My Visit to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

When I visited the Birmingham Museum and Art gallery, I managed to study lots of different textures in the different pieces of art and sculptures I saw. I liked the modern art work more then the classical work. I think this is because I love the symbolism shown within the pieces and the fact they had enigma codes; making me create my own vision and story behind why the piece was created.

Dain Observational Work

For my Dain observational work, I chose the them of Women vs. Society, documenting how society is breaking down strong characters because they don't look 'perfect' which is a lie anyway. After researching Dain's work, I saw that he frequently used the them of women's rights so decided to follow that idea. To begin with, I did a backwash of yellow and orange because those are colours that are related to happiness and summer; contrasting to the symbolism in the collage. I started off my collage by using a bare face with no make up or hair done.

I then incorporated the history of women's fashion into the piece by adding a clipping of 50's women's shoes and then a magazine clip of the modern day shoe fashion. This symbolises how fashions and expectations have changed in 60 years and how now women are expected to rely on their looks even more so then the 1950's.

I then added a cut out of some hair onto the collage to begin to the show the expectations of women. I purposely used a cut out that was black and white to show the fear that lots of women are fearful of, growing old. To continue the comparisons from the 50's to the modern day, I stuck down a photo of a 1950's housewife to represent the stereotype that have been stuck with women for centuries. To add modern influences into my Dain research, I used photos of pills as (metaphorical) tears. To show the pain some women go through to ensure they fit society's idea of 'perfect, sexy, attractive) this false image can rule some women's lives and make them very self conscious that can lead to all sorts of disorders; hence the use of the pill images.

 In the final stages of the making of the collage, it began to look quite full and almost claustrophobic due to the face being covered by so many things. This could symbolise how some women are trapped in a war with themselves when trying to change their appearance. I stuck down words from newspaper articles because women are often exposed as these sexual creatures that are just for male entertainment, such as page 3 models and adult comic strips. I chose the word 'memories' because some women who are emotionally and mentally broken from trying to reach expectations may miss the days when they didn't care what others said and could be there own person. the quote ' Beauty, it hurt like hell' can be taken quite literal since some women have become that obsessed about looking 'perfect' they have operations and Botox to change their physical appearance. I also used it because I thought it was metaphorical in the sense it's emotionally painful for someone to feel not good enough or for them to be pulled down on their physical appearance and sex appeal. And when that happens and someone loses themselves in society's false advertisement, it is truly heart-breaking to see.

To complete the collage, I created my own Dain trademark by circling the eye with a iro instead of paint.

Observational piece

After studying a piece from the Birmingham Art Gallery of abandoned, mouldy money I decided to try and re create my own version. Makin the money look luxurious compared to the dirty looking background. Like the sculpture I saw on my visit.

Sebastian Eriksson Artist Research

When first viewing this piece of art made me feel a mixture of different emotions but I had an overwhelming feeling of sadness towards it. I like the piece very much because I think its surrealism allowed my mind to think and create my own interpretation and story of what could’ve happened within the piece which makes it much more personal and relatable to me. As a teenager, life has lots of struggles to face within day to day life so seeing a portfolio of work to do with depression and mental illnesses in the younger generation makes it very relatable and even suggests an element of understanding and acceptance to know that someone else has gone through the same pain and emotions as you have. This piece of art in particular made me feel emotional towards it because it feels relatable to me. In my own collection of loved possessions is my guitar; something that I’ve used over the years as a cope mechanism whenever I didn’t know how to deal with my emotion and to express how I really felt towards people and situations. What fascinates me the most about this piece is the maturity and the awareness of all the things happening around him and how he expresses them. I see this piece as a paradox that describes a person who could potentially have problems such as schizophrenia, insanity, depression or other mental problems. The peaceful look in his face is really hiding the screaming inside his head which makes his own mind eat him up. I feel as if I can relate to this because I have periods in my life where I feel like this. It creates an illustration of his thoughts and pain. To me, this piece suggests the theme of lost love and death which is most likely a relatable theme to a lot of people. Being teenagers, means it’s a prime time in life to express emotions and discover more things such as relationships and love. But being at such a vulnerable age, most of the time things end in heartbreak and loss which can develop some people’s characters and build towards their maturity and adulthood, but some people who aren’t as emotionally strong can be majorly effected by these sorts of situations and find it very hard to recover from them, which could eventually build up to emotional breakdowns and mental illnesses. From a personal perspective, I can relate to this theme from previous broken hearts and feeling lonely in the world and it is something that has taken a long time to overcome.

Sebastian is an 18 year old surrealist from Sweden. He is a surreal artist. He first started with realistic portraits, but came across a painting by Rene Magritte and became “fascinated with the concepts behind the visuals,” and has been “trying to expand his sub consciousness.” For the past two years, Eriksson delved into the world of macabre art using charcoal and pastel to highlight the depth and darkness within his works. Recently however, he has started experimenting more with watercolour, oil and acrylic paint. He has become quite accomplished as an artist; his works have been in exhibitions and used as album covers. He describes his love for art as his life and his way of survival- to pay rent. Through his work, he likes to express his feelings and/or ask questions which trouble him. What fascinates me the most here is his maturity and the awareness of all the things happening around him and how he expresses them.

In this drawing, there’s been a lot of tone created through the medium of pencil and chalk. On the top left side of the piece, he has used dark tones to surround the man playing guitar whilst on the bottom right where the figure of a woman lays the background is a lot lighter and less dense. This could symbolise how she is a ghostly figure, almost heavenly, and he is just a normal, breathing man who is suffering the pains of earth without his lover. The texture of lines and shading used to draw the man and his clothes are quite harsh and dense which causes a strong contrast between the delicate, pale, fragile lines of the woman as she is metaphorically personified as the roots of a tree but also as the guitar. This shows how elegant and ‘perfect’ she was/is in his eyes and how he is plain compared. There is no real space or depth shown within the piece and that is because Erikson wanted to create a paradox and capture the thoughts of someone in despair. This can be linked to the fact that the man’s body language tells us that he is sitting down but there is no subject to show that he is physically doing so. The man also has his eyes shut whilst playing guitar which could symbolise how the only way he can see his deceased love or feel close to her is by playing guitar. The surrealism of the piece allows us to make up our own story and physiologically makes us relate it to our own lives and experiences.

Dain Artist Research

When viewing street artist Dain's work, straight away I loved the bright, vibrant colours when first viewing the piece of work. Personally, it reminded me of the same sort of vibes that Andy Warhol portrayed in his pop art work that supported the idea of youth and fun. I also love the way in which vintage photography has been transformed into modern street art; making it feel relatable to teenagers and capturing a wider audience.
Dain cleverly uses a mixture of mediums to create an interesting effect on his work. He has chose to create a clear statement between old and new; maybe to show the change between cultures in the past and present. Non linear form is used in these street art pieces, for their is no real structure apparent to the viewer and random shapes and patterns have been used to surround the main subject. The use of lines and marks have been applied messy and un precise. In this piece of work, the vintage photography is from the 1920's - a time of being prestige and well mannered all the time. Dain could've used messy marks with the spray paints to symbolise how the rules aren't as strict anymore in the modern day and that people are more to express they're emotions and feelings instead of keeping them hidden. The art work is made from collages of paints and materials (paper clippings) making the texture also quite messy and distressed which makes it's location on the streets in America, this could also link to the idea that Dain is symbolising freedom and how things don't have to be perfect to be accepted. Most of Dain's work is found on side of walls, doors and electricity boxes but a  common convention of his work is that it is found on surfaces that aren't pristine or well cared for, abandoned canvas'. I saw this as symbolism towards the idea  that abandoned objects, places, objects and buildings are still cared for. Metaphorically speaking towards emotionally abandoned people, he could've been saying how abandoned things are still beautiful even  though no one really notices them or cares for them anymore. Dain creates diverse aesthetic styles with the same aroma as what he creates in his signature wheat paste collages. Combining imagery and techniques related to graffiti, vintage fashion photography, and expressive painting, the collages resolve as vibrant Pop Art-laced palimpsests.
The use of vintage photography consists of women from past eras. In this piece (left) the woman looks as if she is from the 20's-50;s; due to the short hair cut and vintage styling of makeup. I believe that Dain uses his art to express his views about society and in this particular piece of work, show his beliefs about women's right. Women from the 20's - 60's still hardly had any rights and were seen as less superior to men. Women have fought for these rights for almost a whole century and only now are both sexes beginning to be seen as equal. The art work, in my eyes, represents the journey women have made to become independent.