London tate gallery

I recently went on a trip to the London tate art gallery where I got to see for myself first hand art works up close. I found many artists that work intrested me  and was even useful to go towards my current project called raw.

One piece I came along to see was extrodinary, it was a sculptor consisting of so many radios all switched on playing at the same time so all the words heard would be crossing over each other. The best part about this piece was the size of it, it reached to the celing and covered almost a half of the room in width. The piece was created by an artist called Cildo Meireles who created this piece with the inspiration from a Biblical story. The story was called 'the tower of Babel' which was obviously about a tower, but the tower reached so high that it could go all the way to heaven. God  felt disrespected, so he caused the builders to speak all different languages and placed them around the world which caused  conflict such as wars breaking out. I believe Cildo
Meireles represented the builders as radios in his piece as the radios where all on different stations so you never could really tell what was being said ;as it were for the builders because they all began to speak different  languages. The piece was made up of loads of radios the more chunky ones dated to ahev been sold in the 1920's where placed at the bottom for support, then the smaller electronic ones we have today where on the top half of the tower. Meireles even said that his work is unique due to the radios all being upon different channels that the information heard would always be changing making his work different every single time.

The next artist I found was  an artist called  Farid Bekahia whose oil paint on canvas piece showed cultural influences, and an expression which I associated with raw emotion which is what I was focusing on for my raw project. The imagery in the piece shows widened eyes, mouth and extended arms which can portray to me stress; the darkened circled eyes and hand holding above the head to create a larger surface area expressed this to me. The piece was Based around the times where Cuba was unsuccessfully  invaded by the United States in 1961 which was at the times Bekahia created his piece. 

Professional statement

I'm an artist who has delved into a path of illustration. I love how illustration can make a book,leaflet or more to have in depth detail expressing creativity. I especially like cartoons as they are something that when you grow up you don't forget about, either it being seen in a book or on TV. One day I want to make the same effect.

I studied art in my gcse's and then went onto a level 3 extended diploma in art and design. Through the first year I learnt on developing my skills as an artist in different section such as learning the history of art and design; expanding my visual communication art work, printmaking, life drawing, photography and much more. It's began to make me think that the direction I wanted to go in was illustration due to the fact that I love to draw in a 2D form. Currently I'm in the 2nd year of my course and am now looking into my specialist area this being visual communication where I hope to discover what my style really is. In my specialist area I can advance my skills in technology such as using programs like photoshop  to enhance my imagery to create a better piece.

I hope to get into university  on an illustration  course where I can learn the history behind it. As well as advancing my skills in detailed drawing so that my future career of an illustrator can be met with the up most accuracy. The course also shows that I can learn about Creating pieces in groups as well as independently; where I also get to chose my own theme and expand on it to give my new tutors a sense of who I am and what I want to carry on to be.

I would say my inspirations for going to this direction have to be firstly, Nick sharratt who created an iconic character that has been through many books and even converted into a TV series. He shows passion which I have to; creating bold coloured cartoons which everyone recognised. He inspires me to be like him one day. I'd also say Salvador Dali had inspired me to be more adventurous and at times surreal in my work to confuse the mind which gets people thinking about my work. Lastly, Banksy whose work is produced with spirit as he wants to get his political messages across. In my work I'd love to hopefully get my own message across to create my own statement  and style.

'Corpse Bride' by Tim Burton

'Corpse Bride' is a stop motion movie about a victorian man who is getting married , so he goes to practice the ring placement. He places the ring on a branch  and now has himself a corpse bride who wants to be married. It was released in 2005 and had a budget of $40 million. It casted Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter who brought the film to life. I have seen the film many times and appreciate the concept of the dark spookiness  along side some silly jokes. The film was put  into creation after the film 'A Nightmare Before Chrsitmas' which is also a masterpiece. The film was dedicated a executive producer called Joe Ranft who passed away while the film was in the  middle of being made.

This film has inspired me make my work appear at times in the dark side to really get creative. It can end up weird and troubling but gives off the effect I want which can be shock and I want people to think hard towards my future work giving it different aspects.

'Autumnal Cannibalism' by Salvador Dali

'Autumnal Cannibalism'  is an oil paint on canvas piece which was created in 1936. It is 898 x 899 x 85 mm for the frame and the support shows as 651 by 651 mm which captivates emensce detail.  The piece was created to bring together the state after the Civil Spanish War; it shows  a couple holding each other while also trying Cannibalism which shows the extended to how bad the place was left. After the war. That background shows the remains of what the fight has done which it has cause the outer look to appear crumbled.  The legend of William tell is shown in the piece due to an apple placed on the male in the cannibal couple. The apple represent the story well of a man who had to shoot at his son.the apple shows a symbol to a target.

This piece inspires me to make my work  not just about anything but if I can include something powerful to move people emotionally like in Salvador dali's  painting.

'Mickey Mouse' by Walt Disney

'Mickey Mouse' is a cartoon character which was created by Walt Disney in 1928. The character first appeared in a  short film called 'Steam boat Willie' which turned out to be one the first talking cartoons. Walt Disney even voiced Mickey Mouse from 1928 till 1959. Walt Disney was inspired to make Mickey Mouse after a man called Mickey Rooney who was an actor who is actually the last known star from back in silent films which he appeared in.  This character  creation gives me inspiration to be joyful in my work to just let it be creative and fun. I age  followed Disney for along time. I love the films a lot and will never stop watching them. Seeing as my favourite  film is "The Little Mermaid".

This quote from Disney just shows to remember  how the journey started.

"I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing- that it was all started by a mouse." - Walt Disney, Disneyland; October 27, 1954

'A grand day out' by Nick Park

'A Grand Day Out' Is the first ever Wallace and Gromit production. It was released in 1989 and was created using stop motion with soft clay made characters. It was created by Nick Park when he was at The National Television School. He was finished with the film when he joined Aardman Animation Studios. It's lasts 24 minutes and had a budget of £11,000. It was about Wallace and Gromit (well known characters) who fly in a rocket ship to the moon to eat moon cheese as they have none at home. And they wanted to have an adventure. This has inspired me at a young age and even today to create a short film for my connect project at college as well inspiring my pieces to be as fun as Wallace and Gromit is to Nick Park.

'Thing's change' by Jo Peel

This piece was created in 2012 and was created upon a large wall which was located in Shoreditch, London. The whole scale painting rook around 3 weeks and was even filmed to create a stop motion film which lasted 3 minutes. She painted over and the repainted to create a moving image when the photos where all put together. This piece has inspired me to make a short film which will be drawn, rubbed out then redrawn again. This will go towards a final piece I'm doing at the moment for a project called 'connect'.