London International Creative Award for Graphic Design Student
Second year BA(Hons) Graphic Design student, Oli Bussell, has been shortlisted in the London International Creative Competition (LICC) - a competition that spans 95 countries, acting as a vehicle for facilitating contact between uniquely talented artists and an international audience. He was one of 65 shortlisted competitors and the only non-professional graphic designer to receive an accolade with an entry in the Graphic Design, Non-Professional/Student category.
Oli submitted a project titled, ‘Tragic Escapism,' that he'd previously conceived during his first year on the course claiming, "The project had been really well received when I'd presented it and I thought that it couldn't hurt seeing how it would be received outside of the University College."
He continued, "The project was about creating a brand based on someone's personality using an anonymous questionnaire. In the questionnaire I received, the girl talked about favourite films like An Education and Pride and Prejudice and favourite time periods like the blitz spirit of World War 2 Britain or the general atmosphere of Paris: all of which are very romantic in their imagery. When asked about what superpower she would like, she talked about the ability to read minds to tell whether men were lying to her or not. From this I built up a picture of someone who had perhaps had bad romantic experiences in the past and chooses to 'escape' in ideological romance. When looked in from the outside we get the sense of tragedy because, despite surrounding herself with these romantic ideals, in real life she is not part of them, hence 'Tragic Escapism'.
Oli's entry consisted of a packaged bottle of wine called ‘Reverei' and focussed on the tragedy of escaping reality through ideological romance, represented by Robert Doisneau's iconic staged image of ‘the kiss'. When the box was opened the man and a selection of text in the image were removed as was the ‘re' from ‘reverei', changing its Latin meaning from ‘to aspire to' into ‘to fear'. The inner box contained a bottle of wine, a glass and a space where another glass should be. Oli explained, "In the fantasy you would share the bottle with your dream man but in reality, you are alone."
The LICC concept was developed originally by artist Launa Bacon for Farmani Group in 2006. Among other things, Farmani-group has founded many charities, businesses and organisations including the award-winning Vue magazine and Design Awards.
Oli's work will be published in the LICC Annual Awards Book in 2012.
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