Archive for Art & Design
Technology and Art
I was poking around inside an old high voltage power pack at work the other day, and at the risk of using falling back on cliché, “they don’t make ‘em like that any more”! An educated guess would place it’s construction in the late 70s or early 80s, long before our current building was even on the drawing board. It guess it came over from somewhere else in the Physics department.
But I digress. What really caught my attention about the inner workings of this device was how they were bordering on a work of art. All the components were laid out so evenly, and all the wires were arranged in such an ordered and neat manner – each one of them a different colour or pattern so you could follow the circuit clearly. It really appealed to my OCD streak. 
The internal design of modern electronics just doesn’t receive this much care and attention, probably because users are discouraged from servicing their own equipment these days. Anyway, click on the thumbnail below to take a look for yourself. It was difficult to do it justice with a camera phone, but hopefully it’ll give you some idea of what I’m talking about.
Update – “Miniature Gallery – Other”
I’ve just added two pictures of something slightly different to ‘Miniature Gallery – Other’, accessible here or by clicking on the side menu (scroll down to bottom of page). Rather than a miniature, it’s a painting on canvas, created as a birthday gift for a friend.
Craptacular Olympic Logo
Seen the new logo for the London Olympics yet? It’s designer obviously hates people with eyes. Assuming you agree that it’s pretty dire, then click here to sign the petition for its immediate purging. Oh, and while you’re on the BBC website, look here for some infinitely superior alternative submitted by the general public, which presumably didn’t cost £400,000 to design!
Model Projects – Redux
In an earlier blog post I mentioned how I had made some models of various friends as Christmas presents. I also said that I thought I could do better if I wasn’t so rushed. Although they seemed to like their presents, it just bugged me knowing that I’d given them something that I could have made so much better.
Well the first one of these remakes is now complete, and can be seen by clicking here and scrolling down. I think the fact that I took my time on this one is fairly apparent as it blows the previous one (model 02) out of the water. Rather than simply remaking the previous versions, this time around they will be themed towards the interests of the recipients. I completed this one on Tuesday and handed�it over last night – accompanied by the phrase “this is what your Christmas present should have looked like” – and it was very well received! The next two should follow within the coming weeks, but as I keep saying, I’m not rushing. 
On a side-note, some people have expressed an interest in having their own versions made. I might be willing to do the odd commission if anyone really wanted one, but I’d have to charge something like £60 – not so much for the materials, but for the time it takes…
Model Projects
Phew, what a hectic December I’ve had. I say this as a weak excuse for the lack of recent blog entries. But with the festive melee concluded – except tonight of course – I strongly suspect that normal service shall now be resumed.
I have a bit of a yuletide tradition regarding presents for certain close friends – I like to give them something homemade. This year I made each of them a portrait, in miniature model form.
Model 01 – Model 02 – Model 03
This was my first attempt at making relatively large scale models, plus I devised these specific gifts a bit too close to Christmas. What I mean to say is; I think I can do better next time. But that’s something I’ll leave you to judge at a future juncture.
Oh and for the sake of completeness, here are last year’s gifts. The names light up at the flick of a switch, and are designed to hang from doors, in case you were wondering.
EDIT: I did decide to remake them in the end. Read about it here.
A Cautionary Tale…
I’ve been using craft knives for a decade, at least. When you’re taught to use them in Design & Technology classes at school, they always tell you to cut away from you and cut while resting on a solid surface, rather than holding the material in mid-air. This is advice I’ve generally followed until recently, when I made the unconscious decision to drift away from this methodology on a comforting tide of my own competence.
Of course this was unwise, as I discovered this Monday, while cutting through a small cylinder of plastic that I was holding. As I applied more and more pressure to finish the task in hand, the final connecting bit of plastic snapped, allowing the knife free passage into my left index finger. I was more suprised that I’d done anything so daft than in any actual pain, but the cut was pretty deep – bone, muscle or some similar internal structure appeared visible – and an astonishing amount of blood welled-up in seconds.
Needless to say I’m now sporting a bulky plaster and a deep, flapping cut underneath. Writing and strafing right will be difficult in the short term. I thought it best to share this tale as a warning against overconfidence in your own abilities. That is all, you may now return to your regular internet browsing.
But Is It Art?
So in the news today we have the unveiling of the new statue to occupy the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, London. I’m just gonna launch straight in and give my opinion; it’s an awful idea and who ever thought of it should be flogged through the streets!
The BBC news story is just a click away if you haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about, but to summarise the statue is of Alison, a naked, pregnant women who was born with no arms and stunted legs. Well that’s all very well, but I don’t think it should be in Trafalgar Square. No disrespect to Alison herself, I imagine that pregnancy and childbirth is difficult enough under normal circumstances, let alone with no arms. It’s not even the statue itself, I’ve seen worse. It’s the location! Trafalgar Square was intended to immortalise Britian’s greatest military heros, and unless I’m misinformed Alison has never been in any of the armed services or done anything heroic in the military sense.
Some people have argued that the statue is a good thing as disabled people are finally being represented in art, and being portrayed as just as capable as anyone else. But what about Nelson, to whom the square is dedicated? He only had one arm and one eye, and he saved his country from French invasion. I’d say that was a pretty good advert for disabled people being just as capable as the rest of us!
They can make Alison’s statue 50ft tall out of lime green plastic and stand it in the middle of London for all I care, but it really does not belong in Trafalgar Square!
That’s just my opinion of course, if anyone has a different view-point then I welcome their comments!
