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Friday, September 23, 2011

Prep Work

There suppose to be 8 boards. But I forgot to take the photo of the board for the baby (from 0 to 3 years old) . There are the other 7 boards.


The 1st board is an introduction to my artwork.

The 2nd one is about the children (from 4 - 12 years old).

The 3rd board is for the age group of the teenagers (from 13 - 29 years old).

The 4th board is for the age group of the adults (30 -60 years old).

The 5th board is for the age group of the elderly (60 years old and above).

The 6th board is for the final compositions.

The 7th board is for the other compositions I tried out.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Course work final composition

For or my coursework, I decided to do 5 paintings. These 5 paintings will represent the 5 different stages of life.
For the first painting, it will be for the baby. Firstly, for the baby, I choose to put the photo in the middle of the painting, and it a very straight position. This is to symbolize the baby will be always the centre of attention. Parents and family members will always take goo care of the baby and make sure everything will be perfect for him/her. The objects scattered around the photo are chosen specifically. The 2 photos will represent the love received by the baby from the parents, and the bond between them. The aphalbet cards represents the young age of babies. They are currently in the stage where they start to be exposed to the world and also starting the life long process of learning. The alphabet cards also shows the comparative mindset of the parents nowadays, and how kids as young as 2 years old will start learning.
The storybook represents the daily activities parents and babies experience, for example the storytelling, which shows the bonds between parents and children.This painting is colourful which symbolizes that his life is full of hope and positiveness.

For the second painting, it depicts a photo of a young boy around the age of 7. The photo of him is still situated at the middle of the painting, which shows that children are still parents' center of attention. The drawings around the photo symbolizes the purity and innocence of children. They will often draw pictures of th eir superhero, as they are very ambitious at this stage. They want to be just like th eir superhero and make positive changes to the world when they grow up. The writing "I love mommy" shows the close relationship and the love between the child and the mother. The splashed orange juice shows the carelessness of the child and the hand print symbolizes the innovation and the fun-seeking characteristics of the child.This painting is rather colourful and vibrant which shows that the child's life full of energy and cheerful.

The third painting depicts the teenager. The painting is mainly made up of websites, mostly websites that are often visited by teenagers and youth, such as youtube and facebook. The picture of the teenager (the display picture of facebook) is covered covered by the y outube website, this shows that teenagers spent a relative huge amount of time on internet. The "its complicated with" symbolises the relationships teenagers are going through in this stage of life. The "friends (1026)" shows us that friends is a very important part of teenagers' life and that most of them have a huge group of friends. The blogspot shows what teenagers are going through on a daily basis, which is school stress and examination. This painting shows that even through teenagers are still enjoying life, occupying their lives with friends and internet, they start to experience stress and pressure. The painting is still rather colourful to show that overall, teenagers' lives are still enjoyable and happy.

The fourth one depicts the adults. The photo of the adult is no longer palced in the center, however it has moved to the corn er of the painting. This shows that adults are no longer center of attention. In this age groups, that are the ones taking care of others, and instead of the others taking care and paying attention on them. I purposely made the painting rather messy, with papers and files partly covering the photo. The untidiness gives a sense of panic and stress, and it also symbolizes the fact that often adults are overwhelmed by things such as the loans and salary. The painting shows several things that adults are worried and constantly stressed about, such as the house and car loans, the GST and debt. The calculator with negative numbers on them expresses the fact that most adults faces the problem of debt and insufficient money. The notes scattered around shows that earning money is a important part of the adult's lives. The colour scheme of this painting is slightly dull and less vibrant, as the adult life is not as cheerful and enjoying as the past. Adults constantly meet prob lems and it is their responsibility to resolve them.

The last paintings depicts th e l if e of an elderly. The picture of the elderly is shown on the obituary section of the newspa per. T his symbolizes the fact that each elderly faces the stress and fear of death and it is a part of the lif e cycle to die. I choose the newspaper as it has a dull colour, with gives the painting a sense of hopelessness and helplessness, which is constantly felt by the elderly. The medical bills around the picture shows us that they too experiences financial stress as they need huge sums of money to pay for the medical bills. The pills and medicine show that the elderly do also experiences physical burner as their health deteriorate day by day, and that is why they may be grumpy at times, they do not feel as energetic as before. The old photo of the family shows that although the elderly may be grumpy to their families at times, they do still love their family and treasure their happy memories in the past. The entire painting is dull in colour, to show that this stage of life is not particularly that happy and hopeful.

Overall, these 5 paintings together will show the cycle of life most of the people face today.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Inspiration - a letter from mom and dad


This is a video that inspired my coursework. It is a video showing how the elderly feel when they get older. Many elderly in the word are lonely, they do not expect a lot, just a bit of company and understanding. They only want others to be able to sympathizes them and allow them to have a better experience when they life are coming to an end.

This is the main purpose of my coursework. The aim of my coursework is to allow people of different ages to be able to sympthesis and understand people who may be older or younger than them. I wish that after people view my coursework, they will be able to see the world through the perspective of the others and try to understand the pain and stress they are going through. (I wish that students after viewing my work will understand that they are much taken care of when they are young, however many people of the other age groups are facing pressure and fears such as the fear of death faced by the elderly.)

Hence, I would like students to understand that they should try their best to appreciate the people around them and make the people's (mainly the adults and elderly) life easier.

Scott Wade's Dirty Car Art





















These artworks are done by artist Scott Wade in a very creative way. The artist has make the dirty car the canvas for his artwork. The dust has then became the paint that he used to apply onto the 'canvas'. He has also cleverly managed to create the gradient of the 'painting' with the amount of dust wiped away from the windows of the car. The darker regions will be the regions that are cleared and hence showing the black colour of the window pan, the white regions will created by the colours of the dust.

The artist has cleverly used the grayscale created to depict many famous paintings such as the 'mona lisa' and 'the starry starry night' and also the realistic landscapes too (as shown above).


The artist has really showed the public that dust art is no worse that any other kinds of art medium. He showed us that if people put in effort in creating art, any thing can be turned into a beautiful piece of artwork.

This artist and the way he creates art really shows us that art can be created and expressed in different ways. The dirt on the car which was once so priceless and considered as waste has now become the new medium for art. This genre of art is a very good example. A dirty car has now became a new of valuable art. This shows that art works are all around us and everyone can create art if we have the eyes to look around and the creative mind to produce interesting and original pieces of artworks.

Art do not need to be always done in the style of oil or water paintings, new mediums of art could be explored too. In the modern society, the concept of art has changed tremendously. In the past, art has been considered a way to depict history and only a few ways of creating art were accepted. However, in the modern society, people are coming up with new ways to create art, ways that constantly surprise the public. The concept of art has changed to a way that if someone is able to appreciate the work and do acknowledge it to be a piece of artwork, there it will be considered as art.


There is, however, a down side to this new art medium. It is the fact that the artwork cannot sustain for a long period of time. As time passes, due to wind, rain and other environmental factors, the dust on the car may be washed or blown off and the artwork may be ruined in a short period of time. There are also many other mediums of art that cannot be sustained for a long period of time too. This process is unavoidable. For example, sand art and art that are made from the nature, like works of Andy Goldsworthy. I guess that sometimes when we are creating artworks, we cannot expect that our artworks will maintain in its original form forever. We need to accept the fact that one day, our artwork will be destroyed. Hence, as artists, we need to learn to let go and constantly creating new and better works.


This unique way of creating artworks has certainly opened a new approach to art. Now, people can then become even more daring and innovative when it comes to creating art pieces.

Inspiration - Rembrandt self portraits















B
etween those fortyyears Rembrandt modeled for himself so many times that we can't help but wonder why. There seems to be several advantages for Rembrandt to turn to the mirror for inspiration. One notion suggests that as a young and struggling artist, Rembrandt was the most readily available model. He could paint himself anytime, anywhere without having to pay or rely on a professional model. Another reason for the multitude of self-portraits may lie in the typical clientele of the time. Rembrandt often painted his own face deep in the shadows or with grimacing expressions, techniques that he certainly could not explore on the portrait of a wealthy client. Kelly noted that fo r Rembrandt, "self-portraits became an outlet for feelings and ideas concerning the nature of human existence which found no satisfactory channel elsewhere." In this case, his own face provided a wide range of opportunity for growth and discovery as an artist.Rembrandt's series of self portraits through out the years became a source of inspiration for my artwork. Firstly in each of the self portraits, there are detailed depictions of each and every structure on the face and accurate capture of the texture of the skin. For the self portraits that were done in the earlier years, the facial textures depicted were rather smooth and the figure looks to be full of energy. As there seems to be a sense of curiousity in his eyes.

As the years progresses, then figures appears to become more serious and tense. It is visible that most of the times he will be frowning. This shows the process of Rembrandt growing and maturing as the years pass.
At the later portraits, wrinkles starts to appear. The face appears to be less energetic but there seems to be a sense of serene and calmness in the expression.

Rembrandt has expressed his life cycle through his self portraits, which is very relevant to my coursework. These portraits show the expressions Rembrandt had at the different stages of his life and also how his facial appearance ages through time.
Through his series of self portraits, we can see Rembrandt's process of aging and how his physical appearances changes as time progresses.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Under water Sculpture Park



Chanced upon an artwork created beneath in the sea. This is an underwater sculpture gallery in Grenada created by global artist Jason deCaries Tayor. This artwork shows the various daily activities that are experienced by people. It explores a new idea that humans can actually survive underwater, a new environment. This is a rather interesting art work as it is designed to be exhibited in the sea. This is a very new concept as normally artworks are usually exhibited in museum, however the artist chose to put in on the sea bed, where regular people will not have the chance to visit. These sculptures are built on top of artificial reefs as often the natural sea bed is too soft to withstand the sculptures.

I feel that these artworks are very dependent on the environment around them. As seen from the 2 pictures below, within half of a year, the sculpture will be covered with organisms of the water. The water environment around it is actually part of the artwork too. So the artwork does not only involve the sculptures, but it is also the changes that will be observed on the sculptures over a period of time. The response of the environment on the sculptures is an important element of the artwork. The artwork engages the process of change through a period of time. The work conveys a strong message about ecological changes and atmospheres of the nature. It tells us that we should live in harmony with the environment as only by doing so, we lives, like the artwork, can then be more complete.



I feel that the artist may be trying to convey the message of the over development in the current society. As when we use up all the resources and after polluting our entire environment, we may only have the choice of living underseas to survive. Hence, this artwork actually talks about the serious environmental issues of today. We will then have to carry out our daily activities like cycling and reading (as seen from the pictures above) under the sea. By allowing the organisms, such as corals, to grow on the sculptures themselves suggest that the human and the nature are interdependent and we are actually a part of nature. This further more highlights the issue of environmental protection.

By having artworks in the marine environment, it also allows the nature environment to interact with artworks there. By seeing the artworks beneath the water, it also gives it a mysterious sense and the audiences themselves can interact with nature at the very moment when they are viewing the works. It also provides a chance to the public to come in contact with nature (water in this case) and it will allow its theme to be better conveyed to them.

This form of artwork can be said to be revolutionary as it opens a new space to which art can be exhibited. It provides a brand new environment for the public to view and appreciate art. People will be able to view and appreciate art from a new perspective. Art is universal and it can be appreciated in anywhere and from any perspective, and even from under the water.
This work also tells us that for any kind of artworks, the environment and surroundings play a important role in helping the audiences to perceive the piece of work. Hence, artist should always incorporate their artworks to the most suitable environment so as to better convey the works' messages and themes to the audience.