Joyous Machines: Michael Landy and Jean Tinguely.

Moving Art : Meta Mechanical sculpture

Photograph of Jean Tinguely.

Drawing by Michael Landy.

So on Friday I went to see the joyous machines exhibitioncurrentlyshowing at the TATE Liverpool. This exhibition focused upon the connection between the work of Jean Tinguely (1925-1991), one of the most radical, inventive and subversive sculptors of the mid twentieth-century, and renowned British artist Michael Landy, who has been significantly influenced by Tinguely and his constructive and destructive tendencies. Landy is best known for ‘break down’ which saw him catalogue and destroy every single one of his possessions, from his birth certificate to his car. The documentary was showing in the exhibition and I couldn't help but be fascinated by this (what I find) ‘silly’ thing to do.

Jean Tinguely’s early work was all about the kinetic energies of art. He created moving pieces of art/sculpture which were really cool to watch and interactive getting the audience involved with the pieces of design. My favourites were the spirograph style drawings created with the machines Jean had made. One which stood out was the drawing by Eva De Buren on the meta matic machine. This work was really inspiring as it left room for mistake and failure, which was all dependent on the machine. This is something that I have been worried about within my own work, this exhibition has shown me that sometimes it is valid to make mistakes. 

Landy co-curated Joyous Machines: Michael Landy and Jean Tinguely, and devoted special attention to Tinguely’s rarely examined early career, tracing the development of Tinguely’s work from the late 1940s building up to his momentous Homage to New York. This, the most famous and influential of all ‘auto-destructive’ works of art, was a 27ft high self-destroying mechanism that came to life for 27 minutes before catching fire during a performance in the Sculpture Garden of the Museum of Modern Art, New York on 17 March 1960. 

‘For Tinguely, New York was where humankind was closest to the machines it had created. Homage to New York was a celebration of modern life, the machine, technology, commerce, production and waste. Mimicking the pace and fluctuations of contemporary urban life. Its ingenuity, parody and susceptibility to the unpredictable, addressed fears about a new age at the start of the decade.’ 

Dare I say it, I didn't actually ‘understand’ a lot of the thinking behind the self destroying machine. I think I was missing something. Towards the end of the exhibition, and when I entered the Homage To New York section, I really started to enjoy the work I was seeing. I understood that the work was trying to acknowledge the relationship between human and machine, trying to bring art closer to everyday reality. The drawings by Michael Landy were amazing and it was brilliant to see them up close and personal. It really motivated me into thinking that I should just get on with it, stop thinking Gemma and get on with it! The drawings were something to be seen, and its staggering to think he has made over 160 of these. The drawings were on such a large scale (Something I need to experiment with) but the detail was incredible. The photographs and drawings documenting the event were beautiful. I loved how the images of the people involved really captured the emotion. Id like to start thinking about how I could improve my photography of ordinary people but capturing something special.

Overall I was really impressed with the exhibiton and I am glad I made the journey to see it (even if I did feel under the weather). It was really inspiring to see someone so into what they were studying and experimenting with. It said to me that its OK to take inspiration from the works of other artists and designers. 

Bloomberg New Contemporaries.

Feya White. 'A series of paintings, based upon moments not typical of the films they represent, addressing the way in which we experiance and watch films.'

David Price. 'Mans eternal state of fear seems a condition of all times. I draw on images from history re-working themes so as to bring them into contemporary focus.'

Richard Healey. Designs for Nicolae Ceausescus's 40,000 watt chandalier.

'Richard Healeys work centres around socio-political and creative imagination, embodied through architecture and design. Exploring the imaginary space that can exist within and in-between existing objects and places, He constructs varying setups and narratives.'

'New Contemporaries, formerly Young Contemporaries has a long and illustrious history, dating back to the first exhibition of young graduates in 1949. For the past 60 years this annual show has been dedicated to profiling the work of young, new and emerging artists at the start of their professional careers. Through its annual presence, New Contemporaries has identified serious artists from each generation and given them the opportunity to show for the first time. The premise remains the same today.' I decided to go and look at the new contemporaries exhibition at the Cornerhouse to see what new and exciting things were coming into the 'real world'. The exhibition was mainly works from people from the fine art area, although it was still interesting to look at. The illustartion work by Richard healey stood out. The pencil over print really worked. I also liked the work of Freya White, the pieces had something about them and the direction was quite magical. I wasnt keen on alot of the work shown but it was good to see how the work was exhibited and the stories behind the pieces created.

Nicola Rowlands.

Nicola Rowlands was producing and selling prints while in her third year. Maybe I should get going! 

Nicola Rowlands from last years third year came into talk to us about her work, her last year at uni, placements and general top tips for getting by as a third year! I found her work amazing and her attitude towards getting placements and doing well in the industry really inspiring. She spoke about how she would advise people on getting by with a number of really good points (attached to pretty funny images!) Being confident in what you do was top on the list and something I could do with working on. You could tell that she was confident in her work and it really showed. Next...

- Be nice to your teachers.

- Write genuine letters to possible work placements. I havent as yet emailed or written to any design agencies for work placements, im too scared to put pen to paper I dont know how im going to physically cmmunicate with a scary graphic designer!

- Go out on a limb.

- You dont have to be wacky to get noticed. Thank god, I have to be the least wackiest person!

- Make it easier for people to see your work. Make a blog and or a website. So ive got the blog up and running, next job the website.

- Be open to everything.

- Be upbeat.

- Always make tea.

- Ask questions.

- Try to blend into placement environment, act like you belong there.

- Read the news, be aware of what is going on in the world. 

- Be yourself.

- Keep in touch with people at placement.

After the lecture I decided to go on Nicolas website and blog. Her blog was really interesting (and a little scary) to look at. It was just a total log of everything she liked, had found inspiration from, had produced or was in the middle of producing. It was fun to read and the pictures she had uploaded were brilliant. It was a bit scary how much experiance she had gained while in her third year. The pace is already getting to me, I dont know how she managed to fit it all in. I hope to take on Nicolas tips and organise my third year in a similar way. 

Make something cool everyday (If I cant do that il at least try to find something cool everyday!)

The diving bell and the butterfly.

I have to admit that this is the first kino film I have been too see and I thought it was really good. A little daunted by subtitles, I found myself getting into the film. The film was a sort of 'memorial' to Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor in chief of fashion magazine french Elle who suffered a massive stroke. The stroke left him prisoner inside his own body, only able to cmmunicate with the blinking of his left eye. Inside the diving bell, as he reffered to his memory and imagination, the butterfly remained untouched by tragedy. Using a special alphabet, Bauby went on to defy the odds and fulfil his dream of writing a book. 

The film was so moving and a real tear jerker. The beginning part of the film was very abstract and the colours and light gave a feeling of how it might feel to be partially sighted. As the film went on I found myself becoming attached to jean-do as he was reffered to, even though he was abit of a casanova! The film cut in places to beautiful moving imagery and music. I particularly liked the 'scene' where there were butterflies flying through plants, the sun was shining so much that it blocked out areas, but then in other areas the detail was gorgeous. The film was beautifully filmed and the choice of music was clever. Sometimes it didnt necesarily fit which worked reall well. I was surprised to find that the film had a sense of hunour, not a regular 'art film' viewer I was a bit sceptical as to whether it would be to serious and dare I say it boring, but this film had a good mixture of humour and serious topics. It has restored my faith in arthouse film.

The film was a real success and I would recomend it to anyone. It shows that no matter how much we think our lives could be better, it could be worse.

'Silence'

I have been really struggling with the silence project. I wanted to do some illustration work based on the photographs I took of trees, and I also wanted to incorperate text. I had the idea of making it seem as if the text was the light coming through the trees. I started by drawing on different pieces of tracing paper, and layered them up to create a 'succesfull' pattern. I was really worried about how it looked in the beginning but it had taken so long I was determined to complete it! I took inspiration from some of Si Scotts work. 

Ive created two versions of the piece one which is just a simple line drawing and one which you can see (above) is coloured in. Im not to sure how I could take this further within the project so I am just going to put it to one side as a creative experimentation. 

After a seminar with Mack I have been given some inspiration on how I can think more concetually and give my project some meaning. Ive been suffering really badly with 'Artists block' and I have been encouraged to work around ths subject. I want to work with the idea that when you are silent, it is the noisiest time within your head, and I find that when I cant produce succesfull pieces of design my head is full of negative thoughts. 

I am now starting to make altered books and collages, bringing in concrete poems to further this project. Im sure il be blogging my progress soon! 

Tim Bret-Day and David Bray.

Agent Provocateur ad campaign, Tim Bret-Day.

I was reading the Metro newspaper and I came across this article about the new ad campaig for agent provocateur. It was an account of the ad by freelance illustrator David Bray. The campaign was shot by Tim Bret-Day and features Daisy Lowe, Peaches Geldof, Alice Dellal and Helena Christenson. David Bray spoke about the 'Witches' campaign as inspriing, through its depth and scale. Bray said that the ads combination of lighting, casting and staging was 'like a hybrid of Helmut Newton, Caravaggio and Hogarth.' 'This ad certainly pushes the boundaries even further.' 

I think the ad looks amazing the lighting and the styling is so magical and in my opinion does what fashion photography should do which is transport us mere mortals to somewhere new and exciting. 

David Bray

David Bray

David Bray

Tim Bret-Day

Tim Bret-Day

Kate Greenaway.

I took a visit to the special collections library this week and loved looking at all the old chidrens books. I love looking back over childhood, and particularly looking at the victorian era of childhood. I came across this gorgeous book illustrated by Kate Greenaway, entitled The Kate Greenaway Treasury. The illustrations were beautiful and I couldnt help but take too many photographs of the endless pictures. Ill definatly be going back to the special collections library and hopefully this will help me in my future projects.