Thesis has begun! After a semester of research honing in on an odd pairing to examine further, the thesis will focus on the celebrity and the paparazzi.
Thesis advisers: Peter Culley and Micah Rutenberg
Woodbury University
The Glamour Machine
A Sublimation of Celebrity Image Valuation
LA’s relentless network of billboards conditions subconscious modes of valuation within the urban environment. How can this strata of detached floating spaces, visually authoritative yet physically inaccessible, be transformed into a high value place of habitable exposure?
The Chateau Marmont, whose cultural significance is measured in high profile indulgency and tragedy, straddles a unique arrangement of billboards. Some meet the ground, others tower, and one hovers above the villas of the Chateau itself. This cluster of billboards has the potential for an architecture of permeation; while the image is surveyed, advertised, and disseminated.
The Glamour Machine uses the site’s artificial elevation to both expose and hide the ‘untouchable’ A-list celebrity, providing programs that reveal the persona but privatize the person. The strategic harnessing of image valuation results in an architectural sublimation. The visual encounter conditions a way of seeing by rechanneling our desire into an enhanced association with prestige.
Milestone 1
Intervening the existing
Form Finding
An abstract suggestion of form and space. Ambiguity allows for finding moments to investigate further.
material testing – mock-up model
model space to sketch space
An Urban Sketch Art Experiment on the streets of Barcelona
In late April 2014 I set out for a “street art experiment”.
The idea was to do what I do normally… urban sketch anywhere and everywhere I desire,
but while showcasing printed post card size sketches attached to the inside of my messenger bag.
Sure, why not?
Add a 3 euro sign on there as well, let’s see what happens.
After skating about El Barrio Gotico of Barcelona, this spot “felt” right. The sounds, the smells, the pedestrian clamor, and of course the perspective I was about to spend a few hours admiring. After about four plus hours of laying out the lines in pencil…
…yes, 4 HOURS just for the PENCIL portion?
Why so long you wonder?
I was interrupted by many, many, passer-bys that asked about my works, myself, and many people became fully invested into what I was doing for quite a while. So, YES, the experiment was a success.
I made enough euro to eat for the next two weeks.
That was the beginning of a very fruitful and prosperous months that followed.
Arc de Triomf – Barcelona, Spain
The Arc de Triomf of Barcelona, Spain
It was an active Saturday afternoon with vibrant life all around coming from clamor on the fair grounds.
This made for quite the experiential urban sketch…
I began this sketch with a certain framework in mind –
Layers of proportions and symmetrical observations.
As soon as the bones were laid-out on paper, it was ready for shadows, color, and LIFE.
Process:
The Arc de Triomf of Barcelona, Spain
Ink and Shadows
First layer of color highlighting the most important object
Layering color and finishing touches of darkening shadows and sky color
Fin
