February 2018 – hellosiqi

Micro-Project 4: Glitch

For our group, we used photoshop functions to create glitches in the image. Glitch transformation can be created by playing with distortion, perspective and colours of an image. Glitches could also be attained by deconstructing images and rearranging them in a new order. Each transformation is a new form from its precursor because the alterations made by each artist reduces the original intention of an image with their unique editing skills. When the artist could no longer recognise a subject in the image, they tend to be more destructive to the artwork because it feels less precious and personal.

Original Version:

Version 1: Done by Reuben

Version 2: Done by Si Hui

Version 3: Done by Me

Version 4: Done by Melo

Image Through Type: Process & Final

EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS:

I decided to go with the collage/scrapbooking style in the end because I felt like it is something I have very little experience with and I’m interested to see how I can make use of existing imageries to create type. I think this art style might be useful in bringing across my message through its use of different textures, tones and juxtaposition of images.

AT ATTEMPT 1,

I started on one composition, portraying both a pilot and a bus driver. Both occupations needed to transport a large number of passengers around, so I incorporated that element in but kept the vehicle used for transport ambiguous to the viewers.

THEREFORE, there are a lot of random elements (basket, balloons, wheels) in the composition. The letterform Q (uppercase) is haphazardly incorporated at the sky + washi tape area and the i (lowercase) at the steering wheel + washi tape area.

As you can tell, it was a mess.

PROBLEMS:

Very very confusing, too many irrelevant images
Letterform does not help to convey my concept, it is merely decorative
No focal point

AT ATTEMPT 50,

I decided that I should focus more on one occupation and add subtle elements to hint at the other. Therefore, in the composition below, most of the imageries used were to portray a pilot with only a small steering wheel to indicate a bus driver.

I also adjusted the scale and lessen the imageries used in the composition so that there was more emphasis on the letterform. The letterform is now incorporated in the flock of birds. The arrangement of birds forms my name qi (lowercase).

PROBLEMS:

Letterform is too small
Letterform should be incorporated in the most important element of the composition
Letterform should convey my concept and message
Message intended is very dilute

OH NOOOOOOO!

I realised that my method was not working out, because the message I was trying to convey was too big for this project and I could not express it properly in my artwork. So I took my teacher’s advice and aborted the mission.

I took on a different approach to address the issue of society’s preconception on various occupations. I refined my idea and looked into individual occupation instead of two. In my latter artworks, I would discuss the preconceived ideas that people tend to have when they think of jobs, such as, Makeup Artist, Pilot, Wedding Planner and Bookstore Owner; and the flip side of which that they often fail to see.

CONSIDERATION MADE FOR LETTERFORMS:

It is undeniable that the uppercase Q has more distinguished characteristics as compared to the lowercase q because of its unique tail that is held perpendicularly to the circle. Therefore, my initial plans were to use uppercase Q in my work. Unfortunately, after experimenting with it, I felt like it looked too rounded and its tail looked too abrupt in the composition.

The lowercase q is more asymmetrical in nature because it has a combination of curves and straight lines. When incorporated in a composition, it looked cohesive.

Uppercase I and lowercase i looks pretty similar in terms of its linearity and rectangular form. The only difference between the two is that the lowercase i have a gap and a circle at its top.

EXPERIMENTING…

Geometric Sans Serif: Wedding Planner

Geometric Sans Serif does not fit the vibe of the occupation, it looks too rigid and boring. The qi looks like number 91.

Script type: Wedding Planner

I created a cursive letterform to imitate the script type often seen in wedding.

FINAL WORK

In my final work, I decided to add in doodles to my collage compositions because I thought that them will give my artwork more dimension and energy.

MAKEUP ARTIST

I incorporated my letterform in the smear of paint because I felt like makeup artists add colours to people’s life (LITERALLY). They make people look beautiful and feel more confident about themselves. In this case, the client’s face is the artist’s canvas where she can compose her masterpiece.

WHAT PEOPLE DO NOT SEE,

Makeup artists often have to work with models and celebrities and these clients can be difficult to deal with. To depict that, I illustrated a pair of angry eyebrows on the client’s face and an angry speech bubble. I also drew eyes around the artist to show that the makeup artists are always working under a lot of pressure and also to depict how the clients are always checking the artist’s work even before the artist is done with the whole makeup.

The curvature of the letter q was greatly reduced in this composition to mimic the flow of the paint as it drips downwards. The letter i was also inverted to mimic the top-heavy nature of dripping paint.

PILOT

For this occupation, I incorporated my letterform in the flock of birds because I felt that birds are rather similar to a pilot. They get a lot of freedom, they are not restrained by boundaries and they get to travel a lot.

WHAT PEOPLE DO NOT SEE,

Pilots are always very far from home. Their job is very dangerous as they have to spend long hours in flight and high altitude. In the composition, the birds are depicted as pilots. They are flying away from their nest to transport passengers across borders. In the letterform q, where the left rounded side curve inwards, there are birds trying to fly back to their nest but their wings are severed. This shows that no matter how much the pilots want to go home, they can’t due to their job obligations.

WEDDING PLANNER

For this occupation, I incorporated my letterform in the arrangement of flowers because I felt that a wedding planner is all about arranging and organising all aspects of the wedding. Through their efforts, they are able to fulfil a couple’s dream wedding.

WHAT PEOPLE DO NOT SEE,

In the composition, there are flower vines wrapping around the wedding planner’s arm, restricting her movements. The thorns on the vines are giving her cuts. This shows that a wedding planner does not have much creative freedom when it comes to the actual planning of the wedding, many decisions are made based on the client’s preference, no matter how absurd.

For the letterform, I arranged the flowers so that it forms a more cursive type to imitate the script lettering often seen in weddings.

BOOKSTORE OWNER

Opening a bookstore is a dream for avid readers and collectors. I wanted to depict a bookstore owner that feels very comforted by the presence of books. Therefore, I depicted a girl sleeping peacefully in a bookstore, the position in which the girl is sleeping forms the letter q.

WHAT PEOPLE DO NOT SEE,

Sadly, there had been an increase trend in reading e-books instead of physical books, leading to a drop in book sales. In the composition, it depicts the bookstore in a state of destruction. The bookshelves are collapsing and in the fall of books, forms letter i.

CHALLENGES AND LEARNING POINT

I think one of the main challenges I faced in this project was to deliver my message clearly to the audience. Sometimes, I get too caught up with the images and the composition that I neglected the intended message. I also struggled to incorporate the letterform because I didn’t know where to fit it in the arrays of images. My concept and message could have been better executed in my letterform.

BUT WELL, I LEARNT MY LESSON. I’M GLAD ITS OVER!

Image Making Through Type: Conceptualising

CONCEPTUALISING PROCESS:

When I was a younger I had many aspirations, but I remember feeling so upset when the adults tell me with certainty that my dream jobs were not ideal and I could do so much better.

But what made them think that certain jobs are more ideal than the others?

HENCE,

I felt like I have to somewhat address the society’s narrow-mindedness and their preconception on various occupations. I hope that through my artwork people would gain more insights on the occupations itself instead of what they seem to be.

BUT HOW?

My initial plan was to incorporate two jobs into one composition. These two jobs will have very similar functions to each other but one is viewed as better as compared to the other. This way it will make the viewers question how is one job better than the other if both of them are essentially serving the same purpose.

THESE ARE SOME EXAMPLES I HAVE CAME UP WITH

Wedding planner + Funeral planner = A planner that organises important events.

Pilot + Bus driver = A driver that transports huge numbers of passenger.

Makeup Artist + Mortician = A person who does makeup.

Banker + Cashier = A person who handles money.

STYLE INSPIRATION:

Collage/Scrapbooking

Able to creates a narrative
Juxtaposition of images
Overlapping effect
Textures and layers

Paper Cut

Texture and layers
3 dimensional/ popup effect
Able to emphasise on certain elements

Photo Alphabet

Use of negative space
Use of perspective
Deconstruction of elements in the photo

Hannah Hoch & Various Art Movement

Hannah Hoch

Photomontage Artist
Active in the Dada movement
Address the issue of gender and the figure of woman in modern society
Combine unrelated images into something insightful
Used found elements of popular culture
Critiqued prevailing society in her work

Artwork 1: Dada Puppen

The artist represented human in a mutilated form, or made it looked mechanical. She believed that advancement in technology will threaten humanity and cause them to become more machine-like.

Artwork 2: Heads of State

The artist criticised the statesmen of Germany for their ruthless decision to put down the Spartacist rebellion. The statesmen looked foolish and out of place in their bathing suits. The photograph was set against an embroidered background and during that time, embroidery was a source of income and occupation for many German women. The placement of elements served to contrast the role of women with that of men.

Dada Movement

Began in Zürich, Switzerland
Marked by its mockery of materialistic and nationalistic attitudes
Influenced by other avant-garde movements such as, Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, and Expressionism
Produced works that often upended bourgeois sensibilities and that generated difficult questions about society

Dada Artwork: L.H.O.O.Q

L.H.O.O.Q is an altered postcard reproduction of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The artist penciled a moustache and a goatee over Mona Lisa’s upper lip and chin, and re-titled the artwork. In endowing the Mona Lisa with masculine attributes, he suggests Leonardo’s homosexuality and gestures at the androgynous nature of creativity.

Russian Constructivism

Replace art’s traditional concern with composition with a focus on construction
Fundamental analysis of the materials and forms of art
The form an artwork would take would be dictated by its materials

Russian Constructivism Artwork: Tatlin’s Tower (Monument to the Third International)

Monument to the Third International became famous partly because it was never built. It was suppose to be a vast spiralling tower over 400 metres high and the tallest building on earth. Although impossible to build, Tatlin’s planned monument had enormous impact on modern architecture in its sheer ambition and use of modern materials (iron, steel and glass, as opposed to stone or marble). It also became a world-famous symbol of utopian thought.

Research Critique 2: The Third Space

Posted by Reuben Tay on Wednesday, 31 January 2018

Click the link above to watch a magic show!!!!!

The third space is a place where people from different locations connect in real-time. It is not a physical place, but it exists through communication links and networking. In ‘The Third Space’ article, Randall Packer’s mentioned that in the third space “We are distributed across space and time.”, because it gives us the possibility to experience an alternate reality that is simultaneously happening in another location.

There are no boundaries constricting the third space. It allows people from the opposite side of the world to interact and create experiences that are sometimes impossible to create in the first or second space.

To experience the possibilities of the third space, my classmate Reuben and I staged a performance using Facebook live broadcast. Through this platform, we created a third space where both of us interacted, even though we were in different parts of the school. We attempted to create a third body by coordinating Reuben’s right hand and my left hand using the split screen function so that our hands look like they were from one person.

Both of us were holding a paper ball that we have to hide and show at coordinated timings to make it seemed like we were shuffling the ball. The audience were to guess which hand was holding the paper ball at the end. We were able to virtually hold objects and create a third body using similar looking objects, coordinating our hands and reacting to what we see and hear.

In the article, Randall also mentioned that in a third space “We can no longer separate the real and the virtual”. However, I felt that my experience in the third space lacked intimacy that characterises interaction in the first space as it only engages my sight and sound.

In order to create intimacy, I think that the setting of the third space shared between people should be similar, so that their brain will be hoaxed to think that they are in the same space. Intimacy can also be enhanced when the projected image of the third space are of relative scale to one another and the setting is a private place such as the bedroom or toilet. Most importantly, the third space has to be in real time, so that the interactions are live and engaging.

Research Critique 1: Crowdsourcing

For our crowdsourced project, my group mates and I decided to use the help of our fellow ADM students to design a hand-drawn tattoo sleeve. The students were asked to draw on our arms in response to a specified picture that we have chosen earlier. The final artwork was an interesting mix of colours and style as shown below. These drawings were a direct representation of our audience’s reaction and imagination. Thus, there are an endless possibilities to its outcome.

Our project was slightly inspired by Aaron Koblin’s crowdsourced project “The Sheep Market” as both our projects required our audience to contribute a drawing as a part of an artwork. However, the other aspects of the project were entirely different. One of which being the methods employed for crowdsourcing. Aaron Koblin had utilised an online platform while we had chosen physical networking. Unlike our project, “The Sheep Market” also has a better focus and an intended outcome as Aaron Koblin specified only sheep to be drawn.

I think what our group could have done better in this project was to be more specific in terms of what we wanted our the audience to experience and incorporate more instructions. This would allow us to have a better control over the outcome of the artwork.

This crowdsourced project was a fine example of “Do It With Others” (DIWO) as it involved a collaboration between different groups of people through physical networking. This project blurred the line between the role of an artist (us) and a curator/audience (the students), as both parties contributed ideas to the artwork. In Marc Garett’s article, he mentioned that DIWO, “brings all actors to the fore, artists become co-curators alongside the curators, and the curators themselves can also be co-creators.”

The blurring of roles between artists and audiences can be observed in Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece. In her performance, Yoko Ono sat motionless on the stage while the audiences were instructed to snip off a piece of her clothing with a pair of scissors. In this case, the audiences became the agents contributing to the creation of the art, helping the curator achieve their ideal outcome.

DIWO is an upgrade from traditional artwork as it challenges the conventional definition of art made by a single artist to create an integrative experience. It utilises not one, but many ideas to overcome mainstream cultural ideals. There are also more creative space in a DIWO project as compared to traditional artistic creations, because it is not restricted by the authorities. This breathes life into the art.