0 comment Tuesday, May 27, 2014 | admin
I'd just like to share one of my most recent photograms, as I'm really pleased about how it turned out.
This was made from blowing bubbles on to photo-sensitive paper, so I had little control on the final image. I'm currently obsessed with the universality of circles, and the relationship between order and chaos.
You can view the rest of my work here and here.
Labels: Melanie K
0 comment Friday, May 23, 2014 | admin
In 1960, Roman Opalka began on a journey, painting the numbers from 1 to Infinity.
Opalka once said that he would be happy to reach the number 7,777,777 which is a number he said had "profound meaning".
Unfortunately, Roman Opalka died on the 6th of August 2011 and is thought to have reached just short of 6,000,000.
Opalka's work essentially illustrates the passing of time, stroke by stroke, day after day, year after year.
The artist described his work as a journey "a philosophical and spiritual image of the progression of time and of life and death�.
Time as we live it and as we create it embodies our progressivedisappearance; we are at the same time alive and in the face of death�that is the mystery of all living beings. The consciousnessof this inevitable disappearance broadens our experiences withoutdiminishing our joy. There is always the omnipresent idea ofnature, of its ebb and flow of life. This essence of reality can be universally understood; it is not only mine but can be commonlyshared in our unus mundus. (Trad. Mark Selwyn) Roman Opalka - "Rencontre par la séparation", AFAA, Paris, 1987
Time is a concept we can all relate to, most of us have witnessed a clock ticking and celebrated a New Year. However, Opalka took it upon himself to show this passing of time very physically.
The concept of infinity and endlessness is a terrifying prospect for me, personally. As a child, I was introduced to the concept of endless time and space, and the idea blew my tiny little mind! I could not think about anything related to space for a long time without feeling anxious.
However, in the last year of my undergraduate degree, I decided to confront my fear in a similar way to Yayoi Kusama, through repetitive art practice. Compared to Roman Opalka, my efforts were puny, but I spent two months repetitively winding wool to create a large chain sculpture.
The repetitive winding put me in to a calm state of madness leaving my brain feeling a little fried after each winding session, I could not keep up the project for longer than two months and was glad to see the back of it.
It is therefore, astounding to me, that an artist could dedicate over fifty years to continually painting numbers.
The Telegraph wrote an obituary for Roman Opalka which you can read here.
Opalka once said that he would be happy to reach the number 7,777,777 which is a number he said had "profound meaning".
Unfortunately, Roman Opalka died on the 6th of August 2011 and is thought to have reached just short of 6,000,000.
Opalka's work essentially illustrates the passing of time, stroke by stroke, day after day, year after year.
The artist described his work as a journey "a philosophical and spiritual image of the progression of time and of life and death�.
Time as we live it and as we create it embodies our progressivedisappearance; we are at the same time alive and in the face of death�that is the mystery of all living beings. The consciousnessof this inevitable disappearance broadens our experiences withoutdiminishing our joy. There is always the omnipresent idea ofnature, of its ebb and flow of life. This essence of reality can be universally understood; it is not only mine but can be commonlyshared in our unus mundus. (Trad. Mark Selwyn) Roman Opalka - "Rencontre par la séparation", AFAA, Paris, 1987
Time is a concept we can all relate to, most of us have witnessed a clock ticking and celebrated a New Year. However, Opalka took it upon himself to show this passing of time very physically.
The concept of infinity and endlessness is a terrifying prospect for me, personally. As a child, I was introduced to the concept of endless time and space, and the idea blew my tiny little mind! I could not think about anything related to space for a long time without feeling anxious.
However, in the last year of my undergraduate degree, I decided to confront my fear in a similar way to Yayoi Kusama, through repetitive art practice. Compared to Roman Opalka, my efforts were puny, but I spent two months repetitively winding wool to create a large chain sculpture.
The repetitive winding put me in to a calm state of madness leaving my brain feeling a little fried after each winding session, I could not keep up the project for longer than two months and was glad to see the back of it.
It is therefore, astounding to me, that an artist could dedicate over fifty years to continually painting numbers.
The Telegraph wrote an obituary for Roman Opalka which you can read here.
Labels: Algorithms, Anxiety, Arrow Of Time, Art, Endlessness, Entropy, Eternity, Infinity, Mathematics, Melanie K, Numbers, Painting, Philosophy, Roman Opalka, Time, Yayoi Kusama
0 comment | admin
When reading Hubble: A Journey Through Space and Time the other day, I was astonished to discover that that a bubble nebula exists in the constellation Cassiopeia.
Source
The bubble has formed due to extreme stellar winds and radiation from a nearby star which is 10 times more massive than our sun. This means that the bubble itself is six light years across, that is one big bubble!
I was excited by this discovery, as I have been working with soap bubbles in my art work for about a year now. I'm interested in the universality of roundness from the micro to the macro, so of course, bubbles fascinated me for this reason.
This is a photogram I made from blowing soap bubbles on to photo-sensitive paper and exposing the paper to light for 4 seconds. The result looks astonishingly like a far-away galaxy.
I have made lots of posts on soap bubbles in art and science, here is a directory of bubble-related entries:
"Bubbles" / "A Child's World" by Sir John Everett Millais
How To Make A Photogram With Soap Bubbles
Artist: Kim Pimmell / / Soap Bubbles & Ferrofluid
Artist: Jane Thomas // Soap Bubble Experimentation
Artist: Richard Heeks // Soap Bubble Planet Photographs
Nature.com // Hurricanes On A Soap Bubble
Do Bubbles Freeze? // Emmanuel Coupe
Living Inside Your Own Bubble
BBC: Bubbles In Space
Melanie K's Bubble Planet
Artist : Pery Burge // Inksplosions & Bubbles
Soap Bubble Popping In Slow Motion
Artist: Tomas Saraceno // Bubble Sculptures
Artist: Simon Thomas // Studies Of The Soap Bubble
Bubble-Smith Sterling Johnson
Labels: Art, Bubble, Bubble Directory, Bubbles, Emmanuel Coupe, Jane Thomas, Kim Pimmel, Melanie K, Ngc 7635, Photogram, Richard Heeks, Science, Soap, The Bubble Nebula, Tomas Saraceno, Universe
0 comment Tuesday, April 29, 2014 | admin
This summer I graduatedfrom my Fine Art degree, and was eager to continue making photograms.I had no access to adarkroom, so I was overjoyed when I came across the fabulousStenoflex pin-hole camera at Fred Aldous, Manchester.
The Stenoflex materialsare packaged compactly inside the little black box that cleverlybecomes the pin-hole camera. When opening the Stenoflex, I was alittle worried that the photo-sensitive paper would be exposed tolight, but the photographic paper comes in its own handy little blackvelcro pouch.
Additional to the paperand box there is:
~ A red gel to coveryour light source, mimicking a traditional dark room light.
~ Developer & Fixer, both of which are labelled in French. Developer is labelled as"Revelateur" and fixer is labelled as "Fixateur".
~ Instructions in bothFrench & English.
To make photograms with the Stenoflex Pinhole Camera Kit you will need:
~ A torch to cover with the redgel to use as your dark room light while you are working. (I used aheadlamp from the pound shop and crudely gaffer-taped the gel on tothe torch making sure the red gel covered all of the light.)
~ 3 trays or bowls foryour developer, fixer and water. I bought a small plastic chest ofdesk drawers from the pound shop (again!) as I didn't want tocontaminate anything I use at home.
~ A light source whichyou can turn on and off again very easily i.e. lamp, torch, mainlight bulb.
~ A space that can bemade pitch black i.e. a cellar, shed, attic, bathroom (with windowscovered). This is very important, you shouldn't be able to seeanything unless you have your red-gel light on.
To Make A Photogram Use These Steps:Find something youwould like to make a photogram of. I used these objects: glassbeaker, dead leaves, soap bubbles, a �10 note, hair, nuts andbolts. The most fun part is experimentation and waiting to see whatit looks like as a photogram!
Assemble yourdeveloper, fixer and rinse trays and put them in to your make-shiftdark room. Switch on your red gel light.
Take your foundobjects in to your darkroom along with your photo-sensitive paperand torch / lamp which should be switched off at this point.
Make sure yourdarkroom is only lit by your red gel lamp, and then remove one pieceof paper from its pouch, making sure to close the pouch afterwardsso that you don't expose the whole pack!
Find a flatsurface and position your found objects on top of thephoto-sensitive paper.
Grab your lightsource (torch, lamp), hold directly over the paper and switch on for1-2 seconds. Your found object is blocking the light from reachingthe paper, and this is how your image is "printed" on to thepaper.
Develop, rinse andfix as normal.This technique willmost likely require a little trial and error, but you can work outhow much light you need to use by looking at your photogram after ithas been fixed.
If your fixed photogramhas gone white it is under-exposed.You have not used enough light oryour found object is blocking too much light from the paper.
If your fixed photogramhas gone black it is over-exposed. Too much light has reached thepaper, or your object isn't blocking enough light.
Here are my results:
Found Object: Soap Bubble blown directly on to photo-sensitive paper.
Found Object: Soap Bubble blown directly on to photo-sensitive paper.
Found Object:Dead Leaves
Found Object: Dead Leaves
Found Object: Glass PaperweightSee more of my photograms at Melaniek.Co.Uk
Labels: Artist, Britain, Bubbles, Camera, Cameraless Photography, Chemistry, England, Fred Aldous, Home, Leaves, Manchester, Melanie K, Photogram, Pinhole, Science, Soap Bubble, Stenoflex, Uk, United Kingdom
0 comment Saturday, April 26, 2014 | admin
So, I am just about to sign off all of my work for my third and final year studying BA Fine Art at Leeds College Of Art. My deadline is Monday, so I have just finished installing my work for the degree show! Our degree show will also be travelling to Free Range at The Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane.
Here is the work I am exhibiting:
The image was made when I captured a bubble on photo-sensitive paper and exposed it for two seconds. This is my favourite image from lots of bubble related experiments, as it looks deceptively like a gaseous planet.
To display the image, I decided to construct a large circular perspex frame similar to that of Nebula by Helen Chadwick as I thought it would be suitable for my own work.
Here is the work I am exhibiting:
The image was made when I captured a bubble on photo-sensitive paper and exposed it for two seconds. This is my favourite image from lots of bubble related experiments, as it looks deceptively like a gaseous planet.
To display the image, I decided to construct a large circular perspex frame similar to that of Nebula by Helen Chadwick as I thought it would be suitable for my own work.
Labels: Acrylic, Bubbles, Degree Show, Gaseous, Greyscale, Lunar, Melanie K, Monochrome, Moon, Perspex, Photograms, Photography, Planet
0 comment Saturday, March 22, 2014 | admin
You can now purchase my original photograms and buy prints on my Saatchi Online profile.
Labels: Buy Art, Melanie K, Photograms, Saatchi Online