ERNST HAEKEL

Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (February 16, 1834 – August 9, 1919), was a German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species and mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms. Haeckel promoted and popularized Charles Darwin's work in Germany.

The published artwork of Haeckel includes over 100 detailed, multi-colour illustrations of animals and sea creatures.

 Haeckel has been my favourite illustrator since high school. I admire his scientific mind but it is mainly because of his ability to illustrate real things and document them factually whilst creating magical and fantastical images that give you a feeling like you are looking for the first time. I get the same feeling when I look at the work of Karl Blossfeldt. This is what I want people to feel when they look at my work.

KARL BLOSSFELDT

Karl Blossfeldt (1865–1932) is recognised for his extensive and unique collection of photographic plant  portraits that reveal the tactile qualities, intricate forms and uncanny aspects of flora. His fusion of scientific observation, sculptural form and surreal composition pioneered an artistic style that forged new approaches to modern art and photography. 

Working at the junction of Art Nouveau and Modernism, Blossfeldt developed a series of homemade cameras that allowed him to photograph plant surfaces in  unprecedented magnified detail. Working as a tutor in Berlin from the late nineteenth century until his death, Blossfeldt’s works were primarily used as teaching tools and were brought to public attention in 1928 by his first publication Urformen der Kunst (Art Forms in Nature). Swiftly regarded as a seminal book on photography, Blossfeldt’s factual yet finely detailed imagery was praised by Walter Benjamin, adopted by the Surrealists and mass produced in magazines and books. 

The exhibition is a major presentation of Blossfeldt’s work and consists of over 80 silver gelatin prints made and used during his tutorship. In addition, five rarely-seen large-scale prints will also be shown. These historic photographs are accompanied by his original publications, a set of working collages made in preparation for his books along with a number of avant-garde writings that embraced his work, including a text by Georges Bataille.

 

 

My idea so far for the Fluctuation project has been to capture images on a long exposure using LEDs. I wanted to look at capturing the process of movement, the cycle of movement and to hopefully reveal hidden actions within simple tasks. Each image captured was to inspire the following action in some way. I hoped that by investigating the evolution of movement, I would begin to see a clear evolution within the images too which would work in series. I have been doing lots of thinking about my ideas for this fluctuation project and have even ordered mini batter powered LED lights so that i can begin to capture some long exposure images. HOWEVER I do feel that I have chosen this subject because at the time I felt that i would be able to create what my tutors want to see within the subject of fluctuation. I feel as though I am doing what I think I should be doing and not what I want to do. Therefore I have chosen to change to Super Botanic. 

I went to an exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery and it inspired me so much that I knew it was something I had to continue into my studies.

I know i have reduced working time now but I feel that with high levels of concentration I can really produce some work that I am excited about continuing with in second year. Initially I was put off this subject by daydreams of floral patterns but I have since come to realise how i would work within the subject and create something that interests me. I have recently been fascinated by the ideas of other worldly and futuristic fantasies. I want to use magnified images of plants, fine art abstraction processes and sculpture to create images of hybrid organic matter. I want to create the work with a thought for cross breeding, evolution and biomechanics.

http://petapixel.com/2013/04/09/colorful-long-exposure-photos-of-glow-sticks-dropped-into-waterfalls/

FIELD DAY

There was an instillation tent at Field Day, it consisted of a round tent with a screen going all the way around the walls and it had some sort of video recording unit in the center. The walls replayed the movements of people in the tent and created amazing visuals just by mapping the movements. The speed of movement of each person also affected the person to their left. The whole thing was like a visual replay of cause and effect of individual and collective movement.

Chronocyclegraph

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rwctl

Dan Arkle on the 1show, about 17mins in. 




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