Influences and Inspiration VIII: Backgrounds and South of France

09/03/2014

Blog entry 60:

Something that I have always found difficult when creating imagery, is that I often focus too much on the human form or portrait and my background is an afterthought. In my last semester, I was looking into how I could ensure my imagery was more illustrative than simply a fine art piece, to tell a story. I am enjoying experimething with new but I do not want to loose sight of what I was working toward during my Ba(hons) to inform my practice, old and new combined, similarly to my influences.

When considering The Library of Babel and my theme of the divine (or opposite of), I think of the building (if it is a physical entity) being somewhat similar to a church - ornate and beautiful. When on holiday in the South of France, I took a number of photographs, in Bayuex as visual influences which I feel apply here for inspiration.

Photographs taken by myself on my Holiday to South of France Bayeux (Summer 2013):

The above photographs are taken outside and within the Cathedral Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux. I have found that this Cathedral, like many other Catholic churches and buildings is heavily decorated which is how I imagine the library to look, and it also goes with my illustrative/ art style.

I found this idea of the female form on a pedestal in these two photographs, this is interesting to my idea of Androgynous forms, which I may look into more in my Concept stage semester. It is also an interesting idea to consider the situ of my artwork and where it can possibly be put in context and the shape it might be dicatated by if it was to be a piece for installation.

I am particularly fond of the first of the two above photographs, due to it being in an unexpected place - taking artwork out of context to get a different reaction or affect the gaze of a potential audience.

statue of st Michael defeating the Drageon

Statue of chirst

European artwork especially of the Renessiance era is of high interest to me, so it makes sense to not only look at painting, but at all areas of art and visual that surround these times, including statues and architecture.

I now intend to consider background and architectural imagery through a set of perspective drawings as quick sketches, I want to do this because I feel that I have only focussed on the figure in my experimentationand not what could potentially acompany my characters as a background.


The Bayeux Tapestry (photographs taken by myself):

When visiting Bayeux, I found the Bayeux Tappestry particularly enthrawling not only due to the amazing detail, but the sheer size and long horizontal shape of the tappestry. I would love to work on a huge scale like this, the only reason I have mnot is due to the time it would take; however I may look at drawing a basic design at a much larger scale to show how i might intend to work in this way if I had the time.