Friday, 6 January 2012

Critical studies lectures reviewed Beautiful Losers 10th and 13th nov 2011





This is the name of the  film we watched in two parts over two weeks.


Approx 15 people were interviewed for this film.


As an overview,  the film shows you a mixed group of artists who have since the 90's, began a movement in the art world using what was then coined as D.I.Y Aesthetics from skateboarding, graffiti and underground music, punk and hip-hop. The artists are interviewed and explain their " Do It Yourself " style of street art. Many of them unknown back then, would later influence others and become established in their own fields gaining popularity and respect amongst many.

There were many great quotes in the film and some were also thought provoking.

"Do you stop creating when you grow up"?
“Is art for Rich People”?
“Funny can be the best hammer to beat people with”

Below is a little bit about four of those artists that were featured.


Margaret Kilgallen




Margaret started out in  her early twenties unknown and broke.In June 2001 she finished her Masters degree, gave birth to a daughter and died of breast cancer complications at the age of 33 whilst working on new things. In such a short but full career she had a great impact and influenced many.









Hobo train writing





Signage



She was many things and her own influences showed through her work.



She was quoted as saying: 



“I believe there need to be women visual in our every day landscape, working hard and doing their own thing, whether you like it or not, whether it’s acceptable or not…I especially hope to inspire young women because often I feel like so much emphasis is put on how beautiful you are, and how thin you are, and not a lot of emphasis is put on what you can do and how smart you are. I’d like to change that, change the emphasis of what’s important when looking at a woman.”




Shepherd Fairey





Quote by Shepherd Fairey
Taken from the Beautiful Losers film

" I'm so into Propaganda art and Pop art because that art is designed to stop you in your tracks, get your attention and then once it's got its hold on you delivers some sort of message. Advertising is the same way."

He started off in an skateboarding shop where he started stencilling his own punk t-shirts. He then became aware of Graffiti art and started to take his stencils to the street. Shepherd has been linked to plagiarising other peoples work and his own work has also been closely linked to that of Andy Warhol.
Fairey has already made a name for himself with  HOPE his 2008 Barack Obama's US Presidential Campaign.





Personally I like his work, everyone has to have an influence for their work. Each generation brings new creativity and audiences.



Cheryl Dunn






She is a film maker and photographer and her work is influenced by so many areas such as alternative urban and youth culture, homelessness to graffiti. When she was in her mid twenties she arrived back in New York to pursue her photography by shooting for magazines like Vogue  and Spin in the mid 90's she began to focus more towards film.

















All above photos are by Cheryl Dunn
Street Photography.

The link below is to a documentary made by Cheryl Dunn about street Photography.


From the photography I have seen of Cheryl's so far I have liked and will do more research into her photography work.




Mike Mills







He is many things such as a filmmaker, photographer and painter to name a few. Mike is also  said to be one of the most important creative minds to rise out of the decade. Some of his latter work was for album covers and has had clients such as The Beastie Boys and Sonic Youth . His work also includes graphic design for Marc Jacobs the fashion designer.






 Beastie Boys album cover





                                                                        Art work






Cover Art







Art work for Lady GaGa



Mike, during this film, had many great quotes, one being -



Lastly he says a never more true quote about how he sums up death.

" All you can take with you is love "





CONTENT   3/10  At the time of showing the film.
DELIVERY   2/10   Which  basically we were to sit and watch this film over a two week period,  1hr at a   time sessions.
INTEREST      2/10  At the time of the film showing.

 I have since learnt more about this film through my own re- research, as there was no lecturer input on the sessions of the film at the time. I now understand what the film was about and can appreciate the individuals in this film's input to society.


 Note various photos and quotes have been taken from the Internet for content purpose to illustrate the blog. Links to some site sources have been included

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