Matthew Hawkins

2012-01-26T22:03:00.003Z

Angelo Badalamenti has written some of the most unique film scores of our time, most notably for me are those produce in collaboration with David Lynch. Their relationship has helped define a truly original cinematic vision. Dark, mesmerizing and intensely moving, sounds compliment imagery to perfection and at times steal the limelight altogether. Sound design and the written score can often be overlooked when appreciating the cinematic experience. You need look no further than the theatre scene (Llorando – Rebekah Del Rio) in Mulholland Drive to realise just how much power a score can have. It is the sound after all, not the images, that most immediately and directly impact on the viewers physical environment. Crying has never sounded so good!

2011-11-28T11:53:00.003Z

"We're sorry. You deserved so much better", Gordon Brown wrote in a government apology issued in 2009. This unequivocal statement was made to the late Alan Turing who committed suicide in 1954 aged 41. The tragedy took place shortly after Turing had completed a course of experimental chemical castration offered as an alternative to a prison sentence following a conviction of gross indecency in 1952 after admitting a sexual relationship with a man.

Turing is most widely known for his work creating the machine that helped crack the German Enigmas machines, but is less widely known (although this appears to be changing) for his role in the birth of modern computing. In 1936 Turing set about creating a machine capable of simulating the logic of any computer algorithm. Turing machines are to this day a central object of study in theory of computation. Turing also contributed considerably to the debate on Artificial Intelligence and shortly before his death he published a paper on morphogenesis, the recognition of pattern formations in nature, in particular the existence of fibonacci numbers within plant structures.

The story of Turing's life and death was this week a topic of an competent and sometimes moving Channel 4 drama documentary, titled Britain's Greatest Codebreaker. It was suggested that his death had an immeasurable impact on the development on the computer industry as a whole. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak described Turing as “the top of everything that ever developed” in computation and it is rumoured, although denied by Apple, that their logo references the half eaten apple laced with cyanide that was found laying beside the dead body of Turing on the 7th June 1954. His favourite fairy tale was Sleeping Beauty.

2012 marks 100 years since A.M. Turing's birth and will be celebrated in the form of the Alan Turing Year, a year-long programme of events around the world honouring Turing's life and achievements.

2011-10-22T14:30:00.003+01:00

Tal R at Victoria Miro, limited quantity, unlimited quality. Rothko meets Kitaj, with a hint of Hockney thrown in. Undeniable influences combine to create enviably fresh new work.

2011-09-21T12:52:00.006+01:00

The Jet Age Compendium: Paolozzi at Ambit – I just bought this yesterday at the South London Gallery bookshop. Designed by John Morgan for Four Corner Books, this special edition version of Ambit unites Poalozzi's work for Ambit into a single volume.

The content attempts to tackle the war in Vietnam, the acceleration of Japanese technology, and the utopias of mass advertising. A 2009 exhibition at Raven Row followed the book by bringing together the array of collages, visual essays, magazine adverts and fragments which together challenge the boundaries between text and image. I have always been a fan of artist's publications, but for me this book is a perfect balance of art and design.

2011-09-21T12:21:00.009+01:00

Amateur is an amazing little website subtly housing a fascinating resource of content that cannot fail to arouse curiousity. I particularly like the imagined, observed and remembered comparative drawings used to highlight and overcome the trials of defining a personal visual language.

By utilizing drawing in a similiar way I have attempted to create an introduction to the drawing process that uses John Berger's description of 3 modes of drawing – those which study and question the visible, those which put down and communicate ideas, and those done from memory.

The result is a series of tasks intending to address a students focus on the finished image and to re-direct attention to drawing as a methodology . . . each mark you make on the paper is a stepping-stone from which you proceed to the next, until you have crossed your subject as though it were a river.

2011-09-05T14:01:00.002+01:00

A + X + M =?, Alain Resnais' Last year in Marienbad has been described as a defining work of the French New Wave and one of the great, lasting mysteries of Modern Art.

This cinematic marvel describes a haunting relationship between a man and a woman who may or may not have met. The 3 main protagonists, never referred to by name, wander through a sumptuous château and the viewer is left to deliberate over the ambiguity of memory and the pursuit of an image.

2011-09-01T13:04:00.005+01:00

The pixel myth – Pixels really don't matter [in photography] as much as people think, it's all a myth because the number of megapixels (MP) a camera has has very little to do with how the image looks. Even worse, plenty of lower MP cameras can make better images than poorer cameras with more MP – Ken Rockwell.

Upgrading your camera by doubling megapixel may make far less difference than you think because of the way it is worked out, it's simply length x width (no. of pixels), 2000 x 3000 = 6MP. A 12MP camera will produce an images size around 2848 x 4288, so even though the MP value is doubling the image size is only increasing by 40%.

I've recently picked up my camera again and have obviously had to upgrade from film equipment to digital. I still have several Nikon AF–D lenses (from my F4), so have been looking at Nikon cameras to take these lenses. Notably they need a built in motor drive for the lens, this left me looking at the D50, D70, D70s, D80 and D200 in my price range. I chose the D50 which is the cheapest and has the lowest number of MP's (6). I made a realistic choice knowing that most of the images I would be taking are either going to appear solely digitally or at most as an A4 inkjet print for reference. Most home printers print between 200-300ppi which means you can print a 6MP image at 200dpi 25 x 38cm, you could probably take this up even further if necessary!

It is worth noting that in the design/publishing industry print resolution is 300 dpi at 100%, and even though this can still be pushed, when things are being printed commercially then this should nearly always be adhered to. Essentially it is best to make a decision based on the intended use of the images and for myself and most 6MP is more than adequate.

My camera is extremely user friendly and the image quality is superb, buying more pixels doesn't help you to take better photographs. Sharpness depends on the skill and knowledge of the photographer rather than the width of the megapixels.

For all questions Nikon there is no better source of reference than Ken Rockwell.

2011-08-28T23:19:00.007+01:00

Ways of Seeing was a TV series originally broadcast in 1972 based on the writing of John Berger. It later developed into the Penguin publication that has become synonymous with art education.

The series and book questions traditional aesthetics by raising questions about hidden ideologies in visual images, quite simply it makes the viewer think about meaning and ultimately leads them to question the visible. It is as relevant today as it has ever been, and perhaps even more so. We have come to exist within a world of images and media and it is more important than ever that we question our existence in relation to contemporary aesthetics.

If you look beyond the awkward delivery of early television production and dismiss distant school memories of educational VHS recordings (certain generations only) it is easy to accept that the thought-provoking analysis excedes the majority of content delivered on the multitude of channels that we have available today. In this case it is fair to say they don't make them like they used to.

A more insightful critique alongside all four episodes can be viewed on the following link http://ubu.com/film/berger_seeing.html.

One member of the team that put the book together was Richard Hollis, a hugely influential Graphic Designer who has gone on to design the visual identity for the Whitechapel Art Gallery and more recently Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style, 1920-1965.

2011-08-28T19:12:00.001+01:00

The Great Day of His Wrath – Possibly the most awe-inspiring lightning storm that I have ever seen and all from the best possible vantage point. Not, however the best time to be at the top of the Eiffel Tower!

2011-08-28T18:53:00.006+01:00

In the infinitive – Whilst studying at the RCA in 2000, sitting on the library floor, flicking through the pages of Eye Magazine I first discovered Richard Hamilton's and Ecke Bonk's 1999 typotranslation of Marcel Duchamp's White Box: In the infinitive.

This book perfectly reflects Duchamp's practice by centralizing word and language in the process of image creation, image and word in reciprocating unity. At the time this relationship was central to personal practice and my own images could not manifest without first rigorous exploration of language.

However, it was this subtle publication that first introduced me to the world of typographic form and the possibility to communicate meaning with typography beyond the written content alone, – text not only as visual and aesthetic language but typographic form as a reflection of conceptual and personal thought.

Every small typographic detail exudes meaning. Variations of typeface, tone and colour can simulate changes in the writing medium; preserving the deletions and insertions reveals the development of ideas – even erratic spacing and punctuation can contribute to our understanding of the flow of thought.

To date In the infinitive has only been available in the 1999 first edition and with little promise of a second edition I had all but given up on the opportunity of purchasing this sublime printed work. That is until I recently managed to find a pristine original copy in the South London Gallery bookshop.

2011-08-27T15:59:00.005+01:00

The First Six Books of The Elements of Euclid by Oliver Byrne, republished beautifully and affordably by Taschen as a facsimile of the 1847 version. Featured as a continuation of the Edward R. Tufte post, I would like to take this opportunity to showcase a book featured in Envisioning Information 1990.

I have recently been working on some drawings of manicured topiary bushes and it was necessary for me to fall back upon my vague recollection of basic trigonometry combined with online tutorials to work out how the shadows should fall. Despite studying A Level Mathematics I never really got to grips with the topic and I genuinely believe that Byrne's engaging and predominantly visual explanation in which coloured diagrams and symbols are used instead of letters for the greater ease of learners would have attributed to a far greater understanding of maths and its applications. Still, it is never too late to learn.

2011-08-27T15:52:00.005+01:00

Brocante Livres Anciens Cartes Postales took place in Paris' Village Saint Paul last weekend and I managed to pick up an array of exciting material at this emphemeral flea market. Purchases included a 4 colour stone lithographic print, 3 Graphis Annuals (including dust jackets) from the 50's and early 60's, a home made greetings card and a watercolour portrait of a cat. I will be posting some of these in the future, but in the meantime here are some printed cards which came free with 'the most powerful of tonics, the perfect palatable and digestible drink to aid all of those suffering from stomach pains and those having difficulty digesting'. Lovely.

2011-08-27T15:45:00.002+01:00

Edward R. Tufte is a seminal statistician who has written extensively on the subject of information design. His books The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Information, Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative and Beautiful Evidence explore visual literacy and look at the visual communication of information. For many years these books have been at the forefront of a graphic design student's sensibilities. However Tufte's extensive investigation into visual language can do nothing but benefit anyone who has any intention of communicating meaning through images.

2011-08-27T15:38:00.004+01:00

The Do Lectures – Ideas that inspire action, are a series of lectures by doers supposedly acting as the catalyst for non-doers to do. The Doers come from all walks of life and have an extremely diverse sets of skills and interests.

"To go find your cause to fight, your company to start, your invention to invent, your book to write, your mountain to climb. The one thing the Doers of the world Do, apart from Do amazing things, is to inspire the rest of us to go and Do amazing things too. They are fire-starters." David & Clare Hieatt

The Do Lectures invite people to speak and some people pay a lot to listen. The event takes place in a quiet corner of Wales and I think from this year in California as well. The good news is that the lectures are available online and below is one of my favourite's from Geoff McFetridge.

2011-08-27T15:31:00.002+01:00

Image [&] Narrative, is an interesting website that I discovered whilst seacrhing for a photographic/video installation of modern surburban semi-detached housing aligned with Le Corbusier's advocation of new architecture. It is an intriguing e-journal which presents peer-reviewed texts on visual narratology and word and image studies. In their words I [&] N questions the mutual shaping of literary and visual cultures in the broadest sense.

Each issue features three parts: 1) a thematic cluster, guest-edited by specialized scholars in the field; 2) a selection of various articles; 3) reviews of recent publications.

I was instantly drawn towards The Hero and His Shadow by Simona Micali and The Ghost Story in Late Eighteenth-Century Germany in the Light of Jean Paul’s Novel Die Unsichtbare Loge by Elisa Leonzio. Both of these essays featured in Volume 11 and I expect the archive to act as an invaluable source of further inspiration.

Having been sidetracked, if anyone knows the installation piece and/or artist I initially set out to find or anything that sounds similiar I would be grateful for any assistance.

2011-08-27T15:02:00.002+01:00

Recent drawing demonstrating initial attempts to embrace and capture intrinsic language. Too often I have made work conscious of language in relation to intended outcomes and audience. These new drawings represent the more spontaneous growth of language as drawing embraces a catalyst of personal ideas, interests and influences.

2011-08-27T15:00:00.002+01:00

Things are not always as they appear, could you imagine Oliver Reed playing Quint in Jaws? In this period of cinematic back slapping and in the selfless appreciation of another's acting ability let us take some time out to appreciate the roles that weren't, but could have been.

Warren Beatty = Michael Corleone = The Godfather

Meryl Streep = Lt. Ellen Ripley = Alien

Al Pacino = John Rambo = Rambo

Marlon Brando = Dirty Harry = Dirty Harry

Tom Selleck = Indiana Jones = Indiana Jones

Burt Reynolds = Han Solo = Star Wars

Robert Downey Jr. = Ferris = Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Matthew Modine = Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell = Top Gun

Sylvester Stallone = Axel Foley = Beverly Hills Cop

Tom Cruise = Neo = The Matrix

Henry Winkler = Danny Zuko = Grease

Sammi Davis Jr = Beetlegeuse = Beetlejuice

Elvis = Joe Buck = Midnight Cowboy

This list highlights actors and actresses who were either first choice, initially cast or considered for the corresponding roles.

2011-08-27T14:32:00.011+01:00

100 Master Drawings of the 15th and 16th Centuries from the Basle Print Room. I recently bought this book that was exquisitely produced to commemorate the centenary of the Swiss Bank Corporation. Designed by Andreas His and published in 1972 exclusively for the bank's clients it fulfils all of the expectations of a swiss publication of that period. The slip case, paper, binding, design, superb lithographs and commentary combine to give a unique insight into these early german and swiss drawings, including work by Hans Holbien (Elder & Younger), Albrecht Durer, Urs Graf and Niklaus Manuel Deutsch, and a range of techniques and content which feels increasingly familiar.

The book measures 285 x 380mm and the real revelation for me is that all of the drawings are printed actual size, this allows the viewer to engage with the images in a way that is not possible in most publications – you are looking at lines and marks as the artist intended them. When looking at established and renown works I subconsciously seem to impose physical and mental scale relevant to my own expectations and this book, by reproducing works at 100%, seems to re-ignite confidence in my own efforts.

2011-08-26T16:46:00.006+01:00

Architecture doesn't get much better than this, the Age of Neo-Classicism, and Piranesi in particular, created poetic imagery which exploited the visual language of capriccio (meaning an architectural fantasy) to formulate inherently new ideas in a transitional movement acting as the prelude to Romanticism.

2011-08-26T16:43:00.007+01:00

The Magazine That Thinks It's A Book, Ambit is a quarterly, 96 page magazine that prints original poetry, short fiction, art and reviews. Visit the link below to download Issue 168 free.

www.ambitmagazine.co.uk

2011-08-26T16:27:00.009+01:00

THE AIR IS ON FIRE

In 2007 David Lynch had a retrospective of his paintings, photographs, drawings, alternative films and sound work at the Fondation Cartier. On the visit to see Moebius I was torn between Jean Giraud's catalogue or that of Lynch. David Lynch won comfortably, a staggering body of work, deeply dark drawings and superb lithographs. This man's talent has no ends!

"Painting is something that is always changing and expanding. And the only way to evolve is through the act of painting. You can think about it, but it's not the same as being there. So when you return to painting after a break, you start up in a very strange place. It's very discombobulated and takes quite a while to get back into where you are solidly evolving. The thing I find is that I have a long way to go. But it's a great trip." DL

2011-08-26T15:45:00.003+01:00

Jean Giraud aka MOEBIUS

Until March 13, 2011 the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain presents MOEBIUS-TRANSE-FORME, the first major exhibition in Paris devoted to the work of Jean Giraud, also known as Gir and Mœbius. Using the pseudonym Moebius, Giraud goes beyond the boundaries of the comic discipline to create landscapes and characters in perpetual transformation. Notably Giraud has contributed to storyboards and concept designs for numerous science fiction films including, Alien, Tron, Star Wars, Willow and the Fifth Element. This exhibition, does not include those works, but instead explores the theme of metamorphosis which runs throughout his comics, drawings, and film projects. Stunning draughtsmanship, where can I buy an air brush!

www.foundation.cartier.com

MOEBIUS-TRANSE-FORME - Stel et Atan (La ligne... par FondationCartier

2011-08-26T15:00:00.005+01:00

Al Dorne via Today's Inspiration

In the Winter 1963 issue of Famous Artists magazine, Al Dorne wrote, "To me, drawing is the most important consideration in making pictures. Unless you know how to draw, you won't know the security of being able to express yourself clearly and fluently as an artist. I am not speaking primarily of the academic concept of figure drawing, how the "perfect" hand, for example, is constructed but rather the structure or "architecture" of picture making. It is also the art of observation and communication. It includes knowing the principles of form, composition, value, line. Being able to draw is as essential to the artist as the craft of writing is to the writer."

"If you are able to draw you can devote yourself to saying what you think and feel. The more you know about drawing, the more productively creative you can be. You are no longer concerned with "how" to draw, but rather with "what" to draw. You are only concerned with art, and your knowledge and skill in the craft of drawing thus become the natural working extension of your artistic and creative self."

2011-08-26T14:59:00.001+01:00

Henryk Górecki Symphony No.3

The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.

"Perhaps people find something they need in this piece of music […] somehow I hit the right note, something they were missing. Something somewhere had been lost to them. I feel that I instinctively knew what they needed." Henryk Górecki.

Dark, moving, emotional, minimalist, evocative and imbued with the intense power to provoke the imagination. These songs were introduced to me 10 years ago and a week has barely passed when I haven't let these inspirational sounds transport me to another place. I listen to this and I want to make art, beautiful, moving, inspirational art.

2011-08-26T14:37:00.002+01:00

Dante's Inferno Dream Sequence (1924)

Henry Otto brings Dante's allegorical journey through medieval hell to life in his dream sequence for the 1924 version of Dante's Inferno based on Gustave Dore's engravings.

A total of 14,000 people worked on the film including, 4,950 technicians, architects, artists, carpenters, stone masons and laborers, 250 electricians and 3,000 extras. A total of 300,00 feet of film was shot.