Exoticism in design

 After postmodernism, oriental culture has had received wide interest from the west. Western culture is creating new trends since the 20^th Century.  These days, designers accept a wide variety of dress designs. Especially, in 1854, the Kimono was a decisive innovation in western culture.

Oriental style has been influenced by the culture and techniques of many countries including Egypt, turkey, Persian and India.

Trade between East and West

 What do we have to remember about the relationship between Britain and India with regards to textiles?

Without Indian textiles, the British textile industry would look very different. In fact, it probably wouldn’t even exist.  200years ago, the most fabulous textiles in the world came from India.

 For example, if i wanted to find cotton, I had to go to India at that time. Also, India had a very important printing process. It is called ‘Chintz’, which means spotted because it is form of printing in multicolour. The Europeans were really jealous of this print technic. It took them 200years to work out how to copy it. I found this very interesting. Following the lecture some questions sprung to my mind.

When visiting the London 'Liberty' department store and talking to people who work there they say that the fabric sold there is “British” but I have always felt differently as the fabrics came across as indicant in design and texture. However after my lecture I now know the history of the British Indian empire and that this style can perhaps legitimately be called “British”.

I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum after the lecture. I could see a direct impact on Indian fabrics. Most of all I could find embroidered fabrics Even the ones with an apparently new design carried the history and techniques of the past..

LOok but Don't touch

Grayson Perry

*The tomb of the unknown craftsman at British Museum*

Grayson Perry is a contemporary artist. I didn’t know who he was and was not familiar with his art works before I visited .

When I was arriving in front of exhibition, one of his installation works was displayed in front of the entrance. It was a lovely pink and sky blue colour. It was an eye-catching motorcycle. He traveled by  driving a motorcycle with his own teddy bear ‘Alan Measles’ in Germany in 2010.

He said ‘ Do not look too hard for meaning here. I am not a historian, I am an artist. That is all you need to know.’ I like his way of thinking.I felt I even knew a part of his personality. 

 when I looked at his art works. One of the art pieces I like is called “The Rosetta Vase, 2011”.
 Normally, when I think of ceramic like vase.it doesn’t interest me because ceramic is traditional and conservative art. However he looks at variety from various angles. He used vivid colours and painted interesting stories on the vase. It made it so attractive, interesting and it gave me an artistic kick which I would remember for some time.

Postmodernism

*Africa art*

I leant about African art history and how it affects art in the present. During the lecture I learnt some interesting information that I didn’t know before the lecture.

On your right picture, the head is an orange brown colour. It was very close to reality and based on wood masks from Congo.

The mask stood by itself and Picasso just picked this one out. When I saw the pictures, I was very interested. The reason is because I have never thought about African Art. However, i knew that even Picasso was inspired from it. How amazingly true as even I found it inspiring After Picasso’s choice, European artists esteemed African art because it was ‘primitive’. African artists went on and then developed forms of art that were both African and Modern.

I visited the Sainsbury African Galleries in British museum. These galleries present the culture of African life, in the past and present. I could see African historical arts and contemporary arts. I picked one that drew my attention. This was a piece by El Anatsul’s. It was made of recycled metal foil bottle-neck wrappers and copper wire. It’s title was “Man’s Cloth”. However when I saw this i thought; is this a rug? Or art work? I was wondering how it was made like that and which technique he used. It looked like straw knitted together and this was particularly interesting to me as I had just learnt to knit and weave.

Power of making

*Power of 'material making'*

knitted dress Sandra Backlund 2008

Anyone who wants to hear new things in order to be better and capture the attention of people read on!

 When I saw the power of making I was amazed by the title.

The exhibition made me question whether it was rally, “Power of making” or “Power of material?

Some of the items in the exhibition were not clear on their function. For example an item of clothing made with a nail could not be worn.

We know we’ll never get anywhere with that conventional way of thinking. However we are afraid to think outside the box. Even I found the art work very unusual and it could be in conflict with other types of art. After I visited this exhibition, I changed my mind as I found one of the art works there to be a work of art.  It was cloth made out of a lot of nails. People do not usually think about how to make a cloth by using nails and It was therefore a shock. Normally if I make a piece of clothing it has a function, to be worn. However this piece has broken a rule.

 It was art work!!!!

It was definitely an eye-catching piece of work.

However, I also found a completely different piece of art work. It looked like a real pupil of an eye. It was amazing to look at as it was so real. So when I saw this piece I thought that ‘what is that? Is that’s all? However the main point of it was that it used basic and traditional technician techniques and it was just as it was, no special interpretation required. I could understand the message. These days, if we find something interesting to create a new art work, we never make it look the same, we are always changing or re-interpreting which is why this piece was so unique.

Rough Guide theory task

*Brixston*

I went to Brixton Market in south London.  There were over 200 stalls open for the day.

They have different shops and outdoor stalls as in other similar markets. Stalls include ones with fruits, vegetables, and butchers. A few blocks away, they have little restaurants and beautiful cafes with a variety of food including organic

This market has been going for nearly a hundred years. However, about two years ago a lot of this was quite empty. These days, the shops and stalls try to offer more variety in order to attract more people to the market.

 My first impression of Brixton was that it was an interesting place. When looking at the outdoor shops I’ve seen similar places in my country(in Korea).  There are some similar places in a particular street. On the other hand, Brixton has a stronger influences from abroad( which I think could be Jamaican or African). Brixton village is my main focus for research as they’ve got lovely small shops in there. All the shops are decorated differently. They all have different concepts. Examples include, a lovely sweet candy shop, some Africa or Jamaican style clothes shop, and photo studios. Some shops are making art work by using recycled materials. 

 I met someone who owns a Fish & Chip shop. When I walked in Brixton village I was amazed when I saw a wall painting in the shop. So I asked the owner who painted it and It was painted by her husband. It looks like the colours and textures apparent when light hits a fish bowl making it attractive and very colorful. It was as if the fish bowl sparkled as it caught the light.

 I chose some items to research One of things that stood out was that in all the outdoor and even indoor shops the products were organised with pinpoint accuracy.(even vegetables and fruits). It made everything seem attractive. When I saw this I thought it was like the fruit and vegetables were waiting in their positions for the customers to choose them. The plantains with just their heads popping up reminded me of empty egg cases.

When I waked through Brixton’s small streets and alleys I saw some fantastic graffiti and some advertisements stuck on walls .Something popped in my mind when I saw that. I thought that some artists could be using one side of the wall as their studio. They stick some notes or some drawings on the wall to remind them of their ideas.  This was making me feel free and energetic, so I was never bored during my walk. There is an ambience of positivity and freedom surrounding the market. 
 Some shops use recycled items in order to create new works. When we prepare a new space, the most important thing is the light, because however perfectly decorated a place is if the light or brightness does not match its surroundings it won’t look attractive. 

 I liked many things but the most attractive were some beautiful chandeliers on a high ceiling in Brixton Village.The shape was similar to oriental or asian style. I looked at it carefully and was most interesting was that It  was made of a variety lampshades stuck together , some were even stuck opposite to each other. It used many colours , different fabrics and shapes. The designs were all different. It reminded me of Asia because some of  the lampshades looked like a Chinese red lantern shape. I thought those chandeliers were an incredibly good idea. In addition I felt that they were a good match to Brixton Village with its vibrant colors and atmosphere as although they didn’t have traditional chandelier elements they still didn’t look cheap.




*Andre Penteado's exhibition at Photofusion*

 When I did my research in Brixton I went to Andre Penteado’s exhibition at Photofusion in Brixton. He is a Brazilian photographer.  The title was “Dad’s Hangers”. He was inspired after his father’s suicide. When I saw his photos, I didn’t understand what he wanted to say about using the hangers.. It was nothing interesting, it was just hangers. However he wanted to talk about identity by using hangers. We guess people’s identity by hoe they dress. We can even recognize their occupation or judge their personality. His message was that hangers were not just hangers, but they were used to put his father’s clothes on that showed his father’s identity. I saw someone express identity through the use of a symbol related to clothes, however it could even go deeper than that and have several interpretations.