Back in early 2010 I started a project for a university task which I didn't get time to complete, at least not in the way that I had originally intended. It bothered me that because of the very short time constraint I couldn't properly get a chance to experiment with the medium which I was working with and explore the possibilities of my designs.
Anyway I recently went back to them and started playing around with them in Photoshop, looking for a new look and new routines & styles. These pieces were a collection of mixed media designs placed together to create a type of Urban street art or graphic flourish designs.
Each piece was designed with a specific mood or feeling related to it and was characterised by the colour ranges and the piece's title. Reference images were taken from local town buildings and street corners all centralized around one building in particular (our university's creative arts building) as I was in an attempt to forge a new scene (landscape) within the image and focus on the space within the space.
Just remember to let your eyes wander through each piece.
--Urbanartist313--
--Urban Flora & Symphony Hill--
I felt like I had to start with these two pieces, even though they were composed far apart from one another and neither of them were of my first completed motifs. These designs originated from the design which I named ‘Urban Flora’. Right at the beginning of my uni assignment I began playing around with photos and designs in Photoshop and played around with style and structure. Eventually I came up with this piece but never intended to use it for anything. But I think it’s important to see where I started at the beginning of this concept to both show and realise what it was I was aiming for and also to see how far I’d come with this particular design technique.
Much later in my collection’s conception I decided to go back and make this design part of the “REVAMP” series. I did it because I wanted to see what it was I had in me now and also what I could do with the lesser resources of the past. Could I turn a rock like this into soup as it were.
‘Symphony Hill’ was the end result of this idea, as I separated all of the original components cleaned them up as much as I could, reorganised them and attempted to create a whole new structure to this piece. It felt nice to come back to something I had started a long time ago with no real agenda other than to make music with it. I finally placed the overall image under a sombre and peaceful blue hue and violet colour scheme, it felt right to pull down the mood to this piece and ended up creating a sense of tranquillity and an oddly calming flow to its uniqueness. I not sure if one could call this one good but in the end I have a better bond with it and feel like I’m a lot closer to these two pieces. I think that this is really important for someone to enjoy what it is they do. This is why I placed them first, together and with a very lengthened description.
--Autumn Point--
A piece like this I really liked working on, it started out as one of my original pieces to begin with. The events in anyone's life takes them on a journey to self discovery; the "Autumn Point" as I like to call it. When journeys are long and weary they almost always lead you up to a fundamental point, I tried to portray this point here.
Although the image itself will almost appear 'split' or fractured the observer's eye must feel overwhelmed as to where to look or focus the gaze, as both sides are almost competing for the observer's attention. Eventually the person's eye will follow the gaze down to find the small area of open space to one side by the university to breathe.
The image itself creates a journey for the eye, travelling to see a number of designs, lines and angles, the placement of the open space even though its hidden and fractured restores balance to the overall piece once witnessed. Also notice where colour and tone manage to bleed over each other frequently throughout.
--The Strip--
The Strip is a unique and flashy design and appears to hold a sense of reflection centralising from the main building, but when closely looked at the two sides hold difference in structure and design.
The image comments on structure, form, design and continuity and then demolishes those ideas. The structure and forms are warped and the reflection isn't really there, the overall colour of the piece is in a mild green wrapped with pale tones. The image suggests to say that if you can find art in this with its imperfections and viable distortions one can find art in anything, as its ironically named 'The Strip', a term of glamour, fame and glory.
This is the backward humour that the Urban art tries to show, it is a form of art that tries to show humour to itself, the main theme to most of these mixed media pieces.
--Prism Street--
To me the design wants to be more and show more, as two sides conveying the same subject. The image has a main eye only it isn’t focused in the centre, it’s off to one side and sees a space opposite. Once the observer notices the connotation with the eye the meaning to the image then becomes more apparent. The piece relates to the title as the eye sees two similar designs within the space in front, angles differ and the two can be seen to oppose one another in colour and in depth.
The added affect to the eye, with poles and pylons around the central building stand out as lashes and curls, and the added colour and shapes of the arrows change focal points for the viewer, keeping them alert and unable to stay at rest.
It shows that there isn’t just one way of looking at anything, views come and go and often just grow from where originally observed. In terms of a look at university, I think this is meaning of why someone would want to come to university in the first place.
-- St. Knewbish St.--
This design adds humour into the collection, as it is for any idea which isn't considered as good as the last. A true underdog design, this design adds humour through its bleak and small form compared to the others.
Everyone likes it when the underdog wins once in a while, it adds hope and compassion to any situation and we can all relate to it, that is what this image attempts to portray. With its small stature in comparison to the rest this image could easily be passed by, but when really looked at the observer notices a lot of suggestive imagery, using rather fair colours and limited focal points it pokes holes at ideas of landscape, perspective and word phrasing. There also lies a distinct overuse and underuse of colour and tone in a playful manner of juxtaposition.
…and remember the ‘K’ in the title is silent!
--Velocity Junction--
The idea of this piece is really cool, in my opinion. I really wanted to express a really dynamic design with the use of the main (creative arts) building. This piece focuses on the idea of speed and angles folding and banding. I called it 'Velocity Junction' since I wanted the theme of everything folding into each other, an idea of speed with finite space, but also very distorted.
The concept comes from the experience that time moves too fast for a lot of us. Often we miss how important parts of our lives are, a lot of the principles within the piece, although visible individually work well together and create the message of the overall design.
--Gazer's Street--
This piece I think is a brilliant way to sum up these collection of images. Gazer's Street attempts to bring all the forms experimented with together in a unique view.
The collection of photos used create a grand scene of both hustle and bustle for the scene and at the same time a slight form of congestion within it, covered in the fading reds, oranges and whites gives it a nice late evening - afternoon feel. The scene definitely seems like things could be winding down as the stars drift from the sky above.
This was one of the last designs I created, it really did feel like I was coming into my stride with this process and it gave me an opportunity to try new styles and techniques to it. In fact I couldn't even decide on the overall look so I had to create two versions of it.
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