ESCAPISM VS ENTRAPMENT

The 'Patient' would come to the Therapy Centre in order to escape Establishment, consumerism and negative or repetitive self indulging thoughts. One of my favourite artists Jon Rafman explores escapism through video games and online worlds he has created virtually. I wanted to use it as a realistic way of me creating this world, and tie it in with BarnBrook's work as he is my practitioner. I wanted to reflect on how BarnBrook views his design process and collaboration as always political whatever the circumstance. The Main concept is that one would come to this Skyscraper of Mesh on a planet in that person's own mind. The metal mesh and wire knitted around it is a juxtaposition in itself as it looks more like a Prison than somewhere you would go to get help; however many of us in our lifetime may feel like we are ourselves in bodied inside a prison so it was inside this that I wanted to explore the process of Knit. A cocoon represents a build up and stage before real life happens, emerging from a cocoon, you could be going through a big change (like starting university) or you could be entering a new phase in your life.

With this piece I wanted to explore my personal journey up until this point, creating the idea of a simulation in which strange fonts and unknown text would be swirling around inside the building circling a person in this cocoon far away from big brands, television, media and politics that brainwashes our day to day life. To conclude on the use of BarnBrook's influence on this I experimented with crossing out letters, replacing letters with symbols like the pharmacy sign in the name, and collaging thoughts relating to my project in the form of adverts in a similar style to his 'AdBuster piece'

Immediately upon starting Research on Jonathon Barnbrook a former Central Saint Martins student I was met by an artist who also shares a love for Kraftwerk's 'The Man Machine' and 'Trans Euro- Express' Album covers which relate to my own personal taste in German Pop and Electronic which I was initially looking at when applying for Foundation. Jonathan discusses simplicity and directness in Design, having language which is unreadable or upside down to reflect being anti-establishment, an interesting thought from Barnbrook was how Bowie 'isn't something which everybody will get, or a point of view which everybody has, but yet he has a mass connection with people'. He reflects this throughly through his album artwork he made for Bowie by using words crossed out to question the artists existence, he describes using spirals on his work to 'take meaning out of your soul and to be externalising it'. In Graphic Design, it is important I learnt to have many layers of meaning to reflect on past and present, this is what I took from his work on the latest artwork he'd done for Bowie.

V&A Interview I watched on researching Jonathan Barnbrook : https://vimeo.com/62172393 

My favourite Barnbrook quote I discovered whilst watching interviews was that 'EVERY DESIGN IS POLITICAL'.

'The face is based on characters drawn from objects and observations, including a crucifix, and Barnbrook says his typography takes influence from areas as diverse as Jungian psychology, gothic architecture and Malevich?s Black Square. ?You should include the whole world in a typeface when you?re designing one,? says Barnbrook. To him, a typeface series should ?improve society? as part of a wider utopian aim, such as those set out by Bauhaus designers like Herbert Bayer, who designed the Proposal for a Universal Type in the late 1920s'

Image Sources:

• http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/jonathan-barnbrook-adbusters-protest-anonymous-200416 
• http://innocentwords.com/david-bowie-i-cant-give-everything-away-animated-visual-directed-by-jonathan-barnbrook-released/
• http://www.dezeen.com/2016/01/20/david-bowie-blackstar-album-cover-designer-jonathan-barnbrook-facing-his-own-mortality/

BOOK PAGES

I explored Knit by developing the idea of a Cocoon knitted out of cold metal and chain to juxtapose the idea of Freedom and Escapism within the sculpture itself. I looked at knit practically by creating it around the mesh and drawing Quick Sketches of chains wound together.

PAGE FROM SKETCHBOOK ON ALTAR GLOVES: