Andy Warhol, born 6th August 1928, was an American artist and a leading figure, a beacon, in the Pop Art movement and was one of the most influential artists of his generation with his influence still felt today. He was known to have a nervous disorder as a child and spent a lot of time at home where he would listen to the radio and collect pictures of movie stars. This exposure to the media is said to have caused him to obsess over pop culture and celebrity which dominates his work and process. In 1945 Warhol began his training in Pictorial Design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh and shortly after he graduated in 1949, he moved to the city of New York to become a commercial Illustrator. He had success throughout the 1950’s working for well-known magazines such as Vogue and the New Yorker as well advertisement displays for local businesses.
The 1960’s was the most prolific period of Warhol’s life. In 1960 he moved out of his shared family apartment into a townhouse on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan which gave him the opportunity to have space to work. His work began to incorporate advertisements and comic strips. This was the forming of early examples of Pop Art. His work became more expressive and painterly with clearly recognisable brushstrokes and loose influences of Abstract Expressionism.
Warhol continued with his theme of advertisement and comic strips throughout the early 1960’s focusing on illustrated imagery mainly from printed media and graphic design. In 1964, Warhol rented an old fire station using this additional new space to further his work at a scale he could not achieve before. For his large scale canvases he would project his work onto the walls and freehand trace the images using paint directly onto a canvas resulting in a continuation of his painterly style. By 1964 works such as ‘Brillo Box’ would be a counterpoint to this style and to abstract expressionism by almost stripping away brush strokes completely.
Throughout 1961 and 1962 Warhol’s work became increasingly commercialised using mass production techniques such as silk screen printing to quickly replicate his drawings of mundane household brands, such as the famous ‘Campbell’s Soup Cans’ series (1962). Andy Warhol’s work became controversial at the time as it was questioning the very definition of what is art.
When we were first given the exam task I first started to look at and experiment with the idea of geometric landscape. However I have already looked at this type of work and I didnt feel that it was challenging me enough for what is going to be my last project, so I abandoned that idea. However I am now looking at photographing each element. Water, Earth, Fire and Air. When looking at all of the images that I had for the element of Air, I found that they were all very similar to each and became very repeat even though there was differentiation in the colours and the type of image of the sky. So I thought to bring the project full circle I could experiments with these images and use the techniques I learnt when looking at geometric landscapes. I think that the outcomes that I have produced look really good but I think that the overall composition of the image looks best when the two images used are similar in colours and cloud types.
Concept: To capture mushrooms in the style of Alexander Mourant’s ‘Aurelian’. Mushrooms often symbolise fertility due to their phallus-like shape, they represent growth because of their fungal properties.
Lighting: Artificial lighting as I will capture the mushrooms when it is dark. I will wait till after it has rained as the environment will be damp, giving a humid effect. Organisms living in the environment will also reveal themselves due to the moisture of the rain.
Flash needed when experimenting with the gels.
Camera Settings: I will experiment by using the gels over the flash to change the colour of the lighting, as well as placing the gels over the lens.
Props: Pink, Yellow and Green gels. The pink and yellow gels are more subtle giving the image a soft blur. I will also use a green gel as the colour is commonly associated with nature.
I want to talk to my models and other women about their opinions on perfection and beauty. I want to ask a large variety of question on the topic so I can get an idea of what real people think about the ideals pressured onto them and how the beauty and fashion industries effects this. I want to talk to a variety of people of different ages and backgrounds to get a varied response which represents different people views. I hope to use the information o find to develop my work with a better understanding of the audience and issue I want to comment on. I have though about using the results by incorporating them into the images of my final piece.
Define the concept of Beauty in your own words
What is an idealistic view of beauty you feel is promoted my modern media?
How has the internet and social Media effected how you view yourself in terms of beauty?
What is perfection to you?
Is perfection reachable and what does it look like?
What is your biggest insecurity?
Who do you think is the is perfect in the way they look? Why?
Has the way you look ever effected your confidence or stopped you from doing anything?
Have you ever judged someone on the way they look or dress? Why might it effect your view of them?
What do you think about having surgery, taking medication or using cosmetics to improve your looks?
Give an example of something you think is ugly, why?
I want to keep the results very anonymous because people feel a lot more comfortable talking about personal issues when this is the case. This means I am more likely to get honest answers that I can use alongside my work.
Mine and Rinok’s work is very similar in regards to the photographic process however when we edit our images this is where the differences is. In Rinkos image she has increased the levels of cyan in the colour balance which has made the image look more appealing and inviting for the audience. In the image the central focus in a circular formation of water, this is a running theme in Rinkos book ‘illuminance’. In the book there are recurring patterns, shapes and motifs that help to give the book meaning and structure, as at a first look the book is a group of image that have no connection to each other. In Rinkos image the only two colours that are featured are whites and blues which she would have done on purpose and enhanced this look when in the editing stage. However in my image there is slightly more of a colour range, in my image the water is not as clear and has a slight green colour in it as the water isn’t that clean. Also as I took this image during ‘golden hour’ the image has a slight yellow tint to this, also due to this fact areas of shadows have been created, which is absent in Rinkos image. This shows to me is that she is very thoughtful about every image and every small detail that is in the frame. I think that Rinko would have taken this image on a day when the weather was overcast as in the image there is no sun reflection that can be seen.
For my first shoot I decided to take a double decker bus on the route that goes to the airport and back into town, my idea was that with a double decker I could manage to get some perspectives of things that you can’t get on a normal bus, the height that you are sat on the double decker creates a perspective that you are an onlooker sort of spying on the people around you, rather than a member of the crowd. Below are 20 of what I think are my most successful images from the shoot unedited. On the day that I did this shoot it was raining and therefor it was difficult to achieve a completely clear image out of the bus window, but I do like the effect that the blurry windows and water droplets give to some of the images. For my next shoot though I will try and take into consideration the weather conditions when I do the shoot so that I can get a variety of images with different lighting to create different atmospheres.
The realities explored in science and spirituality are often assumed to be unrelated to one another. Science explores the outer world with a series of questions beginning with the basic query, “What is this? What is this world all about?” while spirituality begins with the question, “Who am I?”.
In the ancient world these two forms of knowledge were not in conflict but were understood to have a deep and subtle connection. Man’s knowledge of himself complemented his understanding of the universe and formed the basis for a strong and healthy relationship to the creation in which he lived. It is the disconnect between these two types of knowledge that is causing many of the challenges that we face as a global community today.
Ancient wisdom describes human beings as having five layers of experience: the environment, the physical body, the mind, the intuition and our self or spirit. Our connection with the environment is our first level of experience, and one of the most important. If our environment is clean and positive, it has a positive impact on all the other layers of our existence. As a result, they come into balance and we experience a greater sense of peace and connection within ourselves and with others around us. Historically, nature, mountains, rivers, trees, the sun, the moon have always been honored in ancient cultures. It’s only when we start moving away from our connection to nature and ourselves that we begin polluting and destroying the environment.
Religion
While many human beings choose to measure the importance of Nature through economic value or scientific worth, the most difficult of Nature’s gifts to “measure” is its connection to our spirituality. While the spiritual self is not always linked to religion, it is more than relevant to explore the revered place that Nature has been given in so many of the world’s religions.
Christianity tells the story of a paradise on Earth, rightly situated in the beauty of a garden, and documents the efforts of Noah as he’s commanded by God to save two of every species on the planet. Buddhism teaches that all life is sacred. Muslims believe that Nature was given to humans as a gift from Allah. Indigenous cultures all over the world have celebrated the existence of Nature as their “mother”.
Humans & Nature
Japanese Shinrin-yoku had compared how the body reacts to being immersed in nature (woodland), to being in an urban environment. The results of the analysis supported the story told above. Finding that being in the woods was calming, activating the parasympathetic nervous system associated with contentment. Whereas the urban environment stimulated the sympathetic nervous system associated with drive and threat. There’s plenty of evidence that exposure to nature is good for people’s health, well-being and happiness.
Research has consistently shown that increased connection with nature results in decreased stress, anxiety, anger, aggression, depression, and a sense of gloom; while it increases a variety of measures of physical health.
“From the smallest microorganisms to the largest animals, all life on Earth has a common ancestor. Everything is connected to everything. ” Our relationship with nature has historically been one of imbalance and overuse. Nearly every step in human history has unfortunately been accompanied with a leap in environmental degradation. At first, humans were incredibly in-tune with their surroundings. With advancements in technology and agriculture though, humans began to find more efficient ways of sustaining themselves. These advancements allowed for more permanent settlements, which led to rapid population growth and a distancing from nature.
Nature and Mental Health
New studies find evidence in support of what we see clinically. It found that virtually any form of immersion in the natural world, outside of your internal world, heightens your overall well-being and well as more positive engagement with the larger human community.
Exposure to nature has been shown to evoke positive emotions, as well as strengthen individual resilience (Marselle et al. 2013) and coping skills (van den Berg 2010). Getting into nature has been shown to have positive impacts on concentration, learning, problem solving, critical thinking capacity, and creativity as well as enhance mental health and wellbeing through encouraging physical fitness and social engagement.
One study is from the University of British Columbia. It highlights an essential dimension of true “mental health” – the realm beyond healing and managing conflicts and dysfunctions. Mental health includes the capacity to move “outside” of yourself, and thereby Increase and broaden your mental and emotional perspectives about people and life in general. That’s the realm that grows, for example, from meditation – the mindfulness state of being grounded in awareness of the present moment.
Sir David Attenborough talking about Nature and Mental Health
Rinko Kawauchi who i have previously looked at, believes the fleeting nature of these dualities is what ultimately determines our fragile existence. I like how she photographs things that are ‘ephemeral’, that won’t last for long which are unified by an unapologetically sublime aesthetic, a sense of wonder, and by her linking of the earthly and the celestial, the physical and the spiritual. Wassily Kandinsky, who I’ve explored also looks at spirituality in his book ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’ where he writes about his beliefs on how art links to humans and spiritual life. “The spiritual life, to which art belongs and of which she is one of the mightiest elements, is a complicated but definite and easily definable movement forwards and upwards. This movement is the movement of experience. It may take different forms, but it holds at bottom to the same inner thought and purpose.”-Kandinsky.
Alexander Mourant was born in Jersey, Channel Islands in 1994. Having studied at Bryanston School he progressed to BA (Hons) Photography at Falmouth University, graduating in July 2017. Alexander has exhibited a variety of work, most notably with CCA Galleries, Mall Galleries and in a duo show with Andy Hughes RCA held at the Royal Geographical Society in London, May – June 2017. His practice revolves around the continuous nature of experience, largely in a response to his time spent in Africa and Japan.
“The world is blue at its edges and its depths.” – Rebecca Solnit
Aomori, 2017
In Aomori, Alexander Mourant consistently uses the colour blue, inspired by Rebecca Solnit’s words in The Blue of Distance. For Solnit, the blue world embodies distances we can never quite arrive in. The colour blue — formed through fluctuating atmospheric conditions — creates for her, and many others, a great immaterial and metaphorical plane.
In Japan, where the series was captured, followers of Shinto – an ancient and sacred religion – place a strong belief in Kami. Kami are essentially spirits. Through diligently conducted religious and spiritual ceremonies, present day Japan connects through the Kami to their ancient past. The Japanese believe that Kami pervade every aspect of life. They live in the fabric of reality; rocks, trees, plants, waterfalls, even mountains contain Kami. Kodama are the spirits found in the forest, living in certain species of trees. They are the very being of the forest. Upon researching this extensive spiritual belief, Mourant realised that Japan had strong metaphysical potential and was an ideal site for his work.
The colour in his images comes from sourced blue glass from a church window, which was then cut to size to fit the filter holder of his camera. Mourant’s aim was to introduce this colour into the process, by exposing film directly to the blue world. With this, the photographs are given a body, a soul almost, in which we could experience from the image itself, bringing Solnit’s blue of distance near, into the world of the forest; they are by process, forever blue.
Aurelian, 2016 – 2017
Alexander’s family has lived and farmed in Jersey for generations, so a relationship to landscape, space and experience is embedded in his psychology. This rural upbringing influenced his photographic sensibility.
‘Aurelian’ explores the interior space of British butterfly houses. These artificial environments are used throughout the work to probe the nature of experience, as an envisioned idea where time is not absolute, but continuously contained and all encompassing. By employing cultural objects and contemporary abstraction, the work holds a dynamic tension — questioning one’s spatial sense — stimulated through colour, form and materiality. In hindsight, Aurelian was a body of work necessary to incubate further creative ideas and, most importantly, it triggered a deeper understanding of the intricacies of photography.
The work draws from a variety of personal sources, but most importantly, Alexander’s four month sojourn through the heart of Africa.
Image Analysis
Waterfall I, 2017
Alexander captures the movement of a waterfall through a slow shutter speed, the softness of the water metaphorically represents the spiritual history of Japan. Before travelling to Japan, he conducted digital tests with the blue glass in order to find the ideal exposure time. However, it didn’t tell of how the process would translate to film.
Mourant acknowledged that shooting with the blue glass is almost like shooting in black and white, where he required bright natural sunlight in order to still capture the details of the trees and rocky face. The image is composed to look up at the waterfall, indicating the importance of this spiritual relationship that Japan has with nature. Alexander leaves negative space at the top of the image, where the forest joins with the heavens.
“the spiritual history of the process seeps through into the image, to a time when the land was a place of worship”.
The immensity found in the colour blue, encourages a deeper reflection on the past, present and future. In the same way, the presence of the forest and the density of its nature arrests the relentless progression of time, where the canopy of the trees shelter those below from gently falling light.
Artistically, Alexander’s influence is varied, but his process finds its roots in the 1960s land art movement being that he is interested in the material and psychological effects of organics, climate and geography. A key idea that resonates in both Aomori and Aurelian is “The Art of Pilgrimage” as described by writer Michael Kimmelman. To visit is to invest months of planning, submit applications and await approval, followed by long car journeys into the remote desert or jungle. This idea of a pilgrimage to a site becomes very relevant as each project attempts to depict a place between imagination and reality with metaphor.
So far I believe this shoot is the most successful shoot I have created. It shows a picture of macro high definition details within the smallest elements, it shows life, a sense of birth and reflection in the waters reflection and rippled movement, and lastly creates a sophistication within the editing process, showing a higherachy of religious value. This starting focus of these core elements and animals to show innocence, relates to the certain of the world, and too connotes a disposition of the elements coming together to form one. Too this shoot has so much connection within the photographers methods, which allows myself to know I am along the right lines and can continue with this methodology of work.
EDITING PROCESS
The editing process for this shoot was similar to my previously experimentation with inverting silver and black, however this time I wanted to over accentuate this, by allowing the colour to be more abstract to their original tonal shades. I want to accentuate the line and reflection within this shoot, showing the smallest details to create patterns and illusion of birth and life within my work.
This above is my favourite image. I believe this is so successful due to the inverted colours, creating this unique central highlight in the middle of the composition, attracting the eye. Then this calm and beautiful rhythmic of the waters movement slowly leads the eye outward, showing a framing by the small delicate leaf branches caving over the image. Too the narrative of young life, from this duckling shows the reincarnation of brith, and too the circular motion links with many of the conceptual images the photographer themselves took.
After doing the shoot down at Queens Valley which wasn’t that successful I waited until the weather was good and went out at the first chance that I had. For this shoot I went down to Val de la Mare. The inspiration for this shoot was Rinko Kawauchi who has become a become inspiration for the whole of the project. In Rinkos images she focuses on the small things that we would normally pass by in everyday life if we didnt take the time to stop and appreciate the things that are around us.
Overall I think that the shoot was very successful and I have produced many images that I am really happy with. I think that in this shoot I have really captured Rinko’s ideas of ‘finding beauty in the everyday’. As many of these images have a sense of spiritually to them, which is something that I want to achieve in this project.
