Research post, Francis Bacon.

Along with personal progression posts, I'll pop in a few artists that inspire me or whose art I really admire.

Francis Bacon 1909-1992.
In the early 1950's, Bacon's success began to grow as his first post war instillation showcased his 'Portrait of Pope Innocent X', inspire by Velazquez's works.

Bacon's work typically features macabre, ghostly, corpse-like figures. His palette features deep reds, sickly greens and blues and other 'ill' colours, which stemmed from his fascination with diseases of the mouth. 

From seeing some of Bacon's works in the flesh, the feeling of suffocation, paranoia and almost haunting surrounds them, captivating the intense pain he felt which lead to his best works. From that experience from seeing his work and having this chilling aura surround me really changed the paintings' subject matter and meanings for me, captivating me since. 

'Three studies at the base of a crucifixion' c.1944

'Study of a dog' 1952

'Portrait of Isabel Rawsthone' 1966 

"Being young and dipt in folie, I fell in love with melancholy."

To see more of Bacon's work, here's a link to the Tate modern's collection of his works. 

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/francis-bacon-682

Traces

For our current college brief  we have been given the title of 'Traces' to interpret it as we see fit. I have chosen a subject very close to my heart, the journey into my my (eventual) gender augmentation into a male, leaving behind the traces of a body that does not belong to me. 
I have done a few drawing techniques for drawing studies so far. Whilst it is minimal right now, I'll be updating this blog as and when my sketch book fills out.

Simple straight line study. I'm sorry for my messy presentation  I don't obsess over neatness, I find it difficult to be expressive and raw if I worry about smudges or whatever.

 Continuous line study.

Gouache study. Semi continuous lines, if that's even a thing? I find the way the two colours conflict each other reflects the raw flesh intertwining with surgical experimentation. I don't know, I'm grasping at straws.

Gouache and ink. I got a little bored and it lead to this study, which may have been more useful that i originally thought. Just daubing the gouache, mixing the colours has created R.E.M like movement, conveying fear.

Ink and water contaminated by gouache. I'm scared of the surgery. Need I say much more?

Hopefully, studying into more detail the surgery, process, rehabilitation stages will make me more confident and enlightened about the benefits of the process of ftm gender reassignment as apposed to just imagining Leatherface in a gown and scalpel...

Water, water everywhere.

'Untitled' Summer 2012, watercolour and ink.

 'Stormy weather' Summer 2012, watercolours and gouache.

Autumn's coming round again. Everything's getting a little prettier... my portfolio isn't. These were the last significant additions to it that weren't embarrassing and I've even had interest from people wanting to buy prints of them. Yuy.

New media artists

David Hockney, Painter enjoying new technologies.

Fine artist, David Hockney, renowned for his role in pop art has reinvented his works using digital painting mediums. His works did feature aspects from the peak of current technologies, his Polaroid collages are a shining example of such enthusiasm for new technologies. His work has now taken a new leap into the iPad's app 'Brush'. His work on the iPad started from absolute novice (compared to artists born into a generation of digital media) into a stylized new art medium that he's adopted.

3D Printing, hits Paris catwalks.

Iris Van  Herpen has adopted 3D printing to create somewhat impossible clothing, collaborating with 3D printing artist Carlos Van Canp. The intricate details of the garments in her forth collection were designed and produced in a 3D simulated design programme. Her inspiration for the innovative structure of the garments came from a shared passion with architect Philip Beesely's fascination with materials and the different reaction they have with various environments and the structures produced that occurs in various chemical and electrical reactions. 
These pieces that would be unachievable using fabric and not have the durability and stability of 3D printing whilst having the comfortable movement in structure fabic garments too. Is this a new step into domestic clothing to hit the highstreet?

3d photography.

Photography has always played a huge role in the media, both dated and contemporary, in capturing emotive captivating moments and emotion. Ted Grudowski is a noteworthy 3d photographer whose images take abstract photography into a new 3d format.

Paper sculpture graphic designers, Zim and zou.

Lucie Thomas and Thibault Zimmermann, otherwaise known as Zim and Zou are graphic designers whose instillations consists of sculptures made from primarilary paper and other materials that they've hand cut. The intricate designs takes months to create and assemble and typically feature very bright colours and gemometric shapes, making all their peices quirky and lighthearted.

For more information about the artists and their works check out the links below.

http://www.hockneypictures.com/home.php

http://www.irisvanherpen.com/

http://newmediaphoto.com/

http://www.zimandzou.fr/

Youtube video of the process Herpen uses to make the garments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNpbLRrdJxQ

Zim and Zou on behance, video of the process of the 'Happy Planet'.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Happy-Planet/7028673

A beginning of sorts

'Bambie', spring 2013, acrylic.

As a starting point, I thought it may be nice to upload the background.