I love this. As I have always maintained that the poets I studied at GCSE and the artists that people try and understand did not even consider the 'connections' people make. I love that Bob and Roberta Smith and the Epstein archive have made these connections, as their work is inspired by the newly acquired Epstein Archive. It is all very surreal, as I see these art works as their perceptions, when is that the message the original artist wanted to convey? Confusing!

I do love the idea that nobody will actually know the connections that were ever meant by the artist.

Reality

I visited Walsall just in time to see Ola Kolehmainen, and was extremely pleased that I managed to see this exhibition. Not only does Kolehmainen look at things in different ways, he invites his viewers to look differently too, challenging their perceptions and their views of reality. Some select images of pictures that interested me follow...

Ola Kolehmainen
A Building is not a Building

Modern architecture provides the source material for Ola Kolehmainen’s large scale, hand-printed, colour photographs. The artist is not concerned with documenting these iconic buildings but instead, he focuses on details in which an apparent sense of order is disrupted.

The massive scale of these works envelops the viewer; an experience enhanced by the reflective plastic surface which embraces both the viewers and the surrounding environment as part of the work. (Exhibition Booklet)

About His Work: "Minimalism is my great love. In my works I concentrate on what is essential in a space, building or structure, leaving out things that are unnecessary, which I call visual noise. The original forms of my subjects often contain many repeated elements, a single form or material, often the same, in large quantities. When three-dimensional forms of this kind are photographed they tend to become surfaces, planes. The visual cleansing of a theme, its representation in a large-format photograph laminated on acrylic will, however, produce a new kind of multidimensional image of reality."

(http://www.thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk/whats-on/exhibition/ola-kolehmainen)
(http://www.artfacts.net/en/artist/ola-kolehmainen-11076/profile.html)

Art Website

Although very much under construction, I am putting together an art website. Follow the link below to see how its going.

My Art Website

Red Riding Hood

I have decided upon using Little Red Riding Hood initially, and moving on to my second fairy tale with regards to time and props.

This is a little list of some of the items I will need;
Model
Red Riding Hood Costume
Suitable Forest Setting
Basket
Wolf face/mask
Make-up
- camera
- wolf model? (dependant upon chosen image representation for the wolf)

Fairy Tale Blog

http://fairytalenewsblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/miwa-yanagis-fairy-tale-masks.html

This blog is all about fairy tale artists, fairy tale interpretations,
and all other fairy tale news.

The first artist, pictured in the blog, is particularly intriguing.

Hello New Year

Hello, after a break of 70 days (yes, 70 days!) I am here again to document my artistic journey. I have done quite a few searches on Google about artists and fairy tales, but have failed to note these on my blog. So here are some finds;


http://www.photomediacenter.org/BigTopPhotoShow/bigtopgoldberg1.html
This is Gabriel Goldberg's interpretation of "Big Bad Wolf"




These are the GHD "Twisted Fairytale" Adverts, which are quite interesting;




http://www.ghdstylerstockists.co.uk/news-tips/ghd-twisted-fairytales-adverts

Other Ideas...

"It's one of Western culture's immediate visual signifiers: beauty equals worthiness, ugliness equals wickedness."

THE PASSING PARADE OF PRINCESSES

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves:
Disney's first animated feature gave the world the archetypal Disney princess. She is hardly a feminist role model, but the continuing demand for Snow White merchandise suggests the list of her admirers extends way beyond the dwarves and Prince Charming.

Sleeping Beauty:
All the Princess Aurora had to do was lie back, close her eyes and ... wait. Eventually her prince did come. Life should be so easy.

Beauty and the Beast:
Belle soothes the savage Beast, and even prefers this ugly brute to the handsomest man in her village (the latter was a cad, you see). She is much braver and more assertive than Snow White or Aurora, and her reward is to end up as a princess, too.

Mulan:
By Disney standards, Mulan is revolutionary. She's not European, for a start, and holds ideals of demure maidenhood in contempt. A sort of Chinese Joan of Arc, she dons man's garb, saves China from the invading Huns and restores her family's honour. Unlike Joan, she lives happily ever after.

(http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/20/1092972730414.html 15:23)

Fairy Tales

Okay, so I think I've come to a conclusion about which fairy tales from the 10 most neglected I am going to use. The Top 10 Most Neglected Tales are;

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
2. Hansel and Gretel
3. Cinderella
4. Little Red Riding Hood
5. The Ginger Bread Man
6. Jack and the Beanstalk
7. Sleeping Beauty
8. Beauty and the Beast
9. Goldilocks and the Three Bears
10. The Emperor's New Clothes

The three I have chosen are in bold. The reasons for me chosing them are varied. I felt it was important to do the number 1 most neglected tale, as the reasons for it being neglected needs a lot of research and I have a lot of ideas around the actual tale.

The second tale I have chosen, because it is the focus of the traditional tales I will teach while I'm on placement.

And the third I chose because of the "Disney" version. It was a choice between Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast, I still am not certain if it is actually Sleeping Beauty on which I would like to focus. Disney Princesses is now a world wide phenomenon, which I believe teaches children the wrong things about life. I am yet to figure out exactly what I believe is wrong about the teachings.

I have been reading into feminist views on Disney Princesses and this idea stood out to me;

"You may laugh when your daughter says she wants to be a princess when she grows up, but what is she really aspiring to? Wearing pretty dresses and being rescued all the time? We all know there's no knight in shining armour. REAL relationships are about communication, mutual respect and spending time with each other."
(http://feministtruths.blogspot.com/2008/11/disney-princesses-capitalism-and.html 15:14)

I'll leave you with that thought.

Funny Faces

Sophie Ryder

Sophie Ryder was brilliant. Her work on "Lady Hare" inspired me. She creates mythological forms, which I was quite interested in, and the YSP information explains; "Ryder’s work draws on human, animal and mythological forms, melding the attitudes and instincts of each to create a series of hybrids."