Artist Assessment 1

Photographer Li Wei

Li wei was born in Hubie, China and is a contemporary artist known for his self portraits of gravity defying work in which he use mirrors to create an illusion.

Lei Wei Copyright

Early in his life he studied at a private arts school but later left as the schools traditional methods of teaching grew tiresome. Li Wei started as an independent artist painting, in 1999 he picked up  a new passion in performance art which later culminated into photography which he recorded through his performance art.

When first i saw Li Wei's work i was amazed and intrigued as to how he created his work, initially i thought he used computer but later found out he uses mirrors, wires, scaffolding and acrobats.
Before i made any kind of interpretation i noticed elements of colour, movement, shape and texture in his work.

One thing that Li projects in his work is danger, and the reality is he put his life at risk capturing his work from shots on high buildings, lakes and iceholes.

I presented this written work to my college class explaining my opinions on what Li Wei's work communicates, the photo of Wei hanging from the noose sparked a debate on this piece of work. My view was that it represented wanting freedom but being bound by our fear and comforts, the class tutor set a task in extending on Wei's work by constructing our own piece of work relating to the artists message.

More of Li Wei's work

Swansea Museum Day Trip

Swansea Museum Review

Today me and my class visited Swansea Museum, an exercise to improve our outlook on the arts. We were shown various mediums of work from mono-print to oil painting to glass, i cant remember the host speakers name but i do know she had come down from our art college and gave some good insight on the work there. 

Our class tutor gave us the task of writing a review on our preferred artist, i already knew who i was covering as his work caught my eye first.

Copyright of Richard Monahan

The talented artists is Richard Monahan, he graduated from Swansea Institute in 2004 and is currently studying a phd in fine arts. Richards drawings are full of odd obscure characters with over exaggerated body parts, many of his pieces are of his expressions in the mirror.

His work has been featured in a number of galleries from Mission Gallery to House Of Fogg.

Richard  had four pieces of work on display each with a nice variation in size and design. The one i chose to review was titled "I do not ask to live to 100, i prefer to have no fixed amount of days to the number of my days" a very interesting title which could be related to the artists beliefs? Maybe he is saying live for the present and not to dwell on your past life and future demise.

I wasn't sure how to take the artists work when i saw it, it was definitely strange and it looked as though it had many mediums such as chalk, ink, embroidery and quilting but getting closer i noticed that he used mono-print with various layers, shapes and textures to achieve his work. 

The meaning of this work is difficult to interpret in certain areas such as the sea of eyeballs surrounding him while he is sat on a bike! The clue to this arts meaning is in the dead washed up whale on which the title is placed, as i said before maybe he is saying live for the present and do not dwell on past and future events.

I'm glad i attended the museum today as Richards work helped me see from another perspective of creating art, maybe not always being so literal and instead using words to help the viewer understand the imagery of your work.

Copyright of Richard Monahan

Left Handed Sketchbook

My first illustration in my handy left hand sketchbook, just used fine line uni pen for the frame and built the body with some nice promarker. I was little shakier doing this on A4 apposed to A2 but hey it can only get better!

Left handed sketched on A2 using black chalk.

Left Handed Sketch

Sketch i did a week back its on A2 paper using black and white chalk.

Breaking Your Comfort Zone

Left Handed Action

Hi there let me explain what i mean by left handed action as i don't want anyone to get the wrong idea ha ha.

The first ever lesson my class had been introduced to was a mixed medium of sculpture, paint ,charcoal and pencil. We were given various sketching exercises and the one that stood out for me was sketching with the hand that is most foreign, which is my left hand. 

Jade Williams 13/09/2013

Now i'm not going to lie i wasn't happy with the results, i wanted to scream! but what changed my feelings towards my sketch were the words of the tutor who in rough words stated that "Its about accepting the work produced by the hand most foreign to you". I really took those words on board.

I attended my life drawing class the following week, which i really enjoyed, i produced a very decent charcoal sketch on A2. 

Working on a large scale with my left hand felt seamless as i had more space to navigate the paper, i also found that being relaxed and accepting of your work allows you to break out of your boundaries an express yourself more freely. 

My most recent activity is a dedicated sketchbook to my left handed work and it's progress. I would encourage any artist to dedicate some of their time to doing what i am doing, you never know what you might get from it.

I will make the effort to post at least two sketchbook pieces a week.

Thanks for reading

Mike Giant Artist Assessment

Studying Self Portrait

The first of my assignments given by my college tutor is exploring artists self portraits, looking at many aspects such as mood, medium, culture and perception.

My artist assessment is on Mike Giant owner of the renowned street brand REBEL 8, he is a seasoned illustrator, graffiti artist and tattooist. 

Copyright of Mike Giant 

Mike Giant is a big influence to many artists and street clothing brands and is known for his trademark black and white illustrations of cultural symbolism that are heavily influenced by graffiti, skateboarding, religion and tattoos. His most recognized works are intricate illustrations of hot tattooed ladies with attitude.

Though originally from New York Mike garnered some of his influences when he moved to New mexico with his parents in 1979. Tattoos, Skateboarding and heavy metal were a few of his influences in the 80's and 90's.

He was also an active graffiti artist bombing up bold symmetrical pieces in the name of GIANT! While on the scene he took a liking to the gang graffiti in the city, the letters drew him to learn the style of their writings. With that he built on his own style and grew in the graffiti community.

While in New Mexico mike studied architecture for many years until he decided to change course to San Francisco to design graphics for a company called think skateboards. The brand rebel then culminated with mike and business partner joshy d selling t shirts among'st the skate, graffiti and tattoo community.

The piece of work i selected is a self portrait of Mike Giant called " Reflections on past, present and future" displayed at a fellow artists show called guerrero gallery.Mikes body of work is intended to lead us to reflect on our past and how our past has influenced who we have become today. This self portrait is a reflection of Mikes past and who he is today, it also communicates "this is who i am, this is what i love"

The tattooed images on Mikes portrait conveys his lifestyle, culture, heritage, influence and a lot more. His love for tattoo art is very clear, his left and right arm have heavy metal scrolled on them to show his musical roots, on his hands the word America to display his heritage, the bike on his right hand shouting his economy friendly pastime and the graffiti tag on his upper left arm a medal to rebelist and controlled activities spraying up various properties.

The part of this work that stands at the fore front is the heart displaying the number 13 and lotus flowers on both sides, this imagery is very symbolic.The significance of the number lies in the 13 chakras meditative states of consciousness and the lotus flowers are symbolic of growth which mike giant has clearly achieved in his years of work as an artist. Mike Giant practices meditation and buddhism to bring his physical and mental in line with his work. Not to sound cliche but art is a  lifestyle and i believe that how you treat yourself reflects your work and performance, and i am sure Mike Giant can attest to that.

I think the most interesting aspect of work focused on self is the perception people have of you through your work, they may relate to it, reject it or learn something from it same as they would if they faced you in the physical form.