Tagged: Linear
Antony Gormley’s ‘CAST’ @ Alan Cristea Gallery
I managed to go along to Gormley’s new show last Thursday. It was another packed viewing but luckily just enough space for everyone. The works were phenomenal. I’ve always been a huge fan of his work and his switch to 2d works beautifully. I’m definitely biased as I’ve been inspired by his work for years.
The oil paintings (literally) try to show the relationship between man and oil. He was covered in the oil, suspended from a height above the paper, and dropped. The outcomes are these beige impasto figures in semi-religious poses. In two of the pieces, the oil was pretty much still dripping behind in the frame. There’s an obvious playfulness with line and drawing techniques that aren’t evident in most of Gormley’s work. It really is a nice change. Although the large works caused the most excitement. I was a huge fan of the smaller A4 / A5 works in the second gallery space. They were linear drawings, with almost perfectly straight lines, without the use of a ruler. In the middle of the chaotic lines was Gormley’s shadowy figure. Other works were printed from wood cuts, the pattern still visible in the final pieces.
To make things more interesting, he recently had an operation on his leg, and therefore was sitting in the same spot during the entire viewing. You could hear everyone around us questioning whether it was an accident during the making of the pieces. Some even looking for bends in the leg imprints…. sadly it wasn’t something quite as exciting.
Circuit Preparation.
I met with Ed before the Low Res. We discussed how to organise the electronics for the final show. I’m still set on including a circuit that uses an Ultrasonic sensor to reveal an element of the work as the audience approaches, but the idea has simplified slightly. Instead of using LEDs, the plan is now to use Halogen bulbs as they’re brighter and can be dimmed nicely. I’m upgrading to a stronger Ultrasonic Sensor that will be embedded in the piece.
Ed attempted the circuit etching last week in the Studio, but we had some problems with the UV lamp. He’s going to attempt it again in his own time as I’m away until the beginning of April. I’ve bought and tested the scrim that these lights will be behind. I aim to create the shadow play with large perspex sheets, duct and electrical tape. The image created in the shadows will reflect a similar aesthetic to the architectural, linear images I’ve been working with. (See below). The sensor will be embedded into the doorframe of the final work. (More details on this to follow).
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I will publish a post of the working circuit when I can to capture each component of the final work separately.
07012016
I’ve been thinking about how my linear work can better represent structured personal space. Taking inspiration from physical architecture seemed like the best way to go about this. Above is a structure i’ve put together to show a more architectural, habitable structure than those I’ve worked on before. This mix of physical architecture and digital abstraction I feel establishes the balance I’m looking for.
I’m pleased with how these pieces have gone. I’ve taken on board the feedback from my Unit 1, which is to steer my focus to create more abstract work. I’m open to doing this, and feel there has been success in these areas, though I’m still very set on having elements of representation embedded within these compositions.
Monitor 05012016
I’m considering my options with objects that can be both physical and digital. I like the idea of being able to touch it in VR, but when you take the HMD off, its still there in front of you. Today’s attempts at texturising the light paths with media have been terrible… An example of how terrible it was is below. (Its an extremely up close image of the American flag, on top of these lines.)
The plan is to make the projectors much smaller, to accommodate the images at that scale. When the first projector makes a stable and identifiable image. It will be a matter of copy and paste, and changing the images.
The focus of these images is on news channels, “talking heads” and the miscommunication between their messages. I’m not sure if anyone noticed yesterday’s fallacy of news reporting that is Sky News. A recent ISIS propaganda film has swept its way through our news even though we don’t want their propaganda to effect our daily lives. Whilst watching Sky News broadcast on the subject, they begin a live interview with a current expert in counter-terrorism. His comments were that we should be aware that ISIS are a credible threat, however we shouldn’t give in to their propaganda…. The interview went on for a good 5 /10 minutes. At the end, the presenter re-iterated what the expert had said, that they are a credible threat and we shouldn’t give in to their propaganda, with a banner above him displaying the man from the video and the title “ISIS release new film”…. The report continued for a further length of time, showing images of the British spies kneeling the jihadists.
This story has continued to be a featured part of the news since then, with comments from David Cameron all over the newspaper yesterday and this morning.
It’s irony is mesmerising, and it happens again and again. This is an example of the misinformation and hypocritical values in the news that I was interested in representing last April with ‘Monitor’. Their persistence of calling them ISIS, (a westernised baddie) against the will of our own parliament who are now recognising them as Daesh (a term they despise.)
Current live news reporting represents a terrifying mistreatment of the freedom of information. Paranoia is created throughout the country, and beyond, through the displaying of these propagandist films. (Exactly what Daesh had hoped for). A friend of mine said recently that they could imagine that the sense of unease and tension in London at the moment could be comparable to the Blitz…. other than the fact that there hasn’t been a similar attack. Whereas the Blitz saw consistent air raids on a daily / weekly basis that caused significant damage and hoards of casualties.
And the source of this paranoia? The representation of these stories in our own media. There’s no doubt that we in Britain are shaken by what has happened around the world, but our public information channels shouldn’t be over-bearing the message to make us feel uncomfortable in our own homes. (The sole purpose of ISIS’s propaganda messages). Surely these should be to inform, and to guide in the event of an attack, as well as to re-assure.
Ex-Security Minister Baroness Neville-Jones said on BBC Radio 4 that she was alarmed at the British public’s lack of awareness to their everyday surroundings….. (Two people have bumped into me today because they were looking at their phones.. )
This story trended in the media. It makes the public aware of the threat, whilst also guiding them to be safer in the event of an attack. Though….. you could also argue that this is exactly the kind of thing that stirs paranoia… either way I’d argue that its better than giving ISIS videos the air-time they want on our public news channels.
It’s interesting that the obsession (or addiction) we have to our online content, and personal devices could, in the event of a terrorist attack, be a threat to our own safety. In fact, it could be a threat during strong winds (falling branches etc..) How can we interact with our personal computers, whilst still remaining alert and aware of our physical surroundings? The only way that seems feasible, would be the inclusion of Heads-up displays, and augmented vision?
Below is a video with a demonstration of what can happen at a busy junction:
The shoes below were first thought of in 2012, but there’s an interesting idea / joke in here. The shoes use GPS to guide you home if your lost… If there were vibrations in each shoe telling you to stop, go left, or right. If they were fed live data from smartphones GPS positioning, perhaps, we could all walk around looking at our phones without having to look up to stop ourselves from bumping into one another…. This or something similar seems to be the one of the only possibilities of us encountering this awareness issue without Heads-up displays.
Just a thought.
Anyway, the low-res images below are a more stripped down version of Monitor, (still with no Textures).
Further Blender Projection Tests 18122015
I’ve continued playing with projectors on the surfaces of architectural designs. (In Blender). As I’m trying to texturise 3d Models with online media (most likely screen captured videos of news channels), I’ve been testing its potential. These are the second round.
Signals – Computer based Environment.
These stills are from the most recent and most successful version of “Signals”. This is a browser-based version, with mouse interaction made in Javascript using Three.js. I will incorporate the interactive version on the website I hope to release before the end of the year. 
Mixed Signals 29092015
This is clearly very similar to some of the work I’ve been doing this year, visualising online connections. It also highly contradicts what I wrote at the beginning of the term, but I couldn’t help myself. I’m looking into including Twitter’s open source APIs to integrate live feed information based on conflict. Its an ongoing struggle, especially as I get to terms with learning to code…..
However, these are stills from an interactive, Javascript model of the work. The next step will be to use the Leap Motion to interact with the programme. I’m looking to exhibit some prints in an exhibition this month. I’m thinking I may use the format from the first two, as there is almost a sense of conflict between the two sides. Ultimately though, I’d like to project it, and give the viewer some sort of interaction, whether its a mouse or a leap motion etc.. I still haven’t successfully integrated my figurative and architectural work with these systems, however I thought I’d display this version. Again, this isn’t I hoped, I want to move more towards meaningful displays of information, however this is proving harder than I thought… nonetheless I still feel a sense of progress from previous versions of the work.
Exterior Concept Design 17092015
20062015
16062015 Prayer SKETCH
Can’t sleep….. So I thought I’d continue.
This is just a sketch. Definitely work in progress. I’d love to transfer something along these lines to canvas, however the sketch is so important as I don’t want to make the same mistake I did with my last canvas, and jump in blindly. So…., I’m going to focus much more closely on all the possibilities rather than just the first thing that jumps to mind.
This is definitely the first thing that’s jumped to mind in these wee hours….
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