Free Range Exhibition

Free Range exhibition, Brick Lane 2nd June – 6th June

I am really enjoying the whole experience of exhibiting my work. I have hit a few problems along the way which will be rectified and learned from in the future.

Wednesday:

This was a VERY long day. Arrived at the gallery at 9am, the van wasn’t there yet but turned up around 10am. From here on out it was all hands on deck. We all unloaded the van so it could be parked. Then we split into our teams to put together our sections of the board structure. Once this was done we had to piece all the sections together and create battoning for the backs to keep the structure sturdy. Then we attached the shelving and erected the plinths. From here the vinyl names were put on and then everyone started to put up their own work. I worked with Nicola so that we did some of hers then some of mine as it was difficult to do on your own.

I left at 9.15 Wednesday night and this is what had been acheived in my area.

Thursday, opening night:

Thursday i attached my book using fishing line and a hook fixed to the wall. I gave it just enough line that you can move it to read comfortably but not to far that you can walk away with it. I arranged my shelf display with badges, stickers, business cards, the postcards in the box and 2 on show as well as my book. I was very happy about the professional look i felt my exhibit had. I felt very proud when we opened at 6pm and very excited as there was a lot of people there.

  

Full View

First learning curve. 45 minutes into the show, i went to see my work and the postcard box had been opened and 12 from the 18 postcard set had been taken. I should’ve had a sign to say please do not take. So i took the remaining ones off display for the night so it didn’t look ridiculous and also so more didn’t go missing. A suggestion was that i had also attached these to the wall in a similar fashion to the collages. By the end of the night, i had used 50 badges and 50 stickers, as well as quite a few business cards. I was very happy about this as it meant that people liked and appreciated my work enough for them to want to keep a part of it. Over all a great success.

Friday:

This was not a day where i had a shift however i went in from 11 till 3. I had to fix the postcard trouble from the night before and also restock. To help the postcard problem i have added a sign.

   

This appeared to be working and no more went missing that night.  I restocked again as the badges and stickers were proving popular.

Saturday:

I got to the exhibition about 12.30 as my shift was 1 – 5. I went to check my work and found that all the badges i had put out the day before, all the stickers and now another 6 of the postcards were gone as well as a quite a few business cards so i restocked on everything. I left the postcards up despite there only being 2 left to show that there were more but people had taken them.

I am starting to worry slightly now that i am going to run out of badges and stickers before the 5 days is up.

Sunday:

I have not got a shift sunday and cannot make it to the exhibition due to work commitments. So i have left with one of the others my extra badges, stickers and business cards and asked them to replenish for me, however i added that could they leave a few for the monday so that there is some everyday. I am glad that there is a lot of interest in my work as this means that i have communicated well and they appreciate what i am saying and have achieved. However i am worried that their will not be enough for the final day and this will put people off.

Evaluation

Do i think that i answered my proposal with the work that i produced?

More can always be achieved, however, the designs were not merely the obvious choices, a lot of research and thought went into each seperate design to show the chosen stereotypes. The proposal outlined that the treatments should not be obvious but in some way should relate to Hogarth’s work. The stereotypes chosen were all outlined within Hogarth’s work and researched thoroughly to make sure of their relavance in society today. The postcard designs have the Hogarth inspired frames around them to make an obvious connection.  The work that i produced went on a clear journey from start to finish and progressed better because of this, the treatments of style were not necessarily obvious ones and all of them retained the same stlye to keep a continuity between them.

Did i conduct a thorough research methadology?

Although the research into Hogarth’s work was very thorough, i feel that i could have looked into other areas of the stereotypes in society today. For example i looked into what each stereotype meant, what they did, their habits etc But i didn’t actually have any first hand research of the sufferers. For example i could have gone and got information from help groups about the sufferers of alcohol and gambling addiction, i feel this would’ve given me a different perspective on what it was like to be the stereotype not merely a watcher looking in.  Another aspect that i should have given some thought and more research into was male prostitutes. I think this would have given a completely different angle on the idea of a prostitute and questioned the stereotype in a completely different way for todays society.

The second survey i conducted to find out which order they would place the stereotypes could have been broader to give more scope. I got 30 participants maybe closer to 100 would have been better for more conclusive results. I only had 2 12-17 year olds and no females from 25 -35. i found in this research that the majority of people couldn’t decided whether lazy or prostitution was the worst or the best. Both had overwhelming results on both scales, this is why i feel i needed more people to conduct the survey.

Have i used the obvious treatments?

Sometimes the obvious ones work and other times you need to engage with your audience and make them think. The style of the outcomes i feel is not obvious, they retain the slight style of Hogarth in the sense that they depict a scene but i have added much more into them. The background components, the scene itself, drawn elements, photographic elements and the frames. I felt that went looking at the stereotype for greed i found it very difficult to show. Greed is more of an ambition or emotion than a disorder therefore i found it a lot more difficult to find ways to show this. As a result of this, it did not leave me many options in what scenes i used.  This could lead to them being seen as obvious ways to show greed.

Final outcomes.

The bockingford watercolour paper that i used to print the postcard designs and the collages on i think was a very good choice. It helps to add to the despair of the stereotypes in the sense that the ink sinks into the paper and gives it a darker and rougher feel. The book however, when printing in the college shop, the settings on the printer broke and there was a malfunction which left my back to back printing completely out. As i did not have the time to change it, i have handed in as a mock up of what it will look like for the exhibition module. I will rectify this problem by going to a printers to have the doublesided printed proffessionally.

Is there more that could have been achieved, given more time?

I do feel i have pushed myself this year, i have put a lot of time and effort into the work that has been produced. I think that once i had produced the postcard designs and had the layout for the book, i went through a week or so period where i was uncertain what else to produce and this time was wasted. However, once i had decided on the collages i turned them around pretty quickly. If i had already decided on what i was doing next i may have been able to fit something else in. Overall i think that my time keeping and organisational skills have come through for me within this project as i have been able to produce a reasonable quantity of work to a quality standard.

Photo collages

I have been having technical difficulties with my computer and internet which hasn’t allowed me to remain up to date on here fore the last 2 weeks or so.

Since then i have completed all of the photos.

Gluttony

This one is to show eating out regularly and also the idea of an all you can eat buffet style restaurant for a set price. 1 thing about this image is that there is no signage to say all you can eat and i just hope people understand it without this. The small label that indicates chinese should hopefully represent buffet as most chinese and indian restaurants do it this way.

Greed

This final one was very difficult to do. I tried 3 different concepts and locations before getting this one. I tried to get a car dealership to allow me to take photos on their premises. However, due to the nature of my work they all refused. From this i then tried to photo the model in front of an estate agents window, this was unsuccessful due to several reasons. One was that it was difficult to see the properties in the window and their prices, the other reason was the glare from the glass was obscuring the image even more. The other idea i tried was a businessman walking up to the front of his house, blazer in hand but to get the tshirt in full view i was compromising the photograph surroundings. So i finally settled on suburbia and suburban living. I do feel it has come out quite well however being critical i am not sure if others will understand the nature of the imagery.

From here i have gone on to create 6 collages, i used the basic set up of the ones i have previously shown but added more elements and used a lot of overlapping and layering.

Alcoholic

This is the only collage which uses 4 photographs. I am worried that this may go against the consistency of them as a series. I do feel that the style works well and will be immediately recognizable as part of my work for the postcard designs. Although they are slightly different i have tried to maintain similarities too, such as the colour on each is the colour of the corresponding frame, the type and the ink splats combined with the scribbled out heads to de personalise.

Gambler

This one took a lot more time and fiddling to get right. I had to add more elements than i previously thought to make it work the way i wanted it to [plus to keep the consistency throughout all of the collages. The photographs are quite bold in this series so i stepped them, not to show heirachy but to break them up slightly as each is showing a different form of gambling and each have their own merits.

Gluttony

This one was my original template. I especially love the fries over the pictures in this one. I did consider overlapping the Pizza Hut logo as well but i thought that this maybe too much. The colour of this one makes it stand out alot and im worried that this does not necessarily show a bad side to the moral stereotype? However i am not trying to impose my morals i am trying to inform people about their stereotype usage. This one is slightly difficult to tell i feel, gluttony in this instance is about food, over eating, have i shown this correctly?

Greed

This was the hardest to create but is probably my favourite. I am uncertain as to whether people will understand my concept of greed for money and i really hope that this does show it well. I have found that because this is more an emotion or a feeling, passion and desire it has been harder to show. All the other stereotypes are an affliction or a compulsion therefore they hold certain characteristics which are easily recognisable, this does not have that luxury. However i have enjoyed the challenge.

Lazy

2 of the 3 images here show the stereotype of laziness very well, however the opinionated one of the girl hanging around the jobcentre is one that is slightly controversial so i hope i have shown it well enough so that people understand what i am trying to say. I don’t think it looks to judgmental as it is meant to just merely represent that type of person. Maybe the signage for the jobcentre is too small? That is my other worry for this collage.

Prostitute

This is the most controversial of all the stereotypes and is a very opinionated area. I have enjoyed creating this one it has been an experience. The one criticism i have on myself was being narrow-minded in not pushing the boundaries and picturing a male prostitute that could have created a real talking point and questioned peoples stereotypical views. I wish i had done this.

Tshirts on location

Alcoholic

The idea behind this image was a girl who had gone out and took part in binge drinking, has come home and is ill as a result. This wasnt the closest picture of the tshirt but i felt it was the best one to show what im trying to communicate as you can clearly see the toilet and her hugging it etc.

Gambler

This gambler tshirt is based on the original bookies image that i created. I chose a different bookies and wanted the odds in the window but the 3 that i went to didnt have the odds on show. I chose this image as you can clearly see the Ladbrokes sign, therefore reinforcing the stereotype to the viewer.

Gambler

This is the last image for gambler. I find this image very dynamic because of the closeness of the model to the frame as well as the lottery stand shape. The tshirt transfer shows extremely well in this image due to the closeness i think that maybe i couldve got a sign for the lottery but because it is a well known object i hope that it is still very obvious to others.

Ive started looking at the collages and how i am going to put them together.

Collage first draft

The colour in the back ground is taken from the colour of the frames so it stays correspondong. I have then taken some of the photos i have used previously and some of the drawings i used in the backgrounds of the postcards and created a collage. I knocked the opacity to 80%. The pictures are layered on top but i dont think they stand out enough here.

Collage – white frames

I created these white frames to make my photography stand out better against the busy background. I am really liking this style so far, it is incorporating all the bits that i used to make the postcards but is clearly a different feel.

Collage with type

This is just to see what the type would look like, i want to keep the stamp style as it is something that i have kept consistent from the beginning.

T-shirts on location

Another 4 photos finished. I have also taken 4 photos today but havent manipulated them as yet.

Alcoholic

This one was rather difficult to do, i was trying to highlight the amount that men in particular drink whilst watching football at home. I couldnt successfully get the image on the tshirt in the picture as well as the tv with the football on the screen. So i decided to do it as a man drinking at home on his own instead as a lot of alcoholics have this problem and drinking becomes a solitary pursuit.

Gluttony

The image on the t-shirt is the one of passers by at McDonalds so originally i wanted to do this image with KFC but i changed my mind and decided that people recognise the stereotype more using McDonalds as it is associated heavily with gluttony. I think this photo has come out quite well. It is meant to be a girl on her lunch break having McDonalds instead of a sandwich etc. Convenience food.

Lazy

This image is a connotation of the stereotype, when researching the stereotype of lazy a lot of people said sponger of money. Therefore it only seemed right to take the picture of someone hanging around at the jobcentre looking like their there to collect their giro. I really like this image it feels really dynamic.

Prostitute

This is the final picture for prostitute. I went for the street corner/lampost as this is the most common thing associated with prostitution. This was quite a hard image to get but i am happy with the results.

Today i have photographed Alcoholics last one, Lazy’s last one and two gambler ones.

Also i have photographed the fries to replace the current image on the booklet.

More T-shirts on location

Alcoholic - two people

The idea behind this is that the two friends are underage drinking in the park, this is to emphasise the problem of teen drinking in todays society. I do like this image however it’s not a close shot of the tshirt which is leaving me unsure as to whether to use it or not.

Alcoholic - single

This is the same idea to highlight underage drinking. However the image is of her on her own in the park. The image on the tshirt is a lot clearer. I need to get some more opinions as to which one is better suited to show alcoholism in teenagers.

Greed

This photo for greed. It is meant to represent a miser counting her finances. People tend to think of a stereotypical miser as a male which is why i have questioned todays society by using a women. The picture on the t-shirt is very clear which is a bonus without it being complete focus in the picture.

lazy

The image on the tshirt is fairly clear whcih is why i have picked this shot despite the odd angle. It is a similar pose to that of the picture on the tshirt. They are both on the sofa, as i asked people what they thought of when i said someone being lazy. They all replied laying on the sofa watching tv all day.

I have another 2 photoshoots set up for tonight. I have now done 9 so am half way. over this weekend i hope to have another 4 done and i have 3 photoshoots set up for tuesday. So by Tuesday evening i should have 16, nearly there.

T-shirts continued

I have ironed on another 6 transfers today.

Here they are;

Lazy

This image i intend to recreate. The model will be laying on the sofa (slobbing out) watching the tv i want to try different angles for this image though.

Gambler

This will be slightly different from the image on the tshirt. I intend to photo the model looking at the odds in the window of a different bookies.

Alcoholic

I intend to photograph the model wearing this tshirt with their head around the toilet, indicating too much alcohol consumption from a night out.

Greed

This one will be recreated almost the same, i am struggling to find different options on how to show greed effectively.

Gluttony

This image will be photographed along the same lines, the image will be of a couple walking into a restaurant that offers a buffet meal for a set price where you can go up as many times as you want but doesnt state that it is an all you can eat restaurant.

Gambler

This image will be photographed as someone who is participating in the lottery.

Things to do for GDP4

• One last t-shirt transfer
• Photo all t-shirts on location
• Manipulate images
• Create collage backgrounds
• Document all in book
• Analyse and evaluate the project
• Revisit proposal

Things to do for Professional Practice;

• Brick lane portfolio (investigate)
• Passport size photo
• Look at www.artsthread.com
• Look at www.newdesigners.com
• Draft of press pack statement
• Images for presspack
• Print information for Jeff’s talk
• Print exhibition pictures
• Write up risk assessment