Transparency – Lecture 2

The main questions during this lecture were ‘What is narrative? How do you tell a story?’

We began by looking into a couple of different theorists, the first of which was, Colin Rowe who worked with ‘the issue of formalism.’ He toyed with the idea that negative space could be used as a form in itself. The second was Merleau Ponty, a french phenomenological philosopher. The third was Rudolf Arnheim, a german author, art and film theorist and perceptual phycologist.

My team and I came up with the statement:

Illustration is so vast it cannot be defined in a single sentence. The narrative itself is largely the process and journey to the final piece. The final product is never clear until it exists.

 

Investigating Time

I was told to think about the moment we had chosen and think about it from different times.

10 second before/after

1 hour before/after

1 year before/after

10 years before/after

I am struggling to come up with scene before the event. I find it easy to think of how the moment effects Blanche and her in the future but I am having trouble imagining what happened to lead her to such an event.

16 Perspectives

I have been asked to investigate a single moment in the story from 16 different perspectives. I struggled greatly thinking of so many different views of one scene and so far, have only been able to produce 8 outcomes for this task.

1. ‘The mind of Blanche’ – In this image we can see Blanche thinking most prominently about her late husband. I placed in some green melting hearts (poisoned) because i dont think Blanche has a very healthy view of love, and she also has Mitch in the back of her mind. I wanted this image to be a little washed out and uncertain as Blanches mind seems like a very toxic place.
2. ‘The Birth’ – This is a very straight forward image showing that while Stanley is raping Blanche his wife is giving birth to his son on the other side of New Orleans. I think the fact that these events are parallel to each other is a little disturbing considering this didn’t effect Stanley’s actions.
3. ‘Stanley’s Thoughts’ – This image shows what Stanley was thinking during the scene. I believe all he wanted to do is hurt Blanche and ‘smash’ her like the fragile thing she is. He heard about the many people she had slept with and thought, ‘Well better get my share.’ He wanted to show his dominance and sow that he can control her.
4. ‘The Paper Lantern’ – I wanted to observe the scene from an obscured viewpoint. I remembered that the paper lantern was right next to a large window. I believe the lantern to connote the softness and fragility of Blanches physical and mental stage. It is a symbol of the mask she wears to protect herself.
5. ‘The Apartment’ – I wanted to show the outside of the apartment to show that even thought this awful thing is happening, from anyone else perspective nothing is happening. Blanche wasn’t crying out so anyone walking by would be none the wiser.
6. ‘Blanche’s Viewpoint’ – For this image i had to rely a lot on colour to represent what Blanche was experiences and Stanley’s emotions as i hadn’t got facial expressions to help me.
7. ‘Stanley’s Viewpoint – (same as above)
8. ‘The Next Room’ – This image is of the next room over. I wanted to toy with the idea that you can be so close to an event that you almost become part of it.

I will try to finish another 8 perspectives.

Transparency – Lecture 1

Going into this lecture i was very unsure of what exactly ‘Transparency’ was. Over the course of the 2 hours we discussed the differences between the literal and phenomenal and ideas involving dreams, consciousness and existentialism.

We talked about how the conscious mind and the unconscious mind are not all that different. Dreams, experienced within the unconscious mind, may not be happening in the physical world but are no less real than ‘physical experiences’ in the conscious world. Dreams influence us and inspire us and can significantly change our moods and perspectives on life.

We were asked in this lecture to try and incorporate transparency into our practice and come up with a definition of that. A few others and I arrived at the conclusion that Illustration is as vast and ever changing that to pigeon hole it into one ultimate definition is near impossible. In illustration we are able to use 3D and 2D and animation, ceramics and textiles, puppetry and performance. If we were to write a single sentence to some up illustration we would be leaving out so much of its extensive powers.

In each of us there is another whom we do not know. He speaks to us in our dreams and tells us how differently he sees us from the way we see ourselves

-C.G. Jung

The Colour in the Moment

I have begun to explore different scenes in the story and play with the way different colours effect them. I placed blocks of colour down on the page and illustrated different scenes over top.

I think the way that the drawings spill out from the colour blocks creates an interesting composition for the images. Colour can be a powerful device for an artist to use and i think the idea of laying a colour over an image drastically effects the mood of it.

I am trying to stay away from the colours that stereotypical portray certain emotions, and i would like to look at the underlying emotions as opposed to the ones that are right in your face. for example in the scene where Mitch turns the light on to look at Blanche i have used green to connote Mitch’s underlying disgust as Blanche. For the rape scene i have used a blue and purple wash to give the impression of Blanches emotionless response and confusion.

Investigating Character – Personification.

Over this project we have been instructed to not draw any people. We may only illustrate the characters through personifying objects. We were instructed to take this as literally or figuratively as we wished. I decided to take this as literal is i could and assigned a fitting object to each character. I began by brainstorming different ideas in my sketchbook.

Stanley

Stella

Blanche

I decided to make Blanche a wine glass because she is fragile and delicate whilst elegant and graceful. Stanley is a pair of scissors because he is harsh and violent but i have made him a thin pair of scissors because on the inside he is also fragile and insecure. Stella is a wine cork because she tries to control Blanche but her being a wine glass Stella cant do a very good job of it.

I am now going to begin seeing how the characters can interact with each other and how i can portray emotions with no facial expressions.

A Street Car Named Desire – First Impression

I have been issued a brief titled, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ in which i have been instructed to investigate the famous play by Tennessee Williams. Our first session on this brief we simply watched the film adaptation as a class.

I had never seen the play or the film before so I was going into this with a fresh pair of eyes. I found the film to be very dull and confusing at times as old movies tend to be slow and badly scripted and the dialogue is often muffled and difficult to hear.

From what I gathered the story is about a mentally ill woman (Blanche) who is trying to escape the trouble of her old life by staying in New Orleans with her sister (Stella) and her husband (Stanley). Very early on in the film Stanley begins to size Blanche up sexually. He shows off his muscles with tight t-shirts as a way of gaining dominance over Blanche; as to say, ‘Look at how beautiful I am, I know you want me.’

Blanche mirrors this behaviour by acting like the typical shy woman intimidated by the man, when in fact she is also sizing Stanley up herself. She is flirty and loves the fact that Stanley is undressing her with his eyes. Blanche loves to be wanted.

As the film goes on Stanley become more and more suspicious of Blanche and her doings back home. As a defence Blanche dresses up more and more over the top which further annoys Stanley. By the end of the film Blanche is so dressed up and looks so over the top that Stanley snaps and confronts her about her old life and this leads to him raping Blanche.

In the film this is less obvious but the play has a definite ‘rape scene’.

I felt like this was the most poignant part of the story as the whole vibe of the film changed after this had happened. I believe there is a lot to be investigated focusing on this scene.

Words and Colour

Our first task in this week long project was to write down some words that related to different subjects we were given and then to create a colour pallet for those words.

I recently found out that something my brain has done since i can remember has a name. I have a form of synesthesia, which means my brain makes connections between words and colour in my head. This means I had no trouble assigning colours to the words I had written down.

An Anxiety Provoking Situation

Italy

Jake, October, Thursday

I began experimenting with the way different colours and types of paint run into each other and how they interact. Due to the synesthesia, conversations can look a lot like the image below. I found a line from ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ which I thought was quite fitting to the image I created. I think that words can have a huge impact on how we view an image or piece of work.

‘He’s on the road a good deal’

Once we had finished creating our colour pallets we were asked to swap them with a partner and come up with some words that the colours reminded us of. It was interesting because everyone came up with such different words than the ones that had originally inspired the colour. This could be an illustration of how everyone sees things from different perspectives. Just because you are right does not mean that everyone else is wrong.

Words and Images Continued

Further exploring this project I decided to create some (self named) ‘Lucky Dip Poetry’. I cut out lots of words from a newspaper or magazine and put them in an envelope. I then proceed to take them out at random to reveal a poem.

‘Design curious space. Create myself.’

I believe this attempt to be quite successful. This could be relevant to people being comfortable in their own space. The idea that everyone needs their own personal place to call their own. A place to feel comfortable.

‘Focus to wonderland. Don’t leisure on shocking joy.’

I think this one is quite cryptic. It could hold so many different explanations all dependant on the viewers interpretation. To me this text means to focus on the good things that happen to you and to look forward to the future. Don’t spend your time longing for what was because it was never as good as you remember.

I then began experimenting with images revealing words within them. I took some self portrait photographs and began to rip into them. I then placed words underneath them.

These images are meant to represent how people can tear themselves apart with their insecurities. How bottling everything up inside just leads to more pain and suffering. These could be used as part of a mental health awareness campaign.

Words and Images

When given this project my first task was to illustrate a conversation between myself and a class mate. As a person who often struggles with social anxiety I wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of talking to a stranger for 2 hours trying to force out conversation. Luckily for me, there was a small group of people who felt the same way and we thought it might be interesting to illustrate a conversation between a group as there is a very different dynamic.

We began a little confused as none of us were really sure of the instructions but proceeded to write down snippets of the conversations that were unfolding and then illustrate them at a later date.

‘I want a window! With little curtains.’

‘You’re fucking rude! I love you! We Belong together!’

‘I got a drink’

‘You’re all going to listen to dirty dyke and I don’t care.’

Above are just a few of the quotes I collected over the 2 hours we spent together. I believe the format my work took Illustrates the dynamic of a group conversation well. In a group conversation the topic jumps and changes so quickly and to an outsider can be a little hard to follow. Whereas in a one on one session the conversation is flowing and topics usually roll off of each other.

During the afternoon we were instructed to create collages using words and images. I decided to just play with the task and not think to deeply about the outcomes, as this is usually when I create my best work. I thoroughly enjoyed creating the collages and I believe some of my outcomes are quite successful.

‘prisoners’

As a former McDonalds employee I see this image as representative of the feelings I experienced when on shift. I always felt trapped, like I couldn’t go anywhere. Whereas during the group tutorial session it was brought up that this could also represent how customers are mentally imprisoned into the routine of buying fact food an unhealthy amount. This may not have been the most visually appealing outcome but it was certainly the most powerful.

‘Forget your passive consumptionist tendencies and let’s collaborate’

‘Domestic Jail’

‘Drunken Party’

The above are a lot more ascetically pleasing but don’t necessarily carry the same weight behind them. I believe that everything has significance in art, it just depends on the viewer and the experiences they have collected in life as to whether the piece holds any meaning.