Monday 31 January 2011

"Magnetic Man"/ Visual interpretation of Music




This is a Brittish band I've recently discovered and that I'm very much interested in, on how it introduces an entirely new era of sound.

Its an electronic music project, with dubstep influences created by Benga, Skream and Artwork; the three of them are DJ's who perform using three computers. One plays drums samples, the other one basses and the third one leads and samples. They basically combine pitch, rhythm and melody using electronic musical instruments.

What I love about this band is the fact that they combine different genres of sounds, like techno, pop, opera, and they mix them with electronic elements of modern music. They take unusual electronic sounds to suggest the beat, that is mainly presented as a 2-Step Beat. This ultimately creates an overwhelming Bass line that is reinforced with occasional vocals and manipulated instrumental sounds.

In my opinion, it's an innovative new band that represents perfectly the roughness and the darkness of city life in a modern society.



Inspired by Brian Eno's Constellations (77 million paintings), I've considered taking the sonic pieces of the a band's songs and divid them into individual parts of sound. Each part could be differently presented as a visual canvas of colours and shapes. I t will not relate so much to the lyrics of the sound but the more into the pitch, rhythm and melody of that specific song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_06fTFFMoi0




* A quite interesting experiment of a foundation student in his project on how to visually interpret the sound of an analog radio being tuned.
http://vimeo.com/11746359

* Another interesting example on Audio Visual Interpretation of a song by Eminem.
http://thedesignatedsketcher.com/progress/audiovisual-interpretation




DOUG AITKEN


A very inspiring work of Doug Aitken- "Sleepwalkers"(2007) at MoMa, New York. It consists of five  short interconnected film that tells the story of one night in the life of 5 New Yorkers. The fact that it is so gracefully placed and presented around the city buildings, makes it even more realistic. This sort of projects as well the music of Magnetic Man, are very much representing a new, interactive era of the 21 century. Audience is given the chance of experiencing sound and image in an entirely new way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVRds0rTILM


Monica Bonvicini



" Destroy she said"/ two-channel video installation onto drywall screens (1998). An inspiring artist, who's video installations and general concepts on art and life are quite interesting.  


Olafur Eliasson




















San Francisco/ Museum of modern arts. This is a tunnel of colour and light illusions that you experience while walking through it and gradually observing it from different angles.
The artist makes the piece so spectacular because he manages to manipulate the light, the shapes, the colours and the angles in order to create a beautiful synthesis of colours.

Jenny Holzer


I love Jenny Holzer's series of work, called "Projections". She focuses on applying words and ideas in public spaces. Through her work you can clearly see that she's very well aware of the art of text and uses her knowledge to draw the attention. 
Considering this, I've thought about using the lyrics of my chosen song and use different style, size and boldness of lettering to emphasise the music. 


Nam June Paik
" Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S" 
Paik was committed to finding ways in which he could develop video and the moving image as an art medium. He discovered innovative ways of using the TV as an art installation medium. He also used laser as a new form of sculptural art and installation. In his other works "Exposition of Music-Electronic Television" and "TV Cello" he uses magnets to distort the images on the TV screen.









I've recently found this work by illustrator Wayne Horse. I really like the idea of having a big screen outdoors somewhere easy for public to access and just show great animations with the affordance of sitting while watching. I'm very interested in this kind of approach towards music, something free and public for everyone to see and hear.




My First Crush

A wonderful work from Julia that combines both text and image. The music and the voices make the video even more realistic and appealing. Truly beautiful!

Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass


A truly rebellious artist that creates similar impressions throughout his video clips!
In his website, you can see great illustrations, videos, concepts and ideas around the modern hip hop and Rn'B industry and lifestyle.
http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php/blogs-mainmenu-63/116-music/213-aesop-rock-interview

subtle - deathful

subtle - the crow

Subtle - Midas Gutz

Some of the cover illustrations that I really enjoy looking at

Subtle 'Swan Meat' music video by SSSR

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop)

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU

Minilogue/hitchhikers choice - short version (Longer on DVD)



A lovely visual interpretation of electronic sounds, that i would particularly like to work with in my new project

The PEN Story


I've found 2 more stop motion video clips of different artists, that I find very inspiring and well presented.

Coldplay - Strawberry Swing

A very inspiring video by Coldplay's newest album/song is called Strawberry Swing. The STRAWBERRY SWING music video uses a stop-motion animation chalk rendering technique to portray their front man, band member Chris Martin, as a super hero fighting with a giant squirrel to save a female hostage. The music video is worth watching for is creativity and usage of different media to engage the viewer into listening to the story, relayed through the music’s haunting melody – quite beautiful!

"Innovative Visual Interpretation of Musical Pieces"/ Illustration Studio Practise [2nd Sem]



Coldplay Put On A Puppet Show For “Technicolor” Video


I think its a brilliant idea to promote artists and to create something entirely new and innovative by making little puppets that represent the band. You create a closer relationship with your fans and meanwhile promote gigs, events, clothing's, songs etc. In my opinion it's just a fun, amusing way of looking at how these little puppets move and perform on stage and at the same time get informed about the band.











My first idea of this new project I'm doing about "interpreting visually" a number of songs of a chosen band, was to actually create my own puppet version of the band that would perform  while the song is played. 


Their cover "A rush of blood to the head" has inspiring illustrations that I could easily visualise as a moving motion image.
















I love the idea of combining Text and Image. This is one of the new Grammy promotional illustrations, which is made up of titles of songs that inspired the band. Since I wanted to create something related to a specific song, I thought about words of the song appeared on the screen while the song is being played; the words would gradually create the facial characteristics of the bands members. Each word would be more or less highlighted according to the peach or the emphasis of the song.







With that technique I could not only create faces, but surrounding and instruments as well; I could apply movement, light, speed, or even create an entirely new story line based on text.

This reminds me of a videoclip about a storyline I found on youtube. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJyJIxiktPs&feature=player_embedded


GRAHAM SMITH - ILLUSTRATION 

 
This illustrator caught my eye for his pen and ink technique. He manages to make portraits of celebrities in a unique style that reveals more personal characteristics of that character. I've considered this technique for the visual representation of the band I'm doing. Further more I could apply some movement and animation to the drawing.
Here's Graham's link
http://inkdrawing.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html



Some other editorial illustrations that I found interesting as moving images for the song.
 






* Some of James Fish's work that I find quite interesting and challenging:
http://fishlab.com/art

* A truly amazing young illustrator who's work impresses me in both technical and conceptual scale. Eugene Plotnikov. 
http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php/blogs-mainmenu-63/135-mini-interviews/2673-eugene-plotnikov-mini-interview

* Another great illustrator, William Emmert, who's work I find unusually interresting
http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php/blogs-mainmenu-63/135-mini-interviews/1966-william-emmert-a-mini-interview



An inspiring work, done by a freelancer artist called Christopher Wright for the cover of Foals album "Antidotes".