Patrick Heron is a post war abstract painter from Cornwall, St Ives....

CULTURE IN SINGAPORE

HUMID. TROPICAL. MONSOON. THUNDER AND LIGHTNING. FROGS. GREEN. EQUATOR. PALM TREES. AFRICAN TREES. WATER. RAIN. RIPPLES. GECKO. DOGS. ROAD FROM LEFT TO THE RIGHT. BUSY. COLOR TAXIS. RED. YELLOW. BLUE. BUSES. UNDER-PASS. PEDESTRIANS. CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. OVER THE TOP. FLIP FLOPS. MIXED RACE. FANCY CARS. LAMBORGHINI. FERRARI. RANGE ROVER. PORSCHE. HAAGAN DAZ. SINGAPOREAN. CHINESE. BRITISH. FACES. TEMPLES. MODERN & OLD ARCHITECTURE. ELEPHANT PARADE  ORNAMENTS. JADE. GOLD. SILVER. DRIED MANGO. ORIENTAL. MUSIC. NOTATIONS. CRESCENDO. AIR. BREEZE. OLD MEMORIES. WAS LAST HERE WHEN I WAS TWO. GEESE. HOUSE. SWIMMING POOL. AGAPANTHAS. ACCIDENT. HOSPITAL. CENCETTAS. ORCHIDS. WHITE. PURPLE. MANGO. CLOTHING. CARPETS. CERAMICS. CLAY POTS. WORKSHOPS.MOPEDS. SHOPPING. CARTIER MUSEUM. TITANIC. EXHIBITION 1912. NOODLES. SUSHI. EUROPEAN FOOD. INDONESIAN. THAI. CHINA TOWN. KUNG HEI FAT CHOI. DRAGON. RED. GOLD. LANTERNS. FLOWERS. HERBAL TEA. HENNA TATTOO. AXE OIL. PEOPLE. FRIENDS. FAMILY. NEW YEAR. CHAMPAGNE. ALCOHOL. FOOD. CORONATION CHICKEN. MUSIC. QUIZ. GAMES. 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012. SMILES. KISS. COFFEE. BREAKFAST. TROPICANA. NEW START. MAKE IT A BETTER YEAR! UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. ROLLERCOASTERS. INDIANA JONES. JURASSIC PARK. THE MUMMY. THE MUMMY RETURNS. SHREK. FAR FAR AWAY. FIONA. DONKEY. MADAGASCAR. MOVE IT MOVE IT. RIDES. COKE. ACTION. EXCITEMENT. FOOD. LUNCH. AMERICAN STYLE. MEXICAN CUISINE. STALLS. SOUVENIRS. SWIMMING POOL. RELAXED. PARTIES. DRESS UP. BANGLES. LAST DAY. SAD. BUT ALSO EXCITED TO GO BACK TO THE U.K. AIRPORT. BAGGAGE. WAITING AREA. PASSPORTS. TICKETS. PLANE. SEAT 27C. 14 HOUR FLIGHT. ONE DAY. FILM WATCHED TWICE. ANNE HATHAWAY. 20 YEARS. ROMANTIC COMEDY. UK. RAIN. WEARING ALL MY JUMPERS DESPITE WEARING FLIP FLOPS. TAN. NOT PALE. HEATHROW. DRIVE HOME WITH FAMILY. AT CRACK 0 IN THE MORNING. PRETTY GOOD END TO HOLIDAY. IPOD ON. RAVING TO FOLK AND OLDIES. I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE. SOMETHING BEGINNING WITH..... T. TREES. SALCOMBE. SEA. WINDY. JACK WILLS. FAT FACE. HOME. BED. NIGHT. ZZZZZ

ARTIST OR LAWBREAKER?- BANKSY

Imagine you are walking home from work, thinking about your whole experience in the daytime. In a word, you are tired. You look forward to getting anything for relaxing. At this time, a satiric picture drawing on the wall comes to your eyes, which is considered as Banksy's art work. After seeing the lively picture on the wall, what are you feeling right now? You may have different feelings on the street drawing; for instance, a lot of people can be amazed at such a vivid image, and stop in front of it, star gaze at it, think about it long and hard what is the meaning of it?!

Its's a controversial art form, technically creative, uses shapes; forms and colours, reflection of the artists emotion, and is a form of social commentary. How could we describe Banksy's work as an art form? Once people could figure at the message under Banksy's creation, it could indicate that they have spent time analysing the artists work. 

Art is a form of communication. It's another universal way of communicating. Like writing and speech, art allows us to express our ideas out into the world. It allows us to influence others. Essentially art is a freedom of expression. Banksy is a graffiti artist who has taken the freedom of expression to a new level. Graffiti may fall into the category but many refuse to see this way because most graffiti has no creativity. It appears to be just a bunch of scribbles and lines used to signify territory rather thank to express thoughts and feelings. How do we disclaim that graffiti like Banksy's is more than just an act of vandalism to state territory? Banksy's graffiti is a new and unique form of art because as viewers we are able to receive the same experience that was initially felt by Banksy and convert those experiences into knowledge of reality without direct exposure. If the experience that is felt by one person is felt by the next, then it is Art. Banksy is a perfect example of the manifestation of his artwork to create a common experience. The artist creates graffiti that can be found humorous to many; among his artwork, is a painting of a police officer handling a balloon dog, like the balloon animals that clowns are known for making, with a mussel over its mouth as it were a real threat. It's funny to see a cop, a symbol for machismo, to treat something with such little or no harm with such fear. Banksy has even used his imagination to take what is given to him and create a real piece of Art. 

One painting illustrates Charlie Brown with a cigarette in his mouth holding a gas tank as if he had just set fire to the already burned down building.

Banksy has the ability to create a humorous artwork and allow for viewers to experience that same humour that got him to do the painting in the first place!

I went to Bristol in late January, and was fascinated by the architecture in the buildings, had a feel of the city of it being my home town and a bit of london from my past. Bewildered by the artefacts of Art in windows of shops, galleries but the main thing was on the streets surrounding Bristol- was Banksy.

Yeah... the colours, the shapes, the whole narrative of it was complex; but wondered what the meaning behind his works show. It could be things from his childhood, or from everyday life. I was struck by the intrinsic deal that Banksy has got to offer in his work, the moods of colour he is trying to portray such as the characters, dialogue of texts scripted into the walls; national figurative and Pop Art. I love the at that he creates; I went to Totnes and found a text pieces that reminded me of Banksy: 

I think this text is trying to say that all opportunities are open to you but the fallback of it could be that your afraid to take the chances of having that ambition in front of you; and running away to the nearest exit. Or it could highlight the fact that it is a new opening of whatever it is and pushes you to the door to go and do it! Totnes shows the arts, the creativity, the atmosphere; Totnes is a place of Art.

"EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP"- Banksy created a film and he quotes saying 'a lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to". Street art or 'graffiti' to the passer by has been around for years! Exit through the gift shop brings us straight there, to the nifty and gritty of it all, and who else wold be the person to depict this underground world but none other than Banksy himself. 

The masked British graffiti artist but also prankster; has become infamous for his paintings and sculptures popping up all over britain. Street art has become the most counter culturally thing since punk and when we get to witness a glimpse of it at its best. 

Exit through the Gift shop follows some other famous artists such as Shepard Fairey, renowned for his stylised ''hope'' poster of Barak Obama. 

The film focuses around a french shop keep and amateur film maker Thierry Guetta, who finds himself caught up in the LA graffiti night scene, in where he makes it his goal to make a documentary on the hidden art. A Guetta's reputation grows among the street artists through dedicating years of his life and footage to capturing every moment of it all, he finally crosses paths with Banksy and two forms an unlikely partnership, in which Banksy agrees to let him document him at work. Guetta even videotapes Banksy's infamous 'Guantanamo Bay' prank at disneyland, wherein a handcuffed, hooded figure in an orange jumpsuit is placed beside one of the rides. This is not a film to take on face value especially when we are being told the story from the masked identity himself, sceptics that the film is semi fictionalised into Banksy's personal workshop, and the strange and rather eccentric character of mr Brainwash (coincidental name). 

In the course of art history, artists from classics to modern have been to realistic, some expressionist, some symbolic, some are truth and some propaganda. Banky is unique of bombarding walls and streets all over the world, vandalising other famous artists like Claude Monet 'waterlilies' and Vincent van gogh'. I find it fascinating him using other people's artwork and recreating it into something completely different, could be for a purpose from ancient art to a more modern stylising art piece. i have really enjoyed looking at this artist as he is a true inspiration. 

www.wikipedia.co.uk

banksy blog

Andy Goldsworthy

Equivalent VIII (1966)

"Equivalent VIII (1966) annoyed lots of people when shown at the Tate gallery, London, in 1976. It is a typical postmodernist object." -Postmodernism:a very short introduction by Christopher Butler

Equivalent VIII is a minamalist peice of artwork by Carl Andre. It is a rectangular pile of bricks displayed on the floor. It's intention is to make the veiwer ask questions like "Is this art?", "What is art?", "Why is this displayed in a museum?"and/or "Could this ever be perceived as beautiful?". The reason why people get annoyed by this peice of artwork is that although in the time of Modernism, these kind of questions that art made them ask themselves were new, never before asked questions. However this peice was produced after modernism, in the postmodern era. Veiws on what art is and isnt became less ridged in the postmodern era and people accepted that art is whatever the institution/art gallery says art is, weither its a pile of bricks or the mona lisa. People are no longer impressed by an everyday object/readymade that has been given worth by the institution because the era of modernism already bombarded them with works of art that made them question what art really is. This makes the veiwer question weither this art is really post modern or actualy modernist work. This confusion is increased by the ambiguity surounding the definition of it as it is seen as a historical period, begining bettween the two world wars that nobody is quite sure has ended or not. But postmodernism is also seen as a desire for the future to redeem the present. Looking at these definitions it is hard to see how art can reflect these, as depicting the future is impossible as the future is something that has yet to occur. It also brings to question weither postmodernity is really an asthetic style or just a desire. So can desire be reflected by a pile of bricks?

Image sourced from:http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=equivalent+viii+1966&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1T4ACEW_enGB351GB351&biw=1239&bih=608&tbm=isch&tbnid=3VOv2m3TNmwoNM:&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/eamesdreamer/&docid=iWW60DsOOAYxvM&imgurl=http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5289/5218050354_ff83caf9d1.jpg&w=435&h=500&ei=oqHbTs_3Ncmy8QOY-K28BA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=895&vpy=123&dur=3373&hovh=241&hovw=209&tx=107&ty=113&sig=113124931898751434843&page=1&tbnh=132&tbnw=120&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0

PHEOBE UNWIN- Self Conscious

Materials/Oils/Abstract/Portrait

The artists paintings shifts between figuration and abstraction creating a personal register of images, marks, observations of reality, constructs of a memory or indirect references to particular places and events. Unwin teases and collages images, shapes and forms together in pastel, pencil and acrylic creating elusive, colourful abstract painting imbrued with a darker, often sinister psychological narrative. The oil painting 'Self Conscious' reminds me of Jimi Hendrix, the colours show his personality. The layers show that the theme 'self conscious' could be that he is hiding something from by the colours of the dark figure. the setting could be some sort of rock band up on stage; dark images you see in a dream, things you try to remember but can only analyse shapes that are blurred.

''Exciting to think that anything can be a painting...''.

By looking at it from a distance; the texture looks so bold and makes you want to touch it. Big canvas, no frame, its simple! The light areas show the outside part of the figure, creating strong lines, could be an atmospheric stage; the dark ages show the figure. Traces of movement reflect around the outside of the figure.