ADAD1002/ UNSW ART&Design- 2017

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Final Works (my part) Assessment 3

For these ones I tackled consumerism and the discrepancy between the rich and the poor. The first image looked at food products that people buy to eat for necessity and also overbuy to satisfy their food cravings. The people have been converted into food items showing the population’s love for food. In the 2nd image I took inspiration from Barbra Kruger’s colour palette and looked at the text advertisements used in catalogues. In the 3rd image I looked at the discrepancy between the rich and the lower classes where the black and white image symbolising how twisted poverty since not everyone can live a comfortable life. The red thread binds the both together since in this current era, one cannot live without the other. In the last image I look at the “common” dwelling places that homeless and poverty stricken people stay at in relation to the luxury high rises to show their similarity for a place to stay and to call home. 

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Some experiments 

Using collage as my base I looked at using colour to differentiate between the old and new, rich and poor. I also used some sewing to attach different cut shapes on another image. It was successful but I will probably need to use a different coloured thread instead. 

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Found this book and was interested in the photography she did taking an instant moment. I really like the colour palette used to pull it all together. 

Kent, R., Marking Time,1st ed, Sydney, N.S.W., Museum of Contemporary Art, 2012.

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Consumerism research

Looking at consumerism I wanted to talk about the over consumption of objects in our daily life. I wanted to have one piece of artwork looking at the words used in marketing while the other would be based on brands seen everyday. I was originally thinking of painting but then was interested in collage.

https://www.widewalls.ch/consumerist-culture-art-10-artworks/

Barbara Kruger:

I really liked her use of text juxtaposing with the images that she uses to comment on society. The colour palette is also very striking and noticeable. 

https://www.bagtazocollection.com/blog/2016/3/24/x2ko25z2u85va5csjq3q5yiqielnup

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Chosen topics

These were the topics we chose to do. We also divided the work load up where Rosy would take photographs of a chosen area. Then we would all do four pieces of work based on our chosen topics and then Mickey would put them all together. 

Mickey:

Technology

Disease

Rosy:

Equality 

Environment 

Kimberley:

Consumerism

Rich and poor distribution

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Final Idea Assess 3

After discussion we decided to look at the concerns and worldviews of the 21st century. We came up with a list of concerns and decided to take 2 topics and create 4 pieces of artwork each. 

https://21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/

http://www.elon.edu/docs/e-web/predictions/17_great_challenges.pdf

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Assessment 3 ideas

For our group for the concept of NOW, we had various ideas that we brainstormed to see what would work and what would not. 

Looking at the rapid progression of something (telephone) throughout the different time periods 

Making a new now:

Merging the past and present together or contrasting them

Now and Forever:  

Looking at ideals that were once considered to be something eternal but not anymore 

Eg. Marriage was for life but now people get married less or they get divorced 

Looking at different time periods of history 

Eg: renaissance, Romanticism, capitalism 

Blending the words and art together 

Concerns of the 21st century 

Looking at the concerns expressed in the 21st century 

Eg. climate change, technology, disease 

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Collection of the Art and Design Gallery

For class we worked with out groups for out assessment 3 and collected photographs to create an art collection. We decided to focus on shapes and colours and placed them in a haphazard situation and linked some of the dominate colours together like the green so that the eye could follow the artwork with it being too jarring. 

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Bibliography

Adamczewski, F., Designer Textiles Stitching for Interiors The Embroiderers Guild, Netherlands, David & Charles, 1987.

Benn, E., Treasures from the Embroiderers' Guild collection, Newton Abbot, Devon, David & Charles, 1991, pp. 61-63.

Harding, L, & S Cramer., Cubism & Australian art, Carlton, Vic., Miegunyah Press, 2009.

O’Mahony, M. (ed.), World Art The Essential Illustrated History, London, Flame Tree Publishing, 2007.

Robbins, D., "Sources of Cubism and Futurism", Art Journal, vol. 41, 1981, pp. 324-327. http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=12&sid=723724ed-42d9-4759-a4ef-a12539493175%40sessionmgr4006

Artists: 

Artnet, "Stanton MacDonald-Wright | artnet.". in Artnet.com, , 2017, http://www.artnet.com/artists/stanton-macdonald-wright/ [accessed 7 September 2017].

E Mills, "Eleri Mills, Hafan - Home", in Eleri Mills, 2017, http://www.elerimills.co.uk/ [accessed 10 September 2017].

Takadoi, K, "WORKS.". in KAZUHITO TAKADOI, , 2017, http://www.kazuhitotakadoi.com/work [accessed 12 September 2017].

Unknown, "Synthetic Cubism Period by Georges Braque & Pablo Picasso (Summary).". in Cubism: Definition, Artists, Paintings & More!, Wordpress, 2016, http://cubismsite.com/synthetic-cubism/ [accessed 7 September 2017].

Warren, V, "Verina Warren | Peak District Artisans.". in Peakdistrictartisans.co.uk, 2017, http://www.peakdistrictartisans.co.uk/artist/verina-warren/ [accessed 12 September 2017].

Wolseley, J, "John Wolseley | Home.". in Johnwolseley.net, 2017, http://www.johnwolseley.net/ [accessed 12 September 2017].

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Artist statement

Extracting from my previous assessment, where I focused on humans creating their own environment, I decided to focus on the coexistence between the humans and the environment and how humans will eventually take over the environment. 

Originally, I was looking building environments out of recycled materials that would be found in that area. For example, an environment would be build depending on the objects found near the beach. I did some test trials with the objects I had at home. The first experiment I carved a tree shape onto the cardboard box and then painted it black with white drips. Another experiment, I painted a can with a natural landscape in an effort to show that the resources that we use come from the environment. However, the concept was not sticking with me since I no longer found it as interesting as before. Therefore, I decided to abandon it and focus on another direction.

I then wanted to explore how the environment is slowly being taken over by humans through buildings and inhabitance, which would eventually result in the loss of many flora and fauna. I originally became interested in synthetic cubism since my previous poster had a very flat image and was reminiscent of cubism. I began to look at artists like Picasso who was one of the founders for this art period. After some experimenting around I became interested in using embroidery into my artworks so I looked for artists who worked with this material. I found inspiration in the artist Eleri Mills who paints in the background of her artworks and threads over the top. She gives a very sketch like quality to them. I also like her colour palette, which despite not being bright like the synthetic cubism, but the colours gives off a sense of mood and atmosphere to the artwork which I would like to attempt to convey. One of my experiments I used oil pastels and drew onto the cardboard in a cubist manner and also sewed a building like shape into it. While I did like this idea, I found that the pastels were too dominant in the artwork and the building was not emphasised enough. 

For my final work, I decided to use the Australian landscape as my inspiration since I was born in Australia and I wanted to look at how the humans have coexisted with the environment. I decided to use watercolour as my medium, as I wanted to convey the fragility of the environment and how quickly it can disappear in an instant. I had some difficulties painting this since watercolour does not really want to stay on the canvas and also I needed to be careful that my hands were not wet so that I did not smudge the artwork or else the colours would get muddy. My intention was to paint in a cubist manner, which is almost achieved on the trees but, the rest of the landscape became more detailed since later on the embroidery would serve be cubist inspired. I left some spaces white in an effort to convey they sky and to also to give it depth and dimension. The image that was embroidered was a set of buildings that I had difficulty in choosing as I wanted to convey humans coexisting, yet slowly changing the environment. I looked at cities with high density populations but I felt it would not work with the Australian inspired landscape, so in the end I used Sydney as my city. Black thread was used to do the outlines of the buildings as I wanted a colour that was a stark contrast to the pale watercolours. Different thickness of the thread was used for some buildings in an attempt to show depth. The buildings were originally going to be extremely detail but then I realised that the extra detail would be fighting against the background as there would be too much for the eye to look at. Therefore, only the outline is seen and the audience can fill in the blanks for the artwork. 

I was really happy with the outcome of my artwork as it conveyed the blend between nature and humans where the buildings will eventually erase nature but attempts are being made to coexist for now. 

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More inspiration

I also became interested in the art of embroidery since I never really added that to my artworks. I became inspired by artists like:

Kazuhito Takadoi:

Being a fibre artist he looks at using materials from the natural environemnt to weave into or create new types of art. I like the incorporation of nature with an embroidery feel as it gives off a peaceful and zen like quality to his art pieces. 

Eleri Mills:

Her artworks became an inspiration to me seeing that she looks at painting and embroidering the landscape. Her artworks have a sketch like quality to them and the scales of the artworks are enormous. 

Y Dildu/ The Arbour, 2017 (Mixed media) 

Verina Warren:

An artist who works on painted embroidery and her works are very detailed. I like the colours she uses as they all blend together and do not look jarring to the eye. 

John Woseley: 

His artworks were watercolour based and extremely detailed. I like his incorporation of the environment and how detailed the artworks are, yet a sense of fragility is conveyed. 

From the embers- Leaf surge, 2003 (lithograph)

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Experiment 4/ Week 8

In class we looked at the idea of value so for my piece, I wanted to link it to my assessment 2 artwork where I looked at how humans want to create their own perfect world. However, I wanted to explore a different area and look at humans coexisting/ replacing the natural environment. I went for a cubism inspired look for nature and also did some embroidery over the top. I really like this type of art and will potentially use this style for my major work

[kimberleychung]

Artist inspirations

I became inspired by the artists of cubism since I liked how they are all drawn into a variety of shapes and how they attempt to simplify the form. I wanted to try something different since I usually paint in a very realistic style. I was interested in synthetic cubism since the colours used are more brighter and simplified rather than the analytical cubism which was more darker and the lines were more condensed. 

Pablo Picasso:

He was one of the ones that founded the artistic movement and his artworks were broken up into simplistic shapes that looked very interesting. I like the simplicity of this and what it conveyed. 

Still Life with mandolin and Guitar, 1924 (oil on canvas)

Stanton MacDonald-Wright:

His artworks are more sensitive to me as the shapes look rigid but also have an organic feel to them. His artworks are based on using colour to represent they sounds heard, making it abstract, but also very intriguing. 

Beethoven Series: Symphonic Form, 1973 (painting) 

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Experiment 3

For this experiment I wanted to use recycled objects that I have at home and paint some type of natural scenery onto it. I wanted to convey that the resources that humans use come from the environment. However, I did not want to explore this direction any longer it did not hold as much meaning to me as I thought it would and I wanted to do something else. 

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Experiment 2

I tried to combine nature with humans but using colours instead. I drew and cut out the outline of a tree and painted it in mechanical colours being black, grey and white. I also had some white paint and I like the watery effect is has caused making it look very organic. The negative space also makes it look very interesting. 

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Experiment 1 assessment 2

I began experimenting with some recycled objects to create islands/ nature by creating interesting patterns. For the island I tried to use some recycled materials where I built small huts to mimic the floating reed islands of the Uros people.  

It looked really interesting and I liked the rough texture that the cardboard makes in comparison with the smooth silver box. 

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Dorabialski, K. (2017). Invocation Trilogy #1 Floor Dance of Lenin’s Resurrection 

I merged three images from this film to give an after image of Lenin’s face. I made him seem more dominant and important rather than the film which symbolically alludes to him. 

The film affected me making me feel uncomfortable and intrigued with what Dorabiaiski was try to convey in the film. I wanted to know what the actor was doing and was impressed that he played both roles as the interviewer and interviewee.