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Final design for our group’s “community mural”.

Since the hypothetical location is Parramatta, we decided to use imagery of water to represent the river, and the staff/stave (I had to look up the term, but since I’m not that great in music terminology I’m not sure which word is correct to say in Australia…) to reflect the city’s arts and cultural side.

To get the community involved, we decided on a “paint by numbers” system. This way, this hypothetical community wont feel pressured by the expectation of needing to be “good at art” to participate. And keeping the cells’ surface area small, it wont take to much time to fill in.

The purpose of the mural is manifest the idea of “community and collaboration”. While the mural exists, people would walk by and think “oh, that’s the bit I did”, visually representing not only the commonalities within the community— the river and culture, but individuals too.

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Designing flyer for mural

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What is mural painting?

Mural painting at it’s roots, is a primitive instinct of which people would decorate their homes and surroundings. Today mural painting is a form of expressing ideas, emotions, stories and beliefs. 

Different types of Mural paintings

Rock Painting for story telling and history recording 

Community Painting to bring the citizens together

Graffiti statement

Graffiti for artistic expression

Professional Paint

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Assessment 3

Mural Painting Event

As a group we decided to make an mural painting event that involves the topic, Collaboration and Community. Based on the images above, we want to involve everyone no matter how young or old they are.

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Assessment 3: Artist Research [4 /4]

In a partnership with Sydney Trains, the South Street mural is painted along the rail wall by Rose Bay artist Gabrielle Somers. Gabrielle’s mural Networks is a Geodesic dome design, representing networks and connections.

The geodesic design is a highly mathematical and visual metaphor for networks and connections, be it social networks, physical networks or digital and cyber networks. 

South Street is a network hub; with people, their devices and transport co-existing and connecting. The artwork combines geometric and organic imagery and is fashioned to resemble a nest adding an inclusive and generous feel to the mural. The dome exists beyond the painted surface and is completed by the mind and its imagination. Furthermore, the colour design compliments and enlivens the streetscape and foliage nearby.

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Assessment 3: Artist Research [3/ 4]

Artist Ignacia Querejeta was selected to paint his mural In the Park at Robertson Park, Watsons Bay. The mural is part of the Up the Wall Project which has been an initiative that is advised on by the Cultural Committee.

The mural is an abstracted combination of Australian birds, foliage and Eucalyptus blossoms. Querejeta artist states that:

“the play of black and white with the green mimics the dappled light coming through the leaves, for a moment capturing our attention, distracting us from our daily routine and inviting us to be mindful of all the tiny details of nature which are so omnipresent in our Australian lives”

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Assessment 3: Research [2/4]

During Mexican Muralism, murals become a powerful visual communication tool, meant to promote the opinion of the people and to transmit social and political messages towards unity. They often became the subject of controversy and always a symbol of solidarity, freedom and hope. The Mexican muralism art inspired the creation of many other similar movements around the world, the biggest being the Chicano art movement in the 1960s.

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Assessment 3: Research [1/ 4]

Mural painting can be traced back to cave paintings, but the greatest strides came during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. It is because of the earliest scratchings, carvings, etchings and paintings that we now have priceless knowledge of our history and predecessors, and these murals hold great significance for mankind, as they depicted life activities, everyday scenery and usually religious traditions of the time they were created in, giving us a priceless look of the diversity of our cultures during different periods.

Over the course of time, murals have covered the interiors and exteriors of many public buildings, such as palaces, temples, tombs, museums, libraries, churches and the houses of rich art patrons, all the while keeping their initial meaning and purpose: to paint a picture of society, created from stories, values, dreams, change.

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Assessment 3: Collective Event

Topic: Collaboration and Community

Group Members: Julie Vo, Melissa Kahl, Luke He, Michelle Cai

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A2 Final Work + Concept Statement

Contemporary art and design often looks at the idea of constructed binaries, such as man/woman, soft/hard, straight/gay, dirty/clean, organic/synthetic. Considering the history of these ‘pairs’, how can art and design interrogate these binaries and offers new insights?

As society continues to develop technologically, it is only natural that these technological advancements will slowly become an integral part of our lives. As a result, our relationship with the natural world is ever-changing. As the human experience becomes increasingly meditated through technology, an exploration of the two binaries; natural and man-made, and the relationship between human and technology, is vital to breaking down and understanding the impacts of such advancements to society as a whole.

From genetically modified plants to be more aesthetically pleasing, to intricately planned ecosystems situated in the middle of the busy city in order to showcase the ‘natural’ environment, our perception of the natural world is often riddled with technology and human intervention. It is almost impossible to find an aspect of the natural world around us that has not been touched by humans in one way or another. A prime example lies in the way in which we are exposed to and educated about the natural world through books, images and documentary videos, all of which have been photographed, edited, and framed in a certain way to communicate a certain way of thinking and encourage a specific way of how the content is to be perceived by the viewer. Even enclosures in wild life parks, designed to be educational and to showcase nature with utmost accuracy, have been intricately designed and planned by engineers in order to highlight the aspects of the natural world in which they wish to show through a glass screen. How many zoo exhibits do you recall seeing a pack of hungry lions hunt down a poor rabbit?

In assessment 1, my poster served as a depiction of the underlying tensions between technology and the natural environment. For my final work, I wanted to continue to explore this tension and ultimately showcase the negative affects of technology in our interaction with the natural world. With the notion of ecology being an important aspect of my work, I drew heavy inspiration from my final experiment that I did, using the flower as a symbol for nature/ the natural environment, and the wires as a way of depicting the relationship between the natural and man-made world.

I was heavily inspired by Alexander Coroll’s “Just A Human” series to draw inspiration from the technological advancements in modern day society and elements of nature/ the natural world. I believe that a synthesis of the two binaries allows for the negative impacts of technology on our perception of the natural world to be highlighted.

I wanted to continue with that notion that our interactions with the natural environment is riddled with technology, this time drawing inspiration from various elements which are often associated with technology (cables, wires, circuits). I used wires to create a sense of entrapment, as if technology is overpowering and overtaking nature. Through this I wish to show a physical representation of how our perception of the natural world and what is natural will always be suppressed in one way or another by technology (as shown by the wires and the case encasing the flower and the circuit board that can be seen on the leaves when the flower is shown through the phone), and that it will be difficult to be able to experience nature for what it is without technological intervention.

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A2 Experimentation

For my next experiment I decided to continue to use a flower to symbolise nature/ the natural environment, and use various objects and items to create a sense of entrapment. In Assessment 1, I introduced the notion that our interactions with the natural environment is riddled with technology by showcasing that an image of human involvement with the environment through the binary code which makes up the entire outline of a scenic view. I wanted to continue with that notion, this time drawing inspiration from various elements which are often associated with technology (cables, wires, circuits). Through this I wish to show a physical representation of how our perception of the natural world and what is natural will always be suppressed in one way or another by technology (as shown by the wires and the case encasing the flower), and that it will be difficult to be able to experience nature for what it is without technological intervention.

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A2 Experimentation

Following on from Alex Coroll’s exploration of how scientific advancements can be integrated into aspects of what we consider as the living, many aspects of the natural world that we interact with, such as roses and plants, are modified through engineering to be more aesthetically appealing or to have a certain colour. A simple way to demonstrate this is by adding food colouring of choice into the water in which a flower or plant is placed into.

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A2 Experimentation

Our interaction with the natural world is constantly riddled with technology and human intervention, with a prime example being in the way in which we are exposed to and taught about the natural world through images and videos, all of which have been edited and framed in a certain way to communicate a certain idea across to the viewer. To show this, I took an unedited photograph from from a trip I made to Jervis bay earlier this year, and edited it to show how easily the mood and overall vibe of a picture can be changed simply through a few tweaks to the photo, hence showing how our perception of the natural world can easily be skewed without our knowledge.

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A2 Artist Research

Alexander Coroll’s “Just A Human” series showcases 6 images each portraying the ‘human’ in futuristic and contemporary context. Corolla draws inspiration from the scientific advancements in modern day medicine, in particular that of genetic engineering and robotics, showcasing a synthesis of the living and inanimate in a modern day society.

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A2 Artist Research

Marian Tubbs explores notions of value, materiality and the digital image. through internet, video and assemblage-based installations. Her work combines binaries between body and object, physical and virtual, and explores the idea that ordinary objects and images can, when repurposed, become unexpected and enticing. Her work explores the transformation of value.

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A2

For Assessment 2, I wanted to continue to draw inspiration from the idea that the human experience is becoming increasingly mediated through technology, and how the synthesis of constructed binaries can bring forth a discussion of the impacts of this in society.

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Assessment 1 - Final Work

Although it is often believed that binaries exist in opposition of each other, the synthesis of such constructed pairs in art can often provide new insights and perceptions of the world. Using this concept, my final work serves to depicts the tensions between technology and the natural environment.

I was heavily inspired to incorporate binary code into my final work after looking at Sterling Crispin’s works, all of which use of technology to communicate the negative implications of a rapidly developing world. My poster is modelled after a instagram post to showcase the human involvement with the environment with the idea of nature and technology becoming so synthesised it almost seems as if technology is taking over nature as depicted through the binary code which makes up the entire outline of the scenery. The negative impacts and social implications of technology are often shown through a juxtaposition of nature vs technology, however I feel that by merging the two, it serves to further highlight how even our interactions with the natural world are riddled with technology.