National Visual Art Gallery

Last week, my friends and i had a fruitful visit to the National Visual Arts Gallery where we had a chance to admire the art paintings, drawings and even sculptures that were presented there. The main reason for our visit was to pick a painting or a piece of art work which had inspired or caught our attention and describe it in this blog post. Regardless of the main purpose, it was definitely an eye opener to me as I have never visited any art gallery before this. 

Main entrance of National Visuals Arts Gallery Malaysia 

As we stepped into the entrance of the gallery, a creative piece of artwork at the reception counter greeted us. As we can see below, the man in the picture looks like he is approaching us, giving us a feeling as if there is some sort of force attracting us to enter the exhibition gallery to check out for more interesting artwork.

 Reception counter at art gallery 

The art gallery is being divided into different sections such as absurd(c)ity, meditative period, gestural period, pre Berlin and other forms where we found many interesting artwork. Most of the artwork exhibited was by Latiff Mohidin as the theme was '60 Years Latiff Mohidin : Retrospective'. However, that particular piece of art work which caught my attention was located in  the ABSURD(C)ITY exhibition on the ground floor.

Entrance into the ABSURD(C)ITY exhibition gallery

Description of the art work

Artist  : Imanordin Mohd Shah

Name : Di Belakang 

Oil Paint (1994)

That particular piece of artwork which caught my eyes was designed by an artist called Imanordin Mohd Shah. It was named using Malay words, that is "Di Belakang", which means Behind. To me, it is called 'Di Belakang' because the setting in the artwork looks like the backyard of a house or perhaps somewhere at the back lane where not many will notice its existence. The pinkish-peach color cracked wall with water leaking from it depicts the harshness of life. 

In this picture, it has a pair of navy blue jeans on the left side and a light blue short-sleeve working shirt with white stripes on the right side, both hanging on a green string/rope stretching from one end to another at the backyard of a house. There is also a red clip attached to the shirt which I interpreted it as to keep the shirt in place.

The most interesting part of this artwork is the feet hanging down at the bottom of the jeans with a wire hanging out from the left knee through a small hole on the jeans. Also, a hand with a small green plant growing out from it was drawn hanging down from the sleeve of the shirt. To me, this brought about quite a meaningful message to our lives. Although we may be stuck in any parts of our lives which would not allow us to move on or take a step further from the current situation, we should not give up. There is still hope and life as we can do many other smaller scale yet meaningful things just by reaching out to people. Lastly, this art work also pointed out to me that no matter how harsh or difficult life can be in a current situation, we must stay strong and learn from these challenges as hope is still present.

- The End of Description -

Last but not least, I find the application of art work around national art gallery such as paintings by the stairs and beside the escalator really brighten up the environment in the gallery. All in all, this trip was definitely worth it. 

 art work and paintings by the staircase

art work beside the escalator

Art Movement - Street art

Art movement is a style of doing art which is extended over a period of time and is distinctly different than another movement of art. These styles are used to describe art within the same time period and region practiced by a group of artists. There are many types of art movements such as abstract art, conceptual art, expressionism, modernism, op art, pop art and so on. 

The art movement that I am going to discuss here is Street Art. 

Street art is also known as visual art which can be seen in public places, usually along the streets. To be more specific, it is called the 'post-graffiti' which is used to differentiate between contemporary space art work from vandalism, territorial graffiti and corporate art. 

Bansky graffiti on the Bottom of Park Street Bristol 

Street piano 

Also, Street artists do not aim to change the definition of artwork, but they question the current environment with its own language. They attempt to communicate their work about socially relevant ideas with people through esthetic values without being imprisoned.

Street art depicting global warming in Berlin

Street art also include many other media and techniques such as mosaic tiling, murals, stencil art, LED art, video projection and so on. The video projection onto large city buildings is a new form of graffiti where it became a popular tool for street artists. Below are a few examples of street art using other media and techniques :

mosaic tiling

 stencil art 

 Video projection art

Besides that, street art are often used by artists who wish to keep their art work unaffiliated and strongly political. Their work are mostly done without official approval in public areas. Hence, street art is occasionally called 'post-graffiti' or 'neo-graffiti'. It can be found around the world as artists usually travel to different foreign countries to spread their designs or artwork. Street has also become the most favorite platforms for artists because it is easier to access by anyone. Hence, street arts today have become seemingly popular in most parts of the world.

For example, Bansky, who is an anonymous street artist became popular for his challenging stenciled piece of art. Also, his artworks were different from others with striking images and slogans. He is also one of the Academy Award nominated street artist. Few of his art works can be seen below:

Peace Vs Love

 Shop till you drop

Pissing guard

There are different motivations and objectives that drive street artists themselves. Nowadays, some street artists used "smart vandalism" as a way to raise awareness of social and political issues. However, the universal theme in most of the street art is adapting visual artwork into an arrangement which uses public space, allowing artists to reach a wider reach of audience compared to traditional artwork and galleries.

While most large cities in the world host some form of urban art or graffiti, there are a few locations which developed pioneering street art culture. These locations often attract artists to exhibit their art work. Some of these locations include Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and so on.

In Malaysia, in a project funded by the Penang State government in conjunction with the Penang's Georgetown Festival, certain old walls has gained a new lease of life by an artist call Ernest Zacharevic. He left many beautiful wall paintings of children all across historical Georgetown, his artworks which include figure drawings and portraits were interesting, funny and are open to everyone's interpretations. Below are a few artworks that can found in Penang:

 The famous "Little children on bicycle"

 Reaching Up

 The awaiting trishaw paddle

Boy on A Bike

Little Girl in Blue

Lastly, there is also 3D-graffiti which represents a new way of combining the art techniques of Renaissance with the gritty qualities of street art. 3D-street artists brought about a whole new meaning to graffiti which was before this, seen as vandalism in the form of images and letters scrawled on public property. A few famous artists include Kurt Wenner, Edgar Muller and Tracy Lee Stum.

Kurt Wenner's artwork

 Muller's artwork

Tracy Lee Stum's artwork

All in all, street art is an interesting form of art movement which has been adopted by many artists all around the world.



Reference : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_movement
                  http://www.osnatfineart.com/art-movement.jsp
                  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Art
                  http://www.siliconindia.com/news/general/10-Marvelous-Pieces-of-Street-Art-From- 
                  Around-the-Globe-nid-149036-cid-1.html
                  http://www.onlypenang.com/where-to-go/penang-street-art-wall-painting-at-penang/
                  http://weburbanist.com/2008/06/29/top-10-3d-graffiti-artists-in-the-world/

Image Sources : Google Image

Typeface

Typeface is a set of one or more fonts, each composed of glyphs that share the same design features. Each font of the typeface has a particular weight, style, width, italicization, ornamentation and so on. Some examples of typeface are Arial, Times, and Verdana.

Here, we were asked to draw our own name using any typeface. Hence, after some research, I drew a simple typeface with added ornamentation of flowers and spirals from each alphabet.
Then, I coloured it with just 3 simple colours : black, green and red.

      Drawing name using Typeface

 Incomplete artwork

Complete artwork

Reference : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typeface
                  http://www.techterms.com/definition/typeface

Shapes and Patterns

Using the principles of design elements and design principles, we were asked to draw out any shapes and patterns which include these principles. Hence, I used a few basic shapes in this artwork, such as triangle as the main shape, followed by circles, lines, and so on. After that, I added in colours to brighten up the design. The colours were repeated evenly in different areas to give a sense of harmony and balance in the whole piece of artwork. 

Artwork - Shapes and Patterns

Story Through A Photo

Beauty and Happiness Shines

Source : National Association of Professional Child Photographers.

Every photograph tells a story. This photo that I have found from the net had inspired me through the use of  sepia colour and also the girl who is smiling  happily on the swing. Despite of living in this technological advancing country, I believe that every child have sat on a swing before when they were young. The girl in this picture reminded me of my childhood, where it was a stress-free life with no worries and doubts. Sitting on the swing, swinging high up represents the freedom of life. It is also the time of happiness and the beauty of being a child.

The girl in this picture looks happy, care-free, and a little afraid at the same time through her smile which is wide-opened. She might be afraid when being pushed up high on the swing, however, she also looks like she is smiling and screaming with joy and happiness. Despite of some fear seen through her both hands grabbing hold on to the side of the swing, she is having fun 'riding' on the swing and enjoying every moment of it.

The blur background and the clear picture of the girl smiling naturally also tells me that children tend to live in their own world, they do what they like and what they love to do, discovering new things without thinking about the end results or what the society thinks about them. They might be afraid of some things, but they are not afraid to do it. Just like this picture of the girl and the swing. The higher she swing, she gets a little more afraid. However, she is still happy and the beauty of being a child shines through her face seen from the side view.

Picture Source : National Association of Professional Child Photographers. 

Colours!

Colour is an important element that we cannot live without in life, everything in this world has colours such as the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the buildings or houses we live in and so on. It is a form of non-verbal communication where individuals would interpret the same colour differently from each other, or they might even interpret the same colour differently each day according to personal mood.

I believe that everyone has their own favourite colours. One of my favourite colour is RED

The reason why i love red is because this colour gives me a sense of strength, hope, determination, and energizing power in life. It is also typically viewed as a colour of joy and happiness which I can share with my family and friends during any celebrations or festive seasons. For example, during Chinese New Year, most of my family members would wear red colour clothes and the decorations around will be filled with red-ness. Hence, this always bring about a sense of excitement, warm and love which are shared among each family members. 

Lanterns during Chinese New Year 

Besides that, I find that red is a very attractive colour in the sense that it can capture a person's attention more effectively compared to other colours. Therefore, many companies used red as their logo's background colour. For instance, KFC, McDonalds, CIMB bank and so on.

KFC logo

Also, red somehow gives me a sense of positivity and courage in life which leads me to be motivated in doing a particular task or when I am working in a team. Lastly, I associate red as being beautiful and pretty. This is because many flowers such as rose and hibiscus are red in colour, they look attractive even from a distance. Hence, showing that it is a powerful and strong colour.

beautiful red flowers

Another favourite colour of mine is BLUE

There is only one simple reason why i love the colour blue, especially sky blue. It is because sky blue gives me a sense of calmness, peacefulness, and tranquility in life. Each time i look up at the sky, despite of the different tones of blue during that particular day, the blue sky and white clouds will always combine perfectly with each other, making it a breathtaking sight. Unconsciously, this enables me to cast all my stress and frustrations aside, trusting that better plans would be ahead of me regardless of the current situation.

                                   Pictures of the beautiful sky taken during my trip to Melbourne




References :
http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-red.html
http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/meaning-of-colors.html
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/communication/color_effect.htm
https://resources.oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/rreagan/Filemanager_Public_Files/meaningofcolors.htm

Picture Sources : Google Image, unless stated otherwise.

Design Elements and Design Principles (Study Note)

To create and produce a piece of art work, elements and principles of designs are needed.

From my understanding, design elements :

• are the basic things involved in creating a design, painting, drawing and so on.
• help to increase the uniqueness of designs and can be used to represent anything.
• There are 7 elements which include -

1. Line : - linear mark on a surface which shows a shape/outline.                                                    
               - a border created when 2 shapes meet
               - can create texture, can be thick and thin.







                                                                                                              Lines

2. Colour : - refers to hues which has 3 properties (Chroma,
                     Intensity, Value)
                   - Colour wheel used to show the chromatic scale in a
                     circle based on primary colors (red,yellow,blue)
                    - Represents mood of the design.

                                                                                                                  colour wheel

 

3. Texture : - quality of a surface (smooth, soft, rough etc.)
                     - 2 parts : physical texture and visual texture
                     - appropriate texture enhances distinctiveness of a
                       design.



                                                                                          
                                                                             rough texture

4. Shape : - 2-dimensional line with no form or thickness, flat.
                  - 2 groups : geometric and organic form









5. Value / Tone : - the brightness or darkness of a color.
                             - contrast between black and white tone and
                               other tones.
                             - can be used with color

                                                                 

6. Size : - different proportions of objects, lines or shapes.
               - variation of sizes can be real or imagined.
               - make objects closer look larger, objects further
                  away look smaller.






7. Direction : - all lines have direction
                        (horizontal/vertical/curved/sloped)
                       - can show movements
                       - can be balanced to depict stability, imbalanced
                          to show tension.

From my understanding, design principles :

• are the laws of designing any project.
• arrange and combine the elements carefully to create  a piece of good art work.
• There principles of design  include -

1. Balance : 

    - take into account the weight and equality of a visual. 

      For example, in the form of value, shapes and colours. 

    - It can be symmetrical(balanced evenly) or asymmetrical   

      (balanced un-evenly). 

- 

2. Harmony : 

    - the combination of all elements which are related and have 

       common characteristics to give a sense of visual satisfaction. 

    - It can create different meaning. For example, same elements are 

       interpreted as calm and peaceful (groups of organic shapes like 

       squares and rectangles),while contrasting elements like circles 

       and squares with triangles give a sense of energy or tension.

3. Contrast :    
   - Shows differences in two different parts of a design or show 
      emphasis in any sections of the design.

    - Pictorial elements which stand out as they are not similar 
      (contrasting colours and shapes)

4. Emphasis :    
    - It is the center of interest, showing dominance and  

       influence in a design. 

    - It is being used in certain parts of the design which is 

       considered to be more important and needs to attract   

       attention compared to other parts.

    - It is done through contrasting the values, adding colour  

       or placement in the design.

5. Repetition/ Rhythm : 

    - Repetition is using the same pictorial elements in a 

      design (similar shapes, lines or colours) which can be 

      even or uneven. 

    - Rhythm is the organized movements due to the constant 

       recurrence of some elements. Meaning, it is like patterns 

       of design which has a 'flow'.

6. Variety : 

    - When the elements in the design are done with sufficient    

       differences and changes.
    - It is make up of different objects in a design which helps to   

      add interest to a visual image.

7. Movement : 

    - It is like an illusion of motion in design or painting   

      when we look from one object to the next through the 

      correct placements and position.
    - The visual flow which flow through composition and 

      can be created using patterns.

In conclusion, by learning about design elements and design principles, it made me realize that a piece of simple art work or a design is not merely just a drawing. But, there are many skills, composition, elements, and principles involved in it without us realizing its existence.




References

http://www.incredibleart.org/files/elements2.htm
http://www.jiskha.com/art/visual_arts/ped.html
http://www.johnlovett.com/test.htm
http://www.canleyvale.hs.education.nsw.gov.au/Winning%20websites/art/eod.htm
http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/Compose.htm
http://www.canleyvale.hs.education.nsw.gov.au/Winning%20websites/art/pod.htm
http://www.educ.kent.edu/community/vlo/design/principles/variety/index.html
http://pages.uoregon.edu/surviarc/three.html