More new inspired directions to view....

Some interesting inspirations received today.  I had a good 1-1 meeting with one of my course tutors, and he suggested that I explored a couple of named artists who have worked on very intensive research for their own creations... Off to the library now to look them up!

Langland & Bell - See http://www.langlandsandbell.com/index.html

Essentially, these two artists create work that is taken from the observation that our personal relationships are intertwined with the architecture that we use, and mixes it with the coded systems of mass-communications and our personal transactions whilst navigating through our almost chaotic progress of technology within our globalised culture.

Their material is copyright, so the link will provide an reference point to their work.



Another contemporary representation ,beautifully rendered with the iconic symbol associated with London Underground is;

The Great Bear - Simon Paterson

See
http://shop.tate.org.uk/the-great-bear/invt/82


Ultimately, my objective is of trying to capture a symbol of Personal Identity.  The linkage of personal identity with 'the current' is also of importance.   I wish to portray a sense of 'being in the digital age'.

The other conscious factor I am keen to include is representation of one that is an aspect of our current culture. Within this sense there are a number of identifiers that I could choose from; I may have touched on some of these in my sketch and allegory of Fashionable Sheep in an earlier blog.  However I feel that that image is a little bit too antagonistic though, as it may just provoke some people, but not others...

I want a universal representation of personal identity that is cognizant to  everyone.

My thoughts are turning to what happens to all the accouterments of existence we surround ourselves with, once we are no longer living in this world.  The throw away society.  Nothing really matters to some.

This was brought home to me by an unfortunate recent incident, where I was asked via a computer generated request to provide an endorsement for an old colleague of mine.  Unfortunately, the person had died three years earlier.  Upon investigation, his records on the web-site that requested his endorsement where still open and active.  I looked at two other colleagues who I was connected to, who had also passed away within the last few years...  Their records too where fully available to me as though they were still alive and active.  We are constantly leaving information about ourselves in the digital ether, but it seems that nobody cares, "polices" or verifies it's validity.