5104 - Presentation and Evaluation

Final Piece on Display

Evaluation

In reflection, it has been a rocky journey as my interests with this object were changing regularly from start to the middle, eventually discovering what theme/factor boldly stood out. As I first encountered the Hotchkiss naval gun, the focus was predominately on the aesthetics of the object and originally wanted to see how weaponry had evolved over the years. That idea didn't go in depth that much in terms of understanding this particular gun's significance.

To better understand the object, the research was taken into the time and place of when it was captured, which was the Boxer Rebellion in the turn of the 20th century in China. Learning about the gun's context of where it came from boosted my progress and influenced me into wanting to focus more on the historical side to the object.

I moved onto Birmingham's gun manufacturing history, to focus on the questionable irony of abandoning a significant object of culture from the early 20th century. My short video touches on this irony but I didn't feel overly impressed with making a video as it didn't truly express the cultural importance of this object. If I was to make the video again, I wouldn't even address the issue of Birmingham's history of gun manufacturing as I lost motivation and admiration quickly, unlike how I approached the Boxer Rebellion.

Moving on, the decision was made to create an illustration of the Hotchkiss naval gun depicted in a way that could addressing the issues of taking objects away from their "home". It will be using the idea of personifying the object in order to emphasise the appeal to the audience. Due to not planning my time efficiently as I could with two other modules at the same time, I couldn't originally go through with creating a large oil painting so I changed the medium choice to a digital illustration. As modern technology is very popular, it would be able to grab people's attention quicker and support the cause of the very old naval gun's wish to be returned to China.

Overall I am fairly pleased with how the final piece has turned out, as it has been placed in the corner of room G.05 so the area itself can emphasise the dim mood of the piece. With the inspirations of anthropomorphism used in fairy tales and the media, it is a strong way of connecting the audience with what they're looking at. The human figure representation of this Hotchkiss naval gun did exactly what I felt like it needed to do and that is to make people question its existence. After applying features such as traditional Chinese characters that say the words "I don't belong here", the red turban on the figure's head that was used by Boxers and the sunset lines used in Chinese propaganda, it has proven to become a believable piece of propaganda that makes a bold statement of returning the artefact in a traditional and yet non-traditional sense. If I was to have done anything differently with the final piece, it would have been to apply the print onto a medium that has a better cultural connection, like a material commonly used in China and create more illustrations to see the difference in the impacts.

5104 - Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is a fairy tale based on a little girl's wish of bringing her nutcracker soldier to life by her godfather at Christmas. As the nutcracker comes to life, the room begins to expand with the Christmas tree growing along with all the other toys around the tree.

The little girl's brother, aka the Mouse King with all his mice, starts a battle against all the toys and the nutcracker soldier to which the soldier defends the little girl until falling silent on the floor.

Then suddenly arising in a live human form to take her to the Christmas tree kingdom, she falls in love with the soldier and they lived happily ever after, until it is revealed that it was all arguably a dream.

This took my interest because when it is performed on stage by the English National Ballet, a male human being is a representation of the object becoming alive while stirring up reactions and emotions towards it from the main character. As they use a human to perform the role of an object, this human being can also influence the audience to feel particular emotions such as happiness and sympathy towards the nutcracker.

It can show that if anything can be given a personality that of a human's, it can be viewed upon and treated differently by whoever encounters with that object.


Image Source:
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02427/nutcracker_2427202b.jpg

5104 - Kansu Braves cultural appearance and incorporating that essence into the work.

The majority of the imperial troops in and around the area of Peking were known as The Rear Division in the Chinese Guards Army. Within the Rear Division were mostly made up of units of the Brave Ones.

Focusing mostly on the figure on the left here, their outfit used for the war were primarily of a red jacket with a strip of yellow crossing down the front bordered with a trim of blue. Applying Chinese characters in black on the man's front identifies what role/position he acts as in the army. The jacket provides loose sleeves that reach past the waist-belt, along with an apron with two lobes extending down and covering each leg. On the side of the leg and centre of the red section of the apron presents the Chinese character rung (Brave) inside a white disc. This indicates he is from a unit of the Brave Ones.

(Artist unknown)

Reflecting on this, I'm really intrigued in the fashion of this soldier in the Boxer Rebellion as it emphasizes on the Chinese traditional culture, especially back in the time of when this Hotchkiss naval gun was in use. This makes more sense to have it incorporated within the art work that should have the purpose of showing the audience the sinister side to the object that isn't usually seen.

Source

http://georgy-konstantinovich-zhukov.tumblr.com/post/42808347959/chinese-forces-the-boxer-rebellion-infantryman

5104 - "I don't belong here" feedback

• The image doesn't get the message across in terms of the gun's history and where it belongs.

• Incorporate more of where the gun came from to make a bolder statement.

• Traditional Chinese boxer incorporation to symbolise the gun's heritage.

• Specifically choose what medium/texture to print the illustration on that reflects Chinese boxer culture.

5104 - Digital Illustrations

(I don't belong here)

I created the darker illustration first, using an interactive pen and tablet for the first time ever, it took at least a few days straight to create this, in order to get the exact curious or melancholy emotion coming from the main focal point of the piece.

I wanted to personify the Hotchkiss naval gun as if it were "alive" like a human being, purely to see how much contrast there is in the audience's reactions. From looking at a "lifeless" object near the wall and an "alive" object that can move but remains still, facing that wall in the dark.

Also, the chiaroscuro was important for this piece as it added intense drama which was necessary to fit with the title of the piece. The illustration wouldn't have much of a strong statement if the room was lit up brightly and would only result in a misinterpretation. 

5104 - Shepard Fairey

An artist's work that has caught to my attention recently is the contemporary propaganda artist known as Shepard Fairey. He digitally depicts specific political powers usually just to instigate the public's curiosity for a reaction and to stir up questions on particular areas of modern day society.

The colour palette he chooses for the works he creates is what I find most intriguing as its not just for decorative purpose or to make them a bolder form of propaganda, but because those colours reflect on the political issue/s that is states in the art work.

Here are a couple of examples of this,

(Guns and Roses)

(Mao Collage)

The strong and bold occurring theme of the red and amber colours are emphasising on the traditional Chinese culture that is often seen when associated with China itself. Reflecting on this, I shall be incorporating a traditional British depiction of the glorification of the British military in my digital illustrations.

Looking back at the work of Atul Dodiya, this glorified British depiction will be the first illustration the viewer sees before moving their attention to the darker illustration of what it could feel like to be treated the way the object has if it was "alive".

Source

https://xforeman.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/shepard-fairey-2/

5104 - Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit"

A powerful song that I have recently stumbled upon is "Strange Fruit" written by Abel Meeropol and performed by Billie Holiday. The influence for the writing of this song originated from the horrific events that were taking place in the southern states of the U.S, the lynching of African-American citizens during the 1930's.

(Music performance video below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs

Strange Fruit

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.




This song was groundbreaking for anti-racist and equal rights campaigners all over the United States. This form of activism in music/spoken word created a strong and vivid message to the people who perpetuated in the lynching and discrimination of African-Americans. These straight forward lyrics has influenced me to consider writing poetic text within the oil painting in order to make my message loud and clear to the viewers.



Source:
http://www.shmoop.com/strange-fruit/meaning.html