Wednesday 30 September 2009

Key West, Florida Keys


































































Further down the East coast in Key West, the architectural style goes back in time somewhat with Art Deco influences alongside typical Southern American elegance. Stilted, wooden slatted structures are common in this area due to the hurricane risk, which enables the buildings to shift in harsh weather. They are beautifully constructed and display great detail in the decorative wood trimming which cover the fascias of all structures, putting Key West on the map for charming and stylised American architecture. I get a real sense of American building design in Key West, the quintessential white picket fence and porch are standard and a fresh, pastel palette of colours are evident - you get a distinct Southern feel where you know this place is like no other.

Bienvenido a Miami
















































The architecture commonly found in the city of Miami is of the classic Art Deco era - typically presenting soft curved plastered exteriors in bright, ice cream pastel colours, bold lines and squared structures. This area of Florida saw a boom in its tourism industry in the early 1900's on the advent of the 'vacation' for American families - the City Hall architects of the time wanted to create an unique architectural trend not seen anywhere in the States. There is a real seaside feel to the South Beach district where the coloured buildings create a vibrant, sunny atmosphere. The Art Deco style is said to have originated in Ancient Egypt where the extravagant designs in colour and form were a symbol of decadence and luxury - something that appealed greatly to the Americans.


The Geodesic


On my travels, I was able to inform my family that this structure which lay before us was in fact a Geodesic dome structure, developed by Buckminster Fuller in the 1930's.

Rebranding : everywhere



Everywhere I look there seems to be rebranding occuring.. is the year of the 'comeback' affecting our brands too? just like Take That and Bananarama, are our familiar brands looking to revamp thier appearance in order to seem more appealing?

Shockheaded Peter







































I went to see this production at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith having seen it advertised on the London Underground. The play has been touring since 1998 and has travelled the USA, Australia and UK several times; for a show of this nature this is a considerable length of time. It is based on the stories from Heinrich Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter and was adapted into musical opera with the help of an eccentric band called 'The Tiger Lillies'. The play, directed by Julian Bleach remains true to the original story and replicates the bizarre visual form with a greater sense of weirdness! I find this kind of artistic performance fascinating and oddly enchanting, it takes the audience into a peculiar world I would describe as a nightmare situation.


Struwwelpeter






































I was given this book as a child by my grandparents, however my mum thought it was too horrific and hid it away until only recently..! It was written by Heinrich Hoffman in 1845 for German children and then translated and sold in England by the 1960's. It tells tales (horror stories!) of naughty children and their comeuppances, showing examples of brutal punishment and terrifying discipline. Perhaps Hoffmann aimed to frighten children into believing the punishment suffered by the characters would come to them if they didn't behave.

Aside from this, I now admire the strength in the illustrations and concept. There's something quite eccentric about the characters which suits the strictness of the subject matter. I can only describe this as the makings of your childhood bad dream yet there is an element of comedy to it also in that the scenarios are so ridiculous - but definitely make an impression.


Watchmen


This film has made an impact on me, in more ways than one. At first I came away not getting it at all, it was a spectacle of remarkable CGI and production which I appreciated, but I didn't get anything from the story. On the second viewing, it all seemed to click into place, now I see that its not just a superhero action movie.. ! Zak Snyder (another of my favourite directors) is known for his adaptations of graphic novels into film, having successfully reworked Sin City and 300. Again, his artistic approach is heavily stylised in his use of conceptual art direction including colour, slow motion action shots and lighting. In Watchmen he depicts a clever and consequential scenario which is particularly relevant in modern society, whilst remaining true to the original Marvel/DC graphic novel. Many parallels can be drawn from this story; the political climate when the graphic novel was written can mirror today's global situation and question the presence of government and its effects on humanity.

Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy


This collection of short but morbid stories were created by Tim Burton. They each deliver a fable/warning tale and are in repsonse to the happy-ever-after tales told to children across the world. They are written in verse, detailing the grisly circumstances and occurrences of the characters, each accompanied by illustrations. I am an avid follower of all things Tim Burton, his use of line and colour in his illustrations is extremely shrewd and I feel, ingeniously designed. There is a strong stylised formula to all Tim Burton work, it is easily recognisable and highly creative. He applies this concept in his film work also, which tend to lie in the dark, imaginative fantasy genre.


<3 Tim


without doubt one of the greatest directors and artists there is (in my opinion...)

















a fountain of inspiration, imagination and originality

timburton.com

Cravendale Miiiiillllk....?




This has to be a definite favourite of mine, perhaps like a guilty pleasure.

The adverts for Cravendale, shown on prime time TV across all networks, first caught my attention due to the quirky design in animation, characterisation, sound and concept. They feature a group of three inane characters, namely Cow, the Cyclist and Pirate and their adventures to get as much Cravendale milk as possible. There are several adverts which center on this concept, which looks to appeal to children and adults who appreciate the jokey attitude adopted across the whole campaign. These concepts don't always link directly to the product (milk) that Cravendale is selling, but instead it allows you to familarise with the characters so much so that you look forward to seeing what they do next - in the same way that comparethemeerkat.com has with comparethemarket.com. These are evidence that creating a character to go along with a brand works to make it stick in the minds of the audience and make it memorable - they've taken a relatively boring product and injected a huge amount of fun into it.

I first entered the website after I noticed the link on the advert ' milkmatters.co.uk', here I found a treasure trove of fun and interactive material for children (and adults) to enjoy. This flash website offers interactive gaming, downloadable drawing material for children, competitions, health information on milk and ring tone downloads (ultilising the catch phrases developed in the TV commercials) among other things. It seems that almost every area of the website has an interactive element to it, including immense attention to detail in areas such as loading bars and button animation. I have a passion for these quirky and cute characters in a website environment, along with the humorous element that goes with it and hope to make use of this inspiration in my own work.

www.milkmatters.co.uk

The Shard



There is much talk about this new architecture on the South banks of London. My colleagues at Tommy's and I frequently discussed our opinions on the design and situation of The Shard and whether we felt it was a positive addition to the upwardly growing London skyline. Designed by Renzo Piano, it will stand 1,016 feet tall and will be the tallest building in Western Europe. It is set to "become a beacon for the city and a strong and vital center for commerce and travel." as well as in tourist commerce. In terms of design, there is nothing quite like it already in London, the Gherkin is somewhat 'old hat' now, and it would stand up against any other skyscraper that you would find in Dubai or Asia for example. It makes way for more innovative architectural design in London, which in time to come will mark out a new skyline. The form and sharp, open-ended peak of the structure break away from the boxed architecture which has been used for hundreds of years, I feel it shows a leap into the coming time ahead.

"I foresee The Shard as a small vertical city for about seven thousand people to work in, and for hundreds of thousands more to visit from all over the world." R. Piano

Tommy's Advertising Campaign 2009




This summer I obtained full-time employment at Tommy's the baby charity for three months as a Campaigns Administrator. During my time there, their new advertising campaign was launched amongst other media interactions - here I was able to see first hand how a campaign of this nature is released into the media for both corporate and public awareness.

The creative agency, Leo Burnett, devised and executed the final concept which included print, TV and radio advertising. I feel that the final outcome is both innovative and engaging and the artwork in the ad is of a similar illustrative style as Tim Burton and Brett Helquist - which I really like. However I'm not sure if this visual style works for the charity or if it reflects the existing brand identity of Tommy's. The concept is a little dark and eerie and in my opinion doesn't relate well to those who support the charity. On the other hand, the artwork is really intricate and beautiful and very 'of the moment' in terms of quirky design.

Antony Gormley : One and Other


This installation by Antony Gormley was opened in July 2009 and will be running 24 hours a day for one hundred days. The artist, his previous work including 'The Angle of the North' and 'Another Place', invites the public to create a "living monument" on the empty Fouth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, London. This plinth has previously displayed work by Marc Quinn (Alison Lapper Pregnant, 2005) and other artists for short periods of time, but the question of what the plinth should be permanently used for has also been subject to much debate and criticism. Gormley is "asking the people of the UK to occupy the empty Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London, a space normally reserved for statues of Kings and Generals. They will become an image of themselves, and a representation of the whole of humanity."

I have stood many times by this plinth and watched whoever is on the Plinth at the time, it feels quite intrusive yet compelling to continue to watch. I get a sense of Big Brother/reality-tv style voyeurism here, the question seems to pop into my head about what is the purpose of this and why is it here.

"Through elevation onto the plinth, and removal from the common ground, the body becomes a metaphor, a symbol… In the context of Trafalgar Square with its military, valedictory and male historical statues to specific individuals, this elevation of everyday life to the position formerly occupied by monumental art allows us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society. It could be tragic but it could also be funny."

www.oneandother.co.uk

David Byrne : Roundhouse Instrument













I found this exhibition by accident after attending the Roundhouse Proms session one evening in August. David Byrne, the former frontman of the band Talking Heads, is now working on a sound installation known as the Roundhouse Instrument which "invites members of the public to play the building like an instrument". It was an eerie experience for me as every touch on the keyboard reverberates around the whole building, making for quite an empowering feeling.

"Everything from the building's metal beams to its water pipes will become a component of the resonating, vibrating, oscillating noise-maker. Members of the public will be able to move through the Roundhouse and activate the space in different ways – primarily through a special keyboard that turns pipes into flutes and walls into drums."

Before now I have not appreciated this form of art as I felt it could be described as an empty nothing of arranged objects, with no use or purpose. However I feel that participation in creating your own form of installation can be very rewarding and engaging.


Su Blackwell : Paper Art














Su Blackwell creates art from the pages of books, effectively lifting the stories from out of the text into delicate, three dimensional scenes. I find her work inspirational and magical in that the scenes she creates from the paper alone are incredibly ornate and stylised - I feel that you can easily distinguish which book she is describing in the designs because she chooses such emotive and natural stories for which to tell in her pieces. She describes this on her website; "It is the delicacy, the slight feeling of claustrophobia, as if these characters, the landscape have been trapped inside the book all this time and are now suddenly released." This concept has made an impression on me in that she is reworking something that is somewhat redundant and life-less on the outside, and releasing what is inside to visually reanimate the story.

www.sublackwell.co.uk

Liu Bolin : The Invisible Artist



I get a sense of cheekiness about this artist in that he is disguising himself into the background to fool onlookers. His work is subtle and understated, so much so that I didn't notice him in the photograph featured in the Telegraph. However I'm sure his work is not to be taken lightly due to the intricate detail of his painting and ability to visually trick his disappearance into the background- I just cant take it seriously though.

I find the concept of blending into society an interesting one, disguised so that normal life can go on around you without being affected by your presence. His work gives a sense of spirit existence whereby you ask yourself what you are seeing. He is an optical illusion to test the people around him, a barely-there figure that is able to listen in.



Jonathan Darby : branded nation




I discovered this artist in an article in the Guardian and then subsequently attended his exhibition at The Print House Gallery in early August. Darby's body of work centers on the ideology behind "the phenomena of how brands and their visual aspects are taking over public space; leaving us less and less choice about what surrounds us". Visually his work is poignant and draws you to consider how you yourself are affected by branding and its motives. I aim to discuss Darby's work in my dissertation and found this exhibition to open up a reflective view of modern consumerism.
Darby typically uses mixed media in his work and a layering/collage effect which works to illustrate how we as consumers are covered by corporate marketing, allowing it to be piled upon us. He also features characters with whom you can relate to, whether they be displaying a feeling of innocence or loss of, thus creating an emotive response with the public.