EPHEMERA COLLECTED FROM TRAVELLING THE WORLD Iain McColl
EPHEMERA COLLECTED FROM TRAVELLING THE WORLD Iain McColl
: Typologies Visual Research
I collected lots of strange pieces of ephemera, and represented them using time and travel. The ephemera was very strange and unique because they were all collected from different places and showed a real contrast between each piece. Ranging from supermarket receipts to cigar boxes. I found the LATCH system really interesting to my work, because there’s a lot of different ways i could work my collection to meet the requirements.
My LATCH systems were; LOCATION- Arrangements of selected pieces from the collection, and represented on a map to show were they come from. ALPHABET- Alphabet was taken using letters represented on some of the selected tickets. There were only certain letters represented. TIME- Time was related to certain times printed on some of the ephemera. COLOUR- Colour was represented using all the collections and seperated into there similar colours, i even did some sections to represent the colours with more than one colour on them,and called them mixed colours. HIERACHY- I related hierachy to each collection that had pricing printed on them, then sperated them into the highest and lowest according to price. My final idea was to create some postcards using certain aspects of the collections to show travel and where they were collected from, i really enjoyed the diversity of the project and would like to extend my collection for the future, because there was so much information and data to talk about with everyday collected pieces of ephemera.
Tomoko Takahashi is a Japanese born artist, she was born in Tokyo in 1966, but she is based in London,UK. She studied at Tama University,Goldsmiths College and the slade school of Fine Art. In 1997 she won the EAST award at EAST international show, this was her big break into the art world. She exhibited in the Saatchi gallery in 1999 at the “Neurotic Realism� show, she was also represented by the hales gallery of London,and she also exhibits woldwide. Her main medium for working is installation art,often made of rubbish and found materials. A year after the Saatchi show she was shortlisted for the worldfamous Turner Prize. I absolutely love the work of Tomoko,i feel it is really expressive and relates a lot to the work i love to do, she is extremely talented,and she creates a great atmosphere with her work. The piece that i particularly think relates to my work is the exhibition she showcased at the Hales gallery in february to march of 2007. She named it Abstract No.1 and Abstract No.2. The way that she has presented the found materials in such an abstract way brings about a real picture to her work. I really like how you can question her work in so many different ways because it is so powerful. It is also very interesting how all her work is ordered and arranged in a certain way. The pieces Abstract No.1 and Abstract No. 2 consist of two black panels on the wall that are collaged over with photos. On one the photos are flat over the surface and show other installations, in her studio and from other galleries and pictures from this exhibition being set up. After the Hales exhibition, Tomoko said that people could take pieces of the exhibition which i think is really generous because its not just found materials,its now her art.
Tomoko Takahashi- The Hales Gallery,London. Abstract No. 1 and Abstract No. 2.
Tomoko Takahashi-The Turner Prize Exhibition,Tate Gallery 2000.
I saw this advertisment for the Eames aluminium chair, and i thought it was beautiful the way they have presented the two chairs with lots of other collections relating to the two colours of the chairs. The arrangement of household items next to the chairs really gives great imagery to the chair.
Vitra Advertising for Eames Aluminium Chair
We were also asked to use colour in our typologies project as part of the LATCH system,these images relate a lot to the colour section of my collections. Also with a neutral white background it really brings out the colour of the overall image. The design is based on the work of the american designers Charles and ray Eames,they were part of many fields of design including industrial design,furniture design,art,graphic design,film and architecture.
Magazine Advertisement for Eames Aluminium Chair.
Bouwe Van Der Molen is a graphic designer ,illustrator,animator,printer who works through innovative visulization. Remapping the boundaries of design providesc him with an international network of interdisciplinary colleagues. He applies his ideas and graphics solo and in diverse collaborative efforts. He has worked for an extensive amount of clients and top designers. Bouwe Van Der Molen has probably been the biggest inspiration while doing this project,he is so extensive in his work,covering all types of aspects of design. I particularly like his Visual Indentities work because it varies so much, and all different methods and media are fascinating. His collaborations and solo work is breathtaking,because he has such a visual mind,his collaborations with O.K. Collections was what i tended to focus on mostly in this,where he and O.K. Collections have brought together a collection of designers and have created a magazine out of a highly successful blog. Bouwe is also known as freaky fauna and has a website as well as his own under the address freaky fauna. He uses a great range of media in his work too which is fun too. His animations are very obscure but interesting too. I will definately be following this designer in the future because he is so interesting and consistent in his work.
In my project i’ve tried to follow the theme of travel through my collection of ephemera. because a lot of the items are from different countries and represent different places in time. Steven Silberberg’s work was quite similar in that it is a collection of sickness bags collected from different places all over the world and from old and new,but they all pretty much consist with travel. I found his collection extremely odd but interesting because i can imagine it hasnt been doen before,i particularly liked the Air Sickness bag collection because of the way its laid out, its interesting too that it must have taken a while to collect them all which is also really interesting.
Steven Silberberg-Air Sickness Bags
While on the internet i came across an interesting blog on a guys website called Danny,he had created a blog on weird collections. It was weird collections he had photographed in Philadelphia airport United States,in terminal A-east and terminal B,the show was going to be shown till february of 2010. The airports exhibitions director Leah Douglas said “Each object represents a specific rememberance or story of collector” the exhibition is called Private Collections:Personal Obsessions. It is a collection that is showcased from local Philadelphians,I found this really interesting in that it really relates to my project and its also great because it shows how diverse everyone’s collections are. i particulaly like the collection of match boxes, showing all the different types from around the world. The variation in colour,size,text and shape is interesting to,because a lot of my collection vary in all these different ways. The olive oil tins are interesting to,because they are all a similar shape,but vary drasticlly in artwork and colour. I think my airport typologies would have looked really good in this exhibition because it would have fitted in with the theme and also that it would have been showcased in an airport. There should be more exhibitions like this all over the woprld,because it really shows how everyone has or could create there own personal collection.
Daily Danny.com Private Collections:Personal Obsessions
This is a fascinating blog,full of collections varying of all types,the shear amount of old and New collections is really interesting to see,from photographs to random objects. I particularly like the different badges,and similar shaped books. These collections are all from a designer/teacher in Arts from Minnesota,United States called Kindra Murphy. I think this relates well to my project,because it represents time,a lot of the collections aren’t similar but they ma compare with shape and colour and format.
Kindra Murphy kindraishere.blogspot.com
Paul Elliman is a London based artist and designer,who works often using typography and the human voice,and audio signage that mediates a relationship between both. He has had collections and exhibitions at London’s tate Modern and Victoria and albert Museum,New York’s Cooper-Hewlitt National Design Museum and the APAP Museum in Anyang,Korea. He has taught in the Yale School of Art,United States since 1997 and is a thesis supervisor for Werkplatts Typografie in Arnhem,Netherlands. He is a self-trained designer, and has taught in Central St Martins of Art:the University of East London and also lectured at the University of Austin,Texas United States too. He has a regular column in IDEA magazine and also contributes to EYE,DOT DOT DOT and TATE Magazine. I find Paul elliman’s work very interesting in the way that he creates typologies and alphabet glyphs from everyday items,i also think his black on white alphabetic glyphs are very powerful and stand out. I would like to try and create my own glyphs from collections i have found and created and turn them into a typography because i think if you have your own,you can be more expressive in your graphic design work. The variation in his work is really interesting too,it is really shows that he’s tried lots of examples. I have rearranged my collections of ephemera so that there in different orders and also turned over to show the other side i think this is really important because it can totally change the imagery of your work if you simply change the representation of certain items. It also shows you can be more creative with your work,even if you have a small collection.
Paul Elliman
Paul Elliman
Paul Elliman
Emily Darnell is a designer/ illustrator from Minneapolis college of Art and Design in the United States. She explains her work as deeply nostalgic to place and time. I think she is fascinating because i can relate to a lot of her design and illustration,she has spent a great portion of her life collecting ephemera and categorizing cataloging and representing it. This is very similar to what i have achieved in this project,i think that anything that is collected and presented and in this way is very interesting and beneficial to design. This is a really interesting quote from Emily Darnell. “I have,for a long time,felt that beauty can be found in the most seemingly insignificant things,which is pobably why i have also always had a fascination and seniment for ephemera,in particular.� I strongly agree with the quote,and i really feel that her work is a great piece of Art and Design because of its unique style. Emily Darnell has been a great influence on me and i’m really pleased i came across her interesting style and techniques within design. Her use of mixed media in her work is vast too,using all sorts of techniques for different projects,i also love working like this,it really shows how expressive you can be with your work.
Everything Exhibition 2004
Everything Exhibition in O.K. Periodicals 2008
Newspaper Anthropologie Instore 2006
Circles Ephemerality-Ephemeral Space 2007
While researching this project i came across an Artist/Photographer who goes by the name of Scanner. I was particularly interested in his rich colours series of photography,simply for there use of brightness and retro colours. Scanner-Robin Rimband has collabrated with many cutting edge practitioners and artists. He explains his work as transversing the experimental terrain between sound,space,image and form.creating absorbing,multi layered sound pieces that twist technology in unconventional ways. I think the whole aspect of the way he wors is really interesting and he seems to have been very successful.
Scanner Artist/Photographer
I found this article in The Times Newpaper Magazine column a long time ago,and was really interested by Jonathan Gil,he is a documentary maker and collector par excellence according to The Times. It just really caught my attention so i kept the article because i’ve always been passionate about all types of collectors.
Jonathan Gili
Peter Saville
Another Designer I came across,while researching this brief was Peter Saville. Peter Saville is a Manchester born Graphic Designer who is famous for his designed record sleeves for factoy records artists and most commonly Joy ivision and New Order. Saville worked very closely to the music industry doing lots of design jobs in the 1980’s. I was really into his simplistic style and the style of minimalism in his work. I would also love to work closely with the music industry because i am very passionate about music. I liked a lot more of his modern work compared to his old stuff,he is very interesting,because his life shows a kind of connection with music and design. I also think the happy Monday’s,Pills N Thrills and Bellyaches album cover is a piece of amazing Art and Design. The col,ection of sweet wrappers really shows a connection to my project,it being collected ephemera. I think this style is extremely effective and works well with the text and anything else you add to the artwork. The simplistic new modern design he creates is very clean and professional looking,which i also think is essential in design today.
Peter Saville
O.K. Periodicals
Ok-periodicals.com
O.K. Periodicals is only published twice a year,it is a magazine that combines on and offline media that showcases creative designers,anyone can send there work to O.K. Periodicals,it also tells you what the next issue will include so you can send in relevant work. They mainly focus on Design/Illustration/New Media and Writing,i sourced a lot of this projects work from O.K. periodicals first issue that was titled Collections,i was particularly interested in Emily Darnell’s work in the issue because it showcased a lot of collected ephemera and arrangement of that ephemera,which i really think relates to the LATCH systems in our project. Its a magazine that can only be bought online,they are only on their fourth issue at the moment,they also showcase conferences in design and each issue tends to follow a specific theme. They are also on most social networking sites,so they stay connected with the creative world to source new design and creatives for there up and coming issues. I really like the layout and design of the book,and also how vast each design is in each section,and how it meets the criteria of the issue.
O.K. Periodicals
Ok-periodicals.com
: Typologies
1. Dates 2. Cost 3. Alphabet 4. Colour{White,Red,Blue,Green,Yellow,Mixed} 5. Airport 6. Time X 3
Airport Typologies
Time Typologies 1
Time Typologies 2
Time Typologies 3