1000 WORD RESPONSE COMPARING TWO PREVIOUS PRACTITIONERS I HAVE LOOKED AT.
Posted by Jenn | Posted in | Posted on Thursday, May 07, 2009
QUESTION:
Compare and contrast the processes and practices of your two chosen practitioners, to what extent are they defined by the external rigours of the market place/industry they operate in? Upon this analysis what lessons could be applied to your own practice?
The two practitioners that i will be comparing and contrasting are Tracy Kendall and Tal Rosner, mainly because these two lectures i really did connect with and in my opinion were the most enjoyable. These two practitioners are extremely different from one another, Tal is an artist/filmmaker and Tracy mainly works with surface design. Two completely different areas, but as i have mentioned these are the ones that caught my imagination and are the ones that i was drawn to the most.
To begin with, Tal Rosner mainly works with rhythm and footage and mixing them together. His experimental work consists of split screens, shapes, movement and sound.
Basically my favourite brief throughout this whole year was the rhythm brief and this lecture fell nicely in the middle of that, i think it influenced me into making my own work that much more experimental.
Tal mentioned the processes he goes through whilst working on a project, especially the ones where he works with music. His interpretations of both Stravinsky and Debussy captures their style of rhythm perfectly but using image to represent the music. His examples of works that he showed us include landscapes and architecture, especially the more urban scenery and uses this imagery intertwined with a certain piece of music to make them both relate to one another.
He mentioned that the footage he edits together can get a bit tiring with a lot of versions being pumped out to make sure he gets the final piece exactly how he wants it. For example, the title sequence that he produced for 'Skins' was the 72nd version he had compiled. It obviously is a lot of hard work, but it is worth it in the end as this piece got him recognised for awards - He won a BAFTA for it in 2008, and has been nominated for many others which helps get his name out in the industry for sure.
He produced a piece of work called 'Central Saint Martins' in 2005 and recieved an MA for it, and since recieving the MA, a lot of commisioned work has come his way which has helped him learn how the industry works and how to cope with the large quantity of work.
Both of these practitioners use other influences in both their works, as i mentioned before with the musical compositions of Stravinsky and Debussy, Tal was influenced by their music to create his own piece of work to fit with the style of the music. It is the same with Tracy Kendall, one influence she commented on was Sharovsky Crystals, and how they inspired her to work with sequins as an experiment for surface design. She used sequins mainly because of another influence on her - Fashion. A pice of work she showed us was hand stitched sequins onto wallpaper (For that sparkle effect - Sharovsky). She also sewed black sequins onto a wall, it is so simple yet really effective and the atmosphere it must create - I think for both of these practitioners it is all about creating an atmosphere with both of their range of works. Most of Kendall's public work in the industry relies on good editorials in books and magazines. She uses it to validate her work for clients, it is a chance to show the positive that the same piece of work, works in different ways, in any way the client wants. This is very similar to Tal Rosners approach to a project also, i mentioned before about the amount of versions he produces to get it exactly right, well the client who has commisioned him must like it also, so he produces these versions for the clients also just as Tracy produces the same piece of work over and over to whatever the client wants it to look like.
I also think there is a link between these two practitioners and what they actually use in their work. Tal uses footage of urban landscapes and architecture, he didn't build these, they are not his own pieces of work, however the footage that he has filmed becomes his work. Also, Tracy Kendall mentioned that for one of her projects she found a piece of lace at a flee market in France She didn't create the lace, but she used it in one of her pieces of work and turned it into her own style and put her mark on it. She paid 3 Euros for the piece of lace and yet Tracy's piece of work earnt her £40,000 - £50,000!
Rosners progression starts by listening to a piece of music, then going out and finding resources (landscapes etc) and filming them, he edits the footage to flow in time with the music and adds effects that represent his style such as typography or shapes that break up that flow of imagery. The final piece is then created.
Kendall's progression starts with finding the resources first by looking at the fashion industry, or old photographs and marks on the pavement, even random conversations. She creates an idea from these influences, gets the perfect object and takes it into silk screen or screen print etc. The object is then transformed to an image and is turned into wallpaper or a piece of furniture etc to create the final piece.
I think both of these practitioners works have had a huge influence on my own way of thinking and how i look at my own style of creating work. I have always had a huge interest into surface design and textures and it was extremely interesting to see how Tracy went about creating them and the design process she explained was a good source for me to sit and think and try and understand how her type of industry worked. It was exactly the same for Tal Rosner, we were in the middle of a rhythm brief which i embraced so much and went into his lecture with great expectations and i wasn't let down. He also explained how his type of industry was accepting him and his work and it was good to sit and listen and to take in how he approached that world with his designs.
Overall i was extremely impressed with both practitioners, both of their works have had an effect on my own style and way of thinking about textures and rhythm and how experimenting with whatever enters your mind and combining influences be it music or fashion is the best way for creating a good body of work that represents who they are as people.
WORD COUNT: 1,096
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