Animals and Humans

Throughout history there has been a relationship between animals and humans wether its through friendship or through work reasons, like farming. Ive always had a consideration for animals and I've always liked creating work with them involved. This is just an initial idea, nothing definite as I will be experimenting ……. but I do want to include animals somewhere within the prism of my drawings. 

I was thinking of animals that have an isolated existence and are dependant on themselves to survive, just like most homeless people are, they have to keep going to survive often in harsh climates. Again I want a surrealist feel to this, just like with the cave drawings above, perhaps not definite images, but maybe gestures of animals ? 

Edward Hopper - all the lonely people

http://socialistreview.org.uk/286/edward-hopper-all-lonely-people

His paintings don't invite you in - they are full of shadows and dark places as well as patches of harsh, bright light. But they are very rarely hospitable or welcoming - instead they seem to throw you back, to reject your gaze and ask you instead to examine what it is that you are feeling about what is in front of you.
Take 'Gas'. The petrol station on the empty road seems about to close down. The lights from the hut are almost fluorescent. The petrol pumps are garish splashes of red against a dense, dark background. The trees are solid and impenetrable - only the road continues, but it quickly disappears behind the building and there is no sign at all of where it might lead, if indeed it leads anywhere. And then there is the solitary, half-hidden figure. Is he turning off the pump, or hiding?It is impossible to tell.

The only thing that is certain is that he is alone. His loneliness is shared by all the people in hoppers paintings. His paintings are very carefully planned out, look simple and have a deep emotional message about loneliness, which links in with the main theme I want to create. 

October Colouring Book

"Devalue the visual in favour of the verbal" x

This was a very humorous and interesting creation by artist David Batchelor. He added colour to monochrome library books. He wanted to make these visually desolate plain books into colourful and design minded pieces of work, that anyone could open and look into. He really though about composition, design and the colours that he's used, they aren't just random patterns, but cleverly thought out design.

This was more related to my dissertation essay on the 'elements of drawing' but I felt like this was a good way of showing you some interesting work that I admire.

Lee Jefferies - Homeless

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2012/jan/20/big-picture-homeless-lee-jefferies - all images are from this website and are Lee Jefferies photograhs 

"Like strokes of a painter’s brush, every pore, wrinkle, scar and hair is accentuated in the faces of these homeless people. Some have kind, crinkly eyes, others seem wary, but most, with their weathered skin and intense gazes, tell of the hardship of life on the streets perhaps better than the subjects could themselves" 

I really admire the way Lee Jefferies has shown the true face of homelessness here, you can really see the years of hardship and almost torment in their faces. They almost look like intricate paintings. They really capture a mood of despair, they are visually stunning though. 

When The Tide Is Out - Short film

This was just a short animated film I came across. It sort of fixes you into watching it and I end up in a sort of paralyzed state if that makes any sense. It really highlights the repetitive and lonely life of someone, with the eerie silence of just water dripping down.

Henry Derger - The realms of the unreal

One of the main points of my work is that I want it to reflect my own true nature and my own ideas. I want it to look like mine and mine alone. I have to have a connection with the topic and show deeper understanding of what it is I'm trying to portray. Surrealism is a big part of the way I work and I want to show something along those lines. Im not just going to draw something weird and random and say look thats surrealist. It has to connect and be a true representation. 

I came across an artist called Henry Derger and instantly fell in love with his style of work and imaginative drawings. Im became slightly obsessed with wanting to leaner more about his working methods and his bizarre yet almost truthful long book "In the realms of the unreal". You get a real sense of loneliness and isolation from his own life, working in total obscurity and isolation - no one even found out about his book until years after he died. He used his drawings and writing to reflect on his own conflicts and dysfunctional life. He lived a very troubled childhood and this book of his reflects on that. 

What got me the most though was the beautiful drawings and dream like way of working. They really represent what he was thinking and are ver clever  in the way the talk to you and communicate with you. With his own marginal status he creates a book where children rise up against the oppressive adults- who look down upon the "feeble minded". The manipulation of images and overlay of collage and colour are really something to be admired and a way of working I want to try and explore in this project. 

He had his own personal connection to his drawings and story. The theme of loneliness is one that keeps coming up everywhere I look and the connection to homelessness and nothingness been intertwined throughout my research. 

Darger had created a totally specific world, titled 'The Realms of the Unreal', that told the story of the Vivian girls, and their adventures during many Christian-led wars, the Glandeco-Angelinnian War, caused by the child slave rebellion. The paintings, constructed with various mediums and methods, illustrated this fantasy world, using collage, ink and paint, and he collected images, xeroxing many particular images over and over, to portray his beloved Vivian girls. With no exterior life, and a lack of social skills, Darger had lived completely within this inner world, where he kept intricate details and charts detailing the events in the "realm", and documented the wars - including names, dates of soldiers deaths, the costs of each of these wars: immensely detailed, impeccably assembled.

A point of view

A point of view is a topical radio show on bbc 4, which involves presenters talking about a wide range of subjects from political, economical, entertainment issues.... A chronicle of twenty first british opinion, which is informed, thought provoking and insightful. 

Being an illustrator its very important to be able to communicate sometimes difficult topics and ideas and its my job to create a well balanced representation of that. Therefore its very important that I have a genuine interest in the subject. Being an avid watcher of all things political and taking a keen interest in social issues this brief immediately spoke to me. Sometimes you just have a hunch that this is the right one for you and I had that with this. 
For my final major project it has taken many weeks of research and deliberating, but i think I have finally come up with the right idea for me and an idea that allows me freedom to work and the work to naturally develop itself. From previous projects such as the editorial brief, I wanted to challenge myself with difficult subjects and really reflect the story behind them. I dont feel like I can show you my initial research as its a confusing and complicated idea, so I thought it would be better to show you my initial idea and then show the research behind it later on.

The Pursuit of Happiness - 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04vr10l - Check out Al Kennedys view here 

This was a view that stood out and here are my thoughts and ideas behind it,A L Kennedy reflects on what it means to pursue happiness in a world where "not having enough money can be utterly miserable" and indulging our desire to acquire is also unsatisfying. The answer may lie in seeing that happiness is, "not so much a condition as a destination. She's reflects the pursuit of happiness itself and says." when I'm happy I'm waiting to be sad". A lack of happiness damages our well being and our physiological state and according to media aquiring objects is the only way to happy, materialistic symptoms of an unhappy society. I myself can see this everywhere if you haven't got the latest technology you aren't "normal" and feel the urge to join others. That awareness of others poverty is driving people to acquire and be like every one else and the effect this has is that people sleeping in the street are not unremarkable and part of the side of society you dont want to be part of. She also reflects on the fear of hunger and the violent almost aspirational drive that stops that, but it creates a false image of happiness. even with enough of everything we still necessarily aren't happy, 2 million people people are malnourished, to them happiness is almost heroic". 

Eduardo Paolozzi: Living in a materialist world - poking fun at a post war world - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/eduardo-paolozzi-living-in-a materialist-world-8784364.html

In my opinion this idea of a pursuit of materialistic goods is very evident in the modern streets of Britain  The homeless people as she talks about become the ignored and looked down upon. Many people have the idea of disgust at not wanting to become homeless themselves, but then are blinded by that greed and the homeless become the invisible and ignored.