A Pineapple Year

The artworks shown below are the calendar pages I designed for this year. Its for my AEP coursework and the purpose of it is to reflect on my (last) year in NYGH. I guess it's a little like a monthly diary of sorts? Each page was a watercolor painting (except October, which is done in poster color and acrylic), lined with a thin marker and occasionally touched up with white pen. I say 'was' because they were all scanned into the computer and I did some light photoshop (my photoshop skills suck) before it was sent for printing. On each page, there is also a small pineapple sculpture made of air-dried clay, painted with a mixture of paints (poster, watercolor, acrylic) and varnished. Each month has a theme and so does each pineapple. I also found quotes on the internet and added one to each month. I think I'm more or less satisfied with my work though I feel that I could have done better if I improved on my watercolor skills and photoshop skills.

January: Chinese New Year~!

Pineapple type: Eat Me

February: Valentine's Day, Science Practical Trials

Pineapple type: Split-skin (a representation of stress and contradiction)

March: GRACES, School hols, Exams

Pineapple type: Enzyme and Substrate/Masquerade (depends on how you want to interpret it)

April: Birthdays and Exams

Pineapple type: Strangled in ribbons (representing both of the above)

May: Relaxation (start of school hols)

Pineapple type: Ice-cream-eating

June: Holiday

Pineapple type: Akuma (representing the enjoyment of anime/manga... and my birthday--because my friends nickname me Akuma)

July: More exams

Pineapple type: Strangled by snake (the horrors of Biology?)

August: National Day (Singapore)

Pineapple type: National Day Parade (NDP)

September: Burning midnight oil (studying)

Pineapple type: Burnt-out candle

October: Final Exam's a war game

Pineapple type: Octopus ('cuz of the super busy month)

November: The End is coming, Autumn (though Singapore has no autumn)

Pineapple type: Mad Hatter (let the fun begin!)

December: Christmas

Pineapple type: Queen of Hearts ('cuz a friend of mine once played the Queen of Hearts in an Odyssey of the Mind (OM) performance and her birthday is on the 25th, and the Queen of Hearts could also represent love?)

That's all. Unfortunately the lighting isn't very good and some parts have shadows where there shouldn't be shadows while some parts are too bright. Maybe I should have taken the photos of my artwork at somewhere where the lighting is even? Hm... 

95th Anniversary Card

Front Cover

Inside

This is the card I made for the 95th Anniversary of my school, Nanyang Girl's High. I wrote the words in pencil first before lining it. After that I colored the edges lightly (maybe a little too lightly?) with color pencil. Then I cut out the words that I had previously lined (with penknife). On the inside, I pasted a black piece of paper because I thought it would be a nice color for the background of the inside of the card. I decided to decorate the inside a drawing of my friends and I celebrating the 95th Anniversary. I did it in a photo format, inserting the drawing into the corner flaps I pasted there as a frame. The picture was drawn, then lined, then colored with color pencil. 

The setting of the drawing is the mac lab of the school. In the middle of the picture is a gigantic cake that has nine big candles (the blue ones) and five small candles (the light green ones). The people around it are students waiting to eat the cake. As you can see, the candles are still lit, which means that the cake shouldn't be eaten yet, but two things have happened: a) one student had been hiding in the cake and had happily burst out at that moment, and b) another student had stolen a slice of cake. I guess I drew this with my old class in mind and added the 'crazy' elements into it to depict the way our class may have celebrated the Anniversary if we had been able to (I don't think such a celebration would be allowed in reality....) 

People featured in the drawing, clockwise from top left-hand corner: Cat (not an old classmate, but my CCA training partner... she's slightly money-minded), Mr Chang (a teacher who used to wear checkered shirts all the time, and would not be happy if we ate in the mac lab), Komui (otherwise known as Fang Ni, and is the fun-loving prankster-sort of person), me (chasing after the stolen slice of cake) that Lero (otherwise known as Pang Xin) has, 'Tachi (also known as Svena, with her trademark jacket), Hsi Chien (sketching), Yu Qi (with the Eeyore), Hui Tze (with the iPad) and Lenalee (otherwise known as Jia Hui)

I think I'm quite pleased with the result, though I should have improved on the colors which seem a bit too light (?) I especially like the way the light shines through the cut-out words and the solid sections cast interesting shadows on the drawing beneath. As for the message I want to convey through this artwork... YOLO~ ^_^

P.V. (Personal Values from my Point of View)

This artwork is by Rene Magritte, titled Personal Values or Les Valuers Personelles. The artwork is done in 1952, depicting the interior of a bedroom. There are seven main items depicted: The comb, the bed, the shaving brush, the armoire, the soap, the glass and the matchstick. The bed is neatly made in one corner of the bedroom, a large patterned comb resting on it, an armoire in the other corner with a shaving brush resting on top of it, a piece of soap in front of the armoire, a turquoise wine glass in the foreground and a matchstick lying on the ground beside it. The wooden bedroom floor is carpeted, the walls are painted to look like the sky, and a window can be seen reflected in the mirror of the armoire. Though the objects seen in the room seem ordinary, they are painted into strange sizes and warped proportions, with the comb, matchstick, wine glass, shaving brush and soap appearing larger than the bed and the armoire. 

In this work, the subject matter is about the value of such everyday objects than about the objects themselves. The exaggerated size of the objects could reflect on the value it holds to the artist. The comb, shaving brush and soap are all items used for personal care. The soap is used for personal hygiene, while the comb and shaving brush are used to groom oneself for one's appearance in society. This is why these three items are depicted larger in size as compared to the rest of the room, because they are considered to be 'more important'. However, the careless placement of the shaving brush atop the armoire suggests that the artist still feels the need to be more free within his own personal room, while away from the eyes of the society. 

The walls of the room are painted to depict the sky outside. The sky is light blue with fluffy white clouds, and it represents the boundless imagination of a person that cannot be trapped within an enclosed space. The painted sky contributes to the slightly dream-like and surreal feel of the painting, along with the distorted proportions of the objects in the room. As the room is painted very realistically, with invisible well-blended brushstrokes and shadows that give the painting depth, the strange unreal sizes of the objects in the room is further emphasized. The room somewhat reminds one of a dollhouse with doll-sized bed and armoire, but with the inclusion of real, normal sized everyday items (the comb, matchstick, shaving brush, wine glass and soap), which, in this context, seems invasive as they grace the room with their intimidating size and seemingly unwelcomed presence. The room also somewhat reminds one of a scene from Alice in Wonderland, with weird, almost-nonsensical, random, surrealistic and disproportionate composition.

Below is my version of Personal Values:

This is a photoshop-ed (I know, my photoshop is quite fail) picture of my (very messy) desk. Most of the items depicted in the photo are of normal size, except for seven chosen items which I value more than the other stuff on the desk. Their arrangement is of no particular order as they are all more or less of the equal importance to me. The first is the white clock. It is a time-keeper of sorts and keeping time is important in the life of a student. In fact, time is important for many, student or not. Meeting deadlines and punctuality are important aspects of a person living in today's society. The second item is the calendar, which serves a similar purpose with the clock. It helps me keep track of deadlines, test dates, competition dates, appointments, birthdays etc. These keepers of time helps one keep up with the fast pace of life in this century. The third item is the piece of yellow post-it note. The post-it note serves as a reminder, a memo for me. I write many notes of various content on similar post-its, from lists of song titles I should check up on to ideas I have for art to keeping track of my pocket money and my expenditure. As such, it is quite important to me, because I tend to be rather forgetful at times.

The fourth item is the red pencil. This piece of stationery is one of the most useful items I could have as it has many uses. The pencil can be used for writing, arts and maths. As a student who likes art, the pencil is very useful and of great value. The pencil records down ideas, inspirations and many more. Plus, pencil lead can be erased while pen ink cannot. The fifth item is the eraser which is as equally useful as the pencil. It allows one to erase one's mistake. That in itself, is enough of an explanation for why it is so valued by me. Without the eraser, my work (art or otherwise) would be a mess and full of flaws. The sixth item(s) are my notebooks. They are slightly different from post-its as post-its are more temporary. My notebooks store my notes which I will require for exam revision. The notebook with the orchid print is my pineapple notebook, also my AEP notebook. It stores my AEP notes as well as all of my pineapple drawings, which are some of my prized possessions (and artwork/"masterpiece"). The last and seventh item is the set of color pencils. They too, are part of my collection of valued stationery. They lend color and life to my plain black and white drawings, helping me turn my rough sketches into proper artworks. It is surprising how much a plain old set of color pencils can do. They may not be oil paint (a medium which the great artists seem to always use), but they serve me well enough.

Eyes and Hearts

Spying Lens is an artwork done by Lucia Hartini in 1989. In the foreground, there is a woman curled in a fetal position and enveloped in silky azure blue cloth. in front of her, there is a diagonal brick wall that is half-broken. Below her is what seems to be a cracked stone ground, and it can be seen that she is floating in midair. The cloth that wraps around her floats, drifts and twirls throughout the painting, over the zig-zag walls that continue from the foreground all the way into the background where it vanishes, seeming to imply that it continues on forever into the horizon. In the mid ground and background, a gloomy dark blue ultramarine sky can be seen, with red tinted clouds drifting around the walls and turning into white mist and it seeps into the walls towards the woman. Disembodied eyes with emitting light beams from their pupils can also be seen floating around the woman, watching her as she sleeps. 

The entire painting is painted rather realistically, in the sense that the woman looks like a real woman, the cloth looks real, the brick wall looks real, and even the disembodied eyes look like real eyes (albeit eyes from some horror movie). The brushstrokes are fine and carefully blended to appear invisible, and the painting isn't abstract in terms of composition, with appropriate shadows painted to give the painting some three-dimensionality. In the painting, the zig-zagging walls that recede into the background gives the painting a sense of space perspective.  The soft flowy edges of the blue cloth contrasts with the hard angular edges of said brick walls. However, the colors she used seem somewhat arbitrary, with an intense color scheme comprising mostly of blue, red and orange.  coupled with the realistic way she has painted the painting, the painting seems suite surreal and reminiscent of a dream (not a very pleasant one, it seems.) 

In this painting, Lucia Hartini has used Symbolism to subtly express her emotions and thoughts through her painting. The woman in the painting seem to represent herself, trapped in a vulnerable position with the zig-zagging brick walls representing the rules of her society confining her. The eyes that can be seen floating about, watching the woman in the painting creepily, represent the watchful and scrutinizing gaze of her society on her behavior and actions. In the background, the bleak and dark sky reflects the artist's outlook on her life, while it could also mean a distant freedom out of reach. 

Below is another painting, this one done by Frida Kahlo:

This artwork is called The Two Fridas, done in 1939, after her divorce with Diego. This artwork is believed to be an expression of Frida's feelings at the time. The first Frida depicts her heartbroken self, the Frida that Diego no longer loves, with the ripped bodice of the rejected Frida exposes a broken, damaged heart. The surgical pincers held by the unwanted Frida staunches the blood flow of the open vein that could possibly be the vein representing her ties to Diego. In this sense, it can be seen that she has tried to sever these emotional ties. Blood drips onto her crisp white European dress, a possible reminder of her abortions, miscarriages and many surgeries, as well as the physical pain felt at the loss of Diego. The second Frida is the Frida that Diego still loves and is dressed in clean traditional Mexican clothes. In her lap, she holds a miniature portrait of Diego. This Frida has her heart superimposed on her chest which appears whole and healthy, unlike the heart of the other Frida. The two hearts are linked by a blood vessel, representing the link between Frida's two selves, and the background is gloomy with ominous clouds. This could also suggest at the dark atmosphere around Frida's life after her divorce.

Like Lucia Hartini's Spying Lens, this artwork also seems surrealistic and makes use of Symbolism. Both artists use symbols in their artworks to convey their feelings into their canvas and both artworks are rather negative. Spying Lens' main message is of Lucia Hartini's trapped position in her society while The Two Fridas main message is of her divorce. The symbols used in both artworks are also slightly similar, as Lucia Hartini used eyes to represent the watchful gaze of the society while Frida Kahlo used hearts (another organ) to represent her love. These two symbols are also more obvious and direct and viewers can understand the artworks and the artists through these symbols. Both artworks also have compositions with a dark sky in the background to emphasize on the bleakness of the artists' situation.

On a side note: I chose The Two Fridas because, as some of you may know by now, I like this sort of morbid stuff. It is evident in my pineapple drawings too. And my caesar salad. 

Escher Alchemy

Introduction

M. C. Escher: One guy whose works defy science. He is known for his woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations. One example would be Reptiles (1943)--of which a picture of it is shown below. Impossible construction: the lizards depicted in the artwork come to life from a drawing and start moving about. Exploration of infinity: The lizards merge back into the drawing after going in a circle across the workspace depicted in the artwork--a cycle has no end. Tessellation: The drawing of several hexagonal-based reptiles and origins of the moving lizards. 

Analysis

In this artwork, M. C. Escher has clearly used several elements and principles of art and design. First of all, by using lines, he marks out the rough geometric shape of lizards in his tessellation. The main subject matter of the artwork also contains the implications of a circle. This is achieved by positioning the lizards in a circular orientation and using their bodies to suggest the shape of a circle. The way the lizards are positioned, as well as having them merge in and grow out of the tessellation, gives them a sense of movement, making them seem like they are moving across the table top, up and down the items displayed there. Much of the artwork seems three-dimensional, an effect achieved by the realistic proportion of the items depicted in the lithograph as well as the shading and use of chiaroscuro to give the artwork solidity, depth and value. By using the slant of the sketchbook (the one the lizard tessellation is drawn on), the circular motion of the reptiles and the various items decorating the tabletop, Escher was also able to create balance and a sense of equilibrium in his artwork.

This artwork is in black, gray and white, which gives the art piece a certain dream-like, surreal and mysterious feel. It also suggests a sense of antiquity as it isn't colored, like the photographs and films of earlier centuries. Other than making the artwork seem more angular, the books, the set square, the dodecahedron, the box in the metal cup and the tessellation gives the idea of alchemy in the art work. The presence of a corked bottle and a small glass also contributes to that effect, as well as complementing the angular nature of the other items. The surreality of the artwork can be seen through the very fact that the lizards are coming to life from a drawing and that one of the lizards seem to be blowing smoke from its nostrils--something that cannot be achieved in real life. The animated reptiles also reminds one of golems of myths and fantasy. Another idea that the artwork seems to suggest is that of reincarnation and a cycle of life, death and rebirth, as shown when the lizards first come to life and move out of the drawing, only to merge back into the drawing as an inanimate, two-dimensional creature.

Comparison

Below is an image of a painting done by an artist called Kurt Wenner. He is best known for his invention of 3D pavement art. Wenner was inspired by anamorphic perspective, but had to invent an entirely new geometry in order to create his astonishing 3D pavement art images. The art work depicted below is one of his many creations. 

Dies Irae (2005)

He created this piece of street art on the pavement of a medieval town square in Italy with chalk. The artwork above is from a poem called "Dies Irae" which discusses judgment day for all in front of God.  This art piece incredibly captures the emotion and despair of those doomed to the underworld. This work is one of many of Wenner's interest in Renaissance classicism interpretation. Similar to Escher's art, there is a vague sense of movement in the art as the figures depicted in the artwork seem to be struggling in agony. The figures depicted in the artwork also contains an illusion of the subject matter coming to life from the artwork as they seem three-dimensional. This effect can only be properly seen when the viewer is looking at the art piece from this particular point of view, however. If one walks around the art piece, the illusion would no longer exist. There is also a surrealistic and mystical feel to the artwork due to its subject matter and color, just like that of Escher, as well as a strange yet seemingly normal perspective. Both artists have chosen to depict their artwork as realistically as possible so that its strangeness can be emphasized. However, Wenner's work is two-dimensional but seems three-dimensional, whereas Escher's is a two-dimensional piece of art about something two-dimenisional becoming three-dimensional. Their subject matter is also different but both seem to have have mythical origins.


Below is a video of Escher's Reptiles.

SAG--Spirally Andy Goldsworthy

This is an artwork based on the artworks of Andy Goldsworthy, an artist we--AEP students--leart about recently. Andy Goldsworthy's artworks are mostly nature-based, such as the Ice Spiral: Treesoul. They are mostly beautiful and captivating pieces of art. We were assigned to present on an artwork of Andy Goldsworthy and create an artwork of our own based on his kind of art. 


The artwork my friend (Lero~) and I chose to present was Ice Spiral: Treesoul, which is consists of a conicle spiral of ice suspended around a tree trunk in winter. The gleaming crystal-like quality of ice contrasts with the dark earthy tree trunk, and when the light reflects/refracts in/on the ice, it gives it an ethereal quality, hence the title of the work--Treesoul, the soul of a tree, sleeping in winter. More artworks of his can be viewed at this website: http://www.morning-earth.org/artistnaturalists/an_goldsworthy.html

Spirals within a Spiral: With the idea of spirals and nature in mind, I came to the think of shells and how many of them consist of spirals. So I chose to work with seashells and arranged them in a spiral with a color gradient, from dark inside to light outside. The shells were mostly light colored so I displayed them on a dark wooden floor for contrast. The end result is nothing like Andy Goldsworthy's lovely artworks, which helped me to appreciate his artwork even more.

In Case Of Fire, Do Not Use This Fire Hydrant

Earlier this year, we AEP students were assigned with a task to wrap something in the school with cling wrap. This task is based on some of the works done by Christo, the artist we were just learning about. We went about the school in pairs, searching for something to wrap. We had ridiculous and unfeasible ideas such as wrapping a vending machine (which would probably get us into big trouble with the school as well) or wrapping a trash bin (the big green ones that can be pushed around on wheels) but in the end, Lero and I decided to settle with a fire hydrant (and up til now, I'm still not sure if that was really allowed, since it would be disastrous if there was a fire and the fire hydrant was rendered useless having been wrapped in cling wrap by us).

Me: Initial wrapping

Second layer of wrapping

Second last layer of wrapping

Here are some pictures of Lero and I taking turns to wrap the fire hydrant, all the while hoping that a fire wouldn't start in the science block while we were doing so. We chose the fire hydrant mostly because of its strange shape and we were wondering who it would turn out after being wrapped with a few layers of cling wrap. It was fun, I guess, especially since the fire hydrant was something we decided was outrageous to wrap, yet not outrageous enough for the school to flay us or something (I hope). Anyway, Christo and Jeanne-Claude has wrapped quite some outrageous stuff before (buildings, a coast etc) and hey, if we're gonna do something inspired by them, it should be as outrageous too, right? Now I'm beginning to wonder if we could have wrapped something better--sorry if my definition of 'better' is a bit warped--like... a person or something... 

This is the finished product of the wrapped fire hydrant. You can still see some red, because the cling wrap is translucent-ish and there wasn't enough cling wrap--but as much as I would prefer the fire hydrant to end up completely opaque, it wouldn't be environmentally friendly so... yeah. I think I like the knobbly look of the fire hydrant. Overall, it actually resembles something wrapped in thick spider web (which is nice~) 

In conclusion, I think I just may understand why Christo and Jeanne-Claude like to wrap things, exploring shape and texture and art. But it's a waste of resources and that's one thing I don't really approve on. And some of the things they wrap (such as the coast) could affect nature quite a bit too. Like the little critters that live there or something. Anyways, this is their website: http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/index.shtml if you're interested to know more about them.

Off topic: We unwrapped the fire hydrant later and there were a little flakes of red that came off with it. At least the fire hydrant remained red enough. I think it had just been newly repainted over the school hols that's why... =="