For my final Blog entry i decided to look at a painting by the art it Graham Sutherland. This particular painting by Graham Sutherland has been my favourite example of portraiture for the past three of four years, and as i have recently had the pleasure to re discover all of his work due to my context essay i decided i would like to do a small piece about his painting of Somerset Maugham. firstly looking only at the composition we can see sutherland has painted Maugham from a slight low angle giving the impression of superiority and an overall authoritative manner. the rectangular shape of the painting gives the figure even more hight making him more imposing. You ant take your eyes off him, the angler nature of his garments and the knowing look of his achievements and his celebrity. His clear distinguished nature emanates from him. The yellow in both the background and his skin tone is perfectly complimented by the warm maroon tones of his scald, the pice is over all warm in its pallet an inviting, although somerset exudes superiority, it is in a content non threatening way, the viewer knows this is a man demanding and deserving of our respect.

Lizzy Steward is an illustrator who graduated from Edinburgh College of art, i have come across her work before i started Edinburgh, however only through select photographs online, i never got the opportunity to see any of Lizzys work in person until by chance as an exercise to help us write this blog the group i was in was given it to critique the design. I know that as part of this blog you are supposed to focus more or less purely on the visual aspects of the work you are writing about, however i believe the subject matter of the stories ( and there for the illustrations is important). I really like Lizzy's illustrations of seemingly mundane activities, its these little life observations that give her work a familiarity we can all relate too on some level, her organic and simplistic style in not without its complexities in equal measure. The way in which Lizzys characters interact visually with such realistic fluidity is no easy feat, speaking from experience its one of the things i personally struggle with in my own work, so i have huge admiration for those that can do it in such a seemingly effortless manner, as well a this you need to look at how the characters engage with objects, for example the man sat on the stool at the right of the above page, the way she can make her characters apart of there surroundings whilst still keeping them the focal point is something that visually i wish to emanate.

I was this week once again on another trip to the cinema with my friends and flat mates. This time we ended up going to see the newly realised Fury, staring Brad Pitt and Shia Labeouff. Fury is a war film that follows a specific tank regiment through out the time period of 1945 ad they are about to make their final push to attack the heart of Nazi Germany. Don't expect this film to be breaking new boundaries ( i certainly didn't) visually speaking, it sticks to very much the same conventions of ever war film ever produced. Muted colour pallet, long sweeping landscape shots, silhouetted shots of soldiers in battle. It very much sticks to all the media codes and conventions of its genre. However thats not to say i didn't enjoy watching it because i did, from an artistic stand point though i remained  very much un surprised. Its no Baz luhrmann romeo and juliet, but i guess why would it be? in a world run by money why mess with the winning formulae of dramatised heroism and stereotypical camera shots to stack up the cash.

I saw This film Coffee and Cigarettes on a whim with my friends and flat mates at our local film house cinema down lothian road. I was for about the first 15 minutes or so of this film a little confused and board by what i was seeing, visually, it is an a black and white film, based on different peoples lives and the one thing they all have in common coffee and cigarettes. Whist the black and white is at times used effectively to create a strong contrast and interesting visual imagery, and there is also some nice camera angles thrown in to mix things up it is a film that is ultimately dialogue based, and if you can give it the concentration it deserves it is an enjoyable hour or so spent, however it does require your willingness to engage with it. Don't expect to be able to stair blankly off to the distance and be spoon fed because it will all go straight over your head. It is not Avatar, and it is certainly not something that you can appreciate purely on its ascetic merit. 

The illusionist was a film we watched as a class in replacement for on of our friday artist talks. I am admit idly not a fan of digital art work, however that being said i do like animated films. I was also pleasantly sup prised to see it was set in Edinburgh which gave the viewing experience for me at least a certain familiarity, it made the viewing experience more real, and there for the plot and the key theme of 'magic'. I do have a lot of distaste for digitalised drawing, however i feel this animation in particular retained ins organic more illustrative bent, it didn't feel to over polished and the hesitancy at times in the line work was refreshing, even though it is perhaps more traditional rather then the morse smooth over worked more minimal linear style of animation say of Disney. I feel at times there is a tendency to blindly follow trends in both art and design when frankly there is no need in certain cases, this i believe is one of them. over all visually i was very impressed with the illusionist, beats the likes of Frozen any day.

Jim Lambie, ‘Zobop’, 1999, opening at Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh.

This exhibition was by the artist Jim Lambie at the fruitmarket in Edinburgh. Jim Lambie is heavily influenced by music and is a firm believer in utilising your surroundings as an artist, in other words there is no excuse to not keep creating, as his mask made out of a par of boxer shorts and duct tape demonstrates. Initially when i walked into the first room of the gallery, i was instantly won over, however i cant say it was on a conceptual artistic level and not entirely superficial. Because frankly it was. I really appreciated the entire ascetic of the exhibition and the artists ideals of utilising things you already have to create art work, however i don't think i could appreciate the work on the deeper level the artist who created it would have wanted it. Where some people saw when looking at the vinyl floor a piece of art that changes to the floor space of every gallery that it visits, a constantly evolving piece. I saw a playful and fun pice of aesthetic decoration, which then lead me to think of home furnishings and   weather ikea did a rug like this. Which i am Disappointed but nor surprised by my train of thought. As probably like most people entering the gallery off the street without any prior knowledge of the artist this is all you can really gain from this exhibition. Whilst ascetically it was pleasing i feel that the concept behind Jim Lambie was lost on me, as well as others.

National Gallery:- David Shrigly

David Shrigly is an illustrator i only became swear of half a year or so before coming to study at the Edinburgh College of art. Almost as soon as i first came across shriglys work i was instantly won over by the child like yet, dark, humorous, satirical and often out right odd drawings he produces.

This Exhibition was at the scottish national Gallery and my first feelings upon entering his exhibition space was one of child like awe, i have to admit if it is not obvious already i cant help but be extremely bias about my viewing experience.

The contrast between the black and white prints and the white walls of the gallery framed shriglys work beautifully. As well as this the way in which they where arranged in such a complimentary manner meant that compositionally the room was well balanced, There was no particular dull section of wall and it made for a exciting viewing experience, adding to this particularly was the difference in scale that shriglys shiny black boots where presented, it lead your eye up and around all areas of the room and was one of my favourite discoveries within the first few weeks of me arriving in Scotland.