MEGA PUNCHED

I once made a drawing similar to this when I couldn’t express my anger enough with words.
I gave this jar to my beloved partner on our 2nd in-scotland-anniversary.

I’ve been working hard.
On my day off what I want is a rest.
But not doing anything with art is quite painfull. Speaking of pain, my back is killing me…..

Anyway, I had a urge to draw so made my new sketch&log book.
I went to see FOTO exhibition at Dean Gallery yesterday. It was informative and interesting as there’re
many artists from Bauhaus, but not greatly exciting.

If you went to the Sculpture park in Berlin you probably watched the video which could make your eyes roll.
I’ve found the site of the woman who claims she’s married to Berlin wall.
Enjoy……

http://www.berlinermauer.se/

Went to the eca’s Degree show and I enjoied it a lot although seeing it all exusted me a little.
I liked some installation pieces and works from sculpture. I though there were many interesting visual art work.

I liked this work a lot. It remined me of Rebecca Horn. The fur was attached to little music box and it moves as it plays music. It looks so melancoly and playfull.

I liked this room as many of work were challenging our eyes and mind, and mostly they were funny.

I’ve been working full-time now and very tired when I get home. I’m not making anything.
The degree show inspired me a lot, I hope I will have time for art.

It was an encounter between Japan and France!
We don’t make a good couple!!!!!!!!
No Brie in Sushi pls.

I’ve uploaded pics of Berlin in my flickr page.
I’ll keep them on site for a while so people can get them, but
if you’re not comfortable pls let me know, I’ll take it off.

I had a great time!

Some of them I don’t recall taking!!!!
It was a good night.

Finally I managed to make the final piece for this project.
Unfortunately I couldn’t develope my ideas well and that resulted in sticking to the initial(pretty much) idea of mine. But I’m glad as at least I made something…..

The decal paper was fairly easy to use though it needed to be handle carefully. I liked the looks of text on white plates.

These are texts which will be put at middle of each plates. Monkey is irrelevant, just wanted to use the space.

These are going to be the final images for my site specific project. Allan will be helping me to print them onto the laser water-slip decals paper. I thought it was going to be fairly easy for me to print them at college but most of the printers at college which are accessible for us are ink-jet printers, and one laser printer in the Textile class was not working properly.
I really hope it will work, and thanks to Allan!

statement-of-intent

When I was to choose one of five themes; Home & Displacement, War & Conflict, Nature world, Ritual & Commemoration, Technology & System, I first thought that Home & Displacement would be the ideal one for me as I have left my home country a while ago and I could probably come up with many ideas from my experiences in living in different countries. The reason why I did not choose it was that I recognized that many of my colleagues were choosing Home & Displacement as well, so I decided to go against it and try one which would be more of a challenge for me. After some brainstorming on each theme I decided to go for Ritual & Commemoration.
As my first interpretation of this theme I came up with a unique Japanese ritual ‘Seppuku’ (Samurai used to commit suicide with honor), which led me to do historical research on the era and Japanese culture in general. Although it was a very interesting subject, I could not succeed in pulling ideas together. I suppose now that it was probably because the ritual itself was so interesting to me, that it became hard to make an artwork which could be equally, or more interesting.
Though I left my first interpretation it was quite natural for me to go further to look at Japanese rituals. As I researched a range of Japanese rituals I kept noticing a strong presence of Zen teachings in many of ceremonies and events we have in Japan. Half way through my research I was quite sure that I was going to make a video work. I made a couple of video works in my last project and felt fairly confident in using the media. I also knew that with that experience I could challenge myself and learn new skills.
I spent my first four weeks on research, at which stage I was making several plans as to what I would film. I was not holding a solid idea then, but with the inspiration I got from the research I just tried to film something in order to built as many sources as I could for a final piece. I wanted to keep them so that I could come back to them afterwards if I ever needed any.
For this project understanding Zen philosophy and its aesthetic was very important, and it was almost impossible to make any piece without understanding the principle. I was interested by one of the Zen principles in which they said that ‘everything in this world changes’. Although it seems simple I found it amazingly profound. It also explains how the Japanese aesthetic differs to that of Western and European people, and I was hoping my work could represent it well enough so that people who do not even know Japan could understand it a little. After narrowing it down to this one principle I needed to film more clips than I already had. I filmed quite a few clips which were discarded in making the final piece. I regret that I did not use a tripod for some of the clips, as the shaky frames in places were a little distracting.
To finally be satisfied with the raw materials for editing the finished piece, I went through three separate film taking stages. At the last stage I was filming the simplest subjects, and the clips I used for the final piece were also filmed at this last stage. Ninety percent of the filmed clips were not used in the end. I do not find it a waste as I feel that they were essential to the final outcome, and without going through those steps I probably would not have made it to the final piece as I expected.
I used ‘IMovie’ to edit and create the film. Several different clips were inserted between one original split clip which required careful editing. I used audio as a strong element of the film and it took me a while to place, overlap and edit until I was finally happy with it.
If I were to do this project again I would make a longer film, I was not able to afford the challenge this time as it could have led to the editing being too long to complete the work in time for the deadline. Although the length of the film is quite short, I think that it is efficiently stating my point. It could actually be an ongoing project for me personally, as the theme has so much potential and the possibility to create more interesting work seems quite promising.
If I were to add something onto my final piece I probably could have inserted text which would explain a little bit more about Zen philosophy and how it is important in our cultural events. It was quite difficult to measure how much of the concept people would understand when they are not really familiar with Zen or Japanese culture, especially as I grew up surrounded by it and never really wondered what it was. 

Through the video my voice of ‘Konnichiwa, Sayounara’, means ‘Hello, good-bye’, repeats as the watch ticks, and it overlaps a lot along with clips of fast movements. Second by second we encounter a new moment and then depart from it as soon as we meet the moment. I wanted to empathise the value of each moment we live in by showing the watch tick with my voice greeting the moment.

Six million children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of hunger.

I was quite stuck when editing my final outcome.
I liked the idea of having two video work simultaneously but didn’t feel like doing it for this project for some reason.
As I was stuck I’ve decided to look back what I was researching and what aspect I really liked to represent from the profound nature of Zen philosophy. I find it very usefull to go back to the begining of the project and ask myself what I liked to do. I can’t really make something out of stuff which I don’t like. What I’m quite drawn to by one of Zen philosophy is that ‘everything changes.’ They said that ‘emptiness’, ‘nothingness’, ‘void’ is the world where we should live in to find our peace. The moment we spend never comes back so don’t let the troubles get in your way, when you have a problem take it in but let it go soon. I’m not religious and am not trying to become here either, but I find something very important in Zen. It’s so profound that I can’t understand much.

Anyway, after looking back what I’d been doing I could think more clearly how I would bring my video work toward a final outcome.

As well as visual I noticed that audio was a quite good source to use. It was rather spontaneous and I liked the effect of overlapping voice.

I’m trying to get more images like these for my site specific project.

For my site specific project I’ve been looking at printed crockery. It seemed quite difficult to do so but I think there’s a way to do it.

by Esther Derkxbased

I don’t know who this artist is but its idea is quite similar to mine.

With decal water slide transfer I can have photographic images on crockery.

Soap with water slide decal paper

I’ll probably buy the paper from this website, they’re very informative and with reasonable price.
http://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk/productlist.asp?RootCatID=14&catid=14

I was quite excited to bring all the stuff and start editing, but it turned out to be so difficult as I had quite a few clips.
Clips of ice in a glass, which took several hours to turn to water, I had to change the speed so it won’t be a 20 hours film.
As a first try I selected clips I liked and edited a little of each one and patch them together, that is ‘First edit’ here.

For this one I didn’t use ice clips.

I had a one-to-one talk with Allan today. He showed me his work he made before with 2 video clips on the same screen which he said it’s possible to do with Final Cut Pro. I always wanted to have 2 images to explain one thing, one has an opposite meaning to another so that the impression you get would be stronger.
When the two clips(one with ice in a glass, another with kids) were played simultaneously and placed next to each other it seemed to make a lot more sense than my ‘first edit’.

Even though I really liked the idea I still don’t know if I will use two videos together, but I edited these two as I want to experiment anyway.
Please play them together.

Again, it was amazing how much possibilities I could get by a single advice.

I’ve created many video clips a week ago trying to interpret Japanese aesthetic and Zen philosophy. I used some items to represent ‘tranqulity’ as well as ‘transient’. I got some interesting images but was a bit unsatisfied with them as they were lacking to define my ideas, and they were too manipulated.
I was thinking for a while what else I can film to interpret well, and then I thought about what I don’t film. I was always saying to myself ‘I should film something’, but I realized that maybe I could have more satisfactory visual work if I stop trying to make one.
It was a good turnover for me. I felt much relaxed too. Maybe it was an inspiration I got from the one-to-one talk with Jennie which gave me an insight upon this whole project. while I was trying to explain to jennie what I was feeling about Japanese aesthetic and Zen philosophy I told her about a colour which seemed to represent them all, it’s white. And she said that maybe the work could be just white, only white.
It’s quite amazing how single advice could change the course of the whole project.

Anyway, in last few days I started to film again. This time I avoided manipulation using items. I filmed some ice in a glass in a sunny day till they totally melted naturally. I had to pause many times and I did it till about 9pm when it was finally dark.
I also filmed my neighbors across the road from my 3rd floor flat. I was just luckey to film 2 extreme images; one was of an old couple, a lady was on the wheelchair, another one was of little kids playing in the garden. I felt that they were the right images how I interpret ‘tranquility’ and ‘transient’.

After the ice became water I took it to the gas stove and heat it till the water evaporate. I filmed the water became steam. It was a translation of ‘transient’ and what Zen teaching says that there’s nothing in the world is eternal. It also seemed to represent reincarnation.
Yesterday I filmed petals of cherryblossoms on the street and a gutter. I don’t want to use those images as cliche but the fallen petals on the gutter did feel right for me to film for defining my ideas.

Seyed Alavi has created site-specific installations for The New Museum of Contemporary Art and Franklin Furnace in New York City; The University Art Museum- Cal State Long Beach; The Museum of Santa Cruz County; The deSaisset Museum; The University Art Museum, Sonoma State; The University Art Museum, Cal State San Bernadino and San Francisco’s Capp Street Project. His work is often engaged with the poetics of language and space and their power to shape reality.
This site-specific installation, Drawn To Light, for the Fullerton Art Museum in San Bernadino, California consisted of covering the windows of the museum’s lobby with a very thin layer of overlapping pieces of rice paper cut in various sizes to resemble the pages of books. This layer of rice paper was then coated with multiple layers of melted bees wax, creating a “stained” (glass) look as the bees wax dried in driplets. Covering the windows, at random locations, were 3000 paper butterflies that had been cut out of pages of Sufi poetry. Each butterfly was dipped in melted bees wax, and depending on the length of time they were left in the wax, they burned and discolored to varying degrees. In addition, there were a number of Sufi poetry books provided on a low table next to the windows and, several of these books had a hole cut into them in the same shape as the butterflies on the windows.

There’s more explanation for this project : http://here2day.netwiz.net/seyedsite/installations/drawntolight/drawntolightframe.html

Another project, with similar motif, is Gardens of Secret, a project for the University Art Museum. As the museum was placed inside the library and was also a part of the larger University his installation alluded to the symbolic nature of language, most especially as it is experienced in poetry. Three thousand paper butterflies, cut from replicas of Persian Sufi poetry books, and coated with beeswax, covered the walls and ceiling of the room. These butterflies, aloft with poetry on their wings, are symbols of thought, discourse, and intellectual communion, just as the books from which they are derived refer to knowledge and the museum/ library in which they are found.

I just loved the aesthetic view he managed to create by making paper butterflies. They’re fragile and meaningfull. By making thousands of them he created the world of literature which has been in our lives for centuries, which never end to develope, would fly into our life and the knowledge we might receive and we might not one day would fly out.

I like the paper-covered house. You can see the butterflies inside but wouldn’t see them clearly. It seems to create a dream like scene, half dream and half conscious. It’s like reading books, half dream and half reality. By reading books we grasp knowledge. We cannot grasp everything as we cannot be the God, but human being have been developed by gaining knowledge. I felt that Gardens of Secret is a beautiful piece to describe it metaphorically.

And I feel that the way of Seyed Alavi’s metaphorical art work and the motif he uses in his installation project gave me a good inspiration for my graded unit project. Especially the butterflies in the paper house, he is giving his most concept into the whole piece by hiding the butterflies and made them obscure.

As I was looking for ideas for my graded unit project I came accross this artist. Her work and ideas seem to relate to my idea and developing from the brief ; ‘Ritual & Commemoration’.

Mona Hatoum - born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1952 and came to in London in 1975. She trained at both the Byam Shaw School of Art and the Slade School of Art between 1975 and 1981. She was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1995 for her exhibitions at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and for her show at the White Cube.

I like her sculpture work a lot. She makes subtle changes upon usual objects and makes very strong images. It makes me wonder how easy we can modify a thing to create something totally different with such impact like hers. So simple that we seem to receive the message directly.

I like one of her work, which is two swings hung closely together from the ceiling. The panels, which usually made by wood, are clear glass. They look like a pair of people, or a couple. Despite of the intimate relationship it creates you also get a sense of danger as the glass panels could smash each other or do worse if they swing towards each other. Silently it tells us how an usual thing could turn its innocent face into violent.

It’s quite impressive that she collected her hair for years.
She often uses wire and steel for her sculpture.

I’ve been looking at so many things and got lost again!!!!!
I couldn’t explain to Jennie what I wanted to do and what exactly my idea was about. I could tell myself that I was a bit lost.
Although I took many video clips in last few days I’m still not sure if they’ll be part of my final piece.

I think I have enough source already, all I need to do is to single out one idea and go for it.

As one of the Zen principles, which we(Japanese) find it aesthetic, there’s ”Everything in this world changes.” . Nothing is immortal or eternal. I think the reason why we find something such as seasons and fireworks beautiful is that we know that it’s transient and we have the knowledge that we’re witnessing it at the certain, limited time of our life.

Japanese people are especially aware of lapse of time and nature, I think. In Spring we gather under the trees of cherry blossoms to admire the flower. But what we actually admire is the fact the flowers don’t last long. We love to see its petals falling. We describe the scene ‘Hakanai‘ which translation doesn’t exist in English. It’s not quite ’sad’, ‘beautiful’, maybe something between, but still hard to interpret. Aesthetic comes from the knowledge that we accept everything to change so it’s important to cherish the moment. Today it looks only like loads of people gather around to get drunk and have some food.

In Zen’s teaching it says ; if you don’t understand that attachment to something immortal will create suffering your life will be full of sufferings.

So it’s important to find beauty in things when they are as they are. Things change, age, or even break or die. When we accept what they are and that they’re not eternal we could find beauty in it.
I think MUJI is a good example in a sense. They use limited decoration, mostly monotone, natural materials, but it is beautiful.

I wasn’t a big fan of Muji when I lived in Japan but when I look at them now I like it more. Its simplicity is predominant and its no-decoration style is the main design.
I feel like there’s a huge relationship between Muji and Japanese sand gardens.

I made some video clips in response to my research. Uploaded some I liked.