TEXTURE EXPERIMENTATION

I wanted to push the architecture imagery I created further, taking the lines and juxtaposing them with a soft texture. I wanted a high contrast between the sharp straight lines, so I filled the surfaces with skin textures.

MONDAY 18 10 10 / SUMMARY

I've been working to reduce down the core themes running throughout my work to date into basic elements, and explore working with these qualities in forms outside of my usual media.

In practice this has taken the form of;

• Capturing strong shapes and lines in architecture.
• Investigation of construction materials.
• Reduction of architectural shapes to lines.
• Re building imagery using the distilled shapes and lines, but with block colour and texture.

I've found that focusing in on the notion of 'strong shapes' has enabled me to see my work in a renewed way, and helped me to understand the patterns in my work and the aesthetics/design I'm naturally drawn to.  Currently I've only really looked at this in isolation, having briefly touched upon texture/construction. I feel the answer is probably not as simple as I would like, I'd imagine it's a combination of elements, but i'd still like to distill these elements down as much as possible.

WHY do I like it, what aspect of the imagery I've captured really drives my attraction to it? WHERE do I take this next.

PHASE TWO

After going off on a concrete tangent, i've realised that, although as a material it's brilliantly harsh, it loses it's attractive qualities to a certain degree when you take away its lines. So in an exercise which aims to do the opposite, I've reduced down the photographs I'm most drawn too from the initial stages of exploration, in an aim to distill what it is that makes me favor them. Is the texture important, or can they remain aesthetically pleasing and strong just as wire frames?

CONCRETE/TEXTURE/PERCEPTION

As I seemed to keep coming back to these concrete structures, I've started looking into concrete as a construction material, its properties and uses. An aspect I came across is fabric forming concrete. Initially the idea of a forming method impacting upon the finish was something I spotted in my photography at the South bank, where the wood grain was visible in the concrete. Similar concept, but with fabric instead of rigid moulds, leaving behind its texture. The finished result is a product which toys with your perception a little bit. Even though you know it's concrete, part of your brain is telling you it will still be soft, one of those things you can't help but touch just to be sure. I love that visual trickery. But it loses the qualities that first attracted me to it as a material; large smooth surfaces, sharp edges and harshness, which all provide that visual contrast and 'strong shape'.

Key Architects; Anne-Mette Manelius, Kenzo Unno.

JUST MORE THOUGHTS

I found there was often two levels of 'shape' within the structures I photographed. The overall shape of the building, and then strong reoccurring shapes within the building also i.e. windows, doors, textures, patterns, signage.

I found myself constantly drawn to concrete structures. Those with clear brutalist influences. Buildings such as the Hayward gallery were so impressive and domineering in landscape, strong harsh shapes and sharp edges. Although the building was similar all over in colour, the sharp edges and angles meant light and shadows clearly divided the buildings sections and walkways.

Not sure why I'm drawn to the concrete structures so much, possibly because it's such an extreme? Both a harsh texture and shape. 

PHASE ONE.

Investigating along the initial theme of ‘strong shapes’, I’m drawn to architecture. The main texture that I’m drawn to alongside this is concrete. Seem to be attracted to the extremes. Lots of contrast, sharp edges, harsh textures. I’ll focus in on this more so by taking my own photography focusing on this theme of strong shapes, and sticking with architecture for the moment.

Below are a series of images I captured in London with a specific framework in mind. I was 'hunting' for architecture and shapes of high contrast, and actually anything I was instinctively drawn to I photographed too. I really enjoyed the whole process, I loved being amongst the buildings and really taking time to look at them and capture specific elements, framing them and making them my own, exactly how I wanted to view them.

They aren't pictures of buildings, they're my collection of lines and shapes that I've hunted down on the Southbank, cropped edited and re presented to myself, and others as 16 images most representative of my intended framework. Although the process was carried out with a specific aim, without an end result or a problem to solve it feels very self indulgent to me at this stage.

STRONG SHAPES

STRONG SHAPES / COMPOSITION / NEGATIVE SPACE / CONTRAST / TEXTURE / TONALITY / SHADOWS