Buschlen Mowatt Teen's Scholarship Program 2014: February 2014

Sunday, 23 February 2014

Appropriation Project

Although a few days late, the topic around my final project involves the interaction of people. In the images above, the top left drawing is from my sketchbook and the following two images were found online. When I compared these illustrations, I discovered a similarity between all of them; there are people whispering to each other, some looking amused and some who look upset. This adds a negative connotation to the tone of the pieces, further supporting the subject of my project. As a teenager, high school is a place where rumours and gossip occur. From my personal experiences, lots of time and energy is wasted on worrying about these unpleasant things. Not only does this negativity exist in school, hearing others gossiping and talking bad of others is unavoidable. The meaning behind my idea is to raise attention of how we treat one another, and reflect upon it. I hope to portray the expressions of people effectively, for the audience to understand the feelings of each person. I have yet to decide on the type of media I will be using, whether a three dimensional artwork or using paint on canvas.
Carmen Li

Posting research on the blog

Buschlen Mowatt Teen Scholarship Program

Posting research on the blog

Due date: Saturday, February 22

What is artistic research?

It refers research for/ through/ of art and is a malleable term. The research we conduct is practice-based and is to build a foundation/ inspiration to create an artwork. The original source could be art-historical, social or personal.

Appropriation

The overall theme for the exhibition is appropriation. To appropriate in art is not to just copy the style or repeat it, but to critically engage with the matter. It is important to choose a source that you can interpret with your own voice.

Posting on the blog:

1. The original source material – title, author or any known information

: For example, a photographic image from media or any found image or object, artwork from the past, personal belongings or family photos. In case of personal matters, they should allow further interpretation for social meanings to share.

2. Brief explanation on why it is inspirational and how you would like to engage with it.

3. How to: Click New Post on the top right corner. Don’t forget to write your name.

Appropriation Final Project Landon

1. The City of Vancouver, BC, Canada.*
* Materials** that can be collected in the city for free. Use of apparatus is OK. e.g. saw, camera
** e.g. waste, cans, bottles, driftwood, abandoned homeless signs, bird droppings, screws, leftover construction items

2. I've seen middle aged men in the city collecting cans and bottles. In UBC a man came on the bus I was in with a raft made of cans and duck tape and he was disassembling it the whole way. A beer can is a dime, a pop can is a nickle. If the job became a luxury rather than a necessity, a composition instead of a decomposition, what would come out of it?

Notes:
- Carts of Darkness doc https://www.nfb.ca/film/carts_of_darkness/ cart racing, "should give them uniforms" "the richest person in this area" "downtown, slummy" "pet skunks, lonely" "I don't want to hide from everyone. shelter: i don't want to hear everyone else's problems."
- actually try it out
- people that can eat other people are the luckiest people in the world, mrs. robinson - who eats who?
- green
- going green, getting rid of trash
- biology 11 fungi lessons
- into the wild...
- cynical but relying (money, wife, kids, tv, paintings)
- old man on kick scooter
- empty
- no fun city
- immigration, ghettos
- de kooning rider

Final Project Inspiration

I remember a quote from Dr. Seuss (don't judge me) "So be sure when you step, step with care and great tact. And remember that life's a great balancing act." words to live by kiddos, words to live by. I am also inspired by Simon Birch (the artist not the guy from the movie) and the way he paints people. He has a painting series called "movement" where he paints people as if they're falling but he does it in a way as if a camera took a picture but the subject was moving too fast so some parts of them are blurred and unclear. It seems so beautiful to me. I'm thinking of creating one or two paintings depending on the time I have.

Final Project

My final project is to appropriate Turner's style of painting with some photographs of my own, and change the subject matter. I am very inspired by Turner's etherial and colourful way of painting cities that seem to be half there and half imaginary, and I want to appropriate this style. Some of his paintings that inspired me are below. I also visited Syria a couple of years ago, before the war, and it had the most beautiful cities that I have ever seen. Now that beauty is gone, thanks to the war, and most of the buildings have crumbled. I would like to show viewers what the cities

once looked like, and give them a different perspective of the word "Syria" which people just relate to fighting and war. I have some photographs of the city Damascus or Aleppo which I would recreate using Turner's style. I would like to use Oil sticks or paint to do this. Some photos of the cities that I took are below.

Project Inspiration

For my appropriation project, I will be using a Van Gogh painting (Cafe Terrace at Night) as an inspiration. My idea is creating a small version of the scene in the painting and allowing the viewers to feel like they are in the painting themselves. It will also give off a sense of fiction and fantasy in a way that the viewers will feel like they've been transported to that place on earth. My final project will most likely consist of a big painting and a few props.

Saturday, 22 February 2014

Final Project ideas

The Artists I chose to focus on are Josephine Wall and Kagaya.
The first and third pieces are paintings done by Josephine Wall. What really inspires me is her way of using complementary colours in her paintings, making her subjects pop.
Kagaya's digital artwork in the middle reminds me of how much I miss my home in New Zealand. It's the feeling of longing portrayed in this work that draws me in.
I would like to work with Kagaya's artwork while mixing in the colours used in Josephine Walls paintings. I find fantasy art very captivating since it came from an artist's imagined world. There are so many possibilities and unlimited ideas; a change in colour or adding something can totally change our perspective.----Lily

Appropriation Inspiration

The artist that I will use as inspiration for the appropriation aspect of the project is Leonid Afremov. He is a modern artist who uses nothing but a palette knife and oil paints on canvas to create his work. He incorporates a level of color, contrast, and texture that is unique and absolutely stunning to the eye.
I was born in Belgium and lived there for the first 11 years of my life, and lately I have been feeling particularity nostalgic towards that home. The last years of my life were spent in Rwanda and Kenya, and Kenya is especially a very important part of my past.
Leonid Afremov paints with an incredible technique and skill level, but the subject material is just as stunning. Many of his paintings are of places in Europe, like Belgium, that I have strong connection towards.
For these reasons, I want to appropriate Leonid's method of painting, but put my own spin on the subject matter by merging a European scene and a Kenyan scene in one painting. In some ways, the diverse colors will represent my diverse upbringing in 3 continents, as I am now new to Canada.
Below are some of Leonid Afremov's works that have inspired me.
Natalie Godwin

Final Project research- Sabrina

The work I'm going to use as a stepping stone will be work by David T. Cho. I am also interested in the theme of decomposition/wreckage and how something breaks down, like a building. I am might incorporate Cho's work and this theme together. I love the way these portraits have so much depth and dimension in the faces. The use of colour that we normally wouldn't incorporate to a face work well; they unify the portrait. The variety of tone and texture is awesome. For the bottom two photos of wrecked houses, I enjoy looking at the skeletal structures and scattered feeling. -Sabrina Li

Friday, 21 February 2014

Idea for the Final Project

My inspirations for my project are The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Van Gogh's Starry Night. I might animate it depending on the time I have to do it.