As you all know and have been following my progress throughout my blog, I am now making my last post, just to sum up my time and everything I may have missed out here. I got a distinction in this project!! - I may start up another blog when I begin my course at university.
My Final Evaluation... (That I handed in)
Two weeks before my project even started I knew exactly what I wanted to do, so to start my primary research I went to the NEC Birmingham and attended the National Wedding Show. The research did not help me at all as the exhibition was just for couples (brides) to find their perfect dress, honeymoon destinations and wedding/life insurance. At this point I had an idea of what I wanted my final piece to be, I know it was really soon but it's why I went ti the Wedding Show as I wanted to look into wedding cakes. I even emailed a few local wedding cake specialists to see how they could help me. I did not get that much of a response but one company helped me out a lot.
However my idea changed as I started my secondary research on the Internet, looking at different places, cultures and religions around the world and see what wedding traditions, rituals and superstitions they have. I came across a diverse set of customs; I was just overloaded with some many so I had to narrow it down. To do this I placed all cultures I researched and placed them into a bowl so I could have a random selection of just ten, this made me able to focus more on a set thing.
The Arnolfini Portrait was a big influence in my work, I didn't think it would be but I've made a final piece on it. Even before thinking about my final piece, I started experimenting with layering techniques with acetate and paper to see how overlaying different wedding cultures onto the Arnolfini Portrait. The colours on the overlay made a really vivid visual and it was really intriguing how the patterns in the clothing merged with the painting. As the Arnolfini Portrait is quite famous marriage scene, I looked into other famous weddings. First that came up was the Royal Wedding of 2011 (Prince William and Kate Middleton) I do not really like the Royal Family and what they do so I did not do as much research as I probably could of I found some British public facts and merchandise that was made for the wedding, but I wanted to move on. I then researched on the world's most expensive wedding and the world's poorest wedding. I was really engaged when I researched on these topics however it did not have much to do with my experimentation so I just left it as pure research.
I came across another painting called the Unequal Marriage, just to give me ideas to start experimenting more. From this I looked at the Chapman Brothers and how they deface works of art, so I inspired from this into my work, using Internet images I hand-rendered a random wedding audience into the back scenery of Unequal Marriage. This was to make the scenery more pleasant and visually amusing. I also decided to doodle and deface the marriage paintings like the Chapman Brothers would, to make the scene more fun as well.
The Unequal Marriage does not give off a joyful vibe so I decided to focus my attention on the Arnolfini Portrait. To continue with my experiments I decided to recreate the painting by using just two cultures (Chinese and African). I chose these two, as they were the ones that were most interesting to me and had more than enough traditions that I could recreate in my own way. I began by buying materials and getting two models to dress up for me so I could take individual photographs and edit them in Adobe Photoshop. In a way this turned out very successful however I do think that I could of improved this by actually buying costumes or cutting out the fabrics so it suited the models better. As my photographs show that I just threw the materials on and didn't put as much thought into is as I should of. Once I had taken individual photographs of the models and my objects I placed them onto Photoshop over the original Arnolfini Portrait. I used the stamp tool to get rid of the excess painting that was not part of my recreation. I had never really used Photoshop in this way before so it was a new experience and I learnt a variety of techniques that I did not know before. As well as my Photoshop pieces I also did some hand-rendered ones that were not as successful as I didn't not cut them out very neat. I ripped out each each photograph to give it more of an edge to see how it would change the effect of the painting.
To add to my research I looked at more artists to see if I could get some more inspiration to create my final piece. I researched the Chapman Brothers (again) and Banksy however they did not really give me much to work from; I then came across Yinka Shonibare. I really liked his work and I wanted to incorporate something that he does into my own work. He uses so many different mediums, so I knew there was a way for me to continuing experimenting. I admire the sculptures that Shonibare does, especially his top tables, I wanted to create my own top 'wedding' table for my final piece, I started off with origami as in Shonibare's work it looks like origami flowers placed on the table, I attempted origami which worked for some things I made, but with others it didn't. It was not the best way forward so I continued with more Photoshop experiments by adding more cultures into the painting. I recreated more famous paintings within Photoshop, but as they do not have anything to do with my theme, I did not put them towards my final piece.
I extended my experiments by making a video of me setting up the scene. I did this as it gave me the feel of setting up an event, which I will have to do in my future career choice. Once I edited my video on Movie Maker I was actually quite pleased with the outcome. However I did not want a video as my final piece so I decided to make a life size version of my recreation of he Arnolfini Portrait.
I had two boards as the base for my back drops, which were secure together by wooden hinges. I placed fabric on the broads to give the walls a textured feel. I places the material like open drapes as it gives the feel of welcoming in the viewer like an open window. I also had to create two wooden tables as the tables available at college were not good enough and did not give my piece a homely feel. Once I created the tables I covered them with tablecloths to not make the wood as visible and it gives it that touch. Then I places all the other objects into the scene to make it one. I am really pleased with the way my final piece has come together, I did have my doubts during the set up as I did not think it was going to look good and certain things shouldn't be there and so on... But in the end I actually am pleased with how everything has come together I would not change a thing. If I were to do this project again with the same theme I maybe would of made a mini 'doll' like version and made it more dainty and elegant.
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