New Address

For my online portfolio I will be using this website:
http://cargocollective.com/vanillevandercam

For more conceptual work and essays i will be using this website

Cardboard Kremlin

We were given a project to create a one minute film about a title which was given to us: Cardboard Kremlin. We therefore decided to create a big kremlin out of cardboard. We had limitation since our funds weren't high we had to look for an empty space with a lock for free. Fortunately we managed to get a space in Elephant and Castle shopping centre for free however we only had the space for two days.
We tried to do the biggest kremlin cardboard in two days.




http://vimeo.com/24987592

Irony

^{-Irony is applied when there is a contradiction}

^{- Postmodernist believe that beauty and aesthetics is subjective to individuals, they are liberal, unlike modernist, which are conservative: has a set idea of what Art is.}

^{- If Beauty and truth doesn’t exist then what is art for postmodernists? if art can no longer be judged on culturally- constructed ideas of beauty, what is left?}

^{-Irony is the most valued thing in Art to postmodernists; they believe that it is a primary mode of expression.  Postmodernist want to shock and mock, go against the dominating culture.}

^{- Modernism has only one way of seeing art, which only speaks to the higher classes, the educated ones.  They understand the irony and find it attractive. But the majority of us can agree that a dot on a white canvas bores us to death}

^{- Postmodernism instead pushes the individual to question their assumptions about what art is. (Who, what, how its received). Irony in postmodernism erases the difference between high and low culture.}

^{-However:  Postmodernist critics have discussed that if}

Piss Christ by Serrano

- Crucifixes in urine and menstrual fluids in beakers nailed to a wall are passing as art

Fountain by Duchamp

- Urinal made as a fountain

Postmodernists believe that Piss Christ and Fountain is Art

They can only be considered art if you believe that irony and irony alone is “beautiful” otherwise it is merely social commentary in visual form

Philosophy : The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Benjamin Walter declares that there is a shift in perception and its affects in the wake of the advent of film and photography in the 20^th century. In the modern age, reproduction of art takes a very important role. Benjamin throughout the text demonstrates that the reproduction of the artwork loses its aura, which is the authenticity of an original art piece. The installation of Photography tries to persuade the opposite of Benjamin’s thesis by challenging the use of photography to capture and express the aura of The Burgher de Calais by Rodin in Westminster Park. When visiting the Statue, I perceived the aura as very mysterious, sinister and empowering. Benjamin emphasizes the importance of the space in which the art exists as a key contributor to it's aura. By presenting multiple photographs I was able to present the ambience of the environment accurately which helped to convey the aura of the statue in regards to its' surroundings.

 Photography was chosen, as it seemed like the best way to capture this aura; it is one of the media, which manages to provide an exact replica. In addition, the idea of having a fixed image allows the viewers to take their time to discover and appreciate all the elements of the picture. The six images each contain different angles of the statue, starting from far to very close. The viewer is therefore forced to move focus from one image to the other thus, creating a sense of movement towards the statue. This was intentionally made in order to coerce the viewer in experiencing the same feeling as if they were at the actual place. Five of the images surrounds a single picture which is larger in size as it portraits perfectly the moment: the child running around the dark and chaotic statue, the gothic building and the dead trees; yet he is staring right at the camera making the picture look quite haunting.

This artwork shows that the aura of a piece of work can be reproduced through the use of photography. However it has a certain limitation as it can only provide the aura of that exact time when the picture was taken whereas the original artwork can provide a range of different auras according to the change of the environment. Meaning that the original piece of art provides more then a photograph can possibly provide. However, with the easy access of images, the photograph then takes a part in the change of its aura as it makes the statue more known hence the change of environment.

Consume Peckham

This project involves creating a short film about a local business located in Peckham. The Films are going to be screened in Peckham Multiplex which is opened for the public. I was grouped with Tiana Dunlop. At first we decided to focus on a barber shop however we randomly came across a alternative healing shop called: The Copper Glow Shop which is selling mysterious products with ingredients which are unknown. The person in the shop is just a one of a kind, a character and therefore we decided to chose his shop for our business. 

The biggest mistake we made was to not book the proper material fast enough, thus why we had to reshoot three times. However even if it was exhausting it was a lot of fun as Rob ( Copper Glow Shop) was very patient and co-operative with us. 

This is his website: 

http://www.jingin.net/index.htm

Biography Project

This project involves picking a name out of a hat (Lars Von Trier) and researching about his life, work and philosophy. After a good acknowledgement of the person we had to refine and use the information to produce a creative outcome. I had Lars Von Trier a Famous Danish film director and screenwriter.

I was very glad to have picked him as he had a very peculiar way of seeing the world and portraying it in his films. The reason for this was to have financial independence and to enable them to have total creative control. This company was the world's only mainstream film studio to allow hardcore sex films.

Movies I watched from him:

The Idiots

Dancer in the Dark 

Antichrist

Melancholia

Dogville (my favourite) 

He also started Dogme 95  movement with Thomas Vinterberg with 'Dogme 95 manifesto' and ' Vow of Chastity'.

Lars Von Trier believes by following these restrictions, the film can depict the truth. Show the reality.

-Filming must be done on location. (Props and sets must not be brought in)

-The sound must not be produced apart from the images or vice versa 

- Camera must be a hand-held camera. The film must not take place where the camera is standing; filming must take     place where the action takes place. 

- The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable.

- Optical work and filters are forbidden 

-Film must not contain superficial action

- Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden 

- Genre movies are not acceptable 

- The format must be Academy 35 mm

- The director must not be credited




I decided to use his ways of filming on Halloween in order to depict the actual Halloween night in Peckham. 

Print Worshop

For this workshop, I was paired with Katarzyna Pomieczynska. Together we had to design the letter U, in illustrator. This letter would later on be laser cut. All our class was designated a letter. I can't wait to see the whole alphabet. 

Font: Bodoni Poster Decorated 

144pt

1st choice:

This design was our first choice however since we chose such a delicate design and the letter was quite small we made the design  bigger in order to ensure it wouldn't go wrong during laser cutting. However if the letter was to be printed in bigger it we would have been able to laser cut it no problem. 

2nd choice:

Kremlin Cardboard

Redesign a Vinyl Album Design

In this project I have to redesign and art direct Al Green 12" album cover in whatever way I want. Not only am I redesigning the front cover but also back and spine. 

Since he is a soul music his songs are very vibrant. He makes you want to dance all night. Its very fun, funky kinda music. Therefore I decided to play with the afro of Al Green by adding colourful designs.

How to...

Mail Art

This project consists of using mail art or creating a new network. I am paired with Sophie and Francois and we have been focusing on creating a new network. 

Ideas: 

- Send letters with small typical british objects to different countries to random people

   and ask them to send a little something of their countries back to us. 

- Find an old mail art project and see if the network continues or if it is actually dead. 

- Send cards with a question and ask to answer through sending me an object.

- Put post-its in public bathrooms and let them continue the conversations.

One night we decided to stick post-its on the bathroom wall in a pub where Sophie works. 

The audience weren't really young and men especially took a very long time to co-operate. Some decided to throw all the post-its in the toilet and urine on it. It was very disrespectful. But as the night went on to my surprise they started to co-operate. However next time we should find a more up beat bar.

 - Send post-its with questions to random people in England

- Send cards with a question and ask to answer through sending me an object 

 xxx

- The toilet network seemed to be the strongest idea and the one which seemed to have the most response. We now decided instead of post-its to use stickers which would be available for the people to stick wherever they want. We created a website and designed a couple of stickers. These are the stickers I designed. 

Shrine Project

This project consist of combining my passion (painting) and my Partner's passion (photography/ Travelling)

• Having some ideas: 

• Doing some research: Went to Coven Garden Market to draw people's portraits. The result was quite disappointing as no one was keen of staying outside and having their portraits taken. We only managed to get one person. I personally blame the weather.

•  We then decided to get a vintage suitcase (travelling), filled it up with paint and two paint brushes (painting). Placed it on a stand to make it look more like a shrine. We also asked people in Trafalgar Square in front the National Portrait Museum to make a wish and toss a coin in the suitcase. I had a lot of fun doing this project. People made it a game some took it seriously, everyone was very curious of this project. I really enjoyed doing this project. 

Manifestos

The first manifesto I designed was from De Stijl. Thus I designed the manifesto based on the style but with a little twist.
De Stijl  movement which as you can see was inspired by architecture:

The manifesto I designed: 

The other one I wrote the manifesto myself and designed it according to the theme. Procrastination.

Photoshop page spread

This project was more of an induction for Photoshop. We had to do a Magazine spread. The only rule we had to respect was to connect the two pages. Since my workmates were from different countries we decided to play with different countries money.

Induction of Photography

For our induction to photography we are to find an iconic image and to reproduce it using ourselves as models. This photoshoot will be taken in the photography studio in Chelsea College. I have managed to gather a few iconic photos which i find interesting. I still need to narrow down my research and pick only one picture.

These are the images I am struggling on choosing:

• "Sense" by Tono Stano:

• Brigitte Bardot by unknown:

• Edith Piaf by unknown:



• Le Violon D'ingres by Man Ray, 1924:

I still don't know which one I should select yet. Hopefully I will make my mind up soon. 

I eventually decided to reproduce the picture of Marlene Dietrich with her cigarette:

This is me imitating Marlene Dietrich. I am happy with my result. However if I was able to redo I would have put a darker lipstick on and bought a better curling iron.

Artist Book Review

This group project consisted of creating an A5 page each by getting inspired by a book found in a library. The A5 would then be assembled with the others into a book. I chose Denise Hawrysio/ Three Scouts (1993). Her book was interesting as she assembled all the scouts uniform into a book.

Denise Hawrysio's book:

My version:
I wanted to use the uniform of my old school however I didn't manage to get a hold of it on time. Therefore I went for the old american army uniform.

Logo Project

For this project we were required to come up with a logo which expressed our idea of induction of Graphic Design. We had to first find the idea of induction and then produce 100 logos around that idea:



Then once we had pick a logo design out of the 100 done, we had to work on it more in depth and hand in the final logo:

The Worst 3D Typography

I built the comic sans letter V with white butter and decided to let it melt on the frying pan. At first I tried to   make my own white butter but it miserably failed. So instead I bough two packs of white butter and cut out the comic sans V.