Laurie Simmons

American artist Laurie Simmons’ mind-bending work varies from photography, film and even live performances. Her work, as many others that I have looked at this year, blurs the line between reality and fantasy. Her works mainly consist of constructed rooms or locations that are then photographed in a style that makes them appear to be actual locations. Her photo and film works ‘The Love Doll’ show a doll in various poses that make it seem like an actual person (standing by a tree in the snow, or having a bath etc.) These works seem like normal photos that you might find in someone’s holiday snaps but they become damn spooky when you realize that she isn’t real. Another set of photos that are rather relevant to my work on the Guardhouse are ‘Deluxe-Redding House’ and ‘Long House’. These are tiny rooms furnished with tiny furniture that almost look like they are real show rooms.

You can look through her works (and watch some fascinating lectures) at her website at:

http://www.lauriesimmons.net/

Thomas Demand

Thomas Demand, a German sculptor known for photographing 3D constructs that look like real location shots. He works in a few medias, them being Photographs of the ‘sets’ he makes, installations and short repetitive films. All of which either depict places that he himself has never been to, or places that don’t really exist. His ‘Presidency’ works that were commissioned by The New York Times depict the famous oval office in America, a place that most people could recognize instantly but have never been to physically. This work is so highly detailed that it looks like either a photo of the actual office or a film set (which I suppose is the point behind the work really.)

You can check out his website at:

http://www.thomasdemand.info/

James Casebere

James Casebere is an American artist that specializes in constructed photography. His pieces range from table-sized constructs made with simple materials, to large-scale instillations. His works are eerily realistic and it is difficult to tell if the places photographed are real or constructed environments. Some of his works that stand out to me are ‘Interrogation Room’ with its lone chair sitting in the cold, damp confines of the cell creating a rather haunting atmosphere. ‘Cell #1, Cell #2 and Cell #3’ because they are so damn claustrophobic. ‘Tunnel #2’ because the corridor seems to go on and on without end. ‘Yellow hallway #2’ for the way the water distorts the tiled floor. And finally ‘Western street’ because it looks like a creepy little town you might end up in if you were in a horror film (it reminds me of the town in the film ‘House Of Wax’)

 You can see his works (from 1975 to present) as well as other info on his website at:

 http://jamescasebere.net/

Smarter Commerce IBM Advert

I saw this TV-spot the other day and thought it was not only clever but also rather relevant to may work on the Guardhouse. The TV-spot is for IBM advertising smarter commerce and consists of someone putting a box on a counter and the box opens to show various dioramas made of cardboard to help explain points that the advert is making. I thought it was rather well made and inspiring… not interested in IBM so the advert sort of fails in that respect but it was beautifully done considering that it was advertising boosting business revenue etc. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find out who made the advert for IBM.

You can watch the ad for yourself here:

http://www-05.ibm.com/innovation/uk/think/videogallery.html?re=sph

(Go to ‘TV Spots’ and click on ‘Smarter Commerce’)

GuardHouse Cosplay Photo

Not really related to my Guardhouse project exactly but it is such a good piece of photography and cosplay (dressing as a fictional character) that I just had to mention it. The Brazilian Deviantart cosplayer ‘Chris-Rickfield’ has had a few photos taken on location while cosplaying as Chris Redfield (one of the two main characters From the first Resident Evil game that the Guardhouse is from.) The locations he has chosen are eerily close to the actual locations the game is set in and the lighting used gives the photos a rather haunting feel. The costume is impressive, being as accurate as possible and the stances that the cosplayer uses for the photos are spot-on. As I mentioned before ‘Rickfield’ has a few works dressed as Chris Redfield but the one that really struck me is ‘Walking to the Guardhouse’ because apart from all of the reasons these works are so good this one just sums up the feelings of dread and loneliness that embodies the ‘Survival Horror’ that Resident Evil is known for.

You can see ‘Walking to the Guardhouse’ and Chris-Rickfield’s other work at:

http://chris-rickfield.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d41rukh

Miniature Apartment

On my hunt for inspiration for my Guardhouse project I found this amazing miniature version of Monica’s apartment from the American TV sitcom ‘Friends’ by a Brazilian artist ‘Brunasc’ on Deviantart.com. ‘Brunasc’ was kind enough to upload many shots of her apartment showing all of the details she has managed to create, including photos that are smaller than a penny. She also has Work-In-Progress photos depicting her artwork in its various stages of creation. She has stated that her work is entirely made of paper, but I think I spotted some MDF and foam board in there, the majority of it does appear to be made of paper. All in all it is damn impressive and I hope I can make something this realistic.

Check it out yourself at:

http://brunasc.deviantart.com/gallery/34390024?offset=0

Greyson Perry

Greyson Perry visited UEL for a guest lecture and to be honest I thought it was going to be a rather boring experience… I was proved so terribly wrong. Perry was quite frankly bloody brilliant. The lecture theatre was literally buzzing when the lecture started and it didn’t die down until long after the lecture had ended. Perry (who wouldn’t define himself as a potter but an artist that makes pots) showed a slideshow of various artworks (such as the path to becoming an artist headscarf and various handmade vases as well as a beautiful folk art family quilt where if a family member died a member of the family would move a coffin from the edge of the quilt into the cemetery.). Perry talked of his struggle in the art world, as people tend to think that pottery isn’t art and that people don’t expect much of pottery. Perry was kind enough to provide a list of tips for the budding artist, which were:

- Turn up on time

- Be reliable

- Be nice

- Put the hours in

- Don’t overprice your artwork

- Always wear something distinctive at an art exhibition

- Don’t do a fucking neon artwork!

- Put the names of collectors on your artwork

- Make sure people know you’re the artist

- Call it something like ‘drawing of a fat person’ and a fat person may very well buy it

- Sell to journalists

- China don’t like things that are easily faked

- A gift shop

- A sign at your exhibition stating “warning, adult themes”

- A sponsor for any exhibitions

He went on to mention that he is not a fan of graffiti art or manga (which hurt me greatly) or overly realistic because there isn’t really a point anymore as you could just take a photo, and also that there is enough life drawing, we don’t need any more. His lecture also covered exhibitions, saying that people these days want a ‘theme park sudoku’ style experience from an exhibition; they want to be shocked and awed. He then covered artists in general; how he is fed up with people thinking that because they are doing something quirky they think it is art, and its wrong that because we understand conceptual art that everyone is an artist, people also seem to look too hard for meaning in art. The Q&A was also rather enlightening although he specified that we shouldn’t ask him what his favorite colour is. He stated that being famous has ruined being a tranny for him, whatever materials you work with when you are working with them is when you get your ideas, thinking you need money to be an artist is a load of tosh, it’s very tempting when you get a ‘hit’ to replicate it but it’s a bad idea, he happens to be a slight perfectionist that doesn’t learn from his mistakes and hates it when things go wrong in the kiln etc, making pottery is difficult but satisfying but Photoshop is great because it has an undo button. He also went on to say that you can fill a gallery using Photoshop in four months but with pottery it would take 2-4 years and that an exhibition just isn’t going to happen without a sponsor. It was the first time I had ever ‘met’ (been in the presence of) a famous artist and he was just lovely.