Application, Exploration and Realisation in Art & Design Unit 6

These pieces were part of my BTEC Art and Design Unit 6 called Application, Exploration and Realisation in Art and Design.

My first task was to consider all the types of Art and techniques I could possibly think of and then outline the ones I feel are my strongest, or ones that interest me. This task taught me a lot about where my strengths are and what areas of art interest me but I would need to practice to be happy with any result that would be come of it. 

I then researched into artists that I feel reflected the specialisms that interested me as well as my strong areas really well. I chose 4 very different artists to inspire my series of work.

Martial Raysse was the first artist that sprung to mind as I had just come back from the Pompidou Centre in Paris and his work was the main exhibit. His work really interested me and I wanted to expand some of the ideas it gave me into this unit. I researched into him and the reasoning behind his work. This inspired me more, and then I analysed his most piece to get a better understanding of his use of formal elements. 

 I then chose Dottie Angel as my textile artist because her work has always inspired mine. I also chose her because I wanted to use freestyle machine embroidery as I feel it is one of my strongest techniques and I wanted to use her work to inspire my skill. I analysed one of her pieces to further explore her techniques and use of material.  

I then practiced samples of my favourite of her techniques that inspire me. And made a simple loosely based transcription of her work to experiment with her materials and techniques. For this piece i used a mixture of fabrics inspired by Dottie Angels work. The freestyle machine embroidery and applique work was strongly inspired by Dottie Angel as well as the quote which remind me of the ones she uses in her books. 

Another contemporary artist I chose to inspire me was Greg Gossel. His work is very based around urban decay. Using rough emulsion transfers on a large scale to show a collage of urban society and the transfers show the decay. I analysed one of his pieces to gain a better understanding of the techniques and styles he uses in order to allow them to inspire my work more accurately. 

Here I have done a rough transcription of Greg Gossel's work using my own urban society primary sources to do an emulsion transfer. I feel it worked really well as I used his techniques and methods of layering and the emulsion transfer came out really strong. 

My fourth and final artist is Joseph Cornell. I have been inspired by Joseph Cornell since my GCSE teacher introduced me to him.  His artistic eye is really unique, he can see the beauty in the oldest and  smallest of things. He takes the unloved and discarded objects and embraces there stories and presents them together to make them new again. Joseph Cornell has inspired most of my art work and this unit was no exception. 

Since my original mind map I changed my mind about my general theme. I originally wanted to be strongly inspired by Martial Raysse and his photograph manipulation techniques including 50's pin-up style photographs. However I changed my mind during further research into my chosen artists and whilst gathering my primary sources. I asked my friend to pose and what she thought was 50's pin up style poses. I soon realised that in today's society no one can get away with such poses without looking 'slutty'. I then changed my mind to have my inspired theme as a contrast of the teenagers of the 20th century and teenagers in 2014. I collected primary sources of my friends (ages 16-19) in everyday situations. What I collected inspired me a lot, I have decided to use old items like suitcases, bags, boxes and tins from long ago that would probably have been owned by teenagers throughout the 20th century. Each item would be old enough to have its own journey but each journey would end in the ownership of me. I want to show modern, typical teenage items in these showcases to show contrast of the old and the new. Also to show the viewer the strong contrast of what the teenagers have today and what they had in the 20th century as a contrast of innocence and corrupt. 

Here I have presented my primary sources inspired by my chosen intended theme and artist research. Within these primary sources I have included a theme of urban decay, human form and architecture.

Here you can see I have experimented my primary sources by layering acetate and painting with ink. 

I have also used mono printing to manipulate them. 

Here I have presented my stages of development of one of my piece 'The Age of Decay'.

The Age of Decay

I bought this suitcase from a car boot about 5 years ago. I do not know its exact age but I know it’s at least 20 years old. I decided to give this battered, withered old suitcase a new life. I covered it in emulsion transfers of some of my primary sources, newspapers and quotes about decaying youth that inspired me to do this piece. This piece to me shows how something from generations long ago can be reborn into something still old but with much more detail. It is a suitcase that probably belonged to a teenager 20 years ago and now belong to a teenager 20 years in the future. I have changed this once loved suitcase and covered it in decay. But not natural the decay. The decay of our generation.  

Here I have presented my manipulated photographs of my 'The Age of Decay' piece. I have manipulated them using a sewing machine to accentuate the texture that the emulsion transfers have brought up. 

"THE BROKEN JOURNEY" 

This suitcase has been through a long journey in itself. As far as I know I bought it from a man who found it in a attic of the house he moved into. But it was clearly made long before that. This suitcase had its own journey which is the reason it displays perfectly my theme of the journey of youth. It clearly once belonged to a youth from long ago. And as to display our corrupt generation I have ripped it up to shows how careless the youth of today is. I have displayed it in a blown up way as if it was just being made. This shows that maybe in generations to come we will go full circle and future generations will be less careless and corrupt. 

Here I have briefly experimented with texture using emulsion transfers of my primary sources. Also stippling emulsion and covering it in varnish to created a strong aged and decayed texture. 

The New Youth

Here I have done an emulsion transfer. I decided to use this technique because it can make any photographs look old and decayed. I wanted to show how modern youth is corrupt compared to youth in the 50’s and earlier. I have shown what youth are like today as if they were photographs from 60 years ago. Photographs from the 50’s are normally quite formal and the youth dressed appropriately. In my photographs it is quite shocking to see photographs that look like they are from 60+ years ago with the youth smoking and inappropriately dressed.

“Youth is Wasted on the Young”

In order to do this piece I used one of my development pieces. I was experimenting with using my primary sources and using them to do emulsion transfers. I then photocopied the emulsion transfers and then copied them again on to fabric transfer paper. I then used the sewing machine to do one stable line down the right hand side of the piece to represent how stable and secure the youth was from generations ago. And the line on the left represents the unstableness and uncertainty of the modern youth. I have then embroidered one of my favourite quotes expressing the decay of modern youth by Oscar Wilde. When doing the fabric transfer I didn’t keep the iron on the paper for long enough so it wouldn’t make a perfect print and instead the print would look even more old and decayed than intended. 

Pandora’s Box
I bought this little chest of draws, its not old but I needed to make it look old. So I covered it in emulsion transfers of some of my primary sources and inspiring quotes. I then sanded it down to show further aging and decay. In each draw I hid away objects that I feel sum up our generation. The 4 objects I found commonly in my research of pockets of teenagers. A lighter, a key, cigarettes and drugs. I put each of these in its own draw and locked them away to show how corrupt our generation really is but to hide it away from generations to come because they don’t have to end up like we have. 

 Here I have presented a small part of my journey of Unit 6. I have experimented with many way of texture and decay and created my own brief in order to carry out my work and complete 10 separate piece then narrowing that down to a further 3 pieces whilst learning from my experimentation in the previous 10. Finally I did a final piece that involved them all. As i completed this unit over a year ago I have only presented my strongest piece that I now feel are successful as I have learned a lot since them and adapted my techniques much more.