Inspirational work from the Ikon and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

The beautiful canvas above was created by Fiona Rae named 'Dark Star'. This painting was very effective and was created using materials such as acrylics, oil pastels and glitter. I was instantly drawn to this painting as it was very eye-catching. I could also see some aspects of Chinese elements in this painting, such as a varied range of brush strokes and the way she has written across with symbols it also reminds me of Chinese clothing. This may be shown in this painting due to the influence of the artists background; as she is originally from Hong Kong. I think that Rae has implied all of her environmental factors into this painting; making it more personal and meaningful to herself. You can clearly see her inspiration from comics, sci-fi, cinema, films, adverts and her location in which she grew up in. I personally think that this is an very inspirational painting, as Rae has experimented well, with a wide range of different materials. I also think that the interpretation of her own life within the painting highly intriguing; as it makes me want to find out more about herself and her work. I adore the colours which have been used in this canvas and the way she has used glitter to some parts of her painting so that they will create more emphasis to those certain areas. I feel as though this work is very fresh and relaxing as it gives me a calm feeling when I look deeply into it. Another aspect which I loved about the painting was that Rae has used a dark coloured background, so that all the other patterns on top will stand out; as she has chose brighter colours. This makes the painting stand out instantly to the public.

This was another painting which I was inspired by in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. It reminded me of conflict and contrast, the images also had a bit of evil concept behind them, as I felt they were not very friendly looking. However I was really drawn to it, as it looked unique on the walls and stood out from the rest of the paintings. This may be due to the fact of the colours which have been used; as they obviously are eye-catching. The painting itself inspires me as its so detailed and the way it has been done is very effective, as you can see all the brush strokes if you look very closely. I also adore how in each painting you can somewhat see a human figure but as it is not so clear, this personally intrigued me to find out more about what the painting may be about. I thought it also had a mysterious concept behind it and as I like mysterious things I captured this image to show you guys!

Below you will find a range of different designs which have been created by Timur Novikov. I found his work to be incredibly influential and inspiring. Novikov was mainly famous for using fabric in his work rather than canvases or paper. This made me love his work even more as it was out of the norm and gave texture to his work; making it interesting to look at. In Timur's work below you can see similar characteristics, instantly making him notifiable. I really liked the consistency he kept going all throughout his work. The work he has done below are all very simple fabric pieces with other fabrics attached on top to create a visual message which will successfully communicate and portray a message to its audience. I was greatly fascinated by how simple his work was yet so effective and powerful at creating emotion and interacting with the audience. This was one of the main reasons I liked his work, as I found it very inspirational. Overall I adore the simplicity of his work and this will visually influence me in the future on how to communicate with my audience in a more subtle, simplified manner.