First Symposium

MA Digital Art First Symposium from Moira Zahra on Vimeo.

Proposal will be updated soon according to the changes mentioned in the above presentation

Experiments with composition & colour

First collage experiments from the magazine cutouts I have been collecting, with white acrylic paint & ink. I'm currently making some experimental collages to study composition and colour - keeping in mind artists I am researching like Teebs and Franz Kline.

2 close-ups of different views of the collage

1 semi-close-up of the inverted collage

Original scanned collage (without white background)

Who is Lenore Jaffee?

For the past two days I have been researching beat artists, and have come across 'Lenore Jaffee'. Unfortunately I cannot seem to find any detailed information about her, except that in the late fifties she exhibited her paintings at the Phoenix Gallery on 10th Street in New York City. (www.beatmuseum.org) The article also states that she is a "...significant pioneer amongst American Women abstract painters". (click to view original mini-article)

Goddess, 1959 - Lenore Jaffee

Franz Kline and the Cosmic Kitchen

Jack Kerouac(played by Vincent Balestri in 'Beat Angel') relates the wisdom of his friend, painter Franz Kline.

So after yesterday's weekly chat I was trying to think how I can narrow down my theme so it's much less vague. I'm now trying to see the space I want to create as kitchen where the user can 'cook' art and music and mix and match them together. The words 'Cosmic Kitchen' keep playing around in my head because it's not just your everyday kitchen but it's an audiovisual kitchen. 

All the mixing and matching of audio and visuals got me into collages and these two days I have been collecting various samples of material as well as magazine cutouts which I will try to assemble into interesting compositions to see where they will take me. 

I have also started researching some abstract expressionists and came across Franz Kline. I absolutely love his work because it is so minimal and yet so powerful. I'm not sure whether I could translate this kind of style into my own work but I am definitely a fan of how he mixed white and black to create grey/dirty areas.

"Yet Kline's art is anything but black and white. If his work is boisterous, it is also silent. If it is a celebration of unfettered movement, it is also a scar. If it is filled with suggestions of windows and doors, those windows and doors have often been boarded up or slammed shut. If his paintings are abstract and irreducible, they also seem like maps charting a lifetime of journeys through rural and urban America, popular and high culture, American and European art." NY Times

Teebs

So currently I'm just exploring artworks from various sources just to get inspirations and ideas. Very interested in teebs who's both an artist and an experimental Hip Hop musician. I'm intrigued by his work because he makes music and designs, something I'm looking into in my proposal.

I'm just trying to find some interviews to see how he manages the audio/design process, not much luck so far though;

Do you mix both music and art together to picture a visual sound or painting?

I dont try to mix the two like that…but they do resemble each other…its more of a natural process

(from: Fried My Little Brain)

I really love the mixed media in this, loads of contrast in tactile qualities, texture, line and colour.

The pink triangle makes the whole composition more minimal and modern.

Introduction of my proposal

An updated Proposal is found under My Proposal
My research question and practical work will be based on dynamic digital art and audio, as I believe that this area is increasing exponentially due to its inclusion of the user’s participation and control.

I wish to research a variety of interactive spaces and be able to create an area where a user can combine audio samples with a mixture of animated traditional and digital illustration to produce an audiovisual composition. Through this, I wish to create an environment where the user can explore, play and appreciate contemporary experimental music with the help of animated visuals.

I intend to incorporate multi faceted elements into my work in order to create a more total, all encompassing aesthetic experience. I also want to not merely engage the audience but actively involve them in the actual composition, creation and reception of the artwork.


Context (I think I need to narrow this down even more to a specific theme):

The elements I intend to investigate range from the psychedelic and funky to minimalist and contemporary. My artworks will vary from abstract to figurative. I will be looking at developments in illustration, animation, collage, media and the music industry that relate to a fusion of different media. In addition, I will also be looking into all encompassing multi-dimensional art to try and cater for more than one area of the senses. I hope through this approach to increase the user interest and experience.

First Post

Set up the blog, will update with posts on my project proposal and might change the layout of the blog soon. Find more about me in the 'About me' page.