Aaron Johnson

Aaron Johnson

Taken directly from the artists website: http://www.aaronjohnson.net/artist.htm

The first five years of my life were spent within national parks in Washington, Oregon, and California, and since then nature has been my starting point. Nature's role in human life and our attitudes toward it form central concerns in my work.


Art began early. I was given my first set of oil paints at age five while living at Sequoia National Park. Formal education in art came much later, primarily at the University of California at Santa Cruz where I studied painting, printmaking, and drawing.


My education in printing continued in Covelo, California, where I learned the fundamentals of graphic design and the craft of letterpress printing while printing limited-edition books for The Yolla Bolly Press. Living in remote Round Valley also gave me time to observe nature and to begin my Tree series.

Some of his woodcuts:

 

Bleach Drawings

Bleach drawings :) Elaine suggested painting on black on black, so that the drawing would appear vague and the observer would have to look closer to pick out the details. So tried it out using black duct tape on black card. Looked something like this:



Decided to use some other materials. So got some cooking oil and applied it to the black card allowing it to dry. It left an oily residue on the page that is barely visible at first glance but when held up to the light becomes tranparent. Tried egg white as well. Results below:


At first glance:


Held up to the light :)


they can be seen more clearly...

Scott Free Production Logo/Animation

Fans of the legendary Scott brothers (Tony Scott & Ridley Scott) will recognise this animation from the opening to all Scott Free Production films. In 1995 Ridley and his brother Tony formed a production company, Scott Free Productions, in Los Angeles. All Ridley's subsequent feature films, starting with White Squall and G.I. Jane have been produced under the Scott Free banner.
It was made by Gianluigi Toccafondo. I think it's one of the best film studio animations to date.
Toccafondo is a freelance artist in animation. He uses paint. It's very cleverly done and uses a much more engaging & creative process compared to regular studio logos. 
Gianluigi Toccafondo was born in San Marino in 1965. He studied at the Art Institute of Umbrino. He has won many awards at international film festivals eg, Rods, Venice and Berlin. He now lives in Milan.

Scott Free Production Logo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te0mpKbXwpM

Nicknames: "The Bird", "Man Into Bird"

Logo: On a black background, a white flash appears on the top corner of the screen, sometimes colored olive orange, and a man with a torch walks on screen. Then, as the man runs, the man transforms into an eagle, flying over the screen. The eagle transforms into a weird silhouette bird, and the text "SCOTT FREE" in a weird font appears around the bird.

Trivia: This animation was made by an Italian artist, Gianluigi Toccafondo. He also did the logo for Fandango which is an important Italian film production studio and the ending credits for Robin Hood.

James Welling

James Welling
Photographer

http://jameswelling.net/projects/15

Bird in a Cage

The Walls - Bird in a Cage

So I investigated stairs and the railings and they reminded me of rails and the bars of a bird cage trapped bird so i got a black bin liner how a caged bird reacts within a compact space and voila all happened purty quickly but once I worked out all the kinks of the operation and things started to come together the overall result looked something a little like this !

The above clip speaks for itself. It's effectiveness is owed to it's simplicity.
Taken from the brilliant film "American Beauty" directed by the wonderful Sam Mendes. 
Mendes called American Beauty a rites of passage film about imprisonment and escape from imprisonment.
The following is a clip from my favourite scene in the film where one of the main characters Ricky shows Jane the protagonists daughter what he considers the most beautiful imagery he has ever filmed: a plastic bag, tossing in the wind in front of a wall.
Ricky's philosophical statements about what life is or how one should live run parallel to the film's narrative.
He sees beauty in the minutiae of everyday life, videoing as much as he can for fear of missing it.

"It was one of those days, when it's a minute away from snowing, and there's this electricity in the air. You can almost hear it, right? And this bag was just dancing with me, like a little kid begging me to play with it, for fifteen minutes.

That's the day I realized there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video's a poor excuse, I know, but it helps me remember. I need to remember.

Sometimes there is so much... beauty... in the world, I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is just going to cave in."

Holographic Spinning Tops

Holography is a technique which enables three-dimensional images to be made. It involves the use of a laser, interference, diffraction, light intensity recording and suitable illumination of the recording. The image (hologram) changes as the position and orientation of the viewing system changes in exactly the same way as if the object were still present, thus making the image appear three-dimensional.
The holographic recording itself is not an image; it consists of an apparently random structure of either varying intensity, density or profile.

Homemade spinning tops made from cardboard. Pattern appears to move as they spin.

Following on from photos of staircase

Using different media did these monochromatic reworkings of drawings
Black paper strips on white card
Marker on card
White paint on black card
wood cut

they were all quite pleasant processes to deal with but I want to further my project so I'm now looking at pylons & industrial spaces. . . . . . .

more photos

Really like these photos. Explored their linear qualities through wire interpretations of them. You can see them here. Reproduced them using black string.