Get rid of dust! Picture framing tip.

Over the week, I was preparing pictures for my next exhibition. It took me so long just to make sure the frame is free of dust.

It is easy if the frame with glass, just use vacuum with brush head will do the work nicely (just remember to pull the frame and glass up vertically or tilt while doing the vacuum).

But this time, things change. Since glass is heavy and easy to break, manufacturer are replacing them with "Perspex Sheet" or acrylic. Normally, it come with plastic cover with both side, once you pull off the cover, the static draw all dust in nearby to the surface of the Perspex sheet. After that, it is not easy to get rid of dust from the Perspex sheet. It is not a good idea to use vacuum with brush head – because acrylic or Perspex is so easy to “scratch” or make damage to the surface. No brushing, so what I should do? People recommend me to use “anti-static brush for record”, it has two type: vinyl or Carbon Fiber, it this case vinyl work better.

“Anti-static brush” is a good idea, but when I try to order one, I came across a new stuff which I think is better, it is called “cyber clean”. Basically, cyber clean is a jelly rubber thing which is sticky enough to get rid of dust. Sometime it is different for people framing the picture because you don’t see the dust until you put the picture in, and also you cannot sure where the dust is. With this jelly cyber clean, you can peel some bit off and mark the dusty area and turn the frame over to clean it.

(P.S. there are different type of cyber clean, I thing for framing, automotive version is better as the other is too sticky.)

(The “Cyber Clean”)

(Make it like brush to brush the Perspex Sheet)

(Peel a “bits” to mark the dust)

Research an artist – Roger Ballen

Roger Ballen (1950 – ?) – born in New York but lived in Johannesburg, South Africa since 1974.
Ballen completed a psychology degree and PhD in mineral economics. He establish himself as a geologist in early 1980s.
As a geologist, he always travel around the home and residents of white people in South Africa’s rural area with photograph shoots. He started to publish and display these photos since 1990s.
Ballen’s photograph is like a screenshot of dreams. It is compelling, inspiring, intriguing with sense of montage, exquisite and black humor. His work indistinct the boundaries between the documentary and conceptual photography – it is a powerful social statement as well as a complex psychological study.

Use dark / dirty background with a lot of funny face to present our world? Use Juxtaposition to present two different situation / class. The bottom kid with cartoon mask represent the bottom class people in the society. Carton mask = life is a joke / game?

Roger Ballen’s photos use a lot of semiotics to represent something meaningful.

Rat sit of the top of a frame – upper class people / rich people – they are bad but in-charge (frame is our society / system)

Dove mean peace.

Hands represent what people wants / wishes.

Body bag on the bottom – sacrifice.

The top human face and animal face represent the normal relationship between human and animal.

The real human head and dog represent a real situation / relationship of human and animal – we cage them to observe them or for fun, but who is master, who is pet? who know?

Human mind is twisted and complicated.

Something is happening to human race?

Research an artist – Erwin Olaf

Erwin Olaf was born in the Netherlands in 1959 and begin photographic work at age of 22 - which is 25 years ago. In these 25 years, he also has worked on many different type of media, such as print ads, TV commercials, movies, MTV, newspapers and magazines.

Erwin Olaf is a unique photographic artist; he was able to shoot a photo full of commercial style, and he also created an avant-garde or classical style art work at the same time – it draws my attention to do more research into his work.

Mostly, themes of Erwin Olaf’s work are: fantasy, sex, gender, body, bondage, loneliness, desperation and human lust (Figure 3-6). I think his concept of photo layout is a staged photography simulated documentary photo (Figure 7) – enabling the unspeakable, neglected and taboo subjects to be visualized in a low-key manner. Olaf always presents his work with a distinctive style and artful lighting, to reflect various events, taboos, customs and social conflicts in the community. However he knows how to use formalism photographic techniques (emphasis on the appearance of things, form, beauty and the pursuit of perfection though a picture's composition, lines and colours) to cover up the theme and contents of the picture to make the viewer initially attracted by the aesthetic aspects of the image. “Erwin’s point of view is at once formal and psychological, so surface and meaning have a complex relationship” - Bottega Veneta Creative Director Tomas Maier stated. If the viewer is willing to take a deep look at his work, they will be impacted by the visual aspect and the meaning of the image. His works reflect that he paid a great deal of attention to the background and lighting design to complete the rigorous composition and the plot.

Les Derniers Hosneurs Rendus Aux Infortunes Illustrisismes Comtes d'Egmont Et De Horne
It is a recreation of a classical painting or a photo work that used ideas from classical painting.
Olaf used a lot of digital manipulation technique   

Also, a lot of appropriation used, it give me some inspiration for my present work.

CV updated!

Have asked an expert(Chris Raw from Next personel term) to review my CV, he said that my CV generally is  good but need a small improvement, which he think that:

1. it look too busy, need to give some space between sessions.

2. delete some lease useful award from achievement.

3. move the sessions experience and achievement to the left because people or client are more interested in these area.

4. Education is better at the right hand side of experience.

So, after his review, I have change my CV as below: