Steve Rood

STEVE ROOD

Although I was unable to attend Steve Roods lecture I took it upon myself to investigate and explore the art practise of Steve Rood. Steve is a highly experienced photographer, who is also a lecturer at Manukau School of Visual Arts.

Steve’s interest in photography commenced when he was a young child. The very first photograph he took was of a simple compost heap, which afterwards, burst into flames the same day the photo was taken. This incident inspired Steve to pursue a career in photography, as he was amazed at the idea of capturing images of objects and what could happen next, enforcing the idea of the ‘power of a photograph’. Steve first started his career in photography in London as a documentary photographer. As well as documentary, Steve has worked in fashion, advertising, food, still life and portrait photography, as well as design, which is such an overwhelming achievement.

Simplicity and elegance are heavily incorporated in Steve’s photographs. For example, the style of his over-exposed, out of focus fashion photographs, portrays the subject matter as a simple, almost invisible form. The figures seem so simple yet the out-of-focus effect lays a mysterious feel to the photographs. Another series of work that appealed to me were his “shadow Making Machines”. These works explore the shadows of the materials that they are made out of. The work focuses on the shadows that the light and the object implement. Each piece is constructed out of domestic items such as post it notes, a rake, jars, wire, plastic bag etc… Steve then inserts a light source inside, to cast out remarkable shadows on the surrounding walls. I like the way the different items cast a very unique shadow. I also find it interesting to know that this series was photographed/or made, using simple household objects.

“The Shadow Making Machines bring the darkness in everyday life to light. They urge us to closely look within the shadow to ascertain the light." – Patricia Rood, 2008

Although I have never been interested in Photography, I find it interesting to see the difference in photographs taken 100 years ago, until more recent years. Technology has heavily influenced the photographic world. Robert Cornelius evidently took the first ‘daguerreotype’ photograph of a person. ‘Daguerreotype’ is “an early photographic process with the image made on a light-sensitive silver-coated metallic plate. The shift in technology has allowed photographers to easily take digital photographs at the touch of a button.

Even though I may not pursue a career in photography, I appreciate the work that Steve’s achieves, and have realized how fast technology is developing, affecting not only the world in general, but Art as well.

Richard Orjis

Choose 3 terms and relate to culture the practice of Richard Orjis??

This week we had Richard Orjis come in to our lecture today to tell us about himself and his practices. Orjis is a kiwi born who was born and raised in Wanganui. Richard had graduated from Carnegie Mellon University,Pittsburg where he had earned a BVA(bachelors in visual Art). And had recently graduated from A.U (Auckland University) at the Elam School of Fine Arts in 2006 gaining his MFA (Masters in Fine Arts)

Orjis worked for photographer and film maker David LaChapelle and had collaborated on a couple of projects with Cuban American artist Anthony Goicolea

On Nature and Beauty (Surface vs. substance

Orjis talks about how a lot of his works are based

around religion in some way. Orjis says that he doesn’t believe in

modernism… we are always connected to something else…

e.g religion,Christmas etcin this image i really like how he symbolizes the beauty of

humans. and how we are as beautiful beautiful as flowers.well thats what i think. The garden'

focuses on a group of works that use repeated motif of the orchid flower.in these images there

is a sense of danger and darkness but also the reality of natural wonders.The beauty of the

flower catches the veiwer, drawing them closer to the flower.

Overall with Richard’s work I learned

to look at nature from a different perspective and I realize that its shown me to see thing’s differently like why things look the way they do and the way I interpret how people are, syles of clothing they wear etc.

Deborah Crowe-One Idea.

What is Deborah Crowe’s “One Idea” made up from and how does it keep recurring various ways?

Deborah crowe is currently my drawing teacher for this semester and personally i really enjoy her pieces of art works, i find her peices very creative and very original.As a lecturer on the other hand I don't really enjoy her classes but still i think she is a wonderful lady to work with. In her works she likes to use bridges, weaving, space, containment, and construction in her artworks. For me I think that Deborah’s work is very interesting and looking at all of them I think for her “One idea” she like’s to use space and containment.

One artist Deborah was very influenced by was Caroline Broadhead a brittish artistwho majored in jewellery . Deborah likes the idea of how the body in the image is contained in by the neck veil you can see on this image. (Caroline Broadhead Neckpeice veil circa 1986)

Caroline Broadhead is a highly versitile artist .trained as a jeweller,she developed her practice beyond this discipline to work on a larger scale, with textiles, light and space.

In this image i like the idea of how she uses ideas and styles from her artist influences and creates her own series of works that became very original like this peice of work. (deborah Crowe Collared 1999)

another artist that Deborah mentions that was really influential in her artworks was Bridget Riley. I personally can see why Deborah is inspired by her because for me this is really amazing how she uses different colour threads and how its been constructed which forms these

beautiful lines of colours that just catches your eyes.

Bridget Riley is one of britain's best known artists. since the mid- 1960s she has been celebrated for her distinctive,optically vibrant paintings which actively engage the veiwer's sensations and perceptions,producing visual experiences that are complex and challenging.

And with this piece of artwork you can clearly see how influential Bridget Riley.But Deborah has once again made very original peices of works

Overall for me her "one idea" is about creating space of what u might be contained in. and i find that it really shows in her pieces of artworks.

Steve Lovett

Blog question:How has Steve Lovett's practice evolved over the period of his professional career?

For this week we had one of my favorite lecturers Steve Lovett come in to give us a presentation on his artworks and art practices. Although i did not attend that weeks lecture i had help from Alli who helped and explain in detail what had happened on tuesday and also gave me her notes to look at. For me personally i find steve's art and practices reallyinteresting because first of all how he is currently my drawing lecture for this semester.

Also because i know he has a great knowledge of art and artists and so i was very excited to see how Steve expresses and shows us the definition of what he calls Art.

In his first slide during his lecture wich Steve titles "what do i do when im not here"he talks about the concept of the passing of time, the transition and the loss of time. he talks about how printed images are the idea's he works around. And to him thats the idea of developing an understanding of the world, in this slide of art works Steve shows me that he has a lot of contemporary portrait work in his arwork that to me shows that steve has interests with identity

For this artwork (mother and daughter what can we say 1997), I really like that idea of how we only know ourselves through second person, and through our dialogues and interaction through our friends, lovers, families, and colleagues is an interesting concept. This artwork for me seemed to give that feeling of wanting and dealing with these feelings.

but coming back to the question i couldnt really answer it because i didn't attend the lecture that day and i wasnt really sure. but by looking at emit i found that steve began to use a more formal art convention rather than political style of work he began out with. Like with this image i think that he uses a different style of technique like for example the holes in the image, to me this give's that kind of 3 dimensional look to it. but i like the way hes used space the colour and its form.

Francis Hansen

Blog question-choose at least two things from francis hanson process list and explore in reletion to her practices



Last tuesday we had my drawing lecturer from last semester Francis Hansen come in and talk about herself her family and her art practices.She talks about how she tries to balance her life as an artist azwell as being a mother and how she combines her ideas around her surroundings with her family and her major.she talks about her 4 steps in her process of art making,and in each of these steps she has these list of methods.

I also really liked the idea of how she uses the gathering, composing and experimenting to her advantage for her ideas and art practices.during the lecture francis talks about how she has a passion for collecting objects,she like's to collect objects that she finds she can work with. wether she likes the shape of its form, the look of it or simply for material's use.the thing i find interesting about francis hansen's work is that she is very creative and original. I like the idea of her recycle use of materials aswell.She talk's about how she bases her work around the things that take place around her every day life.

I like the way she also tries to present her work in relation to where she is going to display them. and again i find that very original.Overall i didn,t really enjoy the style of her artwork but i like the idea of how she uses recycling to create her work.

Eldon Booth

Blog Question:Discuss Eldon Booths exploration of reality and illusion



This weeks topic was on moving image by Eldon Booth.this was my first time meeting Eldon on tuesday's class. because i had never done moving image before i found it really interesting to have Eldon Lecture us and how he began as an art student at M.s.v.a where we are now.Eldon talks about how he has a love for writing scripts, and how he dedicates his work on his interests of the idea in the difference between 'reality and fictionIn the Lecture i found Eldon very interesting to listen to, He talked about how he Graduated from M.s.v.a in 1999 and for me I find that cool because it gave me an idea of where my life could lead to with this course and How interesting the things i could do with a degree in B.v.a at the manukau school of visual arts, and also if he can do it than i can. In the lecture he showed us two of his short films that showed us the idea of reality and illusion for the veiwer



The first film he showed us was "Extract from Withdrawl".I really liked the idea of how he used family members as his cast for the short film instead of using hired actors. to me that was a good idea bacause he didn't have to waste any money on hired actors and would also be more comfortable being aruond family than people u don't no.In the film you see how the time slowly going on and on and you start to see the actors age, starting form the beginning is a young teenager(brother) who is seen smoking drugs, hanging out with his friends and also seen catching the train and then how it shows an old man (Grandfather) who is seen lying in the hospital bed.I liked how he uses split screen to show the two different timelines in the day and show the copmarison of the Grandson and Grandfather.He also talked about how he used the 'Amateure' style of filming using natural sound/music and the following behind them filming.much like a documentary where the veiwer is in the place of the camera and to also get to know both charaters through there actions.



For the second short-film he made a drama/documentary style of film. In the lecture during this film he talked about how a documentary on 20/20 inspired him for his style of this documentary. he talks about how he really liked the camera angles, sound and lighting that was used in that documentary and had decided to use similar ideas for his short film .but overall i like his work and find moving image very interesting

Dion Hitchens

On Tuesday we had Dion Hitchens come in to our class to show us and explain his art work and practices. Although he was only in class for an hour, one of his artworks that I found really interesting was the maunga artwork that is displayed in Manukau. He talked about how he had built the monument in his back yard making it out of stainless steel and had to use a crane to move it from his backyard to Manukau. The thing that I find interesting about that particular piece of artwork is that I’ve always known about the sculpture and I always see it at Manukau every time I’m there but now I actually no who created it “Dion Hitchens” and it amazes me because he is currently my lecture for sculpture and so every time i see him i no that he created this sculpture. He talked about how the image of his sculpture was inspired by this mountain in Tahiti called maunga and also how Auckland city is where the largest population of Polynesians Live, and so now not only do I no who created it but I also no about the significance backround of why this sculpture had being created the way that it was.

Being Maori /Asian he talked about how his practices are based around his culture. also in one of his artworks he says that even though he loves his Maori culture and background his religious faith comes from his Asian descent being of Buddhist faith.

For collaberation one of his artworks that I also found interesting was the “Tiki Wanaga” which was a sculpture that is currently hung up at the Onehunga community centre and library. For this artwork he collaborated with Charles Koroneho , Each piece of Sculpture is made from aluminium and lashed with fibreoptic cable that lights up in blue and white. His sculpture was inspired by traditional Maori objects used by Priests to obtain Knowledge, it also represented the combination of traditional Maori art and new technologies