Derelicit Beauty

These glorious images are by the American photographer William Eggleston, mentioned in a previous post. I love the warm hues and reddish tone of them. Eggleston excels at capturing the spirit of American suburbia in the 1960s and 70s, and his photos always have a wonderful mood of nostalgia to them. The last image of an old railway track reminds me of one near my previous school.

Francis Bacon- a Master Painter

http://francis-bacon.cx/

I remembered that I haven't done a post solely dedicated to Bacon yet. His oeuvre really changed my view of what painting should and could be, for a few reasons. Firstly, I've never seen the canvas treated in the manner that he does. Paint can be dripped or smeared on, foreign substances like sand added, and the canvas reworked many times before the final effect is achieved (he does not do prior planning). He is not afraid to introduce lines suggesting motion, as well as a palette of saturated, unusual colours like orange and pink, elements that conventionally belong more to the realm of graphic art than painting. In this sense, he is truly modern in his thinking.

Another feature of his works is the contrast between the smooth, monochrome, static appearance of furniture and walls and the blurred, shaded, distorted human forms. This adds richness to his compositionally rather flat paintings. What strikes me the most is his use of the black rectangle, which is often a crucial compositional element. It adds visual impact by contrasting with the bright colours and, to me, symbolizes the unknown and possibly death. The figures in his paintings often appear to be on the verge of falling into this dark abyss or being swallowed up quite literally, as parts of their body are already absent.

Which brings me to another reason why Bacon's works are such an eye-opener- the subjects are not literal but I get it. I feel the rawness and power, and am at once entranced and horrified by the side of human nature displayed. They are definitely not tame paintings, and it's this audacity that makes Bacon a master painter.

I interrupt to inform you that my A-Level art coursework is on the 'Singapore Spotlight' section of Fashion Nation now. Thanks for featuring my project, girls!

On another note, I'm having a great deal of fun creating my zine now. I've been meaning to do a zine for some time, and I'm glad that I finally got around to doing it.

What does it mean to be Crazy?

No doubt everyone thought Gustave Eiffel was crazy when he conceived and constructed an open-frame tower of iron. The design was audacious to a point where the public was shocked and disgusted. One letter from a member of the Parisian arts community was quoted as such, "And during twenty years we shall see... stretching out like a black blot the odious shadow of the odious column built up of riveted iron plates.”(Wikipedia). Yet this very structure, the Eiffel Tower, is now one of the most famous and most-loved monuments. By the way, I'm always amused by the vile language used by art critics with regards to controversial movements like Fauvism, which goes to show how something shocking and unpleasant often becomes acceptable or even celebrated many years after. In other words, something that seems crazy often turns out to be genius on hindsight.

Craziness is usually a matter of social acceptability. The crazy are those whose ideas defy conventional thought. My relatives might think I'm crazy for desiring to pursue fashion design, but that's because they've never encountered such a case in their social sphere. Perhaps, in another sense, craziness is knowing the dangers involved, but daring to face them for the potential benefit. It's like taking a gamble- the risks might be greater, but you stand to win more. The sane might know better than to lurch into the unknown, but for the crazy, the prospect of infinite gain outweighs all other considerations.

Before this gets too foggy, let me provide an eloquent quote from Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho:

"Anyone who lives in her own world is crazy... you have Einstein, saying that there was no time or space, just a combination of the two. Or Columbus, insisting that on the other side of the world lay not an abyss but a continent... or (this is my favourite) the Beatles, who created an entirely different sort of music and dressed like people from another time. Those people- and thousands of others- all lived in their own world (and are crazy, presumably)."
--- Zedka

Veronika's reaction tickled me- "This madwoman talks a lot of sense", she thought.


Finally, I really like what Mari said when the she left the Villete (the lunatic asylum):

"... the danger of an adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort."

Only a crazy person would think that way.

Japanese print

I've always liked the shapes and colours, such as deep blue, blood red, mustard and forest green, present in Japanese print. I think embellishing the subway carriages with it is a cute idea- wonder whether Singapore would be willing to do the same for its MRT? Then again, Singapore is such a sanitized place and decorated carriages might be construed as an eyesore to the cityscape. I recall that me and my art classmates wanted to do a graffiti wall in the school once but were rejected. I doubt that the school administrators gave the proposal serious thought. It's highly amusing yet tragic that a school can only have graffiti when it's been converted into an art space, like the new extension building of the Singapore Art Museum. By the way, the third image is by American photographer William Eggleston, whose work I really like. You can expect to see more of his photos on this blog subsequently.

I picked up a book in the library showcasing Japanese design products, but had to let it go because I'd used up my borrowing quota. It was an interesting read though. I was especially fascinated and tickled by the photos of 'sleep pod'-like hotel rooms, rooms that are transparent and consist only of a bed. Then I thought, why not install such pods in offices so that employees can take a nap in comfort? I believe it's been suggested before, and I don't think it's a bad idea at all as studies suggest that naps improve one's work performance and efficiency. You've got to give it to the Japanese for generating all kinds of wacky ideas. If you consider it, the most brilliant ideas and solutions are often those that are considered crazy in the initial stages, those that people scorn or laugh at. Then again, what defines craziness? For this, I think Paulo Coelho's book Veronika decides to die offers an eloquent interpretation. That will be the topic of my next post- what does it mean to be crazy?

Easter Weekend

On Good Friday, my family didn't have anything to prepare for so I went hiking with my dad and sis to reach the Treetop Walk at Macritchie Reservoir. It's a long, narrow bridge (first picture) offering a view of the forest canopy. It took us two-and-a-half hours to complete the entire trail, and boy was I hot and exhausted after that. I haven't been exercising which explains my decreased stamina. It was fun, though, mostly because I'm not an outdoors kind of person so this was definitely something out of the usual.

On Easter Sunday I watched the 2006 Japanese animated film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (second picture), which I'd been looking forward to since Kim recommended. It didn't disappoint and I enjoyed it greatly, partly because it's different in mood and theme from the Hayao Miyazaki animated films that I'm accustomed to. It made me think about many things, such as the fact that sometimes we want to take the easy way out by skipping the sad or difficult times in our life. We don't realize that going through such events actually gives us more satisfaction and fulfillment, makes our happy periods that much sweeter, and most importantly, shapes who we are. If one were to go back in time and change or erase them, who knows whether one will still be the same person? Watching this film made me understand that 'time waits for no one'; that, really, we have only one chance at life and can't afford to do things that we'll regret.

SPOILER: There are some intriguing points about this film too, such as the future that a certain time-traveller came from (I must say, I didn't expect this twist at all). It sounds almost... apocalyptic? I mean, a future where baseball has been eradicated and an important painting has been destroyed? And the character Chiaki fascinates me. I wonder why his desire to see that painting is so strong that he'll go through the risk and trouble to time-leap. I wonder what the significance of that painting is. Finally, I wonder how Chiaki and Makoto can meet in the future. Very interesting things to consider. Now I'm kind of curious about the original novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui. The film's plot is not directly related to the novel, however, but is set some twenty years later. It's hinted that Makoto's aunt is the original protagonist, which accounts for why she seems slightly mysterious in the film.

I also liked the clean, literal style of the drawings so you might see more pictures on this blog if I can find them. I think the scene where time is stopped showcases the artwork most wonderfully. When things are in motion they're regarded as ordinary and banal, but when they're stopped and isolated one begins to truly appreciate their beauty.

Catalogue for my Etsy shop

Visit http://hoshii.etsy.com or http://myhoshii.blogspot.com. I'm glad to say that the white flower necklace has already been sold. I'm the model and designer of this catalogue, and my sis did the photography and styling. It was pretty fun! Expect to see more pages added as we come up with new creations.

Managing an online business has been a learning experience for me. I started out knowing almost nothing, and have picked up some tips and ideas along the way. There will definitely be changes to the shop's contents soon.