Personal Manifesto

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SUMMER PROJECT 2019

Research : Summer Travels

Over my 2019 summer holiday I went to many beautiful and inspiring places. I wanted to note down things that interested me, to see if there any running themes or connections to help with how I could execute this project or what the overall visual language will look like. I think taking this route could not only make my personal manifesto more… personal, but it will also capture the things that were around me and inspiring me when I made it.

ZSL London Zoo

At the beginning of the summer I spent a day at ZSL London Zoo with one of my friends. It was exciting to go to the zoo with another illustrator as we could spend ages with one animal when drawing it and not have to worry about the other getting bored, which I usually can’t do when with my family. I love drawing animals and they frequently appear in. my projects for university but I hardly ever spend the time drawing and studying them from life so this was a really fun and informative educational experience for me. One thing I like about drawing animals compared with drawing humans (which I also love) is that they can be drawn very quickly and simply whilst still staying true to my style, this makes them a perfect subject for animation in my case. I should consider this when thinking about how I should actually create my time-based manifesto piece. As if I were to do animation maybe using animals as a subject matter could be a fun and cute idea that. would stay true to me and my aesthetics (considering it is my manifesto).

These are some of the sketchbook pages I produced during my trip to the Zoo.

Chalkidiki, Greece

While I was in Chalkidiki I was consistently inspired by my beautiful surroundings. The flora, the sea, the architecture, everything was so beautiful and full of colour and bustling with life. I think what I want to take from my holiday in Greece is the colours and warm lighting that I was submerged in. It made everything seem happier and always lifted my mood.

space

Artist Research : Grayson Perry

Red Alan’s Manifesto, Grayson Perry RA, 2014

Grayson Perry RA once famously asserted, “I can be outrageous because the vice squad is never going to raid a pottery exhibition.”. What I love about Grayson Perry’s Red Alan’s Manifesto is that it manages to tackle some of art’s biggest issues, such as: Can anything be art? Who decides whether art is good or bad? In a playful, humorous and almost childlike way.n The manifesto is written under the authorship of Red Alan, a ceramic sculpture of his childhood teddy bear, Alan Measles. I really like this rough, unapologetic style its cute but also impactful, it’s headstrong and unafraid to speak it’s mind. I think I want to look further into some of the work of Grayson Perry for stylistic inspiration.

Artist Research : Gilbert & George

1. Always be smartly dressed, well groomed, relaxed, friendly, polite and in complete control.

2. Make the world believe in you and to pay heavily for this privilege.

3. Never worry, assess, discuss or criticize but remain quiet respectful and calm.

4. The Lord chisels still, so don’t leave your bench for long.

This wry extract is taken from Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore’ first manifesto of 1969 entitled The Law of Sculptors. Their overriding mantra is “Art for all”, a reaction against the intellectual and economical elitism of contemporary art. What I like about this manifesto is that except for the last point it doesn’t directly talk about art but it can easily be related to that. It’s a manifesto for everyone in the way it can be used by someone in any job and any position.

This kind of manifesto could be defined more as a ‘personal manifesto’ rather than an ‘artists manifesto’ like the one by Grayson Perry which is very much about art and about creating art.

For my manifesto I think I want to create somewhat of a mixture of the two, some points relating directly to art and my practise whilst others relate to how I want to live my life in the bigger picture – even though art is a massive part of who I am it is not all that I am.

The Laws of Sculptors, Gilbert & George, 1967

Process : Writing my Manifesto

1. Don’t feel guilty for taking breaks, but don’t stay away for too long

2. Aim high and work hard you can reach the stars.

3. Explore topics that interest you, shamelessly do what you love.

4. Accept critique and use it to grow.

5. Don’t compare yourself to others, everyone works at their own pace and in their own way.

6. Be kind

7. Dress nicely and in a way that makes you feel confident

8. Make time to see your loved ones

9. Keep exploring you never know what you’ll discover.

10. Learn from past mistakes, share you knowledge.

Above are the points I have decided to include in my manifesto. As can be seen I not monkey included points that can relate to my own practise and how I create work but also in how I want to live my life outside of my work. I feel this balance is important because if you are not happy within yourself and how you are living then this will extend to your work and effect how you view it.

Space

(Continued) Artist Research : Grayson Perry

I have always found the work of Grayson Perry extremely inspiring. The use of vibrant colour and an almost childlike aesthetic mixed with adult themes such as sex, greed and vanity make for an interesting contrast within the imegary that I adore. Even Perry’s personal style when he dresses as his alter ego Claire is fabulous, the little bo peep style clothing, expressive makeup and adorable accessories make it seem as if he has just come out of one of his own pieces.

What I want to take from looking into Grayson Perry’s work is this previously mentioned ‘childlike’ or ‘storybook’ style. Creating a manifesto about your work or about how you want to live your life can be something quite daunting for me, and using this kind of aesthetic the same way Perry does to explore other intense themes can be a way to make it more lighthearted and enjoyable. Also, I believe I am quite a child at heart, and creating my manifesto in this style will keep it more personal and relatable for myself. I am excited to see where this goes!

Process : Procreate

Something else very exciting that happened over summer was that I finally managed buy an IPad! This is something I have wanted for ages and finally owning one opens up many new doors for me, I can now create digital art and animations with much more ease, which means I am able to explore methods and processes I have always wanted to but have been unable to access!! This is why for this project I have decided to produce an animation for my final outcome. Using procreate is very new to me but I am looking forward to learning and exploring this software to produce work unlike anything I have done before. This is a very exciting new chapter for me.

Combining inspirations : experimenting with style and colour

For my first experiment I decided to combine elements from my trip to the Zoo, Grayson Perry’s work and my holiday in Greece. I drew animals that I thought could correlate with different parts of my manifesto. For instance: the hedgehog is take breaks (hibernation), the giraffe is take on board critiques and use them to grow and the peacock is dress nicely. I really like the idea of using animals to represent different points as it ties in my passion for wildlife, links to my work (as I often use animals in my pieces) and brings an exciting uniqueness to my piece. I also found these animals really fun to draw as I did it in a way that embraced a carefree attitude and discarded perfection. It shows this ‘childlike’ aesthetic I was trying to adopt.

Process : Style frame

To develop my ideas further I decided to create this two images to visualise how my animation is going to look aesthetically. Each point of my manifesto will have a different coloured background and animal. The animal will do a little movement that relates to the point. For instance, the Giraffe will stretch it’s neck and grow tall to reach the leaves and the rabbit will groom it’s friend. I really love this simplistic, colourful style. It makes the process of animation easier as it is quite quick to draw while not sacrificing anything in terms of quality and how the piece looks.

Final Outcome