Excess speed over the threshold

Finally updating with posts on each of my final pieces, have been busy the last few days.

This first one is Excess speed over the threshold, ink, acrylic paint, emulsion, text transfer on 250gsm Fabriano paper, 2.3m x 1.5m.

This artwork has been produced in response to my research into the 2005 Air France Airbus A340 crash in Toronto, Canada. The plane overran the runway and caught fire, all passengers and crew were successfully evacuated. The summary report can be found here on the Aviation Safety Network site. The full investigation report can be found here (pdf link).

The artwork also reflects my research into the spectacle, diasaters and the media. I aimed to portray the contrast between the ‘clean’ ‘safe’ spectacle talked about by Debord in Society of the Spectacle and the non- clean, actuality of the crash itself. This is why the image appears to be in two halves- the report text provides a context to the crash itself, the use of ink aims to reference the fire that spread after the crash. The text itself is not perfect (through use of transfer technique), it is hidden in some parts and highlighted in others in reference to the fragmentation (and also the pre-mediation) of information released to the public when man made disasters happen. The image fragmentation is also a reference to this but also reflects the physical state of the plane itself after the crash.

Assessment

A couple of better images of the final works in place, these are all in the same studio/gallery space on opposite walls. The works have been titled and framed documents added to the side of the works.

The documents are a crash summary report facts and a passenger safety card of the plane operator and model. When these are shown in a gallery setting in october I am hoping to display them a little better and be able to add more ephemera relating to the plane itself.

Not shown (will add a photo later) is my accompanying work and research for this semesters work submitted for assessment. I will also make a further blog post on specific artists and how I have been inspired by their work.

Artworks up for Assessment

These works are finally up and ready for assessment, I do still need to paint the surrounding wall white and clean it up a bit. This post is a quick overview, my next couple of posts will go into more detail of each artwork and will have better photographs.

The works in the first image are made in response to my research into the 1999 Britannia Airways B757 crash in Gerona, Spain (information here). I feel that these two are most successful out if the four images I have displayed for my assessment.

The works in the second image are made in response to the 2005 Air France A340 crash in Toronto, Canada (information here). After putting these two up on the wall and looking at them now I think that the images would work far batter on the wall if there were to be switched around- the nose of the plane on the right instead of the left, because of the configuration of the plane itself.

Both crashes involved the plane overrunning the runway at their destination airports. I chose to research two crashes that had similar circumstances for my final pieces to demonstrate different outcomes and media representation of similar situations.

Paper and Emulsion

Just a few photographs of some experimentation with paper and white emulsion. The paper can be molded with emulsion and added to existing artwork to add different texture.

I do want to develop this technique further and build on creating texture and forms within artwork.

Previous Artwork

This is another artwork that I had forgotten to write about on here. This is just a small piece where I was still experimenting with how to incorporate the report text, plane form and reference to the actual plane crash in one composition.

I like the aesthetic of this piece but I don’t think it is successful in communicating anything to the audience, a large part of this is also to do with its small scale.

This work focuses on the nose of the plane and combines the linework from a Boeing 757 CAD drawing and the livery of the Britannia’s 757. I like the ink method technique used in this work however I think the work would be better with text that could be read easily by the viewer.

Artwork Update

Update of this artwork. It’s finally finished and I like how it has turned out but in the process of making it I have found ways to develop the next work that I make.

This is the largest work I have made so far this semester, it is (approx) 3.8 x 1.5 metres.  This work is pretty much my testing out the scaling up of this crash image and text that I have done before. I feel that the text and the ink techniques fit this scale however after completing the work, the plane fuselage feel very small. It would have been a far more successful work if I had focused on a small fragmented section or minor detail in the crash debris.

I ripped the two ends of the paper and left the top and bottom cut cleanly. I decided to do this as I felt it worked on my last piece of work on the interior of the plane but here I wanted keep the balance of the clean edge and the broken plane so I ripped two sides and left the other two cut.

I also like the work on this scale and would like to do something similar to this again, however time restraints and cost of materials means that this is the only piece of this size I can complete this semester. By reducing the size a couple of meteres I can still make large work but I can make more of them and they will be far more manageable.

(Forgotten) Artwork Experimentation

 

 

Another small experiment artwork I made a month ago that I forgot to show. This is me playing around with a full ink colour background and (small amounts of) image transfer plane details with ink and acrylic paint worked back into the paper.

I selected a small section of the aft wreckage and used it here as the main focus of the small piece. The lines aren’t perfect and neither is the detail but I like the use of fragmented outline. I have since moved on from this aesthetic in my work but it helped me test out how to choose the correct part of the plane debris for further artwork. I want to revisit this composition with a possible addition of text and less ink used in the background.

Artwork

This artwork was made in response to some sketches that I have made of the interior of the Britannia crash from the AAIB  report diagrams and official photographs. I originally started to look at the interior of the crash after a talk with a tutor, we discussed the fact that the majority of reports on plane crashes only show the exterior debris and remains of the plane and even though they are physically deformed and broken it is still an easier ‘clean’ image to display to the public.

The mediation and distance from the crash is still apparent, by displaying the interior of the plane it brings the images closer to the public; the passenger  (the viewer). The interior will also be far more disjointed and disarranged and possibly more distressing to see because of the relationship between the cabin of the plane and the passenger. I am also planning to make some studies of other cabin/passenger related apparatus and seeing how this can be used in my artwork along with report text and ink techniques.

The first image shows the outline and text that I transferred onto the paper, this is taken from s small sketch of mine that is then scanned in and manipulated slightly to fit with the text and be ready for transfer. When I took the image down from the wall I decided to rip along edges to fit with the feeling of the torn apart interior, the clean edges seemed to frame the artwork too much and I feel this ripped edge enhances what is being represented on the paper. I do think that the report text is not integrated as well as it could be in this piece, I wanted to have the detail of both sides of the cabin along with the text on one half of the image. After making this work I feel that it would be best for me to determine which details are most important and minimally emphasise these to integrate better with the text, possibly breaking up the text to fit around the details.

Going along with the ‘half and half’ images i have been producing, I tried to show the crashed interior on the left and a normal 757 Britannia interior on the right to contrast; I used acrylic paint and ink on the left side and stuck to an ink outline on the right. After finishing the piece I think that the ink outline would have worked far better with dislodged seats and the text and the ‘complete’ seats would have worked better with the heavy texture of the acrylic paint. I think the text would be seen far easier with just the outline and it is also reminiscent of the line diagrams in the AAIB report demonstrating the damage caused to the inside of the plane.

Artwork

This artwork is similar to a smaller experimental piece that I did a few months ago (this post), here I wanted to try a similar method and aesthetic on a larger scale. I have also specifically made this is response to the 1999 Britannia crash in Gerona. The piece is based on Boeing’s CAD drawings of the 757 with 90s Britannia livery applied.

The left half of the image represents the clean, active plane and the right half represents the crashed plane. I’ve tried to incorporate the different elements of the crash, unattached engine, missing nose gear, cracked nose cone etc. In the work I’ve also included report text and measurements of the plane taken from the CAD drawings.

Obviously this is not a ‘neat’ piece of work as I was trying out adding livery and the representing the crash on the same ‘diagram’. The lines and the text are not as good as good as I would like them if this was a final finished piece. I am also no sure whether the ‘diagram’ works as a whole, I think it may be too ‘busy’ to get across any issues of the spectacle with details conflicting with each other and another angle of plane may be more recognisable and identifiable.

I still like the half and half image technique but will choose only a few details to focus on and contrast, hopefully this will allow me to portray the fragmentation and spectacle to a higher degree.

Snowstorm at New Chitose Airport, Sapporo

Plane operations during a snowstorm at New Chitose airport, Sapporo Japan.

I’ve watched many videos recently of airports during snowy conditions, this is one of my favourites.

Aesthetically I love the combination of harsher weather and aircraft with a backdrop of the commercial airport. The contrast apparent in the heavy weather and the heavy technology also intrigues me.