My recent pieces have been inspired by this magazine advert for fashion company Billabong.
I decided to create the Vogue covers informal to what they usually are, which is structured and the same on every cover, therefore I created shapes and collaged the images and writing, including photo storys from fashion magazines, textiles, articles and the masthead of Vogue. You can view the pieces in the gallery here .
I recently met up with Orlando based Artist Robin Pedrero to speak to her about gallery’s in her area and her work. We met at City Arts, a Gallery in Downtown Orlando where Pedreros work has been featured. City Arts is very much a community gallery, where students are proffesional artists work is featured. Pedrero was born in Connecticut, and now lives in Orlando, Florida. During her childhood, her father drew, and her mother won a Vogue competition (which relates to her dress pieces she currently works on). As a teen her work was exhibited with Mystic Art Association, giving her a start in her Art Career. Pedrero didn’t finish Art School, But got her education from professional artists. Her current work is based on nature and dresses, intergrating the two together. Pedrero said she moved to Florida for a bigger sky space, but her work developed into nature instead, looking at birds, trees and the warm colors that feature in her work. This also happened with one of her dress pieces, starting out as nature and developing into a dress. Looking at Pedreros work, you can see these clear layers that are applied with the bright colors she uses, and this is what inspires me about her work. Pedrero’s work translates well to other objects, for example phone covers, scalfs, table places. I asked Pedrero what other kinds of items she would like to translate her work over, she said Bed Sheets, as she aspired to be a fashion designer. Pedrero now says she enjoys Fabric design, and her pieces certainly translate well to fabric, judging from the scalf of hers I was lucky enough to see. Her current studio is at her house, where she has light and nature to inspire her pieces, and her work is featured in gallerys around Orlando, Including Baterbys (featured in the post below). Click continue reading to see more photographs.
I visited the Baterbys Art and Auction Gallery in Orlando. Here are some photographs. Click continue to view the photographs.
I recently visited Celebration Art Fair in Orlando. The streets featured stalls of artists ranging from painters, to photographers, to Jewelers. Click to view more photographs.
April 2012 Update on my new work.
Piece inspired by Robert Rauschenberg’s ‘Combines’. I have mixed magazine cut outs with paint, oil pastel and 2D wire work . I wanted to make it bright, as I think the colours used in his work are bold and not subtle. By using magazine cut outs as the background, I kept the ongoing theme of ‘Vogue’ throughout. I also created something new with the images featured, Something Rauschenberg spoke about doing with his findings featured in his Combines.
Here I have sewn textiles to canvas. I wanted to try and represent Vogue and the clothes, thats why I covered the eyes of the model, to make the focus on the clothing, and not the person. The background is articles from Vogue stuck on.
Here I have shown the previous typeography’s of Vogue over time. I wanted to show them individually in a bigger piece, than on the Vogue covers I have created myself.
For my current project, I have incorperated textiles and combined them with my illustrative print work. I have tried out different techniques, from using transfer dyes, to image maker paste. I have also used acrylic on fabric to create wall hangings (as shown). I did this because I think it works well with the theme of the project, Vogue, and is a good way to represent the clothing element of my project.
Check them out Here
I have developed my ‘Vogue’ work further. Here I have decided to take ‘Real Woman’, who have done extraordinary things, and have become pioneers for the woman of the world and put them on the cover of Vogue. I started by researching into Woman’s History, particularly looking at Britain, then looking at the different photos I could include. I have replaced what is considered to be an unrealistic view of woman that covers Vogue nowadays. I have used ranges of different typography of Vogue through the past ten decades as the mastheads. I wanted to use paint to go back to the vintage Vogue covers, when they were illustrated and drawn. I also wanted to keep the element of photographs, particularly the black and white photos, to represent the time period each of them are are showing. Check them out Here
Recently, We visited Casc Studios & Project space to see the kind of Studios available to artists. Casc is a studio space, involved in Helfa Gelf, and includes a group of artists all in one building, each with their own personal space for their work. Work ranges from Photography, to Illustration, to Sculpting. We met with artist and member of Casc, Jane Tudor, who showed us around the studios, which included a space available to show work
Above: Top floor of the Casc space.
To see more about Casc Studios & Project Space, visit http://www.helfagelf.co.uk/en/artists/casc
From my Current work on ‘Altars’, based on Fashion magazines. I have changed the color schemes and painted over covers of Vogue. It was my original plan to leave some as photographic, but I wanted to create the pieces as if they had been made from 1916-1933 , when the covers of Vogue were painted or illustrated by artists.
Continue looking at the pieces Here
Researching into my work, I found blog ‘Igor + Andre’, a blog based on the work of Danny Roberts, who focuses on Pop Culture. Here I have included some of his art that has inspired mine and relates to what I have done/intend to do in my pieces. Roberts has worked with Fashion companys such as Harajuku Lovers, Lacome and Forever21, and studied at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
The work below is photographs featuring drawings and paint, something which I may include in my ‘Decades of Real Woman’ Covers, using the black and white photographs I have researched.
You can find Roberts’ work at http://dannyroberts.com/ and http://igorandandre.blogspot.com/ ,
Follow them on Twitter @danny_roberts @David_Roberts_ @IgorandAndre
Follow there Tumblr http://insidedannyrobertshead.tumblr.com/
Through this brief of the word ‘Altar’, I have been focusing on Vogue covers, past and present, and how they are considered collectors items, with thousands of readers and collectors all over the world. I have mainly looked at merging the past and present covers together, the typography of previous Vogue covers mastheads and the vintage illustrated covers. I took inspiration from the illustrated covers and turned modern day photographic issues into pieces of artwork, painting over and changing the headers and colour schemes (These are shown in the gallery).
