In August I attended the National Portrait Gallery and the exhibition they had at the time for the Herbert Smith Freehills Award. There were 50 works shown and there were rewards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. My favourite work shown was The Last Portrait by Sasha Sokolova thought it wasn't in the top 3. The piece is a domestic portrait of her late grandfather who taught her painting. I really like the almost dream-like surreal lighting. The warm colour scheme. The ordinary setting. The subject sits close to the viewer and directly faces them which gives it a personal, intimate feel. The story behind the painting was also a kind of beautiful. Sokolova started the painting before he died, and finished it after. She says on her website that her grandfather never had a solo show in his life but the granddaughter whom he taught got selected for an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery with this painting, which i think is pretty cool.
I was a big fan of this film. Civil War follows a group of war photographers documenting a civil war in North America. The title baits you into thinking its going to be a political movie, but the focus is almost entirely on photography itself and the different motivations of the main cast. I felt the characters were really relatable (especially Joel). They all have some sort of mental issues/unhealthy relationship with the job that justifies the massive risk they're constantly taking. They cope with that stress in different ways. I guess my favourite part of the movie is how deep and real the characters feel. They're very "soulful". To be honest, Its just a really good movie overall. I recommend.
A bit before the year began, I started going to a figure drawing class with my mum (whos never really drawn before). Its ran weekly in a small church near Hayes and it's very enjoyable. I'd been wanting to try live figure drawing for a long time but finally found a good one near me. Figure drawing is probably the best way to learn to draw the human body and so, is obviously really useful. By now I have a large pile of sketches from these sessions and i hope to eventually be able to look at them and see good progress over time. I usually use a lot of construction when drawing. I try to break the body down into smaller shapes and muscles, and then build it up from there. I'm pretty bad at visualising anything in my head (why i like 3D sculpting) so it can be a struggle sometimes. Getting the proportions right is usually my main struggle i think.
Recently, I finished a videogame called "Disco Elysium" by the Estonian studio "ZA/UM". The bulk of the writing is by Robert Kurvitz and much of the art is by Aleksandr Rostov. I've played a lot of videogames in my life but this is my favourite. Its a masterpiece. The story follows the amnesiac, severely mentally ill police detective, Harrier Du Bois, whom you play as. You wake up on the floor of your trashed hotel room, find out you're a cop, then that you need to solve a lynching involving the local dockworkers union and the corporation above them. The game is essentially made of the 3D-modelled
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