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.

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.

Horace batchelor and FAB 208

Continuing with looking at low-fi printing of mid last century and making associations with other communication at the time I was drawn to Radio Luxembourg and the fading signal of 208 medium wave as a comparison of lost identities.

Posted here are some initial visuals exploring both spot colours and full colour on faded stock on the theme. This is leading to a more full research of the mid last century research and the considerations for 'critiquing retro'. Whilst this can be associated with 'revivalism' it is not my intention. I aim to reflect on the period and with the irony of digital as a production tool, explore the visual aesthetics produced by mechanical processes of the time - out of register spot colout/fullcolour process, coarse screen halftone etc - to create a series of studies that identify and define many of the visual elements that are now being lost within the perfection of digital processing.

These playing card sized images are some starting points for consideration whilst I am now building some posters on the theme.

Assemblage from a walk

A recent walk at Llantwitt Major in South Wales reminded me of the 'beach walk' assemblage of Peter Blake. So, on this short walk I collected various elements washed up on the shore to create an impromptu assemblage on the tarmac on the carpark, taking a photo' of it on my phone... hence the limited image quality. As with my collage the aim was one of balance and aesthetic juxtaposition. The addition of man-made objects gives some comparison of shape and form.

artists/period ephemera

Visiting the Rostra and Rooksmoor gallery in Bath today I was interested in the work of Aine Venables. Her work on show consisted of digital prints inspired by ephemera from the last century and digitally collaged. Some of the work appear as visual 'lists' - the milk labels - with a contextual visual imagery. Others utilise period visual icons in more aesthetic compositions.

The demise of the halftone screen?

Progress is slow! However, having considered the demise of the halftone screen in favour of the dither pattern digital print I now feel that I have some direction. It is of interest to me that the visual aesthetic I have been exploring with the juxtaposition of elements of aged ephemera in collages has something in common with the printing processes of the mid 20th century; some sense of lost  qualities of image influenced by paper, ink and processes.

I have become acutely aware that with the growing sophistication of digital processes that many of the ephemeral and 'period' qualities evident in print from the last century, particularly the late 40s, 50s and early 60s is now visually dead; partly due to the passage of time but importantly due to a rapidly developing ues of digital production. Consequently the visual components and qualities of that mid century printing now have a growing importance as a context for the development of print production and consumerism and a potential key to our understanding of a visual aesthetic.

My current investigation looks at the exaggeration of the elements of halftone colour. Inspired by the book mentioned in a previous post - 'Sayonara Home Run', I have begun to experiment with and process digitally, aspects of the previous mid century visual aesthetic to question the rapid decline of the use of the halftone process, readability and aesthetic appreciation. To begin this process I have returned to imagery collected to produce the 'Dick and Jane British Tour' from early in the Summer this year and a couple of results are posted here. To further this visual exploration I am now gathering wider ranging ephemera and imagery from the previous mid century to explore the process, the aesthetic and relationship to current trends. Many artists/illustrators are exploring the 'flat colour' retro approach which perhaps, has its influence from earlier in the last century. I feel that it is now worthwhile to explore in more depth the visual paradox of the halftone.

The images here when seen at full size (60cm x60cm) compare the 'lo-fi' coarse resolution halftone with modern digital products. Equally, there is a comment on the here and now in the narrative.

Touchonesque typographic collage

Following discussion about on-going work I have decided to continue with exploring a further range of collage styles and techniques prior to defining specific work for end of year assessment and shows. As part of some more recent practitioner research I have looked at the work of the Texas based collage artist Cecil Touchon. His work focusses on the use of typographic characters without image or any intended narrative.

In setting out to explore further approaches to collage and outcomes developed from this I intend to consider comparisons between work where there is clearly no narrative and visual outcomes are based on abstracts of juxtaposed objects and the resulting positive/negative space and balance/visual aesthetic created in this approach. Equally, I intend to investigate the inclusion of some percieved narrative linked to image and type based ephemera in the context of the collages I make ant the outcomes extracted from them.

Below are some recent typographic investigations. The rules: only to be constructed from a small set of flyers that were given to me.

More little round dots

In furthering my research into imagery developed from the nearly complete set of 'medical cards' I am now considering selected areas of original cards enlarged for print at approximately A2 size. Exploring the 'little round dots', screen angles and coloured backgrounds to suggest ageing newsprint, in order to retain the visual aesthetic of 'low fi' print influences from mid last century is a current focus. I see this as preparatory study for some sample screen prints and perhaps paintings to bring some comparative scale into my work.

I see this development as an opportunity to find methodologies with which to take my collages as a starting point and process further outcomes which retain not only the balance and juxtaposition of elements in the design but also the asssociation with a 'period' visual appearance.

The aim is to provide the low res, limited quality ink and registration appearance associated with the previously mentioned period.

Little coloured dots... medical cards

To explore the process of generating large scale images from 'bookish' sized collages, I have begun to experiment with breaking down images into oversized colour dot halftones to pursue some visual enquiry into the visual aesthetic suggested by the content of 'Sayonara, Home Run' referred to in the previous post. The imagery has been taken from my 'Medical Cards' series of playing card collages (which are nearing completion - only three cards needed to complete the full set) to consider visual effect. At present I have adopted standard screen angles and CMYK channels for print. As I define the imagery to use for these experiments I will consider variations to process colours as suggested by research into the print qualities of lo fi outcomes such as comics and cardboard printing from the mid 1900's. Experimenting with background colour print (base) is also proving to be important to generate the same visual qualities created by aged newsprint/low quality paper.

Sayonara, Home Run.... the little coloured dots

Having had the serendipitous find of the book 'Sayonara, Home Run' - a record of 1930s-1960s Japanese baseball cards - in an end of print/bankrupt stock book shop in Place St Michel,  Paris, on a recent visit, I have been investigating the idea of replicating the coarse screen four colour printing of that era. I have been experimenting with this influence as an approach to developing some of my collage work at larger scale whilst retaining something of that 'period' feel which is important to me for the direction of my process development this Semester. I will be posting more on my research leading from the book and collages,  but in the meantime here's a link to another interesting investigation/record of the media: http://4cp.posterous.com/?tag=specialeditions

Whilst I will continue to investigate the medium of collage and the aestheic of juxtaposed imagery, I see this as a starting point for visual elements that I can develop with further processes. What is key to me is that I continue to consider and define what it is about period ephemera and the organisation/juxtaposition and balance of elements on the page that creates the overall aesthetic for the viewer. The opportunity to explore the 'little coloured dots' associated with the 'lo fi' print processes of mid-last century will add another opportunity to investigate the visual aesthetic that associated with that era.

Medical Cards - progress

I have been continuing with this set of cards outlined in a previous posting. The set of 'Hearts' and 'Spades' are now complete and are posted here. There are a few omissions for the 'Clubs' and 'Diamonds' and these will be posted shortly. I have been trying to complete, on average, one card per day to realise the full set. I have endeavoured to stick to a set of rules with regard to ephemera included in the collages: main imagery from a 1953 'First Aid' guide book; supporting elements from my 'left overs' of ephemera cuttings which clutter my desktop; a dip into my old Letraset and Letrafilm collection and some snippets of billboard posters for some coloured tone.

My intentions are to get a limited edition of sets of these 'playing cards' printed to realise the original intention. Cards that are, first and foremost created and organised to be considered for their visual juxtapositions and aesthetic appeal relating to the starting point of  ephemera from the last century; rather than for perhaps, an intended practical purpose (see earlier post) of game cards.

I am interested in further considerations of visual aesthetic for both the individual cards - will these have the same visual balance/appeal at a larger size? Can they form the basis of 'lo-fi' screen prints? How do they all relate visually in  'sets' and 'sub-sets' as multiples. (See previous posting on artists stamps)

Multiples - Beatles 'bubblegum stamps'

Following the Summer break, through which I've been rather lazy with posting, I thought it was time to bring together work that I have been completing during the Summer to make way for the new semester and  a fresh body of work. So I have included here postage/artist stamp sheets developed from the Beatles gum card collages completed earlier in the Summer. I am always intrigued by 'multiples' and the way that they change the aesthetic of the original image but provide a new and sometimes more coherent balance. There is only one issue here, due to screen resolution and the miniature nature of each image, the quality is not representative of the printed sample.

I have printed these as artists proofs but am keen to looking limited editions printed on gummed paper and perforated.

Update on progress - Animation

Medical cards collage set is progressing slowly, but I am also still indulging myself with 'Beatles' ephemera. displayed here is the first of a series of Beatles A&BC gum cards stamp sheets. Mainly as a personal project but also as a vehicle for setting up templates for further series of artists stamps from more diverse collage based images.

Medical Cards

Following Graham Rawle's recent talk and his introduction to his current work in progress, 'The Card',  I was interested in the notion of playing cards that are not all they seem to be. In his presentation Graham discussed the idea of a 'collected set of cards' ie random cards that were found or made and whilst interesting in their own right would never be of any use for professional poker game!

I have never been particularly inspired by the average 'run-of-the-mill' set of playing cards. The functionality of the cards comes before the visual aesthetic in the basic 'suit' cards, hearts, clubs etc (which is understandable for an open and clear game) however,  these always strike me as rather open and clinical. So I have considered an opposite approach, where the visual aesthetic comes first and a very basic code to for number and suit comes second. So there are no symbols for the suits only simple signifiers, eg 6S (6 Spades), AH(Ace Hearts), 2D(2 Diamonds) etc.  Equally, to keep the 'clinical' input I have used some imagery from an early 50's first aid publication as the theme for the collages (hence, 'Medical cards') using these and other random visual elements to balance the visual aesthetic. There has been no intention of a narrative but some might be perceived due to the inclusion of other basic symbols and type. There is a limited colour pallette, the only deviation for this will be for the 'coloured/royal' cards where supplementary imagery is intended.

The intention is that these cards can still be functional, although 'players' will not be able to easily bypass the initial visual content and aesthetic before acknowledging the code/signifiers etc.  I have grouped together the cards produced so far to show an example.

Graham Rawle

My thanks to Graham Rawle for his kind response to my email following a recent talk that he gave at UWE. I have always enjoyed Grahams work since seeing 'Lost Consonants' in the Guardian some years ago and the content of both his work and talk had a real relevance to both my current work and collections of ephemera that he and  I had both collected in childhood. Anyway, Graham was good enough to reply to me and comment on my work and with regard to my Beatles 'gum card' digital collages he sent me the image here - 'McCartney Rabbit' made from an image in his Beatles Scrapbook.

Graham also sent me a link to Run Wrake's animation 'Rabbit', the imagery in which relates closely to my 'Dick and Jane Bristish Tour' series of collages.

Check out Grahams work. I particularly like 'Womans World' and 'Niff Actuals' and current work towards his latest book 'The Card'.



Thanks once again Graham and good luck with 'The Card'.

automata cards

Following discussion of my work Tuesday with regard to bringing motion to my collage work I have been looking for examples of automata in relation to collage or period image. Not having much luck finding examples but did come up with thsi example of a greetings card by Hallmark. Here's a link to the video about the card: http://youtu.be/RcJKGW28OrI

Dick & Jane's British Tour

A new series of hand built collages, to get back into cutting and gluing, depicting 'Dick & Jane's British Tour' - visiting some British counties from an old encyclopedia from the beginning of the last century. When working to a theme, some basic rules for for the content of the collage allows for some coherence when building a set. The series of seven here are really sketchbook pieces using no more than six elements for each collage. Other than this being 'Dick and Janes British Tour', in each collage there is some enigma; what are the characters looking at or discussing and what relevance do the other images/elements have? Who knows... I will follow up with a few more before considering some alternative themes and content.

Abstract photos

Boats

Stairs

Walls

Following on from earlier abstract, graphic images of signs, street art etc I am continuing with the theme of abstract and layers with another series of images from a visit to Spain. All images are framed at the camera stage ie no further cropping and aim to create balanced compositions of textures, colour, lines, layers and in the case of the boat images the type element from the boat registration details. My focus on composition of abstract images through the lens is, I feel, an extension of the approach I take when composing/building collages. The images here are a sample that I have recorded in thumbnail form. At a later stage I will choos further criteria to select sets that I will print at larger sizes. My intention is to continue with this direction with photographic images alongside my more illustrative work. Another outcome from this approach is that I am also collecting images of textures and distressed surfaces which will have potential as layers in digital collage in the future. Therefore this approach can be seen as a means if defining graphic abstract image for display as well as a building library of texture/colour/distressed surface resource for future work.

Water and Rock

Rock and Pool

BABe at Arnolfini - books

Below are the books which were at the BABE event last weekend. I forgot to photograph them before I submitted them for the show, so now that I have them back I've been able to photograph them. Both are folded from one sheet of A2 paper with and added hardcover like those published in an earlier blog from 2010. One book based on a collection of some of my early collages, the other on photo's taken on a walk on the Welsh coast near Llantwit Major earlier this year. The photo's were all framed at the point of taking, ie not cropped later and concentrated on the composition of comparative rock formations, lines, planes,squares, circles etc.

Website development

Well the website is coming along. I've already had one re-design and would refine again although time won't allow. The main pages are built and I now have to just process all the files for the main gallery images. My own lack of technical knowledge of Dreamweaver tends to slow things down - so my thanks to Oli Timmins for his patience in guiding me and advising on additional scripting to make things happen.

My aim was for a simple site that allowed for each piece of work to be selected from thumbnail galleries and viewed in a separate window. I prefer this approach so that each piece of work has to viewed in its own right rather than in a slideshow, such as in 'Lightbox'.

Displayed here are some of the main pages to give an indication of how it's going. I hope to make the site live before the end of July if possible.