Charlie Aldridge's Personal Study Blog

How has the Industrial revolution affected contemporary art?
In this modern age the human race has become incredibly lazy, with the invention of the motor car in the early 1900s and the invention of products like the photocopier that save us time and effort around the work place. Art has begun to follow the same route with artistic processes beginning to emerge like screen printing, where a “fine mesh or screen that is tightly stretched around a rigid frame.” Another process that has started to break its way from urban areas or ‘the streets’ into art galleries is stencil graffiti art. With artists like Banksy beginning to make graffiti more accepted in the modern world.  Others artists like Banksy have also began to emerge from the ‘woodwork’ and become more noticed in the world of art.
The industrial revolution was what began to make our lives easier, and make us lazier. It was the industrial revolution that began to use steam engines and motorised recreation and duplication to create hundreds of the same product for mass distribution, like weaponry in the world wars and motor vehicles. Since then art has began to change and evolve with it. Artists used processes that made their work look duplicated, like the work of Andy Warhol and his Marilyn Munroe masterpiece. Works like this are only possible to recreate after the revelations of the industrial revolution and the years that followed.
Chapter 1
The Industrial Revolution was a period in history, which changed the future of Great Britain and the world. The industrial revolution created the steam engine, which had profound effects and changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining and transport throughout the world in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The first major impact the industrial revolution was made in the textile industry.  The mechanisation of some of the processes removed the human labour from the overall job, which means there was fewer mistakes and the machines could work faster than any man and wouldn’t become tired.  Their cost was much higher but they could produce more products for sale.
The steam engine would power these machines which was fuelled by refined coal and wood, which burned in the chambers to create heat and boil the water in the water tanks, thus creating steam which in turn created pressure in the pistons moved the mechanical parts of the machine.  With the invention of the steam machine came mass production. The machines made it easy to replicate a single design from a template or press hundreds of times, like a stencil.
“Stencilling is a simple method of repeating a design by means of a cut out shape; the word stencil means the outline of an image”. The earliest examples of stencilling were found in examples of Stone Age cave paintings dating from as early as 30,000 BC to 9,000 BC. Some of the first stencils were cut from leaves; the Fiji Island natives traditionally used bamboo and banana leaves to make their stencils. They cut holes in the leaves and forced vegetable dyes through the leaf openings onto their bark cloth or "Tapa".
There are many different techniques and types of stencilling and ways of applying the paint to create the image. The latest way is using spray paint and a stencil made from any flat product that can be cut into, like paper, card or thin plastic. Then the stencil is laid flat on the wall or surface of choice. Then the artist will spray a small even amount of paint over the stencil to create the image on the wall. If the stencil were a multi-layered image then the next stencil would be played over the first image and sprayed onto. The paint doesn’t have to be left to dry, as professional spray paints don’t mix because of their thickness.
Another process of applying paint to stencils is using a sponge or roller and applying the paint evenly and slowly into the negative space of the stencil. This will again create the same final product as the spray paint process but you have more reassurance f the stencil finishing correctly as the aerosol in the can, can move the stencil not creating a solid final image
Chapter 2
After researching stencil art and graffiti art, I began to recognise all of the work I began to see. It was all the more well-known artist that came up in the search engines and books I looked in; but there was this 1 image of a stencil Lego figure that really intrigued me. I began to research this image further and found many like it. The figurine style is by an artist called AME 72, (pronounce aim seventy-two).
Ame 72 began his graffiti career back in 1985 at the young age of 13 and I still going strong; he is from the United Kingdom and was born in 1972. His house style is to use the well-known and mass produced child’s toy, Lego. He uses the little yellow plastic puppets to transmit a message to modern society. The message may be positive or negative towards political society or the British police force. Some of his most hypocritical works are outlining the problems in today’s society like homelessness. His piece called rooms for rent where he put up a sign outside Buckingham palace saying ‘rooms for rent’ highlighting the huge problem, in the United Kingdom especially, of homeless people struggling to survive. Another controversial piece he done is called ‘Where the missing peace?’ which is a stencil image of a Lego man holding a can of graffiti spray paint with the 72 logo on his chest, there is the phrase ‘ where’s the missing peace’ graffitied on the wall also, this was painted on a wall in Bethlehem’ This piece I about the wars and fighting continuing in the world today.
His work has been compared to pop art, in the same way that it “removes the material from its context and isolates the object”. He also sculpts intricate and highly detailed sand sculptures. His sculptures have been exhibited all around the world, in Australia, Thailand, England, Israel and Egypt. He has also recently been included in an exhibition healed in MOCA shanghai, which is focusing on ‘animamix’, a new style in art focusing on animation and comics. The exhibition is moving around and will visit four different galleries. Ame 72 also held a solo exhibition all to himself titled, ‘let’s go’ in Tel Aviv at the kishon gallery. Jamie Ame also believes in giving back to the community and helping others who are less fortunate than himself so he decides to volunteer for different charities and does voluntary work in his community. He has also been recently featured in various different publications such as Wired, Juxtapoz, art and culture magazine, and the online edition of the Jerusalem Post.

Chapter 3
I have decided to analyse on of the ame72 pieces that he used in one of his gallery shows. The piece is an image of one of his Lego figurines using a high-pressure spray gun, commonly used to spray vehicles.  The figure is using the spray tool to ‘tag’” ame72” onto a wall in front of him. The wall has been rollered first to create a solid colour or blank canvas to work over on the wall so the piece of graffiti isn’t hindered by any other work that has been created on the wall earlier.
In the piece the contours are solid and straight as the Lego character is made from plastic and injection moulded, so the lines would be perfect after manufacturer.  Also notice how the contours of the high-pressure spray gun are similar too that of the figurine, they are straight and represent the real product. The ‘tag’ that has been sprayed onto wall is not as ‘clean cut’ or perfect as the contours of the other two elements of the image. Where the paint has no specific direction when it is released from the can you do not create a clean shape.    Some elements of the image and their shapes mimic each other, like the paint container on the spray gun and the gas canister. They both represent the shape of a rectangle but the corners of the shape are rounded to make them softer and not be so daunting on the eye. The head of the Lego figure is similar to this shape too but is wider, making the shape seem squarer than rectangular. The font of the background text has similar qualities in that there are also shapes that are replicated across the piece. There are circular shapes that are seen 4 times across the text. 
The piece in question is elements of both 2-D and 3-D. The Lego figure is painted or stencilled 3 dimensionally as the print shows the height, width and depth of his body parts. Also the shading on the right hand and the head help to give the illusion of 3 dimensions, showing where the light would hit the figure if it was   3-D. the wall and the text seem very 2 dimensional as the have no depth to them, they have an area but no volume.
There is a clear range in value in this image although there are only 2 colours and the different tones of black, white and grey. On the head of the figurine there are different values of yellow and orange that blend to create the shaded 3 dimensional look on the character. The light values of the yellow show where the light hits the character and the darker values show where the light hasn’t hit. The rest of the work is made up of different values of greyscale. The background wall is quite a light value close to white with, the rollered paint being again a light value, a light grey. The sprayed text over the rollered paint is a darker value of grey that is clearly visible over the light valued grey paint used to cover the wall. The rest of the greyscale elements of the image are the lightest and darkest values of greyscale that can be obtained, white and black.
The oranges and yellows used in the image are used to divert your eyes to the most important parts of the piece. The head and hands are seen as the most important parts of the image as they are where the skill comes from. They seem to stand out much more, as the rest of the piece is very boring and bland with it only being greyscale.
There aren’t many different textures in the image; there is only the texture of the wall and the spray paint painted over the top. The texture of the wall would be reasonably rough, although the craftsman who put it up may have smoothed it, the materials used to make it would still be rough. The paint would be smooth and shiny; it would flatten the pattern of the wall slightly.
    The mood of the image is somewhat childish in that the character has no realisation in that he has just vandalised the wall and has no recollection of his actions. The smiling expression of his face makes the piece feel cheerful although he has just committed an illegal act.


Chapter 5
This piece is again by the artist Ame 72. It is a protest piece against homelessness and how homeless people are treated. The piece was painted on a wall in Israel, back in 2003 . The artist used spray paint and stencils to create the piece. This piece was made by using many different layers of stencils to create the high level of detail. The work shows a homeless man sleeping on a bench, in a street or a park, holding a home made sign saying ‘Do not disturb’. He is wearing dark green trousers so they don’t show the dirt, a grey coat down to his waist, a green wooly hat with black stripes on it and dark trainers. The male is spread evenly across the bench although he has to hold his knees to his towards his chest to fit onto the bench. He would also do this to conserve warmth. The artist uses quite dark and dirty colours to show the cleanliness, or lack of cleanliness, by using the colours that he has. The bench also looks quite old and decrepit. The bench has been painted in a dull grey colour showing that either, the wood has lost its grain look; or that the paint that it had been painted with has become dirty like the tramp sleeping on it, or that it has faded. From seeing production pictures of the work in progress, the work seems to be a little smaller than life size. The artist is pictured down at the base of the work and looks a similar size to the piece. The work is a negative and provocative piece aimed at the public and people to help with the homeless and those living in poverty. The artist has kept the piece quite simple with not many complicated lines throughout the piece. He has used block colours for simplicity and effect and has used solid black lines for shading.
The two pieces both send a message. The moods of the pieces are both very different too. One has a happy and amusing mood, whereas the other has a negative and provocative mood. The first is colourful and bright whereas the other is dull and boring. The two pieces are very contrasting in most areas.

Chapter 4
The future holds no bounds to what it can do for art and especially contemporary art. With technology developing as fast as it is, contemporary art can evolve and develop with the technologies. Digital media has started to become a big part of contemporary art with software packages allowing artists to create unbelievable animations and videos that look like blockbuster movies from desktop computer in their own homes. Digital media is started to become a huge part of the modern world and everybody’s lives, with mobile phones now being able to connect to the Internet from anywhere in the world art can be view from all corners of the earth. And the Internet is the start for many young, contemporary, digital artists today. They can post pieces of work on sites like YouTube and Flicker that are noticed by tens, hundreds, thousands, maybe millions making them overnight superstars. Graffiti art and street art have started to become more acceptable in art industry with artist like Banksy becoming world known and holding solo exhibitions in galleries like the Bristol city museum and art gallery. His work has also sold for millions of pounds across the world, just like modern contempory artist today that specialise in traditional art techniques.
Conclusion
To conclude my report I believe that the industrial revolution had an indirect effect on contempory art today. The industrial revolution affected everyday life today with the introduction and invention of the motorcar and then other motorised machinery that make our everyday lives easier. This introduction of ‘making our lives easier’ has moved into art movements of today, like stencil art, the technique of creating an unlimited number of pieces from that single  template.


This is still not a final draft with space to fill.