Art of Food Waste

Art of Food Waste

This website above is interesting and really links into my theme of decay, as it talks all about the decay of food and it even mentions the Damien Hirst piece - Lets Eat Outdoors Today. 

It also looks at the decay process, Jared Szpakowski, of food and I have done the same with drink:

I took these images of cups of tea that had been left to decay over time and they formed a layer of mould over the top of them. Because the meat idea didn't work, I decided to try this instead and this also links in well with the idea of decay as they were left for several weeks. I have also got some other original mould that also formed alongside these images, which is in my sketchbook (see folder - mould).

I am planning on adding these images into photoshop and layering them up other images.

Gunter Brus

I came across this artist whilst I was conducting some research into my project and I thought this linked in well with the theme of decay. As you can see below, there are a range of different images that link in very nicely with the idea of decay as the image directly below shows a man with a large cut/stitch down the middle of face and skull suggesting that he has been cut open, revealing what is underneath his skin, which links in with multiple images as his layers of his body are becoming revealed and thus this shows decay, as the skin is pulled apart. There is actually one piece of work of his that does show someone pulling their skull apart: Brus' Work

This image above is particularly interesting, as there is a clay women in the corner and a baby that is lying close by her. I think that this links in closely with the Sam Taylor Wood piece, as there is something decaying the corner, yet there is something that is still very much alive which is close by, kind of symbolising life and death or young/old which again links closely with decay. 

I love this image above where the flowers that've been drawn on, yet the twigs have just been laid on top of the work, linking into my theme of multiple images. It also symbolises how someone or something could be suffering, yet on the outside they don't show it as something is permanent on the paper (flowers), yet the twigs are kind of a cover up which aren't permanent.

Fragment Technique

I have recently been show an app which is called Fragment and you add an image into it and then you manipulate the image and create multiple images within one image:

Again, this is another technique that links in well with my theme of multiple images and also decay because it is breaking something down into smaller pieces, revealing them closer. 

Idea

The idea of having the piece of meat in a box and taking photographs of it each day, linked into Sam Taylor Woods inspiration, as she took a video of a dead hare nailed to a wall and over time it showed that the flies and the maggots came and ate away the dead flesh to clear it up, allowing nature to take it's course; however what was interesting about that piece was that there was a piece of fruit that sat next to it and that stayed intact the whole time, showing that something that isn't meant to be there starts to decay very quickly, linking back into the life cycle as it gets cleared away by other animals, again linking in with my theme of decay. 

Also, to link in with the theme of decay, I had an idea of taking a picture of a tree in my garden each day to show it grows which would link in with a life cycle and in the end it would decay; however due to the short period of time that I had, I felt like it wouldn't show much of a difference between each photograph. Instead I chose to show my theme of decay and multiple images in other ways. 

As the tree idea wouldn't have been feasible, due to the time scale that it would've taken to show change, I have decided to take a normal plant and take photographs of it over a couple of weeks to show how fast the decay process can occur.

This is what I found:

I took one of these images each day and as you can see after a couple of images, to tulips start to droop over and decay dramatically, showing their week stems are struggling to hold them up. This indicates the decay process is starting to take place, as you can see in the last image that the tulip at the top of the image is start to close and change colour as it withers. 

As the tree wouldn't work due to timing issues, this is what I produced instead.

New Techinque

Today I was introduced to a new technique which linked in extremely well to my project and the theme of decay and multiple images:

Above is the technique that I have used to produce my work:

I love this technique and I think it fits in great with my project, as it shows different layers which links in with multiple images and I think the technique/piece that it produces links with decay as you can see bits of the paper are peeling off and the use of black and white image reflects a old/worn out building that has decayed over time, showing it's different layers.

Theme of my Project

I have chosen to do the project, multiple images; however I am going to use the theme of 'decay' to explore this. I have started pieces within my sketch book and I have also found some artists that also look at this. The initial research that I did looking into Eaedward Muybridge will link in nicely with this also, as instead of focusing just on 'multiple images', I will be looking at things are they start to decay, thus linking to this work as he focuses on the changing positions of the animals.

I have started to look into silhouettes and stencils of faces. I took an image of my face from the side and drew a quick line drawing of it. I then cut out an outline of the face and began to place it on different surfaces to show how things can change over time and it also shows that the face can decay over time which is suggested by the different background that are showing through the outline.

After I did this, I started to look into charcoal work and quick sketchy drawings. From the image of my face from the side, I completed a silhouette charcoal drawing, which is in my folder.

My inspiration for this came from Pam Glew and another image that I found which I was inspired by the technique of it.

Pam Glew

Technique

Again, these images fit into the theme of decay because the charcoal material creates a smudge and a layered effect. The image above has a sort of blur to it which has been created with the charcoal smudging and this links to both multiple images and decay, as the smudging sort of creates layers and the decay is shown also by the smudging as a 'blur' is created.

Pam Glew links in with multiple images also, as she works on top of tea-stained paper and also works into her pieces with charcoal, ink and chalk. The idea of decay links into this piece by having the face and creating the tone to the face. Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to look at faces and the wrinkles on faces. I may choose a celebrity and show how over the years they have decayed.

Another artist that links closely to Pam Glew's work is Florian Nicolle:

This artist uses the same kind of materials that Pam Glew does and they also work with portraits of faces, which links again to the above work that I have shown by Pam Glew. Both Pam Glew and Florian Nicolle have influenced the work at the start of my portfolio, which I have worked into a face image and developed it by using charcoal and ink etc; however I have also developed the image in relation to sillohette style work which links to the artist, Jasper James. He has create a very similar piece to the work that I have done and I took the inspiration from the images that I have shown at the top of this blog post, using the cut of a face and placing it on different materials and this links in with Jasper's work, yet it offers a different interpretation. My interpretation of the style of work that is below is in my folder and I have produced a physical piece of work, rather than doing it digititally and I have placed the same cut out that I have used on the photographs above and I have stuck that onto the top of a landscape image that I had taken. 

This also links in with the double exposure work that Matt Wisneiwski's pieces that are in my previous blog posts and link to the idea of having a face and showing a landscape through that. 

To link in with multiple images also, I have looked at the idea of double exposure. Double exposure is when you take a picture of something and don't wind the film of the camera on.

As you can see, there is a background within the image of the human. I have found a lot more images on this website, Many More Artists/Photographers, and they all link in with my project extremely well. You can see above my images that are a cameo/sillouhette, that I have placed onto different backgrounds is my interpretation of this technique and this links in with the idea of multiple images.

To link in more with the theme of decay, I have started to look at Sam Taylor Wood's video of a dead hare decaying and the maggots eating away at it: A Little Death

As the hare starts to rot away and decay, the peach stays intact and doesn't even start to show any form of decay, which is extremely interesting as it just shows how nature takes it course and starts to clear away the dead animal until only the shell of it is left.

Another piece of Sam Taylor Wood's work which links in with the theme of decay, is the piece of the fruit bowl where she has left it to decay and it starts grow mould:  Fruit Piece

To link in with her pieces, I am going to piece a piece of meat and take a picture of it everyday as it begins to rot away and the maggots starts to clear it away. I may then make this into a video.

A piece by Damien Hirst really links in well with the idea of using video to show decay. His piece, 'Lets eat outdoors today' shows how nature takes it course to clear away dead animals, as he sets up a picnik table in a glass cabnit and places a dead pigs head underneath the table as time goes on the maggots and flies start to build up and begin to get zapped by the fly killing machine. It is really quite amazing: Lets Eat Outdoors Today

I wanted to try my own piece; however when living in an area where there are many animals such as foxes I don't think it would work like I wanted to. I had the idea of taking a picture of a piece of meat in a box each day to watch how the maggots got into it and tidied it away, but it didn't work like I wanted it too. It didn't actually change and in the end it wasn't there the next day as a fox or another animal must have eaten it. 

Instead of choosing pursue the idea of leaving the meat outside, I decided to let a cup of coffee decay. I wanted to investigate my ideas further and instead of completing the same idea as Damien Hirst, by using the meat, I chose to use 3 cups of coffee and I left them for well over a week to see what results I would have at the end of it. 

After the week, I ended up with 3 cups full of mould:

 

After the mould was taken out of the cup, this was the outcome after another couple of weeks:

 

Above is the image that is in my folder.

 

The texture and the form of the mould links to this fine art america piece which I found and this links into my project, as I am hoping to include the mould within some pieces of my work.