Stefan Sagmeister (2D Design)

Stefan Sagmeister, Austrian graphic designer based in New York City working in his own design firm Sagmeister & Walsh Inc.

Studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna

Sagmeister has collaborated with David Byrne and Lou Reed, produced work for David Byrne’s Afropea compilation album and the Rolling Stones Bridges to Babylon. Producing album covers for many musicians including the OK GO, Aerosmith and Pat Metheny, Sagmeister has become an iconic graphic designer of his time.

   

Although a lot of Sagmiester’s work is digitized, he tries to break away and use a wide varitety of media, making his work very experimental and diverse.  I like the organic aspect to his work, from using himself for portraits and figuritive art applying various markings to his skin to using nature such as trees, wildlife to create unique designs.  His typeograhpy designs are also interesting and I particularly like the sketchy rough style he creates on his body, it seems very realistic and give the effect that  someones has actually cut into his skin, although a little unsettling and graphic, the overall appearance makes for a really nice interesting piece.

Sagmiester’s work combines a lot of elements such as humor, wit, embracing sexuality. I think what strengthens his work most is the concepts behind his work and the great passion that he puts into each piece.  He really makes you think about his work because of the initiative style he uses.

The Guardian Collection: photography - video

Came across this looking on the Guardian website.
a collection of some really nice images and great photographers.
http://www.theguardian.com/guardian-collection/video/photography

Banksy sells work for $60 in Central Park, New York – The Guardian

Britsh grafifi street artist Banksy sets up a stall in New York City with an elderly man selling signed, original artworks done by Basksy himself, however overall the takings for the day are only $420 (£263) after selling several paintings.

I found this story really interesting, the well known graffiti artist who loves to poke fun at the art world seems to have played a practical joke on the public.

I think by the overall set up, generally we would never assume that the paintings were originals, as there are many knock offs and stalls selling cheap versions of this artists work, I don't think people would instinctively think that these are worth thousands of pounds.

 Whats interesting about the video is watching the elderly man sit there in almost boredom, not really engaging with the public, or seeming too fussed about making a sale, which sets him aside from most market sellers who tend to be more encouraging.

Although what is interesting is when he makes a sell, he very friendly hugs, and kisses each person suggesting that they've got a real bargain.

The set up and video itself is a piece of art I think, to show that we shouldn't attached ourselves to an artists name, just because they may be famous, we shouldn't let they be why we like a piece of art.

Gavin Worth (3D Design)

Gavin Worth is a sculptural artist, creating realistic yet abstract forms from wire.
mainly figurative, he creates simple outlines to describe the basic form.

'And light fell on her face through the heavy darkness' this piece interested me most,
I was drawn to it by the sheer looseness of it, combined with waves of the wire, create a sense of freedom.

The piece is about hope, and finding it through a mass of darkness that looms over the face in the piece.
What I really like about this is the different angles to it, from the side it just looks like a wire just put together, but as you walk around you see the piece slowly form into a face, with changing shapes of lighting falling over the face. overall i think this is a very clever piece, I like that although its a still piece, Worth manages to create fluidity and motion by people walking around it.

Wire structure (3D Design)

Given the word 'Press' to work from, I looked at wire and the many ways it can be pressed and shaped into different forms.

I liked the looseness of the piece, and how it flows and connects, I added tissue paper to add depth to the piece, I think it works nicely with the creases and folds in the paper, also the bold contrast between the wire and paper works well.

I could take this piece further by adding colour but i think it's nice with just the black and grey as it as nice tonal qualities and has a minimal and simplistic aspect to it

Richard Sweeney and Rowan Mersh

Richard Sweeney

born in Huddersfield, England in 1984.
studied at Batley School of Art and Design in 2002 and went on to study Three Dimensional Design at the Manchester Metropolitan University.

Sweeney explores the potential of paper, transforming this material into unique sculptures.

Sweeney's work is very clean, detailed and precise,
his work is interesting, I like all the different angles to one piece and their dynamic structures.

Rowan Mersh 

Mersh, a graduate at the Royal Collage of Art in 2005 continues to produce mult media sculptures,
creating diverse and very experimental sculptures through his intuitive response to materials and what they can do, transforming basic materials into interesting pieces of art.