Category: Graded Unit

FUTURA2000 (LEONARD McGURR) 1955-present

Post author By theamurphycap
Post date 1st Apr 2020
No Comments on FUTURA2000 (LEONARD McGURR) 1955-present

Born in New York, McGurr started off doing illegal graffiti on subway trains in the early 1970s and by the 1980s, had work showed in the Fun Gallery, along side artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Harring. McGurr then went on to tour with the Clash and perform graffiti with then on stage. In 1985 he attended to first meeting for the graffiti and urban art movement and currently, now works as a successful graphic artist and gallery artists.

When looking at Futura’s work, I really like the colours and the combination of graffiti and abstract art that can be seen in his work. In a lot of his work, Futura uses contrasting colours when it comes to the foreground and background, which I personal really like and connects to my personal interests in art.

Tags artistresearch, CAP1, gradedunit, Research

Graded Unit

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)

Post author By theamurphycap
Post date 1st Apr 2020
No Comments on JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)

Born and based in New York, Jean-Michel Basquiat was from Haiti and Puerto Rican decent. Basquiat started off doing graffiti on the streets of New York under the name SAMO, and then decided to go with his real name Jean-Michel Basquiat and quickly grew to fame in to 1980s.

Since reading the book ‘Widow Basquiat” by Jennifer Clement, I’ve been very inspired by the work at Jean Michael Basquiat. In his work, I like the use of layering in colours and the variety of colours being used. I find his artwork to be some sort of collage piece. In the book ‘Widow Basquiat”, it said that a lot of time Jean-Michel would copy quotes from cartoons to cereal boxes and paint the quotations into his artwork. I would like to try this with my own work as I feel it connects well with my project as I’m surrounded by those quotations every day at the moment. As my work id very childlike, I feel Basquiat is a good influence to look at.

Tags artistresearch, CAP1, gradedunit, Research

Graded Unit

GRADED UNIT – PRT. 2

I created my second artwork on the backing of an old picture frame. In this painting, you can see a self portrait of myself in the top right corner and in the bottom left, a clown crying. Just off the centre to the left, you can see a drawing a toilet roll. I decided to give myself a cartoon/animalistic angry mouth due to the fact I felt like a savage animal in a cage, unable to leave. I wanted to try recreate that frustration and desperation.

The clown was added to show the sadness and I wanted the clown to also represent a baby crying as when I’m complaining about being stuck inside, I feel similar to a baby having a tantrum.

Since the lockdown in the UK, toilet roll has been one of the most popular items in panic buying. I wanted to show that as I find it quite chaotic at the thought of people being so desperate that they have to buy as many toilet rolls as possible.

I plan on adding to each painting I create throughout the lockdown. I want my paintings to represent my time in lockdown from the start to the end.

Tags experiment, gradedunit, HomeandDisplacement, painting, visual response

Graded Unit

GRADED UNIT – PRT. 1

At the start of the week, we were given our new briefing for our graded unit. We must choose from a list of topics on what we want our project based on. The topics are : Home and Displacement, War and Conflict, Natural World, Ritual and Commemoration, and Technology and Systems. I do plan to experiment with each topic, however I have decided that the main topic I’ll be focusing on is Home and Displacement.

Currently, the world is going through a pandemic, with a virus. For safety, everyone has been confined to their homes. When given this project I had been in the house for nine days straight. When the I saw the topic Home and Displacement I immediately started doing visual responses.

I personally I’m not a angry person, but of lately have felt frustration build up. At the time of these drawings I felt very angered and frustrated at the thought of not freely being able to leave my house and go anywhere. This was a new feeling for me because I wasn’t angry at anyone or action, just anger and it was the first that I really drew how I felt, so it helped me in over coming that.

I instantly drew a clown. I feel clowns have always been a fascinating being, due to them being always happy and when you see them sad it is uncomfortable, since you expect I more positive vibe from them. I feel connected to a clown at the time as I didn’t know how to respond to the angry I felt at the time.