Practical Summative Poster

COP3 proposal - developing ideas/chat with Ben

I had a chat today with Ben about what I would like to do in COP3 and it made me resolve on a final decision. So far I have been debating two COP questions : 

Question 1: What is Good? - To what extent does Social Responsibility impact on the role and function of Illustration?

In which I would like to explore the content that I think is important and would like to communicate through my practice - primarily environmental issues, such as poaching, deforestation, vegetarianism etc. I would look at our social responsibility as image-m how illustration can make social impact in the world. In this I would look at behavioural change psychology and other campaigns or art forms fuelled by design and illustration that have made social impact. 

Question 5: To what extent does Aesthetic ‘Style’ reflect the context, audience and/or function of contemporary Illustration?

My other idea is to extend my current exploration of visual communication in relation to abstract illustration. I would open up this discussion further looking in further depth at conceptual illustration, visual metaphor and art movements such as constructivism, surrealism, fauvism etc. 

Although I am passionate about Question 1, I think it is important for me to continue to discover how, as a practitioner I can best produce work both conceptually and practically to suit my own interests. Once I have mastered this I may apply it effectively to any content of my choosing.

Visual Journal : Final Pages

I cut up bits of my final monoprints into geometric shapes, collaging these together with painted similar shapes and bits of key symbols and signs developed through other experimentation in my visual journal. 



I think this final stage of my visual journal represents a completely removal from the original subject of a vase of flowers. In using geometric shapes, mixed textures, vibrant strong colour and abstract markings or patterns the final image is wholly un-representational in relation to the initial subject. 





I think in this progression from the abstracted image to pure abstraction I have demonstrated the limits of visual communication in relation to illustration. Not all aspects of art movements such as abstract expressionism, minimalism and geometric abstraction can be appplied to design in totality, because this leads to diminishing the function of illustration, which is to solve problems and communicate ideas or concepts to an audience. 

Visual Journal : Monoprints

In these mono-prints I have isolated particular forms and colours to represent the original subject of flowers in a vase. These forms overlapping in informal composition and using non-representational bright colours, alike to fauvism, I feel represents a further stage moving towards 'pure abstraction'.

I choose mono-print as a process because, being unpredictable in nature, I felt it could mimic the focus on 'the expressionist gesture and act of painting itself' (Gagnon, L. 2012) seen in the work of abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollock.

At first I made mono-prints simply using multiple prints of my cut-paper shapes in the primary colours of blue, yellow and red - then mixing together to make purples and greens.

I then used monotype over the top of a number of these prints, incorporating mark making and patterns inspired by earlier paintings in my visual journal experimenting with the idea of the expressionist gesture.

Keith Negley

The illustrations of Keith Negley can be seen as an example of Abstract Expressionism having an influence on contemporary illustration. We may draw links between the painterly and textural quality of non-representational shapes in these two images and the action painting of Jackson Pollock. As with Abstract Expressionist art, the visual quality of this illustration aims to communicate a feeling to the audience, provoking an emotional response. It is vital to consider, however, that this method of visual communication is working in combination with figurative aspects of the image to put across its complex message. It is in the combination of these two contrasting methods of image-making that Keith Negley communicates both a concept/idea and an emotional feeling to his audience. Unlike Atelier Bingo, this work is featured in highly communicative and functional contexts, such as editorial. Does this demonstrate a new form of visual communication? - and that taking influence from different art forms can lead to new and innovative methods of image-making?

Ideas for final poster

List of words relating to my project, summarising it..
e.g. Abstraction. Simplification and reduction. Colour and Form. Visceral and Expressive. Symbolism. Learned Conventions. Function. Communication.

I like the idea of using Males quotes 'Abstraction is a continuum' - but I don't if using someone else's words are allowed?

Maybe I could take this idea and demonstrate it visually with a series of images showing abstraction from simply distilling an image to its basic form to pure 'abstraction' with no forms at all - just visceral expression!

Final Megacrit

I think the feedback from the crit was overall very positive in relation to the links between my theoretical and practical research. All I think there is rest to do is to bring my exploration to a close by drawing all my ideas together.  

Visual Journal: Abstract Expressionist markings and patterns

Focusing on isolated shapes and forms of the flowers, this series of paintings is an experimentation of how I can express the texture of the plant surface using mark-making or pattern. I think this could be moving towards the expressionist gesture - perhaps if I isolated these markings or patterns alone this could represent a form of pure abstraction, that still communicates the surface and idea of a plant.

I then collated these new forms of communicating the flowers and plants, into a formal composition - placing them within context makes it easily communicable what the subject is... therefore context is evidently an essential part of visual communication.

Visual Journal : Abstraction and simplification

In this series of pages of my visual journal I simplified and abstraction a vase of flowers from a photograph into more simple geometric shapes and strong colours, inspired by the theories of movements I have researched such as Fauvism, Cubism, Geometric Abstraction and Neo-Plasticism. 

I choose the subject of a vase of flowers because I wanted to use a natural form, so when abstracted and simplified its formal elements could be innately understood by an audience (taken from previous exploration of semiotics). I also wanted a subject that would provide lots of different shapes, textures and colour - this providing a breadth of different methods I would be able to then communicate and abstract this one subject. 

I think through this process of abstraction, one can identify how different stages maintain enough information of the subject to communicate what it is - however once you move towards pure abstraction, the function of the illustration disappears and becomes something else. 

Atelier Bingo

I knew about the work of Atelier Bingo beforehand, and thought, due to the abstract nature of their images, would be suitable to analyse in my essay. Reading an interview about their work, however, I found that they have made direct reference to artists of movements such as Cubism, Fauvism and Abstract Expressionism to have had influence on their work - stating Matisse was a ‘big inspiration for us –his colours, compositions and shapes’, also referring to work of others such as Picasso and Robert Motherwell. 

I also think you could draw many similarities between the work of Atelier Bingo and Abstract Expressionism - their illustrations being non-representational, often lacking a sense of subject matter and using geometric or highly simplified forms. One could also draw similarities between their emphasis on process – using screen-printing to build up layers and colours – and the painting techniques of Jackson Pollock – both focusing on an immersion in process and an unpredictability of the final result. 

However, does Atelier Bingo's work communicate anything? Their work may lend itself to the practice of pure abstraction and expression because it is seen in very non-communicative contexts of illustration such as textiles and paper products. Therefore do their links to abstract art movements demonstrate an influence on visual communication in illustration, or simply a similarity in their practical methods of making? 

Khemsurov, M. (2015). French Illustration Duo Atelier Bingo. Available: http://www.sightunseen.com/2015/03/french-illustration-duo-atelier-bingo/. Last accessed 19/04/17.

Anna Kovecses

Anna Kovecses is another example of these practices of simplification and reduction being used in contemporary illustration. Alike to the work of Picasso or Matisse the subject is inspired by natural, and here also manmade, forms that remain recognizable to the audience. The key elements of the image are only reduced to their simplest form, defined by block colour, capturing the essence of this composition. Similarly to Cubist paintings, the lack of tonal difference in colour also leaves the image to be read on a single plane. This image is a part of a series of editorial illustrations Kovecses did for the BBC, demonstrating how this form of abstraction has been adapted to provide immediate and direct imagery that communicates to a mass audience. It is arguable, therefore that abstract art movements have influenced contemporary illustration practices in the evidence of similar simplification and reduction processes used to make images.