Man Ray

Painter, Photographer, Filmmaker (1890–1976)






Man Ray was primarily known for his photography, which spanned both the Dada and Surrealism movements.


In 1915, Man Ray met French artist Marcel Duchamp, and together they collaborated on many inventions and formed the New York group of Dada artists.


 His experiments with photography included rediscovering how to make camera-less pictures, which he called rayographs. He produced major works in a variety of media, but considered himself a painter above all. He was best known for his photography, and he was a renowned fashion and portrait photographer.  Ray became a leading figure in the Dada movement in New York. Dadaism, which takes its name from the French nickname for a rocking horse, challenged existing notions of art and literature, and encouraged spontaneity. One of Ray's famous works from this time was "The Gift," a sculpture that incorporated two found objects. He glued tacks to the work surface of an iron to create the piece.

 He also developed a thriving career as a fashion photographer, taking pictures for such magazines as Vogue. These commercial endeavors supported his fine art efforts. Ray discovered a new way to create interesting images by accident in his darkroom called Rayographs. these photos were made by placing and manipulating objects on pieces of photosensitive paper.

Anna Atkins

Anna Atkins was born on the 16th of  March 1799 and died on the 9th of  June 1871, he was an English botanist and photographer. She is often considered the first person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images such as:




          



Atkins learned of the photographic process then being invented. In particular, she was interested in the cyanotype process, which can produce an image by what is commonly called sun-printing. The substance to be recorded is laid on paper impregnated with ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. When exposed to sunlight and then washed in plain water the uncovered areas of the paper turn a rich deep blue. Eventually this process, known as blueprinting, was used mainly to reproduce architectural and engineering drawings.


In my opinion, I think that Ana Atkins demonstrated how is it produce a blue-colour photogram.


Anna Atkins was working at the very dawn of photographic development.

More recently, photogramists have utilized the photogram as a means of artistic expression to produce a wide variety of designs and surreal imagery.


Atkins’s project was the first sustained effort to demonstrate that the medium of photography could be both scientifically useful and aesthetically pleasing.
Also I think that in a lot of the work that she has produced has been a lot of blue & purple photograms.


Atkins applied the process to algae (specifically, seaweed) by making cyanotype photograms that were contact printed, "by placing the unmounted dried-algae original directly on the cyanotype paper". 

Claes Oldenburg

Claes Oldenburg was born on the 28th of  January 1929, he is an American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions of everyday objects. Oldenburg lives and works in New York.

In 1956, he moved to New York where he drew and painted while working as a clerk in the art libraries of Cooper-Union. He became interested in environmental art through Allan Kaprow and his "Happenings," and in 1959, had his first one-man show, held at the Judson Gallery, New York where he exhibited wood and newspaper sculpture and painted Paper-Mache objects.

In 1960, he created his first Pop-Art environments and Happenings in a mock store full of plaster objects. Beginning on 1965, he did colossal sized public sculpture such as pairs of scissors, ironing boards, and a typewriter eraser. "Lipstick" was the first to be executed and was placed outdoors on the Yale campus in 1969.
From the early 1970s Oldenburg concentrated almost exclusively on public commissions. His first public work, "Three-Way Plug" came on commission from Oberlin College with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. To me, Claes Oldenburg was accomplished a lot of things through his life.

Their first collaboration came when Oldenburg was commissioned to rework Trowel I, a 1971 sculpture of an oversize garden tool, for the grounds of the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands.  To me, Claes Oldenburg was accomplished a lot of things through his life. 

Fourth plinth

        

 

The Fourth Plinth is a plinth in Trafalgar Square in central London. It was originally intended to hold an equestrian statue of William IV, but remained bare due to insufficient funds. For over 150 years the fate of the plinth was debated.

  

The fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square is an empty pedestal that has been empty since 1841.

For over 150 years the fate of the plinth was debated; in 1999, a sequence of three contemporary artworks to be displayed on the plinth were announced

In 1998, the Royal Society of Arts conceived the Fourth Plinth Project, which temporarily occupied the plinth with a succession of works commissioned from three contemporary artists. These were:

Mark Wallinger, who was born in chigwell, London at 1959.

Bill Woodrow, who was born on the 1st of November 1948 near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom.
 
And Rachel Whiteread, who was born in London, England on the 20th of April 1963.

The Royal Society of Arts late-1990s project concluded that it had been a success and "unanimously recommended that the plinth should continue to be used for an ongoing series of temporary works of art commissioned from leading national and international artists.
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For over 150 years the fate of the plinth was debated; in 1999, a sequence of three contemporary artworks to be displayed on the plinth were announced.

In my opinion I think even though it took quite a long time to decide what to put on the fourth plinth, it's really a good experience watching the fourth plinth



 

Christo and Jeanne claude

Christo was born at Casablanca, Morocco, on the 13th of June 1935. Jeanne-Claude was also born on the 13th of June 1935 but he was born in a place called Gabrovo, Bulgaria and died on the 18th of November 2009.  

Although their work in my opinion is visually impressive and often controversial as a result of its scale. The purpose of their art, they contend, is simply to create works of art or joy and beauty and to create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes.Both Christo and Jeanne is best known for producing enormous packaging projects: he wraps parks, buildings, and entire outdoor landscapes.

Christo has collaborated with his wife Jeanne-Claude for over 40 years on these projects. The two earn the huge amounts of money required to execute their monumental works by executing and then selling preparatory drawings to collectors and dealers. Christo  typically creates temporary wrappings generally lasting several weeks on a vast scale. Borrowing land, structures, and spaces used and built by the public. 

In Christo’s printed and three-dimensional work, Christo wraps an object, challenging the viewer to accurately remember the concealed object and giving it the notion of rarity because it is inaccessible.

Wrapping historic structures in silvery fabric and blue cable has become a famous tradition for Christo and Jeanne-Claude.


   

Evaluation - Fashion project

  
Usually, at first my thoughts on receiving the second assignment brief was quite interesting because I wanted to see where I’m developing from my first assignment. I collected some information from different artistic views and which I tried to explain in my own words. Some of the researches I took for e.g. Man Ray's Photography were monochrome colours, nearly every single image that he has produced are more focused on filter paper than any other.

At my fashion photography class, I found it quite difficult until I found out 3 minutes after my teacher explain to me what to do, the work I was given was to use the method on how to develop a film by using a agitator, the funnel top, the film reel and the developing tank and other various objects during the fashion class, also I tend to use a lot of work time.

I found that seeking and handling the information was quite difficult because when I needed to find the specific information for each one especially Gordon Parks, his work that he has done has mostly produced mono Photography, it took me quite a long time in the to gain more of the information I needed. I think that the elements of my research that inspired my designs were the line, shape and form in terms of photography that I done.

What I found difficult on my work is how I tried to put the cap, the agitation rod, the funnel top, the film reel and the developing tank in place with the following steps in terms of when I was loading the film inside a black bag which I couldn't see inside of.

In my opinion, my first thoughts on receiving this assignment, was complicated because I thought because I didn’t do as well as I thought on my first assignment but now I feel like I can do quite better on the second assignment that I just finished.

Each of my Individual work on this assignment especially in the lesson on the magazine cover when we had to design a stencil drawing on art deco and on art nouveau. In my opinion, this task has been unsuccessful.

 To be honest, before I didn't think my designs would be high quality, but then at the end, I was more than satisfied with some of my designs which I put more quality into. On the other hand, I do feel that I could have improve some of my work to a high standard like improving every single mistake that I have committed on the assignment on street fashion project, that way I would have earned more marks on my second assignment, instead I could be getting a grade that I'm really not expected to get from my teachers.  

Before we started our I was finding it difficult to pick my designs because some of them were simply not good enough, then I had to create better new magazine cover designs for my final piece. I planned out each of my designs and I picked out the best design on Photoshop. The techniques, process and materials I use to edit my scanned filter and create different colours using Hue and Saturation.

If I had Extra time, the changes that I would make would be to spend a lot on each task in my book at a time by producing quality not quantity. I just completed my work on time. to me, I think I rushed one of the sides which was the last side I did before finishing my second assignment.

Evaluation Writing

At first, I found it difficult about what I needed to do for the cube, but then I found it clear that I had to produce a six sided cube with the still life, self-portrait, Zentangles and three typographies. My first thoughts on receiving the assignments brief was quite interesting because I wanted to see where I’m at. I collected some information from different artistic views and I put it in my own words. Some of the researches I took for e.g. Van Gogh‘s drawings were line and tonal, sketches were contour and gestured lines, some of his paintings were cross hatch.

I found that seeking and handling the information was quite difficult because when I needed to find the specific information for each one especially Egon Schiele, his work that he has done has mostly produced mono drawings and mono paintings, it took me quite a long time to find some of the information I needed. I think that the elements of my research that inspired my designs were the shape and form and the colour of the line drawings and still life’s I done.

To be honest, before I didn't think my designs would be high quality, but then at the end, I was more than satisfied with some of my designs which I put more quality into. On the other hand, I do feel that I could have improve some of my work to a high standard like improving every single mistake that I have committed on each side of my cube, that way I would have got more marks on my assignment, instead It could be the other way round.                              

 

Before we started our I was finding it difficult to pick my designs because some of them were simply not good enough, then I had to create better new designs for my final piece. I planned out each of my designs and I picked out the best six drawings to put on each side of my cube. The techniques, process and materials I use are three primary colours and those three colours to produce secondary and tertiary colours by using acrylic paint.


I think during my time at GCSE (BTEC Art and Design Level 1), it was easier because if you didn't understand what you needed to do, you will be provided with a lot of help from your teachers. However, at the moment BTEC Art and design Level 3, it's much harder because there is a lot more work given to you by more than one teacher, mostly I have to work independently on my assignments that are given to me to do. 


Before when I couldn't come on Saturday to complete my work which Ieft me with one more day to go. On that point, I thought that I wasn't going to make the cube on time. On the last day, I managed to solve all my problems by finishing off the detail on each side of my cube, in a way that made me produce my assignment to a high standard.   


If I had Extra time, the changes that I would make would be to spend a lot on each side at a time. I just completed my work on time. to me, I think I rushed one of the sides which was the last side I did before finishing my cube.