Of composition, shoes & rule of thirds.

Another assignment we did on composition.
We used a cut-out frame and placing our 'subject' in it following the 'rule of thirds' (click to know more) known in paintings, photography, etc..

The red dots where the lines intersect are the "power points"  

I chose the subject matter, shoes.


A glimspe into the mind of a bowl of salsa.....
Interviewer: So, tell us a little bit more on your experience carrying out this assignment.

Salsa: While doing this assignment I have to say, it was one of the most awkward situations I ever got caught in. so far

Interviewer: Hm, how so?

Salsa: Well, crouching down amidst shoes, bending down into shoe racks. One hand stretching out in front, holding what seems to be a rectangular cut-out probably made out of card, the other struggling to take a picture with a dodgy phone camera (because of that I apologize in advance for the bad quality) and the concentration on the face of a very, very constipated person - OH, AILSA.


The amount of stares I got from people, even children! Gosh, they probably thought I was mad. The nicer ones would think that I just had a weird compulsive obsession with shoes. I could almost hear them thinking "What the heck.. is she doing....." - but hey, that's all part of being a future designer, right? No shame, no shame...

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this assignment & the learning process very much.

Anyways! Less talk, more walk! I now finally present to you...  My work!

Enjoy!

Love,

Salsa.

Expressionism?

August Macke "Lady in a Green Jacket" 1913

"Fighting Forms" by Franz Marc 1914

Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20^th century. It was developed as an avant-garde style before the World War I (1914-1918) and remained popular during the Weimar Republic (name of federal republic and parliamentary representative democracy established in 1919 in Germany), particularly in Berlin. The style later on extended to a wide range of the arts, which includes painting, literature, theatre, dance, film, architecture and music.

A typical trait of expressionism art is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect  in order to evoke moods or ideas. Expressionist artists sought to express meaning or emotional experience rather than physical reality. Its emphasis on individual perspective has been characterized as a reaction to positivism and other artistic styles such as naturalism and impressionism.

Expressionism is notoriously difficult to define, in part because it overlapped with other major art movements, ‘isms’, of the modernist period such as Futurism, Vorticism, Cubism, Surrealism and Dada. Despite that, expressionism has also been likened to Baroque by critics but according to Alberto Arbasino, an italian writer, a difference between the two is that, “Expressionism doesn't shun the violently unpleasant effect, while baroque does”.

Expressionist artists known mainly as painters, like Erich Heckel, also worked with sculpture.
One of few sculptors who used the Expressionist style is german Ernst Barlach, *click* who is also a printmaker and a writer.

Ernst Barlach 'Der Mann im stock', 1918

Ernst Barlach's "Frierende Alte" 1937

Many of Ernst's work has inspired me to create my previous work.

So, that's it!


Next serving will have a little something to do with the number 3.. let's leave the rest a mystery for y'all to guess. ;)

'Till then..

Love,

Salsa

Something that represents yourself...

Our first mini assignment in Principles of Design class was to create something that represents us... Do anything, try something new, experiment!

But it has to be based on an art movement.

I did some research and decided to base my work on 'Expressionism'.

This is what I came up with.

A sculpture meant to show a face "stretching" out from the paper.

At this stage, the clay sculpture of the face depicted me wanting to break free from the stereotypical society that I was brought up in. I added lace to show how I still seemed to be tied down by many different factors in life currently. The two-toned face stood for my emotions; purple were the calm emotions I experienced & the red were the more intense emotions like happiness/anger.

The background was still empty so I experimented a lil' like decorating it with buttons..

Then I decided to paint the background a monotone, which stands for how my environment was like, all different types of people (as seen in different thickness of stripe) but were just plain black & white, straight & rigid. ..Boring. Somewhat, also like a prison.

The final product!

Added cling wrap to further exaggerate the effect of the face "popping" out.

This was my first time moulding a sculpture. ..Not bad, eh?

Next post will be a little bit about my art movement.

'Till then!

Love,

Ailsa (aka salsa)