David Carson

David Carson is an American graphic designer. He is best known for his innovative magazine design, and use of experimental typography. He was the art director for the magazine Ray Gun. Carson was perhaps the most influential graphic designer of the 1990s. In particular, his widely imitated aesthetic defined the so-called "grunge typography" era.



I was introduced to David Carson a few years ago when we first started typography and graphic design. He stood out to me because at the time i was very into grungy gritty artwork, he also incorperates a style of colage which i am a huge fan of with a mix of random not always legible type. His work seems so different to everyone elses as he pushes the boundries and doesnt really care what people think of it. He is famous world wide and never uses the same style more than one. Each piece of artwork, graphics work and type is different and took to the next level professionaly. I love the imagery that is used in his work, it always has a 90's pop era element about it, but its timeless the way he has manipulated everything around the layout design to go with it.

Some designs are so simple but look so dramatic next to complex images. All in all i will never forget the work of David Carson as he has influenced alot of my personal work and i always seem to refer back to him in my practice. My work never looks or strays near what his designs are like, so i think he has influenced and inspired me in all the right ways.

Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s, his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquitparody. Favoring the old-fashioned comic strip as subject matter, Lichtenstein produced hard-edged, precise compositions that documented while it parodied often in a tongue-in-cheekcomic book Pop Art as, "not 'American' painting but actually industrial painting". and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement. His work defined the basic premise of pop art better than any other through humorous manner. His work was heavily influenced by both popular advertising and the style. He described pop art as non american painting.

I sawRoys work when we went to Prague in college. I wouldnt usually appreciate his work but when i saw them in person i was drawn to them alot more. They have a very dramatic quiality. They are made from oil and manga. I love the colours he has used and the emotion that is portayed in the comics. I like that the shading is done in dots instead of block colour it makes it more dramatic and adds definition to a plain image.

Gotye ft Kimbra Music Video

This music video is very current in 2012 and reached number 1 straight away. I like the concept of the video as its one of few thee days which links to the lyrics of the song.

Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember

You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end
Always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad it was over

But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened
And that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger
And that feels so rough
And you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records
And then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something that I'd done
And I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know...

But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened
And that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger
And that feels so rough
And you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records
And then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

I used to know
That I used to know

Somebody...

The music video shows a man stood next to a blank wall without any paint on his body singing the song, then he slowly gets painted in an animation style way, untill he is fully covered. The painting in itself is quite striking and contempory and i like the colours they have used. The only thing that isnt painted on him is his hair. When the female vocals come into the song a woman is painted except for her face to show how they are linked together, which is their relationship. Im not sure why her face isnt painted, maybe to show in her mind she isnt conected to him. Then she slowly fades away from him and the paint is removed from her so she is now individual and not linked in any way to what they ysed to be. I think its so simple but clever and took me a while to figure ot the concept.

Emma Hack

Adelaide-based artist, Emma Hack, has been exhibiting extensively throughout Australia since 1999. Through a combination of painting on canvas, body painting and studio-based photography, Emma's works evoke a rich array of visual narrative and magical realism.

This artist I found in a Ripleys book i was given, its simular to guinness world record books but shows talent and amazing stories from around the world. I really loved this image, Emma paints people for long periods of time to blend into a background, usually using flock wallpaper to make it more detailed and intricate. She has done many versions of this using different wallpapera and models but this one has the most class and detail. I like how she painted the lips red to match the bird in the ladys hands, just enough colour to indicate where the lady is stood.

Jeff Koons

Ive only recently found Jeff Koons as a repescted artist, I found him whilst researching collage and bright imagery for a graphics project I was doing. Usually when I approch a collage I seem to have a way of making it all blend together by using softer colours to merge in bold areas, or using images with similar filters to the background. But Jeff Koons really goes wild with creating collages. In this series of collages he did he used alot of images f womens bodys and hair, also incorperating random foods like cake and cheese. All to be used because of their bright colours and differences with each other. I personally found the above piece to be my favourite as the colours were toned but still vibrant, and i prefered to look at the images of lips instead of a lady's body. I just love how they work so well they come across very nostalgic and dreamy even though there is not releavence to anything in that catogory. They look to me like an advert for something, like drinks or a beauty product, it could work well as either of these so they have a lot of scope.

He has created other pieces such as many extravagent inflatables. The dog is the main one but he has come up with all sorts on a huge scale, such as a toy elephant and blow up flowers.

"Koons' work has sold for substantial sums of money including at least one world record auction price for a work by a living artist. The largest sum known to be paid for a work by Koons is Balloon flower (Magenta) which was sold for £12,921,250" The pieces are made from mirror finish stainless steel, so they dont come cheap. They have an appeal to everyones playful side I think.

Robert Rauschenburg

Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines", of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations. Rauschenberg was both a painter and a sculptor and the Combines are a combination of both, but he also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance.

I really admire hias work, it reminds me alot of collage work i have created and prints I have designed. He uses very vibrant colours, he uses well balanced imagery, and each piece is always so different. I love this piece above as it has a washed out effect, as if it has a filter on it wiping any harshness away. His work mainly consists of objects, prints, and photos all glued and painted together to come up with a sort of sculptured painting.

Rauschenberg picked up trash and found objects that interested him on the streets of New York City and brought these back to his studio where they could become integrated into his work. He claimed he "wanted something other than what I could make myself and I wanted to use the surprise and the collectiveness and the generosity of finding surprises. And if it wasn't a surprise at first, by the time I got through with it, it was. So the object itself was changed by its context and therefore it became a new thing.

This one above strikes me a little, Im not usually a fan of sculptures, but beacuse of the colours he has used to paint the bikes and the way they are situated it really draws me in./I love where he has put them, the sculpture really suits the backdrop. Its so simple but effective. He was so well known he and many other artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichenstein and Jeff Koons were all comitions to paint a new design on a BMW car for the BMW Art Car project. I must admit i did'nt like Roberts as much as some of the other cars but for the recognition it really helps. His work does'nt really reflect in the design he did for this.

Damien Hirst - Love of God

In June 2007, Beyond Belief, an exhibition of Hirst's new work, opened at the white cube gallery in London. The centre-piece, a Memento Mori titled For the Love of God, was a human skull recreated in platinum and adorned with 8,601 diamonds weighing a total of 1,106.18 carats. Approximately £15,000,000 worth of diamonds were used. It was modelled on an 18th century skull, but the only surviving human part of the original is the teeth. The asking price for For the Love of God was £50,000,000. It didn't sell outright, and on 30 August 2008 was sold to a consortium that included Hirst himself and his gallery White Cube.
I love this piece so much is so glamourous but has a very dark side to it as it is a real skull but made to look so beautiful. Alot of this piece of arts publicity is from the amount of money it took to make it and how much the value has gone up from it being Damiens work. I love how controversial it is but it just looks amazing. I would rather own this than any piece of jewelery. I watched a documentary on Damien Hurst showing Noel Fielding around the Tate Modern gallery to show the exhibition of all his most fanous work. This one of many stood out to me the most, it doesnt even compare to the preserved animals or the butterfly dens. This has its own personality and its done so simply. It reminds me of greed and wealth. Each very sinister.