Urban Art

I came across another blog where I found some very interesting images of urban grafitti photography courtesy of PhotoSIG.Visit the website on www.photosig.com to take a look at some really great photos from everyday photographers.

Graffitti has been an interest of mine, yes I know it is illegal and can be distructive, but it can also create some amazingly emotional pieces of artwork.
The graffitti ( done by unknown artists) is so raw and intense, which I feel is what real art is all about. Something that is created in a moment of raw passion that could probably not be created again.

I love urban art and the sub culture that graffitti has created, I feel there is real colour culture that can be seen through a lot of street art that you would never see in a art museum. If we could consider every surface medium are place as a blank canvass I think that some underground artist's would be abe create some pretty amazing artwork.
personally seeing some graffitti that you can see has been really though about and worked on is more inticing and though provoking than seeing a piece of 'modern art'

Oxford and Keeble College

I recently visited Oxford for the first time even though it’s only down the road. I absolutely fell in love with the place; it's a beautiful place with so much character and history. I was a complete tourist and decided to go on the open top bus tour, it was pretty great though I got to see some the most historical parts of Oxford and learnt some interesting facts.

Take a look at the building that houses starbucks, I've never seen one with so much character!













I also loved the old sign posts, I know its a pretty random thing to notice but its small details like these that I think personally makes a place historic, its gives it a sort of grandeur and elegance instead of the standard boring sign post with missing letters of chipped paint that you will see in most places.










A friend of mine was working at Keeble College ( Oxford University Halls) so I had a quick peek around the main grounds. As soon as you walk through the main doors you enter the college gardens, which was an experience in its own it had a well landscaped grass middle with lowering steps with the main building surrounding it. I love the way the layout of the building and grounds was designed it creates a real atmosphere, as if you have just walked into a scene from and old movie and left real life behind.
Below are a few shots of the Keeble College grounds:

Twilight

I finally decided to watch Twilight to see what all the fuss and hype was about, I hate lovey dovey movies especially teen flicks ( which basically sums up twilight ). It was what i expected from a highschool vampire movie , the anticipation between the two lead characters 'Bella' and 'Edward Cullen' was depicted pretty well though, it's encouraged me to read the book series.

The reason I'm blogging about the movie isn't quite the story line but some of the amazing locations and scene's which the movie was shot in.
After doing a bit of research I found that most of the scenes were filmed in St. Helens and Oregon.

One of my favourite locations is the Cullens house Sherwood, Oregon. An architectural masterpiece in its own, hidden amoungst the woods ( A pretty cool place to live).
The forest/ tree landscape that was used through out most of the movie ( where Edward and Bella's relationship flourishes) is what initially caught my attention, it looks as if it is surreal along with the muted colours in the final execution gave the movie a eerie and dark feel.


The photography , camera operation and the colorisation has made it a pretty good looking film with muted colors and the wide landscape shots makes the overall execution one that is quite mesmerising and earee.

In my eye's being able to capture amazing scenery like this is what has made the movie an enticing one to watch.

Silve Tree Sculpture

Above are some images of a silver tree that is in the centre of slough high street, something that I often passed and had never really noticed until I looked up one day.
It's a massive steel structure about 10- 12 feet tall with coloured steel birds hanging from the branches.
On some of the leaves, which unfortunately are quite hard to read are parts of poems written in many different languages ranging from English, Punjabi, Arabic, Urdu and Tamil. I think its quite an inspiring way of bringing all native tongues of all diverse communities in Slough together in one one way. It's not a sculpture that is trying to make a statement but a subtle way of welcoming being from all backgrounds.

By Lauren Luke

I know its not an inspiring piece of art but I think it's inspiring to see how a regular woman has got the opportunity of a life time and created a career out of setting up make- up tutorials through using viral online media ( youtube).
She has been approach but one the the largest cosmetics brand Barry M (who are well knows for their use of colour and artistic flair) to complete on-line tutorials for their website.

She is now a celebrity in the cosmetic business and has now launched her own make- up brand Lauren Luke and has her own website www.bylaurenluke.com where she has designed pallets that create individual looks ( supporting the tutorials she originally uploaded on youtube).

I'm also liking the artwork on her website and her make-up brand, its fresh and funky instead of being professional and expensive, I think the reason why she's such a hit is because she's an average joe doing something she loves, I like the idea of aspiring to something that is real and not out of reach

District 9

Saw it today, incredible. By far the most impressive film I've watched all year, surpassed my expectations by miles , this may be because there wasn't a massive hype and I didn't know too much about the movie apart from it involved aliens.

This film is a science fiction move that takes a real world problem of "Slums" and looks at it in a new and inventive way, the alien's are treated as if they are immigrants instead of some crazy race that is trying to kill the human race (so predictable). I was extremely pleasantly surprised.

I like the fact the film has a real plot a story, between man an alien instead of using a leading female sex symbol to lure a larger audience ( which I think most films do these days).
Overall an absolutely superb film, hat's off to producer Peter Jackson's and the Director Neil Blomkamp written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. I will definitely be watching it again.

Check out the trailer below if you haven't already seen it, I would definitely recommend it:

Telling Tales

Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design- it is the work of of a new generation if international designers, it was inspired by the spirit of story- telling through decorative devices, historical illusions and a choice of materials.

The exhibition is in three sections:
The Forest Glade is inspired by fantasy and nature evoking the spirit of fairy tales. The Enchanted Castle exaggerates and parodies historical design styles often associated with displays of status. Heaven and Hell is concerned with themes of mortality and the afterlife. The exhibition has its own own micro site www.vam.ac.uk/microsites/telling-tales/

The micro site allows the audience to interact and click on different section of the exhibition, the integrated flash components allows the user to explore a virtual version of the exhibition . Check out the " tell a tale" section, I think it's a great way of getting peoples imaginative flowing and integrating different ideas.
Unfortunately it doesn't have any real images of the furniture
displayed ( a great way of making the audience go to the
exhibiton and see it first hand), the pieces were so imaginative and elaborately designed, each section has sound as you walk into each area creating and enchanting atmosphere.

I managed to get one extremely blurry shot of the one of the pieces of furniture in the Forest Glade section before I got shouted at for having my camera out.

The artists are inspiring in the way of they childhood fairytales and turned them into furniture, I really enjoyed it.