Pop Generation Gallery

During the Summer holidays I visited the Art Gallery, Pop Generation in Manchester as in general Pop Art to me is more exciting and modern than the usual Fine Art we're used to seeing in galleries.

The exhibition that was on at the time had up some of the original works of Stan Lee, the man behind Marvel Comics. Which was interesting to look at such fine details created on mainly canvases.

I also found many Disney art work. The pop art representations of Tinkerbell and Lady and the Tramp were created by a lady 'Allison Lefcort' whom is a disney artist herself so I am to believe, and the three images at the top were signed simply 'Carlton'. The others weren't obvious in who had painted them.

The Peter Pan painting was beautiful such fine detail and is such a classic image of Peter Pan, Wendy and the boys flying over London. Also on the moon in the picture the ship's shadow is painted delicately on. Though unclear by the way I've taken the picture the Peter Pan painting was quite large and looked magnificent. I think it was the painting I wanted to purchase the most, even over Tinkerbell, though the cheapest painting going was £250 and was quite tiny.

The Tinkerbell and Lady and the Tramp piece were acrylic on canvas and looking at them closely enough to see the brush strokes made me believe I could paint like that. I may even go out and buy a canvas!

Khuong Nguyen

By the same photographer of the Christian Louboutin ad campaign I found this fashion photography piece. I thought it was really quirky, original and reminded me of the mad hatters tea party from Alice and Wonderland. 

What made me include this piece rather than others is when looking at it I think of a window display. Many of the props used in the piece are suspended from string the model is very stiff like a doll/mannequin. And the bag in the background is nicely suspended so it sits on the display box. This would definitely catch my eye if I walked past.

Christian Louboutin: Fairytales

These were images for the Christian Louboutin fall/winter 2010 campaign created by photographer Khuong Nguyen. The images were based on fairytales such as Alice and Wonderland.

This post features well in my research as I had been researching fairytale inspired fashion and been writing of my ideas on this subject for inspiration for uni projects in my final year.

I love the images portrayed here. Each image is well thought of and detailed they could well be stills of Disney films.

Leanne Marshall: Project Runway

Leanne Marshall was the winner of 'Project Runway' a T.V. programme where many unknown fashion designers compete for their collection to be shown at New York fashion week. 

Leanne was my favorite to win. There were many ruffles within her pieces which I love, and they had been accentuated which looked great as the models moved down the runway. Its not as effective looking at a static image though watching them in 'Project Runway' were beautiful. All the garments moved with such ease and flow and were just so pleasant to look at though at the same time exciting.

Mickey Mouse inspired fashion? Yes please!

Except for the tippity top one, as I'm not sure, all other clothes/accessories were created by fashion designer Jeremy Scott. As you can see the line was inspired by the famous Mickey Mouse himself. Though I'm not sure if I would wear Mickey Mouse ears on my head while shopping or on a night out but it sure does look good just to look at. 

As anyone who knows me knows I'm obsessed with Walt Disney and at college if I'm not doing a project fashion related it will be Disney related and to see the two come together is a joy for my eyes. There are probably political reasons surrounding the concept though I'm just enjoying the visual.

Mickey Mouse is one of the faces of popular culture so was a great idea to blend this idea within the fashion of today and must be a hit with many girls aged around 17 years to 25 years, as these days taking a trip round the Disney store on a day out shopping is just as much a must as Primark. 

William Travilla, Dresses are a girl's best friend!

 I began researching into 40's and 50's glamour as inspiration for upcoming projects for my final year of uni. I have always loved the dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in 'Gentlemen prefer Blonde's' in the number 'Diamond's are a girl's best friend'. The designer/costume designer is William Travilla and he created many of Marilyn's clothes. The images I have placed above also represent his talent of fashion illustration. The image of Marilyn in the white dress (worn in 'The Seven Year Itch') is beautiful how he captures the flow and motion he wants the dress to express while its being worn.

The pink dress was obviously created only for Marilyn as he captures her perfectly along with the texture and visual of the dress.

United Utilities Brief

The United Utilities brief is about informing the public about the huge amounts of undesired waste being flushed away either down the toilet or the basin and trying to prevent this from happening.

The United Utilities brief was to develop further, the idea 'Origin' the design company had already produced.

They came up with a logo, designed a character and developed the story further including other characters.

The logo they produced was a play on the 'bin' logo, a stick man placing waste in the waste bin. Though on theirs they placed a toilet between the man and bin accentuating the stick man stretching over the toilet to place his waste in the bin rather than down the toilet. 

I liked the use of the simple logo. The logo is practical and universal, there is no language barrier and the images are self-explanatory.  

The brief claimed that elements of the present campaign had to be included so this got me thinking of 'signs' as the 'bin' logo had been developed previously. I began researching hazard, caution and warning signs as I thought this was appropriate to delivering a message to the public of 'warning' them not to flush certain items away.

So, the images above represent my idea. I chose each one specifically so in a way it represented a story.  

 

• The 1st sign= two way traffic= which when I looked at it thought what goes down must come up which also reflects the previous tag line 'what gets flushed might come back to haunt you'
  

• The 2nd sign= traffic circle= after relating to the 1st sign this can seem like a never ending circle
  

• The 3rd sign= STOP= which is self explanatory, this problem needs to stop so stop flushing specific items away.

The signs above I will re-create through my own style possibly integrating some of the previous characters but keeping the message strong. The symbols still need to be recognisable as the specific 'warning' symbols or the idea won't work.