Micheal Craig Martin

Michael Craig Martin

Michael Craig-Martin was born in Dublin in 1941 and educated in the United States, where he studied at Yale University. He returned to Europe in the mid-1960s and was a key figure in the first generation of British conceptual artists. As a tutor at Goldsmith's College from 1974-1988 and 1994-2000, he had a significant influence on two generations of young British artists. Throughout his career Craig-Martin has explored the aesthetic and linguistic character of everyday, designer and iconic ‘art-historical' objects which he has realized through a variety of media including paintings, sculpture, prints and, most recently, computer animations.

My opinion on his art work is I like the way he uses everyday objects and makes them really stand out by either the different sizes or the positioning with varies different objects on the paper. The way he focuses on one or two objects and puts them in the foreground whilst having the rest of the objects in the background. The strong use of block colours really makes the picture look sharp and gives it some kind of meaning. An example would be the painting he did of the green and light pink safety pin being in the foreground usually this object isn’t seen as important but in this picture it’s the main focuses whist having the blue ladder in the background as well as the lilac lockers.

Kara Walker

Kara Walker was born in Stockton, California in 1969. She is perhaps best known for her black on white paper silhouette displays which often impacted on the history of slavery of blacks in the western world. Walker's displays are often placed directly onto the walls of galleries, creating a theatrical space in which her cut-paper characters.

 I think this image is about two African woman who may be slaves and master who is three times as small as them. You can see when looking at this picture and relating it to the way white people and black people get judged. If they were slaves shouldn't the small man be bigger showing he has power and how back in the days white people used to be in control. Also you can instantly tell the small man is white due to the way people have been taught about slavery in different cultures or the relation it has between white and black people. The woman on the left may be holding a voodoo doll for either a sense of courage or spirit, the woman on the right holding a small man may be talking to or it could be her master.

My opinion on this is that as soon as you look at the image there are so many things that come across in your mind the thoughts and messages behind this picture. I found it really clever the way Kara Walker decided to portray the message in a way which would make people think about slavery; the African countries; what happened in the past between the black people and white people. The art technique is based around symmetry so she may have drawn one of the African woman on folded card cut it out to make two of them then cut out the objects or people they are holding and also the little man, stuck it together to form symmetry.

 

Si Scott

Si Scott is a UK-based illustrator his intricate, entirely hand-drawn technique has seen his work commissioned by the likes of Nike Europe, UNICEF, Casio and the BBC as both an illustrator and art director.He's renowned for his unique style, blending hand-crafted and hand-drawn artwork that has gained him numerous awards and a prestigious client list. So far in his career he has completed projects for Matthew Williamson, Vogue, Nike, Tiffany & Co and Sony to name a few. As well as contributing to advertising campaigns for Guinness, Absolut and American Express. Si has recently taken time out to develop his skills further. Challenging the 2D perspective of his work by rendering his hand drawn creations in 3D form.

Si Scott extends and manipulates Typography and letteforms by extending his ascenders and descenders making them more detailed using swirls on the descenders.In some of his work he takes the first letter and expands it making that the detailed letter whilst all the other letters are in the same style. He also trys to blend in different shapes with the letters and the colours he uses to expresses it. I find his lettering really interesting because of the way he decided to elaborate on either in the middle of two or three words or in the middle of a word. His use of swirls/spirals going in different directions and his colour use really makes you have a sense of feeling when looking at his work.

Mr Brainwash

Mr. Brainwash is the Los Angeles-based filmmaker and Pop artist Thierry Guetta. He has spent the better part of the last decade attempting to make the ultimate street art documentary.  Inspired by his subjects, he started hitting the streets, from Los Angeles to Paris, with spray painted stencils and posters of his pop art inspired images. He become famous through his association with street art creators Banksy and Shepoard Fairey, a link which was chronicled in the 2010 documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop.

I think his art work is expressed through his thoughts and feelings. Especially the way some of his work has clear written messages such as 'Never never give up' 'Life is beautiful' etc, which people then start to think about what the true meaning behind his work is . Also the way he uses colours that clash with one another and the brightness of the colours which give a real effective.

My favourite piece from the exhibition was "The Beatles" because i like the fact that he decided to base this particular art piece on a band that was a huge hit back in the days. The way he used black and white to make all four of the Beatles stand out, the white lightlights on the hair to give it that "realistic hair look". The bandanas used to cover the mouth which i think was really clever because usually you see people wear bandanas on their foreheads so the change of position is interesting. The colours used on the bandanas red,blue,yellow and green (3 primary colours and a secondary colour) and the patterns applied onto them.