Inspiration of the Week – Shoes on the Danube Bank

Shoes on the Danube Bank is a memorial by Gyula Pauer and Can Togay to the Holocaust victims killed by firing squad along side the Danube Bank in Budapest.

This heart felt tribute to those who were made to strip down in front of the river is really poignant and has a great impact to those that see it.

These shoes are cast in iron and are made in different styles of the time and in different sizes to show the range of people that were selected to be shot.

These shoes represent those lives that were lost an their memory that was left behind.

Although I am not dealing with a subject matter as dark or serious as this I am still looking at different ways to represent human marks that are left behind and I think that shoes, or any other piece of clothing is a good way to represent a person as it also shows a little bit of their personality and who they were.

NB – all photographs here have been taken from :

http://visitbudapest.travel/articles/one-of-budapests-most-moving-memorials-shoes-on-the-danube/

I do not own any of the pictures on this post.

Until next time
byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Róisín -x

April 7, 2016 0

Inspiration of the Week – Christian Boltanski

Christian Boltanski is a French artist who normally makes installation using found objects.

I really like this artist’s work as I think the invite the viewer to think about ideas of remembrance and memory.

I also like the style of these installations as I have always like light installations as I think that they can add another dimension to the work and can give them more feeling and make them more poignant.

In my work I am planning on dealing with topics of memory and remembrance and it’s good for me to see an installation artist that also looks into these themes.

NB – all photographs here have been taken from this site:

http://www.artnet.com/artists/christian-boltanski/

I do not own any of the pictures on this post.

Until next time
byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Róisín -x

April 5, 2016 0

Inspiration of the Week – Graham Grafx

Graham Grafx (Graham Smith) is an artist who mostly works in forms of digital media. The project of his that I am most interested in in terms of my latest project is “Digital Painting: Social Network“.

In this he went around all of the friends he had on facebook and took their pulse and also a souvenir.

He used the information from their pulse to create this digital form of painting where each of his friends is represented by a ‘lightening bug’ which blinks at the same rate of their pulse.

In my work I want to investigate people on social media and ho they try to be noticed.

I like this piece as it is a new way to investigate portraiture and is also interesting in the fact the the source of this is digital and social media, where the most prominent and obvious form of portraiture and representation is the “selfie”.

What I also like about this project is that normally people are represented by a digital image of themselves, whereas here we get to see all of the artists friends represented by something real and tangible.

NB – all photographs here have been taken from the artists site:

http://grahamgrafx.com/
http://grahamgrafx.com/digitalpainting.php

I do not own any of the pictures on this post.

Until next time
byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Róisín -x

March 22, 2016 0

Inspiration of the Week – Wunderkammer: The Museum of Lost and Forgotten Objects

The Museum of Lost and Forgotten Objects is an exhibition that explores “the desire to dominate, control, and possess“.

What I’m looking into for my project isn’t so much control or possession, but more the idea of domination and human desire in general. So I thought that looking at this exhibition would help give me a few new ideas on how to deal with this type of subject matter.

I like the intricacy and detail that is within all of these objects and I think that because they are displayed this way it lets them tell their own story.

I think these pieces are quite interesting and all fit quite well with each other and I sort of think that they look like an old medicine cabinet as part of an olden day set or something.

NB – all photographs here have been taken from this site:

https://art.base.co/event/5448-wunderkammer-the-museum-of-lost-and-forgotten-objects-nadia-mercuri-sarah-field

I do not own any of the pictures on this post.

Until next time
byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Róisín -x

March 10, 2016 0

Inspiration of the Week – Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst is an installation artist know for his controversial pieces featuring animals floating in formaldehyde.

So I’m not really a fan of Damien Hirst’s work however I do appreciate his themes and subject matter. The subject matter for “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” is the idea of death and how frightening it is to come face to face with it.

The reason that I am looking at this piece in particular is because I want to deal with the inevitably that we will all be forgotten. I think that we want to think that we are important and will be remembered for a long time with the reality being that we will be forgotten after about three generations.

What I want to say with my work is that being forgotten isn’t a bad thing and is just how the world works so there is no point in hiding from this fact and should move on.

Although I won’t be suspending animals in formaldehyde, I do think that Damien Hirst has used a good visual to say what he was trying to say with his work.

NB – all photographs here have been taken from these sites:

http://www.damienhirst.com/home
http://www.damienhirst.com/the-physical-impossibility-of
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/luke-white-damien-hirsts-shark-nature-capitalism-and-the-sublime-r1136828
http://www.saatchigallery.com/aipe/damien_hirst.htm

I do not own any of the pictures on this post.

Until next time
byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Róisín -x

March 1, 2016 0

Inspiration of the Week – Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist whose works normally involve some sort of protest, especially against authority and governments.

The piece of work that I am going to talk about is his installation and video titled “Remembrance”

The main aim for this project was to have the names of the students who died whilst in school during the Sichuan earthquake. More than 5000 children died due to schools collapsing and corrupt governments and shoddy construction companies were blamed.

The metal from this exhibition came from some of the collapsed schools and Ai Weiwei straightened and arranged them to form waves.

Just after the aftermath he also went to the areas where the schools collapsed and photographed the debris left behind.

However what I think is the most poignant part of the piece as a whole is the audio recording of the names of the students, to listen to the whole thing would take 7 hours and 22 minutes and it makes you think of the lives lost and the families attached to all of these names.

Ever since I saw the video (link below) talking about this piece of work I immediately loved it as it has layers of sadness, anger, grief and protest all mixed into one.

NB – all photographs here have been taken from these sites:

http://www.aiweiwei.com/index.html
http://www.aiweiwei.com/projects/5-12-citizens-investigation/remembrance/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDwTjPsG4b0

I do not own any of the pictures on this post.

Until next time
byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Róisín -x

February 25, 2016 0

Inspiration of the Week – Chiharu Shiota

Chiharu Shiota is an installation artist whose work I really enjoy as they can be quite thought provoking.

The piece that I am most interested in here in terms of my project is her piece “Over the Continents” where she joined together different shoes with red wool.

Why I am looking at this piece in particular is because I want to look at the marks we leave behind as people and I think that what Chiharu Shiota is representing here with the shoes is human traces. The different shoes represent, to me, a wide variety of different people and what possible lives they could have.

I think she also explores similar ideas with these other pieces too.

What I like most about this artist’s work is that these installations tell some sort of story about people, their lives and who they were, without any use of faces or any sort of personifying features.

NB – all photographs here have been taken from the artist’s site:

http://www.chiharu-shiota.com/en/
http://www.chiharu-shiota.com/en/works/

I do not own any of the pictures on this post.

Until next time
byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Róisín -x

February 23, 2016 0

Inspiration of the Week – Seunghwui Koo

Seunghwui Koo is a Korean artist, in her statement on his website she speaks about how her family had a butchers shop and how a pig’s head was a regular sight for her.

In his pig series she uses the symbols of the pigs heads to represent her experiences from living in New York City. The heads themselves draw connotations of greed and gluttony.

The series that I am looking at is her pig series titled “Narcissism” as I am interested in this idea for my upcoming project.

I like the artists use of colour in this series as I think they make the piece very striking and represent the loud, bustling city life that exists in New York. These bright colours also remind me of the large billboards and advertising banners that I’ve seen in parts of movies set in large cities in America.

For my next project I might use some sort of symbolism like this artist has used to represent parts of the human ego and also this idea of narcissism.

NB – all photographs here have been taken from these sites:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AcSvzHnuEo
http://kooseunghwui.com/
http://kooseunghwui.com/paintings/

I do not own any of the pictures on this post.

Until next time
byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Róisín -x

February 18, 2016 0

Inspiration of the Week – 100 Years Project

The 100 Years Project is an online project by internet content creator Dana Roc in which she asks people what they want to be remembered for in 100 years.

This project is really interesting as almost everyone wants to be remembered for something, and there is a wide range for what people want to be remembered showing human diversity and personality.

The answers themselves were interesting because of how detailed some of them can be, like the person has been thinking a lot about it and thinking about it quite deeply, whereas some of them are simple one word answers.

For my project I am interested in looking into why and in what ways we want to be remembered and so I think this project is a good piece of research to have.

However the point that I want to make with this project is that we will be forgotten and that that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I am planning on making my mark being somehow related to the ways that we try to be noticed and remembered amidst the crowd.

NB – all photographs here have been taken from these sites:
http://www.danaroc.com/the100yearsproject/

I do not own any of the pictures on this post.

Until next time
byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Róisín -x

February 16, 2016 0

Inspiration of the Week – "Tubism"

So this post isn’t going to be an artist but mostly a sort of visual inspiration that I found mostly by accident. This idea of Tubism simply comes from editing or creating your own version on a London underground map.

So I discovered this article on a site while looking at some stuff about the Situationists, and found the idea quite interesting.

The writer of this article (Pierre Nadilon) was actually a designer himself and made the above images and made them “Tubist portraits”

Although this isn’t a particularly new idea I do like how it’s fun and lighthearted, and I could do my own ones relevant to my project, as I am planning on having postcard sized prints available for people to take away with them and these could be added to give the selection a bit of variety, that’s if I’m even able to make anything like these.