25than

[25than]

AY24.25 CTS B COMPULSORY QUESTION 2 - RESTATE YOUR ARTISTIC VISION STATEMENT. SELECT ONE WORK OF DESIGN UNDER THE THEME OF SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT OR TRADITION/LINEAGES. DISCUSS THIS CHOICE IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR OWN ASPIRATIONS AND THE THEMES OF CTS B.

ARTISTIC VISION STATEMENT: My name is Ethan, and I like to work with harsh textures and mediums, and like to incorporate both physical and digital elements into my work. My work is largely inspired by the music that I listen to, as music has been huge influence in my life. Music has brought my relationships with friends and family to a deeper level, and has even brought me new ones, and i believe it to be a very pivotal part of my life, hence its potency in my work. My creative process is not so much a process, rather a ritual. I make sure that when I'm working im taking in music that has been a recent ear-worm, bumping them while i work, so it naturally weaves itself into the content that i put out.

I thought a recent work that i just purchased perfectly encapsulated my point of view on traditions and lineages. This illustration that i purchased was done by a local tattoo artist, and I thought the line work and vibrant colours were really interesting. Visual aesthetics aside, I really appreciated how he took this style of old chinese traditional art and mythical creatures and incorporated his own twists and styles into them, and I think it represents how I would like to work in the future as well! I hope to be able to incorporate my very own personal roots and traditions into the work I do, and I would like to attempt branching out from just being inspired by music, but also by other factors in my life.

This was a recent work of mine that I feel was an attempt at drawing closer to that tradition of mine, which in this case was my religion/relationship with God. I would love to be able to incorporate my love towards God into my works, as my relationship with God is something that I can hardly put into words most of the time, and I would love to present it visually to those around me. I think it could be a new form of communication that I have yet to explore as well, as I feel most of the times speaking about religion can be a iffy talking around some of my friends. But through design i believe that I'm able to have conversations that are more fun and laid back about my beliefs! In the future, I plan to explore deeper aspects of my upbringing and childhood experiences, creating work that honors my traditions and cultural history. I hope to share these stories and expressions with a broader, international audience, offering a window into a perspective that may be unfamiliar to those who didn’t share the same experiences. (452 words)

[25than]

AY24.25 CTS B COMPULSORY QUESTION 1 - DISCUSS YOUR CTS B MANIFESTO

Our CTS B manifesto was based off the idea of a donut box. In our group we felt that the topics of CTS B were equivalent in terms of weightage, and each were equally important to one another, hence we went with a manifesto drawing of a donut box, where each topic represented itself, in this case in donut form, rather than as a system where each topic was built on top of another. The purpose of the manifesto was to introduce the different aspects of critical thinking to consumers, keeping it brief whilst also conveying the key points of each different topic. We also chose to present the manifesto in its chosen form, as we wanted to keep it light and playful. Most people are often scared away by the idea of critical thinking, fearing that it may be a concept thats too deep for them to understand. Hence, we wanted to portray it as something that was more playful, to make it more available to everyone, serving it as something easy to consume. on the execution, I think it could've been done neater and better portrayed, although I do love the style that we executed it in. I feel like the clarity on certain points are not as clear because of poor colour coding and directional arrows, but overall I think the multiple different styles of drawing brought some artistry into it as well, and overall I think the art style was good. Text could've been done better, I think could've been slightly more elaborate with each point, seeing as to how much space we had leftover. CTS B has definitely been of use, where each topic has been a guiding principle in my other modules, where alot of my processes tie in these things that I have learnt in CTS B. Especially in Studio, where we are now working in pairs, we definitely do run into hurdles within working with one another, but I think CTS B has been core in helping us navigate through our pair work without any discord. If i could make any changes to the manifesto with more time, I would put it into a book/zine format, as I like the idea of having the audience engaging with the written work, and I definitely do think itll drive the engagement a lot more, and I would also incorporate alot more elements of CTS B in image format, I do think it'll make the manifesto more visually interesting. (414 Words)

[25than]

AY24.25 CTS B WEEK 3 - THIS IS HOW YOU CONNECT PRACTICE WITH SOCIETY

This week the question was posed to us whether or not we could be social-agents as artists and designers. We were tasked to get into groups and create a video about a local issue here in Singapore.

We spoke on the issue of the high-cost of living in Singapore. We settled on this as most of our group consisted of international students, with me being the only local. I did still agree with the statement and issue though. So can we be social-agents as artist/designers? Yes. I believe that art/design has always been intertwined with our social surroundings, e.g. politics. Art has always been a form of communication that is understood by all. For example, with artists like Banksy, he uses his art to speak up against issues that the weak arent able to speak up for themselves for, and he actually uses his platform to shine line on social issues that arent as highlighted on the news. As previously said, I have always been a huge fan and have been largely influenced by punk music, which I believe is its own form of art. Punk has always been a subculture made up of leftist, and I believe prove that blending social agency and art has always been possible. Another example, from a more musical perspective this time, is Rage Against The Machine. The name of the band speaks for itself really, The band has always been very vocal on speaking about the corruption of their government. On the track 'Freedom', they actually spotlight the case of Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist who was convicted of two counts of first degree murder following a controversial trial. From the examples that I've provided, I 100% believe that we can be social-agents as artists and designers. Furthermore, I believe that our art actually contains more substance when we incorporate our beliefs and views, rather than a piece that we put out simply just because it 'looks nice'.

(327 words)

[25than]

AY24.25 CTS B WEEK 2 - CONNECTING THEORY AND PRACTICE

For week 2, we were introduced to the idea of finding out our overall 'theory'(a summary) of our practice (our identities, our daily lives, etc.). We then each created a board of words and images of how we see/describe ourselves.

I put out this moodboard from a very physical aspect, in terms of what i like. But from this it kind of got me thinking about what kind of person I am, pulling away from a physical aspect. From a personal point of view, my identity largely revolves around music. I have always been brought up with a huge love for music, initally starting out with classic rock that my dad brought me on, and eventually building my own taste, diving deeper into rock subgenres like shoegaze, punk, metal, etc. I think a reason why i take so much pride in my music is because it is something that I have carefully catered to myself, and most of the music that I indulge in often evokes alot of emotions in me, be it good or bad, and I think that eventually develops into a very tightly knit bond between me and my music. I take pride in the fact that my taste and my culture spawned from within me and was not inspired or pulled from someone else. I'm also someone who has taken after my dad alot. After all he was the one who brought me up on the music I love, and was always the one that pushed me to do better, to be someone who seeks challenge. I've come to realise that I'm someone who is very strong-headed, someone who is very strong-opinionated, one who is not easily wavered in terms of a moral compass. Looking at back at conversations with friends about personality types, I've also come to realise that I am someone who is not largely affected by judgement or views by others as well. This is not necessarily a good thing though, as it does mean that I am a pretty stubborn guy too (also taken from my dad).

As for my Social ID, I'm a Christian, so I've always felt a sense of home and belonging in church! I actually spend most of my time serving and having fun alongside my friends in Church, and have always loved spending time in the presence of something so much greater. Sometimes I do feel like I am getting pushed out of church by some people, based off how I look, the way i dress, or even the music i listen to. But as mentioned previously, I've always been one to be pretty ignorant when it comes to how people view me, and from my own perspective, my love for God far outweighs anything else, so I still strongly find my identity in my religion and commitment to God. Artistically, I definitely draw more from my personal ID, as music and art from my eyes are basically the same thing, so most of my work that i put out tends to draw alot of inspiration from the music i listen to, be it the music itself, the colours/textures associated with, or even the clothing that some of my favourite musicians wear. I have been trying to incorporate more of my social ID into my work though, as I am really passionate about it as well.

Our second activity was to sketch a self portrait of using our art styles.

My portrait pretty much encapsulated my 'style', I am someone who likes harsh linework and a maximalist. As you can tell it is very influenced by the genre of rock music.

(604 words)

[25than]

AY24.25 CTS B WEEK 1 - CREATIVE PRACTICE & CRITICAL THINKING

For Week 1, we were tasked with writing on social issues. I was actually pretty interested, as we have never really partook in writing exercises during CTS lessons.

I wanted to write about a topic that I was passionate about, hence landing on the topic of alcoholism and drug use. It was a topic that leaned more towards criticality than creativity. I think i subconsciously gravitated towards a more critical style of writing over a creative one, as I feel like I'm not a strong creative writer, and I'm normally unable to express my emotions on a full scale through writing. Whereas with critical writing, I think I'm able to emphasise certain points with numbers and statistics, as its more real and physical. On the topic of creativity & criticality, I believe that both come together pretty naturally, somewhat of a yin yang effect. However, I believe critically rides on creativity more than the other way around. I feel like creativity is able to thrive under most circumstances, and is something that doesn't require criticality in order to thrive. In fact, I feel like in certain scenarios, critically tends to be the thing that tears down creativity. With some artists and designers, they tend to get too critically of their artworks or even the judgement on their works, which ends up putting a limitation over their creativity, and even causes some of them to fear creativity itself, to fear putting out their imagination.

However, with the opposition, I do think that critical thinking can be enhanced with creativity. I feel that creativity tends to stretch our minds when it comes to exercising critical thinking, when we put our creativity to use, we tend to come out with more solutions, more alternatives, and might even come up with a new way to doing something! As designers especially, I do believe that when it comes to designing and putting out works, we should not be too critical of ourselves, because as the saying goes, DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT. Of course that does not mean we dish out work that is half-done as well, but I do think that the beauty in art and design is when we work around the guidelines and different methods and styles of doing things are born! (352 words)

[25than]

AY23.24 World of Ideas & Imagination SUMMARY

WoII has been a new experience for me this semester, notably with the weekly exercises. With last semesters Critical Thinking module, most of the exercises were limited to the classrooms, with alot of them mostly being about writing, and mostly mental exercises. However, with this semesters WoII, the exercises were much more practical, especially from a design perspective, as I felt we were more enabled to get hands on, we were able to actually put into practice more of what we learnt, whilst also being able to gain more knowledge on the pyschological aspects as well. My favourite week was probably week 11, where we tackled the topic of post-modernism. That week was the most entertaining to me as I got to work with new people whom I did not work with before, and I was also able to do something in a style which i enjoyed! I also did feel that this was one of the more hands- on sessions of WoII.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the week of the learning journey due to sickness, but i always also keen on that week's topic, and actually had quite an entertaining time writing up on my chosen design item for that week. Overall, WoII has been a pleasant experience, and in future modules similiar to this, I hope that we get to see more practicality in these modules, they truly do make them more enjoyable.

(237 words)

[25than]

AY23.24 World of Ideas & Imagination WEEK 11 - POSTMODERNISM

On week 11, we covered the topic of Post-Modernism. I feel like the style of post-modernism was more in my lane of execution, and this weeks work did feel a little more comfortable for me.

The way i perceive the concept of Post-Modernism is somewhat of 'going against the grain', and essentially a concept art form that breaks down the idea of the fixture of art. Post-Modernism promotes freedom of creativity, and the exploration of new territory in the design world. My viewpoint heading into this weeks exercise was to make the image as populated as possible, going alone the lines of 'less is boring'. I was pretty happy with the result of how it turned out, as I think it rode along the lines of how I wanted it to turn out. I decided to take inspiration from the american biker/punk culture. I think the culture perfectly represented post-modernism, especially with the way they dress. Thick leather vests and jackets, brightly coloured bandanas, clunky wallet chains, along with everything that has to do with spikes. The bold spirit that their dressing captures is exactly what I was looking for in the poster. Finally, the addition of the grainy, noise-filled texture to compliment the chaos of images in the poster to wrap up the look.

Funnily enough it managed to encapsulate the idea of Post-world war propaganda, even though that wasn't the intended approach. I do think that our group executed the prompt pretty well, and this weeks activity has actually made me even more interested into researching more on the style of post-modernism.

(264 words)

[25than]

AY23.24 World of Ideas & Imagination WEEK 10 - POSTSTRUCTURALISM

During week 10 of WoII, we tackled the topic of poststructuralism. During the pair work, it started off a little rocky, as we both went out to find text and images, on our own, not having any prompts or similarities to look out for. Initially, we couldn't find any link between each image, as we tried to find a link between each image. However, we switched up our approach, pairing images together, then finding a link between those specific sets of images.

This brings me to the point of which triumphs the other, function or structure? In my opinion, the importance of structure far outweighs that of function. In the case of this weeks pair work, without the presence of 'structure' which in this case was the pictures being paired and placed, the 'function', in this case the story it tells, would never have been formed. I think the best analogy to settle this debate of function against structure would be the analogy of a hive mind. For example, in bee colonies, there is a structure in terms of hierarchy and in distribution of roles. Different bees have their specific roles, such as worker bees collecting nectar and pollen, whilst nurse bees have to care for and feed the larvae. Without each of these completing their assigned tasks, keeping to their designated roles, the function of a bee hive would cease to exists, as the collapse of a certain joint in the hive would cause a 'domino' effect, and eventually lead to destroying the function of a hive. Therefore, I do believe that the importance of structure triumphs that of function, as function would cease to exist without the presence of structure.

(282 words)

[25than]

AY23.24 World of Ideas & Imagination WEEK 4 & 5

For week 4 & 5 of WOII, I was absent for the learning journey as i was down with a sickness. For my design object I have chosen, Blackmeans' customised leather jackets.

I chose these Blackmeans leather jackets as my design objects because of the contradiction it represents. The brand name 'Blackmeans' was derived from a caste-based group, The Burakumin. The Burakumin is a term for ethnic Japanese people who are believed to be descended from members of the pre-Meiji feudal class, and are known to be the lowest caste of people in Japan, similar to the Dalit people of India. This points back to the idea of 'contradiction'. I find it so intriguing that Blackmeans, a name derived from a low-class, looked down upon caste of people, now represents a high-end fashion brand that people fawn over and look up to rather than look down on. It also piques me how this subculture that of DIY sparked from youths trying to be more thrifty, has developed into a whole style of its own, as if these youths and their culture had a part to play in building these fashion pieces.

Blackmeans as a brand is so special as it tears down the social construct built around these archive brands, tearing down the idea that this line of fashion is meant for modernist that are 'clean' and 'proper'. This goes on the my next point, the punk community. Blackmeans draws a huge load of inspiration from punk culture and their dressing. This once again directly opposes the idea of 'high-end' fashion, as punk culture has always been made up of non-conformity, anti-consumerist, anti-corporate greed beliefs. It is so interesting to see how Blackmeans has used the juxtaposition of these so called 'low-life' cultures and incorporated them into something seen as so 'expensive'.

Blackmeans also use very DIY techniques in their pieces as compared to other big name luxury brands (as seen in the jackets made by them), which often factory produce their pieces. Blackmeans juxtaposes the idea of normality into all these fashionable and exclusive brands, and I feel that they really encourage the youth to be more creative and explorative with what they do, hence i chose this brand, and specifically this jacket. (342 words)

[25than]

AY23.24 World of Ideas & Imagination WEEK 2

My biggest takeaway from todays lesson today was that the term 'aesthetic' was more than just style, rather it was something that is used to enhance brand functions and forms.

For example, with the pictures above, they do in fact bring the aesthetic of olden shops, and a vibe of retro, but i do believe it they serve a purpose in also reminding viewers and customers of their heritage as a brand, that there is a reason why the brand is still going, because their food, service, or products have been top-tier for generations! For me personally, I am one to be drawn to these stores as I always believe they are the best.

For example, a brand like Ya Kun Kaya Toast, their logo may not be the most modern, or the most aesthetically pleasing to most, but it fits the brands idealogy of its heritage and the standard that they have upheld since their earliest days, and when chanced upon, most Singaporeans know instantly what that logo reminds them of. (172 words)

[25than]

AY23.24 World of Ideas & Imagination WEEK 1

What was notable from this lesson was the different phenomenologies that my classmates and I had. Some of us perceived the idea of 'time' as a literal, with images like clocks and watches, whereas some of us interpreted the word 'time' more vaguely.

For example, on the topic of music, many interpret music as a form of entertainment, more in the form of an enjoyment. But for me, music leans more so towards a lifestyle. I feel like music has layed the foundations for me, and taught me many values in life that i hold dear to myself. Not only that, I also feel that music has brought me so many meaningful connections with not just the songs, but also the people and artist. That goes with the local scene as well, where i've made so many genuine connections, getting to learn more about different genres of music, diving into this thing that i'm so passionate about. Music in general i feel resonates with me more deeply and i feel more emotional connected to it than most people do. The pictures i chose represented time less literally and rather rides of the phrase of "With time comes change". Something apparent with time universally is change. No matter where we are born, or when were born, we eventually succumb to the concept of time. Even in artificial items, they take longer to, but eventually they all disintegrate and die off as with life. For example, my last picture that i chose, i wanted to convey a message that was more personal. In the picture is myself and a good friend of mine Ryan, we grew up together as best friends till about the age of 7, where we split paths. 11 years later, we bumped into one another at a local fashion event, and later on linked up with one another after realising. The pictures used were one of us when were younger, and us recently at a concert. I think it was pretty chilling to see time bringing us both back together, and throughout all this time apart, we somehow managed to develop the same interest, reconnecting through those very same interests. (362 words)