Jamie Alexander

Although there are only 32 photos of us together on facebook and we only 'like' 11 similar things and therefore my relationship with Jamie is, according to facebook significantly less valid than my relationship with Bejay, he's still kinda cool. We both went to Hillbrook yet we only became good friends quite recently. He's someone I can always talk to about nearly anything. He shares an obsession with Francisco Lachowski and we both connect emotionally with Barney Stinson. He has a fantastic taste in music which has many similarities to mine. Although he is a conservative old man with a fro who wishes he lived near civilisation he's an awesome dude.

Dan Flavin

Dan Flavin was a minimalist artist from Jamaica who worked in sculpture by using commercially available fluorescent lights. Flavin created simple yet striking spaces with what are in escence straight lines of coloured light. The use of light appeals to me immensely as I think it is so important in the viewing of art, by making light the actual art he has created pieces which are new and interesting. It also interests me that when you think about it this art cannot be picked up, the lights can be of course, but the part that makes it interesting, the light that is emitted, can never be physically touched. This intrigues me and I hope to work with the non-physicality of light in the future.



References

Cooper, Ivy. Artforum. New York: Dec 2008. Vol. 47, Iss. 4; p. 307

Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. "Dan Flavin: Constructed Light" Accessed April 4, 2011. http://flavin.pulitzerarts.org/#/home/

Fallon, Roberta. Rosof, Libby. 2010. "Contemporary Art, Who Cares? A conference in Amsterdam" The Art Blog, June 25. Accessed April 4, 2011. http://theartblog.org/2010/06/contemporary-art-who-cares-a-conference-in-amsterdam/

An Often Forgotten Source Of Inspiration

Friendship. It's so necessary to us as humans, social interaction is paramount, but how does it affect me creatively? How does it inspire me?

Let's face it, I have fantastic friends and although the groups may have changed I think that leaving school has only strengthened my relationships with those who matter. I have new friends, I've got friends who I would never have expected to be close to and I've got friends who have just always been there. My friends have always been an inspiration, I don't understand how they couldn't be. They're such a huge part of my life and I can't imagine them not affecting my art.

A lot of the time they actually feature in my work, I guess working in mainly photography for quite a while that was inevitable. I would be thoroughly surprised if anyone I know well has not been in a photograph of mine at some stage. I am very grateful about the fact that my friends put up with it... constantly.

My friends have been faced with weird costumes in public places, body paint that gets stuck in your eyebrows and ill fitting clothing and yet they are still willing and sometimes even enthusiastic to help me when I need them. I love you all.

As you may have noticed I take a couple of photos every now and again, here are a small selection :) Judge for yourself but I think my friends are a pretty darn beautiful looking bunch of people.

Welcome to the QUT Studio Spaces

Ok so this blog is all about exploring my inspirations and the things that impact my work right? Well how can I go past talking about the place I work in? These are the QUT studio spaces in which all first years work. It's a place where we all come together every Friday to work creatively. It offers opportunities to socialise with people who all have a common interest in art, therefore I think creativity prospers here. The spaces also simply give us a space to work in individually, which seems like common sense but without it most of us would be working on the floor of the living room or the kitchen table. These spaces are great and I hope to meet more people in them!

Thomas Doyle

Thomas Doyle is another artist (like Slinkachu) who works with hobbyist-like miniatures and turns them into something special. His works have a mysterious and humourous element to them which makes them appeal to anyone. I hope to use techniques such as this in my piece.

References

Doyle, Thomas. "Thomas Doyle" Accessed April 1, 2011. http://www.thomasdoyle.net/disfr_set.html

It's a windmill.

Uni Project number 1 woot woot! I'm currently exploring the properties of light and dark through sculpture. YAY!

Slinkachu

Slinkachu is an artist from the UK who works with miniature train set figurines and sets them up in normal street settings. The tiny works are set up partially as a street art project and partially as a photography project. Slinkachu's goal is to experiment with the element of surprise and make normal passers by more aware of their surroundings. The works are representative of the loneliness of the big city.

This work is throrougly inspiring because it brings art into the everyday life of the average person and I believe that anyone who sees it can relate to it and enjoy it on some level. This aspect of miniatures really appeals to me and I think that I will use it in some way to improve my windmill structure.

References

Slinkachu. "Little People: A tiny street art project" Accessed April 6, 2011.
http://little-people.blogspot.com/

Slinkachu. "Slinkachu Official Website" Accessed April 6, 2011. http://slinkachu.com/home