COP3 Revisal
Initial proposal… At the end of the last academic year, when it came to thinking about COP3 i’m not going to lie I had no clue about the direction I wanted to go. I started out by just thinking about the kind of art I wanted to create – putting the practical first, whilst at the same time thinking about topic’s id covered previously in the past. As an illustrator I’m heavily interested in character, portraiture and generally people. In first year I’d done my essay and research around gender in advertising, which I felt was quite a big topic to explore further given that there’s so much to talk about in regards to feminism in general. I thought I could link this in nicely to my practice. I felt under a lot of pressure at the time to get my proposal out so I kind of just panicked and tried to run with the idea so I could get it done & dusted (to focus on all the other deadlines)…so that was my initial proposal.
The Total turn around When the year ended and summer started I got my breathing space back, and it allowed me to start thinking properly about what i really wanted to focus my COP3 about – and I realised that as much as I could write and research forever about feminism, I really didn’t want to. Actually the idea of it made me want to claw out my eyes. SO, I decided I just needed to change it as soon as I could. Looking back through old practical work, and my general interests in ‘life’ I decided that what I really love drawing and making were weird creatures, animals and monsters. I love horror movies, pop culture and all the weird and wonderful macabre stuff these things spawn.
I suppose previously I’ve never felt a real personal connection with any of my COP work to be honest, academic writing has never interested me so it’s always been something to just drag myself through. But i feel like this field of topic will really help me to connect what I would describe as my personal practice (both in and outside of the uni/education context) with the contextual. Thinking for a moment from another perspective, it helps to ask ‘would I ever in a million years want to read this essay if it was placed in front of me’ and if the answer was no then why would it be worth perusing? This is the mistake I made with my other projects. Basically, with this being my third an final year of uni, this project needs some real weight behind it. And overall I believe that this is the ‘theme’ that I can really get behind and be exited about.
ACADEMIC SOURCES & THINGS OF INTEREST • On Monsters – Stephen T. Asam A look at our fears throughout time, superstitions and their historical roots in society. • Monster Theory – Jeffrey Jerome Cohen A collection of essays looking at monsters and their cultural meaning, symbolism and their role in society.
• The uncanny – Sigmund Freud Essay about the phenomenon known as ‘uncanny’, (to vaguely summarise) the feeling of unease when something in not quite right • Gothic horror: a guide for students and readers – Clive Bloom A collection of essays looking at the gothic horror genre in literature & throughout history.
Links to ‘The uncanny Valley’ graph & article Masahiro Mori
Practitioners & work of interest
Charles burns & Gary panter FACETASM
A interactive book where the reader can mix and match monstrous face features
Other Charles burns work of interest – Black Hole
Blog & online catalogue dedicated to the art of monsters
Mid centaury horror comics Weird Erie publications 66-79
Tales from the crypt EC comics (DC comics) 50-55
Movies, makers, writers & pop culture Pandorum Cloverfield doom Videogame related
Resident evil Silent hill
Cult Japanese horror • The grudge (Takashi Shimizu) • The ring (Hideo Nakara) • Audition (Takashi Miike) • Godzilla (Ishiro Honda)
• Clive Barker Hellraiser, candyman
Terminator Stephen King (James Cameron) IT Total Recall The shining (Paul Verhoeven) The mist ALIEN Pet Semetary (prequels & sequels) Misery Ridley Scott thinner War of the worlds Stephen Spielberg Childs play (original Byron Conrad Haskin 50’s) Thinner Night of the living dead, Fright night Dawn of the dead etc (Tom Holland) (George Romero)
28 days later (Danny Boyle) American Werewolf in London (john Landis) Dog soldiers (Neil marshall)
Clown (Jon watts) Texas chainsaw massacre Poltergeist (Tobe hooper)
• James wan (saw, conjuring & insidious) • Guillermo Del Toro (pans labyrinth, crimson peak, • Stanley Kubrick The shining, clockwork orange, 2001 space odyssey etc • Wez Craven Nightmare on elm street, Hills have eyes, scream • John Carpenter Halloween, the thing, the fog, Village of the damned,,, big trouble in little china • Andrés Muschietti IT (recent) & mama Classic horror Hitchcock Psycho, birds
James Whale Frankenstein, bride of Frankenstein… Mary Shelly Bram Stoker Dracula Edgar Allan Poe
70s-80s period/similar vibes
Vampires Werewolves zombies/living dead Murderous/psychopathic Supernatural/demonic Monsters Mutants Alien/ SCIfi Clowns?
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS (starting points) What makes fear?
How do you create a monster?
What is fear? What’s the meaning of a monster??
What’s the key ingredient ??
Where do monsters stem from?
What makes a monster?
What are the aesthetics of a monster?
What is the perfect monster??
What are the aesthetics of fear? When, how and why did clowns become monstrous?
What makes something monstrous?