one of them off for $8.

$3 for the tote bag. Not bad, I bought myself lunch.

Composing 4 Quotes

After looking through the quotes, I narrowed it down to just four.

I can’t bear this lightness, this freedom…I’m not strong enough. – The Unbearable Lightness of Being 1988

The dude abides. – The Big Lebowski 1998

Oh beauty is a beguiling call to death and I’m addicted to the sweet pitch of its siren. – RocknRolla 2008

You stay. I go. No following. – Iron Giant 1999

I started with The dude abides as I had the imagery in mind already.

I then modelled the composition around my main point of interest – Buddha.

From there, I threw in a couple of elements to create the following:

The quote is about ‘taking it easy’; very much like inner peace hence Buddha being in the centre. I have also added the sunglasses to give Buddha more chill; Buddha has no worries. The roundness of the bowling ball and the balanced composition gives off the feeling of peace; there is no tension or turmoil. The three holes in the bowling ball are meant to represent the 3 marks of existence – Impermanence, Unsatisfactoriness or Suffering, and Non-self. The marks of existence are all behind Buddha. In a way, this says that the Dude is not bothered by these things.

The halftone on the bowling ball looked distracting so I tweaked it a little.

Also added in is a mandala ‘carpet’ that Buddha is seated on – a subtle reference to the film where the Dude’s rug is ruined. The mandala is a spiritual symbol in Indian religions for the universe.

Looking at the composition, the bowling ball does not distract anymore. However, it just looks really plain and boring.

Again, I made tweaks.

The bowling ball now has more texture to bring out the mood of the composition. The dude is pleased.

Next up, I worked on the Iron Giant.

I wanted to keep this piece simple so I went with blocky black and white images. The iron giant was a killing machine but was also gentle. I started with a vicious animal who has a choice to kill an innocent boy.

The composition looked flat and just boring. I needed to add more texture to the composition. There was no avoiding it.

Now there was a little more texture to the composition. I experimented with mark making to create an atmosphere of chaos. I also experimented with a lamb – the symbol for innocence but the composition looked weird to me. It looked a little flat, still.

I tried adding in an image of the Sputnik within the circle of nut.The Sputnik was supposed to be representative of the Cold War. The Sputnik, hopefully, sets the mood of the composition as being militarily tense. However, I was not happy with this just yet.

I changed the circle in the nut to be a sphere that is breaking apart. To me, this really sets the mood for the composition. Right now, the tiger looks a little out of place and I want to make it more dynamic.

This is the final composition I ended with. I feel that this one is dynamic, sets the mood and evokes emotion.

The third composition I worked on is RocknRolla. The idea of being beguiled made me think of the angler fish. That is what I started out with.

This is the image that I was initially working with. I thought that it was pretty cool except that the side view felt a little flat. I wanted the composition to seem like it’s trying to beguile you.

I had two compositions that I made. This one was fairly straightforward to me. It just made sense. The flower represents beauty and also happens to be the lure of the angler fish at the back. The frame of the painting also happens to be a representation of beauty and sometimes we get sucked into art.

I had to choose between the one that was more of a close up or one where you could see the fish. I entertained the idea that if the fish was a lot bigger, then it would feel like it was really close to you, increasing the sense of danger. Alas, it just looked like grass. In the end, I went with the wider shot of the fish.

Lastly, I worked on The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

This one was a little tricky for me. It was such a big undertaking of a quote and it means a lot to me. I can only hope that I do it justice.

I wanted to create a composition where lightness/our idea of freedom is bearing down on us. It burdens us.

My first thought was the cross. When we say, “It is my cross to carry,” we mean that it is our burden to bear. With that in mind, I created this.

The American Bald Eagle is a representation of freedom and it looks down on us and makes us feel small. The sunset brings about a sense of freedom but the sharp lines cut through the cloud, pointing towards the eagle almost as if to say that freedom is painful. Lastly, we have the feather which are shaped like crosses, implying that freedom is a burden.

Another interesting thing that I noted was that when inverted, the bald eagle gives off different moods.

In the first one, it looks like the eagle is looking beyond but in the second one, the eagle is looking down on us – just something that I thought was interesting.

BONUS:

Not that I was very free but-

Rosebud.

I am excited and nervous. I love films so it feels like the stakes are much higher.

I need space to think and gather resources so I’m dumping some quotes here.

Say what again! – Pulp Fiction, 1994

You can be my wingman anytime. – Top Gun, 1986

What is this? A centre for ants?! – Zoolander, 2001

All right, all right, all right. – Dazed and Confused, 1993

Let me tell you this, the older you do get the more rules they’re gonna try to get you to follow. You just gotta keep livin’ man, L-I-V-I-N. – Dazed and Confused, 1993

Goodness is something to be chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man. – A Clockwork Orange, 1971

Same rules apply – Filth, 2013

Sometimes it takes a wrongdoer to show you when you are doing wrong. – Filth, 2013

I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar. – Serenity, 2005

Big damn heroes. – Serenity, 2005

I don’t care what you believe in, just believe in it. – Serenity, 2005

If you can’t do something smart, do something right. – Serenity, 2005

Do you know what the definition of a hero is? Someone who gets other people killed. You can look it up later. – Serenity, 2005

Secrets are not my concern. Keeping them is. – Serenity, 2005

I’m not even supposed to be here today. – Clerks, 1994

The dude abides. – The Big Lebowski, 1998

Actually, really knowing someone doesn’t mean anything. People change. A person may like pineapple today and something else tomorrow. – Chungking Express, 1994

If memories could be canned, would they also have expiry dates? If so, I hope they last for centuries. – Chungking Express, 1994

They say that dreams are only real as long as they last. Couldn’t you say the same thing about life? – Waking life, 2001

Go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over. – Shaun of the Dead, 2004

You stay, I go. No following – Iron Giant, 1999

Superman. – Iron Giant, 1999

Every path is the right path. Everything could’ve been anything else. And it would have just as much meaning. – Mr. Nobody, 2009

You have to make the right choice. As long as you don’t choose, everything remains possible. – Mr. Nobody, 2009

You poop into my butt hole and I poop into your butt hole…back and forth…forever. – Me and You and Everyone We Know, 2005

Groovy. – Evil Dead II, 1987

That’s the beauty of argument, if you argue correctly, you’re never wrong. – Thank You For Smoking, 2004

The great state of Vermont will not apologise for its cheese! – Thank You For Smoking, 2004

Where are the white women at? – Blazing Saddles, 1974

How you fall doesn’t matter, it’s how you land. – La Haine, 1995

I can’t bear this lightness, this freedom… I’m not strong enough. – The Unbearable Lightness of Being, 1988

Memories are wonderful things, if you don’t have to deal with the past. – Before Sunset, 2004

Baby, you are gonna miss that plane. – Before Sunset, 2004

If I were God, I would have made the world just so and no different. And so I have you… I have you. – The Road, 2009

All I know is that the boy was my charge. And if he was not the word of God. Then God never spoke. – The Road, 2009

Even though I’m no more than a monster – don’t I, too, have the right to live? – Oldboy, 2003

Oh, beauty is a beguiling call to death and I’m addicted to the sweet pitch of its siren. – RocknRolla, 2008

“.” – Every Buster Keaton Movie

Josiah – Emo

1. Fragile –

Delicate and vulnerable; easily broken.

Technique: Tearing pieces of black paper and piecing them back together, slightly further apart.

The lines of the broken paper give off the tense feeling of everything about to break apart. The sharp and jagged edges accentuates the need to be gentle and careful towards vulnerability.

2. Anxiety –

A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease. Walls closing in around you; like being pierced by the very air around you.

Technique: Monoprinting with white and black paint.

The sharp and heavy white lines cut across the paper – like the piercing sensation in your lungs when you have difficulty breathing. The grey spots almost seem to creep out from the paper, giving the feeling of unease. The layers and layers of black paint slanting walls close in – suffocating.

3. Exhaustion –

Fatigued; low on energy. “Shag, cannot think” – Every Singaporean son.

Technique: Different sized marker pens and blind drawing.

The lines make little sense and also progressively get fainter. Strokes get shorter and more half-hearted. The short strokes also occasionally sink lower, getting fatigued. This creates the effect of feeling exhausted.

4. Rage –

Violent, uncontrollable anger. Expressive and explosive negative energy.

Technique: Crushed charcoal glued on paper.

The marks made look almost like an explosion from a point the causes debris to fly in all directions. The debris even bounces off the left side of the paper, ricocheting back. It seems to start off centre to accentuate movement. Similarly rage is erratic, uncontrollable, and explosive.

5. Desperation –

A state of fear that results in rash or extreme behaviour; potentially losing one’s sense of self in the process.

Technique: Sand glued on paper.

The ink blotches loses its sense of self as it is dragged backwards while trying desperately to stay ahead. In the process of doing so, it gets ripped apart. The tiny black sand gives the sense of chaos that is tearing the ink blotches.

6. Turbulent –

Confusion, disorder, and disorienting.

Technique: Tea leaves glued on paper.

The tea leaves start off as dark swirls of confusion that become lighter as it gets dragged by the forces around it. It starts off at the bottom of the paper before immediately being swept off the ground, unable to land for even a moment.

7. Despair –

The complete absence of hope, like being stalked by the abyss.

Technique: Letting flame from candle lick the paper.

The lone black dot is stalked by the burnt marks and brown lines of the abyss – the unknown darkness. Just being there in a form of stasis, there is no hope.

8. Patience –

The absence of annoyance and anxiety; inner peace and calm. Tolerant.

Technique: Marker pen and ruler

The straight continuous line moves along with no quarrel to its destination. The white space gives off the feeling on lightness and inner peace of the black line.

9. Jolliness –

Happy and cheerful.

Technique: Dripping Citronella oil on paper, then tracing with marker pen.

The bubbly, bold blobs are just floating around in space, having the time of their lives, doing what they please.The variations in thickness of the lines give a 3 dimensional feel to it, making it look at though the blobs are floating around.

10. Nervousness –

Sweating at the thought of your worries, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.

Technique: Rolling gel wax on paper to form a layer on the paper, then applying a flame to certain areas to remove the wax. Lastly using a marker pen to colour over the exposed area.

The paper is reflective, looking like it is sweating at the impending dark, unknown, unfamiliar blocks that look like they are approaching fast. The empty space is a metaphor for being at a loss for words like the mind blanking out at the thought of the imminent event. The dark blobs get lighter as it approaches the white space, showing that the worries are less scary that we imagine them to be.

11. Eagerness –

Keen interest and excitement; sparks of high energy.

Technique: Coffee glued on paper.

The mini explosions are trying to contain itself but alas, eagerness gets the better of them and they burst out into smaller bits. The small bits look like a wave flowing through the mini explosions, like being carried by the excitement.

12. Indifferent –

The absence of emotion.

Technique: Monoprinting with linoleum board.

The paint marks have no beginning, middle or end, just the paint of uniformity and towards the right side, wiping itself off of having any emotions.

13. Contentment –
Being in a state of tranquil happiness; satisfied.

Technique: Tea leaves glued on paper with masking tape, which was later removed.

The bars of the tea leaves and the white space may vary. There might be discomfort within the bars, shown in “noise” of the tea leaves, but the bars of tea leaves still remain vertical, tranquil, and happy.

14. Melancholy –

A feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause.

Technique: Charcoal on paper.

The faint lines thrash in the pain of sadness, seemingly being attacked by the darker marks. The lines seem to have no beginning, it just exists and it experiences the pain.

15. L’appel du vide –

The feeling you get when you, for example, see a car driving by and have the sudden urge to jump in front of it. “Anyone whose goal is ‘something higher’ must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves.” – Milan Kundera, The unbearable lightness of being

Technique: Using the foam netting used to wrap apples in, stretching it out and spraying spray mount onto the paper, before pasting tea leaves onto it. As a result, only certain areas of the paper has tea leaves stick to the paper.

The white space in the centre is being lured into the hypnotic lattice of the void. The white space is turtled up in defence but the call of the void is strong and has begun penetrating the white space.

16. Grief –

Deep sorrow, especially as a result of the loss of someone’s life.

Technique: Letting flame from candle lick the paper – even burning it a little.

A hole is burnt with the loss of someone. What follows is the deep, dark, shadowy embrace of sorrow – calling out to the scars left by grief. Eventually, grief passes and wounds heal, but the scars remain – represented by the grey marks and the burn marks without holes.

17. Compassion –

A gentle feeling of fondness; the kind of love without expectations.

Technique: Marker Pen on paper.

The pillowy embrace of the curved elements endures through the cutting pains of loving,

18. Paranoid –

Delusions of persecution and a general distrust of others; a form of illogical fear.

Technique: String glued on paper, with dirt loosely scattered on.

The wormy lines of the string give goosebumps on the paper; overwhelming it even. The strings are harmless but it still gives off a sense of unease. The “dirt” on the paper, complimented by the wormy lines, give off the feeling of being buried alive.

Honourable mentions

Confusion
Feeling as if you can’t think clearly. Disoriented and having difficulty focusing. Incoherence of thought.

Technique: Pen on paper.

Random styles including dots and lines and swirls make it difficult to focus. There is a lack of coherence in the overall make up of the lines and marks – coming off as disorienting.

Depaysement

Being without a country. Exhilarating and disorienting swirls of giddiness from being an outsider.

Technique: Tea leaves glued on paper.

The swirls give rising up spinning around, like a roller coaster, but being swept to the side in the midst of it.

Dejection
Heartbroken and feeling down.

Technique: Monoprinting with paint on lithium ion batteries.

The balls of black get heartbroken and it feels like a hole in their chest. They get broken and sink to the bottom of the paper as nothing more than dots of black.

So, you could say Dejection got dejected. How poetic.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

I spent the weekend trying out all sorts of mediums to create my lines. The results are as follows:

It was only much later in the day when I realised that light brown is not going to work. So I decided to paint over the sand.

I also tried using the nasty nasty stuff inside cigarettes to create something that I felt would give off an off-putting vibe. Again, the colour was a darker shade of brown and adding black paint would have just felt a little too forced. I really thought that it could have been something.

This was a weird one. I had gel wax lying in my room (don’t ask), so I played around with trying to apply it on the paper. It did not stick so I wrapped the paper in cling wrap. The cling wrap just over powered the entire piece and the wax was looking more 3-dimensional than I would have liked, so I rolled the wax down onto the paper until it formed a thin layer. The resulting effect in quite unique.

I made attempts to use coffee beans and tea leaves to create interesting pieces. Though the result is slightly more 3D than I wanted, I feel that it would hold up when looking at it from a 2D perspective.

One of the several attempts at using tea leaves on paper to express the feeling of bliss or tranquility.

The mess made from using the tea leaves. No email complaints sent so we’re good.

Just before night fell, I took the picture of materials I used. Red candles were no good but I used the flame to create burn marks on the paper. I also tried burning charcoal to then make marks on the paper but not much happened. Lastly, I tried using this indian incense thing (name of which escapes me) given to me by a friend for a shoot that never came to be. The smoke was promising but alas, nothing happened to the paper.

The charcoal on paper did not give me anything to work with organically.

Why light a candle and drip wax at night when it’s dark outside? Because it would have been too easy otherwise.

With all my experimentation done, it would now be time to select my final pieces.

Blue is the Abstractest Colour

As interesting as Yves Klein is as an artist, I’ll be keeping this as closely related to 2D mark making as possible. With that in mind, let’s dive in to the deep blue.

As I lay stretched upon the beach of Nice, I began to feel hatred for birds which flew back and forth across my blue sky, cloudless sky, because they tried to bore holes in my greatest and most beautiful work.

-Yves Klein

Klein’s feelings towards the birds were in response to a spiritual activity that he was engaged in with his friends, who were also artists. They were to divide up the world between themselves. Klein got the sky and he was to “sign” his name on it- but then came the birds.

Yves Klein is most well known for his use of a single colour: International Klein blue (IKB).

In a way, Klein’s approach to art is translated in the boldness of IKB. Klein was high controversial for his time for his critique of the accepted understanding of abstract art. In the 1950s, abstract art had been accepted as a means for the artist to communicate with viewers through abstraction. Klein rebutted this notion with this monochrome blue paintings much like the one above.

monochrome — He insisted that there was no motif, only “the void”.

“Blue…is beyond dimensions, whereas the other colors are not. All colours arouse specific ideas, while blue suggests at most the sea and the sky; and they, after all, are in actual, visible nature what is most abstract.”

-Yves Klein

Klein was a pioneer in developing performance art and currently, I stay in Pioneer hall. Coincidence? I think not.

Bad jokes aside, here’s a video showing the performance of two pieces of work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mJCVM3d7jw

With performance art, Klein wanted to put an emphasis on the immediate experience of the art itself.

anthro — Anthropometry of the Blue Period (1960)

Gaining access to one of France’s major destructive testing laboratories, he made use of “flamethrowers” to create fire paintings as shown in the video. Much like Anthropometry of the Blue Period, got his models to make prints on the canvas but covered them in fire retardant instead. He then used the “flamethrower” to create his fire paintings.

I feel that it becomes harder to feel for the kind of marks being made when you are unaware of the performance that went behind it. There is meaning in the action of using nude models and IKB. There is meaning in using fire against the fire retardant marks of the nude models.

If there is any take away from Klein, it’s that if you want getting the kind of feeling or message to come across clearly , you need to put in careful thought not just into what kind of marks you make but also how you go about making your marks.

Then again, he was also big on the idea of voids so maybe the take away is that once the performance of art is over, what is left is the remains of art; and there is an element of emptiness to the product of performance art.

2 fairly contrasting take aways for you to decide what you want to do with.