Ebon Heath.
Ebon Heath lives and works between Brooklyn, Bali, and Berlin. He received his BFA, in Graphic Design, from Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. He founded (((stereotype))) the same year, a design studio focused on music packaging, magazine layout, and fashion advertising. He subsequently cofounded Cell Out in 2003, a consultancy that develops issue-based media strategies for non-profits, NGO’s and brands. He has exhibited internationally with his typographic mobiles, installations, jewelry, and performance art making letters come alive. He is a visiting professor in Graphic Design at Lehman College in the Bronx (USA) and an occasional Art Director for the Mindpirates Berlin (DE). Ebon does not sleep often yet tries to remember his dreams every day.
When I look at this work, I think of how amazing it is, stunningly composed, imaginative, unique and yet simple. His works are installations that are made of laser cut or hand cut letters and words put together in complex, but harmounius tridimentional structures which have been described as poetry to see. His work has been termed as illustration, sculpture and product design. This work in particular reminds me of Peter Callessen's work, who also uses the technique of laser cut or hand cut patterns, that then become 3D, distorted metaphorical images presenting a high contrast in between life and death. However, only the technique is a similarity to Heath's technique, as he cuts out letters and words to emphasise poetry through the illustration of sculpture. I like the way he uses letters/words in his work that could emphasise music or poetry. Therefore, quite deep and sensitive topics. The font in which he cuts out the words may link to that idea as the words are small, which may emphasise the softness and deepness of the music and poetry. The letters are cut carefully in detail as they are sharp and very clear, implying how hard working Heath must be. Most of the time he uses black and white in his compositions, perhaps implying that the meaning is dark, serious, meaningful or deep. He does use colour in some of his works yet in my view, with colour they do not give the same effect to the viewer as the black and white works do. However, it does work in the example above, with a black background and gold writing, presented in a form of a chandelier with an actual artificial light inside, making the image more realistic. The fact that it is in a form of cut words/letters, makes the image more interesting and unique as I have never seen this type of work or idea before. The effect of formal elements makes me as a viewer interested and impressed by it. This is because he composes those very carefully and thinks clearly about their effect on the viewer. For example, the use of gold, lightning and black background, seem posh and rich due to the mix of black and gold. Therefore, creating a expensive, pricy and rich impression to the viewer. The factors that interest me the most in his works are the detailed letters and that they could say absolutely anything and mean something absolutely different is a very interesting aspect of his work, which owerally is the use of mataphor.
I think that through his work he tries to imply poetry that appears in an actual verbal form, which could mean one thing, however, the pattern/shape he then puts them into could also have an impact on the meaning of the work. I think he tries to combine those two separate factors into one meaningful piece of work, which would certainly be a fantastic idea. I think the artist tried to emphasise that whenever you try to emphasise an idea through art or in any other way, it does not have to be through metaphor, it could be literal instead, showing exactly what the meaning behind the work is. If I had the chance to ask the artist anything, I would ask him what is the connection in between the words/letters and the shape they are being trnsformed into? What is the exact link in between the two? I think this work is relevant to my project because of the technique, and the many different ways I could use it in my future works or the final outome. It's quite fantastic how I can use the technique of literal words to imply my memory, I may also use a metaphor within the shape I put the words into, which is an amazing aspect of his work that I believe should be certailny considered. However, the work does not link to my theme within it's meaning, which is to imply music and poetry, whereas mine is about memories.
If I could name this work, I would give it the title 'rich poetry', because of the poetry/music/words used within the work and the mix of gold and black giving a rich, posh and expensive impression of the pattern the words have been transformed into. I would like to compare this work to Tom Philips works. Born 24 May 1937 in London, Phillips is an English artist, where he continues to work. He is a painter, printmaker and collagist. He chooses certain words that are meaningful to him from a piece of text and then crosses out the other irrelevant words. The use of literal words is similar in both cases, the words being meaningful is another similar aspect of it, yet the way they are chosen is certainly different.
Tom Phillips.
The elements that I think are successful are the use of visual vocabulary that is actually literal to the meaning that it is meant to imply. The fact that most of his works are white has also worked quite successfuly as there is no distractions, the viewer only sees the lettering for what it is. However, the elements that I don't think are successful is the meaning, that he tries to get across which is not so much for a meaning, but simple poetry/music/words, whereas in my view, if he got more into the meaning, and started writing his memories, perhaps stories that hes been through, the work would in that case perfectly link to my theme, and also would have certainly gained more meaning. My mother said how in her view this work is 'interesting to look at, however she doesn't like the fact that the words are random, if it was a story it would have more sense and meaning', I think she said it because it is true, the words seem to be chosen at random (even if they probably weren't) yet still, a story written out then transformed into a shape, would be more interesting than random words that the viewer does not understand where they came from. I think the factors that are worth remembering is not the the visual vocabulary, yet what they are then transformed into, and what is that transformation meant to imply, perhaps it could be a type of a metaphor.
Ebon Heath lives and works between Brooklyn, Bali, and Berlin. He received his BFA, in Graphic Design, from Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. He founded (((stereotype))) the same year, a design studio focused on music packaging, magazine layout, and fashion advertising. He subsequently cofounded Cell Out in 2003, a consultancy that develops issue-based media strategies for non-profits, NGO’s and brands. He has exhibited internationally with his typographic mobiles, installations, jewelry, and performance art making letters come alive. He is a visiting professor in Graphic Design at Lehman College in the Bronx (USA) and an occasional Art Director for the Mindpirates Berlin (DE). Ebon does not sleep often yet tries to remember his dreams every day.
When I look at this work, I think of how amazing it is, stunningly composed, imaginative, unique and yet simple. His works are installations that are made of laser cut or hand cut letters and words put together in complex, but harmounius tridimentional structures which have been described as poetry to see. His work has been termed as illustration, sculpture and product design. This work in particular reminds me of Peter Callessen's work, who also uses the technique of laser cut or hand cut patterns, that then become 3D, distorted metaphorical images presenting a high contrast in between life and death. However, only the technique is a similarity to Heath's technique, as he cuts out letters and words to emphasise poetry through the illustration of sculpture. I like the way he uses letters/words in his work that could emphasise music or poetry. Therefore, quite deep and sensitive topics. The font in which he cuts out the words may link to that idea as the words are small, which may emphasise the softness and deepness of the music and poetry. The letters are cut carefully in detail as they are sharp and very clear, implying how hard working Heath must be. Most of the time he uses black and white in his compositions, perhaps implying that the meaning is dark, serious, meaningful or deep. He does use colour in some of his works yet in my view, with colour they do not give the same effect to the viewer as the black and white works do. However, it does work in the example above, with a black background and gold writing, presented in a form of a chandelier with an actual artificial light inside, making the image more realistic. The fact that it is in a form of cut words/letters, makes the image more interesting and unique as I have never seen this type of work or idea before. The effect of formal elements makes me as a viewer interested and impressed by it. This is because he composes those very carefully and thinks clearly about their effect on the viewer. For example, the use of gold, lightning and black background, seem posh and rich due to the mix of black and gold. Therefore, creating a expensive, pricy and rich impression to the viewer. The factors that interest me the most in his works are the detailed letters and that they could say absolutely anything and mean something absolutely different is a very interesting aspect of his work, which owerally is the use of mataphor.
I think that through his work he tries to imply poetry that appears in an actual verbal form, which could mean one thing, however, the pattern/shape he then puts them into could also have an impact on the meaning of the work. I think he tries to combine those two separate factors into one meaningful piece of work, which would certainly be a fantastic idea. I think the artist tried to emphasise that whenever you try to emphasise an idea through art or in any other way, it does not have to be through metaphor, it could be literal instead, showing exactly what the meaning behind the work is. If I had the chance to ask the artist anything, I would ask him what is the connection in between the words/letters and the shape they are being trnsformed into? What is the exact link in between the two? I think this work is relevant to my project because of the technique, and the many different ways I could use it in my future works or the final outome. It's quite fantastic how I can use the technique of literal words to imply my memory, I may also use a metaphor within the shape I put the words into, which is an amazing aspect of his work that I believe should be certailny considered. However, the work does not link to my theme within it's meaning, which is to imply music and poetry, whereas mine is about memories.
If I could name this work, I would give it the title 'rich poetry', because of the poetry/music/words used within the work and the mix of gold and black giving a rich, posh and expensive impression of the pattern the words have been transformed into. I would like to compare this work to Tom Philips works. Born 24 May 1937 in London, Phillips is an English artist, where he continues to work. He is a painter, printmaker and collagist. He chooses certain words that are meaningful to him from a piece of text and then crosses out the other irrelevant words. The use of literal words is similar in both cases, the words being meaningful is another similar aspect of it, yet the way they are chosen is certainly different.
Tom Phillips.
The elements that I think are successful are the use of visual vocabulary that is actually literal to the meaning that it is meant to imply. The fact that most of his works are white has also worked quite successfuly as there is no distractions, the viewer only sees the lettering for what it is. However, the elements that I don't think are successful is the meaning, that he tries to get across which is not so much for a meaning, but simple poetry/music/words, whereas in my view, if he got more into the meaning, and started writing his memories, perhaps stories that hes been through, the work would in that case perfectly link to my theme, and also would have certainly gained more meaning. My mother said how in her view this work is 'interesting to look at, however she doesn't like the fact that the words are random, if it was a story it would have more sense and meaning', I think she said it because it is true, the words seem to be chosen at random (even if they probably weren't) yet still, a story written out then transformed into a shape, would be more interesting than random words that the viewer does not understand where they came from. I think the factors that are worth remembering is not the the visual vocabulary, yet what they are then transformed into, and what is that transformation meant to imply, perhaps it could be a type of a metaphor.
nice analysis + ebon heath response- upload your tom phillips one? x
ReplyDeleteYour analysis of Ebon Heaths work has some great ideas and there are some sensitive insights. Remember you can add links to his web page or YouTube videos of his motion sculptures with sound to demonstrate the sources you have been informed by.
ReplyDeleteI think that your Tom Phillips research and response should be separated with a sub-heading so it is not confusing for readers. I can see why you put them together but differentiating the two is needed. Try to use the compare and contrast questions on the analysis guide to draw links between the two.
ReplyDeleteLastly to ensure that this is the highest quality of your analysis (and because Heath is the key artist for you) could you research some quotes directly from the artist which make clear his intention/ meaning of his work. -remember this should be from a reliable source!