Quick comment - lose the 'I hope this is adequate'... you should be confident in what you are presenting, and this makes it sound like you're not sure...
Okay, I think there are two or three important things to think about and concentrate on in order to get a little bit more from your artist and his work and how you might work up a more meaningful/innate approach to design.
There is one thumbnail you've produced described as 'transition city' - the concept of which I think is worth exploring more because it communicates something about Kline's work - i.e. that he began painting buildings in a more realistic sense, which then gave way to greater abstraction, and then finally to his famous black and white gestural paintings. This 'evolution' of forms might make for a fascinating design challenge, perhaps showing how one building (maybe a tower) begins as realistic at its base, but slowly becomes more abstracted and out there it reaches the pinnacle. The idea of summarising Kline's journey through physical forms is something worth exploring.
See below:
"Moving away from figurative representation, Kline experimented with projecting small, abstract ink sketches onto his studio wall, enlarging nuanced brush strokes to mural-sized cyphers. These early exercises would inspire the large, black-and-white gestural paintings that became Kline’s legacy. He developed a painting practice that rejected many conventions of the medium: working at night under harsh lighting to bring out the tonal play between black and white and applying both oil and enamel with house-painting brushes created textural inconsistencies and left a record of the artist’s movement" http://www.gagosian.com/artists/franz-kline
I want you to think a little more about KIine's actual method for producing his images: here, it suggests that it took small brush marks, and then projected them much bigger to work from, which meant that all the small details became important or striking characteristics to be explored further. I think you could and should do something similar as you generate your next set of thumbnails: firstly, I think you need to actually get some actual brushes and some actual ink/paint and try and generate imagery in a more Kline-ian way; then, once you generated those images, scan them in at a high resolution, and then look scale them up in Photoshop and look for suggestions of structures in that way: so
work in paint/ink with brushes (and Kline used houseplant brushes, so big, thick and bold), create a whole series of marks in a relaxed non-figurative way, then scan in those marks at a high res, and then explore those scanned marks as starting points from which to find your own shapes and structures for possible building. You need to walk in Kline's shoes.
The other thing that is important about Kline's work is their sense of movement and energy. His paintings don't describe monolithic towers or fixed concrete realities exactly, they give a sense of flow and attack and zig-zagging and energy; you can feel the artist's arm in his work. For an example of architectural forms that convey this sense of change and kinectism, take a look at the drawings of Lebbeus Woods - he might also be a useful reference in regards to think about how some of your city might evolve/de-evolve from something recognisable to something more abstracted.
Hey Phil I did know about his history but decided against the build up city after talking with Simon who voiced his feelings about how it would create a confusing cityscape.
I would much rather work on a creation that all tutors can get behind rather than one or two, if Simon agrees with your point of view then i'll be happy with moving along with this idea, I just don't want to lose out on any points because of conflicting views.
'conflicting views' is normal when it comes to art and design stuff - get used to it :) The general point I'm making I think is go back to Kline, walk in his shoes, work like he worked and thus create a project from the 'inside out' as opposed from the 'outside in'. I don't want you to just stopping at 'city made of big black lines' because I think Kline was doing something more with those paintings.
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteQuick comment - lose the 'I hope this is adequate'... you should be confident in what you are presenting, and this makes it sound like you're not sure...
OGR 05/11/2016
ReplyDeleteHi David,
Okay, I think there are two or three important things to think about and concentrate on in order to get a little bit more from your artist and his work and how you might work up a more meaningful/innate approach to design.
There is one thumbnail you've produced described as 'transition city' - the concept of which I think is worth exploring more because it communicates something about Kline's work - i.e. that he began painting buildings in a more realistic sense, which then gave way to greater abstraction, and then finally to his famous black and white gestural paintings. This 'evolution' of forms might make for a fascinating design challenge, perhaps showing how one building (maybe a tower) begins as realistic at its base, but slowly becomes more abstracted and out there it reaches the pinnacle. The idea of summarising Kline's journey through physical forms is something worth exploring.
See below:
"Moving away from figurative representation, Kline experimented with projecting small, abstract ink sketches onto his studio wall, enlarging nuanced brush strokes to mural-sized cyphers. These early exercises would inspire the large, black-and-white gestural paintings that became Kline’s legacy. He developed a painting practice that rejected many conventions of the medium: working at night under harsh lighting to bring out the tonal play between black and white and applying both oil and enamel with house-painting brushes created textural inconsistencies and left a record of the artist’s movement" http://www.gagosian.com/artists/franz-kline
I want you to think a little more about KIine's actual method for producing his images: here, it suggests that it took small brush marks, and then projected them much bigger to work from, which meant that all the small details became important or striking characteristics to be explored further. I think you could and should do something similar as you generate your next set of thumbnails: firstly, I think you need to actually get some actual brushes and some actual ink/paint and try and generate imagery in a more Kline-ian way; then, once you generated those images, scan them in at a high resolution, and then look scale them up in Photoshop and look for suggestions of structures in that way: so
work in paint/ink with brushes (and Kline used houseplant brushes, so big, thick and bold), create a whole series of marks in a relaxed non-figurative way, then scan in those marks at a high res, and then explore those scanned marks as starting points from which to find your own shapes and structures for possible building. You need to walk in Kline's shoes.
The other thing that is important about Kline's work is their sense of movement and energy. His paintings don't describe monolithic towers or fixed concrete realities exactly, they give a sense of flow and attack and zig-zagging and energy; you can feel the artist's arm in his work. For an example of architectural forms that convey this sense of change and kinectism, take a look at the drawings of Lebbeus Woods - he might also be a useful reference in regards to think about how some of your city might evolve/de-evolve from something recognisable to something more abstracted.
http://lebbeuswoods.net
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/97/13/07/971307a50f45e67bfb7b113a3328b104.jpg
https://lebbeuswoods.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/lwblog-huer-13.jpg
Hey Phil I did know about his history but decided against the build up city after talking with Simon who voiced his feelings about how it would create a confusing cityscape.
DeleteI would much rather work on a creation that all tutors can get behind rather than one or two, if Simon agrees with your point of view then i'll be happy with moving along with this idea, I just don't want to lose out on any points because of conflicting views.
'conflicting views' is normal when it comes to art and design stuff - get used to it :) The general point I'm making I think is go back to Kline, walk in his shoes, work like he worked and thus create a project from the 'inside out' as opposed from the 'outside in'. I don't want you to just stopping at 'city made of big black lines' because I think Kline was doing something more with those paintings.
Deleteoh yeah - and yes, get rid of the 'hope this is adequate' disclaimer.
ReplyDelete