It turns out that on this day I have decided to put my work on a very low level on the wall, level to the floor but still placed upright. This is because upon arriving on the actual site and seeing my work thereI felt like it was more interesting to put my work on a level that is not "normal". This would bring more uniqueness to the show as a whole if there were different levels. This show has taught me how my work can go well with my surrounding works and how the placement of work gives a whole new effect to the viewers as well. I feel like by placing my work very low on the ground it matched what I wanted to convey, which was trying to show the details of the white marker on the ink, wanting the viewers to know that they were people of "the street". Viewers had to look closely to my work and crouch down whereas if it placed it normally (150cm) they would not have to move much and may not be engaged with my work.

Although today I did not receive a crit, one of my peers told me that she liked the mood and tone of my work. To me, this meant that I successfully used watercolour as a medium to show the vibrant moods. The main objective of the work is to show different energy and mood of people within Central Saint martins, and how everyone has this drive to achieve what they want, and having someone acknowledge the tone of the work made me feel more positive about my work.

On the other hand, I felt like my work was not really focused on by many people and maybe it is because of the way I presented my work, which is low on the ground but when people do notice it they told me that they liked the presentation of my work.

When it comes to the meaning of the work I assume that it is not that clear as well, because my peers have asked me what it meant but when I briefly explain they caught on straight away just by looking at my work.

Overall this was an enjoyable project because I wanted to do something 2D but still make it interesting and I had the opportunity to use watercolour which is a medium that I have never really used before. It was interesting to see how the different colours mix depending on the method of applying colour. Also, the site of the work was what made the project and personally, I really thought the site was very motivational to create something that belongs in the space. Along with BA members and other people within the university to experience the show made me really nervous but mostly excited and determined.

Once I had a good look of my "finished" piece after I have stuck the paper together into a long one, I realised that there was something missing. I was not satisfied and although the figures look vibrant and the blending worked very well, I felt like it was lacking something personal. These figures could be anyone, because of their blurred, silhouette style nature. I did not want them to be anyone but be a reflection of "the street", therefore I wanted to add in some detail. First I thought of using the method I've already tried by using a black pen to line draw on top of the watercolour but I felt like that effect was too harsh on the watercolour and it brings too much attention to the drawings. After experimenting in my sketchbook I found that by replacing the black marker with a white one on tracing paper, the effect was just what I wanted to add. The tracing paper gives a very subtle texture on the watercolour and the delicate white line drawings makes me feel like it is something personal. 

I then proceeded to make line drawings/sketches from the photographs I've gathered from people of the street and stuck them onto the paper. By re-thinking and changing up my work from time to time really does make my final outcome more thoughtful. 

I felt like this component was vital to the piece because I hope that people who come to view my work may even recognise themselves in my work, even though it is just a rough sketch,  but that thought of participation adds to the element of a real reflection of the environment.

 

Since I have worked on the idea of piecing strips of painted paper together to finally form a long 3metre strip to display my work, I questioned how to actually install the work. I discovered that putting it on the floor does not have a positive effect that I desired because to me it may make people look over it because my work is 2D and it may not stand out. Secondly I tried to arrange it in a muddled up pile to create dimension to the work. However,in my opinion this did not work out because of how I assembled the paper. If it was one long piece of paper it may have looked better but because I joined multiple paper together it showed undesirable corners. While trying to come up with new ways of presenting my work, I realised that for this particular piece of work and it's nature, it is best to keep it simple and displayed straight onto the wall because of the delicate watercolour textures and how I want it to be a direct and reflection of the space, like a mirror. Presenting it in different ways may alter the interpretation of my work undesirably. However, I will decide on the level I will put on the wall on the exhibition day because I will have to see which position works best.

Thinking back to my visit to the "Everything at Once" exhibition, I wanted to create a similar effect to the artwork that spanned across a wall in the exhibition with repetitive patterns. This is because it affected me when I saw it, as it was so detailed and small yet the span of it is huge and impactful.

After having a tutorial with the tutor about my proposal, I gained several new perspectives to look on my work. For example, now I am aware of how I can manipulate my watercolour figures so that it creates depth to the work. Also, do I want the figure to merge together or not and what does that symbolise? I'm now able to think of deeper meaning to my actions. Today, I tried to come up with multiple ways of displaying my work rather than just on a plain a1 piece of paper, I finalised on using a long piece of paper with the length of about 3 metres and my work will be shown horizontally.

 My work's main objective is to display the energy of the people within CSM, walking through the street. This is because through observation, I found that everyone that walks there seems driven and are walking fast paced, seeming like they know what they want to do/where they want to be. It is overall a very motivating and driving environment to be in and I would like to show that through the use of watercolour because it is a medium that blends well. The different vibrant colours within the work symbolises the many different cultures within the area. I think that I will make the figures merge with each other because everyone in there has similarities and things in common is that they are motivated to achieve what they want as artists. Also, the colours merging in with different colours from different figures symbolise the cultural exchange and how people are constantly absorbing new information from different parts of the world which I find fascinating.

After looking at artist's works such as Gabriel Orozco's yielding stone, I focused even deeper on the fact that I wanted to reflect the street's environment in a painting. I will experiment on ways of doing that using different techniques of paint and by observation of the people there to gain a deeper understanding/ view of what kind of ambience the people there create.

I also learnt that I need to come up with a way of presenting my work and installing it in a way that compliments my other classmate's works as the whole group will curate one big exhibition. This project has taught me to think about my surroundings rather than just looking at how I will display my own work. My work might compliment some other person's work and that might cause a positive response. 

As I developed my ideas I began to think of a lot of ways to illustrate my work, not just by drawing or painting but I tried out many ways and see if which one captures the vibrance of the people in Central Saint Martins the most. This was was kind of an act of working outside of my comfort zone by experimenting new ways of painting. For example I normally am not used to using watercolour as I primarily use acrylic and oil but here I am planning to use it because it offers a type of blending that I feel like compliments what I am trying to present.

When I did the memory exercise, I found myself gravitating towards the people, thinking that it's the people that makes the place memorable. Following that, when we started to think about the site at kings cross and I was exposed to the site itself, I found myself attracted to the same aspect as well, which is the people of the place. When we were still in archway discussing about the project my ideas were a bit unclear and I did not know how to turn the idea into a piece of work but upon arrival many more ideas came into mind. This shows me how the site can influence artwork and artwork does not have to be completed separately from the site it will be presented on. In fact, after today I now realise the importance of considering the space and atmosphere of the site in relation to artwork.

For next week's project, I decided to visit the "Everything at once" exhibition. From the beginning of the exhibition, I got to see Ryoji Ikeda's work "test pattern no12" and it was definitely one of my favourite works that I've seen first hand. It was a completely new experience and I felt so involved with the art piece because it was so interactive. I spent a long time sitting in there admiring the work. 

Also, the other works were also very interesting and in my opinion, it was one of my favourite visits to an exhibition because I feel like each work had a strong sense of interactive element to it and it allows the viewers to submerge themselves into the art piece. There was a lot of use with sound and ambience which gives me a new perspective on how to make art.

The Vapour of Gasoline 20sep-21oct

When I arrived at the gallery and went downstairs to see the artworks, my initial thought was that the artworks in each room were from the same artist and it is an exhibition of one artist. However, I then discovered that it is a collection from various different artist, but somehow the expressions of the artwork and overall environment in the space was as if each work were familiar with each other. 

I was particularly interested in Double Poke in the Eye II by Bruce Nauman. There is an alternating cycle of two heads with eyes poking each other. Although it is neon and looks very vibrant and colourful I feel like the simple shapes gives off a sense of violence and reflects the society. People are always being violent to one another and it is a never ending cycle. It made me think of the belief, one that is wrong, in my opinion: "Solving violence with violence". People seem to think that in order to get rid of violence, one must engage in the act itself.

 

Thinking back to "2 Hose Petrified Petrol Pump 2012", it made me want to steer my direction of work into something visual and ironic. I want to make how my words contrast with the fonts similar to how the artists mockingly turned fossil fuels into actual fossils, where the visual element and meaning of the work is presented clearly. Therefore, I want the viewers to clearly see the contrast between the words and the fonts without me having to explain the meaning behind it, stepping away into a new direction from my previous works where the meanings were quite hidden and personal, in my opinion.

Also, with influence by Phyllida Barlow I wanted to explore how I could change the context of the words similar to how she manages to use vibrant colours to create something aggressive looking.

After working with modroc and thinking more about my piece as a whole, I've kind of turned the presentation into a new direction. As the image of dysfunction and clutter in my head grew bigger I decided to make real, by disposing of all of my previous thoughts of using thread to suspend the words and quite literally just dumping my work in the corner of the room. I want to create a mountain of irregularity using my messy, uneven words along with the neatly cut ones.

As this project developed, I felt a particular way about what I am about to create. I wanted to create a large quantity of words because I want to create this sense of dysfunction and discomfort. In my opinion, people are easily put off by clustered and messy surroundings that are in disorder because they cannot make sense and organise it in their head. I want my 3d work to create that feeling of discomfort because the words themselves are confusing because the fonts aren't delivering the feelings they are supposed to deliver.

For the words where that are supposed to be bold and eye catching I chose to use white card paper as the medium. This was to lessen the attention that these words would normally attract by eliminating the colour and bold fonts.

I hand cut the letters with a cutter and this was a very detailed process as the card is very difficult to cut through.

Today, we started the new project material news. I bought in a newspaper from home, and flicking through I tried to look at what I was interested and drawn to when I am reading through newspapers. I realised that I am drawn to sections with good, simple aesthetics or sections that have an effective use of typography and fonts. Also, I've realised that colour has a huge impact on what message they are trying to convey too, because people have different schemas related to each colour and certain colours may provoke certain emotions.

I started off by cutting sections from newspapers that has different uses of fonts and colour, where I then annotated on and distinguished what the blogger was trying to achieve. Then, I came up with an idea to represent contrasts of words, by recontextualising the use of fonts. This is like the idea of Antonyms.

I'm planning on to make a collection of 3d fonts that are out of context, creating this messy and disorganised atmosphere.

First I was going to make my installation simple and only white but after discussing with the tutor and looking at artist's works I've figured out that this is the time to experiment and I should try mixed media.

After assembling the different layers on top of each other, I realised that it did not give the effect that I was hoping it would. This is probably because the acetate was too thin for us to distinguish the difference between the layers. I could have solved this problem by buying acrylic to paint on because that is thicker and will give a different outcome. However, I thought about giving my piece more dimension so I changed the way I presented it, by hanging them layer by layer, to give space between each layer. In my opinion, this was successful because not only it gave me the ability to showcase each and every layer but it also allowed me to play with the shadows that my paintings causes. Although I am too unwell to attend the rest of classes this week or the final crit I tried to do what I could with experimentation at home.

I had managed to choose a set of photographs that I wanted to work with. Although I experimented with my set of photographs and collaged them in different ways I found that I had this reoccurring theme throughout my set of work. I was really into the contrast between black and white image at the back and collaging something of colour on top. Also, after looking at artists works I was interested in the layering technique.

From then I focused on trying and experimenting on different styles of layering images/drawings. (mixed media)

I began to paint onto A4 pieces of acetate. I used acrylic to paint on them and I painted them layer by layer, increasing detail as I move from one layer to another. I had done each layer separately to get an experience of seeing them assembled for the first time once all the layers are completed. I am thinking of presenting the layers on top of each other on black paper so that it is easy to see the finished product, but that may change as I work further into this project.

I chose to use this composition for the real painting because I feel that there is a calming sense coming from the photography. On top of that, the minimal, tidy strips of green that I added into the collage gave it a very organised feel and subtle contrast.

However, along with the pleasing and calm aesthetics I also have this sense of curiosity and even sinister feel from the image once I have finished collaging it. Questions such as "What are the people doing?", "What does the green strips represent?" and "Why are their faces covered?" started to pop up as the day progressed.

These are the images that I'm planning to work on. The printed images are all my photos that I took of work/photographs within the Tate modern. I've also chosen some newspaper and leaflets.

Although these weren't "exhibitions" or displayed as artwork but they interested me. These were located in a small room in the Tate, and I believe these were showing the workspaces that the artists were working in. I personally thought that the photos had good aesthetics and they were in unique spaces.

For example, this is an image of the artist Barbara Kasten installing her artwork, and an image of Mark Rothko's workspace. I am thinking of using these images to work with for the upcoming project "Altered Spaces"

First, I was nervous that people would not get the idea of my work because I had made it into something very personal to me. However, I was impressed by people that noticed the small details that I would like them to notice. For instance, they gave feedback on how they saw that one side was night and one side was day, and that it had successfully did what I intended to do, how I managed to make found-footage that wasn't mine, mine in a personal way. 

Although I could work on my explaining skills at the end of the video because there was more meaning to the video than what the audience thought but I couldn't explain it all in the time I had. Also, I thought that people would pick up on my editing how it was not 100 percent perfect but nobody criticised it and I realised I may be too harsh on myself.

Overall, I think that today was a really useful day because everyone in class was so engaged in the crit and gave really useful feedback. I also got to see my friends' work and it amazes me how we were given the choice to make the video into anything we wanted and everyone managed to produce something extremely different from one another within this limited amount of time. Also, watching other people's videos also gave me a broader approach to video art as some did things that I personally wouldn't have done but they made it work.

My 2 minute long video is called "Late night walk to 7-11" And it is a representation of my transition into my new life in london. I used to be so comfortable around the streets of Bangkok, and the fast cut scenes represent my confidence and also hi light the business of Bangkok. On the other hand, the right screen represents my new life in London, slowly learning, having to adapt, alone and timid.

One side is night, and the other side is day. There are many connotations that link to those two words, and to me, night time means activity, lights, people, and business. On the other hand, an early morning is usually slow-paced, filled with routines, loneliness and possibly boredom. I also chose food as a representation of the difference between cultures and my lifestyle in general because food is a subject that is clear and easy to understand.

How the video started and ended with me walking in a dark street in Bangkok is almost dream-like, suggesting that I want to go back to where I was before but it is just a temporary flashback to the past. The audio from the left side is also the only one playing, while the audio on the left screen is muted. I am hoping that this shifts the attention of the viewers in order for them to focus more on the left screen. I hope this creates an effect where it emphasises the liveliness and happy mood of the left screen whereas the right screen would be seen as more boring. 

After more development on the ideas and with influences from artists, I started to edit my video. Initially I wanted to show clearly the differences between my daily routines between two countries and then I thought to myself that the footage does not have to be as complex as that in order to efficiently convey my points through the video. Therefore, I chose something simple to start off with; food. There are major differences between the food that is available in Bangkok and the food here in the UK, and showing this contrast may give the viewers a better sensation of the difference between the two routines that I am showing.

After spending the whole day creating my video I got more and more used to the programme and managed to finish the video by the end of the day. To me, the project gave me the confidence to try new media such as video, knowing how to edit it now.

Also, by using footage from other people it should make my video seem distant and unfamiliar, however, by the way that I presented and chose videos it made it seem like personal footage. This is a new interesting thing I've discovered from my first experience of using found footage.

Today we were introduced to the Adobe Premier application. It was my first time using it so I had to quickly grasp the idea of everything. In my opinion, it is definitely a useful tool for fine art even if you aren't planning on making video art. After learning on how to edit found/ already existing clips it gave me a new perspective to art. By seeing works by artists such as Omer Fast and seeing how he can manipulate existing news report clips into presenting his own powerful speech, this gave me the inspiration to try new media in creating art. Normally I would think that to make art I must create everything from scratch and never thought that I could transform existing material into an entirely new meaning.

Towards the end of the session, I came up with a brief idea of what I want to do tomorrow. I would like to experiment with the split screen/ double screen. I want to present two contrasting sets of videos, and a personal topic came to mind, which is how my daily routines and basically my whole life has changed in these past few weeks. Moving in to a new country, immediately starting foundation course with so many unknowns in contrast to my life back in my hometown, Bangkok. I am thinking of gathering multiple clips from youtube to show the basic activities.

 

By having to install my images and paper box onto a wall with limited space, I realised that my installation turned out to look a lot different than what I would want it to look like optimally. I would prefer that there was a bigger space e.g. a whole blank wall to stick my images on in order to emphasise the delicate and small nature of my work. However it is also interesting to see how I was able to arrange my work in a confined space. I tried to make use of the small space by arranging my images so that they would be on eye level, or at least easy for people to look at.

 

When we were split into small groups to do the group crit, I found the experience really interesting and useful. This is because it is always important to know what people think of your work because you won't always be there to explain your work to everyone. It was interesting to see that in the first 5 minutes, the people in my group did not notice all the small details that I have put in my work for them to notice, which in my opinion is also a good thing because the piece is supposed to make the audience spend a long time to find correlations between the receipts. However, they did point out the other things that I wanted to convey, for example they noted how receipts are daily objects that they themselves don't appreciate too. They also noted that the grey background is effective in emphasising the bland nature of receipts.

The piece would be called Detail

I am going to print 24 images in total, each of identical size. Also, in addition to the images I will also insert a paper box around A4 in size to put the receipts on. All of this will be installed onto a plain, white wall using tape. The images are small on purpose in order to encourage people to look closer, simultaneously paying more attention to each image.

The installation will be about discovering new information, depending on how much attention people pay to detail. If they notice how I arranged the images it would mean that the way I presented my work has successfully made the viewers look into details. If they succeed in looking into the details, they would realise that the receipts are organised into two groups, by location and by price, also another point that the viewers may catch up on is that there's one duplicate receipt. Other than that the viewers are free to interpret the receipts in any way they want, for example noticing how people value objects of similar prices differently.

 Also, the interactive paper box is there to create a contrast between my installation and how people treat receipts on a daily basis, highlighting how people do not pay attention to detail to receipts.

 

By discussing with my peers today, I've learnt that even talking to them for a short amount of time, ideas get exchanged and it allows us to develop our own work in a new way that we've never thought of beforehand.

Today, I decided to add more organisation and meaning to the arrangement of my presentation. First I arranged the 12 photographs in no particular order in rows. When I though further about how to arrange my work meaningfully, I managed to come up with two ways to group the images. By the location of the receipts and by price. I'm interested to see if the viewers will be able to pick out how I arrange my images. 

Also, after having more thought on how to present my work I figured out that I wanted to add an interactive element to my installation. After discussing with my peer I came up with an idea to make a small box to contain the real receipts, so that the viewers can personally pick up and touching my work. Hopefully, this would create a contrast between the neatly categorised and organised images and the actual form of it, symbolising how people actually value receipts and me trying to emphasise the value of them.

When I changed the medium of the collection of receipts from using the originals to photographing them and creating some sort of collage, this created an organised and structured feeling. I photographed the receipts in similar ways with similar backgrounds, one by one. It gave the work a sense of individuality, making it seem like the receipts were from many different people rather than   at first when it was presented together it seemed unclear if the receipts were from one person or multiple people.

By changing how I arrange and present my work, people may perceive the meaning of it differently as well. I also tried experimenting with writing out the information on the receipts blindly so they overlay each other. This created the opposite effect of arranging them one by one, as this presentation made me feel like the receipts and objects are of less value because of the overlapped and messy presentation.

When I headed out to buy lunch, this idea of collecting receipts came across my mind. It is something that we interact with on a daily basis, and it is often looked over. So, I asked my friends during lunch if they could give me their receipts of their lunches or receipts that they already have in their pockets. Then, I photographed then together.

To me, receipts may tell you about the person and you can imagine the type of person just by looking at what they buy and I find that intriguing. After collecting the receipts and photographing them, I tried to find a correlation between the items and the prices. Interestingly, I found that someone bought PVC tape for 2.45 whereas another person bought a sandwich for 2.20. This made me think of how people value different objects differently and how that person could have gotten a meal (a necessity) with that money but chose to buy tape instead.

I found it really interesting how other people comment on my work. It shows how other people view my work and shows how effectively I can communicate my ideas through words. Because it is their first time viewing my work it is interesting to see how they can understand my artwork through my presentation. Overall, it seems that the point I wanted to make got conveyed to my viewers.

The research that impacted the direction of my ideas the most was Cornelia Parker's work because I find the installation eye-catching and unique.

I chose optimism, water and repeat. I found that weather is an interesting connection between optimism and water. Although the term "good weather" is subjective to each person, most of the time people do not refer to rain as good weather, especially when it reoccurs everyday (linking to repeat). I am planning to make an installation where it shows both views of the effects of rain, for example when you are being optimistic you might see how essential rain and water is and how it is essential to life. On the other hand water can be destructive, for example, floods. I plan to make the installation ambiguous, and viewers can interpret the piece in more than one way.