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.