Mood Boards and Research

Mood Boards and Research

Burning Man

Over summer I have been collecting pieces of work and inspiration to draw upon for this semester. Narrowing it down into different categories helps with the amount and to find connections to combine them into a series of works. For this board I focused on the festival of the Burning man situated in the Nevada desert in america. Each year in this vast alien like landscape artists from all around the world are commissioned to create large scale sculpture in themes of punk, neon, metals and wood all surrounding a centre temple that is then set a light for the final ceremony of the festival. The theatrics of all these set in this wild location all comes together with the attendees costumes that are just as crazy and dramatic as the scenery around them. I have chosen a few images to represent these few days with many resembling a figure or geometric patterns. This ties in with my own style as I like to use silhouetted figures to show different emotions and previously have worked with geometric shapes for backgrounds, but only in the two dimensional sense. To branch out into something that gives such impact as these is difficult. My main idea I take from this research is the use of fire and colour, but mainly scale. Giving something such large scale in a barren area makes it seem more impressive then it actually is. The main link I have found between these sculptures and my research into death traditions around the world is that they resemble the effigies that are the burnt as a cremation for the lost.

Olafur Eliasson

This Danish based artist gathers his inspiration from nature by recreating natural phenomenons such as a rainbow due to the perspective of light, he has also recreated the feeling of the sun in a room with powerful effect just using light, mirrors and wind. The main impact of his work makes the viewer feel something rather than just looking at a piece in a blank room. Many times he has collaborated with architects to include his style of work in building's as an installation on a large scale. One of the pieces I am particularly interested in is "The Weather Project", as it gave off the feeling of being there in real life, reconstructing the atmosphere of reality using little tricks and illusions. The main way he does this is through mirrors and light, given the problem of the space not being tall enough, his solution was to mirror the roof and to use a half light to the appear as a full circle. it also allowed for the viewers to see themselves experiencing the exhibition. From his work I have took the ideas of basing my work off nature and its own artwork, to show how somethings, if isolated, would appear more like a piece of art. several of his pieces have also been based off showing awareness for global warming with the work of "Ice Watch" where he shocked hundreds of viewers with massive ice blocks shipped from Iceland for people to witness the melting process and to see the dramatic change for themselves. i like that this would have started off conversations and different views of the topic, i see this as the purpose of art and it shows if the piece is successful or not. My favourite aspect of his work is how polished and precise it all is with it appearing effortless. For example in the pieces that refract light in the spectrum of colours it takes hours to get the perfect angle to achieve. My work has the same sort of effect whereby the end result seems to flow but in reality I have to individually set up an installation piece by piece. his work gives off an atmosphere of drama and theatrics which is my aim this semester in my own practise.

Light Art

In this mood board I focused on one theme that ties the last two together, Light. Within the festival and Eliasson's work is the main use of light. This common theme came to my attention when researching closely at the several artists who have exhibited at the festival and within Eliasson's work especially. This board shows many different ways and techniques that I am keen to explore using as even a medium. To narrow down upon the thousands of results of light art, i chose to look mainly in to figures as it was another key feature of the Burning man Festival that I was drawn to. The use of mirroring silhouettes in nature showed close relation to the artists as it brings the attention to the surroundings but also the main subject itself, several meanings can be taken from this such as someones presence, loss of a loved one, our impact on nature or even mental well-being and the emptiness of what takes place in millions of everyday people. just from this one piece I was able to gather many meanings but what I took from it was our general presence on this planet and how the mirroring has to show us to be more aware. This illusion ties into the more theatrical side of my practise as it can be seen as a stage set with actors and the play in action. Another few pieces that I was interested in on this board was the silhouetted figures appearing to come out of surfaces with an ominous feel. The contrast of light shown just by deep shadows which reveals the forms of the figure. Death like is what I took from these as they bring many questions and the hooded figure giving the sense of darkness or someone always present watching. it would be interesting to incorporate something similar in my own work because it would give context to the more theatrical side and could possibly be interactive too, maybe allowing the viewer to get the perspective of the figure. Light in general allows to set a mood with just a few colours meaning completely opposite things together to when they're singular, dark spaces contrasting with spotlights highlighting what the viewer should be looking at, it guides them and encourages them to feel something. For example the powerful image of the elegant figure with the raging fire in the backdrop shows how the intense glow and colour of the light behind gives such power and emotion to the figure in front, which without it wouldn't have the same impact. 

McQueen