Contextual Studies/ my work/ artists work

Contextual studies essay

Conceptualising my work

Name: Laura Rose Samson

Tutor: Bill

Word count: 420

The designer I have been inspired by is Sandra Backlund she is a modern fashion designer who uses heavy knit, wood, hair and sometimes paper to create unusual, eye-catching and detailed clothes. Sandra’s work shows her flair for creating and designing new pieces based on shape and texture. She approaches her designs more like a sculptor than a tailor. The specific piece I have chosen is from her ‘Ink Blot Collection’ for which she won the top prize at the International Fashion Festival in 2007. The collection was based on Rorshach’ inkblot test: a psychological evaluation that uses symmetrical ‘inkblot’ patterns on white cards.

 It is constructed from 3D cones that appear to be folded ‘origami’ style to form an amazing symmetrical top with over the top sleeves that extend upward and outwards. The garment looks like armour and transforms the human body and, like many of her designs, is disturbing as well as pleasing. Through her designs I think Sandra is trying to communicate her ideas about human form and how materials and shapes can be used to reflect or distort. Some pieces look like parts of the human body or shapes from nature: blood vessels (‘Don’t Walk’ collection) spine, walls of the intestine, rib cage, the structure of plants, mushrooms etc.

 Her pieces are all hand made and are beautifully crafted. What interests me most about Sandra’s designs is the way that she creates such unusual shapes and takes inspiration from the world around her; the human form, nature and patterns that she finds pleasing, ‘the inkblot test.’ She is obsessional about creating a shape to reflect something that has inspired her as well as sometimes letting the material she is working with dictate the outcome. She has a knowledge about how materials, wool, paper behave and can been manipulated, crafted into intricate and awesome works of art. This really interests me and I aspire to be able to work with different materials to develop designs that have unusual shapes and intricate detailing. I am fascinated by shapes and patterns. For my design I drew a number of patterns and images onto squared paper and coloured them using water colour. I made different sized cone spikes and placed them randomly over the shoulder, I also made a fringe; both look like they are ‘growing’ out of the piece and added texture and interest. I think it looks striking, edgy and different.

Bibliography:

http://kostasvoyatzis.wordpress.com/2007/07/03/ink-blot-collection-by-sandra-backlund/

 

Assesment task

Contextual Studies Essay

Name: Laura Samson

Tutor: Bill

Word count: 446

The two artworks I have chosen to look at are Meret Oppenheim’s ‘object’ and Louise Bourgeois’s ‘woven child’.

Oppenheim’s ‘object’ was made in 1936, the object is a cup, saucer and spoon covered in fur. They are everyday, practical items transformed into something unusable; covered in a strange surface that you do not normally associate with a cup. I have found out that this surreal artwork was inspired from a conversation between Oppenheim and Pablo Picasso in a Paris café when he was admiring Oppenheim’s fur bracelet and remarked “that one could cover anything with fur,” to which she replied, "Even this cup and saucer." In 1936 a cup and saucer were in common use and associated with the upper class, covering them in fur made it intriguing, exotic and fun. Today, I think this piece of artwork could be interpreted as representing attitudes towards killing animals and using their fur for fashion; a china cup and saucer symbolizes civilization, covered in fur they represent man’s disregard for animals and using them unnecessarily. Also, cups and saucers are now outmoded and mugs are more commonly used as is synthetic fur rather then real fur and the hunting and killing of animals.

Bourgeois’s ‘Woven Child’ was created in 2002. It is a three-dimensional fabric naked torso of a woman with a baby in a woven blue ‘womb’ resting on her stomach. The way the baby is laying, curled in a fetus position on the body of the woman, could indicate distance and difficulties between mother and child. The baby appears to have been placed onto the woman in a disposable bag as if it is unwanted. The torso is made out of scraps of white material that look like bandages, randomly placed and stitched, which contrasts with the perfectly formed baby. This could symbolize the mother is damaged and imperfect however her baby is pure and innocent, without flaws. The crumpled blue ‘womb’ seems collapsed and uncomfortable for the baby this combined with the absence of the mother’s limbs makes the baby seem vulnerable and alone. 

Both pieces of artwork are emotive and powerful. They both have potential to create mixed emotions for the viewer as to what they mean and represent. A mother and child image is always a strong and enduring subject matter whereas a fur cup could be viewed on a very simplistic and fun level. I prefer Oppenheims’s ‘object’ because I think it is imaginative and fun; you wonder what it would be like to use it. The ‘object’ also provokes a more controversial response in the 21^st century.

Reference: http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A4416&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1