ADAD1001

Shannen Patricia Widjaja

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@yunxiu5211347-blog @vickybrowne @charlivingthedream-blog @henriettarichardson-blog1 @kawai-lin @n1ck1111111111-blog @drawforadream @sariinah @thatpretentiousfilmstudent-blog @ezratehstudio-blog @fearoftheabyss-blog @jestyrrell @s-andoitchi2018 

Ray-Ban Sunglasses

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FINAL WORK

Statement:

A street art which becomes viral on the internet states “Destroy racism, be like a panda, it’s black, it’s white, it’s asian”. It sounds like a joke, but it makes sense, that’s why it went around on the internet. Using this perspective, it is true that a panda is able to break the binaries between races such as black/white. It seems that the elements of a panda combine what seems to be ‘separated’ by the binaries which are constructed by humans. However, does this mean that in order to destroy these binaries, we, humans, have to strip ourselves from our identities as humans and turn into a panda? based on the same point of view as the initial statement, yes. Also, are humans that bad at breaking their own construction that they have to turn into something else in order to disestablish racial binaries? Based on this statement, also yes.

Therefore, in order to assist humans into turning into a panda, I created this ‘how to be a panda starter kit’ which includes all the essential items which are required to achieve that. The box claims that it contains black & white paint, a brush, a DVD, and some pieces of bamboos. However, in reality the box is actually empty. This is to illustrate that turning into a ‘panda’ physically will not be able to achieve the of ‘destroying racism’, it is useless to only mimic the appearance of a panda when the mindset and action do not reflect. In addition, on the bottom of the box there is a barcode accompanied with a ‘made in China’ text, this is to further show how ironic the box is, not only it is empty, it also ‘defies’ its initial purpose. This is because it stereotypically assumes that this item is made in China, a country where it is often see that its purpose is to only provide goods. This idea is inspired by Ai Wei Wei’s Sunflower Seeds(2010) where he hired hundreds of Chinese artisans to create 100 million ceramic sunflower seeds by hand to make a point about racial discrimination & stereotypes against China but ironically also ‘used’ the Chinese workers to produce the items in order to minimize the cost of the production. Moreover, the approach of this final work is heavily influenced by Andy Warhol’s Brillo Box (1964), a sculptural work where he mimicked the packaging of a commercial product on an empty plywood box. Furthermore, for my final work I decided to do the design on the box manually by hand, this is to have a better connection with my previous work for the first assessment which I also created by hand.

This work is made using an empty cardboard box which I covered using white paper. Furthermore, I sketched on it using pencil and finalized it using paint and markers.

In my previous assessment, I focused on racial binary as my response towards the concept question, additionally I used panda as my main focus of the poster.

During the progress of this project, I had considered various ideas and approaches for my final work which includes audio visual work and printed. However, I decided to proceed with this box because I think it conveys my response towards the topic question the best.

To conclude this final work, through my experiments and researches I realized how important experimentation is, sometimes not everything can be constructed in our heads and needs to be out into action in order to see its flaws and potential. Moreover, I also realise how fascinating it is that I was able to explore one subject and kept developing it, it’s interesting how an ordinary animal like a panda can have layers that I could keep digging into and kept finding something new about how it can be related into many things such as racial binary.

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3rd experiment

Sketching on a paper-wrapped box

applying my sketches from the previous experiment, however I made some changes after seeing that some designs could be improved.

after seeing the result of the sketches, I’m quite satisfied with it, I think I’m going to proceed with this for my final work.

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2nd experiment

Sketching the box’s design

sketching some ideas which I have about the box’s design.

some key features which I want to include:

- front cover

- ’suitable for beginners’

- barcodes

- made in china

- what it contains

- the words from the poster

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Inspiration - Research

Andy Warhol’s Brillo Box (Soap Pads)1964

after looking at several artworks for my 2nd assessment, I got an inspired by this particular work by Warhol.

He ‘camouflaged’ several plywood boxes using silkscreen to mimic mass-produced commercial goods, and one of them is this Brillo Soap pads’ box.

I’d like to incorporate the form of this sculpture into my work, which is a ‘how to be a panda starter kit’. However, this idea still needs further development.

here are some questions I still have in mind:

1. should it be filled with objects or should I leave it hollow?

2. how big should it be?

3. what materials should I use?

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experiment 1

I tried to replicate the format of my final work from assessment 1 digitally using photoshop.

However, after some thoughts and while doing this experiment I noticed that it would take many of trials and errors and calculations to make this design because I remember while making the 1st assessment, the difficulty that I encountered is inconsistency. This is because, the instruction of the panda origami includes some steps that are ‘flexible’ (not everything is from 1 edge to the other, and can be adjusted according to one’s preference), hence, this might result to an error or ‘disfigured’ shape of the origami and the written words. 

here are the mentioned steps

one of the solutions that I can think of is adding ‘crease lines’ / guides on where to fold it, however that would also take many experimentations and careful calculations. Additionally, considering the limited time, I think I will not proceed with this idea.

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here is the panda artwork and quote which was mentioned in my brainstorming session. I believe that this artwork became viral a few years ago and I did some research trying to find the original creator but unfortunately I couldn’t find it. Hence, for now I conclude that this picture started as a street art.

my final work for the first assessment strongly correlates to a panda and I’d like to expand that idea.

here are some ideas that I have in mind (which I also included in my previous post):

1. ‘mass-produced’ (digitally designed and printed) panda origami paper which includes instructions

2. a ‘how to be a panda’ starter kit

3. a video of ‘daily life of a panda’ 

I’ll explore more about these ideas and start experimenting

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brainstorming session for the 2nd assessment

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FINAL WORK

“Contemporary art and design often looks at the idea of constructed binaries, such as man/woman, soft/hard, straight/gay, dirty/clean, organic/synthetic. Considering the history of these ‘pairs’, how can art and design interrogate these binaries and offers new insights?”

Statement

This poster is my response towards the idea of racial binary and in this case is on asians/non-asians particularly in Australia. This poster is heavily influenced by the anti-Asian posters recently found in Sydney’s Northwest area. One of the posters states that Asians don’t belong in Australia because in Australia we are supposed to speak English. Hence, I decided to do a mimicry towards this statement, which is repeating/duplicating the statement in an exaggerated way to change its’ context.

when unfolded, it can be seen that in the middle of the poster there’s a small drawing of Asia’s shape as a continent and around it there are some letters and strokes which may seem random and has no context. However, when it’s folded into the shape of a panda the previous letters and strokes would reassemble into a hidden  statement which says “SPEAK ENGLISH” in red. 

In this poster the drawing of Asia eventually would get covered and compressed in the shape of a panda, which is one of the icons that represent China. I chose the shape of a panda because it is often occurred that Asians are stereotyped into one singular category as an individual and often seen/assumed as a Chinese, when in reality Asians are very diverse and can’t be put into one category. Furthermore, the ‘compressed’ Asia demonstrate how the Asians are often seen as the inferior minority which do not deserve the same treatment as the ‘original’ residents of the country. Additionally, the “SPEAK ENGLISH” statement is the form of mimicry from the previous mentioned poster which I include as one of the example of the form of hatred directed towards the Asian community. 

This poster is hand-made using paint and a marker on a drawing paper. 

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Experiment 2

I did the same thing as the first experiment but this time I used a larger paper and in the end I added some ornaments on the paper. I decided to write down some greeting from various asian languages to show diversity. However, I was not satisfied with the result because I think it’s too crowded and I’m afraid that I’d left out other languages which would counter my initial point which is to obstruct the concept of binary and show diversity.

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Experiment 1

I found this panda origami pattern from the WWF website (https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/origami-patterns) and I decided to try it out using a small paper and coloured one side black using a marker.

after successfully folded a panda, I write down ‘speak english’ on the panda and unfolded it to see how the design looks when unfolded.

I decided to proceed with this idea and make the white side as the ‘front’ side for my final poster since it has a more interesting pattern and the other colours would look less vibrant on the black side.

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Research - Influence

this poster was discovered in Northwest Sydney on May 2018 which is very recent. It diffuses hate and racism towards the Asians residing in Australia. It claims that Asians ‘contaminate’ Australian culture and put ‘Aussies’ in a disadvantaged position. Moreover, It also discriminates by stating that Asians don’t deserve these ‘privileges’ such as public transport seats & public housing assistance.

The sentence which caught my attention the most is

“no more asians

It’s not the face 

of Australia

we speak english”

it’s quite ironic since if we look closely there are some spelling errors in the poster itself.

My final poster is heavily based on this poster and I consider it as a response towards this ‘artwork’.

source: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/antiasian-racist-signs-have-been-discovered-in-sydneys-northwest/news-story/11ace169f1f14416936e3008a72b5eb1

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Research - Poster Examples 

Sydlexia: Making Sense Of Dyslexia by BBDO Dubai, UAE (2017)

Sydlexia worked with BBDO Dubai on brand identity and its first campaign and this poster design was created. 

Sydlexia is a platform which offers new techniques and training methods to help facilitate “dyslexia correction”. Its’ purpose is well-reflected on this poster design where the words are deconstructed and vague but once it is folded correctly, the intended word would show up accompanied with the shape of the object the word represents.

sources:

http://bpando.org/2017/05/05/branding-sydlexia/#more-85309

https://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2017/crafts-for-advertising/25734/making-sense-of-dyslexia/

I want to incorporate ‘hidden message’ in the form of origami in my poster and this is a great example of that. I will experiment with various designs and folding techniques to achieve the best result.

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Research - Artists Influence

These are some artists whose artworks are related to racial binaries and stereotypes.

1. KC Adams – Perception (2015)

Perception is KC Adam’s her portrait series challenging racial slurs which are often directed towards Canada's aboriginal people. These posters were exhibited in public places in Winnipeg, Canada. Each of her subjects is presented in two lights: one a sombre portrait featuring a stereotype, and the other their reality.

"I always felt that there were so many Indigenous People in Winnipeg who were leaders in their community and living normal or average lives. However their stories never made it into the newspapers or on social media. Then the scandal with Mayoral candidate Gord Steeve's wife Lorrie Steeves broke in the media and I realized that racism is very much alive in Winnipeg. I decided to ask models to pose for me and offer them a chance to label themselves". — KC Adams #perception — in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Sources:

http://www.kcadams.net/art/photography/PERCEPTION.html

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/q-schedule-for-wednesday-march-18-2015-1.2999512/kc-adams-stares-down-stereotypes-against-aboriginal-people-1.2999571

In my opinion, this project is very straight-forward, simple, aggressive, and heavily condensed which I think is the right approach for a topic that is sensitive yet very widely acknowledged and still often get ignored and occurs frequently in today’s society. 

2. Gene Luen Yang – American Born English (2006)

American Born Chinese is an online web comic turned to Graphic novel in which the main character depicts an exaggerated version of a stereotyped Asian living in America. The author wanted to show the effects of racial stereotyping and assimilation and empower readers to feel the shame of racial stereotyping.

“To those of you who are offended by every third chapter of American Born Chinese, I say this: Thank you. You’re supposed to be offended. That was the desired response.” – Gene Luen Yang, 2007

 “Sometimes a stereotype needs to be dressed up in bright yellow skin and a queue in order for folks to recognize its severity,” – Gene Luen Yang 

Sources:

http://cbldf.org/2013/07/using-graphic-novels-in-education-american-born-chinese/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/this-chinese-american-cartoonist-forces-us-to-face-racist-stereotypes

I think it’s a very bold and clever way to criticize stereotypes which is to ‘confront’ it heads on so that the viewers can feel the impact emotionally from the ‘shock’. Although the art style may look ‘humorous’, the content is actually very ironic and serious.  

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ADAD1002 STARTS HERE

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final project statement

For my final project, I decided to mimic Henry Fraser’s painting technique and recreate one of his paintings, which is 'The King of The Jungle’.

I saw his process in painting and tried my best to follow it, which is by placing my medium horizontally in front of me and holding the brush using my mouth. I decided to do this once without any trial / practice to get a pure ‘first impression’

It can be seen that the difference between my painting and the original one is very significant. Moreover, during the progress there were a lot of difficulties such as not being able to hold the brush steadily, experiencing stiffness and on my neck and jaw, controlling the pressure of the brush, etc.

The contrast between my work with the original painting reflects how dedication and practice is needed to perfect something. My failure shows that an idea alone won’t suffice in making a good artwork, hard work is equally essential.

I looked at Fraser’s old artworks, and although they are indeed amazing, however if they are being compared to his latest artworks, it is clearly evident that major improvements are made. His latest artworks shows that he is more fluent with his techniques and more confident in exploring his ideas.

Through this final project, it can be concluded the my lack of practice and fluency with the method of painting had caused me to fail recreating the artwork. However, is my painting not considered as art? It does, but it does not meet the initial expectations and hence it is a failure.