Antony Gormley

Antony Gormley OBE RA (born 30 August 1950) is an English sculptor. His best known works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in the North of England, commissioned in 1995 and erected in February 1998, Another Place on Crosby Beach near Liverpool, and Event Horizon, a multi-part site installation which premiered in London in 2007, and in 2010 around Madison Square in New York City.


















Gormley describes his work as "an attempt to materialise the place at the other side of appearance where we all live." Many of his works are based on moulds taken from his own body, or "the closest experience of matter that I will ever have and the only part of the material world that I live inside." His work attempts to treat the body not as an object but a place and in making works that enclose the space of a particular body to identify a condition common to all human beings. The work is not symbolic but indexical — a trace of a real event of a real body in time.




















I remember going to see his work in Liverpool on Crosby Beach with my old college friends. It was a good day out, but I was just a little worried if boats were to come in and not see them when the tide comes in as they have no lights on them etc. But they are a spectacular sight to just stand there and watch as the sun is setting.












The sculpture consists of 100 cast iron figures which face out to sea, spread over a 2 mile (3.2 km) stretch of the beach. Each figure is 189 cm tall (nearly 6 feet 2½ inches) and weighs around 650 kg (over 1400 lb).
In common with most of Gormley's work, the figures are cast replicas of the artist's own body. As the tides ebb and flow, the figures are revealed and submerged by the sea.

Quirky yet random design that in my opinion is brilliant.

Niki De Saint Phalle

Niki De Saint Phalle has always been one of my most favourite artists. She was a French sculptor, painter and film maker.

De Saint Phalle rejected the staid, conservative values of her family, which dictated domestic positions for wives and particular rules of conduct. However, after marrying young and giving birth to two children, she found herself living the same bourgeois lifestyle that she had attempted to reject; the internal conflict caused her to suffer a nervous breakdown. As a form of therapy, she was urged to pursue her painting.

After the "Shooting paintings" came a period when she explored the various roles of women. She made life size dolls of women, such as brides and mothers giving birth. They were usually dressed in white. They were primarily made of polyester with a wire framework. They were generally created from papier mache.




















Influenced by Gaudí´s Parc Güell in Barcelona, and the garden in Bomarzo, de Saint Phalle decided that she wanted to make something similar; a monumental sculpture park created by a woman. In 1979, she acquired some land in Garavicchio, Tuscany, about 100 km north-west of Rome along the coast. The garden, called Giardino dei Tarocchi in Italian, contains sculptures of the symbols found on Tarot cards. The garden took many years, and a considerable sum of money, to complete. It opened in 1998, after more than 20 years of work.

I think her work is absolutely amazing and I will be planning a visit there soon to see this spectacular garden.

Here are some pictures below of what is contained in her Tarot Garden in Tuscany:

Heineken Advert 2010

This advert must be one of the most funniest adverts I have ever seen. It does not matter that the beginning is in a different language the communication and the humour of this whole advert is just pure genius!

Cadbury - Spots vs Stripes advert

This is one of the best comic ideas for commercials, managing to both capture attention and generate a laugh. It is a battle of the fish- spots vs stripes. The music I think makes it more chaotic and a lot funnier, also the graphics are very well presented and it look so much better in high definition.

Bacardi Mojito

This advert was brought out in 2008 and is still played occasionally on television now. It has always been a bit of a wow factor for me. For starters I think the choice of music: Kidda - Under the sun, was a perfect choice of song for this advert. It is a very happy song and makes you want to go out and enjoy yourself, it's a bit of a holiday song as well which reminds me of the sun which makes you think about good times which I think helps sell this drink. Also, the way they have made the Bacardi dance in figures of a woman and a man and how they are intergrated together. This is a really beautiful advert that works very well, as it makes me want to buy it!

Rowntree's Randoms

This is another very funny advert. Nothing makes sense what the coach is saying and it makes me laugh how all the players are stood there completely baffled by what he has just said. I think this design is very clever how it zooms up to the sweet which he is about to eat and then it is incorporated in to the advert by talking randomly, which fits in with the name of the sweets. Very clever and funny.

Morgan's Spiced Modern Adventurer Advert

This advert is short and sweet but in my opinion is absolutely hilarious. I like the way they have made it light hearted and a spoof in a way of the hard trek to get to the Morgan's Spiced. Getting chased by ducks and wading through the leaves that are being blown in to them by a gardener. Very comical!