What does it mean?

What is the purpose?
Purpose of art?

• to record and inspire the viewer
• to be expressive

purpose of graphic design?

• to visually convey a message using graphic elements

purpose of fashion?

• to express identity
• to be worn (functional)

purpose of 3D design?

• functionality and aesthetically pleasing
• meet the needs of the audience

(Re)presentation = presenting again

representing:

• the self - artist
• people
• companies and organisations
• cliques and social aspects
• ideas and concepts - emotions

Value...

the importance of artwork for:

• the viewer?
• the artist / designer?
• the industry?
• the traditions of design and whether they are broken or fulfilled

What does it MEAN! 

• working out the meaning is hard as it requires an opinion which is subjective.
• consider the historical context of the work - the impact of social change
• some pieces are purely abstract.
• artwork is appreciated, even if it is unlike by yourself.

Interpretations

• story
• aesthetics
• history
• emotional
• representational

Tracey Emin "My Bed" 

• Portrait - artists life
• Showing her secrets
• 'readymade' style similar to Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain'
• Insight into artist's mind
• Relation to society?

Why it was made?

commenting on mental health in general as well as referring to wider society.

Umberto Boccioni "The City Rises"

• example of futurist art - technology and movement
• abstract image - different points of interest merged into one image
• praising the industrial revolution
• qualitative content - angry / noisy / active
• tension in the image 
• red and yellow colours show energy and fire

David Carson "Hanging At Carmine Street"

David Carson’s piece is revolutionary for a typographical poster as it does not stick by the rules you would usually be expecting to see, the piece use’s a minimalistic approach on colours which are a rather solemn mixture of grey and black this also relates to the images within the piece as they are black and white photographs. The type face had been placed all around the image some which are upside down and others in different font sizes could be seen as messy but was actually done with precision without the Bauhaus grid system.  This was about to start the ‘Grunge’ movement which appealed to Carson and welcomed individuality.

Describing Art

Subjective / Objective

subjective - influenced by opinion or feelings

• personal opinion

objective - not influenced by opinions or feelings

• based upon facts
• avoid saying; in my opinion... or i think...

Formal elements

• line
• tone
• texture
• shape 
• pattern
• form / composition

Describe the shape

• square: geometric / outline / hollow
• blob: natural / organic / irregular / uneven

Visual content

• this is what is depicted from the image 
• formal elements create visual content
• typography is also visual content

'The Old Guitarist' Pablo Picasso

• Tones - dark and dull with contrast is places
• Composition - the main focal point of the image is the guitarist.
• Visual Content - frail, ill, poor as he has no clothing in this image.
• 
  
• Qualitative - sorrow / despair- because of his expression and how his body is somewhat dis coloured and tense.

Suzanne Mooney magazine review

• Written based upon facts
• Very descriptive

Kandinsky’s 60^th

Kandinsky’s birthday invitation was created by Bauhaus. The colour scheme in this image shows the information on the invitation in a minimalist style using a little amount of text as well as showing it in basic colours black and red this causes a contrast and displays the information in an obvious way. The positioning of the information being shown at an angle is another characteristic of the work of Bauhaus. The angle that the information is shown, works alongside the blocks colour as they create partitions between the information. The type size varies from the relevance of the information such as ‘KANDINSKY’ is shown in a larger font than other pieces of information.

Contextual studies year 2

Logos and posters

what should be considered in a logo and poster:

• what the poster has been created for?
• what the poster is communicating?
• who the target audience is?
• how it engages the audience?

Amnesty logo

• Barbed wire - shows protection as well as control and oppression in a aggressive style.
• Typography - the type face used is simple yet effective as it had been written in a bold recognizable font.
• Legible - as this logo is very bold the text works well alongside it, this creates a strong contrast between the image and text making it legible.
• Candle - represents human life.
• Ubiquitous - appearing and found all over.

Shelter logo

• Image as type - his made to look like a roof on a house.
• Legible text - the text is only altered slightly which maintains the legibility.
• Logo - both image and text are married into one image.
• Colour - the red can be seen to represent anger but in this case i believe it is used to show compassion and love.

Amnesty poster

• Clear and simple - hands inside hand.
• Reaching up shows the message of hope.
• Out stretched arms - suggests the feeling of giving help and aid.
• Interesting layout takes advantage of the negative space on the poster.

WWF poster

• Headline - dark humor that works alongside the image
• Strap-line - use of a provocative statement that is personal to the audience. 
• Metaphor - the use of an analogy.
• Message - requires a second look and thought to be put in to it.

Amnesty billboard  

• The billboard is made look like it has been placed with another advert to show a gritty message but still work together.
• Contrast - there is a lot of style difference between the two designs as one is in black and white and the other in bright colours.
• Lower image - striped down to reality.
• Colour - draws the eye to the to image then down to the second image below.

Realism

Reasearch

Realism kept things real ignoring decadence unlike other artists of the time realism kept things modest an artist named Courbet was drawn to work of other artist and said "you should paint the truth" this is what realism was about looking at the common people no more painting the rich and showing them as god like people Courbet was more interested in not nice images but real images that portrayed the reality of his surroundings. A famous realist Manet was one of the most famous of the realist's because he had his own personal wealth he did not have to paint for money but paint what he wanted this gave him freedom and the money helped him do so manet went against everything people were used to as he recreated the painting called Venus but in a very scandalous way changing idealism into realism he named it Olympia. Impressionism saw an influx in Japanese culture such a as Van Goth with Hiroshige this was then called japanism which was used colour form and compositions this was not thought as art by the public until later on in the century. This was bought back by contempry artist such as Jeff wall a gust of wind which is based on Japanism where he held a mirror up to society.

Jeff Wall

Jeff walls photograph of a sudden gust of wind shows the language of art in his photograph by capturing moments that could mean something in this photograph it is showing a recreation of a japenese wod carving. Jeff wall is Canadian who sells his pieces of work for great amounts of money. Some of the skills he uses in his work is depth of field as the focus of the image is close to the lens but the photograph looks out of the water onto buildings as well as bokeh to focus on the flying papers, Jeff wall also uses the rule of thirds as the people are stood in the intersections . This image is also made up of lots of smaller image as his usually exhibits his work at a large scale, each part of the image is taken with a 8x10 camera.

Neo Classical

How to spot

removed elements of brush strokes  this make images more direct

Strong lines

Use of colours colour is used as symbols

Reasearch

Neo classical art has been used as a form of propaganda and to get the people motived examples of these are from louis david who changed the corse for french revolution twice and for more contempry artist such as taki 183 who gave the people of new york a voice by using political messages in a subtle way unlike artist such as banksy. Neo classicism emphasised the image and message using allegory examples of allegory are animal farm which is about facism, phillip pullman which is about the church and the matrix film which is about the bible.

Taki 183

Taki 183 was a Greek born graffiti artist who proved that the people were unhappy and publically spoke out using his tag, which is where his ‘artistic name’ name came from. Taki 183’s work was an early form of graffiti before the likes of Basquiat and other famous graffiti styled artists. Taki was tracked down after his compulsive habit of tagging more dangerous places such as a secret service car and because the New York Times had shown an interest in him and published an article on how he had given inspiration to other people. As Taki over time his work gained more reason as he began to tag place’s which were special to him and showed memories, his work had also changed throughout time from the simple tag it had blossomed into colour filled murals and art forms.  His work only stated to contain a political and social angst when the council started removing his art work and fine art had begun to try taking control of the public’s interest that is why Taki had to make his work more appealing to all. Taki has now settled down and has a family and ‘Taki 183’ is now silent.

Gothic Art

How to spot

Flat  little or no perspective

Ornate guilding

Stillness lack of movement in the image

Religous sinister depictions of hell

Votive showing themselves in the image

Subject often very gruesome showing death

Research

Gothic art show's very dark scences such as death, hell and other gruesome images and was shown on all sort's of ways such as on stained glass in masonry work such as gargoyles and achritectural suports such as flying butress's  and on canvas there are many places you can see examples of gothic art one of the places i have visited is roslyn chapel where you can see them all together is grand elaborate examples. Gothic art has been recreated alot of times such as in the 19th centrury and even with contempory artist's such as Tim Burton the gothic period was during the 12th - 16th century. Gothic art is also well known for not using much depth and persective and often gave instruction's saying what you should do and what you shouldn't as most people were illiterate.

Tim Burton

Tim Burton’s work shows the gothic style by using little perspective as the face of the concept image of Edward scissor hands has some noticeable depth also the face is very similar to Tim Burton himself which suggests votive is used. In the drawing of Edward scissor hands there is no movement and his hands are by his side’s and with all the scars and the dark clothing the subject is gruesome which is one of the most occurring theme in gothic style. Most of Tim burton’s films use very dark scenes with even darker characters such as Sweeny Todd and most of the settings are based on old gothic styled buildings such as the two cities in ‘Corpse Bride’. Tim Burton is reviving the gothic period in his work like many others before him. Vincent Price an actor and then he began to leave marks on the film industry and he inspired Tim Burton. Tim burton was fond of Vincent Prices work and later dedicated a 6 minute animated tribute for him.

How Tim Burton has been inspired by gothic art.

Tim Burton is a gothic artist who and a film director creating dark story’s and recreating classic films with his own spin such as ‘Sweeny Todd the demon barber of Fleet Street’ and ‘Nightmare before Christmas’ . This essay will show how Tim Burton has drawn inspiration from gothic art is his designs from the architecture of his sets to his characters which and draws as concept pieces than captures in his films. I will be looking at what it was about gothic art which has appealed to him so much and how he has recreated the gothic style with his own interpretation. A film director named Vince Pierce had a big role to play in Burton’s life as he had captured Burton’s imagination in his early films. Tim Burton is now very well known for his films as he has created over nineteen films and won eleven Oscars and been nominated for twenty eight within the last two decades. In this article I aim to draw similarities between Tim Burton and gothic art including stone masonry and architecture.

Tim Burton started drawing cartoons when he was a teenager and followed his talent and attended California’s institute of arts studying animation after being given a scholarship by Disney films. Tim Burton later went on to working for Disney on what he saw as mainstream films such as ‘The Fox and the Hound’ in 1981 eventually Disney gave Tim Burton a sense of freedom and he created a short film which was a homage to his idol Vincent Price. He then moved on bigger and better such as beetle juice which was a huge hit and had given him the chance directed the batman film (1989). In the films that Tim Burton had directed gothic surroundings became more apparent especially with his animated films for example ‘Nightmare before Christmas’ and ‘Corpse Bride’ and then in his films like ‘Sweeney Todd’ he created gothic set designs and used characters are that were usually friendly and optimistic but with hidden sadistic mind set which contrasts with their bleak surroundings but also compliments himself with the way he dresses and what he is fascinated by.

Tim Burton’s ‘Corpse Bride’ film captures snippets of gothic art such as the image on the right although this model was made recently and digitally rendered it is very similar to the tomb of Ralph Green and his wife Katharine because of the way Emily (Corpse Bride) maintains an elegant posture what is similar to    way Katharine is laid out in statue form on the tomb. The film also use’s gothic inspiration in the way the cities are set out with the building that lean over you, the large stained glass windows and the towers and steeples all made out of dark wood which makes the set feel more disturbing and gothic this really helps the film have a time and place and there are two cities in this film and both the buildings styles are very similar but the underworld one is just a bit more abstract which Tim Burton tends to do and blow things into a crazy fantasy. In this film Tim Burton use’s words in both dialogue and songs with quite a harrowing nature but because of the style of music it makes it gothic yet enticing.

In one of his more recent films ‘Sweeney Todd’ he tells a tale of a what seems to be a normal guy until his wife is stolen from him and then cast aside by the man who took her so Sweeny Todd is a prime example of a gothic character how he is something what is seen as beautiful then manipulated into a man with a vengeance and he begins to go a bit crazy by killing men you come into his barbers shop then making them into pies with the help of his crazed lover Mrs Lovett who owns the pie shop below. The film show’s Todd as one of the best barbers in London but his surrounding are still very bleak this keeps the gothic style by using very dull colours but with exceptions like on the image to the right this image also shows how he is very laid back but can easily change mood’s similar to a Dr jackal and Mr Hyde scenario. The film also fits the concept of a gothic era with all the death in the film and the plot twist’s filled with deceit, lies and lots of murder, murder is a very important to the gothic era as you see reminders of it everywhere in gothic art and architecture such as when I went to Roslyn chapel and there are two face’s carved into the chapel walls one of the stone mason and one of the apprentice which is shown because the apprentice created a column which was seen as a masterpiece and the stone mason killed him due to jealousy. The film was shot with very low lighting so you get a sense of the unknown, evil and corruption.

Tim Burton’s work in ‘Edward scissor hands’ shows the gothic style by using little perspective as the face of the concept image of Edward scissor hands has some noticeable depth also the face is very similar to Tim Burton himself which suggests votive is used. In the drawing of Edward scissor hands there is no movement and his hands are by his side’s and with all the scars and the dark clothing the subject is gruesome which is one of the most occurring theme in gothic style. Once again Tim Burton has created a character which is surrounded by metaphorical evil even though he is in a colourful neighbourhood this shows how even though he appears the evil character it is the people who surround him such as the neighbours because they intimidate him and make him feel uncomfortable towards the end of the film Edward Scissor Hands is made look like a villain and people begin to turn against him. Tim burton also use’s contrast between the houses he lives in with all its gothic styled gargoyles and statues on the staircase and the colourful paint of the small suburban new builds.

Over all I believe that Tim Burton has been inspired by the work of gothic artist’s just as much as the work of the horror film directors which he idolized as a young adult which I think has helped him make his films some of the best horror/ musical/ black comedy films mainly because of his inspirations and his wide imagination I also believe that Tim Burton has sometimes made his films appear gothic without having the full intention of making them appear so dark and sinister, he also maintains to use actor he has worked with before as he feel a bond with them because they also have similar mind sets to him such as Johnny Depp and Helen Bonhem Carter.