Review - Tate Modern

The exhibition ‘Transformed Visions’ introduces artists who explore the erosion of the figure in the art of the 1940s and 1950s. The exhibition focuses on the tension between the physical and abstract in the art. Walking around this exhibition I found myself drawn to Thomas Hirschhorn’s ‘Candelabra with heads’. What simply looked like mannequins cocooned in brown packing tape, conveyed so much more as the faces of the mannequins seemed to be evolving.

In room one there was only two pieces of work; Hirschhorn’s ‘Candelabra with heads’ and Germaine Richier's 'Shepherd of the Landes’, which was displayed directly opposite from each other. Both works reveal harshly contrasting ways of presenting the human figure.

The sculpture worked well being in this room as it further emphasized the stiffness and restriction.

Thomas Hirschhorn is a Swiss artist who works and lives in Paris. Hirschhorn is known for his sculpture and installations with brown packing tape.

When carefully analysing his work I felt a sense of restriction as the mannequins were tightly compressed together with brown packing tape. This suggested a sense of ‘no freedom’; whether that be in society or his life, this piece leaves the observer’s speculating. It is important in this exhibition that you have an open mind when viewing the work because during this period of time living through many crises’ followed by the Second World War, artists were faced with the predicament of how to make art in the shadow of catastrophe.

Hirschhorn’s work is made up of everyday materials such as cardboard, paper and plastic bound with brown packing tape. I feel like his work combines more than one field of art and design. Despite the fact that the piece visually is a sculpture, you can see the combination within Fashion and textiles because of the material he uses and how he portrays it.

I see many connections within this piece of work that are similar to my interests. Especially the use of material. I enjoy exploring different ways and methods to portray the same idea. I think the use of brown packing tape makes this piece prominent.

 

 

Photoshoot

 

 

I've been looking at designers such as Issey Miyake a Japanese fashion designer who has designed a collection of paper garments that expand from two-dimensional geometric shapes into structured shirts, skirts, pants and dresses.

Day 3 - Fashion and Textiles

On Day three of Fashion and Textiles we were asked to create one of our designs. I decided to make a head piece that I designed.

 

I was inspired by babies! I love the way Fashion has evolved and the way some fashion designers have used baby fashion from the past for women fashion now!

 

 

I think this specific garment looks cute but classy at the same time! This headpiece is made as a summer hat, so its used to protect you from the sun.

 

This head piece would be nice to wear with a dress or a skater skirt.

 

Day Two - Fashion and Textiles

I was really looking forward to Day two of Fashion and Textiles. We were told to bring in a few magazine cut outs of figures. From these we were asked to design paper garments on top of this. I really enjoyed crating paper garments. They were quite challenging at first but I got used to it. We were told to create unique designs. I used images of my baby sister for some of them. I also used post it notes. I used some of the techniques and ideas from yesterday.

 

 

I think that all of my designs were really successful as they were all original and unique.

Then I began to use some felt tip pens to enhance some of my designs. Then I used a black biro pen to create some designs.

 

Then at the end of the day we were asked to design fifty design ideas for a garment to actually construct tomorrow. I really enjoyed deigning my own designs.

 

Fashion and Textiles

 

Within Fashion and Textiles, we will be exploring the relationship between structure, pattern, multiples and fashion. The topic will be explored through paper instead of fabric! So absolutely no sewing necessary!!

 

the first task we were asked to do is to simply be creative! We were told not to think about fashion at all, instead to consider the basic elements of image, pattern, multiples, texture and form. We were asked to produce 5 small samples based on either structure, image or texture. I chose to explore structure.

 

 

 

 

I really enjoyed this task, as I found it really interesting, working with paper to create something!

 

We were then asked to duplicate on the 5 designs 50 times!!!

 

As you can see in the images below ..