Jenny Holzer & Barbara Kruger

When I first saw the work of these artists I was instantly hooked, I loved the way they used text and imagery together to create some really good and thought provoking work.

It wasn't until I started to look in to their work more indepth that I started to realise that their style didn't seem to vary much at all and their work began to appear stale and samey. Don't get me wrong, their work is good, it's needed in the world but you couldn't base an entire project on just one of these artists.

Jenny Holzer





Barbara Kruger

Stick man humour 2

don't know who made them or why, but my mum sent me an e-mail with stickmen humour... gotta love the simplicity! my favourite's the pregnancy one... hahah

Stick men humour 1

Research [Lecture notes]

What types of research there are and how to go about them...

Primary
Finding out new information through direct contact with your subjects such as questionnaires, interviews, observation and hidden observation.

Secondary
Using information that other people have found out about your chosen subject such as from the internet or libraries which can be difficult to gather.

Experiential
Gathering information through direct personal research such as trying out an activity, experience or product or recreating an rexperience which you can't, for some reason, experience directly through the use of role-play.

Visual
Gathering information through visual experimentation, lateral and intuitive connections; basically playing around with out a set thing you are trying to accomplish to see what happens. You can do this by experimenting with materials, visual intervention and playing with images of your chosen subject.

and on the subject of speech making...
you have the 'speaker', the 'subject' and the 'person addressed' - the last one holds the key as to whether communication takes place...

Home

Just thought I'd show you my home... Where i'm spending the summer - enjoy the city life... hahaha

Modernity and Modernism [Lecture notes]

Lecture notes taken from Modernity and Modernism on 12/10/2005 plus my own brain 'blaahs' - yes that is a technical term

'Modern'
Of or relating to recent times or the present: modern history.
Characteristic or expressive of recent times or the present; contemporary or up-to-date: a modern lifestyle; a modern way of thinking.
Of or relating to a recently developed or advanced style, technique, or technology: modern art; modern medicine.
Avant-garde; experimental.

'Modernity'
The state or quality of being modern

'Modenity'
Modern thought, character, or practice.
Sympathy with or conformity to modern ideas, practices, or standards.
A peculiarity of usage or style, as of a word or phrase, that is characteristic of modern times.
often Modernism The deliberate departure from tradition and the use of innovative forms of expression that distinguish many styles in the arts and literature of the 20th century.

Definitions

Modernity: The idea od 'modern' then, is linked to the idea of progress. The idea of progress is central to our understanding of 'modernity' and the significant changes that took place broadly between 1750-1950. This process of modernisation did not, obviously, happen overnight, although we can fix it historically as being aligned to the processes of industrialisation and ubranisation. Central features of 'modernity' are: The City, Communication, Progress, and Reason & Rationality. in which we see progress and developments in all areas such as the creation of telegraphs, scientific processes, and a movement from reliance upon the church to people relying more on the Government and its policies to influence, change and improve our lives.

Moderism: Is the term used to describe the cultural expressions of modernity in relation to the experience of modernity. Theoretical features identified with modernism in art & design include: Social Morality, Truth, Technology, Function, Progress, Anti-Historicism, Internationalism, Transfomation of Consciousness and Theology.

the term Modern relates directly to: Contemporary and was coined by John Rushkin (1819 - 1900) a modern painter from the PreRaphaelites.

It is used to suggest 'art of its day'

in the 20th Century it meant 'new' and thought of as better than before: improved, up to date.

Modernity is officially said to be between 1750 and 1950, however, some would say we are still in a period of modernity.

Industrialisation is a feature of Modernisation in which people moved from farming to factory production, and factory work became the most common form of work. Industrialisation also saw a great improvement in transportation and communication with the invention of electricity.

Urbanisation was seen with the effect of a growth in city sizes, people were moving from the country side to be closer to the city in which they thought they would improve their quality of life with the new leisure centres and cinemas and more well paid job prospects. In the 18th Century factories were being run 24/7 - no longer were we ran by the seasons. By the 19th Century time became standardised with what we know now: Greenwich Mean time.

Enlightenment was a period in the late 18th Century when scientific/philosophical thinking made leaps and bounds in which people became more scientific and less religious: Secularisation.

The modern experience relied on being able to grasp peoples attention so the 1800's saw the realisation of psychology and peoples attention spans and the use of advertising to do so, it also saw the rise of the science of 'Psysionomy' which was the perception of people around you and directly links in with psychology and advertising. One problem found with larger cities was a sense of alienation of the people as they worked towards this 'better world'.

Modernisim emerges out of the subjective responses of artists/designers to modernity (subjective experience - experience of the individual in the modern world)

Modernism in Design:
Anti-Historicism - campaigning against using old styles to influence work.
Truth to materials - appropriate to form - using materials that work for the design despite apperance.
Form follows Funtion - similar to truth to material in which the design was kept as simple as possible working to function rather than apperance.
Technology - created new materials for artists and designers to play around with such as concrete/steel/reinforced glass/aluminium/plastics.
Mass production - items made quickly and cheaply which were more widely accessible.
Internationalism - A language of design that could be recognised and understood on an international basis.

Modern - not a neutral term, suggests improvement and novelty.

Modernity - 1750-1950, social and cultural experiences of people.

Modernism - Range of ideas that sprang from Modernity.

Artists/Designers

Caillebotte

Bauhaus

Monet

Manet

Identity and the "Other" [lecture notes]

These are some notes taken in a critical studies lecture on 30 November 2005 about Identity and the "Other" along with some more info...

[Within Cultural Studies]...this question of 'difference' and 'otherness' had come to play an increasingly significant role... 'difference' is ambivalent. It can be both positive and negative. It is both necessary for the production of meaning, the formation of language and culture, for social identities and a subjective sense of the seld as a sexed subject - and at the same time, it is threatening, a site of danger, of negative feelings, of splitting, hostility and agression towards the 'Other'

S. Hall (1997) Representation: Cultural Representations and signifying practices, Sage, London, p. 238

Lacan's - The Mirror Stage:

Having first adopted an identity from outside the self, we go on identifying with what we want to be, but which is separate from the self, so that the self is permanently devided within itself

K. Woodward (ed. 1999) Identity and Difference, Sage, London, p. 44-45

Lacan stressed the point that there is no subject except in representation, but that no representation captures us completely. I can neither be totally defined nor can I escape all definition. I am the quest for myself. Lacan believes that how we present ourselves is always subject to interpretation by others. On the other hand, any attempt to 'totalise' someone else, to grasp the other completely, is bound to fall short - no description does the other justive. Moreover, ove can only see oneself as one thinks other see one

M. Sarup (1993) Post-Structurealism and Postmodernism, Harvester, Hemel Hempstead, p. 13

Who are we and how others percieve who we are is the cultural framework within which out identities are formed, expressed and regulated. Identity Formation is term keyed by psychoanalysists such as Jaques Lacan for this process.

The 'Mirror Stage' happens between the ages of 6 and 18 months old as a child forms their individuality, they become separate beings from their mothers even though they are still dependant. [what happens when the child is taken away from the mother - does this affect their 'Mirror Stage' or do they just pick up on the other natural Mother Figure they may be in contact with?]

The Mirror Stage creates a sense of self for the child which is all subjective and will be built on over their life. They also create an illusion of 'wholeness' and begin receiving views from others [6-18 months seems awfully young to begin being affect by others views of oneself?] The result of this is that ones subjectivity is very fragile.

Constructing the 'Other'
The Other is made by what you are not: eg. I am white because I am not black, I am female because I am not male. One problem lies in assumptions of opposition and radical otherness and steriotypes: eg. black being very different to white.

In the same way that we create our own idetities in opposition to what we are not so too does a society which leads to or can create discrimination eg. racism, sexual discrimination.

Analysis of visual example
Identities are stabalised by the construction of 'Others'. Through identifucation - associating ourselves with groups to strengthen the 'us' as opposed to 'them', creating a reassurance of a 'group identity'.

Summary
Consider influencing factors on our sense of self and how identity is expressed through outward choices. eg. clothing, tattoos, piercings, hair cuts/colours.

Accoding to Lacan identity is based on the view we have of ourselves from others.

Constructing the 'Other' attempts to solidify who we are; in doing so we set up oppositions and catagorise some as radically other (which can lead to discrimination and hate crimes)

This process of forming the 'Other' is seen throughout society and can create hostility to the 'Other' in question and causes people to emphasise otherness because of it's context.

Throughout history we can see where people have tried to enforce their sense of 'Otherness' on nations, one very obvious times being World War II in which Hitler and his Nazi party created mass destruction and hatred towards nations. Victimising the Jewish, disabled, gay even down to people who had brown hair. Hitler was trying to create a nation of Aerian people: blonde hair, blue eyes which in itself is ironic as it would mean killing himself off as he had brown hair and didn't fit into his idea of "Perfection"

Object of Desire

We were given a project title which was "Object of Desire" and told about how they wanted us to go about the project by using things we held dear to us and create something in our chosen subject areas (eg. ceramics, photography, textiles etc) but this really didn't appeal to me so I decided to twist my brief to focus on what people in general tend to hold desirable.




I ended up basing my project on human flesh and soon came round to dealing with prositution and lust. I used a friend of mine who was also on my course to do some nude modelling which I assured her would be tasteful and anonymous. I took the images in a studio setup and used a digital camera so I could take them and play around with them on photoshop and edit the images, adding text, colour and filters to get the desired effect. I then choose a couple of the images and had them printed large scale to display in my exhibition.

Piece of Final Major Project work

This is one of the pieces I created for my Final Major Project at the Isle of Man College for my National Diploma in Design.

I was working on a self set projects that was called "What do you know?" I was inspired by the Join Me project to ask as many people as I could to e-mail me, fill in forms and questionnaires to find out what people know... while on this project I got stuck along the way and wrote the quote you can see in the above painting - "I don't know where I'm going and I'm not sure where I began all I know is that I'm stuck somewhere in the MIDDLE" I was playing around with the text (as it was a text based project) and made this simple design. I love working large scale and so being given the prospect to be able to have my design painted large scale on the floor outside the window which I had been - at times - idly gazing out of for the past year seemed perfect. The project took a great deal of organising and planning in which I had to compose formal letters to the principal ask for permission to do the painting as it was to be a permanent feature using road marking paint. Once I had permission I had to get funding from the College to buy the paint and had to worked with the Painting and Decorating department who helped me create the stencils for the text and gave me tips and techniques on how to do the painting. The it was down to me and four days of crawling round on the floor painting away in the sunshine with music blarring... it was good fun and the results were pleasing and certainly unusual to see in the End of Year Exhibition.

Inside - Outside

These are some pictures I took while working on a project called "Inside - Outside". I found an old broken-down, eerie house in the fields near to where I live in the Isle of Man while out walking my dog one day and used the house as the setting for my project. For the project I was trying to add more depth to images by using mirrors to give the viewer more views of the surrounding scenery.



I then selected a series of final images which were then printed in black and white and displayed on some of the roof tiles from the old house itself...

Dingle Peninsula

Dingle Peninsula can be found in the south-west of the Republic of Ireland, it is the longest peninsula of all the pensinsulas that run along that coast and is home to lots of amazing scenery and beaches.

I went to Dingle while on a holiday in Ireland a few years back when I was about 14 - firstly visiting Dublin and loving the life of that amazing city. I wasn't particularly looking forward to going to Dingle as it sounded a little boring compared to Dublin. I'm glad I went in the end, we visited all the regular tourist traps - the village of Dingle is basically a bit of a tourist village so it was a little boring and not the sort of thing I liked. Then we visited a beach called Inch - it is roughly 4 miles long, and flat with huge tide ranges. Leading off the beach is mile and miles of sand dunes that captured my imagination immediately.




I loved that place, it was so calm and peaceful but yet held a kinds of mystery. I'm hoping to go back there this summer for a weekend and go quad biking down the beach/sand dunes, should be good. Can't wait for the sun, sand and surf.

Castletown Hockey Club

This is the Link for the Castletown Hockey Club website that my brother and I have been creating, it is currently under construction...but you get the idea...

James Turrell

This vibrant rectangle (above), a field of luminous scarlet pierced with violet and yellow-white lines, evokes the smooth, two-dimensional surface of the great Colour Field painter such as Barnett Newman or Mark Rothko. Its eerie beauty, however, is not achieved with paint on canvas. Rather, is it an effect of coloured light projected into three-dimensional space, creating chromatic depth and volume. Turrell had been dazzling viewers with his optically challenging light projections since the late 1960s, when he and the artist Robert Irwin founded the Los Angeles "Light and Space" movement. Turrell's installations challenged conventional notions of physical space, transforming perception itself into a medium.



"My work is as much about your seeing as it is about my seeing, although it is a product of my seeing"

Bill Viola

I was first introduced to Bill Viola when I saw an exhibition of his work in London about two years ago which contained many of his video artwork being played around the gallery. One piece I vividly remember - a large video projected on the wall about a meter across which was a group of people all staring into the camera, slowly they all swapped around - the ones at the back moving forwards until they had travelled full circle - all staring, concentrating and looking confused into the camera. After a while we got the feeling that while we were viewing the people they were also viewing us, we became part of the art work... it was a weird feeling to get and made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Other amazing pieces I have seen are ones such as "The Crossing" which is a two sided huge screen, one side is a man projected with flames that grow and consume him, while at the same time on the opposit side of the screen there is the same person being drenched with water that eventually consumes him. All this is mixed with the sounds from each video... atmosphere at its best.


Bill Viola Website

Fetishman

A friend of mine introduced me to fetishman the comic, after we had seen a flyer advertising it in Vernon Street College - a seemingly new-ish silly comic following the crime fighting duo Fetishman and Lactose Intolerant Boy helped by Mistress Domination as they fight crime of the world in an X-rated batman style fashion. The comic is full of random harmless sex jokes and general piss-taking of other more "serious" comics on the market.




Fetishman

Rovers Return, Bushys Basement and Mad Sunday

The Rovers Return, or "Rovers" as it is more commonly known is the one pub on the Isle of Man my friends and I would have to call our "local" despite the fact that non of us actually live close to it... We started drinking in pubs around the Key (bay) in Douglas (The capital of the Isle of Man) usually visiting the "Douglas Hotel" and the "Trafalgar" pub both situated near to each other. The Isle of Man has a large Live Music and Bands culture, we started going to these pubs because of the fact that loads of our friends were in local bands that played reglarly in these venues. Soon the live music began moving from these pubs to the Rovers and so we followed. The Rovers had recently done up it's "Basement" into an area where live bands could perform on stage. It was called "Bushy's Basement" due to it's link with the Bushy's Brewery which ran the pub. And ever since then the Rovers and it's Basement have been our homes. On a night out we always seem to start in the Rovers and then move on from there. One thing I love about the Rovers is you could walk in there one day on your own and still know almost all of the people in there. We know almost all of the staff as many of them were our friends that have gotten jobs in there and also just because everyone is so friendly and fun you can't help but grow to love the place. There are certain things that you come to learn when in the Rovers "lifestyle", there is no reception for mobile when down in the basement - gotta go upstairs, but people tend to know if they can't get hold of you it cause you're in the basement and so just come wandering down. also beware of the toilets downstairs... they tend to be a bit temperamental, which we all soon learned... ick... also the layout of rooms is confusing and random to begin with - upstairs there's the pool room - pool table and amazing juke box, the TV room - TV usually with football and no smoking - good for a quiet one, the bar - the first room you enter with the bar - mmm, the big table room - ...room with bit tables - the best room to go to if the pool rooms full and there's loads of you, and then there are just small random rooms for chilling in. When you first enter the Rovers you feel so lost and overwhelmed but if you're the right kind of person you soon fit into the lifestyle and it all seems to make a weird kind of sense...

Down in the Basement there is also a series of rooms devided by low archways. There is the Band room - where the bands set up and play, with an area for drunken dancing and skanking, the room with tables and chairs or "round the corner" where you can sit and chill and listen to the band but still just about be able to hold a coversation. and of course the room with the bar, in which you'll find most of the locals - aka our mates/the pub crew propping up the bar and helping out the staff when it gets busy.



The Basement has bands on the nights over the weekend, sometimes with a £2 entrance fee which you can avoid depending on who you're with and who's on the door... and also holds themed nights for the hell of it, like "pirate night" "medieval night" "1950's night" - Gangsters! just to name a few, the staff - aka Sam, Jay, Julie and the rest randomly decorate the place with things relating to the theme - and what with Sam and Jay's amazing artistic talents (used to go to college with them on the art/media course) it usually looks... interesting?

And so after we have stocked up on alcohol from the rovers we head over to the Outback, situated round the corner from the Rovers where all the rest of the Rovers crew tend to accumulate after about 11-12 o'clock and carry on the night with shot lists and laughing at scary dancing Alan whos is always, without fail, dancing alone, crazily on the dance floor - we think he goes there for his weekly exercise...

and then of course there is the infamous -

Bushy's Beer Tent

The Bushy's Tent appears on the island for the TT fortnight in May/June, conveniently located adjacent to the "Bottleneck" car park on the Douglas Promenade close to the Sea Terminal - so close that the thousands of bikers arriving on the incoming boats have a good view (and sound) of the massed ranks of visiting hordes already enjoying the beers and live bands on offer. For the past two years, the tent has not only proved an excellent vantage point for the antics of road-users performing a variety of entertaining stunts - wheelies, do-nuts etc. (some partially- or fully-naked, if you're lucky!) - but is also perfectly located for watching the Dukes Video big screen recordings of the TT racing itself. Jobs at Bushy's Beer tent are ledgendary, you've got to have guts and staminar to work there and to withstand the ominous "Bushy's Flu" that inflicts the workers due to the fact that they are working in damp conditions (spilt beer) in the cold (next to the sea - in a large tent...) but it's all worth it because you're in the centre of the action and excitement and getting paid for it.


Along with bushy's beer tent and the TT there is the awesomely amazing Mad Sunday in which the promenade along the sea front is closed off to cars and a street party ensues... the Beer tent is the place to be, there are thousands of people from all over the world along with all our friends from college and the pub crew all out for an amazing time...



Roll on the summer... :D

Mark Rothko

While on the trip to London when I went to see Les Miserables I also went to the Tate Modern art gallery. I have been there three times in total so far and each time is just as interesting as the last. This time when I went there was a room which had been re-designed, showing pieces by Mark Rothko. There were about five paintings in total; Large scale, simple yet abstract designs that measured up to 5 metres in length and about 2-3 metres high. They had been painted in deep reds, burgundies, browns and blacks and filled the room with their presence. The room itself was in the middle of the building and so had no natural light in it other than what seeped in through the doorways. The room had been lit with dim down lighters that cast an eerie glow in the room and created such an atmosphere when coupled with the images I was ensnared in the room and found it very difficult to leave. The paintings themselves were incredibly simple and basic but on the scale and the way in which they had been displayed made for an impressive viewing.



I have since been back to that room in the Tate Modern and not felt as moved by what I saw... I don't know what it is or was that moved me so much that day but it wasn't there when I returned... maybe it was just a one time thing...

About Mark Rothko

Green Wing

THE most amazingly funny, stupid, genius piece of comedy work I have ever seen... I love Green Wing so much.

I watched almost all of the first series when it was on TV and have recently been bought the box set of series 1 allowing me to relive all the amazing moments of comic genius.

Synopsis:

A Channel 4 comedy which follows the adventures of the childish and slightly mad staff at a hospital.

Despite a general lack of medical attention, Green Wing follows new surgical registrar Dr Caroline Todd through her first day at work and beyond, starting out as she means to go on - disheveled and under-deodorised having spent the night in her car.

Green Wing was written by a series of comedy writers: Robert Harley, James Henry, Gary Howe, Stuart Kenworthy, Oriane Messina, Victoria Pile, Richard Preddy, Fay Rusling. And was created with the attempt of making a sketch show that is a sitcom aswell.

The goings on in the hospital are usually childish, dangerous and egotistical which all adds up to the amazing-ness that is Green Wing. I recently watched Green Wing with someone who had never seen it before. They were constantly confused and were asking me things like "why did that just happen?" and I just shrugged and said "why not?" if it gets a laugh why shouldn't it happen? there is a broad basic plot to the series but does tend to get lost within each episode as it is filled with random goings on that bemuse and distract the audience. Such as one of the HR team weighing her breasts to see how much it would cost to post them to various countries, or the constant competitions in the operating theatre between co surgeons Mac and Caroline and egotistical anesthetist Guy.

Random sketches included this one which I personally love... the Staff Liason Officer Sue White (who is basically insane...) gets random visits from the staff throughout a day as they face various trials and worries... Guy the anesthetist walks in, leans over the desk and says:

“Do you know what I like about you?” [pause] Fuck All”

...and walks out... pure genius - of course if you haven't seen Greenwing it isn't possible for you too imagine the facial expression and over all demeanours of the characters... so I suggest you go out there today and buy the box set ASAP

Check out the characters

Channel 4 website

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Plot Summary:

Set amid the chaos of pre-revolutionary China, small time thief, Sing, aspires to be one of the sophisticated and ruthless Axe Gang whose underworld activites overshadow the city. Stumbling across a crowded apartment complex aptly known as "Pig Sty Alley," Sing attempts to extort money from on of the ordinary locals, but the neighbours are not what they appear.

Sing's comical attempts at intimidation inadvertently attract the Axe Gang into the fray, setting off a chain of events that brings two disparate worlds face-to-face.

As the inhabitants of the Pig Sty fight for their lives, the ensuing clash of Kung Fu titans unearths some legendary martial arts masters. Sing, despite his futile attempts, lacks the soul of a killer, and must face his own mortality in order to discover the true nature of the Kung Fu Master.

I watched this movie a few days ago. When I first told that was what we were going to watch I was extremly sceptical and wasn't really wanting to watch it at all. Luckily I was forced to. Kung Fu and other martial arts movies rarely interest me but this movie was pure comedy genius coupled with random ultra voilence that had me laughing so much.



The scene opens in a police station in China where we see people being beaten and thrown against walls as the wife of the leader of a local gang arrested for spitting in public. The arresting officers, unaware that the lady in question was the wife of one of the gangs that ran the city on a knife edge of fear and violence, are badly beaten. The gang leaders and the lady leave, outside the police station doors and windows slam shut as they enter the street and we see from a distance people moving down the street... the ledgendary Axe Gang. A scene of random violence ensues as the Axe Gang destroy the other gang leaders, finally shooting the wife in the back with the shot gun after telling her she was free to go...

We follow the main character Sing as he attempts to join the Axe Gang and make something of his life from the street urchin he currently is. We see him attempt to claim benefits by frauding the people of the Pig Sty only to be stopped by the ultra scary land lady and her husband who eventually turn out to be Kung Fu masters who have sworn never to use their powers again after seeing their son destroyed by KungFu years earlier. Many random battles ensue all with both comic blood and gore and amazing, if a little cheesey at times, special effects.

In the end Sings amazing powers as a Kung Fu master is released as he faces his own mortality only to fight back to save the day ending, as all movies should, by winning back his childhood sweetheart...

A funny movie, badly dubbed but worth the time to watch it... made me laugh lots and cringe in pain. Watch it if you get the chance.



Kung Fu Hustle

Les Miserables

Plot Summary:

Jean Valjean, a Frenchman imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a police officer named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.

Jean Valjean is paroled from prison after serving 19 years at hard labor for stealing food. He is taken in for the night by a kindly Bishop, whose silverware he steals on his departure. When he is caught with the silverware, the bishop not only does not press charges, he also gives Valjean his silver candlesticks. With this start, Valjean reforms and becomes the mayor and head businessman in a small town. But when former prison guard Javert is transferred to become police captain and recognizes Valjean, his past life comes back to haunt him. Meanwhile, Fantine, one of Valjean's employees, has had a baby (Cosette) out of wedlock and is dismissed from her job while Valjean is away; when he finds this out (far too late), he takes responsibility for them.

In France, the poor are planning a revolution. Jean Valjean is an ex-convict who tore up his prison papers confirming him a free man. Several years after his parole, he is a mayor. He is forced to fire the over-stressed Fauntine, who is forced to become a prostitute to support her waif-like daughter. After a rough beating in the streets, Fauntine is almost sent to prison but Jean bails her out and supports her. Inspector Javert is catching up with his, discovers his identity and tries to follow him. Fauntine dies traumitically, she writes a note agreeing that Jean takes her child. He rescues young Cosette from the evil, theiving landlord and his wife and they sneak into Paris. For years they lived in the church and finally ten years later they spend Valjean's hard earned money from his past. Cosette soon falls in love with a revolutionary in the streets, they all soon get wrapped up in a battle between the rich and the starving, which, sadly, has faulty results.

I went to see Les Mis in the summer of 2002 with my mum at the Queens Theatre, London. I have been to a few smaller scale musicals in the past, some on the Isle of Man. One I remember vividly in a theatre in Liverpool - The Phantom of the Opera - amazing! Les Mis was the first big, long running show I had seen - and to see it in its "home place" of the Queens Theatre was just amazing. The atmosphere was so powerful and consuming. The actors and actresses were so talented there was never a point at which you felt they were just acting, this was their lives you were watching up there on the stage. All through the play I was engrossed, suckered in to the emotions and happenings, I laughed, I even cried... Before taking the trip down to Londom my mum and I had been looking into all the different types of plays london had to offer. I have to admit I didn't know the plot or even the basics of Les Mis and so wasn't particularly bothered about seeing it. After seeing it, I couldn't have imagined going to see a better play... I loved it so much. I would recommend this play to anyone. GO AND SEE IT NOW!

Official Website

Hand to Eye

Hand to Eye was a book that featured strongly in a project we were given in my first year at college. It features, work and reviews on 45 illustrator from around the world. It features computerised images along with the seemingly more popular hand drawn illustrations that seems to be ever more in fashion of late. The thing i like about this book is the way in which it focuses on so many different artists but yet the layout allows you to compare and contrast the work which would otherwise would be impossible...

Exhibition

Buy the book

George Segal

I don't know a great deal about George Segal, his work was something I stumbled over one time in the library and found it really interesting.

As my final piece for my GCSE art exam I made a large scale (1 x 1.5m) relief of the Four Horses of the Apocalypse using plaster bandage and soon came to hate the stuff with a passion... To see famous artist using to use plaster bandage as his chosen material was quite interesting as I has seen how difficult it was to get simple results on a smaller scale; the results Segal achieves is really impressive.



From the work I have seen of his my favourite has to be Lovers Fragments, life sized fragments cast from humans. They show a variety of poses of people, rarely showing all of them but just enough to see there are two people and tries to show the love contained in that simple genture or moment.