by ·0 Comments

Roman Ondak
(Slovak, born 1966)

Measuring the Universe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found Roman Ondak’s work really special, the simple gesture of recording down the name and particulars of each individual
that went to the exhibition according to their height created a thick line across the room. The work has personality,
creativity and most importantly, to me, it was created through individualism. In participatory art, the artwork grows along
with the participation, and watching the exhibition unfold was really interesting. Roman Ondak portrayed how simple it is
to create an artwork through our uniqueness.

Erwin Wurm

(Austria, 1954)

Ice Head 2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erwin Wurm invites participants to interact with the art pieces, which have holes in them specifically for the participants to stick a limb in and pose for a photo. With the involvement of the participants, the art piece, which initially seemed mundane and uninteresting, suddenly comes to life and also has a little bit of humour embedded in the participatory art. In a way, the art piece cannot be recreated in that exact setting, making it more intriguing and unique.

by ·0 Comments

Glorification of Vices

We live in a society where drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes are becoming inherently normal. The crave for a mild, temporary buzz from smoking a cigarette and tipsiness experienced from having a little too much alcohol is increasing, especially among the younger generation. The illusion of fulfillment and contentment by undertaking vices is widespread. Pop culture, which promotes alcohol consumption and other vices as a prerequisite to having a ‘good time’, has a strong influence on its young audience. This plaguing plight of mindset changes may ultimately lead to wrongful glorification of vices, of which some are so afraid of. We must be more aware of doing the morally right thing, especially when faced in tough situations when we are convinced otherwise. In this era of defiance and rebelliousness, who will hold firm to their ethics? Why do we glorify such bad behaviours, when we are clearly aware of the consequences?

by ·0 Comments

Concept

Influence.

I want to show, through a series of simple drawings created by 10 participants,
the presence of influence we have on each other, whether in a big or small way.
I folded 2 A4 cardboards, attached 2 different flowers on one end of the cardboard,
and cut a hole on the other end.

The presentation went as followed:
The 10 participants would be separated into two groups: One would be able to see
what each other have drawn, the other group would not be able to do so.
They would go take turns to enter the classroom, and the participants were not
allowed to communicate verbally. They would then insert one hand into the cardboard box
and feel the object, and draw whatever they felt the object was. There was a little twist
to this, I switched the boxes around after the second person from each group had drawn their
drawings. The third person from each group would then draw a different object, and because
they were not allowed to communicate, they would not know that it was changed. The group
that were allowed to refer to one another’s work ended up drawing similar items even though
their objects had changed.


The group that was not allowed to refer to each other’s work drew objects of their own interpretation. I explained to the class afterwards that my point was made, that we were inevitably affected by one another, and this extended much further than simply drawing flowers from a cardboard box. Consider influence in a bigger context, such as in our daily lives. We are affected by the choices that others make, such as giving bad reviews to a particular movie and bringing down its ratings. We would always check the reviews of a movie before watching, and would more often than not skip the movie if it had terrible reviews.

Feedback:
The objects could have had more difference to make the participants think twice about what they were drawing.

Reflection: I was glad that I was able to convey my ideas through a simple participatory work, and with a revision, I believe that the work could have an educational aspect for the younger generation and possibly educate on the importance of having individualism.

by ·0 Comments

Idea:
When I first started conceptualizing for the project,
I had thought about my passion for dance and the idea of
being able to move around freely in an urban space(parkour).
The idea transitioned to someone who was unable to perform incredible
stunts, and whilst dreaming, was given these abilities to ‘draw’ from
mid air, shift objects and fly around freely. I described this in my presentation
as ‘superpowers’. In the end, the abilities were taken from him in a volatile
manner and the elements that he thought he could control, was instead controlling
him. At this point of time, he would be transported back to reality through
the reversal of his ‘dance’ moves he had done from the start.

Process:
I was intrigued by the possibilities of creating a stop motion through
clay/blue tac/kneadable eraser figure, as it was simple to shape and I used malleable
aluminium wires to attach the figure to the background, so that he could ‘fly’. The
process was tedious as I had to set up the environment (the playground), think about
the step to step process of what I wanted him to do. The ‘drawing’ part was made by
black acrylic paint and a paintbrush, to draw each action and move the figure at the
same time. I had actually created multiple scenes, and only decided to leave in the
most appropriate ones to keep the video concise and clear.

Comments:
Some objects did not fit the theme, or rather, wasn’t appropriate for the story line
e.g the pack of can drinks that appeared halfway in the video. Certain scenes could
have included angle shifts to maintain the attention of the viewers.

Reflection:
I was contented with the results, but there is always space for improvement. I could have
added a smoother transition into the eraser character, created more interesting elements
for him to play with, and made the environment more convincing as an actual urban space
for him to move around. With more time and reflection, I believe I can improve my concept
and convey a clearer idea to my viewers.

by ·0 Comments

Brief:
Combining many of the lessons and concepts of drawing we have covered so far, your assignment is to design a composition that depicts at least 6 people in a queue that you feel would be interesting to record. The space you choose should have opportunities for you to draw interesting perspectives, objects, textures, etc.

The drawing must be done on location and from observation.

I had drawn this at the Canteen 1 drink stall. The main goal I had set out for was to create a naturalistic drawing of the location, making it convincing and clear the foreground, mid-ground and background. The figures were rather hard to capture in real time, so I had to do a lot of figuring out, especially for the shirt folds and shades. I had focused greatly on the use of different tones to create a hierarchy. I felt that it was important to emphasis the lightest light and the darkest dark in the drawing. The solution that I came up with was tied together by the positioning of the light source for the character.

Feedback that I received:
Tables could have been drawn in a more convincing spherical shape;
and toned according to the drawing.
The shadings on the middle character, especially below the pants, was inconsistent with the rest of the characters.
The shading on all the characters should have been consistent.