Tea bags - Wax White

To create these samples/experiments, I emptied clean, unused, round teabags. I then cut out my images from magazines to size, so that they would fit inside. To seal the images inside the tea bag, I melted candle wax until it was liquid. Then I dipped the tea bag into the wax until it was completely covered. When the wax dries the image inside is trapped, inside the tea bag and it has a waxy coating on the outside. I then cracked and bent some of the tea bags to add texture.

I really enjoyed this technique ad think that they work really well.

James Dawes

I wanted to look at James Dawes' work, as I felt that it most linked in to my own work and the ideas I had starting this project. Also I found this artist in a fashion magazine (Elle) when I was looking for images and inspiration. When I found these images I had never hear of Dawes, however I found that his work was very similar to the ideas that I wanted to create. So I played around with some images to try and create similar images to these.

What I like most about his work is the way that it is arranged and composed. I find that way that he uses images actually from the magazines to create new images for that magazine really interesting and unusual. I also enjoy that he incorporates other images into his work, such as the flowers and other abstract shapes, colours and textures.

I plan to create a number of different collages in a similar style to these though out this project, however I plan to create my collages by hand using images I find in fashion magazines.

 

 

 

 

 

Ashkan Honarvar

Ashkan Honarvar is a collage artist from the Netherlands, who depicts an undeniable, unavoidable beauty by accepting the darker sides of human nature. He tries to avoid digital collage works.

I actually found this artist in a fashion magazine (from an advert of eyewear that he created).

What I really like about his work is that he creates his work out of images from history and modern fashion magazines. I also enjoy the way that all of his collages are highly layered and all created by hand. Some of the other artists that I have looked at during this project have used digital imagery and collage techniques, however that is not something I want in my own work as I prefer to create the collages by hand.

Raoul Hausmann

Raoul Hausmann (1889-1971) was an Austrian artist and writer. And one of the key figures in Berlin Dada, his experimental photographic collages, sound poetry and institutional critiques would have profound influence on the European Avant-Garde in the after math of World War 1. He created work out of everyday/found imagery and lettering.

 

Richard Hamiton

Richard Hamilton (1922-2011), was an English painter and collage artist. 1950s-60s - His early work was influenced by D'Ary Wentworth Thompson' 1917 text 'On growth and form.

 

 

The collage above is Hamilton's most famous and most known piece entitled 'Just what is it that makes todays' homes so different, so appealing?' - This collage is made up of consumer products and recognizable images of the time. This image was the first piece of 'Pop Art' to achieve iconic status, (created in 1956). Hamilton subsequently created several works in which he reworked the subject and composition of the Pop Art collage, including a 1992 version, featuring a female bodybuilder.

I already knew of Richard Hamilton's work before I started this project, as I had looked at his work during past projects. However I hadn't really considered looking at his work at all for this project, until I found an article about his work in one of the fashion magazines, when I was looking for images to collage with.   

Hannah Hoch

 

Hannah Hoch (1889-1978) was a German Dada artist, she was best know for her work of the Weimar period, when she was one of the originators of Photomontage/collage. Her work is very recognizable and unique, and is often politically or socially themed.

 

 

The collage above entitled 'Bouquet of eyes' is probably my favourite piece of Hoch's work, In the collage you can see a number of eyes, arranged in such a manner to look like a bouquet of flowers, this is the main subject of the collage. The orange background colour portrays a relaxing mood, however this sense of ease is destroyed by the fact that all the eyes seem to be starring straight at the viewer all the time, as the eyes in the bouquet are focusing in all different directions, meaning you can not escape their gaze. Also some of the eyes in the bouquet are just the pupil and some are the full eye including the eye lid. this collage is said to engage with the ideas and themes of feminism and sexism in her work, as the eyes with the eye id included are very recognisable as male or female, however with the eyes that are just the pupil it is impossible to tell what gender the eye is.

I wanted to look at Hoch's work as inspiration for this project, as I really enjoy her collage style and her work deals with similar themes to the ones in my own work.

I also wanted to look at her work as I really wanted to try this style of collage, as I have never done this type of collage before and wanted to experiment with found images out of fashion magazines.     

Semester 2 - Project (Shamless, Unfamous and Obsessed)

During this project I plan to look at the theme of celebrity obsession and cultural ideas and standards of beauty. I plan to do this by creating a number of collages, made from images that I find in fashion magazines; such as Elle, vogue, etc.