Finished My Paper.

Just the progression of my paper, wasn't 100% sure on what I had to do, so I just made my own styled newspaper, was a very vague brief in terms of information. The paper's front page contains an explosion (some have mentioned it looks like a tree of fire, well I tried an explosion) scene, to represent the chaos going on over in Gaza and the amount of airstrikes and rockets that have been used on the innocent lives living there.

Taking shape.

Trying to get the feel of how and explosion looks.

Finished Explosion, i'm happy with it, took a very long time to put the detail in it, to get the glow on the plumes of smoke was difficult. Glad it's done.

Deciding on a position, also added a building
 with screaming palestinian women infront to demonstrate the horror.

Visual Mind Map (Ebola Virus)

Just a mind map/art piece relating to the Ebola virus.

Skull Covered in The Virus

A Scene of Quarantine, Warning Others with tape and signs,
 the tape is torn, to signify that it cannot be contained.
The workers who dispose of the bodies look almost alien,
as it is what I believe it would be to the native people.
These "aliens" just come to take the dead.

  

Eye With Tear, Pain/grief, disbelief Of what is happening.

The Arms of people outstretched towards the Skull,
The Ebola virus Acts in a way to lure more cells to
it's location to spread, much like this skull, luring loved
ones to fall victim to it.

Add caption

An Angel of death and screaming woman,
Just to represent the horror.

Everything pieced together. Final Piece.

Second Artist/concept Pain.

Pain:

For my second post I've decided to use the concept of pain. While still focusing on my article on The Ebola virus, I began to think of the theme of Pain and suffering, the pain of the virus itself seems excruciating, but also the pain of loss, the loss of your loved ones, it is a deep and powerful pain that no one can truly be rid of. The only thing we can do is keep moving. Families are throwing their loved ones in the streets in fear of contracting the virus, it must be very upsetting to toss the corpses of the ones closest to you in the streets, with no proper way of disposing of the bodies themselves. The bodies are left on the streets, as passers by just stay clear of what is now just seen as a contaminated cadaver, no longer a human being. The bodies are then sealed when a clean up crew comes along, these guys are well protected of course, the bodies are covered up and then lobbed onto the back of trucks. I guess there's no dignified way of doing things at such drastic times.

I've picked a few artists which I feel expressed powerful pain in their works.

Frida Kahlo: 1907-1954

Frida Kahlo is a renowned surreal artist and feminist icon from mexico, with a sassy and fierce nature she was a woman who demanded respect, she smoked, drank, cursed, uncaring of what people said. She had great respect for herself and her fans, she went through alot of hardships in her life, she contracted polio when she was six, leaving her bedridden for nine months, and was left with a damaged leg leaving her with a limp, her father urged her to play soccer, go swimming and even take up wrestling, to help in her recovery, these were all strange things for a girl to be doing at the time. Frida  was also in an accident when she was 18, she was in a bus that collided with a car, severly damaging her spine and pelvis and was confined to a hospital for weeks, she then returned home to mend her broken spine, collar bone pelvis and ribs. Frida had to undergo many surgeries after the accident, over 30, while the only thing she could do was wait, and so she began to paint, she finished her first self portrait the following year. 

She married a muralist named Diego Rivera, a man 20 years older than she was. This marriage was one of passion and conflict, as they both loved and respected each other, but also at the same time couldn't stand one another. This relationship went through marriage and divorce, getting back together and separation, they both had other lovers, Rivera had relations with her younger sister, through this familial betrayal she cut off her trademark long black hair.

Frida went through two miscarriages in her lifetime, but because of the accident she was unable to give birth causing more heartbreak in her life, as she so desperately wanted children. Her artwork contains her grief and pain that she had endured in her lifetime, she was strong and will forever be remembered as an iconic female throughout the world.
Her art spoke nothing but pain and suffering, the honesty was unbelievably refreshing, so morbid and yet so intensely vulnerable, I felt as though she had nothing to hide, saying this is me, accept it or leave it, but know who I am.

A Few Small Nips

Henry Ford Hospital

The Broken Column

Thinking About Death

The First artist I cam across was Dario Puggioni.

The majority of his work is dark and deals with ideas of pain, his ideas are derived from subjects such as suffering caused by poverty, uncertainty for the future, inability to communicate, and an alienation immersed in the mass and desperate loneliness of the human race.”

David Alfaro, this striking piece,
which holds so much grief and sadness, leaves an impression on you, making you want to console this poor being, clearly under so much pain.

"The Sob" David Alfaro 1939

 This is a an example of sculpture, Haroshi uses old unused skateboards to create his work, and isn't it just fantasic? You can actually feel this mans hurt, he seems to have an interest in creating his work around the skateboard community. I don't even know how he would create such a piece.

Agony Into Beauty.

Artist Research For Project. Artist 1.

I'm basing my artist research on elements from my last article on the Ebola virus, the themes and concepts I found within and would wish to explore to some degree.

I was trying to look for artists and ideas which I've never heard of, while just randomly flicking through the web I came across this fascinating work from an artist called Luke Jerram. He combines science and art seamlessly and intricately, creating such visually pleasing works of sculpture. If I was not told that these were viruses I would have thought they were something from a Si-FI movie. Absolutely stunning, the amount of detail that can be done with glass is mind blowing. Check him out!

Close Up of E Coli

E coli.

Swine Flu

An arrangement of a few pieces.

My final Post of News Articles, The lessers.

My final post of articles takes a less morbid role. I figured i'd give the smaller less noticeable articles a chance to take the spotlight.
These articles take concepts from many different areas, ones which seem to pop up constantly in our modern day lives, ones which bring up questions about where we are going in our society, and if we have a good future. From what I have read, we don't have much to look forward to.
 The papers these days seem to focus more on misfortune, cruelty, death, greed and the idols of our time, not saying that they all coincide with one another but I have realised now that I have obtained no significant knowledge or anything positive from reading the news, this is why I don't bother. It is good to keep up with world affairs, but why is it that everything going on in the world is filled with negativity and  the focus of all the bad qualities of man, where is the good?

Nights of The Old Puffins.

Star wars VII is being filmed on Skellig Michael, co Kerry. The Bird watchers are concerned for the birds who inhabit the area, especially the puffins who are beginning their mating season. This is big news for ireland, a large franchise like Star Wars storming our shores is great for publicity.

The cast and crew Are relaxing on their last day of shooting.
There was a 3 Mile no fly zone above the island during shooting and a 2 mile wide radius restriction over the waters was also enforced, to keep filming safe from prying eyes. The townspeople were also sworn to secrecy, and even a few of the crew were told before filming started that they were doing a documentary on puffins!

Just a little cartoon about jedi's giving some good karma to Skellig. As there was also a very large oil deposit found close by, bringing alot of attention from the wrong kinds of people.






I also enjoyed the small segment below it, it's about a man who has given up alcohol entirely, finding a new lease on life. He goes on about it being the best decision he has ever made, maybe a few people should consider this as an option, I know of a few my own age who could do without it, including myself, as it releases something that scares me sometimes, and it's bad when a man can't trust himself with a drink. As a nation who prides itself on alcohol consumption and getting "shit faced", maybe there should be a change in the way we think and act. The youth of today has only progressed in it's drinking capabilities, it's becoming a mockery.

A perfect example of what the fun has become in Magaluf, a male brings an unaware girl from the crowd to the stage, gets her to strip down, leaving the girl without any dignified way of covering herself up, as onlookers cheer them on, the male proceeds to disgrace the girl by bending her over and simulating sexual thrusts, and then her gets her on her knees to make it look like she is giving him oral sex, all while covered in paint. Magaluf has become the party central for the younger generation, mainly from Ireland and Britain. They go to Magaluf to experience what they cannot in their home countries, free from judgmental parents and the prying eyes of sensible authority. If this is what has become of my generation then I fear what is to come, i'm all for having fun and going a bit wild, but not at this level, this is disgusting and I couldn't ever justify this form of immoral disregard for human dignity.

Day 2 in the news room.

The Ebola Virus.

The second topic I decided to write about is that of a Virus plaguing west Africa since February, killing over 900 at this point ( as I'm writing ) It is a deadly virus which has a 90 percent fatality rate. It is not an air-born virus, it can only be transferred from bodily fluids.

 

Effects of The Virus and Why it's so Dangerous.

A virus is a parasite, it needs a healthy host to survive (cells), it feeds on the host until it no longer needs it, killing it in the process.

• The Ebola Genome prevents dendritic cells from sending messages to trigger the immune system.
• It attaches glycoprotein to receptors on cell surfaces, which allows it to transfer itself into the cell and be transported to more cells, feeding on them.
• Without the dendritic cells acting accordingly the body cannot create antigens to kill the virus.
• The immune system continues to release large amounts of cytokines ( for cell signalling ) which causes cell inflamation, triggering the body to send more immune cells to do the same thing, in a constant loop, unknowingly causing problems in the body.
• Infected cells then detach from blood vessels, causing extreme, wide spread,  haemorrhaging throughout the body. ( Example Left )
• This causes kidney and liver failure.

The virus is still not fully understood, it's known origin is that of the fruit bat.

Kate Conquers 3 Tins for Charity, side by side with the deadly outbreak.
Europe fears deadly virus, Kate fears she won't make it in heels, don't worry though, she made it! Thank god!

Day 1, Oh the Horror, Someone think of the children.

First things first, I've learned from reading the newspaper, that our world has turned to shit. The end.

Here's a few articles that I've come across from the last month.

Left: A UN school was bombed, 16 Palestinians were killed in the school, another 17 in a nearby market. The UN warned Israel of the amount of people within the building 17 times.



The devastation and horror that is currently happening in Gaza, it has been going on since the 8th of July, starting with three Israeli students being kidnapped, a manhunt was arranged to track down the three young Israeli students and their captors, they were to be found  later, executed, with bullet casings surround their bodies. An act that could never be forgiven, the Israeli people were outraged, understandably, and blamed Hamas as being the culprit, they continued their manhunt and invaded Gaza so that they could apprehend Hamas operatives. The situation has spiraled out of control. A young Palestinian boy was found burned alive, seen as a national incident, revenge for the young boys who were executed. Rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel after the arrests and murder, being believed, but not proven to be Palestinian militant groups working under Hamas, the Israeli forces responded with more force attacking 34 sites with airstrikes, a devastating, unmerciful retaliation.
 The Israel community have created a war-zone in Gaza, with no remorse they continuously attack and bomb the streets, knowing they contain innocent lives. Near 1,800 Palestinians have been killed, the majority of whom were harmless civilians, women, children, whole families have been wiped off the register, leaving no one left to carry on the bloodline. Although Israel states that around 900 of them were combatants. Compared to the 64 Israeli lives which were lost, 11 of whom were soldiers. Such large numbers, each of which is a life... think about that for a second, people with lives, families... all but a number now to be shown on the news. It's a monstrosity, so much death, and for what? People have become monsters, it's like we've forgotten that a life is precious, not something to be snuffed out by the hundreds with one rocket, it makes it impersonal, numbering them, soldiers don't even have to feel the impact of taking a life. Sure they only press a trigger and that's that.
This whole incident demonstrates the cruelty of man, the disregard for human life, the immoral and irresponsible use of weaponry, which has taken any personal impact of killing a man away from the hand which pulls the trigger... The smoking barrel of a gun, has evolved into the smoking ruins of a city .

L2L The tales of the newspaper.

A brief introduction to my L2L project.

Basically, I must pick out some articles from a newspaper(s) that stand out, and which have potential to derive some work from, and take some notes etc.
Using these articles I must choose 1 and create a visual mind map which delves into the concepts/themes within.
My intention was to pick small unnoticeable articles and bring them to light, there are a couple but the headlines just became overwhelming. I've come across a few articles which grabbed my attention, mainly due to their continuous effort to slap me in the face. I just couldn't get away!