From visiting the FIGURING LIGH Exhibition at the Djanogly Gallery I picked Rebecca Partridge as my favourite artist from the artists there.
Evolver oil on canvas is very clever because if you look carefully at the shapes, it looks like they are all exploding out from the centre. The colours for the blocks towards the centre of the painting are much bolder and more intense with bright a mixture of bright greens, reds, yellows, blues and pretty much any other colour you can think of. As the pattern moves outwards the colours fade and get paler. This can be viewed as the explosion that was in the centre of the painting is dying out as it reaches the edges of the canvas.
What I like most about this painting is that when two colours overlap, they are mixed together to create another, for example, when a blue block is overlapped with a yellow black the space in-between is green. The colours stand out so well because the back ground is white, if the background was, for instance, purple, the colours would not stand out as much.
The Dazzling Darkness oil on canvas, also by Rebecca Partridge, does the exact same thing although it’s in the opposite direction, so the squares are going into the centre and getting lighter in colour like their being sucked into a vacuum. I think these colours stand out so well because the background is black.
Why is it that we want our belongings to do more for us than to function well? In today’s society it’s not about what the piece of equipment does, it’s how it looks more than anything I think. This is very true with me; I’d rather have something that's a bit more expensive which does the same as another piece of equipment that isn’t as attractive. This happens with a lot of people, and don’t think you’re a snob if this is you. It’s natural to want nice things. My view is that we want nice things because we want them to look better than everyone else’s. For example, say I bought a mobile phone. Now, this mobile phone does everything that normal mobile phone would... but it looks really cool – its black shiny and everything. But it’s a tad more expensive. I’d go for that one, where as my friend who may not be able to afford the posh one would go for another. People buy expensive things because they secretly want people to see them and comment. The example I’m using is my laptop, because it’s all shiny and new. I’ll be honest and say I bought it because it looked pretty. I went to PC World with £700 to spend on a laptop but saw this one that was way over my price range and had to have it. It did the same things as the others, maybe a little bit better, but it looked so much more aesthetically pleasing than the others. Why are we willing, as soon as we can afford it, to pay extra for things with appealing forms? This could be because of many things. Mostly I think it’s because people want to be better than their friends and by having the ‘best’ gadgets, they think they can become popular with other people if it’s only for a short while. Peer pressure could account for some people spending more money on better looking items, e.g. a boy or girl might buy something because all their friends have it and they want to fit in. Some people just like to have the best things that money can afford, and that means paying extra for objects as soon as they can afford too. I think though, if everyone had a choice, that they would go for the more expensive object of the same grade than the cheaper one that doesn’t look as nice. I know I would... wouldn’t you?
When you think about surfing the net, you would be thinking about using a computer or if it allows, your mobile phone. But now, a new concept in internet browsing has become available to us. This is the new Archos Generation 5 player which is a Personal Media Player but has also been named but its creators as an Internet Media Tablet. It can be compared to the iPod, but there’s really no point because the Archos is so much better. They are both hand held devices, and if compared to the iPod touch, both have touch screen capabilities. But that’s it.
The opportunities with this technology are pretty much endless. It not only lets you browse the internet using an Opera Powered web browser, but you can also listen to music, watch videos that you have either transferred from your computer or downloaded from the internet on the tablet its self. It’s possible to watch HD movies, but the nest thing about them is that you can record live TV to the device and even set programmes to record automatically using the programme planner.
The sizes that these players come in huge. The lowest size memory capacity on the Generation 5 is 60GB and the highest if 250GB. However, Archos have also released their Generation 7 players which are the same as the Generation 5, just are bigger in the size of the tablet. These come in memory sizes of 160GB to 320GB.
This is all well and good, but like everything, the Archos does have some down-sides. The biggest one being the price. The smallest model (60GB) is a whopping £279 and the biggest model (250GB) retailing at £360.00. The second thing is that to do all the wonderful things that the Archos has to offer, you have to buy plug-ins. The plug-ins available at the moment are cinema, video podcast and HD videos. These are another £23 on top of buying the player its self. Apart from that, its awesome.
Not many people will have heard of the company Archos, before this Generation 5 range, they came up with the 605 and 705 ranges which do the same things as the Generation 5 player, their just not as shiny. If you asked me I’d say I still preferred the 605 player to the new one, maybe that’s just because I cant afford the new one.
If more people knew about the Archos ranges, then I think people would think differently about how they view technology. Lots of mobile phones do some of what the archos does but on a much smaller scale and the 3G phones seem to be all the rage at the moment. So if people knew about this, then it could even be as big as the iPod, although I don’t think anything could ever replace that. It gives people a different way to do the things they love, and now it’s portable, so movies could be taken to a friends house on this Generation 5, plugged into the TV and away they go. Its far simpler than taking the DVD to play in a DVD player. And because its portable, it lets you take the internet without wherever you go. You’ll never be bored on a train again!
So if you do one thing today… check out the new Archos Generation 5 and never look back.
What do I want to get out of this course as well as passing?
What do I want to get out of this course... Good question. No, I'd like to learn new skills in this area and better myself in audio visual stuff as well as web design. I just want ot get as much out of this course as possible really.
What did I do in my first week?
As of yet... not really loads. I don't drink so I'm not going to be hungover all the time which is a good thing. Will have to get back to you on that one. I bought a laptop if that counts? I spent an hour and a half in PC World. I am however, going to Alton Towers on Saturday if I dont have to teach swimming. I live in Nottingham anyways, so I may just go home.
Will update on my extremely interesting and exciting Freshers week when its over.
