Maisie Cousins 

William Farr

Vilde Rolfsen

I decided to look at artists that manipulated waste into new art pieces. Maisie Cousins is a British artist who uses food waste to create vulgar, but beautifully engaging imagery, incorporating colour and texture with strong stylisation. William Farr is an artist that creates consumer waste into large sculptures, with his most recent work featuring in Selfridges window displays . Much like Maisie Cousins, Farrs work is chaotic with a contrasting minimalism that runs throughout with the main body of his work. The accent of colour and the combination of man made and natural objects work well with conveying a strong tactility within his work. Vilde Rolfsen uses plastic bags to make etherial scenes, using external lighting and colour.

Keith Arnatt is a British artist who, like the previous two artists, has documented waste and rubbish from personal experience/ visiting rubbish dumps. Arnatt’s series of images titled ‘Rubbish Tip 1988-9’ were taken using plastic sheeting and plastic bags as the backdrop with selected objects as the focus, giving a more stylised approach to the series. The plastic sheeting was used to support the lighting of each images dimming the natural light creating a faded effect that accentuated the bright colourings of each focus object. 

The composition of each image is slightly different to show the purity of the subject however was stylised using the sheets of plastic to ensure there is consistency. Similar to Chris Jordan, Arnatt considered aspects like affecting the lighting to make his images unrecognisable; making the viewer completely engage with his work. As Rubbish Tip was released in 1988, the format of his imagery is film, which provides the series with a more dynamic silhouette. With digital camera creating more vivid colours like in Harley Weird work, the film creates a more muted image which I think works well. Using film to convey sustainability and waste in today’s society would allow the strong social identifiers to be the focal point for the imagery with the film contrasting this.

Harley Weir is a British photographer who uses documentary style images, similar to Chris Jordan to create vivid and fascinating pieces. As a photographer, Weir has been looking at plastic since 2015 where she created a series named ‘Rubbish_1’ documenting all the waste she found using her phone. She explains in an article by i-D that the process of documenting the waste allowed her to consider her own involvement with the contribution to the over consumption of commodities and plastic. 

The images that Weir posted onto her instagram were over exposed, close ups of the rubbish which highlighted the bright, obnoxious colouring and texture. I looked at her work alongside the poet Wilson Oryemas to create a show ‘Rubbish 1’, where Harley Weir showcased her new work under the name Rubbish 1.2 accompanied by Oryemas poetry that assist Weirs imagery to project an immediacy to the control of our over consumption. Being interviewed by Dazed, Weird describes her photography as “representing her means to curiously learn about her surrounding and understand the world.” Weir used this collaboration to grip the viewer, showcasing her images that highlighted the everyday brands that were a regular in her series to create a feeling of relatability, where consumers were able to take responsibility for their over consumption. 

Similar to Jordan, the photography she creates is showing her subject in its natural state which I want to reflect in my magazine through the use if my own experiences. Through the collection of my own rubbish and looking my own consumption will help me develop a honest and strong piece of work. Her work also features accents of vivid colour that supports the unpleasant subject/story that she is conveying, creating a more light-hearted collection of images, in contrast to Chris Jordan’s series.

Chris Jordan is an American photographic artist that looks at social issues conveying these through documentary style imagery. He has worked on numerous series that look at the effect of human consumption on the planet including an Albatross series which highlights the rise in these animals decrease due to plastic. I decided to focus on the series named ‘Intolerable Beauty’ which is a series of images showing the various discarded materials that make their way into landfill but on a larger, more intense scale, showing the overwhelming number of items in a natural and honest way. This work has been created to portray the idea of how we as consumers collectively produce this excess waste but are completely unknown to each other which sees the identification of who is to blame completely anonymous. This can be seen in relation to the composition of these images, with there being no focus on a particular aspect of the image as well as the photography being taken from a distance which therefore makes the viewer have to take a deeper focus on what the image is of.  

I found this imagery engaging and inspiring, with the photographer looking at these subjects but conveying them in a pure and clear format that allows the viewer to fully understand the concept behind the imagery as well as the possibility to question and build their own interpretation. Photography in this style would work well with story I want to build in my magazine with impactful and thought-provoking images.

Novembre Magazine 

Novembre magazine is a independent, biannual publication that showcases artists and their talent to explore modern culture. They use engaging imagery through the magazine that challenge controversial idealisms as-well as covering topics like fashion and art. Originating from Sweden the magazines visual identity reflects the complexity and exuberance of the art pieces that are featured. Through examining this magazine, it is evident that using minimal text has allowed the power expressed from the photography and outrageous graphics is enough to carry this magazine to highly established platform. As a magazine they have described themselves as being able to make the ugly beautiful, challenging the idea of ‘bad taste. These images are a true reflection of the conceptual story pieces and adaptation of ideas to which is expressed through forms of imagery including still life, candid photography and generated graphics. Much like Rouge and The September Issues, there is a strong identity shown through colour, with November looking strongly as vivid, distorted colours to ensure that every page is impactful. Unlike, the previous magazines, although described as showcasing fashion in addition to art and music, this is not evident throughout the pages in terms of photography. The visual identity of all the magazines have a distinct fashion identification in contrast to Novembre which is reflected in a more conceptual approach.

Novembre Magazine is priced at £14 an issue, which places it in the lower sector within the market making it on of the more affordable magazines. It runs at an A3 format with higher quality gloss paper throughout the magazine, making the overall thickness of the publication to be relatively thick, comparing itself to Chaos Sixety Nine. 

Rouge Fashion Book

Rouge magazine is a biannual fashion book; first of its kind found in china. They showcase topics on fashion and art culture supported by highly established designers and artists to coincide with their modern photography styles and fashion forward content. The fashion photography conveyed in the Chinese fashion book is has a similar aesthetic to Off Black; using definitive fashion styles such as portraiture images and style shots, but the combination of this alongside captivating layout styles creating a more intriguing feel to their magazine. Figure 32 is part of a series of images combining fashion photography and graphic design, creating a dynamic image that creates an individualisation to the accompanying content. This sort of imagery is something that I am interested in including in my magazine which expand upon static journalism. 

Figure 30 is another representation of interesting layout possibility that I want to fuel my publications visual identity. The spread in Figure 30 combines 3 images from the same shoot, using these images to show diversity through the narrative which allows the reader to fully engage with this through one spread in the magazine.  When comparing this magazine to other fashion books like Off Black, there is a strong presence in regard to vibrancy and vividness; this being conveyed through the bright colour pallets that run through each image. This is also made more prominent with by the support of black and white imagery which I think is effective way of incorporating the reader. Rouge is a hard-back book which sets itself apart from other magazines, using hardback as part of its identity follows the idea that it will be a publication of longevity, unlike other magazines which are read a number of times then discarded. This is something to consider for my publication as it a definite design feature that I want to include, however, the costing of this will impact on the magazine’s marketability.

The September Issues

The September Issues are a feminist magazine, printed independently showcasing artists and creatives to establish fashion as a feminist issue whilst also allowing for new talent to publish themselves into the industry in a engaging and diverse format. The aim for their publication is to engage with an audience that have an interest in fashion and the arts whilst also including political and social topics which can help educate and inform; creating a visual impact on their reader. This ethos I want to project into my upcoming publication; creating content that is visually engaging and captivating whilst also impacting on the readers though process, questioning what they are looking at which I feel this magazine is doing effectively.  In comparison to Rouge, Chaos and Off Black, this magazine has a more definitive identity with their imagery, with the others exuding high fashion photography incorporating desirable designers, 
The September Issues’ aesthetic is more relatable, using softer tones and lighter accents of colour to attract their target audience with subtly and compassion. Figure 38 is an example of photography that helps the reader with relativity with a static publication like a magazine. The use of portraiture photography like this one assists with the association to the content they are reading; putting a face to the name. This is something that will be made prominent through my magazine, using realistic and modern beauty standards if this type of content was included, to show diversity and inclusion. The September Issues is a similar size to Off Black, using this to also convey their relatability in their ethos. The use of bright colours helps with identification; having a strong front cover shown in Figure 35 is a viable design decision with the publication being independently published, which I something I will need to consider further.

Chaos Sixety Nine

Chaos Sixty-Nine is a luxury poster book produced by the well-known accessories brand Chaos. This large fashion book is a series of graphics/illustrations and photographical imagery that combines fashion and other materialistic items to create engaging and vibrant content.

Each issue contains over 100 pages, exploring tactility through the ability take out each page and use to it the readers disposal. Each issue has featured a number of famous faces from Kendall Jenner to Adoah Adwoa using this to keep an aspect of high fashion alongside conceptual. One image photographed by Alexander Kent has been used to represent the development in innovations for fashion; looking specifically at citric waste. Each of the images showcased in this book are supported by the large format of the overall publication. Using A2 has meant that the complexity of the imagery can be expressed through the accompaniment of simple layout which I want to use as a possibility in my publication.

I particularly like the composition of the imagery as they have manipulated an object to resume a different narrative. Both of these would work well in my publication with the idea of waste being portrayed through consumer waste including food and plastic. The selection of images I have collected from this magazine are to showcase the variety of muted and vibrant tones that run throughout that I want to translate with my magazine.

Off Black Magazine

Off Black magazine is a biannual magazine which is brought together through public contributions which showcases new and upcoming talent in the creative industry such as styling, journalism and photography. They cover a various topic including fashion, beauty and art culture. In comparison to Chaos, Off Blacks visual identity is topically fashion conveyed through high definition portrait photography accompanied by engaging articles. 

These images represent examples of photography and layout that I would like to represent in my publication as is conveys ambiguity and modernism using unrelated objects such as fruit and close up photography. I feel like this would work well as an aspect in the publication as it allows the reader to assume and become captivated through the unknowing message, whilst also effectively representing the topic of sustainability. Much like Chaos, Off Black also use muted tones throughout their magazine with accents of colour, creating a clean and high fashion aesthetic; with several viable representation of this. The photography used in these images allow for the styling to be the body of the image, using interesting makeup and hair to control the focal point of the photography. 

Off Black is a smaller magazine, running at just over A4 keeps the magazine at a average size for ease to the reader, this size is smaller than visualised for my publication however, depending on the content this could be a possibility.

Tate Modern

Christine Ay Tjoe is another featured Artist that was presenting their work at the White Cube. Work under ‘Black, kcalB, Black, kcalB’ were created using multimedia presented on large scale and smaller scale canvas, similar to Almonds. Tjoe’s pieces are a representation of the possibility of living with darkness inside an individual’s sub conscious. Using oil paintings and aluminium plates, Tjoe creates conceptual imagery that captivates the audience through provoking intensive thought and consideration. The installations explore the integration of darkness into human nature, which I feel is relative to the idea in which I will manifest my publication from. Sustainability and consumption, specifically waste is considered as second nature in modern society.

Saatchi Gallery

Roman Stanczak, a polish artist has created several standout pieces that are presented in the Saatchi gallery, exploring materialistic transformation and the demise of their natural state. Seen in Figure 12 and 13, these pieces are noted to be a representation of life of souls that the object that he is presenting. He uses distortion to convey the harshness of complex mental states, using materials such as wood and metal to express the rigid embodiment of and individuals psych. These elusive symbolisations of objects have helped develop conceptual techniques into representing possible objects or materials for engaging photography that will feature in my publication.  Using objects and materials allows the viewer/reader to observe and integrate their own view or opinion into the work to add further meaning and conceptualisation to these installations. 

The White cube showcased Darren Almonds abstract collection named Time Will Tell featuring various pieces displaying the idea of time. Almond uses different media including concrete based mineral paint, acrylic gel on mirror, and conductive metal leaf to depict how the number featured throughout his pieces are a common factor in human culture. The distortion of these pieces to represent the disruption each piece natural setting. Each piece features a minimal aesthetic covering a large canvas which displayed the concept of each image effectively and made the overall presence of his exhibition engaging and approachable. Using multi- media and large-scale canvas can be carried through onto my own pieces in regard to the multi-faceted content that is put in my FMP magazine.

Christine Ay Tjoe is another featured Artist that was presenting their work at the White Cube. Work under ‘Black, kcalB, Black, kcalB’ were created using multimedia presented on large scale and smaller scale canvas, similar to Almonds. Tjoe’s pieces are a representation of the possibility of living with darkness inside an individual’s sub conscious. Using oil paintings and aluminium plates, Tjoe creates conceptual imagery that captivates the audience through provoking intensive thought and consideration. The installations explore the integration of darkness into human nature, which I feel is relative to the idea in which I will manifest my publication from. Sustainability and consumption, specifically waste is considered as second nature in modern society.