Simon Birch (a day for artist research)

We were given the task to research Simon Birch. We needed to research and create visual outcomes from the influence of his work and the way his work is presented. I found this research task exciting, I really enjoy looking at artists and do enjoy writing about, however it always takes me a long time to complete this research and fully write an analysis. Therefore, only having around six hour to complete this deemed a new way of working for me. Of course, I had to start with some basic research, I created a simple mind map and jotted down interesting facts about his life, and anything I personally believed would have influenced him and his work. I then went onto to studying his pieces in more detail, making sure I viewed a variety of his work, understanding the mediums he uses and the way in which his applies these mediums to his pieces of work. What I found distinctly interesting about his work was the way in which his captures movement. I wanted to focus on this to begin with so I thought using photography would be the best way to achieve this. 

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I began by using my phone to take some low quality photos on a slow shutter speed, I wanted to just capture movement more than anything else, such as the quality of the picture. This went really well, the shoots were interesting and related to the pixel like effect running throughout Birch's work. However I wanted to develop and modify the photography, therefore I decided to use a better camera. 

I headed to the photography room with two other students, and using a slow shutter speed began to capture movement such as facial movement body movement and the movement of objects. This wasn't working for me. Whilst the picture quality was a lot better, the actual blur and movement, the emotion I saw within Birch's pieces just were not coming through. Therefore, we decided to play around with the IOS and the slow shutter speed until discovering the perfect combination. Then the photos started to get interesting. The photos I like the most are of the head shots. I believe they show anger, and pure passion in a sense, which relates to the passion within Birch's work. 

The final way I wanted to represent Birch's work was through drawing and mark making, I began by looking at the human form, drawing quick marks from the people I saw around but as I began to draw more, I began to draw thinner, weaker people. Looking at Birch's work, I saw two things, the first being expression, expression of marks, expression of emotion and expression of passion. The second thing I saw when looking at Birch's work was the bones highlight in pieces, and the suggestion of weakness within the people he drew. Most people are covering their faces, hiding, and this is something I wanted to develop, I wanted to develop the weakness I saw. Therefore, I continued with drawing in such a style and I'm happy with how they turned out. I dislike drawing, but as I start to study things which interest me, and come more into my own style of drawing I feel I am happy with the development and progress I am making. However, I do want to revisit some of the pieces and add colour and sparks of shape and line, relating to the forms Birch creates. 

As well as drawing, I tried out another medium within the half an hour I had left. Oil paint is something which really interests me however I had always avoided using it. So I decided in a sort of "now or never" sense to use oil paint to capture the form of the body. I really enjoyed painting with this medium and I will definitely be creating more of these studies. 

Overall, I had a lot of fun researching this artist and creating visual responses to his work, this is something I have never done before therefore it challenged me, especially with the time limit involved. In addition to this, I was introduced into an artist which has both inspired me and led me to drawing more and using a variety of mediums. 

Creating the silhouettes

After looking at movement and the way we would draw equipment, we moved onto drawing the silhouettes. Using two types of paint, acrylic and emulsion we tested out which paint lasted better, which was more durable, and which looked more professional. After creating and painting the outline of the silhouettes, we could clearly see where the equipment would need to be added. After being painted, my perceptions of the piece did change, I began to like the dark tone a lot, as it made the figures look grand and powerful. However, the positives about the darkness of tone were also the negatives, was it too powerful? Did it look too grand? 

Therefore, as a group we deiced to continue and trail out different designs from the mural, looking at design each of us had created and discussing them amongst ourselves. 

Creating a basis

Atfter discussing fonts, designs, and colours, we started to create the mural. We decided to stick wallpaper onto the wall, since we didn't want to be spending our time repainting the wall, whenever a new design needed to be created. We started by using black silhouettes with a more basic design, which is what the PE department leaned more towards. I personally believed this design is slightly boring, a black tone against a harsh figured, then placed onto a mundane wall. However, we continued to experiment anyway. We had to take into consideration the size of the room in the sports hall, we needed figures to match the size of the wall, create enough impact within the room to show we had created something, yet not create too distracting. In addition to this, we had to take into account the pieces in the room such as pugs or heaters blocking. 

Group discussion- creating the mural

As a group, ideas are continuously flowing and developing, therefore it was important we started to settle on certain points, allowing us to develop the mural. Most of the group was completely settled on the idea of starting to experiment with the black silhouettes rather than using bright bursts of colour. Since the wall is high, and long, it meant the silhouettes needed to be large. Therefore it pointed to the medium needing to be large and extremely durable. We decided between three, spray paint, vinyl and black acrylic. All had their negatives and all have their positives, but we decided to go through with using spray paint and acrylic. Spray paint is going to be trailed to create the lettering for the quotes, whereas acrylic paint is going to be trailed to create the silhouettes in both matte and gloss enamel paint. 

Photographing form

After a long discussion as a group and with the sports teachers, we decided using black silhouettes were the idea we wanted to mostly start to trial and develop. Therefore we decided to photograph individuals in various positions to create silhouettes. In addition to this, drawing and sketching from these positions helps to understand the form of the body. Photographing both a boy and girl in various positions with a light background enabled silhouettes to be easy made or drawn out of all pictures. We decided to use some equipment to allow us to study the way the bodies form adapts in various positions  whilst playing sports.