My year in review

What can I say…. a year of delight, frustration, discovery, enjoyment, occasional doubt, yet mostly fun and satisfaction.

Looking back over the year it has been a year of incredible creative output. Within the course I have tried screen printing, wooden and metal sculpture creation, plaster work, some InDesign / Illustrator / Photoshop, drawing, life drawing, painting and video production.

Outside the course I have explored some of my own projects including drawing, light sculpture creation, photography, video and collage work.

All these experiences have been useful in pushing me forward, helped me learn from my mistakes and work out what is worth still pursuing.

I have had my disasters – my life drawing was appalling – but part of me thinks so what, the world of creativity is so vast and endless – I am certain I will find (and am finding) medias I will shine in.

My strengths include (in general) the ability to be creative, to create something a little different, a willingness to give something a go and usually come up with something OK or pretty good or even really good. I believe I am developing a good eye for 3D work and abstract forms. I am good at colour and am developing an idea for form and the use of positive / negative space.

My weaknesses include being poor at realistic drawing (I would much prefer to photograph or video it in any case), my technique for most things definitely requires on going improvement as does my fine / detailed work.

This year I have had to learn to balance my ever increasing responsibilities in the EIT Students Association and a variety of outside organisations, with my EIT work. Somehow I have got there, however there have been times when these commitments have impacted on the work I have produced. Next year, I plan to be more focused. Having my own little work-space with 24 access will definitely help.

So where am I going in the future? Probably more on the fine arts side – I want to continue to explore abstract painting and working in 3D forms mostly probably in wood and metal; but that being said I am sure I will still retain my strong interest in photography and video, which tend to be technology rich at least in the way the imagery is processed.

Bring on 2014!

Year end project

Please scroll down to see images of my year end project. At the bottom of the post please find an interpretation of the various images.

The sculpture is titled “Unity Makes us Stronger”. This was created in response to a project which asks us to reference some aspect of bi-culturalism. The interpretation of the sculpture is straightforward with the brown referencing Maori people and the white, Pakeha / European. The colours are intermixed suggesting that through respecting each other and co-operation, society is made stronger. I have made a variety of different tower like shapes – sometimes one thing balances on another, or is attached to another piece. This suggests that we should support and rely on each other – if we do, then we can create amazing outcomes, or certainly do more than trying to do it on our own or in opposition to other people groups.

Here I am not talking about assimilation. Sometimes I have placed together several blocks of one colour, suggesting that each culture needs to feel strong and whole within itself. Unity is as important within a culture as between cultures! Unity does not mean we will never have disputes or debates – these are often healthy. But rather I am referencing a commitment to keep on working at things even when relationships get strained.

At times I have left the wood on top of the blocks bare – suggesting, that inside we are all the same, even if on the outside our physical features and cultural attitudes and beliefs make us different. To me difference is a good thing as long as it is respected and not used as a means to control or put down another person.

The 10 paintings are titled “Celebrating Culture” (numbered 1 – 10). They are a celebration of culture – a celebration which states that all cultures are worthy of enjoyment, preservation and respect. There is also a sense that this celebration arises out of the message within the sculpture – that unity within and between cultures is a good thing and worthy of celebration in itself.

While the paintings do not specifically reference cultural symbols (by not doing this, I feel this enables the viewer to interpret this in a way that suits them), they are of course bold and colourful. To me this references far more the celebration, fun and variety that culture creates in the world we live in.

In future posts I will share my creative journey during this last project for the year: I will then finish with a review of the year and look forward a little to next year.

Art document

My latest project has had me creating an art document. I decided to base mine on some childhood photos and mix it up with some collage and paint work. Please find below some screenshots from some of the pages in my document.

There are not to be taken particularly seriously…however I have found the exercise very interesting. Enjoy…

Video transformation

I’ve named this vid Metamorphosis partly because it starts out being one thing and becomes something quite different by the end. Watch out for the twist in the middle (its only 3 minutes long by the way). Enjoy!

Recent drawing

Please find below a selection of more recent drawing from my Ideas book. Most aren’t to be taken too seriously, however I include them to show where I am at and what I am up to. Some are based on my interpretation or response to the work of other artists (here a photo of the artists work is typically included). Enjoy!

Updating Andy Warhol

My recent visit to the Andy Warhol exhibition in Wellington has had me thinking about the man and his art. Warhol was well known for uttering a wide range of statements which have become part of western consciousness ever since. However they have become in some cases somewhat out of date – as a result I have decided to update some of them for our current times!

Please don’t take these too seriously – I do not necessarily believe in what these statements represent; mind you I don’t think Warhol did either – isn’t that the point!?

Warhol said “Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.”

Warhol said “Don’t pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches.”

Warhol said “Look poor, think rich.”

Warhol said “When I got my first television set, I stopped caring so much about having close relationships.”

Contrast and tone

Our photo experiments continue… this time we are working with contrast and tone (something that black and white is really good for). I’ve just spent the weekend in Wellington – here are a couple I took down there.

SCale

Today we took a range of photos which reflect the concept of scale.

Here are two I rather liked.

JUMP!

We’ve been jumping around a bit lately at EIT; partly because we love being creative, but also to help make an interesting photo. We took a number (the one we used can be found below). We were asked to do something creative in response to the photo; my ‘responses’ can also be found below.