gaptooth.art

Foundation Art & Design Student Annie Pugsley

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some of my favourite zoom drawings done today!!! can really see my progress and how much drawing everyday is helping me :)

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identity - starting my fmp by capturing my local environment with photography

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little self portrait using coffee on top of my collage of letters from the nhs. not too bad for my first try at anything like this, captured my essence but need to work on likeness next :))))

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currently redecorating my room, hence the boxes over the floor and nothing on my shelves. another drawing week piece - i genuinely enjoyed this style of drawing, it’s very expressive and captures a moment in my life. really hoping to do more of this, maybe using different weights of line to create more definition :)))

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beginnings of drawing week - looking at mark making with homemade drawing materials. Good sustainable practice using found objects and recycled card and envelopes :)))

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self portrait made of recycled packaging - starting to look at my FMP about identity

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8 min zoom portraits focusing on pose and the body today!!! :)

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GO VIEW MY ONLINE ZINE ABOUT TECHNOLOGY!!!!

https://www.flipsnack.com/gaptoothart/bane-or-boon-the-story-of-technological-development-vcjwkhh6rh.html

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ROTTEN APPLE - concept for protest banner for Foxconn workers

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MOBILE MOBILE - sculpture work exploring growing up in a technological age (using recycled materials)

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DIGITAL DETOX Photography - I wanted to explore the idea of wellness in regards to technology by representing it as like a health juice/smoothie :)

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some interesting research into my pathway project using Instagram. i wanted to ask about the impact of technology on people’s lives

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some shots for my zine about the effects of technology

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work on a mobile for my pathway project using recycled materials

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Kendall Jenner Pepsi Advert (2017)

An interesting choice for an art history report around conflict, but although it doesn’t fit in the traditional parameters of art, I believe this contemporary piece of media has a lot to say. In 2017, Kendall Jenner was part of an advert for Pepsi in which she joined a protest and ‘resolved’ the conflict by handing one of the police officers blocking their way a Pepsi. As you can imagine there was a huge backlash to this, and the advert was pulled immediately. Pepsi presented a mockery of all just causes fighting for equality and change – they didn’t consider the implications or history of protests in general. If we think about the Stonewall Riots, Black Lives Matter Movement, Women’s Marches, The French Revolution, etc it is blindingly obvious that none of these conflicts could’ve been fixed with the simple act of handing their oppressor a drink. These groups were met with violence, and to suggest that any of it could’ve been solved in seconds with something that simple is foolish mimicry.

The imagery itself of handing the Pepsi does perhaps call back to ‘The Creation of Adam’ by Michelangelo, that as soon as the drink was touched, great change followed – although like in the Creation of Adam, the outcome turned out to be not as successful as intended. As Kendall offers up the drink, she is photographed by a Muslim woman in a traditional headscarf. It is evident that Pepsi wanted to represent all walks of life in their protest and create a piece that looked as if it brought people together, but what they actually achieved was outrage.

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today’s zoom portrait drawing class :))) - 5 min studies

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President Barack Obama (2018) – Kehinde Wiley

This painting was the official portrait of President Barack Obama commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery for their “America’s Presidents” exhibition. In 2017, Wiley underwent a series of ‘auditions’ as such in order to book the job. He was chosen for his radical approach to portraiture and for his previous work with “vibrant, large-scale paintings of African Americans posing as famous figures from the history of Western art”. What is so unique about this piece is the huge contrast it is to presidents of the past – it presents a certain flamboyancy that others may have been afraid of. During the 35min photo shoot to capture the seated Obama, Wiley caught a natural transition shot of him between poses which is what he ended up using for the piece; he wanted to convey the type of President that Obama was. He wanted to have “a very relaxed, man-of-the-people” representation instead of the self-indulged, superiority complex type.

This piece indirectly explores the male identity in the sense of the floral background and the pose. Obama strayed away from the traditional head-shot type of portraiture that his successors favoured and opted for a perhaps more feminine choice (as it could be percieved). The floral background presents ideas away from the notion that men should always be tough which is a destructive archetype. Flowers are often associated with femininity, however, the flowers in the background represent Obama’s culture and heritage. “The chrysanthemums, for example, reference the official flower of Chicago. The jasmine evokes Hawaii, where he had spent the majority of his childhood, and the African blue lilies stand in for his late Kenyan father”. The idea of challenging gender norms in the sense of not being afraid to stand out was everything he stood for. Wiley wanted to show his openness and kind heart which are often associated with a more feminine figure as opposed to the gruff, cold father figure that men are often portrayed to be.