Mural Evaluation

When handed the assignment, my initial thoughts were that I was very pleased about the project because it was all about me the individual. Thinking that this topic wouldn't be difficult as it could be linked to anything about me, which is a topic that I know very well. Collecting the information would not be a problem because all the ideas were already in my head and at hand therefore all I needed to do is translate all my ideas onto paper and work from there. I looked at a various artists such as Mr Brainwash, Michael Craig Martin and so forth to get inspiration. I looked at their techniques used and how they produced certain textures and variations with the medium within their work.

Gathering all the inspiration from the various artist when it came to creating my final piece, I  drew multiple designs using an array of colour experiments and different mediums to get a range of outcomes. From this I was able to choose what I thought was the most interesting design. The techniques I used were mostly influenced by Michael Craig Martin, Si Scott and Banksy because I found their technique interesting within their artwork and therefore tried to reflect that in my own piece. A good example of this, where i tried to use an artist impersonation would be that of Michael Craig Martin. He used blocked colours on everyday household object in an unrealistic way; whereas Banksy focuses more on Street Art using stencilling technique again using blocked colours in his own unique style.

The main material that I used throughout my final piece was acrylic paint along with a range of resources used such as a sponge, different brush sizes, brush flicking etc to get different technical outcomes. For example: the baby in my final design, I used a sponge which gave the image a nice textured effect, this also allowed me to blended various colours easily. Again being inspired by Michael Criag Martin I painted the lava bottle by using blocked colours in an unrealistic which gave the bottle bigger and bolder presence. By using different resources I was able to create various effects which I felt gave my piece depth in the style of the above artists.

To be honest, I was not too pleased with my final design. I feel that in some aspects of my final piece, some parts didn’t really describe and reflect me as an individual, therefore somewhat irrelevant. I know that this is my fault as I could have used my time wisely to plan more and prepare. If I was to return to this project I would make the final piece more relevant to me.

My most successful part of the assignment was my sketch book because i feel that the work I did in it was of good quality, from the artists research I did, to the way I managed to capture certain aspects of the artists work and the progression and layout throughout my sketch  book that lead me to my final piece. My most unsuccessful part was my actual final piece, as I said before, some aspects I felt was irrelevant and the way I drew it, it wasn’t to my liking. If I were to improve my assignment I would take more time through the planning stage and thought process with regards to what I actually wanted in my piece of work.

Micheal Craig Martin

Micheal Craig-Martin was born in Dublin, 28 of August in 1941. He is a contemporary conceptual artist and painter. He follows the movement Conceptualism which basically means all the planning and decisions are made beforehand and execution is a perfunctory affair.

I think he is a unique artist because he uses everyday objects and turns it into artwork. He may just use one one object with bold colours to a montage of everyday objects like he's done in the picture above.

My thoughts on Michael Craig Martin is that for someone who didn't know about his work just would think he is very naive because he uses everyday objects and chooses to expand or minimise it to his choosing but on the other hand you hardly see any artist doing this nowadays - taking something so simple and using it in a form of art. Most artist always think outside the box whereas I think Micheal thought inside the box and created an artwork so simple but work effectively at the same time.

Si Scott

Si Scott is a full-time artist who is a designer as well as a creative consultant is based in England. He is famous for his unique handcrafted and hand-drawn creations which gained him a number of awards. So far in his career his done projects for numerous companies such as Nike and Sony.

Si Scott’s work has been all over the world in different cities including Brazil, New York, Tokyo and more. 

Some people may think that Si Scott's work is a bit boring because he works with letterforms mostly, but I think his work is rather interesting. Even though he may use letterforms mostly, his work no matter how big or small, is always at a high quality. Also, his work is very specific which I like. For something that looks so simple there's a few guidelines Scott follows. For example:
-  Scott makes sure that all letterforms have the same 'x height' as you can see in the picture above.
-  The kerning (the space between each letter) is roughly the same.
-  He uses Descenders and Ascenders, that's when letterforms go past the 'x height' from the bottom or the top. Letters like 'j' have a Descender and letters like the letter 'h' have a Ascender.
-  The counter width is roughly the same within each round letter.
- One thing I've noticed in Si Scott's work also is that he either has serifs on all letters or none at all.

To sum up, I consider Si Scott's work very unique because of the guidelines he follows as well as the swirls and little detail he does inside the letterforms. Lastly, he not naive to work just on letterforms, he expands his work to different objects he takes a liking to as you can see from my first picture.

Kara Walker

Kara Walker, born 1969 in California is an African American artist who explores gender, race and identity in her work. Walker's work has been all across America in exhibitions such as Johannesburg, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and more.

Kara Walker moved to the south at the age of 13 when her father got a job at Georgia State University. Walker first got noticed for her mural in 1994 with the art piece called: “Gone, An Historical Romance of a Civil War as It Occurred between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart.” Her unique cut-paper silhouette, presenting an old-timey south filled with sex and slavery was an instantaneous success. Walker now currently lives in New York, where she is a professor of visual arts at Columbia University. One of her influences includes Andy Warhol, with his omnivorous eye and moral distance.

In my opinion, I think this work is about forgiveness and peace because I relate to this as slavery as white people in-slaved the black people and in this picture you can clearly see a young black girl and a middle-aged white man shown by the features of the two people and the way they’re dressed. The reason why I think it’s about forgiveness and peace because even though the black people where in-slaved by the white, in this image I think the young girl is trying to help the man as he looks like he has injured himself and the flower that is in the girl’s hand is the key to saving him and maybe he has her other hand on her mouth because she trying to tell her fellow peers not to tell the leader of the tribe. To conclude I also think Kara’s left a moral behind and that is to forgive.

I thought Walker's image was very thought out and whereas other artwork you'd just admire; Walker's work you just dont just admire you think as well because its silhouetted you could think all different things to whats going on in the picture. Shes most recognized her mural of black-cut paper silhouettes.  

Mr. Brainwash

Mr. Brainwash birth name is 'Thierry Guetta'. He follows the movement of pop art using different blends of colours. Mr. Brainwash took other peoples artwork and made it his own such as, Warhol and Litchtentei. Some people say  he's a copycat because he takes other peoples artwork and just adds paint.

Guetta does not really  have much physical involvement in the construction of the artwork attributed to him; he passes ideas to his creative team, mostly graphic designers who realise the finished pieces

I think Brainwash is the most interesting artist out of all the artists I've researched. I like the way he adds paint over other peoples work to make his own but in someway it looks more effective. Lastly, I think this is the only artist that supposedly has two identities, himself, Mr. Brainwash and Banksy because there artwork are so alike.