Looking into developing an interactive/altered look book for my final, to tie to my concept and relay abandonment in its truest form — constantly morphing, never static and always changing over time.

Observation at Keppel Hill Reservoir:

• Light and shadow: make interesting visuals. Position of shadows shift as afternoon sun moves.
• Colours: browning of leaves, some decay faster than others. Some in process of dying, while some are just sprouting. Pipes near reservoir are slowly getting engulfed by greens of algae.
• Deterioration/Rust: Cracks slowly appearing on stones and pavement, broken stones/pipes
• Fluctuation: Water levels fluctuate according to weather. Monsoon seasons mean over-flooded reservoir, hot season means shallow waters. No working drainage system to control water levels.

Observation at Dakota Crescent:

• Architecture/Colour: Unique placement of buildings, blocks facing each other like butterfly shape. Windows are alternate on each level.

Elderly friendly, slops instead of steps. Balconies are painted in colours so that elderly can find their house easier. Main colours of Dakota is pastel hues: Pink, blue, turquoise, green, grey. Very interesting gate patterns especially at shophouses.

• Deterioration/Rust/Litter: Lots litter, cat food collected over the cracks, papers and mails. Rusting gates and cracked concrete. Concrete has also oxidised, red tints from rust. Paint is fading. Broken block numbers and windows.

Observation at Bukit Timah Railway:

• Architecture: structures of train tracks are still strong and recognisable, Metal tracks peek through above overgrown grass.
• Colours: overall very cold and grey. Colours of broken pieces from past, like bright blue tags used to label the railway in past scattered all over

  

• Deterioration/Rust: Cracks/marks getting more apparent on wooden tracks, metals rusting and peeling over time.
• Nature VS Man-made: Plants grow over wooden tracks, nature slowly taking over the structures
• Light/shadow: When Sun hits tracks, very strong wood textures are made visible. As sun sets, wooden tracks become less visible and becomes one with forest setting

Below are some interactive print works I found interesting:

1.  Land Rover Topographic Calendar

A calendar with different sizes of paper layered and stack together to replicate a topographic effect. Curves of paper are gentle and soft, pastel colours compliment each other well.

Concept

When calendar is closed, layered effect is beautiful. Took this reference as it looks very similar to tree wood layers I saw at Bukit Timah. Very strong similarities to wood layers. As you flip the pages, layers slowly diminish, it looks less like wood — akin to construction work, precious wooden railway tracks are slowly being hacked away for conservation/revamping purposes.

2. Watercolour Abstracts

Textures. and shapes explored with watercolor medium.

Concept

Organic shapes and textures exploration using the nature of watercolour: Spreading, blurring. A mix of soft and sharp strokes give contrasting textures, even with the same colours used.

3. Rest of the Story

A CD album cum book, in hopes of integrating writing and music together. Writing is accompanied by visuals of what is meant to represent the music and theme.

Interactive aspect

There is a hole that exposes the CD when you flip the book open. As you flip through the book, you get ‘closer’ to the CD. Idea of getting closer’ to the main purpose of the album as you go through the pages —> to reach a conclusion at the end

4. Recto | Towards

Embroidery painting, where viewers are also invited to take a look at the back of the canvas to view the process of embroidery and sewing. The dialogue between the front and back of the canvas creates a multi-dimensional work, both sides interact with each other.

Interactive aspect

Going back and forth between the front and back of canvas, able to experience both sides together as a whole since canvas is translucent. 2 sides of the artwork create depth.

5. Intersect Origins

Transparent pages and pixelated graphics to explore history through a contemporary lens.  The book follows the story of an ancient beast and has brief descriptions  of history, focusing much on the pixel graphics instead. There in consistency in showing the beast, a pixelated ‘logo’ on most pages.

Interactive aspect

Transparent pages enhance the concept of the book. Colours  and designs change as one flips through the pages, providing one with a new aesthetic view of the ancient world.

6. Capital Cities

This book is about capital cities which are based on the economic power in the world. Each page is a city’s centre. Every two pages are separated along the diagonal, so that the city is divided into two parts. When the book is opened, the divided cities and the intact city are combined together, and create new cities.

Interactive aspect

Flipping the book gives you a new conclusion and meaning to the work.  Also, looking at book from different angles give you different patterns of shadows.

7. Mica book for Bind-O-Rama

The paper in the artist’s work is often left in its original colour with the original print on it. It gives her artwork a sense of freshness and raw emotion. This project is to explore a book as a transparent screen.

Interactive aspect

The artist often envisions the flag book as a movable screen to define space. Light and shadow capture is captured in the form, the focus is not on the ‘book’ itself, but the marks on the transparent sheet.