Transience

Transience.

The state or fact of lasting for a short time; transitoriness.

Synonyms: temporariness, transitoriness, impermanence, briefness, momentariness, evanescence.

Edward Hopper (1882-1967)

A prominent American realist painter and printmaker.

Known for his oil paintings, watercolours and etchings.

NightHawks (1942)

Edward Hopper captured 'modern' American life in both rural and urban scenes. He derived his subject matter from the common features of American life(motels, restaurants, offices, railroads and street scenes) and its inhabitants. Hopper used cinematic viewpoints from a distance, as if the viewer was approaching the strangers.

This encourages me to draw from my own personal perspective within Manchester city centre.

Nigel Van Wieck 

Another American Realist Painter.

These paintings of Nigel Van Wieck's personal perspective in the place he lives in are really interesting as they convey an atmosphere between strangers in common places, i.e. travelling on a train. The paintings convey the transience of two strangers being in the same space, overlapping in moment of time. Wieck captures his view point of being in the presence of a stranger and other unlikely people that sit together and come into close contact.


I'd like to explore my personal relationships with the working people of Manchester and collect information by logging their personal thoughts and funny quotations they have personally heard in Manchester.

Pecha Kucha Presentation & Summary

Katie Scott - Animalium. ETC.

I started my Pecha Kucha presentation with the above image, suggesting that I wanted to research the transience of two strangers meeting for a brief period of time. Even though Katie Scott's illustrations are not connected with my current subject matter, I really love the style of these illustrations - earthy tones and off white background for that authentic aging look.

Angelica Dass - Brazilian Photographer

I used this image in my presentation so that I could talk about how I want to portray strangers from different backgrounds and ethnicities in Manchester - to suggest that you don't have to be the same to be in a community.

 

Denise Nestor

The reason why I have looked at Denise Nestor's Illustration is that I might experiment with compositions by overlapping drawings of strangers within manchester.

  

Ed Fairburn

I have many ideas for this project so I am going to try and draw in different ways. Another possibility is to draw the faces of the people of Manchester over maps of different areas if Manchester. Linking different stereotypes to the area that you can find them in - for example, 'Hipsters' in The Northern Quarter. 'Business Men' in Spinning Fields, 'Goths, Rockers and Emos' in Urbis. Etc.

The work of Fernando Viente and Florian Nicolle might also be relevant to unit X as they overlay maps and articles with portraits.

Stereotypes

My own original photographic research into Manchester as a city, personal profiles/stereotypes. I will be documenting people's thought processes and looking at how people express their personalities through the clothes they wear, the music they listen to and the things they say and do.

Stereotypes: Is this girl considered eccentric? What is normal in our society and do the people in Manchester feel intimidated by people who don't look/dress the same? I find that some people in Manchester are able to express their own personalities without being ridiculed, though on the other hand, people can be bullied for the way they present them selves or if they haven't been socially accepted by other peers and co-workers.

John Campbell: Number 1 European Jimi Hendrix Tribute Act.

John and I are very close friends through my mother and he is an exceptional guitarist and performer. He stated that the people of Manchester are his favourite to play to as they are 'a complete riot' and always a very welcoming bunch of crazies. He also thinks that the creative talent in Manchester is overwhelming but in a good sense as it is great to meet like-minded people who are filled with soul and compassion.

I took my camera out on location in Manchester to capture enduring images of my friend Ki Jeal among others. I have always had a keen interest in fashion illustration and photography, therefore I have used disparate camera angles to obtain the shots I will need for future photographic manipulation.

Stereotypes: Does music and current fashion trends influence this Man's personal appearance? Did he get bullied at school for having ginger hair? 

After numerous photoshoots and only selecting the photos I thought were relevant to the project, I decided to take a few snapshots of architecture and the city of Manchester. Hopefully during my project I will make use of some of the photos I have taken of the city and link them to the people of Manchester.

ABOVE

Individual thought processes: 

"Is this a piece of shit 1970's architecture or is it a great place to jump off?" 

In my opinion, my photograph of the building above located in Piccadilly Gardens is quite daunting and appears to be looming over the public like a mysterious figure. I applied a green cross process tint over my original image to intensify the atmosphere around the tower.

Manipulated on Photoshop to suggest the vibrancy of the city I live in yet it portrays a contrasting view of the city that could also be well known as something to be feared, especially at night.

The above photograph looks like it could have been from a collection of vintage photography as I have edited it in sepia tones and used the light of the taxi to be an off centered focal point for the landscape picture.

The woman in this photograph is on her phone, as is the man carrying his shopping... Is this a taste of the future people of Manchester? Will we all be oblivious to the things in our environment? Does new technology make us isolated and unsociable individuals? Though we all have different traits we are all being sucked into the new world of technology.

Research In Manchester

Comical photographs in Manchester: Note that usually have to have permission to display photographs of people.

People's History Museum

Monday 23rd of March I visited the People's History Museum in Manchester to get some inspiration for my current project.

Inside there were several exhibitions including textile and tapestry pieces. I was not able to use my DSLR as the flash may have effected the delicate pieces within the museum. However...

I managed to take some cheeky shots (without flash) on my camera phone. Better Than nothing!!

Propaganda Posters - Bold imagery and typography.

Whitworth Art Gallery

Before I start connotations and analyzing different pieces of work I liked at Whitworth Art Gallery - It is essential that I state that the camera I was using at the time was inadequate and therefore I did not achieve the best photographic results. However...

I thought that the exhibitions at Whitworth were amazing!

There was an aesthetically pleasing, feminist installation by blahblahblah which consisted of cut-out quotes in the glass of a greenhouse. The bright tubes of light from within the house, lit up the feminist quotes to suggest the importance of equality for women and to value their opinions.

Though I think that this installation is interesting, I'm not sure if this will influence my work on UNIT X.

I was very surprised to find one of my favourite screenprints by Richard Hamilton (1922-2011) as 'Release' was originally being held in TATE  MODERN and I have never had the chance to see it in the flesh. I love this screen print because it captures a significant moment in history, the swinging sixties to be precise, when Robert Fraser (Art Dealer)and Mick Jagger got arrested for being in unlawful possession of several different drugs. After court, they both were sentenced to imprisonment which Robert Fraser thought was very amusing - he even had his limo ready to collect him after he served his time. He loved the attention from the paparazzi. 

In 1962 Robert Fraser, also known as 'Groovy Bob' opened the first art gallery at 69 Duke Street in London in the sixties which was popular amongst many people including The Beatles, Peter Blake, Eduardo Paolozzi, Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha etc. Robert Fraser also sold the work of Rene Magritte, Jean Dubuffet, Balthus and Hans Bellmer.  

Decorative paper walls.

  

Colourful prints made by students.

Micheal Andrews (1928-1995)

'The Blue and Yellow of the Yacht Club' 1969

Oil Paint on hardboard.

I really love the contrasting yet complementing shades of yellow and blue and the rich tones of the skin on the yachts man.

David Hockney 1937

An amazing English painter, printmaker, stage designer and photographer.

Ceiling to floor installations of compressed instruments and utensils made from metal.

 Cai Guo-Qiang - 'Unmanned Nature'

This spectacular gunpowder drawing and installation was utterly breath-taking and one of my favourite pieces from Whitworth Gallery. Cai Guo-Qiang used gunpowder, fuses and cardboard stencils to create forms on the colossal pieces of paper. The spontaneity of the resulting explosions and flames were controlled through wooden boards, rocks and other materials, which influenced the the impact of the explosions to create the final piece.

 Close up of the gun powder drawing.

Portraiture at the Whitworth Art Gallery. 

Abstract mark making with watercolour paints.

Mechanical pencil drawing.

Despite seeing all of the different types of art work in the gallery, from giant gunpowder drawings to metal and light installations, I still am drawn to all forms of portraiture and will continue to research salient aspects of portraiture from all eras.

My trip to Whitworth Art Gallery was inspiring, however I still feel as if I have no specific direction in which i'm going to take.

LE GUN

On Tuesday the 17th of March, LE GUN delivered a very interesting lecture which gave an insight to how their company works and what they love to do. 

LE GUN was established in 2004, with 7 members - 5 members being Illustrators and 2 members being Graphic Designers. Within the presentation, they spoke about who had influenced their work and how they started to raise money for their collective. They were inspired by the works of Robert Crumb and 60's style comics before their journey as creatives began in a collective.

Robert Crumb

LE GUN were also inspired by RAW magazine, some of which were portrayed in an 80's style collage using vivid primary colours and surrealist drawings.

They continued to talk about L'Assiette au Beurre (the butter plate) which were a french collective creating cartoon journals of caricatured social problems. These problems were high lighted in such a dramatic way through illustration that they sold  more than 300,000 copies of one of their magazines in 1902. Altogether the collective had produced a total of 593 regular magazines and 7 special editions.

L'Assiette au Beurre used only 3 colours for a lot of their illustrations - limiting their colour pallet meant that their work would be bold and have great results as a print.

LE GUN decided to create their own narrative based illustration magazines and raise money for funding their project by creating art and holding exclusive parties which a small fee was charged on the door. Guests at these wild parties would be encouraged to draw crude drawings on the walls as a way of self expression and to have a bit of fun. LE GUN has a filmic, narrative style which is solely portrayed in black and white. The gRAPHIC DESIGNERS WITHIN THEIR COLLECTIVE HAD A MASSIVE IMPACT ON THE MAGAZINES THEY PRODUCED. iF IT WASNT FOR THE GRAPHIC ELEMENTS then the magazine would have looked completely different - more like RAW magazine. They believe that when creating primary sketches, if the drawing dictates then it should cover a full page or two pages! 

By using traditional methods and techniques, wood block letter press type was used stating surrealist quotes which LE GUN thought that a quote can just be as powerful as a drawing.

                          

                           

 LEGUNDON

Map of Legundon

The unknown room installation - walk in drawing