Thursday 20 January 2011

Not quite Brazilliant

Just a quickie - I told myself when I started my blog I'd post all my work, even work which isn't particularly good, so here we are:


The above is a screen-print created around the theme of "a personal response to events from 1970". It didn't take me long to realise that I wanted to focus on Pele, as many football fans would. I decided to use the two core colours of the Brazil flag to tie in his iconic face with Brazil's iconic colours. I loved planning and designing the above piece, but found my screen-printing skills let me down somewhat. Submitted just before Christmas, the piece got me a C, with comments similar to the ones I've just made.

Making art from mess

I guess my creativity kind of took a rest over Christmas - I busied myself with family, food and work, and didn't find the time I'd hoped to find in order to make some work. Because of this, I returned to Uni eager to create something, and that's what I've sort of done here.

Don't get excited (as if you would!) - they're no masterpieces - just a couple of images I produced whilst I could have been at the pub. I'd done these two sketches before I'd left for Christmas, and had wanted to play around with them as I liked how they looked. Here they are, poorly scanned in from my wannabe Moleskine:



Told you they weren't exciting didn't I? I decided to sketch all the clutter and bits of rubbish I accumulated on my shelves, and it made for enjoyable pencilmanship. I thought it would be a shame to leave it there, and so:


The clutter is emphasised by the busy and frantic black lines, and the contrasts in tone. I like this image - it holds its own due to the iconic nature of the clock in the centre (or not, feel free to tell me if I'm spouting rubbish - I'm used to it). After trying the single tone and angry line method of reproducing mess, I tried a different tack:



A much brighter, blockier approach - this shows a more relaxed response to clutter (albeit on a more organised shelf). I reckon this image captures me quite well, if there's one thing being artistic and messy in equal measure teaches you, it's to make your messes look good. That's what I think's going on here.

There you are, a small insight into my term-time bedroom. Be thankful I didn't draw the view under my bed.

Sunday 9 January 2011

"Make something difficult look easy"

As part of my contextual studies module for last term, we were asked to blog about a site/artist/bunch of bits of work we found inspiring/interesting/fun. I'm not a fan of blogging solely about other people's work, but seeing as my blog contains only my own work, this post should tick a box on my assessment sheet. (A quick hello goes out to my tutor who I know will be reading this at some point, hopefully the previous sentence will be taken in good humour...)

Anyway, I can do the rest of my post without witty or snide remarks (honest) because the site I have decided to focus on is one I love - one I was introduced to a few years back and one I frequently visit to gain fresh ideas, or simply to rest from my own work, and choose to appreciate the simplicity of thinking artistically... Drum-roll, please: http://www.eatock.com/

Daniel Eatock is based in London, and from the evidence on his website he's dabbled in all sorts of areas of art. However, it's not the aesthetics I find most interesting, it's the thought processes. This isn't a biography of Eatock, so I'll show you some of his work in pictures - you can make your own mind up:





Of course, the best way to get a feel for someone's work is to have a flick through for yourself - the website is more than accessible, in fact, the general feel to Eatock's work is that of accessibility. Included on the website are a variety of interactive works, where viewers submit their own responses to his work.

All in all, I find it great resource. Eatock encourages you to think in different ways, and challenges to some extent what we appreciate as art.