David Firth is an animator who works primarily within the internet, though he has done some work for television. His work is often dark and surreal, sometimes humouress but oftentimes just pyschological horror.
His most popular animation series is "Salad Fingers" a flash animation that follows the adventures of what appears to be a mentally unstable mutant living in a desolate world post apocalyptic war. The series deals with mental illness, abandonnment and loneliness in a oneiric manner.
I like how much of Firth's work is experimental; he uses many different styles of animation and a range of different sources, as well as innovative sound effects. I also like that it is current, it's nice to have an appreciation for art that's being made right now and be a proper fan of it. I don't do much animation anymore, but I used to when I was a bit younger and I have a massive appreciation for it as it is so painstaking to do.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Pablo Picasso
Picasso was a spanish artist who lived from 25 October 1881 to 8 April 1973, along with Georges Braque he started the cubist style of art, a technique where "Cézanne's method of representing three dimensions as seen from several viewpoints" was "one of the characteristic features". (paintings.name, Marten Jansen)
My favourite painting by Picasso is Guernica:
It depicts a scene from April 26, 1937 where the town Guernica in northern spain was bombed in one of the first attacks by the Nazi Luftwaffe. I like how the feelings of the characters within the painting are understandable, yet they're so abstracted, almost like cartoons; All the fear and the pain and confusion can be seen within their faces to the point where it sort of disturbs me and brings about in me a feeling of dread and horror at what those people in the town of Guernica must have been going through.
My favourite painting by Picasso is Guernica:
It depicts a scene from April 26, 1937 where the town Guernica in northern spain was bombed in one of the first attacks by the Nazi Luftwaffe. I like how the feelings of the characters within the painting are understandable, yet they're so abstracted, almost like cartoons; All the fear and the pain and confusion can be seen within their faces to the point where it sort of disturbs me and brings about in me a feeling of dread and horror at what those people in the town of Guernica must have been going through.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Charles and Ray Eames
Charles and Ray Eames were postmodern designers that made a large impact on all aspects of american life by influencing "architecture, furniture, and textile designs to their photography and corporate design". (Alexandra Griffith Winton, Charles Eames (1907–78) and Ray Eames (1912–88) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
They brought art into the homes of many americans by creating affordable well designed furniture that was a "functional, affordable options for consumers seeking modern yet livable domestic surroundings." (Alexandra Griffith Winton, Charles Eames (1907–78) and Ray Eames (1912–88) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art) This became something that Charles and Ray Eames continued to try to do over the next thirty years.
The Eames's also made films, my favourite being Powers of Ten, which is a film about science comissioned by IBM. The film does a very good job of showing just how small we are within the universe, but also gives the appearance of making IBM computers feel powerful.
They brought art into the homes of many americans by creating affordable well designed furniture that was a "functional, affordable options for consumers seeking modern yet livable domestic surroundings." (Alexandra Griffith Winton, Charles Eames (1907–78) and Ray Eames (1912–88) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art) This became something that Charles and Ray Eames continued to try to do over the next thirty years.
The Eames's also made films, my favourite being Powers of Ten, which is a film about science comissioned by IBM. The film does a very good job of showing just how small we are within the universe, but also gives the appearance of making IBM computers feel powerful.
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is an art movement that followed after modernism. Francis Berry describes it as "abandonment of political advocacy for a singular ideology." that arose because "the political ideals that fueled modernism had given way to profound disillusionment with abhorrent wars such as Vietnam, ultra-utilitarian architecture, and academic minimalism."(postmodern-art, 26 June 2006).
I think this means that people attempted to return to older techniques and at the same time embrace new technologies, with many more installations, multimedia and intermedia artworks.
This complete political apathy of the postmodernists can be seen when I compare a statement by Andy Warhol (a prominent postmodernist) and Pablo Picasso (a prominent modernist). Warhol writes:
"Sometimes people let the same problems make them miserable for years when they should just say, So what. That’s one of my favorite things to say. So what. My mother didn’t love me. So what. My husband won’t ball me. So what. I don’t know how I made it through all the years before I learned to do that trick. It took a long time for me to learn it, but once you do you never forget." (Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (from A to Z and Back Again),1975, New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Page 112)
whereas Picasso said:
"What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only eyes if he is a painter,..far, far from it: at the same time, he is also a political being, constantly aware of the heartbreaking, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world, shaping himself completely in their image. How could it be possible to feel no interest in other people, and with a cool indifference to detach yourself from the very life which they bring to you so abundantly? No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war." (Russell Martin, Picasso’s War, The Destruction of Guernica, and The Master Piece That Changed The World, 2002, New York, Penguin Putnam Inc., Page 175)
I think this means that people attempted to return to older techniques and at the same time embrace new technologies, with many more installations, multimedia and intermedia artworks.
This complete political apathy of the postmodernists can be seen when I compare a statement by Andy Warhol (a prominent postmodernist) and Pablo Picasso (a prominent modernist). Warhol writes:
"Sometimes people let the same problems make them miserable for years when they should just say, So what. That’s one of my favorite things to say. So what. My mother didn’t love me. So what. My husband won’t ball me. So what. I don’t know how I made it through all the years before I learned to do that trick. It took a long time for me to learn it, but once you do you never forget." (Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (from A to Z and Back Again),1975, New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Page 112)
whereas Picasso said:
"What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only eyes if he is a painter,..far, far from it: at the same time, he is also a political being, constantly aware of the heartbreaking, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world, shaping himself completely in their image. How could it be possible to feel no interest in other people, and with a cool indifference to detach yourself from the very life which they bring to you so abundantly? No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war." (Russell Martin, Picasso’s War, The Destruction of Guernica, and The Master Piece That Changed The World, 2002, New York, Penguin Putnam Inc., Page 175)
Modernism
Modernism is "In the field of art the broad movement in Western art, architecture and design which self-consciously rejected the past as a model for the art of the present." (Tate, 2011)
Which I think means that artists and architects decided that they'd try to do things in as different a way as possible to how things had been done before. This was done in a way to explore new ways of doing things, like Picasso, or a way of streamlining things like Harry Beck.
Within modernism there were many art movements, Dadaism, cubism, surrealism, minimalism to name a few. Art from these movements has a striking difference to what I think of as traditonal art. They are very minimal, focussing far less on making the artwork mimic how it would look in real life and instead being a lot more about the message that's being delivered.
I think cameras are largely to blame for this as they made photorealistic paintings pointless, this meant that artists had to try harder to create something worth paying attention to.
Which I think means that artists and architects decided that they'd try to do things in as different a way as possible to how things had been done before. This was done in a way to explore new ways of doing things, like Picasso, or a way of streamlining things like Harry Beck.
Within modernism there were many art movements, Dadaism, cubism, surrealism, minimalism to name a few. Art from these movements has a striking difference to what I think of as traditonal art. They are very minimal, focussing far less on making the artwork mimic how it would look in real life and instead being a lot more about the message that's being delivered.
I think cameras are largely to blame for this as they made photorealistic paintings pointless, this meant that artists had to try harder to create something worth paying attention to.
Friday, 22 April 2011
Semiotics Part 2
Semiotics and a desire to make sense of signs has been going on since ancient times,
"One of the most notable debates on signs in the Ancient world took place between the Stoics and Epicureans (around 300 BCE in Athens).
The crux of the matter concerned the difference between "natural signs" (freely occuring throughout nature) and "conventional" signs (those designed precisely for the purpose of communication)" (Paul Cobley, Introducing Semiotics, 1999, Cambridge, Icon Books LTD, 3rd ed., Page 5)
However by the middle ages St. Augustine had developed the theory of "Signa Data" which in summary is:
"The difference between naturalia and data, Augustine says, is that the latter occur by the will of a sign-user while the former do not. Given this voluntarist emphasis, it makes sense to translate "signa data" not as "conventional signs" but "given signs."" (leithart, 07 November 2007)
This provided the foundation for western semiotics, pointing people away from natural signs and towards conventional signs as the proper signs to study. However it wasn't until many years later that Semiotics became the science we know it as today, thanks to Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) and Charles Sanders Pierce (1839-1914).
"One of the most notable debates on signs in the Ancient world took place between the Stoics and Epicureans (around 300 BCE in Athens).
The crux of the matter concerned the difference between "natural signs" (freely occuring throughout nature) and "conventional" signs (those designed precisely for the purpose of communication)" (Paul Cobley, Introducing Semiotics, 1999, Cambridge, Icon Books LTD, 3rd ed., Page 5)
However by the middle ages St. Augustine had developed the theory of "Signa Data" which in summary is:
"The difference between naturalia and data, Augustine says, is that the latter occur by the will of a sign-user while the former do not. Given this voluntarist emphasis, it makes sense to translate "signa data" not as "conventional signs" but "given signs."" (leithart, 07 November 2007)
This provided the foundation for western semiotics, pointing people away from natural signs and towards conventional signs as the proper signs to study. However it wasn't until many years later that Semiotics became the science we know it as today, thanks to Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) and Charles Sanders Pierce (1839-1914).
Semiotics Part 1
Semiotics is the science of signs. There are two parts to a sign and there are three types of signs.
The two parts of a sign are the signifier and the signified. In this example:
The signifier is a cigarette with a strike through it. The signified is "smoking is not permitted here". So, the signifier is what you see, the signified is the meaning you take from a sign.
The different types of sign are iconic, indexical and symbolic. In the example above two different types of sign are being employed. We have the iconic part, which is the image of a cigarette, and then the red circle with a strike through it is symbolic. An icon is what it represents, so a picture of a cigarette means cigarette, a picture of a dog means dog. Symbols are signs that we have been told the meaning of, so a red circle with a strike through it means "do not do"; This is something that people need to have learnt to understand the sign. An indexical sign is a sign where the signifier relates to the signified, an example would be footprints in sand which is a signifier for "someone has walked here".
The two parts of a sign are the signifier and the signified. In this example:
The signifier is a cigarette with a strike through it. The signified is "smoking is not permitted here". So, the signifier is what you see, the signified is the meaning you take from a sign.
The different types of sign are iconic, indexical and symbolic. In the example above two different types of sign are being employed. We have the iconic part, which is the image of a cigarette, and then the red circle with a strike through it is symbolic. An icon is what it represents, so a picture of a cigarette means cigarette, a picture of a dog means dog. Symbols are signs that we have been told the meaning of, so a red circle with a strike through it means "do not do"; This is something that people need to have learnt to understand the sign. An indexical sign is a sign where the signifier relates to the signified, an example would be footprints in sand which is a signifier for "someone has walked here".
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