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The excitement is inevitable!!!! And that’s not a realistic printed pen.

It’s completed!! I screamed internally when I finished pasting every beautifully printed pages together. The end result of the printing are glossy but the brilliance of the colors still stands out completely. The vivid colors wasn’t dull but pleasing to my eyes.The papers I’ve chosen from Fancy Papers Ltd are gampi papers (covers) and thick papers with the texture of my visual journal. The papers works well and maintained its flatness throughout the pasting and logistics.

All these excitement aside, I’ll be guiding you through my zine page by page to give you a full view.

I chose the Jokerman font for my title as I want a memorable font to be the first thing shown into the readers’ eyes. The font shall also give the impression of light-hearted-ness for the entire zine in the beginning as well. Adding the red spiky eclipse to make the cover interesting was decided early before the paper was chosen. Surprisingly the design fits perfectly with gampi’s certificate-like texture.

Throughout the contents, I chose the Huxtable and Hurry Up font for both my narrations and instructions to give them a quirky tone. The two fonts are not linearly aligned which produce a non-serious component for the work.

Originally I wanted to use metal pins to attach the supposedly-leather-made pen holder. Unable to find the suitable pin to fit the colored-paper-made holder, I made a pair of “pins” with yellow color papers and paste the whole thing together. Thinking back the decisions, the pen holder, in my opinion, suited the overall style of the illustrations.

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Initially, I wanted to place a pen-outline subtly in the main pages in the left photo, which will be visible when fully expanded. However, the Pen-as-Arsenals composition made the lines blended too subtly into its background, which unfortunately hidden my initial intentions for the compositions. Inevitable, it’s considered a pity by me. For the compositions in the other side (right), I connected them together with various factors, such as mirroring compositing and connecting backgrounds. With these decision, the pages were held together visually, showing their identities in the same narration, even though their styles were different.

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[Click into the thumbnails to get a full view of each pages.]

As most of the composition are explained, I shall move to the third composition where I wished to included the occupation perspectives I eliminated from the previous project. I was able to revive following the perspective:

A PEN from the point of view of MONK is MEDITATION

A PEN from the point of view of DRUMMER is DRUMSTICK

A PEN from the point of view of PENTURNERS is ART (The main contributor of the page’s interactivity.)

A PEN from the point of view of LAWYER is GUN

A PEN from the point of view of POLITICIAN is WMD (Donald Drumpf inspired?)

A PEN from the point of view of SCIENTIST is CAMERA

(For this I supposed many of you might recognize 2 of the most entertaining engineers/scientist in TV history. I chose them to replace white coats as one of them, Adam Savage once said: “Remember kids, the only difference between Science and screwing around is writing it down.”)

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I left this page to be enlarged as I wanted to point out specifically my mistake on it. Due to my neglect on proofreading, The paragraph in the page had terrible typos and mis-phrasing. While being anxious before submission, I decided to cover it with a plain printing paper as the school’s printing shops didn’t allow me to reprint the words on the extra paper I bought before print. During the class presentation, just as I recapping my pages, I thought of a better solution for this mistake as I mentioned on my presentation:

Adding an interactivity which requires the reader to correct the mis-phrased paragraph, because this page is a tribute to the line: A PEN from the point of view of TEACHER is STICK & CARROT and A WAY TO PASS DOWN OUR WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE.

Lesson learned, always think through when fixing mistakes, avoid naive and stupid solution as well.

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After the bad news, now for the good news. The back cover surprise turned up very well with the Pen-shaped compilation of PEN in various languages. When the zine is open as the right image with a pen the pen holder, a mirroring composition is formed and I was extremely satisfied with this outcome.

REFLECTION:

My fellow classmates like the illustration very much while Ms.Joy warned me about the consideration on font size. For instance, in the occupation composition, due to the fact that both instruction and narration are typed in the same font size, readers might confuse them over the similar font and take times to differentiate them via capitalization. Overall, the zine was regarded as nicely done. I am proud of it too!

This is the last project of the module Foundation 2D. Throughout the academic years, I’ve learned a lot from my classmates from different semesters and my tutor Ms.Joy. I got to challenged many methods of execution and styles for different themes. This is one of the modules I am glad I didn’t drop and I am looking forward to have the same excitement while being in my majors’ modules.

Thanks 2D, and thanks Ms.Joy for the guidance since 1st semester.

Thanks for reading!!

Since everyone was so far ahead of the updates, I am gonna do a quick summarized update for my project 3 – The Library in ONE post.

Thinking of an installation art about the library is no easy task. This location is very common to anyone who has been a student, yet many of the library visitor has different perspective of the place. The ADM library is rather the most special library among our universities library. This can be due to its special layout design, use of spaces, functionality of different region, and also the research materials it contains. It’s pretty obvious for ADM library’s specialty so I won’t talk too much about it.

When it comes to conceptualizing, I’ve always like to start from my point of view. For me, the library is a place for homework, individual concentration, research paper brainstorming, and research materials searching. I always spend my extra time in the library. (only if I waiting for certain event to start and I have no sustainable leisure alternatives such as my laptop around me. ) What I like to do in the library is surfing through the shelves, and see if there’s any book titles on their spines that catch my attention. It’s kinda like surfing the internet without intentions but you do it in the real life.

SO most of my ideas originate from the act of surfing the bookshelves.

1. see through the shelf 2. obstacle 3. obstacle 2 4. I rather 1 5. I rather 2 6. blind search

(From top left)

I thought about the views we’ve missed when we search for the books, the layers of space formed by the holes that’s formed by the books and the shelves. And then there’s the inevitable obstacle set by people who were too focus on their chosen books and unintentionally blocked the pathways. The space I’ve mentioned in the first one also caught my attention and I wonder if I can express how certain series of books have lost their timeliness due to constant technological upgrades. I’ve also wanted to play with searching action by deliberately covering the paths to increase the difficulty of my “bookshelves surfing”.

The responses from I got from Mr. Michael Tan, is that these works can be improved in terms of directed perspective, importance, and relational attributes. Several artist works are also introduced such as Michael Lee Hong Hwee and Robert Gober,

Finally I’ve chosen the idea of placing little figures around the shelves that stimulates my idea of bookshelves surfing. The decision is based on removing the installation ideas that isn’t manageable, completely curated, and relevant to the whole 4D modules. The little figures concept is inspired by Michael Lee Hong Hwee’s work as he printed out many scaled down versions of him and set them “free to play around”. I wanted to try the concept with my own interpretation and context.

The challenges of the work is the consideration I needed to take on about the work’s detailed presentation. This includes the amount of the little figures, their presentations, and their consistent actions to fit my theme. I will have the mock ups completed within the following week.

Thanks for reading and please look forward to my updates!

Project Point of View is over and it’s been fun. To show how much fun I’ve been, let me show you my whole final work and progress. Click in, scroll down, do what ya need to do.

The theme I’ve chosen is concept number 3, The Journey of the Pen, with ME. The reason I chose this theme is not only it’s complete but also how thought-out the composition is. A hypothetical transition from the past to the future, categorized in 3 periods of time, two for each. This transition shows how the PEN has accompanied me over the years, and how I hope it continues to do so.

A traditional pen is hard to be replaced as long as handwriting is still cool. A traditional pen, sure, leaves the mistake on, but we are able learn from these mistakes as long as it stays appeared to remind us. IT shows our process of thinking, proving our humane improvement. Okay, I sounded like a person who denies technological advancement, but these pen still has its value until the day Apple pencil doesn’t need to be recharged.

Let’s start walking through my final work, shall we? So the first journey from the past of the PEN with ME, is being through my childhood.

A PEN from the point of view of A CHILD is PENCIL YOU CAN’T ERASED

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I won’t represent myself to everybody’s childhood, so I’ll just show my own version with my first meeting with the pen. After I learnt how to hold a pencil as a child, I love to doodle in the papers with my bad handwriting and my juvenile drawings. When I first picked up a pen, I was excited and drew so much stuff with it. My curiosity was shown in my naive strokes. I was shocked by the fact that how pen marks can’t be erased. If I make a mistake, it will be there forever. Thus I was very careful with the pen till the day I discover correction tape. However, I find correction tape ruins the papers so I started use strikethrough. Since, I have no fear while using a pen. (But we still can use our pens till secondary school years.)

A PEN from the point of view of STUDENT is ARSENALS.

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I got my inspiration from a popular manga called “Assassination Classroom”, which stated no matter what our ultimate targets or dreams are, we shall always have our “second knife (weapon)” ready. Even though I wrote “manga artist/filmmaker” countless in my essays, I was living under the hood of a rather strict-about-academics family. I’ve never regretted striving for good academic results as they’ve lead me far enough till now. University is the furthest a good report card can take us to, but I’ll never forget the hellish war we’ve been through in the examination halls. (I said it in the critique session, I’ll say it again. Our real soldiers fight in more hellish war and training, and they fight harder.) The pen is our only offense in exams, and we should never walk into the halls without extra ammunition (extra refills as shown in the illustrations.) Initially, I was going to insert textbook formulae into the white monster on the right, but then I decided, leave it to simplicity and imagination.

A PEN from the point of view of ME is MIND PROJECTOR

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Most of the time, my brainstorming only starts when my pen (especially my ARTLINE fine tip pen, as illustrated.) touches my visual journal. That’s how all my project started since the last semester. Not only it’s my motivator to my procrastination, it also made me take a look about what popped in my mind before revising. For instance, this gruesome composition popped in my head and my pen visualized it. Perhaps this is the best way to show how mind is projected through the pen, in terms of my style.

A PEN from the point of view of MY FACE is A FACE MASSAGER

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In present times, as ADM student like every other ADMers, I have tons of assignments to brainstorm, and my mind is not a firecracker that can pops idea every minute it burns. Therefore, there’s definitely times when my mind is as blank as a paper. What does it do whenever I can’t think anything? A face massager, of course, as it pokes every acupuncture points I can assume in hopes to boost creativity. Whoever learnt science here is going to confirm, it won’t work. Poking my skull through layers of meat definitely describes my current state as a learner.

A PEN from the point of view of MY FUTURE is A TEETORUM

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Why a teetorum? Pronouncing makes me giggle too. I doubt that I pronounced it correctly. Teetorum is the given name of a spinning dice. I chose spinning dice as it is a fate decider/diviner that resembles a pen with its stick-like figure. Thus I combined the two together and formed the one in the illustration. As I am unsure of where my future go because things don’t go 100% with plans. But that doesn’t mean I can’t control my fate of where’s my career heading. I believed not only the pen helps me determining my future, but also gives me the authority to do so. Many of my fellow dreamers might holding different version of pens, but I’m sure our ambition about fate will likely be the same.

A PEN from the point of view of FUTURE ME is A BELL JAR.

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The future is like a ball of unwove thread. Knowing myself the best, I believed my future will need a fortress of solitude under the possible pressure of my future jobs. Thus my own version of terrarium is formed. Even in my present days, I find my time-to-time fan art ink illustration meditating and relaxing. The pen shields me from all mental disturbance ever since and I hope it will do so in the future. And what’s not a better way than placing the pen as best inanimate buddy in the last panel to wrap this all up?

I decided to go with diluted acrylic because it greatly resembles the effect of water colors and acrylic is the most abundant art material I have. Diluted acrylics to me is like a pen to my childhood. Why? Acrylics can be corrected in its oily state but once a mistake is made in its dilute form, a saturated form is needed but it will then destroy the effect I intended. Fortunately, they all worked out like a charm. This is probably the first I resisted the urge of fully covering an illustration with colors because I found there is an effect of dragging attention to those blank space by not coloring them. The work also trained me well in using brush pen as the main inking tool.

Overall, my fellow classmates like my use of the thick and thin ink strokes. Even though I’ve used the character style of Adam Lurkam and the attempted imitation of Jacqueline Bissett’s strokes, the viewers in the critiques agreed that the work projected my personal attributes. Moreover, it does succeed the children illustration look I wanted. I am satisfied with the outcome and the traditional medium I’ve challenged.

I have to mention everyone else in my class did a splendid job in their work as well. I am going to miss the times we get to spend in such eye-opening critique sessions. Looking forward as usual to everybody’s zine works!

Thanks for reading!

When it comes to 18 of them, which one should I add the s? POINT? Or VIEW?

How to think of 18 point of views of any subject? First, start with something not specific. Then, find something everyone can related to, so perspective ensured to exist. Followed by something I have different point of view from the common point of views. Thus, I came out with something I extremely relied on as much as my computer, le PEN.

My definition of a pen is, it produce lines of any ink, it can fill up any given 2-dimensional space, it has a hard tip for user-friendly, and it is not a pencil. Yeah, this is somehow a little unnecessary explanation but I just want it clear before I put out my list of POVs. Feel free to read and I’ll see you at the bottom of the list.

A PEN from the point of view of CIVILIZATION is TOOL OF COMMUNICATION

A PEN from the point of view of CHILD is PENCIL YOU CAN’T ERASED

A PEN from the point of view of CALLIGRAPHER is MUSIC INSTRUMENT

A PEN from the point of view of WRITER is PAINTBRUSH

A PEN from the point of view of MONK is MEDITATION

A PEN from the point of view of DRUMMER is DRUMSTICK

A PEN from the point of view of PENTURNERS is ART

A PEN from the point of view of CRITIC is SWORD

A PEN from the point of view of PHILOSOPHER is ENGINEERS TO SCIENTISTS

A PEN from the point of view of PAINTER is CHISEL

A PEN from the point of view of BUSINESSMAN is SEAL OF APPROVAL

A PEN from the point of view of LAWYER is GUN

A PEN from the point of view of STUDENT is BOW AND ARROW

A PEN from the point of view of GAMBLER is CHANCE

A PEN from the point of view of SCIENTIST is CAMERA

A PEN from the point of view of POLITICIAN is WMD

A PEN from the point of view of INVENTOR is IGNITION

A PEN from the point of view of MUSICIAN is ACRYLICS

A PEN from the point of view of PROCRASTINATOR is MOTIVATOR

A PEN from the point of view of ME is MIND PROJECTOR

Had fun? You may heard of some of the sentences as they are universal facts. What I am trying to do express is I focused on human occupations since pen is such an important tool to these particular aspect require a civilized system of communication we called written language. IT is fun to explore and conclude generically how such small tool can be a great deal when different users is holding it.

Since we’re in a course that emphasized on conceptual results, it’s never too troubled to think of another idea. I thought of the most used color in human civilization, or rather this continent of the world, RED. Due to how much man-made culture had utilized it, red is almost everywhere. As a matter of fact, RED is in our blood. So, spare some time to read through my POVs of the color, RED.

A RED from the point of view of KID is LEADER

A RED from the point of view of TEACHER is AUTHORITY

A RED from the point of view of CLOTHING LINE is UNISEX

A RED from the point of view of TECHNICIANS is DANGER

A RED from the point of view of PARENTS is VIOLENCE

A RED from the point of view of CHINESE is PROSPERITY

A RED from the point of view of ALCOHOLICS is WINE

A RED from the point of view of FEMINIST is STRENGTH

A RED from the point of view of DOCTOR is BLOOD

A RED from the point of view of NATURE is SEDUCTION

A RED from the point of view of ADVERTISERS is EYE-CATCHING

A RED from the point of view of CHEF is DELICIOUS

A RED from the point of view of DESIGNERS is FF0000

A RED from the point of view of EYE is ATTENTION

A RED from the point of view of FRUIT LOVER is SWEET

A RED from the point of view of FOOD LOVER is HOT

A RED from the point of view of SCIENTIST is 620-750

A RED from the point of view of LOVERS is COMPASSION

This time the POVs are covering different aspects in cultural phenomenon instead of focusing on human occupation. This is because I found RED was already part of the universal, therefore I inserted other object to interact with the color, like the nature and eye. I’ve also included specified groups of people like alcoholics, feminist, advertisers, and lovers to give it a different tone to the collections.

However, as an unspoken and unexplained law of the human mind stated, when you are able to think it, someone else must’ve thought it. Apparently, there are other fellow course-mates had the same idea. So, in order to let my work stand out, and not a “just-another-similar-thing”, the style of execution is vital.

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In terms of style, I’ve looked through the web with websites like 9gag and a modern artist related site call the Illustration Web, which is like a dating site, except, this is for freelance graphic artist/illustrators and commissioners.

(Feel free to google the names in the collages.)

stylised characters

The medium I have in mind are illustration, which was greatly (almost over-)used by everyone else. Perhaps it is because many point of views included human characters, and illustration is the most practical to express human figures. So, I would like to try some stylized designs of my human characters. The styles I found interesting is these particular artists, as they did their characters in an unconventional ways to prove their styles are unique and hope that they’re recognizable. Although like how classical art were considered common in their time, (I heard there are plenty of artist had the same styles as Vermeer in his period.) their names hardly stand out, but their efforts and attributes of creating a special characters are worth to learn.

attractive lines

Next I have to consider about lines and how to shape out my compositions. There are plenty of illustrators love to used insanely intricate lines to wow their viewers, and yet some of them can do by performing instant strokes to form a figure. Less is more? It can’t be decided objectively.

interesting composition

Compositions is the key to this project. There’s a need to be abstract yet able to communicate with audience instantly. Even if the work cannot show a literal context, it must at least keep the audience interested. At least, this is what I see from the art above.

unique coloring

Lastly, the color. For either subjects I had in mind, I planned to use different coloring methods. For PEN, I planned to use digital coloring, or the complicated coloring styles from the images. As for RED, I intended to make the compositions black in white and only color the red objects, or maybe VICE VERSA.

In conclusion of my research, there are still a lot more to test and possibly I can decide once I came up with the experimental drafts. My fellow classmates have given good advice that ended up into my explanation above. Since I love illustration works too so I am excited to see what will be the end results, or at least, end decision.

Thanks for reading and see you next time!

My concept for typography portrait has finally progressed and an idea worth anticipating is formed. YAY! My new concept is: CITY-BOY, where my personalities are shown in the forms of urban facilities illustrated by various traditional mediums.

City culture is one of the things that KL and Singapore had in common. It shows how far human being had advanced and how human community thrives for a better living. The city shows a more distinct variation of forms and views for me. Don’t get me wrong, I like natural sceneries as well but natural landscapes shows the trails left by the elements; cityscapes shows the trails left by the human society. Therefore I find the city interesting when you can deduce human nature in through their physical creations.

I wanted to explore subtleties again in this project after inspired by Ji Lee’s “Word as Image”. Subtleties wasn’t shown in my last concept even though Ji Lee was one of the artist I’m trying to refer. Therefore I want to make sure that his subtle manipulation of words was in my new concept. While doing so, I also want to try out more traditional mediums since the LINE project in order to step out from my photography media.

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Vernacular Typography

I searched for a few sites related to my new ideas. Most of the city/urban typographies shown are the ones produced by citizens for occupation/marketing purpose. Vernacular typography.com and The Journal of Urban Typography tumblr documented many handwritten signs, sprayed signs, billboards, and gold signs in NYC.

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The Journal of Urban Typography (tjout@tumblr)

There’s a form of city typography created with special fonts on beautiful city photos. These Instagram-worthy photos did not fit my concepts very well. Later, I caught a glimpse of collage typography which impressed me with its dada-ish and constructivist style.

city typo 3 city typo 2 city typo 1

collage typography

Collage typography, advanced? version of Constructivist Typography

Some of the G-1 folks also gave me some instant suggestions. (As in what pops up in their head after hearing my title.) Since my arrival in Singapore, I’ve always feel that every outing trip to the cities is like going into a new world. There’s a different atmosphere for each city so I have to think of something that conclude my explorations along with traits I hope to show. I shall choose the aspects of the city that I approached the most. Therefore I picked the following aspects.

visual journal 1

  1. Street signs
  2. Public transport
  3. Architectures
  4. People
  5. The public paths: Pedestrian roads, escalators, and tunnels.

street signs escalator

These aspects are the ones that show up in every of my trips, and they represented some new traits I’ve never presented. I’ll explain their relevance in the future.

I match these new traits with the traditional mediums’ specialty. Collage making is paired with STREET SIGNS; Sharpie art with PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION; water colors will be the execution for PEOPLE; fine tip suits best with ARCHITECTURE; and print making is matched with THE PUBLIC PATHS.

visual journal 2

I wrote the properties for the designs only as I haven’t figure out the details until I have enough resources and experiments. Other problems included my demand of traditional materials, (tools and paper types.) how I plan the color choices, (again) and how to fit/cut my concepts into the newly announced 4-frame-format. Despite all of the above, trials and execution time will be the greatest challenge for this project. Perhaps my future post for this project will include a lot of my fails attempts. Hope not. (Crossing fingers.)

Thanks for reading my renewed conceptualizing stage. See you in my next progress post!

With the worries of missing the TIME OF OTHERS exhibition, I went to the Singapore Art Museum on the day it ends, 28th February 2016. I missed the group visit on Monday, but I found visiting the museum alone had its perks. I do like to go in groups, but going solo has the same feeling you get when you watch a movie alone. Maybe I’ll talk about this in the future.

The two pieces I wanted to review are both for the TIME OF OTHERS.

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Herman Chong

Calendars (2020-2096)

1001 pages of usable future calendars, installed in a grid covering the walls of the entire room. All pages are offset prints with matte lamination. Within the 30x30cm surface, 80 percent of the prints are covered with photos of Singapore street views. The other 20 percent are calendars for 77 years starting from 2020. Due to the size and amount of its single pages, the whole piece is enormous and eye catching. With its photography components, it attracts viewers who have the effort to look through every single photo on the calendars. Seeing the piece not as a whole but as an album.

The initial impression I got from the piece is its scale and number. I gasped for its enormity at first, then I try to find its specialty. In my common impression, calendars are full with breathtaking iconic city-scape photos or beautiful illustration. (Usually related to the calendars’ company products.) However, the piece chooses unconventional photos as its content. The locations shown in the photos are not remarkable landmarks or at least not worth a selfie to be taken in. These place are street image from a citizen perspective. (Mostly one-point-perspective, probably the artist’s obsessive style of shooting.) My initial guess is, the artist wanted us to be aware of these places. Through the attachment of calendars, perhaps the artist tries to remind us that these neglected places will not remain the same as shown in the photos. This is our current generation’s version of commemorating-sceneries-in-the-past calendar for the future. The calendar format also explained why none of the location overlapped or repeated.

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I supposed choosing locations from all over Singapore is a way to engage interaction with the audience. Audience will be delighted if a place they knew was shown on within the 1001 pages, just like I did for these two locations.

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Once I saw a familiar locations, I’ll continue to finish the viewing to find more. Either it’s intentional or not, it certainly propose such effect with the viewers.

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After the reading of the descriptions, I find a new perspective of the piece. It does hit me with another point of view, when I finally realized there’s no human figures in each photo.

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I thought these are exceptions at first glance. (Turns out they’re a paper model and a mannequin.)

I was impressed on how the artist take advantages on Singapore city traits to create a contrasting work to ask questions about urbanized space. My first guess deviated a lot from the artist intent mainly because I focused on what the artist trying to show, not what the artist trying to question. I wouldn’t be able to ask the same question as the artist as we see things differently. But the description certainly helps my understanding and invoke the artist’s question into my mind while I watch the piece again.

The medium was effective, as the description stated, the calendar format did show the “time” concept of the work. But it’s difficult for me to ask questions about belonging of manifested “time” and calendars or representing of spaces, as I can’t tell from the clues. I do think maybe exhibit the work in the form of actual usable calendars might improve my understanding of the mentioned questions.

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No Endings

Ringo Bunoan

Endings and No Endings.

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Endings

Endings, framed book pages of possible the last pages of novels and fictions. Arranged and attached in a way that the origins of the pages are unclear. Viewers can definitely confirm they’re last pages as the phrase “THE END” was constantly shown. The pages are placed on one long rack, overlapping on each other.

No Endings, on the other hand, is a pile of at least 100 books stacked till the pile reaches the ceiling. The varying thickness and color of their pages shows each and every book are different and yet the most interesting part of the work is, every spine of the books was facing the wall, leaving no clue for each book’s identity.

The dim light setting and my hurried pacing gave me no motivation to read through every words. There are even half of the pages are blocked. Therefore I concluded from first glance that the work are not for reading but to observe it as a whole, in contrary with my previous reviewed piece.

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The pages from Endings were framed and placed on a long horizontal rack. From the installment, I’ve wondered, is it trying to be a long narrative? A narrative without any beginnings, progresses, but endings, is maybe the work’s inspiration. As for the tower of stacked books, I was guessing whether if the last pages from Endings were in fact from these pile of books, which explains the second work’s title, ‘all these books have no endings, as the endings are removed.’ That’s a literal interpretation. With the urge of wanting to know what questions the artist propose, I read the description right away.

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“What is closure without context?” That’s the final question. The description actually clarified my wonders. IT does proposed a question and that question can be applied in many aspects of life. What is closure without context to me is like asking what answer without questions is? In contrary, what’s a question without an answer? Questions without an answer are thought to be ambiguous, like story without endings, like the final question the artist had asked. Ambiguity works for certain people who like to imagine their version of endings, engaging a discussion about which version is legitimate or closer to the author’s intention. Endings or closure without premises and context are interesting as well. They spark imaginations and proposed more stories that lead to the same ending. Books especially published fictions are indeed the best medium to convey the artist, and I think the artist chose well. I personally think showing only the last pages is an interesting idea. It can be a collection of literature to start various creations, like how many lyricists from the Song Dynasty created many version of Ci 词 (lyrics) for the same melody. (Ci Pai 词牌)

In conclusion, I chose 2 pieces from the same exhibition as I find TIME OF OTHERS are more compelling than the other installations. It is mostly because I am keener in reading stories of others. Also, it’s better to visit the other two installations in groups for the best experience as they require group activities and discussion on the spot. TIME OF OTHERS as a narrative installation, is more suitable for solo visitors to read the stories in their own pace.

Thanks for reading.

Two weeks in and HELLLLLLOOOOOOO project number 1!!!

Remember what we do about projects? Research! This time, we get to do Typography, the area of art that I’ve seen a lot but still being strange about it. Initially to me, typography are art pieces with fonts that had been created by the mass and was decorated with or immersed into forms, shapes and colors to give the words an eye-catching properties. Usually this kind of art are seen in webpages that likes to quote famous figures, or simple short do-you-know facts. Not only it’s eye-catching but also effective for netizens with short attention span.

Personal views aside, the lesson I had been on last Thursday had opened my eyes to the diversity of Typography. After listening to all the researches my classmates did, I saw the subtle side of the genre, that Typography doesn’t have to be literal, yet being contextual in the meantime.

SO, back to my research. Technically, they’re not intended research materials, but originally typography posts from the Internet that I was impressed of.

ji kee

The first artist I wanted to talk about is Ji Lee, a Communication designer in Facebook. You know this guy has some talent in him to be able take on an important position in one of the biggest company in the world. The series that impressed me the most was his Words as Images. Most of the words in these images use the same font and were only tweaked a little to match the properties of the words. However, viewers got its point almost instantly as it’s not too obvious, yet not too subtle for the public. I admired its brilliance of balance both and the entertainment it gave. Also, the minimalistic style it possesses certain is a plus from distracting the viewers compared to other over-exaggerated typographies.

meganleescienceThe prints above are the second piece I’d like to talk about. Megan Lee’s  Rock Star Scientists also consist of uniformed fonts but accompanied by again, minimalistic illustrations or silhouette of achievements of each famous scientist respectively. Viewers who love science instantly recognized this names and understood its context. The design doesn’t seemed too nerdy and in contrary gave these influential achievements a fashionable makeover. Science seems so cool again! (Correction: Science IS cool.)

dangerdustThe works above are done by two anonymous students who named themselves Dangerdust. These work varies in fonts and styles, suiting the figures they’re quoting. Although some of their designs are too complicated that they sometimes covered the quotes, but most of them are well balanced in terms of scales and positioning. Most impressive of all is that they are done on blackboards, giving the context of educating the next generations with words of wisdom.

object typography

Lastly I want to talk about the methods. I came across these styles of typography and they stayed in my head as a genre. Building typography with everyday objects has interested me, and made me wonder if I can do the same. Ms. Joy later suggested me to look into whether they should be done by put together like a puzzle to form an alphabet, OR using objects that suits the content and yet has the form of the alphabets I wanted. This methods of typography is certainly something worth exploration.

In conclusion, these art works above I found impressive have the potential to influence my next project. Hopefully I’d be able to create something as contextual as Ji Lee, as mind-changing as Megan Lee, as thoughtful in terms of medium and aesthetically beautiful as Dangerdust, and possibly done in object typography. (Cross fingers.)

Side note: The reason I don’t prefer DADAism as a reference is the fact that I want it to have a meaning. The fact that it creates great effect is undoubtedly true, but this time, alongside Russian Constructivism, they’re not the right style for my current project. Although their ways of positioning the components to attract viewers attentions is marvelous and worth studying.

Thanks for reading!

(I just couldn’t resist)

I admit I kind of gotten rusty after the semester break, so hopefully the new semester will get me back on track again. Soon enough, the first homework of 2D second semester has been appointed by Ms. Joy.

HELLO MY NAME IS_________

While resisting the temptation to gag about the title with Adele’s latest hit, this exercise prompted me to elaborate myself who am I again. (Well, resistance is futile.) Throughout the module, I am able to express my personalities and interests with ease, which I think is a good start. All my ideas sprung instantly from my mind during the exercise briefing, regardless of whether it’s interesting enough for others.

DSC_0778

Final draft of TYPOGRAPHY

In the first nametag, I have to represent my subject with TYPOGRAPHY. So for this, I’ve used a few fonts to associate my interest for films. Through an Internet post, I found the most popular for movie posters are BANK GOTHIC and TRAJAN. Thus, I decided to make my last film interest reference into my English names.

trajan bank gothic

The whole piece is created by combining my Chinese name in the calligraphy font KAITI and English names together. I’ve tried to do this a long time ago but usually it ended up kinky. Fortunately this one worked out except I can’t figure what to do with my JUN. Then I just decided to create my own typeface for it as my uniqueness between references and interest. After that I halved the whole thing into black and white to show that there’s both side of me waiting for the viewers to discover. Adding a pair of glasses and voila, here’s a typeface that explains many basic information about me.

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Final draft of ABSTRACT SOLUTION

For the second nametag, it have to be ABSTRACT solution. This part took the longest time to construct. The first idea that hit me was the assignment “LINES”. However, I was thinking of using the process of drawing as the intention. I planned to do tedious patterns to show how I view complexity. Ms. Joy encouraged me to make more out of my content. So, I revised it and came with another concept. The structure was simple patterns filled with patches of my favorite/spirit colors. These colors are close in temperature and value, yet covering different portion of the space. Each color patches seems to have their own function or existence in the solution yet performed differently in terms of standing out. The reddish purple seems to stand out more than the cyan even though the cyan covers more. This idea suggested different aspect of me standing out in different extents. These aspect might be my talents or maybe my good traits. The visibility of these aspect can only be decided by the viewers, they will see some aspect of me first, but that doesn’t mean my other aspects are gone.

DSC_0779 DSC_0780

As for the CONCEPTUAL nametag, the part which I tried to think like Salvador Dali, but then my mind told me, “not in a million lifetimes.” I was inspired by how I brought up the unsatisfying LINE concept a few minutes ago. I’ve realized how easy I am to get stuck onto certain mindset or thoughts that can be easily proven bad. So, to express such personality of mine, I used this retro toy robot as the medium. Instead of an advance tech robot, retro toy robot shows how young and inexperienced my skills and thoughts are, yet there’s plenty room for improvement. The light-hearted colors were chosen to suit the expression. The robot design made the ring on its head logical, and can be assumed this might happen again. The colorless objects showed they are not the possession of the robot, signifying they’re probably others’ tools of assistant.

Before, I finalized my concept, Ms. Joy suggested that transition in terms of timeline can be implied into my concept to link them together. So here’s how time is implied. I’ve placed Chinese calligraphic fonts alongside ancient English fonts together to show they’re creation from the past. TYPOGRAPHY shows what I am already. typographyAs we progress, the percentages of blacks and whites reduced into lines, wobbly lines, inducing uncertainty. Just like how abstract art considered modern art, ABSTRACT SOLUTION shows a present me but have to be defined by others. abstract

You may say robots can symbolized future, so CONCEPTUAL is the future part of the timeline. As the black lines greatly substituted by colored lines, CONCEPTUAL contained my wish for an astonishing future, and what I will be. A resolution to escape the mundane ordinaries.

conceptual

It’s nice to be back to foundation 2D and the brainstorming. I have to remind myself, this is just the warm-ups.

Thanks for reading.

20151119_201922Finally we submitted the most tedious working, RAM/traditional skill consuming and brain consuming assignment of the module so far. It’s fun in the process, I am not gonna lie, and I’d like to thank again my fellow classmate JORDAN LEONG for helping me with the photo-shoot and being the cameo in parts of my project. Both of us are glad how they turned out in the end.

From the photo you can see how it was hanged on the wall. I didn’t want it to be tucked by 48 bobby pins as it would not differ from my previous projects. Therefore I improvised with the remaining yawns I have from the 3D module and some of my laundry clips. My classmates reminded me during the presentation that how they looked like developed films from the darkroom, which linked them with my concept perfectly. Overall, the presentation was a success for me because I was able to explain every point of their creation without leaving anything vital. (A flaw I am slowly correcting.)

Ms.Joy was very satisfied with my concept, artist references, color usage, strength of subtleties within the continuing items and how I tied everything together. It can’t be flawless, but the whole project has completed its function: explored my inner self and conveyed them to the viewers. I once again have to thank Ms.Joy for guiding me throughout the process, providing many artist references and context to look out in my work.

20151119_225240My fellow classmates have been a great audience from the start of my presentation. They left encouraging comments as usual in either verbal or written forms. Having such encouragement from them has always been a motivation for me to improve.

Even though today’s presentation has occupied 7 and a half hours, but I felt enriched from seeing how everybody put so much effort into their project. Everyone has developed a strong and distinct style of themselves, broken each every restriction they had and presented an extraordinary show today. I can see how they have worked and brainstormed restlessly to make their best final project. The spirit of “SPOIL MARKET” seems to be spread throughout the class and flourished. However, I have to improvise the quote from The Incredibles’ character Syndrome, “When everyone’s spoiled the market, no one is.” But the “market” has been raised.

The greatest thing about ADM classes so far is, we always look forward to what our classmates going to present in the next project.

To Ms.Joy and everyone from G1: Thanks for everything throughout the semester, hope to see you guys and your masterpieces next semester!

{END}

Our lecturer Ms.Joy commented on my previous and quoted, “What about, then, the role of ‘tinting’ due to their own upbringing or indigenous use of colours prior to commencing on these portrait photography works? How then does this insider, or even, inside-the-insider (since this is such an introspective project) internal ‘lens’ guide you in your compositions and/or colour usage? “. In Japanese photography painting, there was Felice Beato who expressed his view as a foreigner in Japan, and there were Kimbei and Enami who defined their works as a local. Their difference in nationality shaped a contrast of presentation in their works. Now, the country is myself, and I’m the ghost slash resident of my body. Therefore, you are able to see how the following work can be differentiate as how others see me, and how I see myself. Disclaimer: For those who didn’t read through the visual journal scans in the previous post, here’s a recap and elaboration of my concept. Sit tight, it’s going to be a long ride.

There’s always something on my face as it signifies my current commonness in the world. I’m nobody yet, I’ve not construct a final form, a true self to face the world. But I’m the lead character of the following frames, therefore the objects can be eye-catching to the viewers and leave an impression. Plus, it covers my face, so my actions speak the loudest.

ME

adaptable ADAPTABLE: I am adaptable, which I am proud of in terms of changing living location. Growing up in a hostel since secondary school, like everyone else, I developed a self disciplinary adjustment to suit myself in strange environment. Well, of course Singaporean post-army are trained better. (Explanation of each frame’s composition.)

  1. However, I never like to be put into strange environments, so is anyone. When I first arrived Singapore, I haven’t met any friends from either local or my home country. I don’t like to be alone, especially being at somewhere I don’t know yet. The RED ORANGE bench signifies a new community breed in the complementary BLUE, an insecure faith that can be either exciting or disappointing place. I am sitting awkwardly on the bench, in YELLOW ORANGE, unable to fit in yet as I am slightly different from the new community.
  2. Sometimes, I can be desperate to resolve my loneliness. I need someone to deal with the new life with me. But, usually, it doesn’t always go the way I want. The BLUE VIOLET dominated the whole environment and appeared to be darker than the previous frame. The ORANGE bench changed lighter in hue but the darker environment signifies a worsen situation I am in. A YELLOW me is trying to optimize my attitude towards the surrounding. Usually, my optimistic view takes time to construct. A really long time.
  3. My own color changed along the color wheel, indicating my change to be a better adapter as well. The environment turned VIOLET as it can be worsen or improved depending on my own perspective. The bench turned YELLOW ORANGE, offering a YELLOW GREEN me, an newly independent being a chance to settle in it.

+

stubbornSTUBBORN: I am stubborn sometimes, and always uses my own ways to complete certain task. Usually trapped by my own opinions and thoughts, my overthinking is so imaginative, it can be write down onto a script. I’m currently not flexible enough to go further as I am still letting my emotions to control many aspects in my life instead of my logic. After adapting the environment, which turned GREEN as it became ideal and comfortable, the ORANGE me is in a vibrant satisfaction, (As you can see through the tinting.) does not let go of the VIOLET bench, the past and old things I found favorable.

=

meME: One lucky sonofagun that managed to survive with a conformist attitude because he met great human beings throughout his life who help him through his worst moments. I’ve met so many great people that most of my life owe a great debt to them. My family, friends, ex-crushes, teachers, you name it. I caused most of my downs in my life but it was them who pushed and advanced me to a better place. The color changes in the frames are following the TETRAD order in the color wheel. The VIOLET background signifies my immense in my own favorites and my RED friend is the driving element for me to shift from the safe GREEN bench another environment. As the for the last frame, the BLUE background foreshadows my arrival to another strange environment.

BETTER ME

thoughtful

THOUGHTFUL: The painting used was my sister’s (www.sijieloo.com) painting Listening to the Orishas, acrylic on canvas. 36×36″. I regarded myself being not as thoughtful as a member of a society should be. I’m only thoughtful towards the categories I’m interested in. So thoughtful is the trait that makes me a better person, for the ones I love, and the ones who love me. Staring at an empty canvas with rich expression and thoughts projecting in the back of my head is how I wanted to express this personality. The mundane GREEN was lightened up by my thoughts and the VIOLET hue hinted inspiration possessed by me in a trustworthy BLUE shirt.

minus

minus procrastination

PROCRASTINATE:  I tend to do this a lot. By removing it, I can achieve more, be what I want and do what’s necessary for my better future, before giving myself too many excuses. In the frames, my enjoyments in the serene BLUE was taken away within the change of TRIAD colors. The pen is my necessities to advance forward in a climatic energized RED.

=

better meBETTER ME: An anti-conformist. I was pulled away by responsibilities (The pen.) in an analogous colored path. I painted myself in BLUE as it doesn’t fit in the color set, meaning I won’t be settling down until I achieved what I want.

IDEAL ME

creativeCREATIVE: As a wannabe creator or rather an artist, creativity is one of the things I craved the most. The ideal me will constantly be able to see the world in many perspectives and always think out of the box. Creativity is so abstract that it can’t be obtained instantly, but to gain through training and gaining knowledge. The BROWN box is a discordance to the purple analogous series starting from BLUE VIOLET to RED VIOLET.  Yet a BLUE GREEN umbrella appears to harmonized the frame by forming a TRIAD, symbolizing my ideal flexibility within being creative. Without it, there will be stubbornness.

x

experienced

EXPERIENCED: An ideal me should always be prepared for any circumstances, be resourceful and thoughtful while meeting certain problems. This might take a long time to achieve as experience varies with time, but comparatively we are wiser everyday. It’s not necessary to boost my experiences instantly, but the more of it the more I can advanced. The color of wisdom BLUE VIOLET is painted on the umbrella, protecting the ideal me through the rest of the TETRAD color as they advanced from a safer minor GREEN obstacle to greater influential YELLOW ORANGE and finally to an intense obstacle colorized as RED.

=

ideal meUNIQUE: Perhaps an ideal me is a unique being. Recognized by all and ignored by none, or maybe on the contrary? Perhaps an ideal me can stand out from the crowd being unique for being extraordinary, for what I am? What I do? Or, What I left? The idea of that expressed with me in a creative RED VIOLET, still be able to stand within the COMPLEMENTARY YELLOW GREEN, with the previous items remaining the same for continuity.

ME IN 5 YEARS

Here’s the part where I was inspired by Edward Hopper’s walls that restrict his paintings’ characters.

minue stubbornminus STUBBORN: Me in 5 years is an ambiguous stage. Who knows? Maybe I removed my stubbornness, letting go what I’ve been desired for too much, embracing what I was given. DARK YELLOW GREEN wall as my spiritual obstacle, BLUE GREEN pants signifies my freedom, an ORANGE me embracing the sky without restrictions.

+

skilledSKILLED: Perhaps after 5 years of learning from the great people around me, I potentially surpass the teachings and be skilled enough to challenge the vast world. My color painting ends when the ME IN 5 YEARS left the window, as nothing can define myself who’s in the outside world.

=

me in 5 yearsME IN FIVE YEARS: There will be infinite possibilities occurring on me, maybe going up, maybe tumbling down. These possibilities are determined by, as I fly through the sky (outside world) with different colored wings. (Many version of myself. Sounds poetic?)

[To be continued…..]