bublucey

[bublucey]

Reflection and Evaluation 

The Key areas I have explored in my work are British history and culture. I have always had a keen interest in these topics and have involved this in my work from the very beginning. Some less known British historic figures have been the subject of painting I have done, and the social use of alcohol has been a strong influence on me and creating work around that. I have looked at Hogarth a lot as inspiration and to see how he depicted two of his strongest images, Gin Lane, and Beer Ally as well as Thomas Moore a young illustrator from north London that uses London as his muse and mimicked Hoggarths Gin Lane. 

So, I researched characters in history like old bare-knuckle fighters such as Issac Bitton in the past who lived in the 1800’s and actually became a celebrity bodyguard working for the prince of the time. But I looked deeply into pub culture during the buildup to my Major project and tried to remember my youth when British culture and pub culture was very traditional. I looked up laws around pubs and found out the to this day it is actually illegal to be drunk in a pub and a £200 fine. This is what gives the landlord the privilege of chucking someone out when too intoxicated and the right to not serve. I guess y question has always been can I show my interest and get others interested through my work? I use illustrations and installations to create the atmosphere with artifacts smells and sound so that the audience will feel what I am trying to portray. I have experimented with painting and installation, and I have found installation to be my strong point. 

I recorded my work by photographs and notes, lists mainly. I am a fan of lists and keeping organised although the end project and hand ins did seem to snowball and creep up on me. I did not hand in some photos of me building my bar of the lists and notes taken through the year, so I was a bit disappointed in that.  

My plan was to document the use of alcohol in its culture and create a pub set. The deadline was the same for everyone and I did not feel I had enough time to pull it off. I did not have a budget, but I had an idea when I felt that I had spent enough due to my funds. I got moist of the furniture for free as a pub I found was having a makeover and I built the bar myself. Not the best built thing but it looks the part, I think. I could get a fix in the old stone walls of the univocity had problems putting up shelves, this was my major problem, but I did try my best to overcome it buy using adhesives. The overall look of the place and the atmophere did work out, I think. I will leave it to the feedback now. 

I learned aloy about myself in the final year. I experimented in the previous year and realized my strong points this year. I am an illustrator, and I am an installation artist. I now have a path in mind to move onto that I was not clear about before. So, my next step is to try and document my final installation as best I can and send it to set design companies as I am now a set designer. I would love to do this for period dramas or movies. It feels good to know what you want to do finally after spending most of my life knowing I was in the wrong place but never sure where I belonged. I end on a positive note knowing which direction to go in. 

[bublucey]

I decided to go a bit querky with this illustration and if i had time i perhaps would of created more as i liked the way my style was going. I will do more of these in the future and in all my work would have a place in pubs in the future. This could be the market for me while im going through this fase of illustration. Consumed by alcahol!

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Another thing i notive is photographs of customers having a good time on the wall of the pubs. This is my dipiction of an old time gangster from the 60's. I used to see these charactors in Hoxton when i lived there.

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I notice alot of the time when visiting old pubs in London there are photos of past customers that were like part of the furniture so i decided to create this R.I.P. sketch of a made up guy called alf. I'll stick this in a corner of the pub to hopefully give the effect of, well he drank in the corner. A dedication to him. A little bit of authenticity i think that will ad to the scene.

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I tend to insert myself where i can in my illustraions just for a bit of fun. The scene of friends meeting for a long deserved drink. Not sure if i will use this image in my final project but i may use it as my supporting work. as it wasn't finished. But i still think its a cute sketch and if i had time to finish it, it may have made the cut.

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This is how i have planned to set my installation out. I have managed to get a room on the ground floor that is quite contained and i think i can make it look like a cosy pub. I have managed to obtain some pub furniture and have biult a bar from an old piano. I will display my art on the walls and try to source as much pub material as possible to make it look authentic. There will be a rug on the floor, two tables with four stools. A bar with two bar stools. I will use the univercitys piano and fix a dart board to the wall along with the black board for scoring. I hoping to get some bar snacks to pin oin nthe wall like they do in the pubs and a bell on the wall for last orders ladies and gents. Hopefully there will be lots of other little artifacts too if i get the time.

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The guys outside the pub having a drink and a fag while some are not actually drinking in the pub but passing by with someting from the off licence. I tried to capture different generations socialising together. Charactors of past and present.

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I was hoping here to dipict the old jamaican that endulged in the british pub culture back in the 1950's during the windrush. Only thing is i should have used a guiness so didnt quite think this one through. I must have been rushing my work a bit at the time. But im happy with the charactor and some collegues have said this is thier favourorite.

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Old mothers ruin. Thats what they used to call gin. I believe it was because they used to give mothers who had just had an abortion gin for the pain but i would have to confirm that. But i picturd her in my head and thought she would look the part. I imagine she was an unfortunate as they called the working girls of the victorian era. I decided to use colour but im not sure if i liked the finished product.

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This is a portrait of a prisoner from the 1800's that i sourced from the internet, again he had such a worn in face. You could see he had lived a life and a hard one at that. He was perfect for one of my bottle illustrations. i think he is a brandy drinker. Im enjoying thr process of choosing the face and thrn coinciding it with a drink. I think this is truly pub art.

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This is a face i found online of a guy that was overweight but i found he just had such a lived in face and a bit of sorrow in his eyes. I could imagine that he would be a guiness drinker as it puts alot of weight on you. I think this is actually one of my best illustrations in the sence of detail to the face. He's definenetly one of my favourites.

[bublucey]

Ive slowly started to evole from the cludo pieces that i had created in past posts and into alcahol bottles with verous heads on, maybe reflecting the kind of people i imagine drinking them. Ive searched online for various charictoristic faces from the past such as old victorian criminals and photos of alcaholics. I just look for faces that have been lived in as i find they are more effective when sketching them.

[bublucey]

I will create my project by installing what will look like an old public house because of my fascination with history and culture. I will try to mimic the colors and patterns used in pubs and hopefully obtain some old pub furniture. I will be using paint for the bottom half of the walls. I will be hanging three wooden shelves at the back of the bar I will be building from old parts of a piano. I will be placing some spirit bottles on the shelves along with a last orders bell, a dart board and of course my illustration artwork hung on the remaining available walls. There will be a lamp on a green table which I salvaged from a skip around the corner. There will be a carpet on the floor which I found in the basement and used for the last two years. I will have a piano in place so that people can come and sit down and play if they would like. Then I will source some documentation, maybe some poems and old pub photos from online. My only painting is created using water-based oil paints, also trying to give an aged look to the pieces by creating darker colors while staining them around the edges as if they have been damaged.

[bublucey]

My aim to create a pub that will have this old time british feel to it although my budget will not allow me to posess as much detail i will try my best with what i have including the sound and lighting that i will be supplied with.

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Another Artist that influences me and I love the atmosphere he creates, and overall style is Mike Nelson. He creates at times very eerie rooms or sets and the lighting with low lit bulbs or even sometimes red bulbs has given me ideas for my installation. I want the same feeling for my pub installation. The dim light will make the room have a cozy effect and a welcoming atmosphere.