How do you define your own tastes and how might these be reflected in the kind of aesthetics you’re interested in? How might others view your choices? How do you view theirs?
I think some aspects of my taste would be too ‘girly’ for some people, I’m a sucker for cute animals. I think my Pinterest boards probably best show my range of tastes.
My boards have collections of artists and illustrators, fine art, portraiture, photography, ceramics, pattern, surface design and colour to history/vintage including equine saddlery, ancient art and artefacts, fashion and costume. I enjoy cute, humorous, whimsical, colourful, quirky pieces, but also darker, moodier art, pared down inky monochrome linework, caricature, surrealism and more.
My tastes are reasonably broad. I’m a big fan of Da Vinci and Durer, every bit as much as Beatrix Potter. I love Rothko. I also enjoy pen and ink, such as the work of Yuko Shumizu. And the quirkiness of the Studio Ghibli.
Yuko Shimizu, monochrome 
Yuko Shimizu, colour 
Studio Ghibli
Interestingly, I can say that one of my friends has told me she does not like my taste! We have shared our pinterest boards, and a lot of my choices aren’t her cup of tea. I like hers though, so I’m not quite sure what to learn from that, other than it’s intriguing. My ex partner disliked Iris Milward, who I love. However, I’ve found from past experience even when you quiz people, they don’t always elaborate on what they don’t like.
Colour is a big one though – some people like super saturated, others like very subdued. I personally feel a bit queasy around many of the 1950s and 1970s combos. I struggle with some desaturated ‘drab’ palettes in fabrics and at the opposite end, very high contrast/clashing colour… Olimpia Zagnoli’s level of saturation is sometimes too ‘shouty’ for me, though I like the boldness of her shapes.
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Forms of visual language of graphic novels
I spent quite a long time researching graphic novels for an assignment in a previous course. Here’s the link
This includes more research, and in particular, looking at female contributors in the field. The work I did for this assignment drew on what I’d learnt in this area. I found it possible to use a somewhat ‘feminine’* aesthetic, in keeping with the subject matter, that suited my style for sequential story telling. *ie soft lines, and a watery colour palette, not hard ‘superman style’ graphics. I realise I am generalising horribly!
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Simon Morley’s book Writing on the wall: Word and Image. Comment on the potential impact on my work, of the use text and image within The Constructivists and Bauhaus movements.
I’m really glad to have been studying both graphic design and illustration for this reason. My first love has emerged as illustration. But design gives you a really good grounding as to the possibilities of the relationship between text and image, and pushes the possibilities of visual dynamics further than simple traditional composition. In graphic design, you find the use of repetition, balance, symmetry vs asymmetry, the many forms of contrast (beyond just tonal value), rhythm, and the ‘voice’ that choices in typography gives you. This is different from the concept of composition within fine art and gives the illustrator an additional set of tools.
I don’t think you would see a lot in my work that directly references the Constructivists or Bauhaus, and yet I really love Lauren Child. Her use of typography can be seen within a time line of the Constructivists. It’s a lot more quirky, but tends push move in an energetic flow with plenty of dynamism. Clearly, having a general knowledge of these influences is helpful in thinking about the use of layout and typography, however apparently far removed from the origins.
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Comment on various artists, and their use of text and image combinations. The links don’t appear to be working unfortunately, so I’m commenting on the work I have found via general searches.
Art & Language (Michael Baldwin, David Bainbridge, Terry Atkinson, Harold Hurrell, Charles Harrison and Mel Ramsden), Secret Painting – Conceptual Art collaboration
John Baldessari – In his text paintings, Baldessari makes some delightfully cynical comments about the commodification of the art world.
Jean-Michel Basquiat – Gorgeously scratchy colourful ‘naive’ paintings, with seemingly random comments/slogans incorporated into the artwork Peter Blake – Designer best known for his detailed collages, particularly the St Pepper Album cover
Mel Bochner, Self-portrait, 1966 – visually sparse, thought provoking and raw typographic work
Ian Hamilton Finlay – Artist and Visual poet, working in concrete and stone
Roni Horn – An artist working in a variety of media some of which incorporates typography. Pieces such as ‘Great Doubts’ sculpture and her distressed typography canvases, rendered with ink and wash.
Barbara Kruger – photomontage with political slogans
Jenny Holzer – Powerful typographic light installations
René Margritte, The Treachery of Images – The very famous ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe’ is deliberately enigmatic. It IS a pipe, but it’s not, because, of course it’s just a representation. I love Magritte.
Tom Phillips, A Humument – repurposing a Victorian novel, for a very long time!
Martha Rosler, The Bowery in Two Inadequate Descriptive Systems – A piece incorporating photography and poetry/typography yet warning the viewer of the inadequacy of either medium to actually convey the experience Ed Ruscha – Artist using slogans in a deceptively simple yet quietly subversive manner
Bob & Roberta Smith – Colourful typographic art pieces often on the subject of art
Gillian Wearing, Signs – Fantastic art photography project where members of the public reveal their inner thoughts. (Some people unfortunately later regretted taking part, which makes me feel bad for them and slightly question who should have control of the work?)
Lawrence Weiner – typographic art installations
All these examples have served as a reminder of how diverse the use of typography and image can be. I can’t help mentioning at the other end of the type + image spectrum, is the wordless graphic novel, such as Shaun Tan’s wonderful book ‘The Arrival’. An amazing achievement, conveying the feeling of alienation and ‘Otherness’ so beautifully.
Incidentally, some of the artists listed here are visual poets. For some reason visual poetry is not often commented on as a distinct genre. It’s often lumped in with graphic design or conceptual art, but not given its own platform. I’ve only become aware of this, as my friend Katy has recently branched out from writing short stories into also producing gorgeous and thought provoking visual poetry. It took a while to realise we were talking about the same thing, yet giving it different names. So, anyway, I feel the visual poets ought to get their due. They have a thriving, thoughtful community online.
Advanced Practice 