Hand Paint

These wonderful works are created by photographer, Ray Massey, together with hand painting artists, Annie Ralli and Annie Miller. Looking at these pictures made me realize that the quote, "your body is a canvas" is not exaggerated at all. Instead of painting on paper, these creative artists decided to paint on a pair of hands. I think the last picture of a mosque painted on hands in a praying state goes well together and that the overall picture is very effective. Same goes for the rest of the paintings, this way of potraying the images gives it a more 3D effect. 

Nature is Art

From these pictures, I can see that the artist uses flowers to create designs for dresses. The flowers compliment the dresses really well, it gives the dresses more of an elegant look. Using flower petals is a great way to design dresses as it pulls off the look of a skirt. It amazes me how we can use nature/living things to ornament our artwork. In this case, the flowers are used perhaps, for fashion studies. If leafs were to be used instead of flower petals, I think all of the dresses will have a more edgier look. Hence, besides nature, we could probably think of other materials that we could use to create artwork, an everyday item for example.This shows that it is not necessary for anyone to purchase such high end materials to create art, sometimes it just takes enough creativity to think outside of the box.

Think Outside of the Box

On the third week of school, my classmates and I were given a list of items and we had to choose one of the items as our main topic . My group decided to go with chopsticks, we then had to think of different ways of using chopsticks besides the norm, which is eating. I was really surprised by some of the ideas that my group mates came up with. Our ideas ranges from fashion, using chopsticks as a hair accessory, to furniture designs, where multiple chopsticks could be used to build book shelves. One of my group mates also mentioned about this famous Jackie Chan Chopstick portrait where about 64,000 chopsticks were tied into different bundle sizes with strings, and then hung to a steel frame. I really feel like this is a good exercise to help us with our creative thinking as we have to think of something new, something that was never done before so there is no right or wrong answer, it is just the case of how creative we can be.

3D Street Art

3D arts on the streets, playing with everyone's imagination. People are actually having so much fun taking pictures of themselves together with the 3D artworks, which looks really realistic in the photos. These artworks actually helps people to be creative and imaginative as they pretend that they are in the artwork. While others view this as a form of art, some considers this as an act of vandalism. People can actually be fined in some countries for doing such work on the streets. Similarly to graffiti, it is viewed negatively because of some people who abused the use of it.

Finger Painting

The artist, Judith Braun creates her artworks by using only her fingers which are covered in charcoal dust. From landscapes to abstract patterns, the artworks appears to be more soulful-looking compared to paintings by brushes. The artworks that have long drapes of the fingers look a lot like hands reaching out. I think creating an art piece with just the use of our fingers is actually a good way for those who are aiming for a more emotional or deep themed for their artwork because it helps to portray the emotions much more easier. Hence, does this mean that creating art with different body parts channel different kinds of emotions?

The Power of The Internet

I was scrolling through Twitter when I came across these pictures on my timeline. Where it shows everyone in the picture being too preoccupied with their mobile devices, they literally have their faces glued to their phone screens. The message that the photographer is trying to convey is pretty obvious, we are overly attached with our phones, or more specifically, the internet. We use the internet for almost everything, be it for school, work or just for our own entertainment. It is impossible to not spot a single soul without a phone in their hands, no matter where we go, especially with the craze of PokemonGo going on recently. We rely on the internet so much, I wonder what would happen if one day the electricity suddenly went off, no internet connection whatsoever, could we actually survive a day without using our phones? We are so caught up with technology we forgot about the outdoor activities that we could do besides being on our phones the whole day. 

Book Installations

This a picture of an array of books with different colors, all stacked up together. From afar, it looks like a vague painting of a landscape but it is actually just colored books stacked together in quite a disorderly manner. The photographer, Anouk Kruithof, captured the sight of the books falling. The tittle of this installation is "Enclosed content chatting away in the colour of invisibility". I think the whole idea of capturing the books falling is to show that the great powers of knowledge that are within the books are sometimes gone to waste. The tittle of this installation can actually prove my point on how books are not really appreciated nowadays. With the world getting more technologically advanced, would we still turn to books in the future or would we just leave it in the shelves to rot away with time?

Fragments

Fragments is one of the artworks of Kumi Yamashita under the theme of Light & Shadow, where the complete artwork is comprised of both the material (solid object) and the immaterial (light or shadow). This artwork is a collection of resin tiles casting shadows of people. The tiles are all of different sizes and is sculpted differently, forming different forms of faces with the shadow. The different colors of tiles might not necessarily have any effect on the shadow but I think the colors helps in showing that each tile is a representative of different people. Besides the norm, painting, drawing and coloring, this is actually a creative way of portraying faces.

Destruction Is A Form Of Creation

All of these images are of different artworks but all of them have one thing in common; they all look destruct in one way or another. The damaged done does not look like it is caused by a minor accident but more of something dangerous, like a natural disaster. Valerie Hegarthy, the artist, is known for creating art that critically engage with art history. Her trompe-l'oeil style shows the effect of natural and man-made disasters on cherished cultural objects. In my opinion, I think what the artist is trying to show her audience here through her artworks, is that sometimes, things that are beautiful are not always made from pretty things. Not all artworks have to be perfect in every way for it to be admirable, sometimes these little flaws are what makes the artwork more meaningful. 

The YouTube Sensation

YouTube is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world. It is a place where you can watch videos about music, gaming, entertainment, basically everything on YouTube. It also allows us to upload our own videos, for us to share it with the world and this is what I will be blogging about today.

Meet Joe Sugg, he is very well-known in the YouTube family. He uploads videos every week, every Sunday to be exact, and he likes to call it SuggSunday. Joe's channel consists of him doing pranks, challenges and impressions. He has over 7.1 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel and has about over 500 million video views. That is a huge number of people who watches his videos! The thing about being a YouTuber is that you have to keep thinking of new contents for your videos and since YouTube is very big, there's probably thousands more of other Youtubers doing the same thing, so it takes a lot of creativity to think of something new and fresh. Imagine having to think of new ideas for a video every week, trying to think of something that no one has ever done before just so for our entertainment, it takes a lot of planning and thinking. Other than being a Youtuber, Joe has also launched 2 graphic novels. He also won the Radio 1 Teen Choice Awards for Best British Vlogger in 2015.

Artists Who Break The Rules

On the second week of school, my classmates and I were told to do a research regarding Designers who Break The Rules. In our own groups we had to make a mind map of the designers who we thought classifies under the rule breaker category. My choice of designer is Alan Fletcher.

Who is Alan Fletcher?

Alan Fletcher was known as the "Father'' of graphic design. His way of thinking was on a whole new level. There were no restrictions in the way that he thinks and in the type of art that he creates. He wasn't afraid of using bold colors and strong visual language in fact, some of the works that he produced has expressive typography. His book, The Art of Looking Sideways, has him talking/discussing his inspirations and the idea of play and how it works well with creativity.

Some of his works:

The Glow in the Dark Dress

The highlight of the Met Gala 2016 event was probably the glow in the dark dress. In bright daylight, the dress looks simple yet elegant with a princess vibe to it but what made this dress stand out from all the other beautiful dresses on that day was when all the lights are out!

The man who created The Dress:

The man who created the glow in the dark dress is Zac Posen. He is a fashion designer who graduated from London's Central Saint Martins University. He was awarded with Swarovski's The Perry Ellis Award for Women's wear by the CFDA in 2004. In 2015, Women's Wear Daily and Variety Magazine awarded him with Designer of the Year. Zac's creation has been worn by many, from celebrities to the First Lady Michelle Obama.

Zac Posen created the glow in the dark dress together with his team of six people and it took them 600 hours to complete the masterpiece. The dress is made out of custom fiber optic woven organza with 30 mini battery packs sewn into a thin organza lining. The dress definitely caught a lot of people's attention and had turned every girl's princess dress fantasies into reality. Zac Posen had definitely spent a lot of his time thinking and working on this dress, from choosing the right fabric that goes well with the lights to arranging the batteries under the fabric. This is definitely not the kind of dress that you would see everyday at an event, hence it is very spectacular to have Zac Posen create something so extraordinary.

The Art of Writing

I feel like writing helps to keep your imagination vivid, with how you have to think of words/phrases to keep the story that you've pictured in your mind flowing. I know that a 'picture speaks a thousand words' just by the art itself but I feel like by writing my ideas down and planning it out helps me to see my work clearly. Not everyone can think and see things the same way, it all lies on each individual like the saying, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", so everyone sees things differently. Which is why it actually helps to write down a description of your artwork for your audience to help them see things from your point of view so that they can understand your artwork better. I also find it very appealing when an artist is able to describe his artwork with such detailed explanation. I am no expert when it comes to writing but I aspire to be able to not only captivate my audiences with my artwork but to also share with them the way that I think.

The Beauty of Nature

The most alluring and breath-taking kinds of art are mostly by Mother Nature.There are absolutely other forms of beauty that Mother Nature creates but sunsets happened to be my most favorite. Like how the gradients of colors appear so effortlessly beautifully, blending in so well with rest of the world. I think it is impossible for one not to be in love with the kinds of spectacular sceneries Mother Nature provides us with. Which is why I think Mother Nature is taken for granted for, we think we will always be bless with such views that we are unaware that some of our actions are causing harm to the earth, an example would be the increasing rate of global warming. Hence, we should all do our part in protecting the earth so that all these natural beauties can still be preserved for us to appreciate more.

Vincent Van Gogh

The first time I heard about Vincent Van Gogh was in primary school, during an art class where we had to study one of his artworks and I have been attracted to him as an artist ever since then. He was such a diligent artist, often completing more than one painting each day. The thing that I am most attracted about him is the fact that he was very passionate about his work no matter what he was going through. He's mental instability did not stop him from exploring and discovering art instead, he turned to painting and nature for some assurance whenever he was at his lowest. This has inspired me over the years to use art as a way of expressing myself be it my thoughts or emotions. After reading his biography, I can only imagine what it was like to go through the things he did. It must have taken him a lot of determination to continue pursuing his work and improving himself  despite his obstacles.

Some of his artworks:

Starry Night

Vase with Twelve Sunflowers

Self-Portrait

Even though Vincent Van Gogh is more known for  his landscape works, he finds portraits as "the only thing in painting that moves me deeply and that gives me a sense of infinite".