Yorkshire Sculpture Park Visit: KAWS

KAWS
aka - Brian Donnelly
- Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Website: http://www.ysp.co.uk/exhibitions/kaws
Artists website: http://www.kawsone.com/shop
Artists blog: http://www.kawsone.com/blog

I managed to make it down to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park today to take a look at a visual artist and sculpture who has inspired my practice for quite some time. Finding out that 'KAWSONE' was over from NY in the states and set up his first UK exhibition here so close to Leeds was an opportunity I couldn't miss.

I first discovered Kawsone via instagram and was instantly transfixed by his acrylic painted pieces and use of strong, bold, neon like colours to depict subjects that seemed almost childlike and familiar - but that had been amped up to a highly refined graphic -design style aesthetic.


It was only after following KAWS for a few moths that I realised painting wasn't the only final applications or his artwork and that 3D pieces, screen printing, 4D etc all played a part in the visual mission that is KAWS. Object and environment play a large part in my own practice, i like the physicality of 3d and the intricacy of 2d - so to find a synergy between the two is what I strive for. KAWS has this down to a perfection.

This exhibit is on until June 12th and I urge anyone to take a trip to check it out. The craftsmanship and sheer scale of this collection has such impact and emotion, I hope to be able to employ some of KAWS approaches to visual creativity into my own practice one day. Playing with scale, i feel, is a simple and direct way to catch your audiences attention, manipulate atmosphere and emotion, engage, immerse and transport an audience to somewhere else entirely. Great stuff!






KAWS product research (from the exhibition):

I found this really key in terms of researching/thinking about the application of my illustrations within my personal practice. A larger set of illustrations, maybe murals etc or large scale 3D work engage with a wider audience on much more impactive scale than 2D in some senses. More Interactive & captivating whilst creating an atmosphere for the audience to experience visually and feel physically.

Setting up the exhibition:




Interview with KAWS:

The Exhibition:

My photos from the trip:

Things to take forward: 
• Use of simple shapes 
• Block colours
• Play on familiar subjects (to resonate with audience)
• Scale play
• dimension play (2d, 3D, 4D)
• Art as products - art itself can act as products:
- stationary
- modelsc/ toys / 3d figurines
- fashion (bags, t-shirts)
- Illustrative (high quality prints, posters)
- Informative (leaflets, pamphlets, postcards etc - describing the artists (bio etc) / exhibition /
  ethos / artistic process / concept etc) - nice addition to be sold along side an exhibition as 
  a memento.

Major Inspo: Leif Podhajsky

Leif Podhajsky

website: http://leifpodhajsky.com/2841650
blog: MIND MELT

Stumbled across emerging visual artist Lief and truly astounded by his works. His work seemed familiar straight away and soon realised he creates album artwork along with motion graphics for videos of some of my favourite DJ's and music artists:

Bonobo.
Here is a Bonobo music vid Leif got involved with:

Mount Kimbie.

Here is a Mount Kimbie music vid Leif also got involved with:
Mount Kimbie - Made To Stray from Leif Podhajsky on Vimeo.

How to take this research/information/inspiration forward? 
A way of capitalising on relevant techniques I have undergone throughout the course of this year, ie: marbling, airbrush, digital, print, mixed media, ink in water!!!! layering, digital manipulation, use of light and colour

I would really like to use this approach whilst digitally manipulating my own experiments with marbling and airbrush. Can see this being major inspiration for my individual responsive work (secret 7).

Abstract colour connotations help reflect the intricacy within music and the certain type of synth/electronic genre of music he designs album artwork for.

Finding out about this artists has had a major impact with regards to enlightening me of the work i really want to be creating. this work is mesmerising to me - its something dreamlike and out of this world and has so much depth, colour, pattern and illusion within it - true pieces of artwork. 

Leif Podhajsky - Morphing from The Avant/Garde Diaries on Vimeo.
Artwork research:

New Technique: Airbrush

I have absolutely no experience what-so-ever using an airbrush but it has always been a process that has intrigued me. I have used spray paint and stencil methods before in my practise and I have always thought that airbrushing could be similar in terms of technique and method, just a little more fine in terms of spray, detail and finish. A few years ago I came across some examples of illustration where airbrush techniques had been used and the results of using this method were far from the old-fashioned 1960's album artwork I had seen or the popular nail-art/make-up examples I know that air-brushing is used for today. This artwork was fine, detailed and a great way of creating artwork using stencils, adding lots of fine details, pops of colour, gradients and the finish almost looks screen-printed in its smoothness.

I was given an airbrush as a gift for my birthday a few years ago and unfortunately never got around to experimenting - or even putting it all together to test it out. The airbrush and compressor came separately but what stopped me from being able to start using it was the fact that the manual included with the airbrush was all in a foreign language.

I have managed to do some online digging and found that on my airbrush's make "IWATA" website, there are some specification and manual information specific to by airbrush make and model, that should help me to start out as a beginner:

• Background about my airbrush why i have it etc (photos). make/model etc
• contextual research: artwork created using an airbrush that interests me (artists)
• research regarding the use of airbrushing (tutorials, website notes, you tube video embed?):

Website: http://www.iwata-medea.com/support/faqs/faqs-airbrush/

FAQs – Airbrush

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is an airbrush?
A: An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that sprays fluid (paint, ink, dye, stain, glaze, etc.). It resembles, and is held like, a pen. It applies paint through a process known as atomization.

Q: What’s atomization?
A: An airbrush takes a fluid and turns it into a directed airborne mist. You can think of it as a sophisticated perfume atomizer or as a controllable spray paint can.

Q: How does an airbrush work?
A: The airbrush must be attached to an air source to spray. Airbrushes have two systems that must work together to function properly. The air system provides energy for the atomization of the fluid. The fluid system delivers the paint to the tip of the airbrush to be atomized and sprayed onto a surface.

Q: What type of airbrush is best for me?
A: This depends on your desired application. Most airbrush users today use single- or dual-action, internal mix airbrushes because they offer the most control and the finest of sprays. However, single-action, external mix airbrushes are very popular for hobby and craft applications, the spraying of ceramic glazes or high viscosity materials, or where cost is a factor. (They are generally less expensive.)

Q: What is the difference between internal-mix and external-mix?
A: In an internal-mix airbrush, the air and paint mix inside the paint tip. This produces a thorough atomization or mixing, which results in a very soft, fine spray pattern. In an external-mix airbrush, the air and paint mix outside the tip, producing a coarse spray pattern.

Q: Why are there different size tips for the airbrush?
A: Nozzle sizes are differentiated by tenths and sometimes hundredths of millimeters. The different sizes allow for finer or coarser paint (how finely the paint pigment is ground up) while trading off between finer and coarser lines and spray patterns. The line sizes are relative within the Iwata product line. A practiced hand and deft touch can accomplish some amazing lines and effects with a .5mm nozzle on the Eclipse or Revolution series airbrushes.

Q: What types of surfaces can be worked on?
A: All surfaces can be airbrushed, paper, canvas, plastic, metal, glass, wood, leather, skin, etc. The key is to insure the proper preparation of the surface prior to spraying and its compatibility with the sprayed material.

Q: What kinds of paint can I use with the airbrush?
A: All paints, oils, acrylics, watercolors, automotive paints, enamels, alkyds, etc., are sprayable as long as they are thinned to a consistency, like light cream, that enables them to flow easily through the airbrush. However, if you’re just learning how to paint with an airbrush consider buying airbrush ready paints „ then you can focus on improving your technique rather than worrying about whether or not your paint is going to clog the airbrush.

Airbrush ink/paint: Research

I recently purchased a large collection of Daler Rowney FW Artists' Acrylic Inks for use with a dip pen, to paint with, marble with and to create various effects using ink in water. After researching into this brand, it turns out these inks are one of the best for use with an airbrush, better still my IWATA make and model of airbrush. The pearlescent selection of inks in the same range have particles too large to pass through the airbrush needle so I need to remember this - however the large range of flat colours is fine and are also intermixable which is great. Now to add to my collection...when I stop being a poor student!

My collection of FW Acrylic Inks so far:

Masking/Stencil techniques: Research

Spray Booth: Research

Thoughts regarding this technique:

I hope to really make use of this creative process as I feel the possibilities within my practice could be endless - if I manage to master it. Currently having a go whilst approaching stencil work in my OUIL505 module.

Possible applications:

• Stencil work
• Large scale mural work (if ble to adabt my curent airbrish to have a larger nozzle / spray area)
• Detailed compositions, areas of block colour and line work
• Painting 3D models, products and papercut mock ups etc

Colour Exploration & Consideration: Pantone

Colour theory is something I feel I really need to master in my practice. The use of colour and various palettes are one of my main interests and what I look for when viewing other illustrators/creatives work. Colour choices can make or break a creative piece and with this in mind I dug out my Pantone swatch postcard collection.

This collection of Pantone swatches makes it easy to group colours together and individually see what colours work well when applying colour to an image and also exploring various tones, hues and gradients.

I plan on creating a colour palette mood board with these postcards on my home study wall where I can group, swap and interchange various colour swatches to see what works best when applying colour to my work. This will also help me to keep in mind what we were taught in the first year of this course: Keep a palette simple and have it comprise of 3-4 colours of similar tonal/harmonious qualities. Choose a final "accent" colour, a key colour that pops/jumps out/contrasts to be used to highlight important elements within the composition and help to guide the eye.

Pantone is a huge and widely recognised chart/collection of colours. Each is available in both digital printed media and software as well as physical analogue media such as screen print ink and paint. 

"Pantone, Inc. is the authority on color, provider of color systems and leading technology for accurate communication of color." http://www.pantone.com/

By using the colours individual code, an exact swatch/colour choice can be selected and applied to my illustrations.

Adobe Photoshop CC Pantone Swatches

When thinking about colour and how to apply it to my work, I am also beginning to make use of Adobe Color CC. I constantly take reference photos and screenshots of landscapes/scenes/packaging/other practitioners works etc where the use of colour has really inspired me. Using Adobe Color CC, I can input this reference imagery and have the program select the various colours I find interesting in a variety of ways. From there, I can save my swatch selection and create a library of palettes to apply to future work both digitally and to use as reference for my analogue work.

Adobe Color CC
https://color.adobe.com

Using reference imagery

Pinterest - Colour Board
In order to collate my reference imagery for colour palette inspiration and have groups of colours that work well together to refer back too and try out for myself, I have started a Pinterest Board just for colour. There are many links and pins on Pinterest dedicated to colour, theory, palettes and application, and I plan on making the most of this so that i can develop an in depth library of colour inspiration and reference to add too. I plan on using this growing collection to 
- gain a sense of how light can be depicted (and applied) in various colours/tones/hues etc within a composition 
- learn about various palette trends throughout varying seasons and themes
- improve my knowledge of colour application, colour communication and how light and colour work together.  

(I need to figure out a category system as the collection gets bigger ha!)

Research/Inspiration: Anaglyphic Artwork

I am slowly realising I am the kind of practitioner who is inspired by everything and the more I think about becoming a "visual artists" as well as illustrator, I feel the need to document a variety of new creative processes and approaches to work.

Recently I have seen a few pieces of work on social media sites (instagram, pinterest etc) that have centred around the theme of 3D, either in motion graphics or still artwork itself. Here is some examples I have found around "Anaglyphic" artwork, an approach to visual creativity I hope to have a go at within my own practice, despite how complicated a challenge it may seem.
Useful link regarding hand rendered Anaglyph artwork:
http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/22289/is-it-possible-to-create-3d-red-cyan-anaglyphs-in-a-hand-drawing

*******************

Jimmy Cochran
3D Anaglyph Graffiti

Innovative dot painting of David Bowie Mural painted by Street artist James Cochran, aka Jimmy C in the singers home town of Brixton

depthandtime
https://www.flickr.com/photos/depthandtime/4766802878/in/photostream/

Original stereoview

Anaglyph (RED/CYAN)

Alex & Marine
http://www.alexetmarine.fr/fresque-3d/

Timo Meyer

 

Llew Mejia - Risograph

 

Cecilia Carlstedt - Fashion Illustration

Musketon

Hatch Show Print 

Michael Mossner

MATTHEW BENKERT

Quim Marin

SABATO VISCONTI

Photography Glitch Art and Illustration

Mark Ramsey
http://abduzeedo.com/anaglyph-3d-inspiration-mark-ramsey

"Anaglyph 3D is the name given to the stereoscopic 3D effect achieved by means of encoding each eye's image using filters of different (usually chromatically opposite) colors, typically red and cyan. Anaglyph 3D images contain two differently filtered colored images, one for each eye. When viewed through the "color-coded" "anaglyph glasses", each of the two images reaches one eye, revealing an integrated stereoscopic image. The visual cortex of the brain fuses this into perception of a three dimensional scene or composition. Via Wikipedia

In this post we selected some really cool Anaglyph images from Mark Ramsey, a 41-year old guy with a Graphic Design degree, he says it's unused but the work you can see today here might prove him wrong."

Futura Dos Mil