Gregs Art Blog

This week we were told to choose 2 contemporary artist from a slideshow we were shown in class, these are the one I chose. Revital Cohen  Artificial Biological Clock 2008 Revital Cohen This Artificial Biological Clock is a very thought provoking Idea. In class we were discussing how most of us are at different stages of the so called biological clock which determines when we a ready to start a family. Being the only male in class, I hadn't thought about this subject much, so it was enlightening. I read online that the designer highlighted the contemporary social pressures and expectations that dictate a woman’s reproductive vitality rather than her natural body rhythms. Revital often works alongside Tuur Van Balen who have developed a partnership. They work with objects, installation and film, exploring processes related to cultural, social and political practices. They are currently looking into the topic of gambling which sounds interesting they...

For this report, we are to choose two paintings with a different style and respond to them and compare. I have chosen work by John Constable and Casper David Friedrich. I am very familiar with John Constable's work as I have admired it for years. He is an inspiration to me in regards to painting landscapes and I strive to be as detailed as him one day. I feel like I need to learn more about the media and understand what media is best for what I want to do. Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818) – Caspar David Friedrich Oil on Canvas Casper David Friedrich is another artist who I think about a lot. He is a fantastic landscape painter from the 19th century  who was part of the German Romantic movement and is considered as one of the most important painters of that time. I chose to talk about this painting mainly because of the feeling I get when I look at it. It gives me a great sense of freedom and peace which I love. It makes me wish that I was the one standing on top of the...

Chris Rose is an artist who impressed me greatly with the amount of dedication to detail that he had. Its a level t hat I strive to achieve in my work. I still have a lot to learn personally but his work has inspired me greatly.  Chris Rose is an internationally acclaimed wildlife artist who specializes in wildlife within the landscape and he spoke about his process in during the presentation. We were shown his amazing sketchbooks where he explained why it is important to draw the same subject matter more than once to understand how it moves. he explained why line work is essential in capturing the character of the animal.  His paintings takes many hours to create and his passion shows in his work. He spoke about why he chooses to create these painting and he explained that he has a deep fascination with nature that he tries to translate into his paintings, which I think he achieves Chris spoke about the many books that he has illustrated about birds and other...

The basis of Constructing gender is to do with society and culture creating gender roles, and these roles are prescribed as ideal or appropriate behavior for a person of that specific sex. when this comes to art, a lot of artist rebel against this idea and they make strong statement through their work. I will touch upon this within this report. Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907–1954) 1940. Oil on canvas, 15 3/4 x 11" (40 x 27.9 cm) This Painting at first glance gives me a feeling of a very strong woman who is making a statement about how woman are forced to look. she has cut her hair short and she is wearing a very masculine suit. It is like she is saying she stating that she is not going to be held down by what society tells her to do or how she should look I read that Frida Kahlo cut her hair short a month after her divorce from fellow artist Diego Rivera, and she painted this self-portrait soon after. She depicte...

I decided to do a report on my former class mate, Annie Mulvey. She has excelled in the world of art and has gone onto win a few awards along the way. It was so great to have a catch up with her and see her process. these are the questions and answers. 1) Was moving and studying in Aberdeen an easy decision for you?    Yes I think so... in regards of a want to continue to learn and be creative, it was only difficult in the sense that doing art and being creative wasn't a stable career, with a 9-5. When I went to the open day at Gray's I just knew thats where my artist career would flourish. I just felt at home walking the halls on an open day, so that made the decision way easier. It was hard being  away from home, away from what I knew but it mean't I could learn and keep doing creative things. 2) How would you describe your time at Gray's School of art? how challenging was it?   A journey. It was hard, euthoric, tiring, stressful, upli...