Inspiration

Callum Hewitt took inspiration from the Memphis Design Movement to create his Modern Collection. Memphis is generally characterised by its highly geometric style consisting of a variety of bold shapes and colours to create designs. Callum, for this collection, wanted to add a splash of colour and depth into his highly detailed and precise drawings. Therefore, using the Memphis Design Movement as inspiration would provide this splash of colour and added interest with the inclusion of geometric shapes. However, Callum Hewitt also wanted to add his own spin on the style based upon his artistic preferences and knowledge. He decided he wanted to use different hues/ shades of one colour accompanied by greys in each design. Different from the Memphis Design Movement which used different colours rather than different hues in its approach. He also wanted to keep the shapes the same to create consistency in the style to partner his highly structured drawing style. With these objectives, Callum initially created this piece. Showing circles arranged overlapping one another (another change from the conventional Memphis Design approach) of different shades/hues of blue. He believed that overlapping the shapes would provide opportunities from the drawings to fit snug between the shapes and integrate into the style seamlessly.

Drawings

Then Callum Hewitt started deciding which drawings would feature in his first Modern Collection piece. Due to the curvature and fluidity of the shapes in the piece, Callum looks towards modern architecture. Architects like Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry sprung to mind due to their iconic curved and unconventional designs which fit perfectly with the vision Callum had for the piece. The pieces selected where also all extremely detailed and black & white which contrasted with the block colours of the circles.

Combining Work

Upon deciding which drawings to use due to their form and the style of drawing used, Callum began applying them into the collages. In order to add visual interest and depth, Callum decided to hide some parts of the drawings within the abstract circle piece created to integrate all the designs into one unified whole. This concealed some parts of the buildings, leaving their most iconic features on show such as the entry to the Guggenheim in Bilbao by Gehry or the swooping curve of the Heyder Aliyev Cultural Centre by Zaha Hadid. Callum was pleased with the composition and arrangement of the drawings, also how the colours sat with the drawings. However saw another opportunity to enhance the depth of the piece…

Adding Depth

In order to add further depth into the piece I decided to change the opacity circles in the piece so that the different hues of blue merge together to form further hues and shades of blue. Due to this change, it also gave the piece for life and movement than the original. Changing the shapes opacity also allows for the formerly hidden parts of the drawings to be seen through the circles. This highlights the depth of the piece and shows the layering of elements much more honestly.

Final Piece

Here we can see the fluidity and motion added to the piece due to the opacity change. It also further highlights the drawings as the primary focus of the piece as they no longer have parts entirely concealed. These areas where the drawing and circle meet show the combination of the altered Memphis Design and the drawings used in the piece. This jump between drawing and abstract circles has been reduced by having this area of transition between the splashes of colour and the highly refined drawings