First Entry

The decline in artists with technical ability has been a very important matter to me for a long time and I do not want to become one of them; the type of people who create art but aren't artists. Today I picked up "The Art of the Maker" (Dormer.P, 1994) and, so far, it's a very satisfying read. Modern days' overwhelming shift from manual to digital - and its near replacement - upsets me deeply [with mainstream animation being the main culprit of this] and the over-saturation of "conceptual" art too has been an underlying frustration of mine also. The entire reason I came to study at Wimbledon was to not just be an "expressive" artist, but to have an extensive skillset to support my practice. This was the perfect first book to read and I hope to carry the ideas taken from it throughout my career.

Alongside this book, I've reserved a few others on the reading list which I hope to work through in preparation for the tasks ahead, including "Model-Making, materials and methods" (Neat.D).

In regards to the "Transforming a Location" brief, I find the quiet room located in the main building to be a possible location. It's easy to access, empty most of the time and of the appropriate dimensions specified. I will however, explore the campus more tomorrow and on Friday to find any other considerable locations.

An element of design that I've been extremely involved in over the past few years, has been the existence of an alternate universe within a isolated space. It's almost an obsession. I'd like to continue this from the previous unit, but this time gathering a more insightful understanding behind my ideas. Studying interior design in relation to time and place is something I'm not so experienced in, so once I've chosen a location I will definitely carry out the in-depth research required to create a set design suited to the architectural nature of it.

I really want to create an environment that combines together real, human eras with worlds unknown to us. My most influential role model, Adam Jones [lead guitarist of Tool], practices this within his own animations for their music videos. Small puppets in tiny built structures; using interior design that relates to the human world, but with the combination of organic forms pulsing through the pipes, strange humanoid men moving in fragmented motions and an indistinct clarity in relation to what exists outside of that room [mainly feeling as though nothing exists beyond those walls at all]. See below.

Over the next week, I'm going to carry out research for other artists who practice this very wide-spread form of dystopianism. Interior design is fairly new to me as I've always been interested in the exteriors of buildings, the use of vast landscapes or to simply exist in limbo, so I'm looking forward to combining my own concepts with the boundary of 4 walls and architectural relevance.