Project Intent

My experimental practice work is based upon the idea of Chinese typography and how this can be utilized to create something fresh and exciting. My reason for choosing Chinese typography is that after living in China and studying Graphic Design, I thought it would be an interesting journey to attempt to merge the two. At the moment my work is very paint based - this is because I love the effects that you can achieve with this medium, however I have some on-going pieces in which I have branched away from this method, and have experimented with chance and pattern, but this does need some more work.

How I expect to deliver my work at the moment is a series of canvases in which you can slot together, to either look at 'the big picture' or the separate sections. My aim is to have an ongoing message throughout.

Time Schedule:

By March 23rd: A range of experimental practice within my work, heading on to further exploration.

By March 30th: Further exploration completed, starting to plan final work and have a draft learning report.

Ongoing work over easter.

By April 20th: Ongoing work on final piece.

By April 27th: Finished final piece, going back to look at learning report.

By May 4th: Learning report work ongoing until hand in.

Obviously this is what I feel is achievable at the moment - it could be that things change slightly depending on where my further exploration takes me.

Inspiration

As inspiration for my impending experiments, it was necessary to research old Chinese typography, this is Japanese however, I feel that it is still relevant to what i'm looking at. The main thing I was looking for was how text was used and in what way, what was its function and purpose, and why it had been done in the way it had.

http://www.designer-daily.com/meiji-era-typography-600

Information on the written language:

http://www.atissuejournal.com/2009/05/28/typography-in-china/

Experimental Chinese font video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igr9vHtBXxc

This video really speaks to me in that in order to be effective and send a message it doesn't have to be complex. I like these ideas, and I feel that I can apply a different view rather than how i'm looking at experimental typography now.

Typography Process book:

http://www.slideshare.net/jacksonchoi/chinese-typography-process-book

This has some really nice ideas, as i'm trying to break away from my graphics mindset - it's good to look at.

Joseph Ku:

http://kudesign.co.nz/tag/chinese-typography/

8th Picture down - really like the pictorial nature of this, takes Chinese font back to its original sources which is good to see, whether it has evolved too far into something new now i'm not sure, would people understand? they possibly would, or they wouldn't have to, big cultural differences.

Chinese Text in Situ

These are photographs of Chinese text that I took whilst I was studying in China. From these I have the idea of trying out phrases or even just words on different surfaces, as at the moment I am struggling to think without using paper to do so.

Mandelbrot Fractal Zoom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_GBwuYuOOs

This sequence of ever replicating shapes carries on to infinity, always producing the same shape from the edge of the last. The actual equation generating this is fairly simple - but leads to apparent complexity.

I was thinking that the same principle could be applied to individual letters, with the edge of the letter upon closer examination being made of smaller versions of the same letter tending down to microscopic size. This could be best done through an animation, but that's not the way I want to go with this project. I'd like to do some rough sketches of this anyway, just because I think this would be interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nej4xJe4Tdg

'Weird Al' Yankovic - Bob

A song written in palindromes. Not strictly typography but got me thinking about how words can be used and relate to each other, maybe the meaning that we see is not everything that's there.

For this I used the same technique as the previous two, but didn't use as much ink to start off with. Instead I painted into it while it was still wet to create a scene. I'm not sure what I was aiming for, I suppose a different take on Chinese paintings, how they're usually very intricate and detailed - whereas mine has a completely different look and feel to it. Again, trying to break through what is abstract and what is experimental. For me this was experimental, however, i'm sure peers won't see it this way.

For this I simply splashed inks onto my paper, allowed it to dry then painted back into it with Indian ink with what I could see within the splashes. I was dubious as to whether this would work or not - but I think it had a successful outcome.

With my chosen topic for experimentation in mind - I undertook some exercises to try to help me relax and think differently about how I went about creating. 

For this I poured watercolour pigments over watercolour paper and allowed them to dry. At first I thought it would look good as a sunset, but tried to think a little more creatively. On a seperate piece of paper I had painted some bamboo with a panda sitting by the side - very simple and I was going to scrap it and start again. However, I ripped the edges and burnt down the sides to attempt to create a harsh feel and a comment on forest fires in China, as I was there when one struck. I tried to overlay the bamboo picture onto the mass of colour in different ways, until I liked one. This way the panda being surrounded by red could either mean fire or blood but I think that's up to the viewer.

A simple experiment but whether it's abstract and not experimental is something I need to get my head around.

Task 4

The main theme for my work is juxtaposition and the conflicts often found in these. I've decided to take a Chinese theme to my work as it represents an important aspect of my life dating from the time i studied Chinese Language at University. As such, this has drawn me to see the conflicts in cultural alienation; but also had led to an appreciation of the contrasts and similarities within the different cultures which power the dynamics. Therefore, this is a personal journey which is leading me to look for sources and references to strengthen or refute my position. My intended sources will therefore draw heavily from both the Asian and Westernized schools of thought. however, I am also looking to gain inspiration and inform my methodology by investigating experimental practitioners who have undertaken similarly themed work as regards such dynamic tensions previously.

http://thenewpostliterate.blogspot.com/2009/06/experimental-calligraphy-from-mk-jcbsn.html

Experimental calligraphy - This has influenced my practice because following the session that it was mentioned that Graphic Design students find experimental practice harder, his work takes fonts and typography, a subject I am familiar with from a Graphics perspective and re-describes it in a post literate manor freeing the words from the shackles of structure and form but subjecting them to contextual variations in order to emote a response. Therefore, I am intending to use this as a tool to break the rigidity of my learned responses and allow me to reform the fragments into a form of my choosing.

http://www.wimp.com/dragonlollipop/

Caramel art - At the moment I am trying to deconstruct my learned thinking in a way that will then allow me a position from which I can respond in a personal and appropriate manor as opposed to in the manor to which I have been trained to think. This video has inspired me to try different things, although I have not yet had opportunity to progress far along the process. this is something that I would like to experiment with to see what type of results can be achieved by drawing in this way.

http://www.iseaartexhibit.org/gallery/73051/2011%20Washington

I had a look at the International Society of Experimental Artists 2011 Washington Exhibition, I saw a painting on Page 3 by Kathleen Conover that really struck me. I then went to look up her home page:

http://www.kathleenconover.com/originalartwork.html

and found that the methodology behind the painting was by the pouring of pigments and natural weather conditions to form the basics of the image which she then enhanced with further painting. I experimented with this technique by pouring primary pigment watercolours over large sheets of watercolour paper, in my back garden. Whilst fending off cats I tried to allow my mind to conjour images from what I saw in the patterns formed in the drying paint. In one, I outlined a variety of images I saw whereas the other appeared to me to be a destructive fire raging through a forest, rather than highlight flames I painted a wildlife scene of the endagered panda, backed by bamboo shoots and by tearing and burning the edges I super-imposed this over that scene to draw parallels with the catastrophic use of slash and burn deforestation techniques upon Gaia.

At the moment, I have trouble trying to debate the position of the influences, references and resources I have found due to the fact that at present, I don't know my own opinion. As such, I am still going through a formative and research process trying to find works that speak to me. From them I aim to locate my position  , allowing me to begin a more complete and full exploration of Experimental Practice from a perspective of some consistency.