Grant Thompson

Lecture with Grant Thompson

Our lecture with Grant Thompson was one of my favorites, he began the lecture by briefly describing the nature of the word modernism (which I thought was fitting seeing as the rest of his lecture was based around modern concepts and ideas). He quoted "Modernism - Consciously rejects the past to look to the future", this is the theory he used to support his main topic "form follows function". He started off by saying there are two approaches in design, a formalist approach (which concentrates more on the overall appearance and aesthetics of the design), and a functionist approach (which revolves around how the design works).

Grant talked about how people look at something and immediately try to work out it's function rather than acknowledge the objects form. I actually didn't realize how ignorant I was being lol but I guess now that I know, I'll be a little more observant from now on. Grant gave us an example on functionist approach, saying that if we look at a fork, the first thing that comes to mind is that it's an eating utensil, our natural instincts tell us to acknowledge it's function before the form.

I did some research and found out that the term "form follows function" is a principle used in modern architecture, that the shapes used in modern 20th century buildings are used to be suitable for the functionality of the building. I wasn't really surprised about this finding though, in actual fact, I thought it was quite obvious that buildings should be more concentrated on function rather than form, otherwise it would be a pretty dangerous world (knowing how some architects let their imagination get the best of them sometimes lol).

Google images: http://www.bluefountainmedia.com/business/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/form-vs-function.jpg

Auckland Art Gallery

My first time visiting the Auckland Art Gallery, and I quote Usher Raymond when I say "OMG" lol. I thought it was amazing, the architecture of the building was phenomenal (you can laugh but this is my opinion), the whole mumbo jumbo about form following function left my brain while I stood there in awe. After 5 minutes of drooling over the architecture, I got myself together and started analyzing the place (such a weird word "analyzing" I feel like a scientist saying this).

The Auckland Art Gallery to me had a very unique structure, if I were to sum it up in a few words I would say "flashy but also very stable". I wanted to observe the building piece by piece so first I looked at the shapes involved, the gallery was very cubed. Immediately you would think "BORING!" but the composition of these cubes were interesting, they reminded me of tetris for some reason, like the blocks were just pieced together but the entire structure wasn't fully cubed (an incomplete puzzle maybe).

Google Images: http://dangerousintersection.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/tetris%20-%20unsafe.jpg

Grant also gave me a "heads up" on the water flowing through the art gallery, making it's way outside to the flower chandelier. To me, it revealed the idea of continuity and the art gallery having a life of it's own (this idea would be more effective, seeing as the gallery is right next to albert park). The art that was on display at the time also supported the idea of continuity, like the benches in the lunch area which went through the ground, and if you were on the floor underneath the lunch area, you would see the chairs coming out from the ceiling.

Google Images: http://www.wayneyellow.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/IMG_1971.jpg

Overall I thought the Auckland Art Gallery was awesome :)

Tiffany Singh

Tiffany Singh

Our lecture with Tiffany Singh was quite interesting, I expected an artist who exhibitions her work just like all other artists, but, she impressed mewith her projects as they were community based works. A great example of her community based work would be her project "Table of Exchange", which was a project which involved 77 of her sculptures on presentation in Albert Park, instead of her work being sold, she wanted the works to be traded for items.

Her project "knock on the sky and listen to the sound"was a project that involved a large number of wind chimes hanging from a ceiling of an art gallery, but the work wasn't the thing that impressed me, rather it was how the people interacted with the work, she quoted "I am more interested in what people do with my work rather than the work itself". The main objective of this project was for the public to take a wind chime with them and decorate it, and in due time, bring the wind chime back to be hung from a tree in the middle of the gallery. I found this amazing, the journey's these wind chimes go through after leaving the gallery, one of thethe wind chimes ended up in Hong Kong, which I thought was unbelievable.

Color

Color is an a key factor in Tiffany's work, she quotes "color is what binds everything together", her color palette resembles the color's from the rainbow, or in her case the 7 chakras system, which I found very interesting that she would use these colors in her work, these colors have very important meanings and how she applies them to her work is somewhat unorthodox, but very bright and full of life (which in my opinion is the purpose of the 7 chakras). Her work involves a lot of religious and cultural motifs, like the sculptures of the Virgin Mary, and other religious gods, and in my opinion, her way of decorating them with these colors is somewhat of a celebration or embracing these items, which in a way links to India's "Holi Festival", a day where the people throw colored powder (I don't know if they're spices) at each other, a way of celebrating two of their gods making love.

Fran Alison

Fran Alison

Fran Alison is a jeweler and currently a lecturer at the Manukau School of Visual Arts, her practice involves a lot of collaboration as she was apart of an artist group who worked on a project called "Weeds". In the beginning of the lecture, Fran explains the dictionary definition of collaboration quoting "-1.work jointly esp. in a literary or artistic production. Oxford English Dictionary", She further explains her lecture on collaboration with her personal experiences.

I think explaining her work from my perspective isa good way to start. Fran mentioned in her lecture that she loves to work with metal, she loves the nature of metal but her methods of manipulating metal is incredibly unorthodox. She takes a leap of faith sometimes and decides to crush metal, perhaps for the reason that she hopes for an interesting, abstract outcome.

1993 in Melbourne called ‘Conversationswith Kitchen Utensils’.

Fran takes an interest in how false items can be perceived as real items, she emphasizes how the appearance of an item is enough to fool the viewer. Fran made these fake biscuits while she was working for a model making company, using her skills to make false ice cream for advertisements. Fran quotes, "This was my first foray into faking it." I personally like the idea of falseimpressions, and how the the eye and mind are easily fooled by image.

Detail Assorted Titbits

In 1999, Fran worked on a series of works she called ‘dress up’, these were a series of wearable works made from steel and mesh. Fran says the works are heavily influenced by polynesian culture, and she acknowledges the floral patterns and designs for it's diversity (in terms of meanings and ideas). One of her pieces were of a samoan lei which she quoted "The lei particularly. A necklace that is given in greeting and parting in pacific culture, I have repeatedly used this form in my work." her work is an interesting mix of the old and new as she names thepiece "Urban Lei".

"Urban Lei" 1999

a series of works called "dress up" in 1999

Fran decided to work in collaboration with other artists in 2005 with the show "Weeds". The project was her attempt to progress her work and explore different approaches in art making, she quoted ". For me it was also a point at which I started to move my ideas for exploration in my practice from the house to the garden." In my opinion, her work seemed to be stronger in this project, perhaps for the reason that at that time, her experience has made her into a better artist, but, also the fact that she collaborated with other artists, allowing her to give and share ideas with artists who use ceramic and cast glass. "Weeds" was shown at "Galerie Biro" in Munich Germany in September 2010, the work revealed was interesting as they were made from collected items, I thought the idea of using a biscuit tin and decorating it was quite amusing at first, but thinking about the process of which it was made, like floral patterns cut out and collaged on, makes for an interesting composition.

Remake of a piece from Weeds 2 at Quoil

Remake of a piece from Weeds 2 at Quoil