Hannah Hoch

Whilst researching collage and composition for this project, I came across a fab artist, Hannah Hoch.

Hoch is a little different to that of the likes of Robert Rauschenberg and Richard Hamilton as she creates photomontages rather than collages.

A photomontage is basically the cutting and sticking of a variety of photographs, stuck ontop of or with one another to create a full image.

Whereas a collage is seen as a work of formal art, whereby the artist uses a massive variety of materials- newspaper tears, ribbon, found objects etc. to create a complete image

Hannah Hoch is a german born, photomontage artist. She was in fact one of the originators of the photomantage to date. Hoch was very much part of the Dada movement in the art world.

I love her playful ways with her pieces. The colour composition for each piece is fab too, I think this is really important when placing imagery next to each other, depending on what effect you are wanting I think the colours should work well together- they need to work how you want them to.

Richard Hamilton

I love Pop art: this art movement is a real inspiration to me and my work. Pop art was all about challenging tradition, to me it sounds like it was about pushing boundaries in commercial art.

A major founder of this specific art movement was the amazing, Richard Hamilton.

The pieces Hamilton created look quite modern in concept and composition, specifically when considering the time his pieces were shown and when they became popular to the for front of art, during the 1950's.

Hamilton's, 'Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?' ,is regarded as being one of the early works of pop art.

I love the adding of extra images and text to further enhance a piece of work, and I believe Hamilton does this with brilliant affect.

Hamilton's composition choices I really love, and his use of different types of paper-colour, weight, texture really add to the overall image and is an aesthetic I want to explore during this project.

Vintage Lover

Over the past few years, there's been an increase in the love of vintage and all those things that carry a story. This current trend of thrift and community spirit, seen in the younger generation nowadays, this stereotype I believe, doesn't buy into disposable behaviour, they choose to buy second hand rather than brand new and modern.

Regarding the recession that we are still in at the minute, the public are unable to buy brand new things and expensive things because they don't have the disposable income that they used to, so the buying of second hand has risen and the trend of the homemade has beome huge. The vintage lover is a true customer to vintage, they visit local music festivals, buy from the local charity shop and customise their clothing.

The Blogger

The Blogger
n

Definition: a person who keeps a Web log (blog) or publish an online diary

The blogger revolution started around 7 years ago, and has become such a massive part of this generation. The fashion blogger seems to have boomed hugely, a love of street style and homemade within local communities literally and not so (the fashion community) has, I believe raised the want and need for the blogger.

When geeks became cool...

There was a time I remember when being a geek was not cool. You know the kid at school who has a plaster eye patch over their spectacles, scabs on their shins and a massive backpack full of books and used tissues, but nowadays, oh no no no, the geek has shone through the bullying and taunting and come right through the fashion shaded side, bringing us the Geek chic.

geek-chic

mod.

stylish or fashionable only for social outcasts.

I believe everyone has a little bit of geek inside of them, and nowadays the look for this geek chic character is really very trendy. Maybe the rise in techonolgy has driven the phrase geek chic, because being a bit of a computer nerd, you were classed as a geek and now everyone is on the net so maybe it has just become the norm and society have come up with a much more trendy phrase for those that sit infront of the screen all day. Saying that though, the geek chic character is much more fashionable than the original geek.

Silver Surfer

With our heavily technology influenced society at the minute, it was only going to take a little time until the silver surfer began to come about and embrace technology and become a part of this generation.

Libraries have consistently had elderly customers more so than younger people. This will differ in certain types of libraries and areas I understand, but generally the older person is the library customer.

Most elderly ladies and gentlemen nowadays really do give technology a go, some elderly people won't even touch a computer but those that visit the library- this is a daily part of their routine, if not only to use the library catalogue to find the book they're looking for, but to also surf the net. We will all have the family member or friend who's over 60 who will give the computer and internet a go which I just think is fab and so right for the 21st Century.

The new mod?

Indie

This is a modern day culture, defined by it's fashions, music choice, behaviour and beliefs. It is a culture that emerged in the 1980’s as a by word for attitude and anti-commercialism with a territory of its own type of music and film.

Indie kids/people are those that buy from second hand clothing shops, they watch independant movies and buy into independant bands: the subculture seems to have a great ability at the 'do-it-yourself' methods, and some of the younger kids have taken this on, maybe because they like the independance or maybe because kids of today want to be heard- they want to support their local, is their want for the right reason? I'm not sure, but indie kids are appearing everywhere from streetstyle, to fashion editorials and onto the fashion platform, that is the catwalk.

To be cool...

screenager

— n

informal a teenager who is dully conversant with and skilled in the use of computers and other electronic devices

This very current culture moment is massive, specifically within teenagers. The rise in not only technology but media and how we now behave socially with other individuals fuels this movement. We are now as a nation, socialising through the internet, and teenagers are a big part of this.



Teenagers are all about being new, being the first person to have joined the lastest 'cool' website, or bought the newist phone. Teens have always been a hot market for advertisers, because they love to spend money on the latest fashion, gadget, music, entertainment, and everything else that makes them look, act, feel, or be perceived as cooler than others, and techonolgy has played a huge role in giving teens the ability to do this.


There's a fab ezine article about what makes a screenager, this is their description of the screenager;

'Easily influenced, rebellious, wanting and willing to follow the pack, to belong and yet be independent, hungering for what's next, awaiting a trend to hop-on and ride-out until it evaporates, opinionated, dedicated to fun and experimentation, destined to be an adult in a consumer, information, and communications world, we classify them as Teens, but they're really Sreenagers'. www.ezinearticles.com


One might ask how this is available to the teens of today but because of this huge rise in quick, easy ways of communicating they have the ability to be the 'cool' kid first, and fast. These 'cool' kids are digital in their everyday lives- their phones, their music player, the games they play, everything.

Why the chosen characters?

For the final images, I'm going to concentrate on 6 different types of stereotypes/words/themes that I have found in the dictionary-new words that have been added over the last couple of years. The GILIL project could however take this idea on and every year bring out extra characters for this concept and idea. It could really help in showcasing the society of the day.

These are my final 6 characters:

Indie-


-I chose this stereotype to focus on because this is aiming the idea at the main age range of the current customers that G.I.L.I.L want to promote to(14-25yr old)
-I feel this stereotype sees the idea of going to the local libary quite cool, and good giving- by using the community resources, they feel good
-this is a subculture that we have seen in the past but now there's small changes to the old 'mod's' subculture.

Silver Surfer-


-this is the library's traditional customer, but with the change in technology nowadays, and the change in our culture, elderly people are more prone to 'surf the net'- this is about focusing on the older generation who have adapted to the new circumstances of our time
-this is aiming the idea at the market that is already at the library

Geek Chic-


-I chose to focus on this stereotype because I think we have seen a rise in the geek, but the geeks new look is much more funkier and trendy than ever before.
-With this stereotype also, I am aiming the idea at the age range of customers that we are wanting to bring into the library (14-25yr old)

Vintage Lover-


-With the current trend of thrift and community spirit, seen in the younger generation nowadays, this stereotype I believe visits the library to reuse books, and not buy into our disposable behaviour that is present nowadays
-this also aims towards the market that G.I.L.I.L have realised don't utilise the library - 14-25 year olds.

Screenager-


-Our youth culture today spend a huge amount of time on the net- whether that be on social networking sites-Bebo, facebook, twitter, myspace or studying
-this is again aiming the idea at customers who need to be brought into the library

The Blogger-


-Currently we have a blogger generation- the students who blag their way into anything, the fashion conscious who blog about their personal style- designer, parties etc. This type of stereotype may well be considered to being a little self indulgent
-again, I'm aiming this stereotype to those in the 14-25year old range to get these customers into the library

'Get It Loud in Libraries' stereotypes?

Looking through the dictionary you can obviously see there has been a considerable amount of new additions to the publication and not all words that have been added will aid this project so I have wittled the new words down to these; Chav, screenager, microblogging, Chill Pill, WTF, OMG, Arm Candy, technophobes, TTYL, BFF, Meh, Mwah, Newbie, geek chic, twitter, facebook, Silver surfer, Emo, Simples, Staycation, Scene girls, Chill lax, lipstick lesbian, Silver surfer, vintage lover, the suit.

These I feel will fit the idea because for each word, you can promote the associations and themes surrounding the word quite literally, for instance looking at the Chav, I could source burberry fabric, maybe use this as a backdrop, knuckle dusters, trainers etc..for the shoot and these will all have associations with the idea of the 'Chav'.

These images below explore different kinds of characters and also looks at presentation and compositions of fashion imagery.

(IMAGE ABOVE-MY PHOTOSHOOT ON ANNA KARINA, STYLE ICON, STILL LIFE COLLAGE)

(IMAGE ABOVE-TOM SHIERLITZ, STILL LIFE PHOTOGRAPHER)

So as you can understand my photoshoot is heavily based around characters, identities and literally about still life styling.

For now I need to consider my 6 final stereotypes to focus on and thoroughly understand their persona and their look.





These images above, are a fab set of fashion imagery from the magazine, Interview. The photoshoot is based around stereotypes and subcultures-the stylist has portrayed the characters on children-this looks great and adds something different to the shoot rather than the story being very literal.



These are portraits by Andy Warhol. I could look at portraiture for this shoot because I feel to style in a portrait shot rather than a whole full length shot is much more challenging and interesting to do for this concept.