Text and colour experiments

I printed out the letters to be included in the piece using different fonts, layouts and sizing. Some inspired by counter-culture, some inspired by other artists work.

It's a political activism piece, but it's also satire. And so I'd like to bring the clown archetype into the visual coding. Clowns are a disruptive and mirroring archetype that allow us to reflect in a unique way. Their home, the circus, has a long history of political activism efforts. On a different tack lot of current world leaders are, sadly, an absolute joke and need fucking clown shoes. And lastly, but by no means leastly, it indisputably feels like the whole world's turned into a dystopian circus of late. For all these reasons, I feel that the clown tone is heavily relevant to this piece, and that visually coding this effectively will connect with my audience.

I'd also like the gravity that the piece explores to have space, and so including elements that make it feel stark and utilitarianalso feel important.

Should I include a clown prop? Or is that too on those nose. (I'm not sorry). I don't think I will, it's a bridge too far.

Spray painted red dot dripping?

Having all these options tumbling around my mind felt overwhelming all of a sudden, and I felt a loss of confidence in the piece as a whole.

So I gave my head a wobble and grounded myself by sketching out some options. 

On reflection, visually I prefer the last image. The childlike garish colours evoke the clown, which creates paradox when written in a stencil font; a typeface that is reminiscent of ulititarian and functional signage, as well as of DIY and protest signs. I like the tension that creates. I think the lettering needs to have presence, scale wise, to really carry this forward.

I am planning on spray painting the letters at this stage. It's a physically light technique so it won't weigh the fabric down, it's affordable and quick for my work flow and it will stop the piece looking too tight by giving it a bit of edge; because it's got street art and industrial connotations. I'll drop in on Dilk at the Montana shop and pick out some colours this week.

I'll see if I can get some custom stencils made using the laser cutter. 

I've always got good old fashioned cardboard and my Stanley blade if not.

I'm choosing to order the text in a similar way to the text work of Christopher Wool, as above. It will help the 5 inflatable pieces, all of which have a different letter count, feel more cohesive visually. It adds complexity to the text, which reflects the complexity of the situation I am discussing, and references the impenetrable word salad so often spewed by politicians. And it feels childlike, which creates yummy paradox; playful innocence versus the shadow aspects brought to mind by the piece. They are simple, almost guileless questions after all, not dissimilar to those that a child might ask.

It would be really interesting if other words could be pulled out writing the text in this way. Or if the same action resulted in adding stress to intentional words and, or created unintentional but appropriate words too. I'll play around with it.

My instinct is that a cream textile background is needed to elevate the piece. Whatever I do to it, cold white is still giving Halloween/ Christmas inflatables too hard. Cream is synonymous with calico bandage. Wound and healing.