The pathology of Collecting!

Cabbage Patch Kids collections 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QPMLQGuL0c

Click the above link to watch the video

Ive been looking through 'obsessive' collecting videos on youtube as part of this collecting task and came across this one, i think its almost slightly freaky and weird! A man and wife Collecting Cabbage patch kids and almost treating them like children! within the video is states that there are many clubs in america that are cabbage patch lovers and within these groups they have meet ups, where they are initially meeting so that their cabbage patch kids can play with each other and sort of act like real human children?!

After the first time of watching i could only think that these people may not have children of there own for many reasons so they are trying to treat there cabbage patch kids like there own kids? But after doing a bit more research and watching many more videos i then found out that the main couple featured in the video do in fact have grown up children. 

When reading though Baudrillard's 'The system of collecting' one quote really stuck out to me. ' Thus any given object can have two functions; it can be utilized or it can be possessed.' I think this is a very true and fair quote, The youtube clip shows people collecting and keeping hold of these collections so why not use them and take it to the next level rather than just sitting them on a shelf letting them colllect dust. With some certain collections they might not be usable collections but if they are why not use them the way you want to? I think with this certain clip because they are middle aged men and women its almost sort of a regression, going back and visiting your child hood and the child hood memories you have and trying to re live them as you are now. 

I have secret collecting obsessions too, Tins, all shapes, sizes and patterns and key rings! which are not going to be so secret now! :) 

Pigeons and Pavements

For our first project at Chelsea we were given the Rough Guide project, a task involving different parts of London, we were split into groups and had to make a 'Rough guide' to London totally in pictures, in our groups we were each given a specific area we had to focus on, and individually we focused on what we wished.

My groups area was Piccadilly circus, Bond street and the surrounding streets. The main things that stuck out to me were the amount of pigeons literally everywhere and the dark dampness of grey paved streets. which then led me onto the traffic lights and pedestrian crosses, and the fact that nobody apart from a select few actually waited for the little green man to cross the road! Despite the busy traffic and busses driving past! Its always an urgency in London, everywhere you go, a busy hussle and bustle to get anywhere, people rushing and not taking the time to take anything in around them.

So to me, the three most common things in London are the pigeons,pavements and the little red man! I tried to document these as much as i could when visiting these areas, taking photographs, collecting litter from the paved walk ways and watching the day go by. 

 

My page in the guide is quite abstract but also quite easy to look at, a distorted photograph with a red spray paint mark on, different on each separate one. 

I enjoyed doing this mini project, it gave me time to explore London and we quite experimental with what i was doing. 

Knit Knit Knitting!

So we've started our technical blocks, 2 weeks in the 4 different pathways, Knit, Stitch, Weave and Print. 

My first block is Knit and I've just completed my first week!... Its been very interesting and some what frustrating at times! Especially when you've done a really nice sample on the Knitting machine then it decides to go wrong at the last minute! We started to hand knitting, something i've done before but still finding it hard! Then we started on the Knitting Machines! Ive learnt, Casting on, e wrapping, Lace holes, Ladders,different stitch types, fringing, joining and making edges and working into fabrics with the machines also, we were also taught on how to play with the tension depending on what type of yarn we were using! If the tension was to tight, it could cause the yarn to weaken and snap!

Ive really enjoyed Knit so Far, I'm looking forward to making more complicated samples and learning more techniques in the coming week! I feel i may need to have a lot more patience with the machines this week! 

Here are a few of my samples (the best ones out of the bunch!) 

Pre-Raphaelite's Show

The pre-raphaelite at the Tate just over the road from Chelsea was a visit i did, it presents the pre-raphaelites a avant-garde movement, a group with a radical project overturning artistic orthodoxies, they made a massive impact on the history of modern art. They worked at a time when the world was going through massive changes especially in Europe, steamships were exploring the world, railways were linking cities and science was challenging traditional religious beliefs, photography was opening windows of opportunity and the pre-Raphaelites took this boom of energy on board and began to embrace it within there art. They were original in what they did and opened a new vision into art. 

Here are a few snaps i took when visiting the exhibition! Even though i was told off a fair few times for doing so! uh oh! :) 

Superhuman Exhibition

We visited the Superhuman exhibition at the Welcome trust, this exhibition is all about the world trying to be perfect in all ways humanly possible and beyond.
I picked an image that stood out and made a difference to me. I chose Regina Jose Galindo's 'Recortepor la linea' (cut through line) 2005. The image itself is Regina standing naked in front of a crowd including photographers with a leading cosmetic surgeon, drawing onto the body certain cosmetic changes that he'd like to make. The image is a still from a video that was made in Venezuela, the country with the third highest rates of Comestic procedures per capital. 

The thing that stands out to me is the way the crowd around her are staring, she is a completely naked lady in a public place, it makes me think what are thinking? are they perving over her naked body, are they looking at it in an artists point of view, are they are there because they have to take photographs or are they there because they want to be? questions I'd really like to know the answer to because looking at their blank faces doesn't give anything away. 

To me the women's body looks perfectly normal and beautiful in fact so how is the cosmetic surgeon finding so many faults with it, what is his idea of perfect because it is obviously not the same as mine and i'm sure many others would agree with me. I think possibly this is the point the artist is trying to get across, what is everybody's perception of perfect? why are we always trying to change what we are born with to 'fit in' to society. 

This image does not make me feel different about my self, i'm happy just the way I am but I can understand how some people will look at this image and not be happy with what they see within themselves and maybe want to change things, if they see this quite normal woman and feel they don't fit in with her category then of course they are going to have doubts with themselves. something witch is actually really sad because we are all meant to be the way we are born, why do we need to change that?! 

I was researching plastic surgery in Venezuela and came across an article in the Guardian about Venezuela's obsession with beauty. It has won more beauty titles in the past 3 decades than any other country and it has been reported that people would go as far as getting bank loans just to afford there boob jobs or tummy tucks! There are a couple of quotes from the article that I thought I'd include within this post that i think fit very well; 

"Venezuelan women are vain, but also intelligent, spirited and strong – no one can beat us in a discussion," wrote Khabira, author of the blog Surviving in the Land of the Misses. "We all have our charms and yet we insist on visiting an operating table to enhance our lips or reduce our waist. I can't think of anyone who hasn't gotten 'a little fixing'."

Titina Penzini, author of fashion manual 100% Chic, said: "It is no secret that beauty is a value we will take to its maximum expression."You walk down any street of Caracas at 6am and women will be perfectly coiffured, manicured, pedicured and impeccably made up. People here, from all walks of life, will get into debt for a pair of stilettos or a boob job. Whatever it takes,"

Both from The Guardian, 12th September 2012 ,'Venezuelans obsessed with beauty' .

From these quotes it tells me Women will go to massive lengths in order to fit into this 'perfect' ever changing country around them, the never ending pressure of having no floors or differences. The artist has tried to show the culture and what goes on in Venezuela and is putting across about weather it is except able or not. 

Regina is making us think about the world we live in and asking ourselves what we think perfect is?

Below is a link to Regina Jose Galdino's Website and her Recortepor la line ( cut through line ) collection of images; 

http://www.reginajosegalindo.com/es/index.htm