Definition of ‘Order and Chaos’
When defining order and chaos, I first wanted to research what this title meant as a whole, the results of this link highly to the symbol of ‘Tao’, defined as ‘to live in meaning’. It is said that the white side represents order, and the black side represents chaos, both have the opposite colours within this circle, to symbolize that both of these sides can be changed through your own doing. Looking at the dictionary definition, I identified the words individually to clarify my theme in detail. First of all, when researching ‘order’, I found this is defined as:
To summarize using my own opinion, order is a form that shows an arrangement set in a specified way, physically, it can mean the method or sequence someone does something, or spiritually the order of someones energy or mental health. Taking away from this, order can be someone who has authoritative command over another, or an instruction to be given. On the other side of my given theme, looking at ‘chaos’, this is officially characterized as:
This is rather the opposite of order, it talks about the destruction and disunity of a place, system, belief etc. When looking at the words ‘behavior is unpredictable’, represents a sense of disorganization from a set system. In a way this can also be related to a sense of evil, for people committing chaos reject a system or a sense of order in life, and what to a cause confusion.
Order and Chaos Word Association:
- Order
- System
- Philosophy
- Wisdom
- Enlightenment
- Education
- Culture
- Nobility
- Upper-class society
- Cultured Class
I created a word association for ‘order’, linking each word to another by what they mean and interpret as. For this, I started with order, and associated this to religion and political statements. This really expanded my range of ideas that I could use during my visual research, as I was taken to areas such as ‘philosophy’ and ‘education’, meaning I could create artwork representing this system, or religious and political questions heavily seen in philosophical arguments. Additionally, I discovered words such as ‘nobility’, and ‘upper-class society’, meaning I could even direct my project to the differences between poor and wealthy people, and the impact this has (depicting the order and chaos of this financial system).
- Chaos
- Anarchy
- Rebellion
- Revolution
- Crime
- Wickedness
- Immortality
- Anti-social behavior
- Corruption
- Misrepresentation
Contrasting this to chaos, these words also associated to political statements, such as anarchy and rebellions, although this talks about the breaking of social rules and norms rather than conforming to them. These words linked to serious issues such as anti-social behavior, and corruption, both issues that are shown in the modern era. Other words such as misrepresentation, which could be related to the rights of the LGBT community, or the misrepresentation of leaders, jobs, places, religions or gender. These words are important in expanding the areas I can explore within my project, allowing me to think of concepts that may not be directly linked to the theme, but the themes around this.
Order and Chaos Mind-map:
Enhance size of this mind-map: https://drive.mindmup.com/map/1diKlVrG4kMQGXdZK3VxMVDtRnfgolO3d
I created an extensive mind-map, that represented key words, ideas and themes that I could use within my project for order and chaos. The purpose of conducting this research, was to generate concepts and themes that I could create for my pieces of artwork. When looking at order, I focused on the ideology of being good, prosperous and peaceful within the world. For this, I came up with ideas looking at environments (e.g. forests, river banks, and steady oceans), contrasting with world disasters such as hurricanes, tornado’s, and tsunami’s. I also looked into religious aspects, such as creating a heaven and hell opposition, or the political misrepresentation of different cultures.
Additionally, I looked into the corruptible natures of chaos, such as themes of war, disease, and crime. These ideas were used due to my word association that linked chaos to elements of anarchy and rebellion. I again was drawn into issues with society, such as the lack of acceptance of the LGBT community, and the issues surrounding homelessness and starvation. In addition to themes, I looked at the types of media I could present my project in, such as using comic strips or poster comparisons.
Order and Chaos: Heaven Mood-board
Using one of my ideas from my mind-map, I took heaven as a concept idea for my visual research since this world is a representation of peace and tranquility, which I believed fitted in well as a form of an ordered society. I collected a range of internet images for my mood-board, similarly to how heaven is depicted in Christianity as being a ‘pearly gateway’, suggesting this is a place full of wealth, and happiness. I gathered images of angels, gateways, castles, and other ‘floating on air’ environments inspired by what heaven is known to look and feel like. The colours are primarily white, as its a shade known for clarity and purification, as well as bright and vibrant greens, pinks and yellows which symbolize how its always bright and cheerful. The purpose of producing this research, is so I can generate ideas associated with this theme, and apply this to a specific idea looking at a religious and holy project concept; counteracting with the chaotic nature of hell.
Primary Game Sources: World of Warcraft Crystal Song Forest
When looking into ideas for order and chaos, I realized that the themes associated with the Crystal Song Forest in World of Warcraft, closely relate to a ‘heavenly haven’ that I’ve researched for a religious take on the theme. I liked this environment, because everything was lit up, and the use of the colours pink and purple together, gives the impression that the environment is radiant, which gives it an almost mystical and fairy-tale like atmosphere, associated with peace and prosperity like heaven.
Order and Chaos: Hell Mood-board
Continuing looking at the religious realms, I created a mood-board themed around hell and evil. The images here show a fiery world of torment and destruction; heavily described in the bible as being “the grave, the pit, or death”. My research shows the torment of souls, and the damnation that is brought upon them through suffering and pain from the devil. This is meant to be a punishment, rather contrasting to the visual interpretation of heaven. I thought this would be an effective way to show both the order and chaos within my final project, as they are both associated to the religious testaments of the bible. Within this board, the images will be used as inspiration for environments, characters, or reflections of the consequences of someone who in the bible ‘chooses a ‘deed or desire in opposition to the eternal law of god’. This research will help me to gain ideas on the environments, colours, and atmosphere of hell, and how I can use this to show the chaos described in this world.
Primary Game Sources: World of Warcraft Mount Hyjal
Contrasting the idea of peace, is Mount Hyjal, found in the Cataclysm expansion on World of Warcraft. I thought that as this biome is encompassed with flames and hell beasts, this would be a great contrast to the ideology of heaven, and the Crystal forest within the game. It is a perfect example of the darker side, being as it uses oranges, reds, dark browns and black for the overall mood of the environment. The colours used within this game also are closely seen in many concepts within my internet secondary research, as its supposedly a representation of hell, and the fiery pits shown in this ‘evil’ area.
Order and Chaos: Natural Environments and Towns Mood-board
I wanted to look at natural environments, and structures which show a simple and quiet community, as this is a form of order and system shown in the present or past era. I have taken a range of images both from photograph and concept art sources, looking at different times, genres, and locations around the world. I collected images of forests, both realistic and fairy-tale, medieval towns, and bright vibrant towns around the world with natural pools of water. The reason I chose these set of images, is they all appear as pleasant and joyful areas to live, meaning there must be a sense of order, so the towns and environments remain peaceful and systematically calm. I chose to gather research around this, as its a great example of the differences and contrasts from a lawless and dis-organised setting. I can use this within my research, so I can gain ideas on a specific location, and decide whether or not I want to set my project in this decade or within the past and future.
Order and Chaos: Natural Disasters Mood-board
Associated to environments, this mood-board refers to the chaos on natural disasters; such as tornado’s. hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunami’s. The images show no sense of order, rather destruction and chaos surrounding our civilization as well as the natural world. This was suppose to contrast my previous set of images that looked at natural and peaceful environments, as it clearly shows the differences between an order and system that has not collapsed, compared to a system that is being collapsed by natural or man-made destruction. The purpose of this, is to show the chaotic nature of the natural world, compared to a system and order put into place either formed naturally, or forged by people. I particularly liked this concept, to highlight the impact that pollution, the Australian fires that have taken place causing forest fires, and avalanches caused by climate change.
Order and Chaos: Illusions Mood-board
The theme of illusions was much broader than my previous mood-boards, although in my opinion depicted both order and chaos really nicely. This concept was taken because the idea of illusions is unusual and disorderly, the concepts are intentional to deceive the eye, meaning there is a sense of order that is created, although this is disfigured by the appearance. This idea was formed as the piece itself would be taken as chaotic, as there is a large range of things to look at, and you may need to think more closely about what you’re viewing to fully understand the image; I find this interesting, as the artist is intentionally trying to make people think further than what they first see, which is something they have planned within their piece. I chose a range of these images that are heavily created to confuse the audience, or pursue a certain emotion or thought, which I believe is important and unique when creating my artwork.
Primary Research: Illusions Museum in Zagreb, Croatia
During a family vacation to Zagreb in Croatia, I visited the Illusions museum which was really interesting in tricking the eye to look as if things have disappeared or been moved by another person. This idea of skewing perspective would be a really unique way of reinventing the project theme, and showing people how sometimes there is order within chaos. I took these two examples of my sister and her boyfriend, as they are prime examples of what illusions can produce if created correctly. These photographs are also a great to way generate ideas, and think about the types of artwork around mind-tricks that could be created.
Order and Chaos: Revolutions Mood-board
Moving on, I began to look at revolutions, as this political topic shows how war is chaotic, but also how there intention is to enforce a powerful change. I took images from protests, marches, and messages spread across to pursue a difference that is usually positive. For this, I particularly looked up protests surrounding sexuality and gender, which is something I mentioned in my mind-map research that I conducted. I gathered a range that showed a lot of societal and political issues that are still associated with the modern day, revolutions are created to convey powerful messages to invoke change, which I believe would be a great topic to base my project around, as its creating a message to my audience. Some of these images are quite powerful, such as two soldiers helping their fellow peer at war, which shows their courage, bravery and kindness towards others even in the amidst of a war.
Order and Chaos: Upper-class/Wealth Mood-board
I wanted to collect sources that relate to the idea of wealth and power over others. For example, as stated in my mind-map, I talked about the royal family, and the difference there wealth to someone starving would be. Additionally, this shows the contrast between a higher and lower class society, for this representing the order of civilization. And the balance this has, for a wealthy person, they would be able to travel to exotic and expensive environments, and live a life of luxury, which is something I could heavily exaggerate within my art piece. I included images of yachts, travels, and expensive furniture and clothing, as this is something someone in the upper-class would be able to afford. My concept could represent the unfair nature of this in comparison to someone from the middle or lower class, and also show the benefits of living as an upper-class citizen.
Order and Chaos: Lower-class/Poor Mood-board
Contradicting this higher class concept, is the poverty and lifestyle of the lower-class. By circumstance, these set of people, as identified within my visual research are given a lot less opportunities, as well as usually live much more average lives. My research shows that the environment of a lower-class citizen is usually much more dirty, and also much more polluted with waste and factory pollution; some of these issues are caused by the higher-class, so the purpose of this research could show that things are not always how they appear, and to highlight the social issues and morality of these situations. You can clearly see that these environments are much darker, dirty, and resemble that of a poor and unhygienic habitat. Some of the people within these photographs, are crammed into tight places, or forced to live in poor grungy conditions, which I could interpret and show in my project.
Secondary Book Research:
Additionally to internet images, I also looked at some books that represent other worlds and elements of order and chaos. In ‘The Art of Brave’, I specifically looked at environments in my research, as this was something I was aiming towards in my project, the forest in the film is seen as a magical realm, with creatures inhabiting there such as the willow wisps (clearly represented as being a light and pure spirit in the film, which I believe shows the order of my project). Contrasting this, darker areas of the film such as within the forest, and caved in areas of a kingdom shows the dark and ferocious bear which was once a king. The moral of the story was this king was transformed due to his greed in the plot, which also is one of the sins shown in the bible, which is why I thought this was a great representation of the chaos in the story; as well as how they use dark and clouded colours to represent evil, and light blue tones and bright weather to represent the purity and fun.
The art of how to train your dragon 2, is a great reference for extreme and natural environments depicted in the film, and shown in these visual concept images. The film also clearly highlights how anyone including creatures have the ability to be good and bad. The same with order and chaos, and also represented in the ying-yang symbol. The island itself is a visually pleasing world set in a medieval fantasy era, and I believe the environments are a great way to see how I could create a natural world if I chose to base my project on surroundings, additionally, the dragons would also be an interesting concept due to their nature. As shown in the films, they are primarily seen as evil, although later you see that the people in this world drove them to this. This concept of animals and people adapting to how they are treated, and the consequences of this such as in this film, would be something I could explore further and in my artwork as a symbol of how everyone has the power to create chaos and order.
Morgan Clark: Games Development L3 Year 2 