Making normal things 'special'

"Ellen Dissanayake (1995) points out that art creation is taking ordinary things and making them special."

I have taken these flowers and branches of a tree, and made them something special. I have created intrigue.

Perceptions

http://movies.yahoo.com/photos//gallery/1864/alice-in-wonderland-stills#photo47

I wanted to share an image from the new Alice in Wonderland, because many people are saying its not a good adaptation, I think this is because the director is challenging the viewer to alter their perceptions. But as an artist, is this the directors intention? And that, I believe, is the reason some people dislike the new version from the original Alice in Wonderland. Their perceptions are altered.

Trees and Views

These trees were taken in Clent, by my friend Beckie.The images look brilliant, and the trees look like the sort of environment I want to take my pictures.
Thanks Bec.

Some More Kolehmainen

Ola Kolehmainen

"These works could be seen to demonstrate an interest in surface, an exploration of light and space, perception and reality and an interrogation of our relationship to the world. Whilst capturing a unique moment in time, they also create a contemplative space in which the vastness of existence is held in a single detail." (Exhibition Statement)

I love Kolehmainen's work.

Keeping My Eyes Open

Keeping my eyes open for related projects has become one of the most useful tools in my artistic toolkit. It is very useful and I do it without realising, and so did Rachel. She sent me a text about the Smirnoff advert being "fairytaley." When I looked into the advert, I did notice that the characters were of a fairytale quality and they were all in a forest. The advert is below. As you can see, it is very 'extraordinary' as it states.

Hatter's Summer Nigh..
Watch the ad...

Interesting Items

Being true to my 'Photohappy' title, here is a picture of my Russian dolls. Not for any artistic purpose, but just because they look lovely.

These lights look beautiful. Taken on 'Night Mode' on my camera. I love using this mode when I want to create the same effect using other lights, such as the moon.

I went to a gig - one of my ultimate favourite bands, and this is a picture I took. I just liked the movement of the stage lights, the band on stage, and all the fans moving.

Alternate Ending

I was browsing through blogs, when I came across the blog "Boys Who Blush."


I was initially intrigued due to the bloggers beautiful way with words, and the interesting imagery, but as I scrolled through to the older posts, I noticed a piece entiltled 'Alternate Ending.'

Click Here See Marisa's Blog

The alternate ending is yet another brilliant piece of art that challenges your original perceptions.

Thank you Marisa for letting me use your image.

The House of Fairy Tales

These are some images from the House of Fairy Tales exhibition. These are the images that intrigued me. It fascinates me how people interpret fairy tales in different ways, ways that I would never have even thought of. Very eye opening,

Fictional and Fantasy Worlds

I have just come across artist Anna Gaskell who creates a fictional world, loosely based around Alice in Wonderland. The work also reminds me of The Jackson Twins, who combine elements of mythology, and well known stories about twins or alter egos. The Wolverhampton Art Gallery 'Hungry' pamphlet explains;



"The (Jackson Twins) work displayed in this exhibition shows their unique ability to manipulate images, photographing scenes which have a filmic quality and creating a fantasy world through their bold use of colours and dramatic content."



I love the way these photos are manipulated, and will be looking into creating a similar effect when I get round to taking my pictures.


I may have uploaded 'the echo of footfalls heightened her flourishing hysteria' photograph that I took at the exhibition in an earlier post, but it is one of my favourite images, so here it is again.

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)