Ericailcane

His work embraces many media, from delicate etchings to vast murals, as well as otherworldly short films using animated models ad mxed media. Drawing is central to Ericailcane's output and he almost always carries a pad of paper ad an Indian ink pen around with him. 'Drawing is away of talking without opening my mouth'. Often his aim is to capture a particular atmosphere using inspirations from the word around him- expeiences such as travelling, people, things and animals; 'I try to draw what I see and what I'm feeling'.

 

Ericailcane collaborated with famous street artist Blu and cam together to form a mural piece named 'Skating Team'.  The main piece is self explanatory and and gives the idea of skating.  I really like this piece because it has  different context from both the artists.  

Images taken from: 

http://streetartdead.blogspot.com/2011/04/blu-erica-il-cane-skating-team.html

http://www.whokilledbambi.co.uk/2007/09/ericailcane/

Yasumasa Morimura

I find Yasumasa Morimura's work very amusing.  He takes well known icons and recreates them by inserting his own face onto the picture. His work is very simply yet very powerful as he provokes his images which some people may find disturbing. He recreates anything from paintings to photographs.  Morimura has recreated famous icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Frida Kahlo and the Mono Lisa. Moriura's work inspires peoples imagination to realise that not every pretty face is a sign of beauty, if Morimura's face was placed instead of an iconic face such as the Mona Lisa would the painting still be considered beautiful.  His approach to his movement is strong and very effective and captures his true feelings and thoughts towards art.

          

http://www.assemblylanguage.com/images/Morimura3.html

http://thelocationofself.tumblr.com/

Jim Goldberg - Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2011

I visited the The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize which was based in Baker Street.  It is a Photographer's Gallery which rewards £30,000 to the winner of the exhibition.  The photographer who has made the most significant contribution to photography in Europe would win the prize.  The contestant who won this years prize was Jim Goldberg with his series of work called 'Open See' which are documents of immigrants from destroyed countries to start fresh new lives in Europe.  

Compared to the other contestants Goldberg's work stood out more.  He used many different forms of media to exhibit his work.  This is to reflect the experimental approaches to photographic storytelling to show the issues of migration and thought that we surrounded by ungrateful luxury that only others can only dream and hope for. His media takes form of collaging Polaroids, creating videos, text, large and medium formats of photographs.  

Images taken from:

http://harveybenge.blogspot.com/2011/04/jim-goldberg-wins-deutsche-borse.html

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/American_photographer_scoops_30k_Deutsche_Brse_prize_news_307152.html

Sophie Calle

Sophie Calle is a French photographer along with being a writer, installation artist and conceptual artist.  Her work is based on random projects and follows the French literary movement called Oulipo.  Her work focuses on human exposure and studying the identity and relationship of people.  One of her well known projects called 'Please Follow Me' was set to follow strangers on streets and examine their personal lives by taking photographs of her them until the subject entered a private building.   

There are many view points on Susan Calle's actions.  Some may say that this is not art, but just simply a form of stalking a stranger on a street.  I do agree to some extent that this is a form of stalking. However I do find this project  to be very brave.  I admire Calle's courage to follow a complete stranger for a certain amount of time.  The thought of myself following someone like that makes me feel on edge that the person would notice.  

Image taken from: 

http://amandinebricabrac.blogspot.com/

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of texts, signs and codes.  It can be used with anything, which can be seen as signifying something. The major aim of semiotics is to look past the exact image or text and to the motive or meaning of it.  Its goal is to create the identity of the icon or text.  The meaning of semiotics can be broken down into two; the signifier and the signified.

Ernesto "Che" Guevar is most commonly known as a figure of the Cuban Revolution.  His stylized image has become a worldwide symbol of rebellion and global insignia within popular culture.  To use this image as a semiotic, you would find that the image itself is the signifier (an icon of a historical figure).  The signified would be that the icon resembles rebellion and the Cuban Revolution.

 Image taken from: 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-486423/The-truth-modern-legend-Che-Guevara-man-hunted-down.html

Jeff Wall

Wall is best known for his large photographs which cover topics such as urban environments and elaborate tableaux that take the same size and identity as nineteen century history paintings.  His wall sized work describes mostly a scenario, however the before and after that moment are left for the viewers imagination.   

The image below is one of his first pictures from 1988.  It was inspired by 'The Death of Sardanapalus (1827)' .  The blood red walls surrounding most of the objects gives the feel of the relating images.  You also realise the staged atmosphere by the re-composition of the scene as a roughly fabricated stage-set.  Jeff Wall clearly shows that this would be a womans bedroom with the scattered shoes and jewelery.  The violated room is unexplained which leaves the viewer to expand their imagination towards the reason why the room is so destroyed.   

Sources: 
http://tinyplasticcastles.blogspot.com/2009/11/jeff-wall.html
http://www.whitecube.com/artists/wall/

Feminism: THE GUERRILLA GIRLS' BEDSIDE COMPANION TO THE HISTORY OF WESTERN ART, PENGUIN 1998 CONFESSIONS OF THE GUERRILLA GIRLS, PANDORA 1995

The Guerrilla Girls were founded in New York in 1985 at an opened exhibition in The Museum of Modern Art.  The exhibition was titled 'An International Survey of Painting and Sculpture'.  Out of 169 artists only 13 where chosen and happened to be all woman which were also white and from a European or US background.  The exhibition was meant to be a one minute summary of the most different contemporary art in the world. The curator said that any artist who was not in the show should rethink "his" career. Due to the fact that the curator said "his" annoyed a lot of woman.    

Because the art industry is very small The Guerrilla Girls remain anonymous. They are afraid that if they expose themselves they would loose their art careers.  The Guerrilla Girls want to focus on issues and not on their personal life.  

Today the Guerrilla Girls carry on to be anonymous.  After furthering out into large political issues such as reproductive rights and the Persian Gulf War, they are now in New York City and now focus on sexism in the world of theater.  I am very proud to be a woman when reading this book. This group of mysterious artist expose the power of every woman.  I would like to know more about this group of Guerrilla Girls.  

Images taken from: 

http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/ggirls/intro.htm

http://www1.kingsborough.edu/academicdepartments/art/gallery/Eguerrilla.htm

JR Photography: Woman are Heroes

JR is a photographer who has traveled to many countries worldwide and has captured faces of the locals.  He set a project for himself named 'Woman'.  He travelled to third world countries such as Africa, India, Brazil and Cambodia. His aim in this project was to place large scale photographs of local woman happy or with a extreme expression.  This was to show how strong woman in difficult situations are and that they should be proud to be a woman.  These photographs were placed in many unusual places like on roofs, buses, walls, pillars and floors.  I do love JR's work, his impression of giving people hope to in hard situtations is very inspiring.

Images taken from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/mar/07/street-art-jr-photography
http://www.porhomme.com/2009/03/jr-art-from-kenya-onto-cambodia/

Modernism / Postmodernism: Street Art

Image taken from: 
http://www.fotopedia.com/wiki/Banksy

Graffiti is found literally everywhere in most City areas, it can be a form of 'tagging' and getting ones name across.  However graffiti can be a somewhat beautiful thing.  Street artists such as Banksy create graffiti which brings a message to the world.  The one below was created in Brick Lane, London.  The basic message is what wherever you go, there is always something watching you.  Things like this makes people think twice about their lifestyle. I have always been a fan of street art, however certain 'tagging' of scribbling names is a big no for me.

John Stezaker

John Stezaker work is part of the surreal movement which is normally made using collaging with images such as film stills, publicity photographs and postcards.  When first seeing Stezaker's images I found them to be pretty much simple, but he makes simple very beautiful.  Using two different images that you would not find together collaged makes his work very unique.  Stezaker creates a mystery behind the front images even though you can figure out what it is. I am very fond of his work. 

Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin lived a very difficult life, when she was young her sister committed suicide at the age of 18.  This affected Gouldin in her photography.  Her photos consist of drug use, violence, abusive relationships and autobiographic moments.  Most of her photographic subjects dead before the 90s, mostly from drug overdose or HIV.    Some of the subjects were close friends of Gouldin's. Her way of dealing with her difficult life was to document every moment of it.

The picture below is Nan and her boyfriend after having sex. This image was taken as part of a series of her work on sex and immediate relationships after having sex.  There is no connection between the two while she stares at her boyfriend while he inhales his cigarette.  His body is facing away from her.  After 4 years of a abusive relationship Nan and her boyfriend broke up.

The Fame Game

Hello is a weekly magazine focusing on celebrity gossip and life stories.  Hello originated from Spain (Hola), which was launched in 1944.  At this time people were starting to become obsessed with knowing celebrity private lives. Compared to other celebrity magazines, Hello is one that respect celebrity lives and usually have good relationships with them. This allows the magazine to created strong relationships with many famous people.  Because of the strong relationship Hello offers exclusive photos and interviews from the stars. However they mostly pay for their exclusive interviews and photos. It provides the amount of content that a monthly magazine does.  

In this day and age it seems that mostly everyone is obsessed with knowing famous peoples lives. With technology now anyone can simply take a picture of a celebrity and send them in to any magazine.  This obsession makes famous people’s lives no longer private.  Young people today are obsessed with being famous. Programs such as Big Brother give normal people the chance to have their slice of fame during the program and after.