lucymaypopartlog

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CHICAGO Stage Set Design

This is my Pop Art inspired set design of the hit Broadway musical Chicago. I have incorporated ideas from Roy Litchenstine, LOBO and Andy Warhol. This can be seen through my use of bright block colours in the title and flooring, and by using stickers to create the same regular spot design. I took inspiration from Litchensitien’s Sunset particularly for the floor, as I recreated the same sun-like rays; also this is seen in the fan. I also used LED lights to recreate the old style stages, and i connected these using a glue gun and covering up with corrugated paper to have a finished effect.

Over all i’m quite happy with my design but next time i would add more detail on the buildings; and possible do the fan differently.

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60′s Pop Art Photoshop

This is a piece of work I did in Photoshop in the style of Richard Hamilton. I have transferred the skills that I learnt in the previous project, by cutting out an object, into this design. I used iconic characters of the 1960′s and modern day to create a scene.

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FLUXUS GROUP FILM

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Drawing Pop Art Final Piece

Here are my final pieces for the 60′s pop art project. I blended together the work I did on the previously with the still life of toys, and my research into the 60′s. 

The drawing on the left was based around the fight for equality and rights for contraception in the 1960′s; I then compared it with the modern day sexual harassment scandals, involving the directors and mangers of Hollywood, who have been abusing women for decades un-noticed. I did this by using the hashtag timesup slogan on top of my work to bring the situation to the front. To add the effect of pop art, I used bold bright lettering and the same spot effect that I used in the previous still life drawings.

The art work to the right is probably my favourite out of the two, even though I know it could have a lot of improvements done to it. I chose to do a classic drawing of the iconic Audrey Hepburn in her signature pose from ‘Breakfast at Tiffanys’. She was a glorious actor/model/dancer from the 60′s and an icon of mine. Although I am aware of the slight proportional problems with the drawing of her face, I love how she stands out due to the simplicity but effectiveness of the drawing. I then created ray-like sunbeams going around her head; this inspiration was taken from Roy Litchenstine’s ‘Sun Rise’. I then alternated big blocks of colour with black and white photos that I took of the original still life composition; and to finish it off some more of the dots used in the previous pieces. 

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Still Life Pop Art

These are 3 pieces of artwork I produced after surveying a still life of a collection of new and old toys. The first drawing I did was a continuous linear line drawing of the still life, and then for my second two I followed the same concept, however this time I used colour, texture and collage to create the pop art style within my work. My favourite technique that I used was by using a spot grid formation to produce a series of regular poke dots on my work in the style of Roy Litchenstine. I aim to use this idea in my future work as I look the effect it gives, and how it can be layered over the top to give depth and meaning. Overall however I am not happy with these pieces of artwork as I feel they are un-skillful and tasteless. 

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Paco Rabanne

Paco Rabanne, who’s real name is Francisco Rabaneda Cuervo is a Spanish fashion designer who became famous for his stand out work in the 60′s. He studied architecture in Paris, however he soon changed his field of design to fashion. He started designed accessories for labels such as Givenchy, Dior, before going on to release his own collection in the 1960′s. The thing that was unusual about his work, was that he used materials such as aluminium, plastic and metal to create his garments. I love how he uses related objects and shapes in his work; aligning them in a repetitive and simplistic, yet effective pattern.

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Briget Riley

This particular pop artist, born in 1931, produced a new style of art more commonly known as “Op-Art”. This artwork involves using images that create disorienting physical effect on the eye; making the image seam like it is moving when it is not. A famous piece such as “Fall” created in 1963 uses this technique. This work involves only using simple geometric shapes – squares, lines and ovals; by keeping to a simplistic colour scheme of black and white it helps to let the patterns themselves shine through without the need for colour. However she introduced colour into her work during the late 60′s too add a feeling of changing movement in her images, before moving on to relate colour as a concept its self, not just an underlying feature, during the mid 1980′s/1990′s.

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Peter Blake

Born in 1932 Blake was a revolutionary pop artist who used collage which are infused with popular culture. He used imagery from advertisements, music hall entertainment, commercial items, famous people and brands in his artwork. Considered as a high influencer of his profession, he received a kinghood in 2002 for his services to art. Many of his work including On the Balcony (1955–57) is still considered as an iconic piece of British pop art to this day. He also made album covers for the Band Aid’s single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 1984, as well as Paul Weller's Stanley Road in 1995. Personally I like the variety of content and colour that Blake uses as it gives a whole new dimension of capturing the 60′s style.

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Cecil Beaton

Beaton was famous for his elegant and decorative celebrity portraits, most known for his portrait of Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany's”, however he is also a highly acclaimed fashion photographer of the 1960’s as well. Throughout his career he captured photos many of world leaders, members of royalty, film stars, international artists, and even dancers, such as the world renowned ballerina Margot Fonteyn. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain in 1965, and received a knighthood in 1972 from HRH; as well as winning 2 oscars for his work in costume and set design in films and theatre.

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Eve Arnold

Arnold was an American born photograph journalist who had Russian-Jewish parents who immigrated to America, Pennsylvania before she was born. She photographed many iconic figures who shaped the second half of the twentieth century, however she was more as comfortable documenting and photographing the lives of the poor and dispossessed. Arnold said in a 1990 BBC interview that "I don’t see anybody as either ordinary or extraordinary, I see them simply as people in front of my lens.” Famous from her photos of Marilyn Monroe on the set of “The Misfits” (1961), she travelled around the world photographing Afghanistan, Russia, South Africa, and China, after permanently leaving America to live in England in the early 1970’s with her son.

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David Bailey

London born, Bailey is a highly regarded fashion photographer of the 1960’s, he rose to fame by making stars of the models of the next generation such as Penelope Tree and Jean Shrimpton. His fame grew from their creating his own unique bold style of black and white photographs, where the model was centre of attention. Bailey classed himself as an ‘outsider’ to the industry but still had a way of making his models feel totally at ease.  He went on to capture photos of the likes of the Rolling Stones, Kate Moss and Damien Hirst. He was working as a studio ‘dogsbody’ before he got contracted by Vogue to be a fashion photographer in 1960. He was part of taking the photographs of “Swinging London”, alongside Brian Duffy and Terence Donovan, of the sixties culture and celebrities.  

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George Maciunas and the Fluxus Group

George Maciunas, an art historian from Lithuania, became the founder of the Fluxus in the year 1961. It was a new group of aspiring artists, composers, designers and poets. The group developed and followed the idea of embarking on an artistic journey without having an end, however the work of the Fluxus came to an end when its founder and leader George Maciunas died in 1978.

All three of the pieces of work i have chosen from the Fluxus group shown above are from the 1960’s, and across a relatively short time span. Fluxus group was famous for combining music, photography and movement to create a piece of art that has a meaning and makes the audience question “Why?”. The Fluxus artists did not agree that museums should be able to determine the value of art, nor did they believe that a person had to be educated in able to view and understand art. Also they not only wanted art to be available to the masses, they wanted anyone to produce art at any given time.

Both “Cut Piece” and “Licking Piece” involve the audience in the art, and they both violate the position of women in society. However in Cut Piece as the artist puts herself in that position it feels like there is a different kind of dynamic, instead of just using another person, as it shows her putting herself in a vulnerable position and taking a risk, unlike Licking Piece. Also due to the many ways in which each performance could be carried out in, everytime could consist of a different mood, rhythm or balance between audience and artist.

The only actual physical piece of art I have chosen by the Fluxus group is “Total Art Matchbox”. This, unlike the two previous pieces cannot be altered by the viewer however the same interaction is still present in another form as many audiences have burnt the box like the instructions say, therefore involving them in the final stage of the piece. The design is very simplistic and bold which helps to bring across the message it tells.

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Who What Where When How

This is some of my research into different pop artists of the 60′s, I have chosen one of their artworks each and given a brief over view of the style of the artists work covering Who, What, When, Where and How.

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Welcome to my Pop Art and the Sixties blog! Here is my opening research into this topic looking into the beginnings of Pop Art.