Me and my friend Petra Huberova chose to create this project together, based on a place and a person that had catch our attention and curiosity.
One day in January we went together on a fieldtrip to Blackness Castle, and by change entered inside the very only Inn of the village. That experience was bizarre. The place was ghostly, completely empty. However everything was there: cups, pottery, drinks and food on the table. But no staff or owner at all. We rang the bell and waited. After a while a very peculiar man came downstairs. He was particularly unusual, friendly and keen on talking about his life and family tree.
When we first were given the brief for project 3 we immediately thought of him. As the place was charming and odd at the same time and he was talkative and quirky enough for giving us an engaging story to tell. We though about asking him personal questions about his Inn and about the village. We already had some photos taken of him so our plan was to start from those and take more accurate and indepth documenray. However we had no idea of the surprise that was waiting for us…
So we prepared a lot of questions we wanted to make him , so he would talk about himself and the place , and added ambient sounds we wanted to include.
However, once we planned to go back there and interview him, we found out the Inn wa shut and closed for renovations till the month of June. We didn’t lose faith and tried to contact the number written in the announcement on the door. A man with a different voice and accent replied to us. He explained he was in Ireland for the weekend but was so enthusiastic of our project and passionate about his hometown that he immediately accepted to meet us and have the interview as he was back in Scotland the following week. As we couldn’t het our recorded interview that day, we used it for recording ambient noises of the environment and taking pictures.
Briefs inform the purpose, structure and outcome of projects. Whether the client is a multi-national, an advertising agency, a local gallery or yourself, a brief focuses the creative response. Context, audience, style, time frame, budget, production output are all determined, as well as assisted, by the Brief. A Brief positions the field of research, at the same time drawing on past experimentation and related methodological approaches.
Your group, as commissioning agent, will construct a brief for the production of ONE of the following:
An image for the front cover of a book Groups 1-3 An image for a product promotion Groups 4-6 An editorial image for a magazine article Groups 7-9
Further parameters: Single image, still-life studio (no people), to be shot digitally within a time scale of no more than 3 hours.
We decide to pretend to be a floristry shop, asking for 3 editorial images, for an article we wanted to publish on a magazine, regarding the hidden meaning of flowers. We thought about this idea because it would work perfectly for the still life module and we wanted as well to leave a lot of freedom of style and expression to the group who would have received our bried.
I personally would have loved to do this project as well as I love flowers still lives and there are so many different inspiration sources regarding the symbolism of flowers, in different field of Fine Arts and Literature as well.
Flowers, plants and fruits have always been associated to specific aspect of human lives and nature, and where used by painters to transmit a message since ages ago. Still life paintings can still be a great inspiration for photography nowaday, by using studio lights in a pictorial way.
“Symbolism and mythology have surrounded the history of flowers for thousands of years, influencing our responses and provoking emotions. During the Victorian period, flowers were used as symbols and gestures of sentiments. Many Artists and writers also assigned meaning to the flowers used in paintings. Shakespeare used flowers and plants to convey emotion. Ophelia wore flowers as symbols of her deep sorrow and grief.
In Asian Art, the lotus, which has petals that open when the sun comes up and closes at sunset, symbolizes birth and rebirth. The intoxicating jasmine flower in Hindu art represents love. ”
Martin Sijbesma, still life with flowers ( contemporary dutch painter )
The simplicity of this composition and the warm , soft daylight makes it look so beautiful and balanced.
This is an example to show that there is not need to create sophisticated composition as semplicity if often the key: a bunch of daffodils that could be easily picked from the park, a glass and a table.
WAS BORN IN 1972 WITHIN SPITTIN’ DISTANCE OF THE MAJOR OAK, SHERWOOD FOREST, UK.
HER FORMATIVE YEARS WERE SPENT IN ILKESTON, AN EX-MINING TOWN WHERE SHE ATTENDED A RUDOLF STEINER SCHOOL AND THE LOCAL COLLEGE BEFORE RUNNING OFF TO ART SCHOOL IN LONDON. AFTER MARRYING SHE MOVED TO MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA IN 1999.
SINCE 2009 SHE HAS WORKED AS A FLORIST. SHE ALSO DESIGNS AND MAKES HANDMADE PRODUCTS FOR HER STORE SKINNY WOLF
LUCY ROSE IS A PROFESSIONAL PRESS AND EVENT PHOTOGRAPHER BASED IN SYDNEY AUSTRALIA.
IN HER OWN TIME LUCY LOVES TO CREATE ATMOSPHERIC FLORAL IMAGES OF THAT CREATE A MOODY AND INTERESTING FEEL.
SHE HAS ALWAYS BEEN DRAWN TO THE ARTS AND HAS WORKING IN THE BEAUTY AND JEWELLERY INDUSTIES
AND FINDS GREAT PLEASURE WORKING TO CREATE BEAUTIFUL PIECES OF ARTWORK.
First of all I searched on the Internet the most common examples of using text with photography. Of course I found thousands of the images that we often see on the buses, as posters in the streets, in the stations, outside the shops and on the big screens. Most of the ones we see are very lame and repetitive, but sometimes it’s possible to find some that are actually brilliant. Here I tried to select different types of advertisements and commercials for different industries and public.
BEAUTY/ AESTHETHICS COMMERCIALS
I first made a research about the beauty commercials/ advertisement and I found it interesting to compare the old ones with the modern nowadays ones. What I noticed was that ,while for other products the style of advertising changed so much with the years, the Beauty ones look more similar though the years. There was and there is still a very beautiful and attractive young girl, smiling either glancing at the public in a seductive and charming way. With lots of simple very direct words, that sometimes might seem quite silly or meaningless. However all these words usually remind of sexuality,sensuality , youth, freshness and being noticed by the others. It is so evident ,since the first beauty commercials, how they are based on the theme of sexual attraction. For women the message is that if they will use those products they will look so irresistible and every man will notice them, and the same is for men aesthetic products: with that deodorant or perfume all women will go crazy for them. Basically just like animals use bright striking colours, scents and other tricks to attract the opposite sex, so these beauty products are used for, with the curious difference that in lots of animal species the males are more colourful and eye- catching, while in humankinds females are the most striking ones, and the ones who uses more tools to appear. Here’s some examples of commercial images.
It’s also very common to see this kind of images :
the commercials that try to convince mature women that is possible to remain young and look like 20 years old at the age of 40. I find those images quite absurd, as they show you a babyface model girl in her twenties using their lotion that keeps her young and perfect. So if you are a 40 years old woman you can still look like her if you do the same. Beside these photos there are often words such as ANTI-AGE/FIGHT THE AGE but if aging is the most natural and unavoidable part of our lives, how can humans fight Nature? It’s a battle lost at the very beginning. However behind this fear of Aging I believe there is hidden humans’ biggest fear: the fear of Death, which is what aging leads to. This world of beauty commercials is in general a big fake dimension that reassure us all, as ugliness, age and death do not exist anymore.
– FOOD COMMERCIALS
I then researched advertisements and commercials for the food industry and I personally thought that through years they changed quite a lot. I noticed how nowadays food commercials are so designed to make the product so fresh, organic, nature friendly and healthy. We see commercials of a sweet snack with images of wheat, flowers and birds flying just like if it was picked up from a tree. I guess it’s because now people are more aware of what is supposed to be good for their health and fitness. Also lots of adverts promise people that the product contains low calories and low fat so that they can eat it without feeling guilty. And probably just by seeing those commercials depicting fruits grown in idyllic landscapes and “rurally/ traditionally” made cereal bars, people somehow are reassured, believing they are making their part in supporting the planet and saving their souls.
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Advertisement or Commercial?
I found this image which I found particularly interesting: it is a commercial for Asics ‘ sport brand, however at first sight it might appear as an advertisement awareness campaign to spread the importance of sport, physical activity and healthy life style. I actually like it both visually and conceptually. The text here is used in two ways; on the right side of the image words becomes graphically part of the composition as they resemble sweat or water splashes that the figure is getting rid of. These words have a negative meaning such as “STRESS” and ” FRUSTRATION” and they represent the factors that lead to unhealthy and toxic lifestyle. The runner ( which represent active and sporty people) is running away from this barrier of negativity into a new brighter situation. On the left side the text “Sound mind sound body” holds the conceptual key of the image:the message seems to be that sports help improving our lifestyle, mental and physical health and well-being. However it is actually promoted by Asics so there is another message and aim which is selling Asics ‘ sportswear brand.
Shirin Neshat is a New York based artist who is originally from Iran. This body of work his called “Women of Allah”. Through these images she’s representing the female submission to the Islamic fundamentalism. She first started taking self portraits, successively took photos of other women too, showing parts of their bodies, that turned into blank pages representing their silence. She wrote on their skin surahs from the Koran or stanzas of Iranian poetesses, and their skin became a silent narration of prohibitions, obligations, censorship and sometimes desire of emancipation.
I find her art incredibly touching but refined and aesthetically elegant as well. They way text was used here is simply brilliant. The Persian alphabet looks almost like a decorative pattern or an intricate embroidery on the figures. In this work the text achieve a graphic and visual importance.
John Baldessari is an American Conceptual artist known for his pioneering use of appropriated imagery. By blending photography, painting, and text, Baldessari’s work examines the plastic nature of artistic media while commenting on our contemporary culture. “I’ve often thought of myself as a frustrated writer,” he explained. “I consider a word and an image of equal weight, and a lot of my work comes out of that kind of thinking.”
I personally love this piece, It’s just brilliant. It is a clear example of a image that wouldn’t make us feel anything without the text below it. It would probably look nonsense, just a piece of a lamp or another object. But with that short sentence “I saw it” everything make sense. First we all immediately associate the ordinary object to something extraordinary and supernatural, then we get the joke and a smile will appear on our face. It is such a simple and playful idea, that just a very creative mind could have thought. In this case the text is the key to read the image.
This was another piece that I really enjoyed. Here the text is used as part of the exhibition and the art-environment. However it is used in a completely unusual way : usually at art exhibitions we find short paragraphs beside each work, to explain very seriously the concept and techniques. Here instead the text is on the floor, an it immediately catches the viewer’s eyes , furthermore it is not an ambitious text to celebrate the art-work’s value, but it’s instead a sort of promise for the public with an ironic and playful intent.
3) THE SCOTTISH BESTIARY – National Gallery of Modern Art ( Edinburgh)
I visited this galleries twice and I realised that there was a perfect example of the use of text and visual arts. In this case the text is not part of the image, but it’s matching with the image which becomes and illustration for a poem or a piece of literature. This was used in the series of prints from ” The Scottish bestiary” which I found so interesting and fascinating.
It’s containing 20 prints by 7 Scottish artists, all of which illustrate poems and prose texts by George Mackay Brown. It was published by ‘The Paragon Press’ in 1986. Charles Booth-Clibborn, the founder of ‘The Paragon Press’, invited Mackay Brown to produce texts to accompany the artworks, which depict 19 different animals, real and mythological. The other invited Scottish artists were John Bellany, Peter Howson, Jack Knox, Bruce McLean, June Redfern and Adrian Wiszniewski. Campbell made two woodcuts for the Bestiary including this one, of a sword-dancer. His second print was an illustration of a lobster.
“Barbara Kruger is best known for her silkscreen prints where she placed a direct and concise caption across the surface of a found photograph. Her prints from the 1980s cleverly encapsulated the era of “Reaganomics” with witty satire. Her work are a direct social, cultural, and political critique. Associated with postmodern Feminist art as well as Conceptual art, Kruger combines tactics like appropriation with her characteristic wit and direct commentary in order to communicate with the viewer and encourage the interrogation of contemporary circumstances.”
Here I selected the images that intrigued me the most or that I found particularly appealing.
I love the way she used the text over these photos, the words are chosen with extreme precision and are as sharpening as knifes. Another element which I really like is the stylistic choice, the fact that she only uses the colour RED over black and white images is an extremely successful and elegant choice. In these kind of work using too many colours in my opinion would have made the images look too gaudy or kitsch.
The striking red over the black and white is so direct and powerful.
Her work is a clear example of how text can change and revolutionize completely the meaning and reading of an image.
This image Adults Only, is the most intense for me. I associate it with the theme of childhood trauma. When we talk about “the power of words” we should definitely refer to this image. The message I read is:Exposing children to certain type of environments or situations might cause an emotional and psychological damage.
I chose this second image as I found it particularly visionary and enigmatic, and slightly ambiguous if you want. The photo itself was simply a person using eye drops, however with the prophetic words it achieve a strength and unsettling feeling. The future belongs to those who can see it, but the tear flowing down her eye makes me question whether I really want to see it or not.
I loved this one as well, You are not yourself, the image itself is very strong and expressive, the theme of the broken mirror, even if it was used many times, I still find it so intense and fascinating, perfectly representing self dissociation. The words added on top shout loudly what the image itself contains. In this case, in my opinion, the image didn’t achieve a different meaning with the words but instead increased her previous visual content.
SIMONE TORMENTO- Italian digital artist
-https://www.instagram.com/simonetormento/
I follow on Instagram a digital artist from Italy, which is so far one of my favourite artists. I love his style, the colours he uses and the very visionary and surreal worlds and subjects he creates. In many of his works he added very thin and evanescent text, which often have either philosophical or psychological concepts. And these texts he places on his artworks increase the mysterious and surreal aura around them
(translation : It happens sometimes to find other people inside my own self )
(translation: Sometimes I feel too little, sometimes I feel too much)
(TRANSLATION: Each power comes from within/ we are surrounded by cerebral matter / I am just a ladybug )
TEXT AND CINEMA
The Favourite – Yorgos Lanthimos (2018)
-https://www.instagram.com/thefavouritemovie/ (screenshots taken from the official Instagram page of the film)
I went recently to watch at the Cinema: The Favourite a film by Yorgos Lanthimos. I noticed how text was brilliantly and often used during the film. Each section and scene was preceded by a black screen with graphically constructed text that anticipated the main sentence of the following scene. I tried to find the texts online but as the film is in Cinemas right now, I couldn’t find screenshots from it. I decided to make a research on the film advertisements instead. I find cinema advertisement very intriguing sometimes as they are able to select just one single image from an entire movie ( which is a huge sequence of images ) and, by adding a few researched and controlled words, are able to summarize the essence of it. And catch people’s attention as well.
PART 2- Visual exercise
2. Using a Found Image, shift the reading through addition/replacement of text
Photographer: Max Eremine
I took this image by the photographer Max Eremine and I added the text on it. It is one of the most ancient common sense , which I never really understood, as crying is the most important and natural actions of human nature. Crying as Laughing is an act of release .
Through a laugh or a cry we get rid of all the emotional tension and forces that gathers in our mind. I thought this photo was perfect to represent the feeling. The boy with an angry and tough expression but with tears about to stream down his eyes. I decided to play graphically with the words.
2)Original Image by JAN SAUDEK
I chose this image by Jan Saudek and change completely the context of it by adding this text regarding the statistics of child marriage in the world. I did it because I think it could be visually perfectly connected as the girl is wearing a white dress and make up which are excessively lavish for her age and a pair of adult’s blurred hands are preparing her for something she doesn’t seem completely aware about.
3)Original image by FRANCESCA WOODMAN
I used this image by Francisca Woodman to represent the theme of rape and sexual harassment . There is not much else to say but I though it could be used this way because of the perspective, the movement and the cracks on the ground. I tried it with different fonts.
4)Original Image by MAN RAY
The elements of the Mask and the face of the woman, made me think about the theme of personality, social masks and faking reality. So I added this text as we are all forced to play a role in each different situation and act differently with every person. As every person is a separate world whom we have to adapt to in order to avoid tensions or conflicts. Everybody is wearing different masks and those who don’t may sometimes be rejected.
5)Original Photo by NIRAV PATEL
Just something more playful and less intense. An invitation on changing perspective from the dark and negative one to a brighter one.
5)Sequence and contextualise 5 images of previous personal work and export to blog.
I chose my series of previous personal work which I called “READING THE WALLS”
CREATE SPACE- Glasgow Museum of Modern ArtI I
I took this photo in the museum of Modern Art in Glasgow. This text was on a wall in the corner of a room and I deleted all the mid-tones with doge and burn photoshop, leaving the man and the text because I wanted to create that sense of extended and vast space.
2) HOW DO WE TELL IF SOMETHING’S GOOD? – Glasgow Museum of Modern Art
Here I did the same as the previous image, I left only my friend Petra and the text that was along the wall to create that sense of graphic illustration/manifesto, as if the text came directly from her mind and inner thoughts.
3) CROSSING THE WALL – Florence, the Students hotel
I took this image in Florence, there was the drawing of a boy on the wall and I told my friend to stand in front of it as if she was relating to it. The fact that there are stairs behind her and that she is stopping his way to reach them reminds me of the theme of psychological and emotional barriers and walls.
4) REALTà LONTANE – Stari Bar, Montenegro
I took this image in Stari Bar, the old town of Bar in Montenegro during this winter holydays. These objects on the wall where probably there to support a shelf or something like this. However at mid day they projected these interesting shadows on the wall that remind me of the letter A. So I decided to construct a text containing many letters A , by adding fonts to the shadows of the letter A, in order to complete the sentence.
It is in Italian because it sounded better in my own language, but it means: “I imagine other realities far away ”
5) FALLING APART – Street in Glasgow
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I took this photo in Glasgow, I found this shop funny yet sad as the same time, it was a store that was going to close soon and they were selling everything to get rid of it. The falling L was the forewarning of the sad future of the shop.
I called mine : what makes modern families so dystopic
This is my concept: I wanted to represent a dystopic modern family in the most extreme case of absurdity and paradox.
The black shadow on the armchair is the Father, more than a father he is an absence, he is there being nearly invisible and completely passive to what surrounds him.
The Mother instead is pretty egocentric and self obsessed, she is taking a selfie to show her Facebook friends and followers how cool she is .She has the children in the background of her selfie, to show everyone that she is a good mother, spending time with her kids, but she actually doesn’t really pay attention to them . It’s more like they have the same importance as the new sofa in that living room. The children, without any creative incentive or inspiration are left in a state of boredom and apathy, playing all day with mobile phones because they don’t know what else to do.
The dog apparently receives more attention than the children, he has a huge plate of vegetables in front of him, as the mother tried to make her dog vegetarian , as she thinks it’s on fashion. However her vegetarianism is simply due to the fact that she must somehow find a way to sublimate her unconscious feeling of guiltiness for having failed as a mother. She believes by doing so that she is such an altruist and ethically correct human being , and she can hide behind this feeling all her frustrations and failures. ( by the way I don’t believe that all vegetarian people make their choice for this kind of reason, but some do, and I wanted to represent an extreme and dystopic reality, so I didn’t mean to offense anyone )
On the walls there are all the symbols of the social networks instead of paintings or photos, as sort of icons to worship. A big eye is starring at them through the window ( my cliché reference to the Big Brother, couldn’t avoid it though because I like it so much)
The pink elephant in the middle of the room, comes from the idiom: an Elephant in the room, which has the metaphoric meaning of a big discomfort, awkwardness and bother, which is totally ignored on purpose by the people there, in order to pretend that everything flows fine and smooth, and ignore the fact that their lives are empty, dull and meaningless and there is no Absolute purpose in life at all.
First of all I am not extremely satisfied with this, because I am so bad at using photoshop and the result is very pathetic. I should have trust my first idea to make it as a real collage with real paper, scissors and glue, instead of dragging photos on a screen which I cannot even control. The perspective is very WRONG, but I couldn’t find the right way to change it correctly, and I was only making it worse so I decided to leave it a bit bizarre.
I enjoyed this exercise so much, it was probably my favourite. However I am not satisfied with the shape of it, because it looks more like a square than a wheel. I really like the images I put though and I enjoyed creating the colours shades.
As you can probably see my T shape shows that my main interests are Art and photography, and sometimes films as well, even tough I struggle to find one that I really like. The movies I chose to include are Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson, Forrest Gump and two very famous Italian movies which I love .
The last image on the left is a scene from the Italian movie Nuovo Cinema Paradiso by Giuseppe Tornatore,it is incredibly touching and involving. it tells the story of a little boy and his passion about Cinema , that never leaves him even when he grows up. I put it in my vertical line because I also particularly love it for the photography of it. The eyes of the boy shining while looking at the film and the man that introduced him to Cinema behind him.
I went to this photography exhibition and I was so touched by it. It was extremely interesting to be able of recognizing the places those photos were taken and see how they have changed. And it was also so sweet to see the perspective of Edinburgh through the games and smiles of the children. I have always loved street photography and it is the kind of photos I like to take.
But what was even more impressive is that this man wasn’t a photographer, but actually was a doctor, and taking photos was just his hobby, which he kept quite secret and unknown. He used to develop his photos in his bedroom that also was a darkroom when he was a student. I saw a photo of it and I was so amazed by such a passion for photography. His worked was just recently discovered, that’s why he is considered a sort of Scottish Vivian Maier. It makes you kind of nostalgic to think that all the kids in the photos are now adults, who probably went to visit the exhibition and recognize themselves in the pictures!
My favourite photo was for sure this one:
It made me laugh so much because it is the most accurate representation of boyhood, I know that because I grow up with a boy cousin and a younger brother , and I usually was in the place of the cat…
such a brilliant funny photo of an angel-looking blonde little boy which is preparing to pester the cat who isn’t really aware of the situation.
Here’s our final project presentation. We decided for this rout because we wanted to show different sides of the city. First of all we based this on our experience, as Italian I came to Edinburgh as a tourist too, but back then I had no idea about all this places, which I gradually discovered step by step when I moved here. However we wanted to include also more famous places of the city, because if you are a traveller, you want to enjoy the small things but you also want to get to see what’s famous as well, for sure.
I was like to be part of a group of Scottish people, because they had a clearer idea about some practical aspects such as distance and itineraries and transportations. Since we decided to make a our journey a walking tour, we had to think and change many times our route to make it more linear and clear, and avoid walking in circles.
that was to be fair the most difficult part as we had to keep on changing and unfortunately we had to leave some places that we visited out of the journey because they weren’t exactly in the way. However I enjoyed visiting all the places, and as I was the only photography student, taking lots of photos at different times.
Here’s an example of a place that we liked but that we had to skip as it was far out from our route:
THE FOREST CAFE – TOLLCROSS.
We liked this place so much because it was very artistic and alternative, you could also buy second hand clothes, and bookmarks, postcards and little prints made by young artists: this was a nice idea to collect some memories from the city which were not the typical and boring postcards of the Castle. However it was completely out of our route so we sadly had to quit it.
This was definitely my favourite artist in the entire Gallery. there was something of her paintings that immediately captured my eyes and fascinated me. After reading about her and watching the short , where we could see her studio and the thoughts behind the work, I was totally charmed. I felt so involved because the style of the collage mixed with colours and painting is one of my favourite. Collage is my favourite technique at all! And the way she combines her pieces is so witty and peculiar. I loved to see her studio: it was an explosions of paper. Hundreds of different parts: eyes, lips, noses, hands … that she would then pick to create her figures. Each painting could tell a story, and there were lots of references with ancient culture and other artists. She must have such a beautiful mid, I would love to be able to spend one day with her while she is painting.
At points it reminded me of some of Picasso’s works too, for example there is a detail that really evokes the Picasso’s Guernica:
the detail of the man with the candle was so similar to my eyes, I might be wrong but this was my interpretation immediately.
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MONSTER CHETWYND
These works were seriously impressive. I must confess that I liked some of them but I felt quite unease in front of others. For example I loved the paintings with the gigantic butterflies placed on top, maybe because I love this insects, while I didn’t like the red lizards at all, as I dislike lizards in real life too… so imagine nearly bumping into a massive red lizard sticking out of the wall, while entering in a room. The artist succeeded in her surprising intent.
THE BAT OPERA
I loved this series by the same artist even better than the previous one. She started to create this paintings in 2oo3 and she confirmed that she wants to keep on making the for the rest of her life. She got inspired by the miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard and by Constable’s studies of clouds. I find it quite interesting to compare the different styles of this series with the previous one. Quite like to extreme opposites. The previous: quite extreme, radical, experimental, huge and sculptural paintings; and these tiny miniatures, detailed, technically careful and meticulous and extremely refined. I love the storytelling aspect of this series, where the bat becomes the protagonist. I liked how the artist wanted to give importance to this tiny animal which is often associated with a gothic and negative meaning, while is actually quite cute and funny to represent.
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THE SCOTTISH BESTIARY 1986
I loved the idea of writing a poem for each creature and illustrating it which such a particular style I read that the text was written by the writers George Mackay Brown , and the prints were made by several different artists. I like that different people illustrated this because it’s interesting to compare the totally different styles and try to guess each time which print belongs to which artist, according to its style. It was sad for me that I couldn’t fully understand all the poems as the language was very sophisticated, so I had to take photos and try to translate them at home. However I could enjoy the beauty of the illustrations and my favourite one was for sure the Dove by Jack Knox.
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FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES
Los Desastres de la Guerra
my favourite one:
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My friend Holly in front of Blaze 1 by Bridget Riley, surrounding her head like a halo.
CELLO IN SPACE BY ARMAN
This was above all my favourite piece, both aesthetically and conceptually. I read that this artist was one of the pioneers of the Art-form named Happening. This type of Art involved smashing pianos, cars and even entire rooms. As I read it I thought: that must be so therapeutic and fun. It is something I would love to do at least once in a life time, I honestly would enjoy it so much. Destruction is something in our nature and no one can deny it, however these artists found a way to turn destruction into a form of creation. Arman also started to place all these crack and broken parts in a polyester resin and he called those pieces Colère ( Anger) , such an accurate name. I wish I could have smashed pianos with them too, but unfortunately I wasn’t born yet. However if I had to do this art-form now I would probably choose to smash computers, printers and televisions.
ANDY WARHOL AND PAOLOZZI EXHIBITION
WARHOL
My favourite piece by Warhol was this one:
The Nation’s Nightmare
it illustrates the record about Crime in America, this part was about the use of Drugs and Narcotics. Warhol traced the outline of the subject from a photo that he took reconstructing and simulating the scene of a man making a heroin injection. I like the style of this drawing, because it is so clean and simple, even if the issue it is showing is really dramatic and though. Warhol was able to show in such a direct and intense way this problem without being over grisly or disturbing. I also love the composition of the figure.
I find it beautiful that such an inspiring place id actually hidden in a small alley, people who don’t know about this place, probably just walk by the street, ignoring completely what this alley actually contains. The atmosphere there is charming. the neon lights above the old stooty buildings , the street art and the puddles that always reflect the sky or the light…everything about it makes it so special!
Graphic design floor
the floor I found more visually pleasing was probably the graphic design one. I loved how every single space of the wall was covered by posters and images. And the way they were displayed made the room itself a vibrant work of art.
This was the first image that captured my attention, it is a portrait of Charles Mackintosh, made with thousands of photos takes around Glasgow, capturing people and life in the city. I love the concept and idea behind it, it seems like a great homage to these talented man, that gave a lot for the artistic heritage of the city and Scotland.
Just love to see all these colours and shapes together. In these space I had the feeling that it wasn’t the individual piece that gave a meaning but the totality of all the pieces related and displayed together, which created such a wonderful space, full of energy and vitality.
The Mackintosh floor
The most beautiful part of the museum was definitely the Lighthouse tower, It is simply my favourite architecture ever. I have been there 3 times already, but walking up the spiral stairway is such a dream like experience, also thanks so the atmosphere created by the screen at the bottom of it , the background sounds and the way it is lighten .Then once you reach the top of it you are astonished by the unusual and peculiar view of the city. That mixture of industrial architecture, both modern ad old, all the brick walls, the chimneys and the pipes makes it so different from any other city I have visited ;apparently it might look rough but that’s part of it’s beauty and charm. I went there in different days, with different weather conditions so I tried to play a little with different lights and atmosphere, as you will see in my photos.
Chimneys and shadows on a bright morning.
inside the lighthouse, abstracting the shapes and light. It reminds me of a big shell or the coil of a snake.
Playing with lines and shadows. This is just a car park you can see from the top of the Lighthouse, but on a bright sunny day it looked kind of interesting.
Vertical space. I love the conglomerate of all these different types of buildings and textures.
A forgotten and slightly gloomy black balloon floating under the roof, on a brick wall , and a simple but cute drawing of a house floating on a brick wall too.
Sabrina my classmate, I like the contrast between the red warm light of the wall an dthe blue cold light spreading from the screen.
Industrial shapes
the scale models of the architecture works were very interesting for the way they were lighten I like the little shadow of the tiny man which reminds me of the extraordinary story of Peter Schlemihl.
The second time I went to the Lighthouse, at the end of October, there was this piece exhibited . I was really interested by the shape of the pot, which had something fascinating yet gloomy an dark at the same time, since it reminded me of animal bones.
I photographed it and then played a wee bit with black and white possibilities, editing the same photo in totally different ways. I like to see all these photos next to each other.
THE PIANO ROOM
we should have it all!
GALLERY OF MODERN ART
The reflection of the statue with the cone on the glass entrance of the modern art gallery.
Even the entrance of the Gallery looked extremely interesting, with the broken mirror effect and that surreal chandelier. The first thing we visited was the room with the videoclips and short films. Some of them fascinated me particularly, others nit at all. some left me a strange sense of uneasiness.
This part of the videos with all the holes and dots, keeping on loading apparently forever, felt extremely gloomy to me.
While I found really charming the part of the tape, with all the old videoclips in black and white, I tried to capture the movement of the figures with a long shutter speed in order to see every phase of their dance..
I quite like this image, it is a long shutter speed from the video clips, but I like the idea that I could capture the jump of the actor in one single image.
This image of the magic carpet was totally hypnotic for me. I don’t know the meaning behind it, but I couldn’t stop starring at it floating. In my personal interpretation it reminds me of a sort of escape. The magic carpet is related to fairy tale and imaginary realities where everything is possible and even carpets can fly, so while staring at it I had a feeling of getting slowly away ,absorbed by this surreal image, as I stared at it’s movement the world around was slowly fading .This was increased by the texture of the carpet slowly fading and melting into an abstraction of colours and lines.
Then we went visiting the other floors. I found particularly interesting the quotes written on the walls, and I liked how they followed the shape of the building, something like the texts in comics. I tried to do something different with the photos I took there. I edited them in black and white and then with photoshop with burn and dodge tool I deleted all the midtones, as I wanted to achieve a flat and extremely graphic result, with the quotes and the people as the only protagonists of the empty space.
H
How do we tell if something’s good?
Here I did the same as the previous image, I like how the words followed the corner of the room, I like the fact that deleting the tri-dimensional space around the man and the text, I actually obtained a wider space, which is the empty white.
Here more works that I found interesting.
I especially liked the work by Jack Knox called Impassed .
This piece represent the frustration of the artist in a period where he desired to change his style, and the fact that he had reached a still point where he could go no further. I find the theme of walls and psychologic barrier extremely interesting. There is at least a wall inside each one of us, in the majority of people there are even more the one, some people are like fortress. However I believe the walls of the mind should be demolished , my aim is to achieve a stage where my mind will look like a open loft, not one wall left. Things like experience, travelling, Art, Literature and Philosophy help us demolishing these walls. However if sometimes we cannot demolish the walls we should at least learn how to cross them.
KELVINGROVE MUSEUM
I loved the architecture of this place and the way it was lighten, we reached it when it was already dark and it was surrounded by a magic atmosphere. Unfortunately, we left it as last museum so once we got there it was quite late and we had just 30 minutes to explore it, before the closing time. That wasn’t definitely enough , but at least I could enjoy wandering around in that stunning space. I particularly loved the installation with all the floating heads, by Sophie Cave. It was slightly eerie, but extremely fascinating, and I love that dark surreal taste!
I took this image in Florence, there was the drawing of a boy on the wall and I told my friend to stand in front of it as if she was relating to it. The fact that there are stairs behind her and that she is stopping his way to reach them reminds me of the theme of psychological and emotional barriers and walls.
CeciliaVolpi_visualresearch 