FINAL MAJOR PROJECT :: TUTORIAL 2 // PARALYSIS

as much as Leila frustrates me sometimes with her arson of generalized advice (ie. you should test // get together with friends and discuss ideas // research your concept) she does occasionally offer gold nuggets of constructive critique however acid-coated they appear at first.

the major project is coming along nicely but i'm being held back by too much attention to surface detail; in her words my work has been "paralyzed by aesthetics". i've got enough to deal with theoretically but i'm finding it hard to integrate it visually into my project which is actually quite a general problem for me i think. i need to wrestle with the subject i'm trying to portray instead of just re-affirming it. i'm too afraid of making mistakes and for this project (and my work) to carry any weight i've just got to step outside my comfort zone and find a way of basically injecting some life into my pictures. by not being so precious with them.

to be honest it wasn't something i wanted to hear but i needed to hear it.

watch this space.

brian shimansky @ m&p // styling :: raphael hirsch // hair&makeup :: sung hee park

FINAL MAJOR PROJECT :: TUTORIAL

wasn't as bad as i thought but chastised heavily for not having moved along much since presentations. definitely focusing on menswear and still going to address issues of race and representation but not try to be so literal and gimmicky about it.

i told Leila i honestly felt my work was very detached and deadpan (kind of like me..) which she agreed with but then said i could probably make a feature of that in the series. it would work say to express a suppression of cultural identity in that style, but also to bring the menswear element into it by repackaging that conflict with the problems/struggles of british masculinity. not so gimmicky anymore but relies quite heavily on styling...

must start testing.

TUTORIAL :: CHINESE PROPAGANDA

shot down by Leila today. i thought i explained my idea pretty clearly (well, as coherently as i could...being me...) but whatever. there's time yet to bulletproof it before presentations next week.

i don't know what these say but I love them:

dance our way to victory?

must ask Mengxi to translate...