We were now introduced to digital means of creating art. A gif, according to the internet, is a lossless format for image files that supports both animated and static images. Pretty much a video/animation that replays itself (my simplified explanation lol). We were told to make gifs and incorporate the idea of labour within them. I travelled to my workplace and wanted to make a gif of my labour that I experience on the daily. Making cocktails is a profession that requires a lot knowledge and confidence to be able to properly execute the job well. I asked my good friend and fellow bartender to make me a Strawberry Kiss, one of our signature cocktails.
Photography/Paint & Print Kang.
We were asked to expand our sequences of photos within different areas of labour. I chose to make a larger sequence of photos showing my labour on the day to day. I got my co worker to make our house cocktail whilst I shot numerous photos whilst moving the camera around the glass. I wanted to show the care and precision we bartenders take to create cocktails. Cocktails are seen as a high end service that people enjoy seeing made and I wanted to show that process. Although cocktails take a bit of time to create, i often noticed that cocktails are always the ones that get finished the quickest. The contrast between the time of making it and the time the patron takes to finish it, is something i wanted to explore.w
This second sequence was based around the process of walking a distance, as to satisfy that craving we sometimes get late at night. I purposely made the images blurry to show the feeling we get when we have to get out of bed just to satisfy this craving. It represents how our minds are blurred and groggy until we finally fulfil that craving.
Photography/Print & Paint kang
Getting stuck into the new brief we were introduced to the concept of labour within art. One of our first tasks was document a form of labour, wether that be eating, waking up, tying your laces etc. For this I chose eating as it is something i do very often. I paid 6.50 for a plate of food at the buffet on campus. Every-time I noticed a significant portion of my food, I took a photo and did this until the plate was eventually finished. This technique made me realise how i eat my food, what i eat first and what i eat last. I typically like to leave a bit of meat as my last bite.
Art Machine: Day 3
Having the same energy as yesterday, we were excited to get stuck into it. After some technical difficulties involving our little fan’s power cord breaking, we decided to ditch the small fan and upsize to a bigger one. Trying to approach this fan with the same idea as the small one proved fairly difficult as the increase in size left us fairly unprepared. Our boxes were now too small to fit the fan and our brushes were a real struggle to angle.
We decided to tape two boxes together so it could accompany the size of the fan. Although this fixed the problem of size, we were now left with an issue of leaks, which there were a lot of. We tried to tape them up as best as possible but it still managed to seep through.
Our original concept involved having an ink/paint tray at the the bottom of the fan, where the brushes can pick up paint and splatter it. Setting up an ink tray for the big fan was one of the most frustrating processes I have had the displeasure of endeavouring on. The tray wouldn’t sit right or one little shift in the fan would mess up the orientation of the tray and throw everything off balance.
After some hard thought (like some really hard thought), we geniuses decided to ditch the drip tray and pour the ink into a little hole we cut into the top of the box. We poured ink (mixed with water) onto a moving, fully functional electric fan for about a minute -_- We felt like the biggest idiots when James came and told us that we were pouring water on an electrical appliance and it probably wasn’t the right move.
After talking to James he suggested we extend the rod of the fan, so that the fan head can operate within the sealed box whilst the motor’s body can stay nice and dry outside of the box. Moving forward we want to initiate this idea and have a successful and SAFE experiment.
Art Machine: Day 2
Day 2 was more exciting than I expected. We tweaked some ideas to the machine and decided to fully inclose the contraption within a box, so we can get a fully covered piece of art. Having a talk with Luca this morning really opened our eyes to the possibilities of where we can take this machine. Looking ahead, we are going to play with different mediums to have the fan spin with, different textures as to what the paint can splatter on and the size of the fan as a whole.
We did a test before we finalised and kept pushing through with this idea. Though the test was an overall success, we did run into some issues. The box was leaking in parts that we didn’t tape, so we just have to make sure the box is water tight beforehand. We ran the fan for about 30 seconds before we heard it stop working, but because the box was sealed we couldn’t see what the problem was. Going forward we want to up the scale and experiment with different mediums etc.
The final product of test numero uno.
Seeing the image come out this way reminded me of some advertisement for the Kill Bill movies. This piece has a certain violence to it and I think making the ink red could further push the boundaries of that concept. The Kill Bill posters does this in a way that attracts your eyes to the gruesome scene being played out and I kinda want to implement that within this brief.
Art Machine: Day 1
Day 1 consisted of generating ideas of what we could do for a machine. Some ideas consisted of using fans, skateboards, coke & mentos and even beyblades (spinning tops). We ultimately decided as a collective to use a fan with paint brushes tapped to the end. Our idea behind this machine was to create a piece of art, made from machine and nature. The paint brushes spinning still generates air that moves the paint in unorthodox ways.
Final Presentation
Having a predominantly black image with this singular figure engulfed in shadows was to show how men are in the dark when it comes to masculinity and showing emotion. They act normal around family and friends but when they’re alone they are left with their thoughts. I wanted to show their vulnerability and have that as a focal point across all three images
I invited all three of my friends into the studio so that they could fish the pieces themselves. I gave them a white marker and just said “show me masculinity”, what they drew over the images was what they came up with.
I liked how they all took different approaches to the task. Drawing, poetry, tagging etc. I think this really grew their confidence as men. Having their photo taken, blown up to A0, and then drawn over by themselves would be an easy task for most, but my boys kept second guessing themselves. I simply told them “draw what you want, who gives a shit what anyone else thinks” and that pushed them to start lol.
The tagging done on top really cemented that this was theirs, that they owned this piece now. I’m just glad I could give them a piece that highlights them as individuals and gives insight into what people go through even when they are mistakenly shown to be strong and brave.
Ive formatted it to show a seclusion. The first image shows him outside, the second standing in the doorway and the final being shot inside. I did this to represent how men are shutting in their feelings and not properly expressing it.
Ive really enjoyed this brief as its expanded the way I see and interpret the surroundings around me. It’s made me more attentive and has highly influenced me in choosing what minor and ultimately what major I’ll be partaking in.
Black and Whites
After taking some photos which I was pleased with, I turned them to black and white and played around with the settings like exposure, contrast etc.
The new idea that came forth was almost that of an identity crisis and this is where I started the recovery process. My friends are very conscious of how they present themselves in public and to others, myself included. In today’s society, showing emotion for men is seen as a weakness. I wanted to contradict that idea and recover my friends’ confidence, not only in how they are seen but also in how they hold themselves in their space. Regaining their space to feel confident in again was something that heavily influenced me wanting to create these works.
Uncover – Suburbs
Being from West Auckland originally, I see South Auckland as my second home. I do probably spend more time out south than I do at home, and that’s mainly due to all my friends living out south.
The spots where the photos were taken, were the houses of my friends. I wanted that sense of home present within the images and somewhere the boys felt comfortable being photographed.
After some hard fought persuading, I was able to get my friends on board with letting me snap some photos of them. They weren’t used to having photos taken off them. I asked them “why don’t you like having your photo taken?”, they replied with “Its just not something we’re used too, we’re not that photogenic”. This lil conversation made me want to totally flip the idea of my final presentation.
The colour photos (as shown below) did not come out the way i wanted as i thought it was too bright where the light source was coming from. I played around with different lighting options but nothing was really working. I then thought that a black & white filter might lower the lighting and I could then play around with the contrast, sharpness etc. I ended up taking that path as the colours ultimately tied into the idea of male masculinity issues.
Uncover – City
With the brief being split into your connection with the city and the connection with your suburbs, I was quite interested in the curbs that ran all through Auckland city. If you think about it, every street and lane in the city is connected through a curb. I wanted to highlight the unseen parts of Auckland that are connected through curbs.
The coin flip activity was a real big influence on this idea as wandering the city without any set thing to look for, opens your mind to see the unseen or forgotten. My plan is to create a series of photos that are in totally different areas of the city, but the curbs would be the thing that connects all of them (as shown in a photo below).
I am wanting to introduce models into the mix of my photography. I do personally just like architectural photographs, but I’m wanting to challenge myself by incorporating my friends.
