INDEPENDENT PRACTICERICHARD DE CAZALETGRAPHIC DESIGN, YEAR 2

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE PROPOSAL

In my independent practice I propose to produce a collection of visually established work that tackles contemporary issues in society, commenting on social satire and collectives such as youth and stereotypes. Furthermore, I shall incorporate themes of popular culture and the effect of the media in society.

I find the theme of ‘people,’ and people in different environments, as a reoccurring focus in a lot of my work as it is such a vast and relatable subject. However I feel the term ‘people,’ has such broad connotations and generalisation when in fact it includes so much individuality – to call them ‘persons’ would be more accurate.

I enjoy working in hand rendered mediums much more as I personally feel, and on a more universal scale, that we are too reliant on technology and consequentially art is becoming less tangible and in a sense less ‘real’ so I intend to use as little digital technology as possible in my independent practice.

One of my most developed skills is my drawing and although I have recently developed for myself a new illustrative style, to an extent I feel that I neglected drawing over the past year. Therefore, I would like to continue where I had left off and produce a lot of drawing based work. In addition to this, typography is something that interests me greatly and it’s something we see every day of our lives however almost all of it is digital type and as a result I aim to include hand drawn typography in my work.

I have always been keen on experimenting in different mediums however I feel comfortable now to say that my two main interests lay in drawing and photography. As a continuation of avoiding digitalising my work, I intend to only use film cameras (mostly disposable and lomography.) I would like to infuse these two mediums and investigate drawing on photographs.

In regards to externalising my work, hopefully I will be creating work that is aesthetically pleasing with the hope that people would enjoy looking at it whether it’s in an exhibition, a magazine or on their bedroom wall. I am setting out with the intention on giving people a chance to look back and reflect upon themselves and their role in society and how they may be viewed by others, or simply to make them think and become perplexed by a message. I don’t actively intent on producing a piece of work with an obvious message and I like the idea that as a whole, a collective set of images with a running theme, the message becomes clearer.

An example of a relevant artist would be Slava Mogutin. Based in New York, Mogutin produces mostly photographical work, with some mixed media and various others, that has strong, yet majorly crude comments on society and culture, mostly in New York. The images don’t always deliver a clear message but are imbued with provocative themes and deliver in such a raw and powerful way.

Above: Created by cutting letters out of card

A logo design for a fashion blog

This is a collaboration project with James Murray (blog found at http://jamescakes.tumblr.com)

There will be one T shirt, which will carry instructions on the back. The idea is to send the T shirt around the world and ask people to send photos of them wearing it in a place that is personal to them or iconic of their location. The result would hopefully be many people connected through a database of photos of them all wearing the T shirt. Website TBC

Photographs taken on lomography camera Diana F+

People have a tendancy to personify animals and give them human characteristics. Addition-ally, no one ever really knows what animals are thinking. With these ideas in mind, I set out and created these images.

In an attempt to avoid any cliches and stereotypical designs, I created the follow pieces.

Above: A page for a calender for the month of December. Theme of life underground at Winter. The ‘grid’ was created at random by pouring white paint over black card, representing roots underground. It was this which the text and image was based around.

Left: An image, based on the idea of a Christmas card.

Looking at how society is portrayed through advertising and the media.

Photography that portrays a trace of something. Taken on disposable cameras.

Stemmed from the idea of traces. Photographs taken on disposable cameras of empty environments and illustrated in people interacting in the environment - depicted in a way that creates a narrative, and one that would not be expected in the environment if they were absent from the photograph.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adorno, T. (1991). The Schema of Mass Culture. In: Bernstein, J.M. The Culture Industry. London: Routledge. p61-98.

Ai Weiwei - The Unilever Series: Sunflower Seeds at Tate Modern.

BBC ‘Creature Comforts’

Benjamin, W (1968). Illuminations. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. p40-50.

Baudrillard, J. (1994). The Precession of Simulacra. In: Simulacra and Simulations. USA: Editions Galilee. p1-20.

Corey Arnold - http://blog.coreyfishes.com/

James William Murray - http://jamescakes.tumblr.com

Slava Mogutin - www.slavamogutin.com

Vaughan Oliver - www.vaughanoliver.co.uk

EVALUATION

I enjoyed this Unit a lot more than the first one because I felt I had more freedom to establish new conceptual terrirorty through my practice.

I feel as though I had a lot of different ideas which meant overall I never managed to complete all of them to the extent that I wanted to. I will definitely come back and look at these ideas again in the very near future.

I created a typeface last year and although I learnt a lot doing so, I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the finished result. Therefore, this term I decided to revisit that particular area of study and build on the skills I had previous acquired. Although ‘Shit Scissor’ has a ‘naive’ and playful aesthetic, it was actually a very calculated and considered decision and I am pleased with the result.

I set about looking at animals, drawing inspiration from my own pets and my friends, and how we as people interract with them. These preliminary studies may be the starting point for a series of works in the near future - perhaps a small book of illustrations.

I have always been interested in photography as a medium and have used it a lot in my previous works but up until now I have mostly used digital photography. Therefore, I made a decision to only use film photography and also investigated the use of lomography. I am very pleased with the outcomes, I also enjoyed the idea that each photograph seems so much more precious as disposable cameras are ironically, less disposable than digital photography.

I continued with my photography and captured those little moments in life which one may often overlook otherwise. I then combined my desire to use illustration with photography and drew on photos. SUCCESS!