Summative Post 3

Given that this is now over half way through the year, I think that I really need to start thinking about where I want my practice to sit within the creative industry and within what context I want it to exist. Therefore I think my subsequent briefs really need to focus in on the areas of the industry, music and adult publishing, that I highlighted within my statement of intent.

Although I have touched upon these in previous briefs, ie Don’t Look Now and Mono No Aware, I think I could do more to better position my work within these fields.

Mutant Beat Dance

Initially I was going to undertake the Secret Sevens brief given that it would allow to respond to music in a very direct manner which would require the careful consideration of context ie a 7” record sleeve.

Unfortunately I wasn’t particularly excited by the songs that were chosen this year and wasn’t feeling particularly inspired by them. Furthermore, my tutor highlighted the fact that, even though I want gear my work towards the music industry, I need to much more carefully consider context. Ie, if I’m mainly interested in the independent electronic music scene, how much am I actually going to gain from a much more generalised brief like Secret Sevens?

With all this taken into consideration I decided to undertake my own, alternative brief. This would be the same concept as Secret Sevens but responding to the music produced by the recording duo: Mutant Beat Dance. This would allow me to better explore image making in response to the specific area of the music industry that I was interested in.

Specifically I wanted this project to explore how lo-fi aesthetics can be explored in a way that feels considered and refined. This is due to the fact that I feel this is a juxtaposition that often exist within independent electronic music and therefore something I feel my work should reflect.

The work of artists working for small, D.I.Y labels formed the main basis of the contextual research for this project. I’m particularly drawn to Will Bankhead’s work for The Trilogy Tapes label due to how he combines illustrative elements, photography, typography and found imagery in a way that, on the surface looks very sophisticated but is in reality using a lot of simple and lo-fi processes.

Will Bankhead

However aesthetically I was also informed by the work of Ben Zeouller and Kazumasa Nagai. In particular I was interested in their reductive, playful and often unrepresentative depictions of forms and figures and how they feel very playful and energetic yet also very considered and solid.

Kazumasa Nagai

Ben Zeouller

Conceptually my main ideas focused on the simple but I feel, effective, motifs of both a mutant dancer and a mutated beat by which I fused the visualisation of sound I had explored within Cop 3 with scientific imagery of microscopic cells.

Final Thoughts

I think this project was highly effective in communicating the music in question and I was particularly happy with the variation of final images I mad. Furthermore I think this was my most successful attempt yet in merging analogue and digital as well as drawn and collaged elements within my compositions.

Although contextually I think this has really helped me to evaluate my practice particularly in regards to wear I want it to fit and what I want to respond to, as mentioned earlier in the blog I feel like I need to do more to develop more specific and refined communicative skills. This is something which I feel would be achieved by undertaking a project, such as the Dune one outlined in my proposal, that has more conceptual depth.