Photography – Karyn Easton

Apr 17

by Karyn in Collaborations, Conclusion, Film Production, Ideas, My Learning, Photography, Unit 3 Blogs, Videos 0 comments tags: Collaborations, Conclusion, Film Production, Ideas, My Learning, Photography, Unit 3 Blogs, Videos

Film Ideas

Five Minute Film Ideas Generation – I have to admit that working out what I wanted to do for my five minute film has not been easy. I had a number of ideas whirring around in my head. These included: A simple narrative of my practice and how it has evolved A showcase of my work without any narrative A narrative about what I would do if someone took away my camera A narrative about my mobile and how it has evolved An ‘arty’ film full of visual metaphors An animated film A five minute promo for my mobile with a commercial slant to it For a number of weeks I have been wrestling with all of these concepts trying to work out which one to pursue. I ran through a number of the films created last year. I particularly admire the films by Lauryna Narkeviciute and George Harvey. I found George’s work incredibly powerful and moving. Lauryna’s cool black aesthetic also fascianted me. I think with George’s work it was his professionalism, creativity and meticulous attention to detail that I found most inspiring. Unfortunately I had never really taken my photographic skills into film making. I do […]

Nov 19

Epic Making Session

Yaacov Agam Inspired Work – Over many months now I have been wrestling with a myriad of ideas. In my Study Statement I was keen to develop a new form of hybrid human, digital and AI art. I also wanted to include an element of mystery and discovery whereby elements of the work were hidden. During my search for inspiration I came across two artists that particularly resonated with me, namely: Alexander Calder and Yaacov Agam. I particularly liked the idea of movement and mobile art seen in Calder’s work. Indeed I was so taken with his work that I went to visit the Tate Modern to see some of his pieces there. However, Yaacov Agam’s work really did inspire me. In his Artist’s statement he says: “My aim is to show the visible in a perpetual state of becoming”. I think this is a beautiful way in which he describes his work. However, I personally would liken it to, showing the visible in a perpetual state of change. Given the nature of the subject matter that I’m exploring, his work for me very much aligns with this notion of change as well as ‘becoming’. Below is a short […]

Love Letters From AI

Hidden Art – When I first began my MA, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do. Ultimately I knew it would be something to do with the hidden or the unseen. Initially I began looking at invisible phenomena such as sound waves and the passage of time. However, nothing captured my interest quite as much as augmented reality. It was this whole concept of a hidden unseen world (only accessible to those ‘in the know’), that intrigued me. While conducting research for my Research Paper I discovered that there is a distinct negative bias towards AI generated art. I looked at a number of strategies to help mitigate this bias. Finally, after a number of image polls, used to inform my project, I created a fictitious robot called Athena. Her name was inspired by the old Athena posters from the past. My research was suggesting that humanoid robots with a sad ‘backstory’ could help to reduce bias and win over an audience when presenting AI art. At this point I began to develop a narrative for my robot. During a visit to Barcelona, I was completely amazed by the sheer weight of graffiti adorning the city walls. I […]

Oct 27

MACBA Metamorphosis

Barcelona’s Hidden Artists – While visiting Barcelona, I became fascinated with the vast swathes of graffiti covered walls. It felt as if collectively everyone had given up on cleaning the walls. Indeed, it felt as if the walls themselves had become works of art. In stark contrast I also noted the pristine internal walls of the MACBA (One of Barcelona’s contemporary art museums). I was so ‘taken with’ the beautiful light inside of the MACBA that I decided to photograph it. I also photographed many graffiti laden walls across Barcelona. There really was a such a stark contrast between the pristine and the messy that I began to wonder what the MACBA would look like if it was plastered in graffiti? The internal walls of the MACBA were so beautifully clean that I felt an irresistible urge to ‘plaster’ them. The vibrant colours and designs found externally on the Streets of Barcelona seemed a logical choice. Unfortunately, my dream of taking spray paints to the MACBA walls was pretty much out of the question. However, I did have access to Photoshop, Ai and augmented reality. As a direct result of my thinking I managed to self publish 3 small art […]

Oct 11

by Karyn in 3d, Abstract Art, Ai, Experimentation, Food for Thought, Ideas, My Work, Photography, Risk Taking, Unit 2 Blogs 0 comments tags: 3d, Abstract Art, ai, Experimentation, Food for Thought, Ideas, my work, Photography, Risk Taking, Unit 2 Blogs

Grotto Print Ideas #2

Adding Value – I quite like the idea of ‘Killing Time’ and the oil on water re-imagined clocks. However, I do feel that there needs to be some level of interactivity with my Grotto print. I decided that since posting the video short included in the Grotto Print Ideas blog, more of the clocks needed to be shown. This is pure experimentation and the full video can be seen below. A couple of years ago I began to explore Paul’s book. I felt that the nature of the folds created within would lend themselves very well to warping the clock faces and dials even further. Killing Time – Calming Edit As well as the calming edit, I also produced a shorter more rousing video short, showing the clocks animated as they warp and destruct. This is more in keeping with the idea of ‘Killing Time’. I’m debating whether or not to include these either one or both of these digital edits as part of the print sale? At this point in time it is just a thought. I’ve a long long way to go before I make a firm decision. I’ve also had another idea regarding […]

Sep 24

A Mental Derive Part #2

Picking Up Where I Left off – Ever since my first mental derive, it was always my intention to recommence this particular project. now that the second draft of my research paper is nearing completion, I feel I am better able to return more fully to creative activities. Since part one of my mental derive, I didn’t totally abandon this project and I experimented with suspending some of the circles on a sheet of acetate between some thick heavy duty white elastic. Below is a gallery showing the results. This is a project I’d like to return to at some point, but I don’t currently have the correct materials. The acetate was far too thin and buckled under the strain of the elastic. Therefore thicker acrylic is possibly a better choice. The patterned discs/circles also had a habit of ‘pinging off’, so a better method of securing them is required. However, I do think that there is room to develop this project further. Moments in Time and Space Each black and white patterned circle/disc above, is a collage of many little moments in time. For this reason I wanted to trial another form of suspension. I am particularly […]

Jun 29

Barcelona Graffiti #2

Hidden Away – During my recent trip to Barcelona, I was was mesmerised by the colour and variety of the street art both in and around the city. I briefly touched on this in part one of this post called ‘Barcelona Graffiti’. I still don’t know exactly why I was so drawn to the graffiti (street art), except to say that the colours were amazing! It seemed to relentlessly permeate throughout the whole fabric of the city, weaving a disjointed tapestry of colours. Indeed it could even be described in some places as a riot of colour on an otherwise typical traditional cityscape and its walls. All of this was in stark contrast to the walls of one of Barcelona’s most famous contemporary art museums, namely the MACBA. Here there was no graffiti. Everything inside was pristine with beautiful gleaming white walls. A Short Recap Below is short video recap from Barcelona Graffit part one. It helps to illustrate the scale of graffiti and street art that can be found in and around the city. In stark contrast to the brightly coloured graffiti in the video above, the following image gallery illustrates the crisp, clean, neutral […]

May 15

by Karyn in Artists, Culture, Galleries, Ideas, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs 0 comments tags: Artists, Culture, Galleries, Ideas, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs

MOCO

Modern Contemporary Museum – Barcelona – The MOCO was one of the first museums in Barcelona that I visited and it certainly did not disappoint! Below is a short video of my journey to the Contemporary Art gallery from the Hotel Barcelona. A short walk to the MOCO Moving with the Times Not only does the MOCO display static works of art they also display NFT’s, but more importantly they even have some artworks that utilise the power of augmented reality. Guillermo Lorca produces large visually arresting works. However these works take on a whole new life of their own when viewed through the MOCO’s very own augmented reality app called MOCO play. Initially, I hadn’t really taken much notice of the signs for this app, but then my curiosity got the better of me and I’m really glad that it did. Not only did viewing the artworks via this app add a whole new dimension to them, it also allowed the viewer to video record the experience in-app. Below is a compilation video that I made of the short augmented reality videos I made in-app. To say that Guillermo Lorca’s artworks really did come […]

May 15

by Karyn in 3d, Abstract Art, Artists, Culture, Food for Thought, Galleries, Ideas, Photography, Timelapse, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos 0 comments tags: 3d, Abstract Art, Artists, Culture, Food for Thought, Galleries, Ideas, Photography, Timelapse, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos

Barcelona Trip

Time to Unwind and Return To Blogging – The last 3 weeks have been incredibly busy. At work this is the time when we are preparing students for their art exams. However, for me the biggest task and time consuming activity is the production of the end of year film. There are more details about this in the blog post ‘A Temporary Distraction’. I always enjoy seeing the wide variety of work produced by our students but assembling it all into a coherent narrative can often be quite challenging. After nearly completing the film, luckily I was able to take a break in Barcelona. My students were now on a reading week, so it was the perfect opportunity to get away. This blog is a record from the start of the trip in England, to the return journey and most importantly everything in between. Sunday 14th May – Morning Sunrise The weather started off well enough and as we drove off to Bristol Airport we were greeted by a lovely sunrise. Unfortunately my camera was packed away, but I did manage to capture this iPhone shot. Apologies for the poor resolution. What Greeted us at Bristol Airport Although […]

Apr 18

Zoom Session 22 (Sukie Sagoo-Reddy)

Emerging Dialogues Through the Positioning of Textile and Visual Arrangements – I would really love to visit the college more often to do many of the workshops on offer. I often find myself thinking, if only I had my time over again? Therefore, whenever I get the opportunity to participate in any kind of workshop, be it online, or face to face, I’m always really excited. This week was certainly no exception! For a long time now I have been working both photographically and digitally in the flat 2d world of screens. However this week it was all change. Sukie Sagoo-Reddy ran a thought provoking/food for thought workshop with us today. She took us through her Powerpoint presentation that was packed with both information and tasks for us to complete. As usual I screen shot some of her slides as I find this a useful way of storing information for future reference. I think that I will definitely be revisiting this. Alongside Jonathan’s zoom session about the concept of a derive and the Processing Programming workshop, Sukie’s workshop also has to be one of my favourites to date. I don’t think that I’m particularly good at 3d but I am […]