For this research lesson, our task was to find 10 pieces of art or images that are an inspiration and relate to our chosen theme. Then, chosen 3 pieces that are also intriguing and evaluate the image. Having a large platform of secondary sources will help out any primary work as it expands our ideas and creativity. Seeing how other artists/photographers use the theme and expand on it. For my research, I will mainly review photography work and digital pieces as that is what I would like to specialise for my final major project. Looking at description; I will analyse the formal elements (colour, tone, shape, form, composition, line, texture and pattern). Also reviewing text subjects, font and any typeface if necessary.
EXISTING ARTWORK – SECONDARY, BRIEF RESEARCH
Mandy Barker, Photographer
Secondary Image, taken from Google.
‘Artful Swirls of Plastic Marine Debris Documented in Images by Photographer Mandy Barker’. Simply; the photograph presents the on-going pandemic of plastic debris in the world’s waterways. Barker works closely with scientists to collect rubbish from our oceans and beaches on the edges of nearly every continent. Producing her work; Barker manipulates her findings in Adobe Photoshop – mimicking the manner in which ocean water holds these objects in suspension. Swirls of colours and patterns are visually and aesthetically pleasing – the observer to then realise the forms are consisting of plastic waste remains.
Davide Bonazzi, Illustrator
Secondary image, taken from Pinterest.
Italian illustrator, Davide Bonazzi creates impressive thought-provoking conceptual illustrations – covering provocative topics such as global security, racism and proportionality of criminal offences. This artwork presented above reflects the global problem of climate change by producing a surreal piece.
Peter Max
Secondary image, found on Pinterest.
Shown above, is artwork created and published by Peter Max. Artwork reflecting on mental health and showing a sense of mental positivity and growth within an individuals mind. Personally, I am fond of this piece as the colour arrangement is powerful and aggressive to the viewer (red, black and white – primary colour and two shades of light) – considering influential and important aura.
Jamie Lee Curtis Taete
https://www.vice.com/en/article/nnq9pq/los-angeles-is-a-paradise-265
Secondary image, taken from Pinterest.
Taete; a Photographer who is inspired by his love and hatred for LA – where he is currently living. He captures the homeless living states of citizens and focuses on the aggressively-enforced behaviour and positivity of people around him. He is intrigued by the hope and humour people have that are homeless and continuous to portray their emotions via photography.
Tom Hegen, Photographer
Secondary image, taken from Pinterest.
The Two Degrees Series explores the effects of global warming on the Artic Ice Sheet. It is an Aerial Photography project shot by Tom Hegen, looking at birds eye view shots of the Artic ruins due to the climate change we and our environment are experiencing.
Stephanie Kilgast
Secondary image, taken from Pinterest.
Stephanie Kilgast creates three-dimensional sculptures that reflect the relationship between man and nature reviewing the problems of plastic waste in the oceans and waters surrounding us. Each piece reflects the issues surrounding plastic waste and the effect it has on ocean wildlife.
Richard Hamilton, Collagist.
Secondary image, taken from Pinterest.
Richard Hamilton is a collage artist who is focusing on showing the negatives of movie stars from the film industry. His work reflects on the emotions and feelings of movie stars that are filmed, showing behind the scenes. Hamilton uses wording and fonts to create layering and collages then uses secondary sources images from magazines, newspaper, etc to create the main meaning and focus of the image.
Fred Tomaselli, Painter.
Secondary image, taken from Pinterest.
Fred Tomaselli’s ‘Current Events’ at the James Cohan Gallery. A painting that demonstrates on-going issues we are facing in our world – using an a ray of vibrant colours to express our oceanic plastic pollution problem. Tomaselli uses his talent to raise awareness and to encourage people to recycle or to minimise our plastic intake.
Chris Roome, Editoral Photographer.
Secondary image, taken from Pinterest.
Chris Roome specialises in photography and digital art – using human figures in a marine like atmosphere creates a sense of confusion and realisation towards the observer. Roome uses these photographs to focus on fishing and the issue that causes with his views against it. Using a human being in a replicant of a fish in a net – indicates a feeling of sorrow.
Jarren Vink, Still Life Photographer.
Secondary image, taken from Pinterest.
Jarren vink – a plastic water bottle recycle photographer still life art studio New York photo photography. Focusing on the lines, shape and form of the plastic bottles. The composition of the frame is extremely central with the four bottles placed vertically in the middle of the frame. The colour pattern is extremely dull with a light shades grey/blue backdrop and the monotoned bottles. Mainly, I am fascinated by the layering of the bottles – looking at the shadows and highlights of the subjects.
EXTENDED, FURTHER SECONDARY RESEARCH
Secondary image, taken from Pinterest – unknown photographer.
I chose to analyse this photographs as the composition and colouring interested me. Reviewing the colour – a range of light shaded colours, blue, grey, white and hints of pink with a very dull and calm atmosphere. The sky like feeling of the image makes the image seem like an a ray of clouds when in reality the camera is capturing the insides of plastic bags. The composition of the photograph is positive and crowded, there is no white space and there are subjects up to each corner of the photo frame. Having the bag covering the whole of the frame, and making the image as the observer is looking into a bag – creates a tunnelled and tube effect which is drawing and eye catching towards the viewer. The creases of the bag, displays a sense of layering and it adds depth and dimension into the image and an effect of three-dimension. The image itself is in a high quality, with picking up the minor creases of the plastic material adds more texture and form into the image. The frames main focus is in the centre, having the material closet to the lens out of focus – altering the depth of field. Overall, the meaning behind this image is to analyse the depth of a singular plastic bag and to also raise awareness for plastic pollution. The photographer reused this bag for this image, promoting recycling and reusing materials. Taking ideas from this image, I will take upon refining detail of objects and to focus on interpreting substances and capturing different angles, tilts to create a meaningful message behind.
Secondary image, taken from Pinterest.
This image interests me as it could be viewed differently – as an iceberg and also as a plastic bag. Analysing the formal elements of the photograph; the colour scheme is mainly blue themed, ranging from dark to light shades of blue. Using the colour blue, is extremely effective as the colour blue is associated with oceans, water and marine life so it has a clear resemblance. However, there is a thick, bright yellow border around the image – this is attention grabbing and stands out massively against the blue. As this image is a magazine cover, the yellow border adds to the purpose of the image – the vibrant colour is eye catching which is needed for the business, National Geographic, to make a profit. The image is mainly edited – the sub-title, sub-heading, border, the image itself and the smaller graphics. Looking at composition; the main focus (the iceberg/plastic bag) is in the centre of the frame, drawing the viewers eyes into the middle of the photograph – having a lot of negative and empty space. The meaning behind this image, is raising awareness for our current marine plastic pollution issue that is a large problem we are facing in our world right now. The words used are; the title of the magazine, in a slim and tight black typeface. ‘PLANET OR PLASTIC’ in a different white font, on top of the blue imagery. Finally, a small paragraph of information also in white font, in hieroglyphics. Overall, I am particularly intrigued by the main imagery – having the subject represent both an iceberg and a plastic bag. It makes a sense of realisation that our oceans are filled and build up with plastic pollution and it is basically covering the surfaces of the oceans and underneath and below the surfaces.
Secondary image, taken from Pinterest – unknown photographer.
This is a photograph representing our on-going pollution of rubbish in our oceans and waters. With the current pandemic of Covid-19, 194,000,000,000 face masks spark fear of ‘global plastic crisis’. A recent report found that if only 1% of face masks are disposed incorrectly, around 10,000,000 a month will still end up littering the environment. Analysing the colour; the main pigments of the image are – blue and green. This two colours are commonly associated with wildlife, marine and oceans – these shades connect with the theme very effectively. Simply, the message behind this photograph is to be aware of where we discard our rubbish and where it ends up. Composition; the spacing of the image is quite positive with no clear white or empty space. Having the underneath of the waters surfaces, the mask itself, the bottom of the lake and the marine plants towards the rear of the photograph. Personally, I am fond of this image as the ripples created from the water produce interesting and unique shapes, lines and bubbles – this adds depth and dimension into the picture. There is no obvious editing use on the image (text, colour alternation). This image caught my attention, as it is raising awareness and focusing on a current pandemic we are currently battling.
Artist Research Task, pages from sketchbook.
Barbra Kruger – Editorial Based.
Secondary sourced images, taken from Google – used for research purposes only.
Barbra Kruger specialises in fine art, graphic design – using bold collages in a monotone scheme reviewing her opinion and voice of social and feminine issues, women and abortion rights she believes towards. Kruger uses secondary sourced images taken from magazines, newspapers, etc and uses digital platforms to edit. Commonly using red blocked shapes and white, thick lettering on top off. She expresses her feelings and beliefs and using her artwork to display and present them. Connecting the image and text together, her work has been displayed in several galleries and museums. Briefly, Barbra Kruger is an American conceptual, collagist, contemporary and postmodern artist. Influential views by the feminist movement of her time. Her work itself are black and white monotoned imagery overlaid with a font – oblique FUTURA BOLD/SANS SERIF usually in capital message to show a sense of importance and to communicate her clear opinions and the messages behind. Her work inspires me to focus on typefaces and colour tones of an image – looking at the editing section of the image process. To express any of my opinions underneath an image, which could be clear or not to obviously showed.
Darren MacPherson
Secondary sourced images, taken from Google – used for research purposes only.
Darren McPherson is a surrealist, contemporary figurative who creates collections of abstract pieces. His work is based off human emotions and feelings, surrounding human conditions and their mental health and emotional well-being. McPherson uses bright, expressive colours as his expressive, mark-making style. Looking at media; he uses acrylics, spray paint and oils to produce his abstract portraits – mixed media work. His work is derived as ‘bold with a lot of colour’. Looking at an overview of his work; Darren mainly paints faces, figures and crowds of public – the emotions behind face features and a persons ‘real’ feelings. Taking from his work, I am inspired by his expressive use of colour and media. Using energetic and passionate mark-makings that may represent someone’s emotions.
Photography Lesson, Practical.
Our task was to take photographs in our local town that represent our chosen theme – plastic pollution in my case. These are three of my favourite photographs I captured, analysing the plastic and waste in town. The left image, is an image focusing on a singular cup. Having a central, main focus off the image. The middle photograph, an image on an angle between birds eye view and from the floor. The image expresses the rubbish next to a road, this is my favourite image as there are multiple minor highlights of colours (red, green and yellow) which balance out the colour on the image between the monotoned shades. Lastly, the right image is a close up shot of rubbish bins. This is a positive image as the rubbish waste has been collected and recycled. All these images were taken with a NIKON advanced bridge camera, on ‘M’ manual mode.
Displayed on a Contact Sheet above, all the out takes of primary images I took relating to my chosen theme of marine plastic pollution. Camera; a DX DSLR NIKON NKR-D90, lens; 18-105mm. I decided to take more images in a different locale (Windermere Lake) as I was not fully satisfied with the results of my photographs I originally shot. To take the images, I brought my own plastic bottles to the lake as the water was clean. I placed the plastic substance on the shore of the lake and recycled the materials later on. These images were an improvement to my first outtake images as these were location in a marine atmosphere which related to my chosen theme – the issue of plastic pollution in waters.
Favourite Images – Unedited.
Rule of odds, having three subjects frame is improves the composition by making the image more visually appealing. The Rule of odds in art is that a composition will be more dynamic if there’s an odd number of elements in the composition – 3 plastic substances in shot.
This images follows the ‘Rule of Thirds’ rule as the plastic substances are placed aligned in the centre of the frame. Covering the three middle, horizontal squares off the grid – having an equal amount of space of the top and bottom of the image. Composition; the spacing is quite negative and empty with only two plastic subjects photographed.
This image focuses on the depth of field of an image, having the foreground out of focus and unclear. Then, having the background and back subjects on the frame in full focus. This adds depth into the image by creating a clear difference between both grounds of the image.
Drawing Task, Practical
Drawing Task; we had to produce multiple drawings that are experimental – looking at different drawing media and what material to work onto. They are all observational mark making drawings, influenced from secondary sourced images online. Overall, I focused my drawings on both sides of plastic. Looking at the positives, the marine wildlife and recycling. Then the negatives, the waste from plastic and the litter caused by the problem.
These images are experimented by using a range of media such as; HB pencil, Graphite, Fine Liner and Coloured Felt Tip Pens. Worked onto materials of the following; printing paper, sugar paper, black card and tracing paper. We worked in time limits for some of the drawings, having a set time for specific sketches such as 30 seconds or 2 minutes. This was a very effective technique as you could view the changes and differences from each drawing, looking at the detail from how long it took to produce. On the two left images of the gallery, they are cut outs of larger drawings – highlighting specific areas of the mark makings. Whereas, the right image displays full drawings I produced. Two coloured pieces, looking at marine wildlife and having a broad media – tracing paper with HB pencil, fine liner, green and blue coloured pens. Then, the graphite sketch of plastic waste – a continuous line drawing. Personally, the continuous line drawing is my favourite drawing as I am fond of the abstract and surreal aura it reflects.
WEEKLY REFLECTIVE
When approaching a creative brief, it is vital to do in-depth research because you need to have a broad range of information. You need to evaluate what you need to do and the purpose of the brief, seeing what you need to eventually produce in the long-term and what is expected. For this, you can do detailed research on exiting artwork and artists so it broadens your ideas and suggestion range. You need to evaluate who you are working for, the target audience – for this you can do research on what fonts, typefaces, colours to use for any work as it alternates to what target audience you are aiming towards.
Secondary research- information that has surprised and shocked me is;
These facts below are found from reliable sources such as Google and Wikipedia.
- More than 50% of turtles have consumed plastic substances.
- Everyday we use 500 million plastic straws alone.
- Over 5,250,000,000,000 plastic bags are used yearly.
- 8 million pieces of plastic enter our oceans daily.
- It takes 1,000 years for biodegradable plastic to decompose.
- 1,000,000 plastic bottles are purchased every minute.
- 8,300,000,000 billion metric tons of plastic has been created
Looking at number figures of the facts about plastic is a realisation to how vast this issue is and how much it is affecting our planet.
This week; we have had a photography and an experimental drawing workshop. Personally, I enjoyed the photography lesson more as I got to use a camera to capture the plastic problem around our local town, Kendal. It was fascinating going into town and just focusing on the waste issue and seeing how much land it involves around. Photographs will help development in my project as it is provides a sense of primary imagery and looking at the problem, locally and through my own eyes rather from secondary research. Also, I enjoyed the drawing task as it was extremely experimental with time management of each drawing, having set challenges for some drawings (continuous line, non-dominant hand), working on different medias with different resources (printing paper, sugar card, tracing paper, HB pencil, graphite, fine liner, marker pen). It was interesting to see the different mark makings produce and seeing how the accuracy and detail alternated from each drawing. The drawings will help development in my project as it is another source of primary work. My target is too produce and garter a wide range of primary information and artwork as well as secondary sources – to have a broader bases of sources.
Mia Otway 
* Interested in – Ocean Pollution/Plastics
* BBC programmes, YouTube clips, News clips – look for documentaries linked to this theme. Embed anything interesting.
* Stats, facts and figures – create a bank that you can use for background and surfaces
* Beach Guardian Cornwall – Instagram feed and website.
* PPE waste in ocean. This is a really recent problem.
* Positive – Beach cleans, children education programs at schools.
* What new materials, objects or products are being made from ocean waste?
* Start to think about your photo opportunities. Could you document a beach clean? Photo evidence all the pieces of plastic you find on a walk???
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Mia – you need to have just 3 categories – FMP, Bibliography, Project Proposal. I can help you sort these if you are unsure. Remember you just need 1 post each week and all the work from each tutor will go onto that post.
Bibliography – this is where you need to copy and paste any links or sources you use in. This needs to be an ongoing document so make sure you update it each session.
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Check out – Courtney Mattison – she is a ceramic installation artist who’s work explores the damage we are doing to oceans. If you follow her on Instagram she has done some interesting videos about her recent work and discussed it with other artists.
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Feedback targets for experimentation –
Aim to produce lots of quick samples, these might not be resolved but strong ideas can be revisited later –
*Start to document plastic waste you see on walks or around college (could this be an Instagram account?)
*Document how much plastic waste your family gather for recycling each week, could you try to reduce this, how?
*Still life – try to create a landscape from plastic waste(David Tortora and Jaim Travezan)
*Experiment with distortion, use bold quotes and statistics as your backdrop but place waste plastic bottles in front to photograph through to capture the distorted text.
*Could you take print textures from the surfaces of plastic waste – tablets etc
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