no fun
kiss me u fool
(super slow GIF file V super speedy youtube video)
an animation loosely based on the famous kiss scene from gone with the wind, aiming to do the opposite of glorifying it.
the nasty woman will try to eat you.
continuing with my earlier ramblings about the AWFUL representation of women in those fairy tales of our youth, y'know the ones? the ones that we never questioned.
but why were all of the bad, nasty characters women? evil step-mothers, witches and generally sick, twisted old women who want to eat children - it is this sick and twisted woman who wishes to eat children that i have focused on in these little studies. sound familiar? hallo!!!! hansel and gretal.
type writer + letraset pen
i wanted to challenge this beautiful gingerbread house portrayed in the hansel and gretal tale. what if the evil old woman/witch/whatever she was, was a man? a man that baked! a man that baked this beautiful gingerbread house adorned with candy canes and jelly tots, it just would not happen because we all know that women belong in the kitchen (SARCASM SARCASM SARCASM!!!!!) with these new revelations under my belt i decided to build a gingerbread house with all together different prospects to that in the hansel & gretal story. we will call it 'the house that phoebe built'
take that patriarchy!
working with the female figure,
the ideas that drive my work are about challenging traditional ideas of femininity and tackling feminism as the taboo it has become in modern day society,
i've created a few simple drawings capturing the female form.
i made an animation.
disney films and fairy tales in general - these are the films we watched as children (children nowadays are brought up with rastamouse and such others, proving that society has learnt it's lesson and there is hope for the future) but what were WE being taught when we were young and susceptible? the evil queen in the story of snow white - striving for youth and beauty by looking towards her mirror and asking "who is the fairest of them all?" when the mirror responds that snow white is indeed the fairest of them all, the invidious queen seeks revenge upon snow white and tries to kill the young beautiful woman, so that she remains the fairest of them all. blah blah blah so on and so forth until snow white is placed in the glass coffin by her seven dwarfs until her handsome prince comes and awakens her with true loves kiss - when she wakes, they, of course get married and live happily ever after - hurray! (morning breath?!) if only every romance was that easy, snow white was a fool to rush into that marriage.
the point i'm trying to establish here, is that all beautiful princesses don't seem to have much of a say in whom they marry in these tales and appear to wait around for men to come and 'save them' - damsel in distress/trapped in the tower of loneliness/waiting to marry, and all evil queens, witches, step-mothers, well that's self explanatory really - where are all the evil kings, wizards and step-fathers? probably trying to find a vulnerable princess to smooch, that's where.
media bullshit
This is a little video to express my general anger and dismay at the media today (unintentional rhyme, but a good one none-the-less). As this is my third animation ever in the whole world, I'm starting to learn a few tricks of the trade - REPETITION (just photocopy those bad boys until you have a bulky enough series to work with - or just copy the frames when actually making the darn thing) TRACING (unfortunately for me, tracing means holding two frames up ((the blank one on top of the one prior to it making for smooth and efficient changes)) onto my laptop and/or a window = achey arm. I have invested in a light box, we're heading for bigger & better things guys, bigger, and better things)
I like the newspaper idea as it's something that everyone can relate to, and is a bit more obvious than my blue man series.
"you're well obsessed with lizzy"
O.K. I am a bit obsessed with Lizzy (Queen Elizabeth) but she is such a recognisable figure in society, and one whose image is presented to be absolutely pristine, making it rather easy & fun to soil. Here I have drawn an old young-y picture of Queen Elizabeth looking rather dazzling and pristine and then drawn a 'day of the dead' style skull on top of her face - something which has become quite punky, often appearing in tattoo designs. The juxtaposing images placed on top of one another in this gif. are meant to shock the viewer.
the blue man walks
I wanted the animation to tell a story of the banal - a man walking for a long time, approaching a shop, entering the shop to buy some milk, and then the story ending. The fact that the man is naked, and completely out of proportion, awfully drawn is supposed to comment on the way we see ourselves as people, walking very proud and confident. But this animation depicts the sheer normality and stupidity of our every day lives. I hate people who are trapped in their own sad lives, I like to pick fun at such people.
the blue man is blue
Post Shrigley life drawing session, I began to scrutinise the human form in depth. The model that we were presented with for the life drawing session at David Shrigley's new exhibition 'how are you feeling?' was large and extremely exposed, there was a huge sense of vulnerability about the out of proportion figure yet I felt that this scrawny and oddly shaped model we were faced with was entirely human. I like this idea of breaking down the human figure, which we so often see in art works and turning it into a basic, imperfect form, which we rarely see in such a public arena.
I began to experiment with this idea, painted blocks of bulky blue areas onto small canvas board, and then going over the areas with unrehearsed simple line drawing - perhaps representing the expectations of a regular human form rested beneath the androgynistic figure presented through basic line drawings. I've chosen to represent both male and female body parts as I feel it not only comments on gender equality but I wanted to represent humans on a whole as opposed to one sex.
I also made my first ever animation based on this little person I've created, it's called 'The Blue Man is Blue'. I'd like to experiment further with animation, creating longer and more complex illustrations. Also, DISASTER! My scanner broke, so I had to photograph all of the images, which proved to be quite difficult and the main reason to why I faced such problems with over exposure and blurriness. Scanning will most definitely be the way forward with my future animations.
i have no direction
putting pen to paper as opposed to over thinking every minor detail of every ridiculous idea that I ever generate, these are just some sketches based on my ideas. Instead of fretting about choosing a direction to go in, I will embrace all of my stupid ideas and categorize them as complete madness.
all hail the shrig (2)
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As part of David Shrigley's brand-spanking new exhibition (How are you feeling?) @ the Cornerhouse I attended an absolutely delightful life drawing session during the three day run up to the opening - along with many, many more artistic and in-the-know members of the public.
Walking into the vast empty space with this vulnerable figure stood singular in the centre was eerily similar to that of a normal life drawing session despite being a million miles away. The figure, which stood completely out of proportion, urinating into a bucket every 2 minutes and continually blinking with no other bodily movements was quite overwhelming. The atmosphere of the space and the people within it was far from overwhelming however and was in fact extremely therapeutic and carefree - churning out lively and energetic drawings without hesitation or remorse.
The drawings that myself and the rest of the public have created will be presented beside the figure when the exhibition opens officially on the 6th October.
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