Goldfrapp - The singles, Album artwork/ promotional poster

I came across the poster promoting Goldfrapp's latest album - 'The Singles' recently in the underground. I don't like music by goldfrapp but I loved this poster and had to stop and stare for a minute. I like the use of different layers creating the circle through photo collage. I really like the shapes created by the different forms. Seeing images like this makes me want to include collage in my work more.

(Poster for Goldfrapp - The Singles, 2012, accessed 23 April 2012, http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GOLDFRAPP-Singles-Black-Matted-Mini-Poster-/170804776505)

Brian Viveros

I love the dark and slightly gruesome edge that Brian Viveros gives to his paintings of beautiful young women. War, alcohol, nicotine and blood often featurein his work, giving it a dark twist. I love the way that he paints eyes. He makes them really glossy and smoky which I think is beautiful.

(Viveros B, 2010, Dirty Dirty, Accessed 23 April 2012, http://brianmviveros.com/paintings/dirtyland/dirty-dirty)

Lilly Piri

Lilly Piri is an illustrator. I like her cute and quirky drawings, sometimes I think they have a dream like quality to them. 'Exodus' is one of my favourite illustrations of hers. I like the childishness of it and the use of lots if little details like a kitten and paper aeroplanes, I think they make it really personal.

(Piri L, 2008, Exodus, accessed 23 April 2012, http://www.littlegalaxie.com/)

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Title sequence

(The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Title Sequence, 2011, accessed 23 April 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcp9Ysi75f0)

Of all the Movies I've watched within the last year, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo impacted me the most. There were multiple reasons for why I wanted to see it desperately in the first place, including it's trailer ( which I feel is by far the best film trailer i've seen in years), The plot ( I adore Crime - thrillers, they are my favourite genre) and the fact that Daniel Craig features in the main cast. I felt that the film itself had me hooked the entire time, I didn't want to blink because I was so taken in by it. I found it exciting to watch, and also horrificly disturbing. David Fincher, the film's director, has also shot some of my favourite films of all time so I wasn't shocked that I liked it so much. His dark and gritty style was very much present within this film which was truly needed to portray the gruesome and nerve wracking scenes within it.

I have chosen to write about the title sequence because I think it's the best i've ever seen. Normally the title sequence of a film isn't particualrly memorable in comparison to the rest of it, and certainly doesn't give you chills, but for me this did. Supposedly it portrays the nightmares of the film's main character. I think it is a fitting start for what is to follow and sets the scene really well. I feel it captures the torture, terror, violence and discomfort scattered throughout the movie. I like the use of the oil like substance dripping and splashing over everything. As the sequence progresses the black liquid adds to the fear and discomfort of the girl, which I think is the main character - Lizbeth. it increasingly covers her and splashes across the screen as she is punched and torn apart by bodyless hands. I feel that the music choice for the sequence is perfect - Immigrant Song by Karen O with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. It's really edgy, and builds up tension throughout the sequence.

Biographies - Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange was a photographer working in the 20th century. She was first really recognised for her work in the mid 1930s after she had joined a group of photographers employed to publicize the conditions of the rural poor in America. After she had become part of this group she produced several notable photographs including 'Migrant Mother' (1936). She worked with Sociologist Paul. S. Taylor, helping him to produce a book on the study of migrant workers. Lange also undertook her own photographic tours of Asia, the Middle East and South America. A major retrospective exhibiton of her work was opened in New York shortly before she sadly died of cancer in 1965.

Lange's photography is different to the type of work that I am usually drawn to, aside from that they are black and white which is an asthetic that I do normally like. However I really like her photography and find the way in which she documents the raw emotion of her subjects quite unique. I like that she has captured the lives of real people, in an unglamorous, and moving way. 'Migrant Mother' in particular captures the emotion of the woman depicted, I feel it really evokes the sadness and loneliness of her and her children.

(Lange D, 1936, Migrant Mother, accessed 23 Apri 2012, http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/lange/aa_lange_power_2_e.html)

Biographies - Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger has a strong design backround having worked for multiple companies as a Graphic Designer, Art Director and Head of Design. She is internationally known however for her own artwork. Her trademark is layered images of found photography, with bold text in black white and red. Her slogans involve the viewer to question power within society and to open their eyes to what they are being exposed to every day though consumerism among other things. Her images are found within the pages of magazines that try to sell us the ideas that she is asking her viewer to question.

 I find her work which deals with feminism and the pressure on women from society the most interesting. I feel that it is still relevant today even though many of these pieces were created nearly 20 years ago. Her expression of the idea that women are pressured to look and behave a certain way is still an important idea and I feel that it has become increasingly relevant since she created work such as 'Not stupid enough'. Kruger deconstructed images used to advertise and promote beauty and questioned the effect of such images on women.

 'Not stupid enough' highlights the way in which western culture has the ability to leave women feeling completely ashamed and disgusted with the way that they look, through comparing themselves with the beauty ideals that they are bombarded with from the media. The use of Marilyn Monroe's iconic smile combined with text reading “not ironic enough, not good enough, not nothing enough, not skinny enough” works on many levels. Firstly it addresses the teqnique of dismembering women through cropping photography in modern advertising. This is a method of selling the female body which Kruger knew well through experience working for fashion magazines. She has applied this method to highlight Monroe's famous asset. The work also illustrates the way in which our culture ridicules females for putting on weight. Monroe would be considered Plus sized in today's society, yet in her time as a famous young woman, she was the ultimate example of female beauty, portraying the perfect body.

         (Kruger B, 1997, untitled (Not stupid enough), accessed 23 April 2012, http://definitiveme.tumblr.com/fem)

Biographies - Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is an American born photographer and is recognised as an influentual contributer to contemporary art. She presents the idea of identity within her photography and is often the subject of her own work. However she undertakes a different persona for each piece, providing an ongoing array of characters with each photo reaching her audience in a different way. By creating these individuals with which to capture with her camera she provokes a different reaction each time, her work can be amusing, disturbing and distasteful among other things.

Sherman puts a great deal of herself into her work. Although she introduces different personas, the entire production of her photography is completed by her. The characters she makes are drawn from her own ideas and experiences, and she contributes multiple roles to the production of them. She is the photographer, makeup artist, stylist, hairdresser and model.

I find it interesting that one person can take on so many different identities, it is strange to think that there are a thousand ways we could present ourselves, yet we often stick to one style, that is core to our own individuality. I feel Sherman's work relates to how as human beings we judge on appearances. With each photograph the audience will have a different reaction to what they think that person would be like based on the way they look and dress. Yet it is the same woman, with the same personality and identity.

Here is an example of how different Sherman can make herself look using clothes, makeup and wigs.

(Sherman C, 2003, Untitled #413, accessed 23 April 2012)
(Sherman C, 1978, Untitled Film Still #13, accessed 23 April 2012,
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman)