Protection Against Evil

This symbol Is known as the Hasma, it is an ancient symbol used as protection for Jews and Muslims.
It has great and rich religious meaning and history for both religions, it can come in a variety of designs but the main components remain the same. For example the shape of the hand and the eye in the centre, the eye is considered a powerful talisman against the “evil eye” and is often worn around the neck.

This is the most decorative piece could find, though there is a lot more extravagant versions, this one is constructed intricately and beautifully using Indian ink and paper. It gives it a honest yet attractive look, other then the border there is nothing left blank, it is filled with designs and shapes, this is a evident trait in a lot of Muslim art. This is because if the heavy use of curved patterns and high contrast designs, which only emphasise the centrepiece of the eye you can almost feel the culture in this symbol. This symbol is often worn as jewellery so it had become highly decorative, and many interpretations have been made over the thousands of years. You can see why you would fee protection from this symbol, its firm strong metal hand with a all seeing eye in the centre to look over you.

REACTION


i took the idea of ancient and intricate designs and incorporated it heavily into this design. i decided upon putting it into a shield as i believe it is one of the most recognizable designs for protection. i created simular black ink designs on my shield, i also decided upon putting an eye in the middle like the hand, i think this shows where its inspiration has come from, and gives it further meaning.

Unity

Chris Ofili is famous for his controversial pieces more so then anything else, his works are famous for content and materials, and he is renowned for using mixed media. In this piece he has (like in all his work) used the colours of the African flag to comprise the subjects. Which straight off gives you strong symbolism of belonging or sometimes in offili’s case, not. I could not find a literal meaning for this piece, but like in all Ofili”s work there is a underlining theme of race, belonging, politics, struggle and stereotypes. I don’t think it is any different for this one, I believe this is to do with love through hardship and discontent. my favorite part, is that the two kissing faces have together create a heart shape.
The materials used were gouache and gold leaf on paper, it has created a striking effect. This use of mixed media once again, has worked well, the bold African colours set of by the use of gold. I believe he may have used gold to show, personal excitement and maybe even glamour, because no matter the hardships the couple may have endured, love for each other prevails. Unity, in the face of opposition.

REACTION

this was my reaction, i have really taken on board the idea of using people or things to create shapes. so i made the finger shape resemble a heart, i also took on the use of bold colours, and few of them. i decided to put my own touch on the piece by trying to realistically recreate the hands, instead of cartooning them. however i did take the cartoon element into it by drawing the heart with pastels. this also made it a mixed media piece, which is very common with Chris ofili.i believe the use of human hands making a heart sign has strong connotations of love and unity, combined with the pastels i believe it comes over well.

Death

This famous watercolor was created by Hugo Simberg, in 1896. It’s a classic piece of symbolism; the work reflects Simberg’s thoughts on death. His personal thoughts of the scene were that, the garden of death depicts a place where the souls must go before they can enter heaven, purgatory.
This picture is clear in its mean and still has a sombre and dark mood, for example these skeletons caring for the flowers as if they were loved ones. Like the middle character holding the flower tight to his chest, like a child, it gives you the impression of a place where time, life and reality have no meaning or matter, it’s a disturbing idea. When I look at this I see the love the dead had before is used on the garden, nurturing it with the love they may have forgotten in their lives. And even that maybe how well they look after the plans will affect their next life.
This is felling of waiting and isolation is achieved extremely well by subject matter and the materials used, for example the choice of water colours and gouache, the mixture achieved a off-yellow tint to the whole painting, making the image more surreal and dark. This also created great contrast to the deep black of the figures of death; this is why I believe he used these materials. It’s a simple yet very effective method.

MY REACTION

This is my reaction to the piece above, as you can see I have drawn influence from
the striking contrast. I drew with a fine pen, my design, and then scanned it into Photoshop. From there I use Photoshop to create the strong yellow tint, and to darken the black capes. This created a great effect. I also chose to use the very flat imagery like in Simberg’s as I feel this makes the image “lifeless”, which I felt appropriate.

Lady Luck

Lady luck is an old and interesting design; the most concise definition is –

‘Lady Luck is a personification of luck that is often involved in gambler's superstitions.’( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Luck)

The image of lady luck has been adopted as a personal good luck charm and it is not uncommon to see it tattooed on to someone.
The drawing of the traditional lady luck image is strongly liked with the old school tattoo style.

You can see the similarities between them, in the way the image has been constructed, for example the use of the scrolls and symmetry of the image. This is a very common trait in a lot of hardcore or old school tattoos, as is the use of the theme of luck and chance in the designs. The image of the woman herself is a clearly a 50s style theme, in a seductive pose wearing underwear. She has become a object of lust and fantasy. Though this subject is seductive, because of this use of cartoon character it gives it a lighter and more humorous side. You may notice that the woman herself has not been been left in negative space, she is surrounded by other easily reconisable symbols, such as a horse shoe and clovers. The use of simple pen and ink illustration has really complimented the style of drawing, and also gives It strong lines and great contrast.
This is similar to the tattoo in how the lines and designs used looks very illustrative. And though it is on a different medium it is still using simple ink work, yet still has a vibrant and classic effect.

This use of a woman that symbolizes luck is derived from ancient roman mythology, from the goddess fortuna.

Fortuna was the goddess of luck and fate, Romans used to pray to her for a safe journey or a good harvest.
As you can see the imagery of the goddess is very different to her modern day equivalent. She has been sculpted in a classical roman style, reflecting more of a higher being other then a seductive almost dangerous woman like today. The style is realist using oil paints, it gives it a really powerful image, which is suiting for a goddess. This progression of character is of course due to being centuries apart and being influenced by what is popular at. However it is still interesting to see the progression from an almighty god, who was respected and admired, to later become an object of desire.

This is my attempt of recreating the hardcore old school style of illustration, like in the lady luck picture I have used simple ink work and a illustrative design using the pen line work, i did not use shading, only simple shapes and curves. I used the scrolls with words for the literal meaning and used my own symbolism in the heart shaped lock. It personifies what I am trying to put across, the representation of her locked heart, this is very similar to the hardcore old school style of tattoo. It’s a trend to use obvious symbolism in the designs along with literal, like scrolls.