High Fidelity

With three book covers to design, my second choice was High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (a good read if your interested). A story about love and a love of music and mix-tapes. There is also a film adaptation which has Jack Black in it (who I love), which I also recommend...Getting back to the artwork though, after thumbnailing my ideas, the best turned out to be the most simple! Just using 5 cassettes, to complement the repetition of  'top 5s' throughout the book. Here are a few experiments with music related material, prior to my design idea: 

After enjoying using materials physically to create an image, I decided that I wanted the final outcome to be a form of collage, or collagraph from which I could print. So from this I created my final piece by individually crafting my own cassette tapes. I used the collages as they were colourful and eye-catching on the front cover.  Although I would have liked to have the time to print these and observe the results, as it may have improved my final outcome. Oh well, easy to say with hindsight...(if I plan my time better in the future, this may be less of a problem). Anyway here is the final cover and I am happy with it, but improvements could be made.

Thanks for reading x

Tape art (Original post dated 14/05/11)

Converse and Footlocker produced an advert for their footwear, which caught my attention. The subject of music directly relates to my current project. It is great setting for the advert, taking full advantage of the outdoor space, considering how the artwork could be placed within a three-dimensional context (especially the headphones in the tunnel - great idea!). Simple but effective! Very cool..... :)

Ian Wright - not the footballer (Original post dated: 14/05/11)

I love the work of Ian Wright. His use of materials is ingenious and very wide ranging, including rubber stamps, mascara brushes, hama beads and badges to name but a few. One of my favourite pieces is his Jimi Hendrix portrait, created from Hama beads. I love the colours and composition of the beads, which all add up to create a very cool portrait. As seen on his website here: http://www.mrianwright.co.uk/ as well as many other amazing pieces of artwork!

Music to my ears! (Original post dated: 08/05/11)

Christian Marclay is an American artist, he composes art (and music) by using LP records. He is interested in the juxtaposition of sound and art and combines the two to produce some interesting, eyecatching results. As well as using LPs, he has used cassette tapes and record covers to create artwork. He has been influenced by artists of the Fluxus movement including Marcel Duchamp, who manipulated readymade and found objects, turning them into art. I love his cyanotype of tapes seen here, it is similar to the result I want to achieve in the print room.

His Record cover collage's, which can be seen on this link, are very aptly and effectively composed, as well as humorous. His vinyl record installation in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, is awesome and I want this type of "vinyl" flooring (below)!!