I collaborated with Will Fraser on his project focusing on his object, a wine bottle. 'SLURRED SPEECH' is an audiobook created of compiled audio footage from Will drinking wine, and the aftermaths.
Will made the cover which was representative of multiple layers within the heart conceptually and physically which is relevant to the health issues surrounding binge drinking which is outlined in his project.
I edited the audio files compiled from a couple of nights that I had recorded in secret, in order to not have anything forced, we wanted to ensure the audiobook was authentic. I really enjoyed making this and secretly recording this as an on-going project and is possibly a humorous compliment to his project in contrast to the reality of some of the darker aspects of drinking and issues concerning health, depending on how the audiobook is received subjectively.
For my 9 tasks, I chose the object adhesive tape. All my work is collected in a sketchbook i made out of brown tape and 2 old sketchbooks taped together.
I found uses of tape were apparent within fashion and politics, as well as more humorous endeavours like Steve O's video of him taping himself to a wall and being blasted with paintballs. I made my sketchbook out of brown tape, using it as a binding as well as the cover.
Through out the sketchbook I experimented with counter compositional of tape (below) as well as using text editing software as well as spreadsheets to represent tape (above).
Artist Benjamin Murphy has been an inspiration of mine for years, having met him briefly at an art fair, he explained how all his art is created either using ink, or more commonly vinyl tape. Large installations in black tape particularly onto windows appear striking and create a negative spaces.
Ironically after I make my counter-compositional collages of tape I found the artist Paul Fuentes' work. I love his mash ups of everyday objects, the playful aspect is enhanced by his used of vibrant colours and minimal aesthetic.
VIDEO TASK: ADHESIVE TAPE HORROR
Extending on from this project in class we had to consider 3 mock ups exploring our object. In groups we discussed and out of them all my favourites were:
-a horror zine including screenshots from my video 'ADHESIVE TAPE HORROR'
-Some form of mockery advertisement for 'skin tape' a new thing that people are using to tape back their extra skin / wrinkles, so I could alter people's faces purposely humorously and claim it "knocks 20 years of them!"
- a zine/ booklet of 'adhesive adversities', so tape that isn't tape.. much like the compositions I made and tapes that Paul Fuentes' mocked up.
From the first, here are some initial mock up pages for the horror zine:
"ADHESIVE TAPE HORROR ZINE"
The aesthetic of the zine I really like yet is the complete opposite to my two other mock ups. The fact the pictures are image stills from a video give a grainy effect "makes me feel uncomfortable, like a VCR horror tape." The colours also apparently blend well together which was my intention with each page mirroring similar tones so the zine flows as if telling a story through colour.
My second mock up is either the beginning of a series of posters or zines, featuring 'adhesive adversities'.
"ADHESIVE ADVERSITIES"
I would plan to extend this further with more complex designs, for example the noodle tape to have the noodles draping down into singular strands. I like the inclusion of the typography which was initially hand drawn then rendered on Photoshop, the overall tacky aesthetic especially with vivid yellow background could be matching to each page/ poster as this matches a colour selected from the noodle tape. I could even make these tapes into a series of stickers which would be a lot more fitting.
Another initial mock up idea I had was to make a mockery of this new product that enables people to physically tape back flesh to decrease the appearance of wrinkles, so I created a mock up poster advertisement.
"TAPE THOSE TROUBLES"
The concept was to make it garish as well as the addition of a ludicrous testimony to the product
reinforces irony. I used a font mimicking that of a fashion publication such as VOGUE but softened this harsh clean appearance in order to highlight a lack of class and reliability. The price sticker particularly in neon yellow cheapens the appearance of this product as fashion publications either wouldn't have a price at all, or have it almost hidden in a subtle format.
After a crit, it was clear that people like the direction but thought it would look better without the price tag, and if I actually were to make the un-classy somewhat classy or at least appear like it was attempting something new age and advanced, particularly suited with the vaporwave aesthetic. It was also said that they really liked the font from the "ADHESIVE TAPE" poster, so I may include this in multiple variations for each poster.
After further development work on this poster and others, I created a series of posters which after some critique as well took a less ironic direction, yet maintaining the same level of garish design that is often deemed popular within vaporwave art work, such as:
MACINTOSH PLUS - リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー
It seems obvious that purposely 'bad taste' runs throughout and I'm really pleased with my outcomes, particularly the first poster.
