I got a good chance this morning to get reminded of tools and also introduced some new tips I don’t know ready to use in Photoshop. For example a navigation tool that can pop up small window of the whole artwork for you instead of you zooming in and out, or the more appropriate method of resampling I should take when resizing photo up or down scale. Thank you Anna.
Hello all, so yesterday was the day for study trip to galleries for ideas and exploration that might become useful for our first project, Manifesto. We started out in the morning to Hayward Gallery which held an exhibition called Kiss My Genders.
For most of the works, they left me puzzled and confused for what they tried to convey in meaning. I’d like to question myself I’m I the only one who don’t get of all these? I’m I too shallow? or maybe I don’t like abstract works? Most of the time, I need to read the explanation on the wall next to the pieces in order to understand what is going on. But anyhow, this experience of not being able to understand also comes with it the feeling of excitement, wonder and curiosity.
Sometimes I think I might be more receptive to ’emotions’ rather than ‘meaning’? I’m not sure. Like when I listen to music, I tend to listen to the music rather than the lyrics. That’s why even if it’s in Japanese or Cantonese and I don’t get the whole point the singers were singing, I’m fine as long as the sound moves me.
There were some artworks that kind of caught me to slow down and pay attention to a bit shown here, there is a sculpture that I found interesting by how the forms that look solid placed together with ones that look liquid. It’s called Systems || and Systems ||| from artist Jes Fan. Again, if I don’t know that I’m walking in an Exhibition about issues on Gender, I would not be able to imagine this is related to it.
And there is this one from Nicholas Hlobo that looks like ribbon stitched into the wall. I found it has a great metaphor message in conveying femininity by using ribbon in the work. It is also interesting how he managed to make the piece looks both still and moving as if it’s sliding of the wall at the same time.
Then in the afternoon we went to the Tate Modern. We went this time as a group. It is a Manifesto project group and we came up with the topic of Surveillance. On how should our data be used and monitored by the government or organisation. I was assigned to go to this room that talks about Living Cities.
I got more of an idea of how artists tackle their works and express their personal opinion towards the topic or issues. Like this one below from Damian Ortega. He used a cow leather to replicate floor plans of modernist apartment buildings and then installed the cut-outs as hanging sculptures. It is interesting for me how we can layer multiple ideas and process that seem irrelevant together. He also titled his works with the name of the building, its date of completion, architect and location. That is something worth considering in how we can add more complexity and meaning onto our artworks.
However, to sum up, I really like the idea of coming to galleries now because it gives us something beyond what our mind knows about. It expands our vocabularies in interpreting this world.
So this is my first workshop with visual communication pathway subjects. The tutor, Richard, introduced us onto how words can be used to express, interpret or even control meaning.
I chose the news about parenthood, about an empty nest of a parent who have to be left alone while their children go off from the house to study, or live their own lives elsewhere. Since I’m the last child of the fourth in my family and the last one who left home (even just 9-10 months) I feel this topic has a personal impact on me since I feel for my parents about this issue.
Firstly I thought of the form of the nest and try to use it as a metaphor with words placing into a nest-liked shape. Then I thought of placing the sub-headline of “I don’t want to be their friend on Facebook” as a metaphor of a bird flying of the empty nest words.
At first I intended to cut off all the letters and place them onto the A2 sized poster, but came up with the idea of ripping the “empty nest” off instead (actually by also an accident as a mean to shorten the production time) to represents the torn feelings of the parents. I also messed up particularly the letter “m” and “p” to represent mother and father. For the “I don’t want to be their friend on Facebook” part, I tried to cut it as sharp as possible to represent the forward-thinking children. And, make it blue as a metonym to represent Facebook messages.
Then I experimented more with the layout, on how to place the message bubble as similar to the movement of a bird flying of a nest.
I ended up like the fourth piece I made most that I introduced hand drawn lines representing wood sticks since I feel It is more visual friendly than the rest. Also It feels more homogeneous for all the elements to be connected to each other, kind of easier to read and understand comparing to the other three.
I also shared the work from other students here and the one I like most. I like the piece because it doesn’t have many words so it feels serene to me. Maybe because I’m interested in something with the “less is more” philosophy. I also like how the artist went beyond merely one panel but instead create 3 sub panels inside the poster.
So today we were assigned to do the first project of coming up with an artist manifesto, or a statement that capture the artist’s aims or beliefs. We started by asking whether can art and design change the world.
I feel unfamiliar to a question like this, yet uncomfortably challenging. Because when something that is out of my expectations, I tend to let it go and accept it. I don’t normally find myself interested in changing the outside world but more into changing my inner world. Anyhow it worths trying my best to push away my own boundaries and open to new possibilities.
The tutor told us to cut out headlines from newspapers as a point of reference onto what the world is talking about at the moment so we can later on identify keywords or themes of what we think is the issues of our age.
We brainstormed as a team of 7 members and got “Surveillance” as our final keyword to work with. At first I could not throw much of idea towards this topic since I feel I could not relate to it personally. But after realising an issue like how some apps listen to us talking on the phone and collect our data for their use, I start to feel a bit more connected to the topic.
We also came up with 5 provocative statements related to Surveillance as shown below.
Then we came up with the solution of building up a personal data archives that is run by a transparent organisation. Then we need to think of 3 different ways according to our specialised pathway (communication for mine) to execute the solution we propose.
Right now I’m thinking of a short GIF, a comic and possibly and illustration that tell stories related to the solution. The question left here is how to make it radical enough?
Below is also a part of the outcome of the project, us as a group gather our individual works into a Zine.
As a book lover, this publication also thrills me. We also were given a lesson on book binding to understand the basics of how can we creatively make use of the art of paper folding. Since our works would be published onto a zine like this and each student should be doing their works not less than 4 pages, I’m thinking about using the sequences of the pages to strengthen the statement we are talking about. May need some research on that!!
On Saturday morning I went to attend the very look-forwarded to exhibition at the British Museum, Manga マンガ which explores manga or Japanese comic in various contexts.
I was there since around 11:30AM and stayed until almost 5PM since manga is one big part of me that I grew up with so I would like to study in details on the information given here.
I took a lot of note, I got lots of lessons and inspiration and I wish to share some here with you.
On past Thursday 18 July ’19, after the library closed, I went to Japan House in order to inspire myself with the comfortable feeling with Japanese stuffs. I ended up encountering this event, Manga Innovations which presented by Paul Gravett which I also bought his book, Mangasia : The Definitive Guide to Asian Comics and got it signed from him.
The presentation talked about this and that in japanese manga that considered different than from those from the West. For example, how the panels on each page leads to another in a wavy direction which results in a more natural flow than the West left to right systemetic method. Also, how in Japanese manga, the stories are being carried together with the visual so as to immerse us into the stories, not in the U.S., which has the words and writings as the heroes of the page telling stories for us.
There is also some clever technique to take as inspiration from the Japanese manga like how they use a double spread for a more impactful experience. (There is even one manga which has 3 consecutive double pages!) or how female manga by female manga artist make use of lines and patterns to signify ’emotions’.
Paul also talked about one thing I never quite realised myself for why it is like that of how the manga mostly simplify the characters but instead draw the background in realistic details. I’m not sure I got it right for this part but it seems that the reason is because we tend to connect ourselves to the character easier when it is not that realistically recognized. Also the back ground in details would create more immersive feelings.
So apart from Eiichiro Oda, the author of One Piece which I’ve been in love with since very young age, now I need to look into more research from revere manga artists such as Kitazawa Rakuten, Tezuka Osamu, Shigeru Mizuki or Urasawa Naoki.
You may check out this website below of Paul Gravett on Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga.
Hello all, so I’m still a bit confused whether should I use a post here or whether should I use a research page to note down what I’m now about to share, well let’s see.
So the presentation went quite well, I should have used the time more efficiently talk about my works but I stopped a bit too soon for each slide. However, it’s good to be able to share my experiences and visions (only a bit for the latter) to fellow students. Also, it’s great to hear different stories and aspirations from other people, that’s so so inspiring and eye-opening.
What I got after the presentation is summing up the theme I wish to explore more here at the RCA which are
How about you? What kind of theme you look for with your favourite films or animations or even in books or any other media. Or are there any particular elements in those narrative art you like about? Feel free to share 🙂
Here would be the starter for my future posts, the preparation notes and ideas on my upcoming Pecha Kucha presentation tomorrow. It is a presentation to introduce myself and my works to fellow students and tutors. 10 Slides of images, presented in 20 secs each. The content would primarily show my works up until now. I’m thinking of also include objects or people that inspired my works. Though this is tremendously scary, it is a great chance for me to consolidate and think it over about where I was, where I am and where I’m heading to. Cross your fingers for me!
So I’m thinking of exploring my own Instagram accounts to see my previous works which right now I could briefly list my life in art and design chronologically as follows (oh, and I tried to list major moments I thought of my life)
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