Whitworth Art Gallery

Q1. What connection(s) are there between the works?

The main connection I found between the images was destruction and self implosion. Cornelia parker, focused on the sort of humorous side of destruction, with cartoon death and large explosions. Cai Guo-Quiang, focused on historical aspects of destruction and and the surreal effects of bombs being dropped, using gun powder as a medium and the distressed texture it creates when used to draw with. Sarah Lucas, used cigar rates in the form of figures to capture the destroyed form and what smoking does to someone. Each of the pieces conveys different styles and challenges the onlooker, but they all come back to the main theme of destruction.  

Q2. What might the societal/cultural comment(s) be?

I think Cornelia Parker's piece reflects an object that everyone can associate with and everyone has one. She has reanimated these dead objects and given the new life, by suspending them almost in time. The social and cultural message of the piece could be to reflect on the destructive nature of our very day lives and by giving something a new life and meaning we can then look at something very differently. 

In Cai Guo-Quaing, ‘Unmanned; Nature’ the mountains and marked landscapes, with explosions represent a better land free of people which the title of the piece suggests. Thats what I get from the title, but from looking at this piece I see destruction and the water reflects that, you can see what humans have done. He has made it look beautiful though. 

 Sarah Lucas and her piece ‘Tits in Space’, was a very abstract piece of work, but one Felt had huge connotations with commenting on lifestyle choices and how people lead their lives. I think the use of the naked woman something usually seen as a beautiful form was transformed into something almost hideous and the cigarettes create that and reflected that. 

Q3. What cultural tropes or metaphors are at work in the three examples?

I think Cornelia Parkers work contains a significant meaning as in wanting to preserve something and even though dead and broken people can still hold onto something and objects however meaningless can become important again. 

Cias work contains a powerful message one of beauty and the transendence from death and destruction to one of hope. The water makes you as a person reflect on whats happened in the past. 

Q4. How does the gallery use the notion of space when presenting/ curating the work?

The exhibitions really use space cleverly and to their advantage not to hinder the work but to help create the work and connect with the work. You become immersed with the huge installations and large pieces. 

Character's Old Sultan

 These were the final designs for my two main characters the wolf and Old Sultan. I was really happy with how they turned out and the look and feel of them really suit the type of illustrations I am trying to produce. I think the shape and dark texture of the wolfs fur really make hime look menacing. The dog looks good as I think i have captured his innocence, but I have given him an almost dirty look - his fur looks tired and old and with no outline he's almost fading away. I purposely didn't give him an outline as it is meant to represent his ignored character within the story.

In terms of weaknesses I think that the wolf could look at bit more dangerous and the sharp white teeth could improve that image. I think in terms of the dog the colour might be an issue as its very hard to replicate the same effect and what is it going to look like when he's say side on or in a different position.

I face a huge problem with trying to replicate the quality of these as the marks and way I produced them were experimental, so whether I can replicate that same feel and look will be a challenge. Overall though I am satisfied with my attempt.

  Process 

I started out with mark making and set out to mimic the texture and feel of the wolfs fur. I used charcoal and pastel and tried to softly rub them on rough paper. I then drew an outline of a wolf and used photoshop to change the colour and darkness to make the wolf darker more menacing. 

I made sure I tried a few different backgrounds and textures in the wolf shape to see other alternatives and different sides. 

Here Ive tried to create a number of different marks to try and recreate different fur marks that i could then put over Sultan. I used a brown water colour for his colour, which I think works well as it looks tired and almost muddy which works well. I then changed the vibrance of his fur colour and overlaid the colour. 

Character Development

Reading the story numerous times I had to understand who the characters are and what characteristics they have. I discovered that the main character Sultan is and old dog, so I wanted to find a dog that looked old and warn out and thought the Italian Spinone dog was the best match. Everything about it from the fur to the way the ears drop down made me think this was ' Old Sultan'. I could just imagine this dog running around on a farm. I think this dog is exactly how I want my main character to look.

I thought the best way to go about creating the character drawing wise was to do a load of studies similar to life drawing, so I could get the shape, size and face structure right. I think they look really good and having to look very closely at all the different parts of the dog helped me to draw it. The one aspect I am worried about is the  fact that this dogs face is very hard to draw because its fur covers its facial structure- i.e. no jaw bone and no straight lines.

I repeated the same process with the Wolf character. I want him to look very dark and mysterious, basically make him look like a bad guy. Wolves are a lot easier to draw personally for me as they have lots of  straight lines to them and are easily defined.

Old Sultan

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

A farmer had a faithful dog named Sultan, who had grown old and lost all his teeth, and could no longer hold onto anything. One day the farmer was standing with his wife before the house door, and said, "Tomorrow I intend to shoot Old Sultan. He is no longer of any use."

His wife, who felt pity for the faithful animal, answered, "He has served us so long, and been so faithful, that we might well give him his keep."

"What?" said the man. "You are not very bright. He doesn't have a tooth left in his mouth, and no thief is afraid of him. He can go now. If he has served us, he has eaten well for it."

The poor dog, who was lying stretched out in the sun not far off, heard everything, and was sorry that tomorrow was to be his last day. He had a good friend, the wolf, and he crept out in the evening into the forest to him, and complained of the fate that awaited him. ....

Read the whole story here:http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm048.html

I decided to go with the out of copyright Grimm's fairy tale story Old Sultan. I didn't feel confident in my ability to write my own short story, which is a weakness that I need to improve on. I was looking for a long time though and researching lots of different stories until I found this one. I felt and instant connection with the story and knew I could create illustrations for it.

The story is about an old dog. A farmers dog that us unwanted and unloved by his owner. A story of betrayal and loyalty with these themes running throughout. I love all the different characters from the wolf, to the farmer. i think I could really create something brilliant here and connect with the story. the hard part now is finding the style I want to create the book in.

Pecha Kucha

Interesting website all about it http://www.pechakucha.org

Pechu Kucha is a presentation where you have to talk about 20 images and you only nave 20 seconds to talk about each image. It has to naturally flow and each image should lead on to another one. Im not the best at speaking, but I gave this my best shot and talked about my Macmillan project.

It went really well I thought  as I had a clear plan and order. I talked about my strengths and weaknesses and what inspired me. It was another confidence booster for me and people genuinely seemed interested to see my work and the way I worked.

Heres a great with some tips on how and what to do for a Pecha Kucha Presentation

Abram Games

Tuesday Lecture 

This was a really interesting lecture. Abram Games a famous designer known for his world war two posters daughter came in to talk about his work and life. This was a very beneficial experience for me as I am currently writing an essay about propaganda and his posters are a very important part of that. 

I saw how he used and Britain used these posters, like the one above entitled the 'Blond Bombshell' to encourage and motivate people during world war two, in this case to get women to join the less glamorous ATS. I could see the relevance of his images having a message and a meaning. The image had to link to the message and be understandable for someone looking a it. I need to develop this side of my work more and create meaningful illustrations that relate to what the drawing is about.