The work (Untitled 2012) is also in a similar fashion to Banksy. This was an etch I printed prior to adding the Coca-Cola can on top using acrylic paint.
The reason I chose the Coca-Cola can was because of its representation of the capitalism of the American way of life.
Coca-Cola used Polar bears in their advertising campaigns.
This I wanted to portray in the finished work, I wanted the viewer to see some irony to the work.
What I mean by this is that we all know that Coca-Cola is a huge manufacturer; therefore they produce huge amounts of pollution into the atmosphere.
Polar bears are affected by global warming and because of this are becoming almost extinct.
This is why I found it ironic that Coca-Cola would use Polar bears in their adverts for the cute factor. Also the Coca-Cola can have been used a lot in famous American Pop Art through history.
An extremely influential artist to me is ‘Banksy’.
I enjoy the cleverness of his work, and the statements he makes using spray-paint. Using the suburban landscape as his canvas, he sneakily portrays his work in secret. Many of his works seen on walls, cars, roads, anything he chooses, is very inspiring to me.
I feel his work has certain aspects to mine, by using bold images and paint in my work has helped me to develop my own expression and interpretation.
I also like to work with similar ideas of contemporary world issues.
The image above called ‘Air War’ (2012) is a photo silkscreen print with acrylic paint. I wanted to give the viewer the feeling of power and war in this piece. The eagle I wanted to use as a sign of patriotism, and the bomb symbolic of nuclear weapons.
When thinking about the composition of the work, I decided to make it look like the eagle was trying to catch the bomb with its claws.
The artwork titled ‘Diamonds Never Die’ was influenced by my love of ‘James Bond’ movies I grew up watching.
Inspired by the opening credits to each film (silhouette montage). This is what I wanted to capture when painting my own interpretation. The smoke and guns are always a trademark of the franchise, as well as beautiful women, money and espionage.
I prefer to use Acrylic when painting, as I can get bold colours, this also helps me to work with form and shape. This painting I did back in 2004 after the initial design, but when I look back I feel it still has a lot of similarities and aspects of ‘Pop Art’ and my contemporary practise.
Here are some other iconic objects that I am interested in using for other projects. I again with the ‘Oxo’ cube wanted to think of things that would look great on a bigger scale. I also am thinking about different environments to photograph these objects in.
Whilst discussing my ideas, one of my peers suggested that these objects could be displayed in frames on the wall and presented in this way. I considered the idea, but thought more about how I wanted my work to be viewed in a different way than that.
I felt It would be more exciting to place these objects in different surroundings, which will completely transform the work by taking the object and taking away its meaning. I feel it is more important for the viewer to experience the work, rather than the work itself. By placing these larger scale objects in unexpected environments, I can subvert (take-out-of-context) which causes the viewer’s experience of the object itself and force them to reassess the situation.
My knowledge of photography played a huge part in this work. By using my objects as props for my photographs I was able to explore my ideas further through the use of another artist’s trait.
