Reading list

I've been trying to pull together a list of all the books and magazines I've been reading this year that don't feature in the course reading list, here it be:

Barnard M, (2001), Approaches to understanding visual culture, Hampshire, Palgrave
Barthes R, (2000), Mythologies, Great Britain, Vintage
Berger J. (1972) Ways of seeing, London, Penguin Books
Eagleton T, (2000), The idea of culture, USA, Blackwell Publishers Inc
Eco U, (1976), A theory of semiotics, Bloomington, Indiana University Press
Hartley J, (2002), Communication, Cultural and Media studies, New York, Routledge
Lyotard J, (1991), The inhuman, Oxford, Polity Press
Materson, J.F, Klein, R., (1995) Disorders of the self, USA, Brunner/Mazel
Robinson J, (1999), The manipulators, Great Britain, Pocket Books
Sahlins M (1976), Culture and practical reason, Chicago, University of Chicago Press
Said E W. (1994), Representations of the intellectual, Reading, Vintage
Sorlin P, (1994), Mass media – key ideas, London, Routledge
Sturken M & Cartwright L, (2001), Practices of looking, USA, Oxford University Press
Thomas J, (2001), Reading images, Hampshire, Palgrave
Evans J and Hall S, (2003), Visual culture: the reader, London, Sage Publications
Church Gibson P and Gibson R, (1993), Dirty looks: women, pornography, power, London, British Film Institute
Fletcher A, (2001), The art of looking sideways, London, Phaidon Press
Poynor R, (2001), Obey the giant, London, August Media Ltd.
Burns C, (2005), Black Hole, UK, Jonathan Cape
Newark Q, (2002), What is graphic design?, Switzerland, RotoVision
Rhinehart L, (2001), The dice man, USA, The Overlook Press
Golding W, (1954), Lord of the flies, London, Faber and Faber Ltd.
Burgess A, (1962), A clockwork orange, London, Paperview UK
Hislop V, (2005), The Island, Great Britain, Review
Garland A, (1997), The beach, England, Penguin Books
Heller J, (1962), Catch 22, Great Britain, Vintage
Orwell G, (1956), Keep the aspidistra flying, USA, Harvest books

George Shaw [writings]
Adbusters [magazine]
Graffik [magazine]
Eye [magazine]

Phiadon

I've recently been considering what it is that I would want to do in the future and as I enjoy creating books I would like to look into the publishing industry...

I've got many design books created by Phaidon, they are the publishers of one of my favourite books of all time - The Art of Looking Sideways. They also create many good reference books for art students such as: The photo book, The art book, The art of the 20th century and The American art book - all of which come in both large 'coffee table' books and smaller 'pocket books'.

They've recently released a new book called 'Ice Cream' which contains:

-An exhibition-in-a-book that presents 100 contemporary artists
-Selected by 10 internationally renowned curators, these artists will be the stars of tomorrow
-Each artist is featured over four pages with a selection of their most interesting work together with a commentary by the curator who selected them, an exhibition history, and a bibliography
-Each curator has also selected a source artist who has inspired or influenced the younger generation, providing readers with a broader historical perspective

and is said to be "A must-have for art-world insiders, an essential source book for students and all those who follow the contemporary art scene."

I'm intrigued.

Maybe one day I'll have a company that creates some amazing books to help all those art students and other along in the world or just show them something a little bit different...

My online portfolio

I've recently completed my web design optional module in which I've created a website with contains a portfolio of some of my work it's called : Me in a box in front of your eyes. Check it out.

Books - My Creations

This first book is from my Collections project in which I collected my emotions every hour on the hour for 24 hours. It's called "24 Hours" and is bound in black buckram with a double layered card slip cover. The pages contain the emotions which are relative in size to the amount they are felt, the pages are embossed with numbers to signify the hour the pages represent.


This is the first book I created for the Reportage project in which we had to report the city of Leeds in some format. I decided to base my first book on the city scape of Leeds, the pages run together creating a total 360 degree view from the top of multistory car park.


This and the image below are photos of the second book I created for Reportage. For this book I focused on the people of Leeds.


I asked them to complete a questionnaire and have their photo taken, the photo was then printed on to the reverse of the hand written questionnaire, folded and bound into this book.


This is the book I created for my Storytelling brief. It was a story of a stick boy called Sam who lived on the edge of a haunted forest. The forest is surrounded by red ribbon to stop people from entering it and becoming lost, until one day Sam ventures into and meets Bird, learns to fly and solves the mystery of the not to haunted forest.

Found

I recently bought the Found book which is a further more indepth publication of the Found magazine and website. It reminds me a little of post secret . I have always liked being given the opportunity to see into other worlds, to create a story around the insight you have found. It seems I'm not alone with this... I am glad.

Buy it here.

Ladyfest - Leeds

"Karen's art represents a mystifying and odd universe. The bright and lurid colours of her work will primarily lure you in, sweet style, but it doesn't take long before the goofed out and bent content takes hold and really snatches you. You are never really sure what is going on in this place populated by acid damaged individuals, seeping wounds, 'knowing' wildlife, feral children, unknown exotic narcotics, strange skin conditions and so much more. Its all here, baby."

This is not an exhibition I would have chosen to go to alone but my housemate is involved with Ladyfest and so I went along for the jollies. It was very inspiring and a little surreal but worth the visit. We also went to 'EXP24 does Ladyfest' in which Holy Trinity is further transformed to allow for screening of experimental films which was really amazing as they didn't stick to conventions but used the ceiling as a screen also, there was a lot going on around you; so much to take in.

Check it out here.

Crosby Beach - Antony Gormley - Another Place

Antony Gormley is one of my favourite artists of all time. I focused my National Diploma end of year art history essay on his work and various other presentations and projects since. I was thrilled when I was offered the chance to go and see his piece called Another Place situated on Crosby Beach near Liverpool. The exhibition consists of 100 cast iron figures cast from Gormley's own frame. Each figure stands to attention, gazing out across the sea as though waiting for something that never seems to arrive...



Still Antony Gormley inspires me, I have recently been reading about his new exhibition called Blind Light which is another step away from Gormleys roots of his human figure sculptures. The piece is a large glass room filled with fog in which the viewer can enter and become lost and disorientated but yet strangely at peace and they see other viewers drift in and out of view in the contained space.




Although he seems to be moving away from the work that attracted me in the first place I think that he has captured my imagination enough that I will continue to follow his progress and hopefully get to see more of his work in the future. Check it out at: Antony Gormley's Blind Light

Yorkshire Sculpture Park - Andy Goldsworthy Exhibition

[Hanging Trees]

I've recently been to visit the Antony Gormley exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my digital camera but I do have these post cards...


[Stone Room]

Some of the work was really amazing to take in - I've seen a lot of photos and been told a lot about the exhibition but it was great to have the opportunity to go and view it in person.

Unfortunately at the time I went to the gallery I was on crutches so wasn't able to go and view the piece's outside so mainly stayed in the gallery spaces.


[Leaf Stalk Room]

The leaf stalk room was amazing, I wanted to walk up and touch the net to see just how fragile the piece was. It really made me wonder how such a large structure was made - is there a trick or is it just time and patients? Impressive.


[Wood Room]

I found the Wood Room really quite daunting and oppressive it made me quite nervous that it would collapse at any moment. It was quite awe inspiring to see - it was nothing like I had heard it described


[Stacked Oak]

I find it really interesting the way in which Antony Gormley has the ability to take found objects (like the tree branches in Stacked Oak) and turn then into a human, controlled shape but not through the use of forming or carving, just through their natural grown shape. Maybe this the way man should work, taking nature and manipulating it but without distorting and loosing it's original form. We should fit into nature, it shouldn't be made to fit around us...