Wednesday 14 December 2011

208 and the Horace batchelor years

Following on from the theme of the previous post and drawing comparisons to the demise of other, older technologies to the digital train, I have been using the fluctuating reception of the old medium wave radio and the early baby boomer years of Radio Luxembourg as a potential subject matter to illustrate and develop aesthetic visual outcomes that investigate styles, and particularly print qualities of the mid previous century period.

The growth of the portable, transistor radio, listening late at night to the radio signal of dubious quality but with the purpose of accessing music playlists not controlled by the British Broadcasting Corporation and progression through to digital signal could be said to have some similar developmental associations to the rolling progress of digital print. Analogue producing specific visual or sound elements/components which perhaps describe a process, rather than digital which, arguably, with ever improving resolutions has the effect of rendering output as clean, level and colourless in quality.

Posted here are some of the sample work that I am currently working on... none are complete, but 'works in progress'. The theme is late 50's Radio Luxembourg and the Horace Batchelor 'K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M'  YEARS. If this means nothing to you... it's worth some quick visual/.audio research.

In more recent pieces I have been investigating ways of digital mark making to replicate the build-up of ink density around the edges of large point size, wooden letterpress type. This is vaguely evident in the screen images and is starting to work well in prints.



Thursday 1 December 2011

208 Posters


Using the theme introduced in the previous blog I am now beginning to explore poster designs influence by a number of starting points: design styling of the previous mid century; a recognition of the demise of visual qualities and aesthetics generated by printing styles, qualities and processes; the comparison with the pre- digital medium wave radio network used by 'Fab 208', Radio Luxembourg.

My aim is to make some visual statements that suggest the way in which digital developments are effectively 'sterilising' many visual outcomes. By 'manufacturing' the visual design style and suggesting print quality by 'controlling' the digital process I hope to be able to develop a visual aesthetic that suggests to the viewer a previous era.