IIM Art Inspired by Art Final Shot & Reflection

 Here is my final choice of shot for my recreation/reimagining

                  

For the final shot, I adjusted slightly on Photoshop by cropping so that the shot was closer to the original.  I also adjusted on curves brightening the image slightly as the original is slightly more exposed. 

I think as a recreation this was an interesting one as the girl in the original is young and has the look of innocence surrounded by the cream and white but also is in her own environment.  I also have used my own environment for the shot so this reflects very much of my own look in the shot.  I am not young and so don't have the naivety of the original but I think there is the same slight sadness to the look and softness to the image that makes it compelling. 

I also tried this in black and white just to see if this would change the feel of the image. I liked the black and white however I think the color shot works better with the light and the blond hair, purple duvet and sunlight on skin.

IIM Art Inspired by Art: Process

 Today I set up the shoot for art inspired by art images.  I was trying to recreate and reimagine the image by Katy Grannan discussed in the previous post.  

Katy Grannan

Untitled (from the Poughkeepsie Journal)

1999

I tried this in my bedroom as the morning light was looking really good and I thought I could shoot at a low angle on my bed.  My flat is small so I had limited space.  I also tried on the living room floor however I think the first set works better here and so I will just share the first set

I created contacts on Photoshop just by going to File - Contacts - and then choosing the file on the dialog box.  

I took the images using my Olympus E-3 with a remote control, I started with the settings at ISO 400. F3.5. I shot in RAW and jpeg so I have both versions for editing. I took 120 images in this shoot,

After studying the shots actually the very first shot I took is the one I liked the best.  I think this is highly unusual however I think it was the nature of the shot.  The original has had a naivety and I think that in the first shot I just tried the pose and this lack of adjustment to the shoot kind of captured something of the original. 

So here are the three shots that I liked the most

The settings for the three shots were:

I will now choose my final shot and decide which will be my reimagining of the original.

Adding Biteable to Website

 Today I completed my final video to add to my website that will be my promotional CV.

I first clicked on Export and Biteable then built this. This is the free version so it will contain the watermark.

I then downloaded the video to my desktop and uploaded onto Wix

I wanted to add a button onto the front of my portfolio so that it it linked to a new page which contained the video.  I added a page and uploaded the video and added an introduction and title and then I went back to the button I had added and linked it to the page I had created. 

I then checked my website before republishing so that the video now appears.  Before publishing I checked the preview to make sure that it was working correctly. 

You can view my new video at my website address: 

www.zoevan-de-velde.com

Fashion Research: Men's Fashion Calvin Klein

 

Mark Wahlberg. Photograph: Herb Ritts / Calvin Klein

I have chosen to look at men's clothing design as this market is not as saturated as the women's clothes market and I feel I can create designs that new and innovative in this market.  I am going to look at Calvin Klein as he really has cornered the men's underwear market and has sexy, daring and eye catching campaigns that have made his underwear part of everyday life and instantly recognisable. Ferrier states in The Guardian; 'Calvin Klein pants, briefs and boxers, and now bras and swimwear in womenswear, remain the resolute king of underwear.' (Ferrier, 2022).  Men's underwear has not changed much in terms of design; 'The people who brought boxer shorts to the UK, Sunspel have been making underwear since 1860. Their boxers are almost identical to the original designs but they’ve done away with the excess fabric so you can wear them under fitted trousers comfortably.' (5 of the Best Boxer Shorts for Men, From Calvin Klein to Hugo Boss, 2022)  This would be because we have technical advancements in the materials we uses with lycra and cotton mixes that make it possible to have tighter more fitted designs. 

Now we are more concerned about the planet and sustainability of fashion Calvin Klein uses more sustainable materials and in this heritage collection the specifications are:

CK REIMAGINED HERITAGE: An ode to iconic Calvin Klein silhouettes, reclaimed in more sustainable materials with a new jacquard logo finish.

• organic and recycled cotton blend

• medium rise waist

• Calvin Klein jacquard logo waistband

(Men's Trunks | Men's Low Rise & Cotton Trunks | Calvin Klein®, 2022)

Calvin Klein, Heritage Collection at Next 

The success of Calvin Klein and the idea of showing the logo of your underwear really shot these designs to fame and made everyone feel like a star wearing designer clothes; 'Stealth wealth is a noble idea, but as Calvin Klein – the American designer who turned underwear into a status symbol, and by proxy, its wearers into sex symbols – once said: “The only way to advertise is by not focusing on the product.” And lo, the logoed underwear was born.' (Ferrier, 2022).  The use of famous actors, models, football stars etc in their adverts mean that men can feel they can look as good.  In recent years there has also been a rise in men's beauty products and men are starting to care much more about what they wear and how they look every day.  

In my own work this term I would like to explore this market further particularly the mens' underwear market and see if there is anything new or innovative I can add through my own designs.

References

Ferrier, M., 2022. The rise and rise of Calvin Klein underwear. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/jun/09/the-rise-and-rise-of-calvin-klein-underwear [Accessed 7 April 2022].

Men's Health. 2022. 5 of the Best Boxer Shorts for Men, From Calvin Klein to Hugo Boss. [online] Available at: https://www.menshealth.com/uk/style/a759604/best-mens-boxer-shorts/ [Accessed 7 April 2022].

Calvinklein.co.uk. 2022. Men's Trunks | Men's Low Rise & Cotton Trunks | Calvin Klein®. [online] Available at: https://www.calvinklein.co.uk/mens-trunks [Accessed 7 April 2022].

Media: Developing Ideas & Initial Research

 After considering my ideas I have decided that the one where I could do something that really adds to my skills is creating the digital art and using this on a gallery to sell as Non Fungible Tokens (NFT) as this is something I would like to investigate and it has a real world context.  Investopedia states; 'Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptographic assets on a blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from each other. Unlike cryptocurrencies, they cannot be traded or exchanged at equivalency. This differs from fungible tokens like cryptocurrencies, which are identical to each other and, therefore, can serve as a medium for commercial transactions' (Sharma, 2022).  An NFT can be a digital version of the original artwork and the British Museum allow you to own an NFT copy of original artworks, these are limited edition and can reach high prices but you then own the digital asset.

The ghost at Sara-yaskiki, from the series One Hundred Ghost Tales

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

This is from the British Museum collection and there are 2 editions available so is 'Ultra Rare' and these are being sold for £99,000 as an NFT.

Clear Day with a Southern Breeze ('Red Fuji'), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

Again this from the British Museum - this one is worth £100,000 and there are 10 editions 

The rarer the price the higher the price and the museum make it clear you do not own the original painting just the NFT version.  

In my own digital art project I would like to create a collection of perhaps 4-6 works that could be sold as NFTs.  Further investigation and research would be needed on how to make these digital assets once created so I will explore this and will join a NFT gallery and set this up.  

The collection itself I would like to do something perhaps with the Dolls as I think these might work well on the NFT market - below was my original doll head but I could create a new doll version for a new series. I will use stock imagery for the background and I will explore this further as I look at other examples of Digital Art.

References

Sharma, R., 2022. Non-Fungible Token (NFT). [online] Investopedia. Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/non-fungible-tokens-nft-5115211 [Accessed 5 April 2022].

The British Museum: La Collection. 2022. [online] Available at: https://lacollection.io/marketplace [Accessed 5 April 2022].

Three Amazing Ideas for Media!

In the welcome post I discussed photography instruction books so I could make my own photography instruction book.  Look at these great images below, perfectly executed visual instruction.  

1980s Instruction Manuals

I like the idea of creating an old style photography instruction book so this would be a book I could take the photographs for instruction and I could write the text and could complete a published book perhaps on Blurb.  

My second idea is to create some digital art - a few years ago a create a series of images called the Army of Dolls and I very much enjoyed this and would like to create another collection of Digital art - this could be sold on a site for NFT's and could be really interesting to do - this was one of the images I created previously - I would like to expand and work on this with some new ideas about using the dolls in a new collection 

A Moment of Quiet By Zoe Van-de-Velde

The third idea is to work on the story I created last term in my chapbook as I did the first three chapters of The Story of Milk - I would like to to finish this as I was enjoying writing the story and I think it has the potential to be a novella.  

I will consider these three ideas carefully considering time constraints and which would add add to my skills and be most useful to explore.

IIM Initial Ideas: Art Inspired by Artists

 Today we were discussing art inspired by art and I was particularly taken with the work of Cindy Sherman in the presentation.  This is an unusual piece of work by the photographer as although it fits into here oeuvre of recreation of classic shots as in Film Stills.  In those works she was every kind of woman and was visually discussing the role of women in society.  In this shot the Museum of Modern Art states; 'It's different from some of the other works in the series that may be more caricatured. In this one we see this mimicking of the original painting much more clearly.' (Cindy Sherman. Untitled #224. 1990. | MoMA, 2022).

In the series History Portraits/Old Masters (1988-1990) this was the first time Sherman took on the roles of men in her images and in this image; 'Caravaggio's painting is believed to be a self-portrait of the artist as the Roman god of wine, Bacchus. Right here. she's a female artist as a male artist as the Roman god of wine.' (Ciné-club : Untitled #224 de Cindy Sherman, 2022).  Sherman used her usual method of costumes, makes and in this case prothesis to recreate the image.  Sherman chose the image of the sick Bacchus here, for reasons we might never know, however the change of gender and the use of photography have heightened this recreation into something reimagined. 

The image I have chosen is an image from the Poughkeepsie Journal, Untitled (1999)

Katy Grannan (1999) Untitled from The Poughkeepsie Journal 

Katy Grannan took intimate portraits of strangers, her imagery 'relies on documentary photography as a point of reference in order to merge reality and fiction, while capturing the subtleties of her sitters’ psychologies.' (Untitled (from the Poughkeepsie Journal) | The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation, 2022).  Katy Grannan is an American artist who finds her subjects through newspaper advertisements The images portray the subjects how they want to be seen and Grannan has a sensitivity that allows the sitter to express themselves and the subsequent image 'is imbued with secrecy, desire, and hidden intentions' (Katy Grannan | Fraenkel Gallery, 2022)

What does the artwork make you think of?

This artwork makes me think of the girl's vulnerability and perhaps I related to this image as I felt very vulnerable at a similar age. I really enjoyed the shot with eth low angle and the camera just lifting to her face.  The bedroom/living room that she is in has a very soft and feminine feel maybe why she felt comfortable taking the shot in her own home and surroundings. The white of her bra gently matched the white/creams in the room and her blond hair was the same colour as the soft wood.  Beautifully lit the girl is alone and there is a beauty to her innocence. 

What do you think you could do to reimagine this work?

I would like to recreate this in my own home setting, I would use myself as the model and perhaps look at either changing the colours to see the effect - what if the girl is wearing black or red would this make her less innocent or perhaps instead of the small tampon string there is something larger and more obvious emerging from her intimate places.  I would lie to recreate the pose though - I do think the answer will be in the environment and the mode/colour of the dress. 

What medium or method might you use?

I will use photography - however, it could be interesting to recreate this as a painting.  I will think about this further and I will definitely try out drawing painting the shot as I think this could lead to more interesting thoughts about the image.

Planning

I will need to do this in the daytime in my own home using natural light.  I will think about the dress and environment and will use different clothes but I want to take the same pose so that it does pay homage to the original.  I will be using my Olympus camera and tripod with self-timer to take this and will add my contacts and test shots in the next post. 

References

The Museum of Modern Art. 2022. Cindy Sherman. Untitled #224. 1990. | MoMA. [online] Available at: https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/261/3365 [Accessed 4 April 2022].

Cineclubdecaen.com. 2022. Ciné-club : Untitled #224 de Cindy Sherman. [online] Available at: https://www.cineclubdecaen.com/photographie/photographes/sherman/untitled224.htm [Accessed 4 April 2022].

The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation. 2022. Untitled (from the Poughkeepsie Journal) | The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation. [online] Available at: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/9363 [Accessed 4 April 2022].

Fraenkel Gallery. 2022. Katy Grannan | Fraenkel Gallery. [online] Available at: https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/katy-grannan [Accessed 5 April 2022].