Visual Journal - Failed Idea, Dead End

This image was an attempt at exploring an idea, but one that was wildly unsuccessful and a dead end in regards to my visual journey through this project.

My thinking was to try and represent advertising's power and impact over public space. I wanted to try and visually present their bombardment, showing how they 'take over' more than just the physical billboards and walls they inhabit.

I went into Leeds city centre and found all of the Street Posts that I could, and standing there for a few minutes I tallied how many people walked past them, close enough to notice the adverts and so be influenced by them. By no means was this a scientific experiment which I had some contention with; I think that if I am going to explore this idea then the data needs to be accurate and that is important. Then from photos I took of the advertising and a map that I picked up from tourist information I tried to visualise this experiment and depict my findings, by taking as many shapes and outlines from the photos as people I tallied to show the concentration and scale of influence these images were having.

Needless to say it didn't work as well as I had hoped, and there were a lot of loose ends with it as an idea, such as the incorrectness of the data and the randomness of my visualising methods. However I think that the idea is interesting and there could be some value there. I think I will still just put it down to a failed experiment and carry on exploring other methods of image making and idea exploring with this journal.

Visual Journal - Shape/Line

Today I started exploring the shape element, but as each element can be vague and the boundaries blurry, they could fall into line also.

The initial idea was to look at adverts and pick out shapes that the compositions used made, looking at not only the forms of the products and actors depicted, but also the negative space around them, to create abstract and fairly random assortment of shapes from these.

When searching for different advertising, I stumbled on perfume adverts and for whatever reason they caught my eye so i started responding to them. Because they basically always use actors and female forms, my responses ended up becoming quite interesting, abstract anatomical outlines and shapes. There is the obvious controversy surrounding such adverts for being objectifying, which added an extra layer of intrigue within the work and the comment I was making. 

I really love the way they turned out, that they can be abstract yet you can still pick out the forms of the women and they are distinguishable at the same time. I think the least effective one would be the top right as it's just too obvious as to what it is, I think i may redraw it but vaguer and more abstract.

Whilst drawing these and studying the adverts, I noticed the type of names the perfumes were called, things such as 'reveal' and 'addict', and thought they were odd names. They don't really have positive connotations, yet they sell the product and people buy them, and genuinely I wonder why people don't see them as strange names.

I thought it would be an interesting idea to take these words out of context, to redraw them in the same typefaces used in the adverts, but taken away from the adverts, the elegant and often quite fancy type really juxtaposes the actual words they are spelling out. I want to put these on posters with the previous drawings. I think the combination of the words and their contrasting typefaces along with the line drawings of mysterious and anonymous yet elegant and sexual women will create some really interesting and thought provoking results.

Study Task 6 - Peer Review Focus

Here is the peer review form....slightly sparse lets say.

At this point I have an idea of the vague direction my project may be heading in, and I have focussed down on advertising within the creative arts as a topic to explore and deconstruct further. I have really enjoyed the textural responses and experiments and really want to continue with these.

There are a lot more possibilities within the other formal elements too to explore, and I think line/shape is going to be my next direction, trying to push my image making and idea exploration further. I am hoping this will then lead into, inform and incorporate the textures somewhere later too.

I think it will also be really crucial to do some more research around my concept. More artist research will inspire my outcomes but also some more contextual, theoretical research to inform my ideas and the intentions I am formulating throughout my journal.