SOVA block test 2

Looking Ahead by Ng Eng Teng, 1987

Growth by Han Sai Por, 1985

a) Describe the subject matter of both works.

For Looking Ahead by Ng Eng Teng, it depicts truncated parts of body. The form is simplified and abstract, but the general shape of the hands and the facial expression could still be identified. The sculpture shows knee and part of thigh act as the base supporting the whole sculpture. The two forearms with hands could be easily identified. The absence of arm and body brings viewers’ attention to the forearm, the hands, and the head which is hold within the hand. The sculpture suggests a optimistic outlook as suggested in the artwork’s name. The expression on the face shows a rather relax and comfortable mood. The sculpture is supported by one forearm thus makes the sculpture looks rather unstable. This might due to the fact that the artist wants to convey that even though life might be hard but we must still look forward to the bright future ahead.

For Growth by Han Sai Por, it consists of 5 unique sculptures, each have different shapes. All these sculpture have smooth curve line, organic and naturalistic shapes. Also the texture is very smooth and the lines bring a sense of fluidity to the sculptures. Each of the five sculptures has different protrusions pointed at different angle. They seem to be struggling to survive and grow. There is like an unseen internal force exert on the sculptures. These five sculptures seem represent different stages of growing. As the forms are abstract and organic, it is hard to identify what the objects actually representing. However, it looks like different stages of plant growing from seed to young plant. As first stage, the first sculptures at the bottom left hand corner, the protrusion is bended at a low angle and the body seems like curl together. These might suggest that the seeds have felt the external force exert on it in the soil, which restrict its growing. However, as time passes, the seed start to grow and struggle to break free from the difficulties and unpleasant environment. This is depicted by the one of the sculptures at the left side and two at the right side of the series. Here, the protrusion are more and more round in shape and it is pointing more and more towards a higher angle which symbolize that the plant are growing taller and stronger. Finally, as depicted in the last sculpture at the top, the sculpture is standing up right with smooth curve and rounded angle. This shows that the seed has become a young adult plant which has been through growing period from a “baby” to an “adult”.

b) Discuss similarities and differences that exist in their treatment of forms and use of materials.

For Looking Ahead by Ng Eng Teng, the form is reduced to its simplest form. Different part of the body is been examined individually and reorganized to put it into composition. Most of the body part is been reduced to its basic shape or been removed from the composition – such as the torso, the arm and the legs. However, the elements of the sculpture still can be easily identified as the essences of the elements are still kept, such as the hands and the expression of the face.

However, for Growth by Han Sai Por, the forms are been abstracted and highly reduced to its basic organic shapes. The objects depicted by the sculptures could not be told by the viewers. The five sculptures exist individually yet they coincide with each other due to resemblance in their forms.

Both the artworks depict the form using smooth curve, which gives the artworks a sense of fluidity. Also, both of the artworks appear to be more of less rounded as the forms are reduced to simplest form.

For the use of material, Looking Ahead is made of bronze. It thus gives the artwork a more textured surface and metallic feeling. The texture of bronze could still be seen and touched in the sculpture. This might further suggest that even the life might be hard, which show by the texture of the bronze left from sculpture, we still must look ahead to the future.

In terms of the material complement to the message the artist wants to convey, Han Sai Por did the same thing as well. Instead of using bronze, she uses marble. Han Sai Por uses marble to carve out smooth textured surface and fluid line. This might suggest to the tenderness of a baby, or a young plant.

c) In your opinion, which work would you choose to be displayed in Nanyang Girls' High Schoo as part of our permanent art collection and where will the chosen work be exhibited? Discuss with consideration given to the artist's background, repertoire of works, approaches to art etc.

In my opinion, Growth by Han Sai Por should be displayed in school. This is because that Han Sai Por concerns about the balance between nature and urban life. Through her artwork, she wishes to advocate people to stay away from war and conflict, and find back the purity and emotion we used to have when we lived as part of nature. To her, due to the high-technology we have today, we have forgotten about the importance of nature, the environment. She hopes that through her artwork, people will stop and ponder the correct way to live with. This value is what we need to teach the student in school as well. The students need to know the importance of environment and not to be over-relying on the technology. This habit should be instilled since young so that the students will learn to appreciate the beauty of nature and not be controlled by the hurry life in urban city.

Also, the sculpture depicts the different growing stages. As secondary student, they are at their most crucial stage of growth. They will start to face a lot of challenges and start to struggle with the life and school’s workload. Thus, with Growth displayed in school, the students will learn how to struggle with inner forces, inner belief and problems in life during their growing stages. Also, as the students most likely to have puberty at this stage, they will face a lot of physical, psychological and emotional changes, just like the different shape in the sculpture. Therefore, the Growth can represent the students and make the student more relate to the artwork.

However, Ng Eng Teng’s sculpture may seem to be more disturbing to the students and the students may feel uneasy about it. As Ng Eng Teng’s main theme is human condition, he experiment on moving around different body parts, recombination and make the sculpture appear in an unusual way. However, even though in Looking Ahead the sculpture contains a positive meaning, but the distortion in form make the sculpture less appealing to the students. Also, the subject matter might be too difficult for the students to understand as they are not mature enough yet.

SOVA block test 1

Spying Eyes by Lucia Hartini, 1989

a) Discuss the use of colour and brushwork.

In the painting, Spying Eyes, Lucia Hartini had used strong contrasting colour of orange red and shades of bright blue. The brick wall, which extend from the foreground all the way to the background, is getting smaller and smaller creating a sense of depth. It is painted with orange-red and occupied almost three-quarter of the painting. In contrast, the drapery that is worn by the female figure at the foreground of the painting is painted with different shades of blue. The orange-red, which is the main background colour, creates a strong contrast with the blue drapery thus allow the viewer’s eyes to focus on the female figures, which brings out the importance of the female figure despite the fact that it has only occupied a relative small proportion of the painting.

Moreover, the background of the painting is painted with turbulent sky with thick layers of clouds. The general dark tone of the background also set contrast with the foreground where the colours used are much brighter. Thus, the bright colours with highlights in the foreground caught viewers’ attention first. The viewers will then notice the significance of the female figure and the cracking zigzag brick walls. The female figure is painted in golden brown, which represent a healthy skin tone. The colour might have easily blended in with the brick wall with the absence of the blue drapery. However, the blue drapery that wrapped around the female figures provides contrast with the skin tone thus highlights its importance instead. Hence the viewers’ eyes will travel from the female figure along the brick wall towards the background of the painting.

As for the brushwork, the artist has adopted a high academic accuracy and traditional painting technique. Every brushstroke are well-blended, no trace of brushstrokes could be seen. In this manner, the form of the figure will be well rendered and clearly defined. Thus, it will provide a realistic form that is highly resemblance to real life. This corroborate with artist’s intention of painting in surrealistic style, where the objects that are taken from real life are combine in an illogical way to form a dream-like world. The realistic figure yet in a fantasy setting will thus bewilder the viewers.

Secondly, the brushwork for the blue drapery has highlighted the contrast between the shadows and the smooth curve of the fabric. Thus it gives the drapery a sense of fluidity and realistic form. However, as for the brick wall, the hard edges are clearly defined. This provides a contrast between the drapery and the wall which can shock the viewers.

b) What social concerns are intended in Lucia Hartini’s work? Discuss with reference to “Spying Eyes” and another named work by Lucia Hartini.

Lucia Hartini’s works are intended to engage critically the inherited gender norms and social expectation of women in Indonesia. This could be seen both in “Spying Eyes” and “Srikandi” 1993.

Lucia Hartini’s art is inseparable from the social-political condition in Indonesia. Here, the women are perceive as subordinate to men and is seen to be obedient to man’s order. Women are been looked down and especially so for female artists. Due to the society, there are very few female artists and usually their voice could not be heard. The social and political judgments also constantly criticize them. Lucia Hartini once said, “my obsession with eyes, especially human (spying) eyes, frightened me very much. They follow me wherever I go and watch my business.” Thus, human eyes have appeared in both of her artwork “Spying Eyes” and “Srikandi”. In “Spying Eyes”, the female figure is drawn cradle together which suggest lack of security due to the eyes from the public keeps on scrutinizing her. While in “Srikandi”, the female figure stared back at the glaze confidently. This shows that the public often criticize the female artist due to the existing gender norm.

Also, it is also shown in the brick wall found in both paintings. In “Spying Eyes”, the zigzagged wall may represent the social prejudice that trapped the female figure. This wall seems extended all the way to the sky signified that the social norms had existed for a very long time. The brick wall is also painted in orange-red which may represent Hartini’s angers and frustration towards such system. The brick wall is in zigzag may also indicate the difficulties the female in Indonesia had to go through while trying to fight back against the system. While in “Srikandi”, though one side of the brick wall is in zigzag form. The other side is straightened. It might represent her will of fighting back the rigid social prejudice. In addition, both paintings shoe that there are cracks on the wall and the smooth drapery are covering the wall, this might represent that this sexism are slowly eroding in modern days.

c) Lucia Hartini has explored dreams and imagination as she sought to discover herself through her works. Why did she create dream-like imagery and do you think she has been effective in using dreams as part of her work? Discuss with reference to her named works.

Lucia Hartini lived in a society where straight forward critical and confession discourse are not accepted. Thus she is forced to adopt allegorical and symbolic style to express her thoughts and ideas. As she had been engage critically with inherited gender norms and social expectation, she addresses the issues in an open, honest and advocating ways with the use of dream-like imagery. I think she had been effective in using dreams as art of her work, due to her use of symbolical figures in the painting such as in “Srikandi”, 1993.

In “Srikandi”, Lucia Hartini painted a female figure, which represents srikandi, a well-know “women warrior” in the legend of Indonesia. Srikandi fight courageously in the battle and won the recognition of Prince Arjunza. It is dressed in the blue clothes which were worn by the members of women armies who fought to protect the Sultan. Srikandi, the female figure, stand confidently and looks back at the doubting gazes from the public. Due to this famous and well-known heroic female figure, Lucia Hartini can thus effectively convey her message to the viewers, which is to fight back the doubting and scrutinizing eyes of the society and break the social gender norms. Though due to the social-political condition, she was unable to paint openly on the canvas of her hidden message, her used of dream-like imagery did provoke a sense of confusion at the viewers and shock them.

Furthermore, the use of vibrant yet contrasting colour, the zigzagged cracking walls and the turbulent sky did mention to the viewers her hidden message. The orange-red suggest her anger at such social issue of sexism. The fantasy setting yet realistic figure advocate the viewers. It bewilders the viewers with such contrasting elements and thus makes them think of the environment around them. Though dream-like imagery is not realistic, but it is highly resemblance to the real life and it is easier to engage powerful emotion and allow the viewers to understand the art piece clearly. Such as the cracking brick wall did suggest Hartini’s desire to break through the cage of gender prejudice.

ceremics - nature

This is the ceramic i did last time. The theme is nature. As compared to other people, i have adopt a more realistic approach. I want to show the fragility of the flower. I have tried to make different textures for the leaves and the flower to show a contrast and bring out the softness of the flower. The leaf is placed beneath the flower to suggest that the leaf is used to protect the flower as flower is very fragile.

pinhole photograph

These are the pinhole photography i did two years ago:)

While waiting outside the science laboratory, we can always enjoy looking at the fishes and feel the cooling breeze. It might be on e thing that we always took for granted. So I hope this photo could make you cherish every little thing in our school. The tree in the middle had divided the two blocks into two sections, contrasting each other. I had also used on third rule. There was something I could do to improve on this piece of work. First, I should take more photos so that I could take a better photo. Secondly, I need to have more planning before I took the photos, so that the photos could look more interesting. By doing this work, I have learnt to be patient and never give up. Sometimes the results might just not turn out to be what we expected. Just remember, keep trying.

the followings are some photos which i found interesting too.

last year eoy painting

This is my last year EOY drawing. the theme is play. i have use acrylic for this painting. i want to convey a sense of celebration and fun. i have use many subjects inspired from funfair, such as the ice-cream and cake. the girl on the hot-air balloon is laughing and cheering. the pig-head hot-air balloon also helps to create a sense of humor and mischievous to the painting. actually i feel that this painting is more like a funfair poster. also, i think that it whole painting is quite plain as all the figures are place quite further apart.

drawing of mushroom

This is the mushroom i draw 3 years back. It is quite difficult for me to draw it at that time as i must really observed the textures and small details closely. also, i must also take note of the change in tone as well. i think i should have make the line finer and neater, as some parts of the drawing looks quite messy and roughly drawn.

p.s. the mushroom soup is very nice:)

the end...

In my coursework, suggest the girl is sitting on the debris which cause by the earthquake. The waves in front represent the natural forces which could easily destroy people’s property and cause loss of human lives. The girl is been trapped by the chains, which caused the girl to remain in sorrow and sadness. As the girl’s facial features could not be seen, it says that the girl is very lost. The butterfly wings behind her symbolizes her will of breaking free from the chains, but the broken wing (due to the suffering) does not allow her to do so. As she is alone in the drawing, and she is hugging herself, it shows that she is lonely and lack of security. The little green plants hiding near her in the debris suggest that hope is actually around her, but she must first have the courage to look up in order to discover the hope.

The top part of the drawing depicts the heavenly-like place. This represents a place where many people, who lived in the suffering, would like to go to. The butterfly, which symbolizes the hope, suggests that the hope could change the life of the girl.

journey towards completion

A quite view at how I finish my coursework :)

FINISH!!!!

choice of medium

For my coursework, I have chosen charcoal and pastel as the medium.

Firstly, I choose charcoal because it is very expressive. It can create various tone of black, which add gradient of depth to the drawings. It matches with my theme as well. As the black symbolizes negative emotions, it thus represents the sadness and sorrow people suffered from disaster and lose of hope. Also, charcoal can create different textures easily as well. If we want to create a softer tone and texture, just blend the lines and shading.

Then, I choose pastel of the similar reasons. The pastels can create a similar texture as the charcoal. It is expressive as well. It is also very coulourful. The vibrant coulours can thus symbolize hope, where people longing to have a brighter and better future ahead. The pastel can also blend nicely and create an obscure setting.

I want to use charcoal and pastel to create a contrast between coloured and black and white. The coloured objects will then symbolize hope, and the black objects will represent suffering and lose of hope. By doing so, I think the viewer could understand the work easier as well.

inspiration for new life

I've get inspiration from this digital art I found online. It is called A Plant New Life by ~dj-pynguin. (source: http://dj-pynguin.deviantart.com/art/A-Plant-New-Life-2020069)

I was inspired by its contrast between green and black. This contrast make the young green plant totally stand out from the rest of the objects. I think I would like to use this idea in my coursework. But instead of putting so much emphasis on the green plant, I would like it to be more subtle so as to suggest that the new life actually happen just next to us but it is difficult to notice.

Also, I would also like to use young green plant to represent a new life, a new beginning. I think this is what some of the people actually hope for when disaster strike. They would like to start their life again and make a better tomorrow.

messages that i want to convey

After all the gathering of information, there are some main messages that I want to convey for my coursework.

Firstly, we should not give up on hope. Hope it the essential force which drive us on when we are suffered from any disasters or unfortunate events. It allows us to view the life in a optimistic way. Without hope, we will be trapped by the sorrow and sadness, thus unable to stand up again.

Secondly, hope can come in different form. Some time hope can be just next to us. But as the sadness has covered our eyes, we were not able to discover it. Thus, when times are hard, we should always believe that there is a chance where everything will turn out to be fine again.

drawing of heavenly like places

I have made two drawings of heavenly-like place. For these two drawings, I used pastel as the medium. I like the colour combination of these two drawing. The bright colour makes the two places seem like a fantasy place. Also as the pastel can be blurred easily, it helps to create a unrealistic setting. I think I should have makes the colours blend more naturally to make it seem less awkward.

drawings of human figures related to hope

This is a sketch of a boy reaching for hope. Though the boy did not wear any nice branded shirt, but he still have the faith and hope for a better tomorrow. I think i have done well for the drawing of clothes by having the various tone for the shirt. However, i think that I have not done well for drawing of the boy's face. I think the varied in tone is not enough and more details of the face should be included.

This drawing shows a guardian angel. When we have hope, we would think that everything would turn out to be fine. Thus, I draw the guardian angel, who would protect us from all the sorrow and sufferings. We could not see or feel the guardian angel, but we could believe in its existence. By having the hope that someone is out there protecting us, this could provide strength for the people to stand up again to face the difficulties. I have smoothed the line of the figures to make it more unrealistic.

This shows a depressed angel. Normally, we have the images of angel should always remained positive and pure. Thus, by drawing that angel is in suffering, it suggests that even angel could have lose the hope and believe, and been hurt by the disasters. I think I could have paid more attention to the details of the wings, the hair and the clothes of the angel.

This shows a depressed girl begging for help. The girl did not wear any nice clothes and is bare-footed. This suggest that the girl is not living in a good environment. Her face is been blocked by the hair suggest that she is lost. I’m not very satisfied with this drawing as it is done quite roughly. A lot of details have been left out.

This also shows a depressed girl. The girl is hugging tightly to herself which suggest a lack of security. The butterfly wings behind her suggest her longing to be free. The girl is not wearing anything shows that she want to return to the past and escape from the society. I like the posture of the girl. However, I think that I should have make the outline less obvious and add more tone to the drawing.

drawings of waves

Here are some drawings of waves i drawn in charcoal:)

Here are three drawing of turbulent waves. I want to draw the unrest ocean is because I think the turbulent waves symbolize the approaching danger. Also, due to the big waves, many ships could not reach their destination safely. The turbulent waves can also link to the tsunami, which are very disastrous and can destroy many properties and killed many lives.

The reason why I choose charcoal is because it is very expressive. It can depict the violent movement of the waves. I’m happy with these drawing as I’ve drawn out the turbulence of the waves. However, I think I could have add some small minor details to it as well to make the waves look more realistic and impactful.

This is a drawing of turbulent sky which I get inspire from the waves. It also symbolizes the approaching danger. However, I should have draw it with more details added and be more careful with the tones of the clouds.

drawings of butterflies

I have did some drawing of butterfly. Butterflies just like hopes, which are fragile yet can be found everywhere. I hope that butterfly would then depicts people's longing for the better tomorrow.

Firstly, I did drawings with pencils. I did various form of butterflies. However, I'm not very happy with the drawings as the tones are not properly managed. I should have also drawn with more details.

Then, I did drawings of butterflies with the use of charcoal. Here, though i have paid attention to the details, however, i should make use of charcoal's natural expressive tone to make the butterflies more expressive and less flat.

butterflies

For my coursework, I had some inspirations from butterfly!

We can see butterflies everywhere we go. There are times that we are amazed at the beauty of the butterfly, however, most of the time we just ignore it as it is just too common to us. I link this idea to my coursework theme: Hope. Just like butterfly, hope is actually everywhere around us, it’s just the matter of whether you can notice it or not.

There are some references that I get my inspiration.

In Willow Tree Angel collection, the “Angel of Freedom” shows an angel holds a butterfly in her hands. From this, I want to use butterfly as a symbol for the longing for hope and freedom in my course work.

There is a quote says “A butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam. And for a brief moment its glory and beauty belong to our world. But them it flies on again, and though we wish it could have stayed, we feel so lucky to have seen it.”

In this painting, Jesus is holding a boy and pointing towards a butterfly. Thus, i would like to include butterfly in my coursework as an image that resembles beauty of life.

There is also a poem that I would like to share it here.

Message of Hope

A whispered wish of remembrance

Silent words of loss

A song of goodbye

An unspoken prayer for lasting peace

A message of hope

Rejoice for the spirit that has passed.

Release the sorrow and the sadness.

Rebuild a life again.

Emerging from your cocoon so gently placed

Sensing the freedom in the waiting sky

Wings open and quickly a flight

A drift in the air

Dancing with the wind

A glow in the sunlight.

The message of hope

Touching the spirit

Teaching to begin anew

Transforming the wish into hope

On the radiant wing of a butterfly.

~Kristy Dyer

Similarly, there is a saying goes,

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over

it became a butterfly!

inspiration from surreal and dark art

I have gotten inspiration from two different but very interesting mediums of art which are called as Surreal and Dark Art. These types of art are quite different from other conventional mediums of art. In these medium, artist conveys his thought and imagination in a very mysterious but somewhat fantastic or a bizarre style. As these arts are more like a fantasy, many abstract themes could be express in many possible ways. Also, in the Surreal and Dark art, I found out that there is a contrast between light v.s. dark, coloured v.s. black and white.

I would like to use this type of art style in my coursework. I would also like to adopt this surreal style to depicts my work as I think by adding in the surreal elements, it would make my artwork more impactful and different from normal photos. I would also like to explore the contrast of light v.s. dark, coloured v.s. black and white as I think it can make the artwork more impactful. Also I can make the coloured objects to have a symbolize meaning which can help to convey my message to the audience more easily.

Here are some of the Surreal and Dark Art I get my inspiration from:

Hope

Desperation

Lost fairy

Images taken from: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/20/30-beautiful-surreal-and-dark-art-pictures/