25 posts tagged “art”

I designed the following FDC and Logo after checking out Royal Mail's stamp issue for the month of October, 2008 - took me 10 seconds to think up the logo;).  The highlight of the FDC design is not the design of the cover, which is quite straightforward and simple, but the logo.  It comprises the female symbol turned into a 'torch'.  I wrote to the Fawcett Society to ask if they would consider this for their logo as they don't seem to currently have one.  I also thought that they could endorse this FDC and perhaps launch it to coincide with Royal Mail's issue of the said stamps.  The logo could also be turned into a postmark and imprinted on the stamps on the FDC.  Anyway, it's just one of my many ideas in many arenas which, I suppose, will not see the light of day (due to various types of discrimination...which is quite interesting from a sociological perspective) - which has led to me producing less ideas these days.  Never mind.  At least it is done eh.:)

By the way, in case you're wondering, I'm a feminist myself.  I'm of what I call, 'The Integrational School', as opposed to (what I term) The Assimilationist or Progressive school - (assimilationist - seeking to be like men, progressive - seeking more rights of self-determination....my 'integrational school' comprises the latter and also calls for men to become more like women as opposed to women seeking to become as fu*ked up as men;) )  I suppose, in that sense, the torch symbol below illustrates my view as traditional femininity as a 'light/beacon for humanity'.  This is a movement away from the commonly used fist-in-female symbol which is quite associated with a fight for 'equality' which is a bit off from my 'Integrational' perspective.

ed

updated 12th June 2008

The following is my first attempt at 'first day cover' design.  This one coincides with Royal Mail's release of the 'Classic Carry On & Hammer Films' series on the 10th of June, 2008 -  depicted as the 'ticket number' on the first design.  All my designs are supposed to be printed as envelopes with the released series of stamps affixed on them as illustrated.  Did it just for fun.  Hope you like it:) 

After the following, you can see the designs by the main cover producers in the UK in case you might be interested in acquiring them.

(my art repository - ARTiculate.vox.com)

By ed

By Royal Mail  Their 'first day covers' are sold out after the 'date of issue'.  They however do have other related products that are sold online whilst stocks last.  I got almost all the various items for this series.  Great customer service.

By Norvic Philatelics

If you're interested in Royal Mail First Day Covers but missed the release date, you can still acquire them from Norvic Philatelics after the date of issue.  Norvic has great customer service and you can skype Ian - the bloke running the company - and chat with him about what you need.  They accept PayPal, amongst others, and will try to acquire covers for you even if they are out of stock.  I would indeed recommend them.

By Buckingham Covers (largest cover producer in the UK) - signed 'Tribute to Christopher Lee' cover.  Available on their site.  Their designs are a bit dated and lack what I term, metaphorical creativity, but the value of their covers tend to be drawn from the autographs and limitedness - that unfortunately tends to distract one from the art behind the whole thing.

ed

Well, I do for one.  Stamps to me, is a little perforated fragment of history, that is not only a little piece of art in itself, but also provides insights into culture(ways of seeing things).  Pretty little unobtrusive things that serves as a subtle reminder that there is more to life than being an 'employee'.  I place these little reminders all around my home - gold records, toys, music instruments(have a drumset, a fender guitar, a keyboard, didgeridoo, violin, tabla, flute), art pieces, etc,....and stamps too.  Unlike the telly, and other forms of visually and aurally epileptic media that doesn't give one much time to think, these things allow you some semblance of control over what you view due to its largely sedentary nature ,and feeds on and enhances the reflective aspect of the human persona.

 
Well, i love the stamps here in the UK.  Here are some of my latest purchases I made online (yesterday).  And the best part about it is that they do international deliveries as well.  I thought of bringing it over to singapore to sell it, but knowing the singapore of today, generally, if it ain't 'singaporean'/chinese/lauded by the american media, then they're not going to go for it.  Never mind, allowing singapore to underdevelop my persona was something I never countenanced.

I remember back in the 80s, my very good friend - Yeo Hong Ho - and myself used to meet up on Saturdays evenings after we booked out of our camps (military).  He would pop by to my place on his motobike half and hour too early, and fuss over my coming down late when I come down on time.  Anyway, we would go downtown to 'see girls', chat, have dinner whilst watching a chinese movie in a cheap coffeeshop, and then check out stamps and other strange trinkets in nearby shops.  Two decades later, he still drops by to see me about once a month, and every now and then, he would bring down his stamp/coin collection, USSR badges, picture cards, and other trinkets, and we'll pore over it.  More aesthetically fruitful a pastime than PSP-ing all the time I think.  Well, I got him the set above.  Sure he'll like it when I give it to him when I get back next week (for a while).

If you want to check out other stamps in the UK, or buy them, you can go to -

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/stamps/home.

Some of those that I purchased....i especially like the 'cathedral' series :

ed

A design I created some time ago when the contest to find an alternative to the fragmented logo created by some design company was held. The year 2012 is depicted as 20:12 to relate it to 'tube'(trains in the london 'underground') times.

For the 200th Anniversary of Singapore's 'founding' by 'sir' Stamford Raffles. 

First shot taken at 6:19pm; second shot(multiple exposure) taken at 6:19pm and 8:19pm. 

Idea conceived and photographed by Edwin S Anthony (using a Mamiya 7II and a ton and a half of patience and perseverance).

dedicated to parents, v & God

ed'sperience

Keep moving.....in consideration of....and despite the times...the ed-anthem

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First of a series

ed'sperience

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The picture is supposed to be a fusion of that modern icon of the state - the 'dome', a symbolic usurpation of a symbol of power once utilised by Christendom, and then inherited by the Bourgeoisie for the administration of the modern peasantry - and that of a 'protractor' used for plotting maps, etc.  It is also a play on 'spacecraft'.  Thus, the title, Statecraft, can mean both a lifeform alien to humanity, or the methods utilised to maintain the continued hegemony of the modern state over the human imagination.

I'm thrilled to bits.  I'll be sending in the medium format negative of the actual picture for scanning(digitising), and after some manipulation, will be able to print out the above.   Will be the first.

ed'sperience

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The photograph above is rather dreary, disordered, etc,.....  

That is 'flawed composition as a medium' being utilised to illustrate a particular point.  As i had explained to a friend some time ago, when we look at things, we usually look at it 'badly composed'.  In other words, it we were to put a viewfinder to our eye at just about any point in time, the scene wouldn't look 'well-composed'.  That is why photographers take pains to compose their pictures via sight or checkered viewscreens, precision ball-heads, etc.

When i first figured out, on the spot and without any thought, the analogical association between the year singapore was 'founded' and the time - 18:19 - my first thought was, 'why hadn't anyone figured it out before’ when it occurred to me with no effort?'.  I mean, that would certainly utilise the subjects above to the max in telling a story would it not?  I couldn’t understand how people and the many 'pro photographers' from all around the globe who've taken this shot, could miss the obvious.  No, this did not make me think that i was exceptional, but that there was something wrong somewhere that made people miss the essence for the salient.  That is why i spent quite some time scouring the net for this shot in the hope that i might find some that illustrated it.  I hope there are some out there, though i've yet to discover them.

You see, the significance of this guy is that he so-called 'founded' singapore in 1819 – as if the Malays whom were living here prior to that were ‘lost’.  So if we were to take this shot at 18:19 it sort of illustrates the significance of this bloke in a subtle way.  Well, that is when i decided to just take this shot without attention to composition or making it postcard-appropriate to illustrate the essence which we fail to see whilst being casual about our observation and disciplined in our composition. 

meaning

The wide expanse of (pointless?) sky at the top can either be pregnant with the potential of our thoughts, or serve to illustrate our 'barren' and 'superficial' view when looking at things.  The bloke being disjointed from the clock tower and clock-face illustrates the tendency of many to not view things in an essential and meaningful whole - thus their not seeing the analogical association.  The entire picture is a subtle jibe at 'pro photographers' who might tend to miss the essence for the composition.  Thus, compared to the postcard-shot below, this says far more.  And to date, the 'crappy' composition above is my best when utilising my concocted, 'flawed composition as a medium' as opposed to the less-challenging 'postcard-composition as a medium' ;). 

However, it can be ‘improved’ if I had tilted the camera and made the entire composition slightly crooked as people generally tend to look at things in a crooked way though till they look through a viewfinder and compose the picture for symmetry, straight-ness, proportionate subject representation, etc; waited for the sky to be whiter so that it would complement the clock-tower and clock-face even more and enhance its ‘hidden-ness’ further - but not to the point that it becomes invisible.  I could also lighten the bloke so that his features would be more prominent than the time on the clock face.  These, together, would illustrate what would be most salient to any casual observer or photographer looking up, along with their failure to pay attention to the essence.  In other words, this picture is not of the bloke, the tower, and the story behind it, but rather of the story behind our deficient view of things.  Well, looks like I have to take the above again.

 

I wonder if there can be any shot that i might take my entire life that i can ever respect in comparison to the above.  I doubt it.  But, I will try.

ed'sperience

After a couple of weeks of shooting, and hoping for the right sky during the course of the 30 seconds i could take this shot every day - 6:19pm - I finally got the 'right' sky and angle.  Meaning?  Hint: Singapore was 'founded' in the year 1819 by Stamford Raffles. 

Look at the time.

(shot with 'Mamiya 7II' medium format 6x7 film camera)

ed'sperience

I wheeled(2 nights ago) into the neighbourhood coffeeshop on my bicycle after my usual 15 minutes sprint around a portion of my hometown, ordered my tea-with-less-sugar, and saw these glasses on the table I was going to plonk myself beside.  I immediately thought to myself, '2 and a half teetotallers' were here before me i see', and chuckled to myself.  Well, it was more like 2 and 2/3rds actually. 

I suppose, sometimes, the 'art' is not in the picture, but the 'perspective'. 

That's what makes an otherwise boring picture, aesthetically picturesque.

cheers! ;)

(shot with Ricoh GX100)

ed'sperience

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