Question 5 it is.

After much considerations, I've made up my mind on the essay topic that I will be picking. This time I wanted to go for the one that piqued my interest the most, and so question 5 it is. I'm thinking to choose Minimalism as the fashion I'm going to analyze on, as I'm personally quite a fan of minimal fashion and adore the idea of 'less is more'.


What exactly defines Minimalism in fashion? Before I look specific into the minimal fashion, I'll need to look at the origin of Minimalism to understand the whole concept of the term itself.

Minimalism was began as an art movement in New York in the early 1960's. It was born as a self-conscious movement, a reaction against Abstract Expressionism. The Minimalists attempted to remove the suggestion of self-expressionism and appearance of composition from their work. They tried to take out all the signs and thought processes of artists in aesthetic decisions, instead, focusing just on the object itself.

Here is a quote of a Minimalist at that era,

"A shape, a volume, a color, a surface is something itself. It shouldn't be concealed as part of a fairly different whole." - Donald Judd.

The Minimalists' concept is to emphasize on the meaning of the object on its surface rather than laying "inside" it which emerge from the audience's interaction with the object. Using simple, geometric forms, lines, and courting the appearance of industrial objects, it is the way the Minimalists do it. This concept provides a new idea of art with emphasis on the physical space of the artwork.

So does this idea of Minimalism in art movement apply the same in fashion? I'll reveal it in the next post.



Reference:
Wolf, J. (2012) Minimalism. [Online] Available at: <http://www.theartstory.org/movement-minimalism.htm> [Accessed: 15 June 2014]

Preferable Questions

Out of the following essay topics that we have been given, I've narrowed down my choices to these three questions, they are:

4. Analyse the work of photographer or film maker of your choice, using appropriate illustrations to present your arguments and setting his/her work in a contemporary context. Show how their work has influenced your own, providing illustrations and examples.

For this question, my choice will be on the photographer side. Personally, I'm very much into fine art photography which are often contemporary and surreal. Some of the photographers that I have been following are Kyle Thompson, Bryan Alexander Lim a.k.a Bryzoid and Katerina Plotnikova. Their works are mostly conceptual and unrealistic looking which very much inspired me, as a designer. 

Untitled, 2012 by Kyle Thompson

Fades, 2014 by Bryan Alexander Lim

Untitled, 2012 by Katerina Plotnikova

or

5. Choose any decade since World War II and discuss the attitudes to the body and fashion at that time, Suggest reasons for those attitudes based on your knowledge of media and cultural factors. Define your own attitude to body image and show how this is evidenced in your work.

This question piqued my interest as fashion has always been my hobby. It would be exciting to discuss and further research on this topic, for example how were the 50's to 90's fashion and attitudes at that time, hip-hop, punk or even tattoo, body modification, etc. I could select one of these topic and further looking into it.

or

7. Explore the definition of 'celebrity' in Malaysia and compare with another culture of your choice, choosing relevant examples to illustrate your argument.

This question is pretty much a hit topic to discuss at the time. According to the Oxford dictionary, celebrity means a famous person, especially in entertainment or sport, or secondly the state of being well-known. What I'm about to discuss now would fall under the second statement. 

There were these teenagers in our country who claim themselves as 'red people' which literally translate as famous person in Chinese. They are basically those who are famous in the social networking sites (SNS) with great amount of followers and likes. Previously, they did a song and music video called 'You're Not Red' criticizing their haters which is produced by Namewee, a local music and movie producer. This song receives great amount of responses in Malaysia with feedbacks which however mainly consisted of the negative ones, including me as one of them. After the release of their song, they were officially being signed to contract as Internet celebrities which I personally think it makes no sense at all. To me, they are just a bunch of teenagers seeking for attention in the SNS. This perception of 'celebrity' in Malaysia, as compared to western or korean pop culture celebrity, can they really be considered as true celebrity? This could be a very interesting topic to talk about.


Reference:
Thompson, K. (n.d.) Kyle Thompson - Fine Art. [Online] Available at:<http://www.kylethompsonphotography.com> [Accessed: 4 June 2014]

Lim, B.A. (n.d.) Bryzoid. [Online] Available at: <http://bryzoid.com> [Accessed: 4 June 2014]

Plotnikova, K. (n.d.) Katerina Plotnikova. [Online] Available at: <http://500px.com/katerina_plotnikova> [Accessed: 4 June 2014]

RED PEOPLE (2014) 你不紅 You're Not Red by RED PEOPLE. [Video Online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORuSpJUA-2s> [Accessed: 4 June 2014]

Homework

People should not be censored or worry about using swear words when communicating. Do you agree?

I'm partially agreed with the statement above. I believed that everyone has the right to voice their own opinion whether it be wrong or right in any form according to the law of freedom of speech. It is a way of expression and communication. They are some people who grew up in a certain environment that swear words would be all they know in communication. It is just for them to stay true to their voices. Censorship would be like a ban to their language, taking away their way of communication.

Besides, swear words can be an element of humour and a creative way to catch people's attention, there's a reason people called it the f-bomb. Many comedians like to use swear words in their jokes because it certainly adds a sense of humour when swear words are being used. Sometimes, when you take away the swear words in certain sentences, it loses the point of what it originally means.

Furthermore, using swear words doesn't mean the person indicates a lack of vocabulary or education. It is simply a spontaneous way of speaking for certain people. Also, it would be better for people to express it through words instead of violence in real life.

However, I do think that swear words should be avoided in certain environments, for example talking to children or elders, it would be considered improper and rude to them sometimes. In addition, I think that swear words should not be overused in a conversation. It could be irritating and offensive to the audience as well as losing its impact when you overuse it.