cardboard city - final day

cardboard city - glossary of terms

AVANT GARD:

Applied to art, avant-garde means art that is innovatory, introducing or exploring new forms or subject matter

CARL ANDRE BRICKS

Kinetic art:

is art that depends on motion for its effects

e.g. Alexander Calder- Antennae with Red and Blue Dots 1960

Installation art:

is used to describe mixed-media constructions or assemblages usually designed for a specific place and for a temporary period of time

e.g. Cornelia Parker Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View 1991 &   Rachel Whiteread

Figurative art 

Describes any form of modern art that retains strong references to the real world and particularly to the human figure e.g. Picasso 

Abstract art

 is art that does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but instead use shapes, colours, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect; it could be based on a subject such as a figure, landscape or object or may have no source at all in the external world e.g. : Kandinsky

Other Key Words 

Liner

Stop motion : Onion skinning 

Meditate and synthesis an image 

silhouette

Zoetrope: Reciprocal Action & Persistence of vision 

Objets trouvés

Theater d'ombre

FREEDOM caged

Although not part of my general concept to do with censorship and free speech, this is my interpretation on animal freedom and rights. It is meant to represent a chimpanzee in a cage where it has lived all its life, dreaming about what it thinks the outside world might look like. It is meant to show emotions of pity and sadness towards the chimp and has visuals of hope and hopelessness conflicting. I think I have portrayed boredom and longing in the chimp's face as intended. The cage bars are not detailed to help draw attention to the chimp. 2B Pencil was the main media used and helps establish the detail very well. This is contrasted with scribbles of crayon, coloured pencil and oil pastel to make an imagined scenery of foliage by the chimp, The chimp is copied from a number of photographs of real chimps in different positions. I felt that no single image I found was good enough to copy that showed it in a sad state so I took elements from a couple. The general message of this sheet is that freedom applies to every living thing; how is it fair to discriminate or place statuses on different species because as humans we are more advanced than them? Why do we deserve freedom but other creatures of the earth do not?

Artist profile FRANK MILLER

Frank Miller is known throughout the comics industry as a key figure and major influence on the stories and art produced with his runs on both Marvel and DC. He changed the tone of how comic book stories were told with the very dark and gritty realism he injected into already known characters and properties.

Before producing anything of note, Miller was the illustrator for various small titles such as Unknown Soldier and Weird Tales. He was recognized as a great storyteller and artist during his run on Daredevil and created the character Elektra. The character's popularity was down and sales of the comic we're poor at the time of his run on the character. Making the character more dark and grim was a necessary change to the tone as it attracted a more mature audience and allowed for better stories.

 His first creator-owned title was DC Comics' six-issue miniseries Ronin (1983–1984). In 1985, DC Comics named Miller as one of the honourees in the company's 50th-anniversary publication, “Fifty Who Made DC Great”. He also gave the same treatment to Batman in his comic series, Year One and The Dark Knight Returns in the late 1980s. The former of the two is seen as one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, and has influenced the comic-book industry by heralding a new wave of darker characters.  In 1991, Miller started work on his first Sin City story. It proved to be another success, and the story was released in a trade paperback. This first Sin City story was rereleased in 1995 called, The Hard Goodbye. Sin City proved to be Miller's main project for much of the remainder of the decade, as Miller told more Sin City stories within this noir world of his creation, in the process helping to revitalize the crime comics genre. Sin City proved artistically auspicious for Miller and again brought his work to a wider audience without comics. Miller lived in Los Angeles, California in the 1990s, which influenced Sin City.

 He has been considered controversial in the stories he has written and general views of him are seen as sexist due to his portrayal of female characters. I have always been very fond of his work and take inspiration from his thin lined, sketchy style. His work is very recognisable due to the subtle dark abnormalities in every character and scene. The detail of his drawings is often what draws you to them, all the ugliness of a scene is transformed into something beautiful and brutal at the same time.

a very good example of his style, almost abstract in its simplicity.

FREEDOM evaluation

FMP Evaluation

 

In this project I was tasked with creating something that was my interpretation of the word FREEDOM. Overall I feel that I have succeeded in making its context relevant and is generally up to the best standard I can work in. I am quite proud of how it has turned out upon completion and believe some of it to be some of the best drawings I have done. I based all the work I have done on the concept of CENSORSHIP AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH; although there are some examples where I have strayed onto the big idea of freedom: drawing American Indian symbols, logos for freedom organisations, animal captivity, etc. I think in hindsight, I have, in some cases, leaned towards the idea of being trapped in society (I don’t know the term for that) as evidenced in the “subliminal” A2 sheet and 4 small pages that show a man tied up with responsibilities (metaphor). It works I think and helps enforce the different ideas in the whole FMP.

Things I have researched are to do with how censorship is seen by certain people. I researched some musicians’ opinions on censorship and how it has often affected the right to express and the freedom of expression. I found out more about how music has been under censorship’s shadow and how it has hurt it. I looked at some drawings by Frank Miller and his thoughts on censorship. I also researched quotes that refer to censorship including one by Mark Twain of which I included on one of my pages. Pinterest was a good tool for finding images that inspired me.

The 63 10cm x 10cm pieces of assorted card and paper I have made can fit together well; I feel that the context is evidenced crystal clear. Although slightly uneven in what I have drawn and rushed in areas, I feel that my message is obvious and they portray how I feel about freedom/censorship. The media I have used could have had a wider range; I stuck to what I work best with: pencil, brush pen, biro, acrylic paint, coloured pen /pencils. I have tried to make each page significant and different to the others in colour, style, etc. The annotation is on my blog and I think is adequate in detailed analysis of each page.

The A2 sheets I created to back up my pages are the best examples of the FMP in my opinion. I have demonstrated excellent realistic drawing ability with pencil as shown in the Native American, chimp and final piece. I have also proved I can draw scenery good on my sheet labelled “subliminal” The first sheet I drew was the basis for how my project was headed and the most important. I copied an image by Frank Miller of which is a metaphor for censorship; showing a girl having plasters placed on her eyes, mouth, nose, etc. I have based my final piece on this and the metaphor has carried on to other sheets. I feel that I could have used more varied media, but I don’t regret sticking to media I am most comfortable with using, if I didn’t they may have turned out different. My favourites are the Indian and Chimp because I feel I captured the mood better than more or less any other sheet.

I decided that my final piece would definitely be a metaphor for censorship. I decided to base the concept on the image by Frank Miller, one I have already researched and attempted myself, due to it being very effective and dark. I was not sure whether it was going to be drawn or sculpted so I took pictures of myself with plasters on my eyes, mouth and ears. After seeing how it turned out, I decided that it would be good to do both. Sculpted, it looks realistic and smooth with the real plasters adding a dark aura around it. Drawn (in pencil) it looks gritty and moody with the real tape across the eyes adding depth to the picture.

FREEDOM research + links

http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/5305544.html
http://ilovecomiccovers.tumblr.com/post/75271160358/fight-censorship-by-frank-miller-the-comic-book

research on native americans and early photographs of them

Three Horses

http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/04/native-americans-portraits-from-a-century-ago/100489/
http://twistedsifter.com/2012/03/portraits-of-native-americans-early-1900s/
https://www.google.co.uk/search?

chimpanzee pictures that i have researched


hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=643&q=chimpanzee&oq=chimpanzee&gs_l=img.3..0l10.983.5226.0.6493.10.10.0.0.0.0.111.582.9j1.10.0.ekpsrh...0...1.1.64.img..0.10.574.kDo-6vtxd0I
https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=643&q=chimpanzee&oq=chimpanzee&gs_l=img.3..0l10.983.5226.0.6493.10.10.0.0.0.0.111.582.9j1.10.0.ekpsrh...0...1.1.64.img..0.10.574.kDo-6vtxd0I#hl=en&tbm=isch&q=chimpanzee+face

research for subliminal messages and the film, They Live

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=they+live&biw=1366&bih=643&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=XZ1oVeDwBIHwUKfugaAD&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#imgrc=_
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI8AMRbqY6w

a photo of my dad that I used for the sheet, Censorship 2


research on the average man relating to the final piece

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=the+average+man&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=-zBuVZeZKcrkUeb2gdAJ&ved=0CCAQsAQ&dpr=1#imgrc=_
http://aplus.com/a/what-the-average-man-s-body-looks-like-in-different-countries?so=tSG55EmWPcwcguSB5jrkW5&ref=ns

FREEDOM pages (63)

Here are all the pages I have completed over the course of 5 weeks in the FMP. The general concept they are leaning to is that of CENSORSHIP and FREEDOM OF SPEECH, although there are symbols, logos and other imagery based on the term freedom as a whole.

William Wallace - a symbol for freedom due to his involvement in creating revolution in Scotland against English rule. He is now more widely known for his portrayal in the movie Braveheart

this is meant to represent mental health and how darkness can lurk inside the brain. it is a metaphor for how sometimes true thoughts aren't free inside your head, either bad or good

The Native American Holocaust is, in my opinion, one of the biggest disgraces to human history of all time. I feel strongly about how it is almost completely ignored in American culture and mocked by Americans today when really it should be noticed as an important example of human behavior at its worst. The slaughter of 100 million people, the biggest genocide known to man, was brought on by white settlers when "their" new land was occupied by natives. They fought wars with them, had their food source (buffalo) almost brought to extinction, were given new diseases by settlers, forced into their society and raped of their pride and culture. And now the remaining native Americans are a diluted people, a true example of how freedom can be taken completely and never found again.

Native American symbol for freedom

a wolf, of which is known as a free spirited animal

a bird cage opened and battered, symbolizing hope and freedom from enslavement

a bird in flight, a well known and popular metaphor for freedom; because flight means having the ability to explore anywhere at will and go anywhere at will

a Celtic symbol for freedom

a mask worn by the character V from the graphic novel V for Vendetta of whom fights for freedom in a dystopian future England

quotes and sketches from the movie Fight Club

a metaphor for how society determines your life and questions whether the average man is really free or wrapped up in responsibilities and laws

Black Panthers Party logo, of whom fought for freedom on behalf of black people and equal rights

A representation of animal rights for freedom showing a chimpanzee tethered to a cage

a quote about censorship by Laurie Halse Andereson

a quote about how censorship is ignorant and nonsensical by the author, Mark Twain and a drawing of him

a magazine clipping that has been censored to hide profanity

a magazine clipping that has been censored to hide words of importance

a famous photograph of a Vietnamese monk who set himself on fire in protest of the war. it is a often used as an example of anti-war, freedom, and peace. it is also the album sleeve of the first album by Rage Against The Machine

here I copied a photo of a protest against the PMRC (parents music resource center) by the band Rage Against The Machine that is in about having freedom of expression and speech in the music industry

the three pages here are meant to represent finding freedom from controlling forces like society, a government or destiny. the first shows a man being controlled by puppet strings, the second him succumbing to them and becoming tangled and the last shows the breaking free and doing his own thing for once