12.14.10

 End of Semester Blog Post

For my final project, I made a winter landscape out of sweets.  I bought a good sized rectangular tupperware and filled it with marshmallow fluff for snow.  Fluff is cool because it always molds to the container it's in and after some time, always gets smooth on the surface no matter how you've manipulated it.  Then i made trees by cutting the tips of marshmallows so they form a pointy tip, and I covered them in green icing.  After that, I made the snowmen.  I used two marshmallows for each, "glued" them together with white icing, and made a face and buttons out of chocolate chips, which I again attached with white icing.  I cut fruit rollups to use as a scarf and attached with icing as well.  I then stuck toothpicks in each side of the snowmen for arms.  I placed them in the snow (fluff) and tried to secure its upright stance with a toothpick, though one of the snowmen ended up falling down.  I also incorporated red and green sour patch kids and leaned them up against the snowmen as if they were making them.  Sadly one of the kids got crushed when the snowman it was making fell on top of it.  On a brighter note, some of the kids had a lot of fun laying in the snow making snow angels.  For a finishing touch, I put dots of icing in the shape of snowflakes on the walls around the inside of the container to give the idea that it was snowing.

I thought of this idea because it's appropriate for the holiday season and represents the snowy time of year that we are about to be in, as well as the fun times I've had in my life playing in the snow.  I learned a lot in this class and had a lot of fun, and I'm really glad I was able to get into the class after the first day!

11.30.10

No class since last post

Reading: The Object Stares Back by James Elkins

“In order to draw something new you have to study it with the express purpose of seeing the necessary parts and remembering them.”  This article stated that to be a good artist, one must have to think of the actual act of drawing and still see at the same time.  Elkins tried to draw an aardvark from memory after seeing one and simply could not do it. Elkins pointed out that there are certain things that he is able to draw from memory, such as a plate or a needle, but without the skill of being able to draw and see at the same time, drawing from memory is impossible to do accurately and also pointless.  After reading this section, I thought about my art class from high school.  My teachers used to tell me that you couldn’t simply draw what you remember, such as a nose.  And when you look at the nose you are drawing, don’t look at it as a nose.  They said to look at the lines and shapes within it and to mimic that in my piece.  I also remember during high school I went through a period of looking at everything as if I were going to draw it.  I noticed angles and depth.  Looking at the world like this allows you to see and notice much more than you ever would, though it is a little draining.  I learned in psych that are brains are not made to pick up on every little detail because it is just an overload of information, and constantly looking at objects like this definitely feels like that.  Elkins talked about many pieces of art with insight. He pointed out that he has trouble remembering the color of people’s eyes in life and in art.  I too, have the same problem.  He said he can’t even be sure of his dad’s eye color, however I can remember eye color of the people close to me.  Elkins talks about connotations in art and what happens when one sees a certain piece.

Two questions

Does art in black and white have the same effect as it would in color?  When Elkins talks about genitalia in art, and that it subconsciously makes you either look at it or look away, he mentioned color in the work he was referring to. Would he have had the same response if the painting were in grayscale?

What are characteristics of a painting that convey death?

Discuss

I decided to look up images with death and see what characteristics convey the idea.  I Google imaged “painting death” and I noticed that the general mood is pretty morbid.  When there are multiple people in a painting, I noticed chaos – people running around with their arms in the air.  Other paintings had skulls. One image I really liked was by Simon Birch, one of the artists I wanted to study.  His painting shows a blurred face, with a black shirt.  The lack of characteristics shows that the subject just isn’t there.

Critique

I really liked the critique.  I liked how some people would share their ideas first and how others would let the class share their ideas and confirm or deny them afterwards.  The critique allowed me to verbalize certain aspects of my paintings that I merely thought about.  Sharing ideas with others allowed us to understand each other's thought processes and even dilemmas when it came to our projects.  I liked the use of mediums, and I thought the projects that weren't done on paper were very interesting.  I particularly liked Amy's project, and I think it was okay that she didn't use only nature.  Wendy's 3D comic was awesome too, and I think it really added depth to the ideas expressed in the class.  This class is about visual thinking after all, and through this project we were able to see the differences in visual perspectives.

Art Event #2

Artist Dr. Andrea Guinta came to speak about her work last week.  She is a cultural activist from Argentina and attended the Univeristy of Buenos Aires.  She has curated and contributed to many art exhibitions.  In her work she focuses on the visual culture and human rights, and she shows how art is a highly effective way of communicating political messages. 

Dr. Guinta started off by showing newspaper clips of people who have disappeared or have been abducted.  She pointed out that the kidnappings were typically young adults in college or in their early 20’s.  Dr. Guinta believes that neither forgetting nor forgiving will do anything to help the abduction issue and what’s done is done.  She went on to explain that all of the people who were abducted were a part of a certain political party.  These young people were called The Peronist Youth, and were the ones who supported the leadership and the views of their president Juan Peron.  The president reached out to factory workers and tried to help them.  Thus, he was supported by the factory workers, but not by the higher classes.  During Juan Peron’s presidency, the country survived an inflation period, but he was eventually taken out of office by a military coup that destroyed all evidence and anything associated with his social or political movements.

Dr. Giunta showed pictures of an exhibit displaying the photos of kidnapped faces.  It was pretty moving because there were so many faces, and they were exhibited beautifully; in one horizontal like across the middle of all the walls.  People always hear about the numbers and they may think the number is high, but to see each number as a photo of a kidnapped person, and each photo taking up space on the wall, it is a bit overwhelming but it is more effective than simply stating the number. 

Dr. Guinta showed drawings of the abducted people, some with the caption “Con Vida” meaning “with life.”  She also showed two photos of families in their houses in 1977.   The photographer went back in 2008 and had the families pose in the same spot that the earlier picture was taken.  In each picture there was one person missing who was a victim of the “disappearances.” She showed the photos together, which evoked sadness in the audience.  Dr. Guinta also had people sit on steps in the shape of two mapped out faces and took Arial photos.  These faces were faces of kidnapped victims.

Dr. Guinta's art and the work she showed from other artists are similar to my work in that it is focused on portraits.  However, much of the work she spoke of was photography related, whereas mine is not.  Her work is similar to a previous visiting artist Mirta Kupferminc, in that both artists focus on tragic events and their effects.

Plan

The plan for my piece is to try to incorporate some of Jenny Saville's painting style into my work.  I want to layer a lot of paint and make seemingly abstract marks come together to make something recognizable.  I'm painting the portraits of my two brothers and myself.  Saville has a piece in which she paints three bodies, yet they look attached.  Where one body stops, another starts.  I want to do this with the three faces, not separating them with space between the heads.  I like this idea and I've seen it before and I've always wanted to try something like it.

Art Event #1

On Thursday 10/28, visiting artist Mirta Kupferminc came and spoke about her life, her work, and how her past has influenced her life and art immensely.  Mirta's parents were Holocaust survivors, but she was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Her work encompasses themes of loss, absence, silence, and Jewish questions of heaven and hell, as well as life and death.  The title of her presentation was “The Skin: Space for Repression and Expression.”  Throughout the presentation, Mirta repeated to the audience that the most important thing that happened to her happened before she was born, referring to her parents’ struggle during the Holocaust.  The first piece she focused on was photography and was also the main composition in relation to the title.  There were two photographs.  In one, her mother was sitting in a chair, and her tattoo from the Holocaust with her numbers is visible.  In the other, and Argentinean musician named Christian is sitting in the same chair.  He has tattoos all over his body, Mirta points out, were his choice, and a form of art, unlike her mother’s tattoo.  She went on to tell us that during one of her exhibits, a man was hired to give henna tattoos, but anyone wearing red would have to get a number tattoo, meaning that they would have been victims of the Holocaust during the time.  Mirta wanted to evoke the same feelings in the people who came to her show that Holocaust victims probably felt, so that they could better understand and connect with her work.  Mirta made the chair that both Mirta’s mother and Christian were sitting in.  On the sides of the chair there were wooden wings.  The chair appears in some of her other works.  The last piece of work that Mirta talked about was a video.  The camera was situated underneath of a tightly pulled material that represented skin.  At first, needles were poking the “skin” and the poking gradually got harder.  Then, the needle would thread through the skin with red thread, which caused the audience to wince.  One question that an audience member asked was if Mirta situated the camera inside the skin because she felt the need to be protected and if the skin was possibly a representation of her parents’ pain and struggles.  She said that it was not, because she doesn’t feel the need to be protected, that because the Holocaust happened before her time, history is protecting her.

If Mirta’s parents were not victims of the Holocaust, her struggles in life would not have been as intense.  She didn’t simply make art about the Holocaust, but instead focused on other themes, such as skin, to convey her pain and other thoughts.  I don’t know of any other artists who have similar ideas that Mirta does.  At the end of her presentation Mirta said that she thinks everything in life has meaning.  I know she was talking about the events in life, but relating this to my art, I try to do everything with meaning, and give every stroke or line a purpose.  I do not like to be mindless in my work.

1st Half of Semester

I really enjoyed the first hald of this semester.  It got me thinking in ways I never had before, such as in the Scott McCloud reading.  I've always read comics and understood them, but I never noticed that they are a single image in time, yet time is passing with the words that are said.  When explained like that, comics really shouldn't make sense to us, yet they do.  Another class that got me thinking was when we watched Memento.  It was crazy to see the ways your mind can play tricks on you, and how Leonard's memory problem was manipulated by others to get him to do what they wanted.

I liked the reading with activities on right-brain/left-brain switch.  I've felt this happen to me, but I never knew what it was.  I'd just think that I'm "in the zone."  From now on though, I will focus on the techniques needed to make that switch when I'm doing art.  Some of the tips were to either go away from  people, or to zone out their conversations and listen to music.  I've always done the latter and it's done me well.  When I think about how I draw with the left brain, it's always bad.  I overthink and judge myself.  Sometimes it's hard to let your mind take over, but from now on I definitely will trust my right-brain to make me some good paintins.

three artists

Jenny Saville
http://www.gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville/

Saville was born in England in 1970. She has exhibited her work worldwide, and is well known in the US and in Europe.  She currently lies in Oxford, England.   

I want to study Saville because I really like her painting style.  I think her style is a more exaggerated version of mine. I like how her strokes are loose and abstract, yet how she still focuses on details such as eyes.  I want to incorporate some of her style into my upcoming piece, whatever I decide to paint.  I'm sure I will either be focusing on a portrait or on a figure, while emphasizing my brush strokes.

Simon Birch

http://www.alivenotdead.com/simonbirch

Birch was born in Brighton, England in 1969.  He is a self taught painter.  Birch has lived in Hong Kong since 1997, and is a well known DJ and graffitti artist (cooOOoolll!) I learned on this site http://www.hongkonghustle.com/art-design/483/simon-birch-painter-hong-kong-art-exhibit-out-of-darkness-louis-vuitton-gallery/#more-483 that Birch is a recent cancer survivor too! This dude is the man.

I really like Birch's use of drips, and I actually tend to incorporate them in my paintings. (Or tended. I haven't painted since high school...which was only like 5 months ago, but it feels like longer)  I like his use of color.  What I like is that we know that human skin isn't green or blue, and doesn't have flecks of red, but that doesn't matter because it's all about the value.  I want to do that in my painting, along with the drips.  I'm not that into painting realistically, and both of these styles are what I identify most with.

Kareena Zerefos

http://www.escapeintolife.com/artist-watch/kareena-zerefos/

Zerefos' work plays on whimsical fantasies of childhood and the make believe. She graduated from the College of Fine Arts, and she works in a variety of media.  She works on projects for music, fashion, and advertising along with her career in the fine arts.

I'm upset because I couldn't find a bunch of her pieces that I really loved.  They were a series of portraits of women, and their faces were  realistically drawn with pencil and their hair was ridiculously painted in watercolors with bright colors.  I really liked the contrast of realism and abstraction.  I don't know that I want to include this in my work, But I really liked her painting style, and I wanted to experiment with water colors in that way.  I also really like her use of watercolor in the first image I posted of Zerefos' work, and I tried to mimic that in my comic.  I don't feel that watercolors are my strong suit, but it was fun experimenting with them, and I always enjoy using them.  

10.5.10

In class on Tuesday we watched two videos that each had the same picture, but different music playing in the background.  We noticed how the variation in the music made us as viewers feel a certain way.  I liked the music in the first video best, because it was calming and easy listening, whereas in the second video the music was fast and made me feel stressed out or anxious.  I think it's so cool how music can alter one's mood subconsciensely.  Lost is one of my favorite shows and without the music my emotions wouldn't be as intense.  Same as in scary movies - music is a big part of what makes me feel scared, and when I hear that music without seeing the visual, I can still recognize it as scary music and actually still feel scared.  Anyway back to class, we also started collaging our nude drawings.  I'm pretty happy with mine so far, and I'm excited for the finished product.

The Scott McCloud reading was really cool.  One of my roommates actually owns the book, so I flipped through more of the book.  It's basically just a really long insight on comics.  I think it's awesome that we understand the way comics work, yet don't realize the thought that goes into them, and what is implied, such as the idea that time is passing while characters speak, even though they are frozen in one frame.  Unless, that is, "motion" is drawn.  After reading this I realized I knew that, but never recognized it.

On pg. 97, I thought McCloud's comic where he broke up the same panel (so it would operate as several panels) ruined the visual because it cuts off information such as the bored look on the little boy's face.  I want to know if that should still be done to a comic if it cuts off important information like the boy's expression.  On pg. 102, I was confused by the question, "Ever noticed how the words "short" or "long" can refer either to the first dimension or the fourth?" I never knew there was a fourth dimension, so I looked it up and it is said to be hypothetical.  Here is a good visual that will describe it better than my words can.

I'm just confused because I don't know how the words "short" and "long" refer to any dimensions at all? I think Scott didn't explain this well, but if anyone understands, plz let me know. :)

For one of my research questions, I wanted to know why music can make you feel a certain way.  Music eliminates "excercise-induced fatigue"and upbeat music can help one to find extra energy.  Music that is not harsh will calm someone and not distract them.  Any sound can be made.  Different notes evoke different emotions as well as different beats.  Faster beats will make your heart beat faster, and that is why athletes like to get pumped up with fast paced music that has a strong beat.  Music can be made to control one's feelings using the tone, pitch, and loudness.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_dimension

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-fourth-dimension.htm

http://www.emedexpert.com/tips/music.shtml

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/timbre.html

9.28.10

Tuesday in class we had a life drawing session with a nude model.  I have done this in the past, and I enjoy it, but I was a little frustrated this time because I felt that all the model's poses were way too similar.  I would have liked for her to sit down or do something different with her arms.  I was also frustrated with using the viewfinder to draw.  I like to have free flowing strokes and the viewfinder kinda cramped my style.  It took me a few drawings to have get back to a free flowing style, but once I did, and started letting my arms and eyes do the work and not my brain, my drawings were better.  This is another example of the left-brain to right-brain switch. I also would have liked to do a long pose, maybe 30 minutes or so.  I definitely want to take advantage of some of the Thursday night drawing sessions, and I'd like to use paint sometime for figures too.

The reading from Tuesday was about how people see things.  It's kind of obvious once you read about it, but the excerpt noted that "The camera isolated momentary appearances and in so doing destroyed the idea that images were timeless."  This gives the idea that images before the camera could only be captured by an artist, which will be biased and personal because it's from the artist's perspective.  One might enjoy the image, but it wouldn't be exactly how they would see the view if they were sitting where the artist was.  Photography is universal. Anyone can look at a photo and it will be as if the viewer is standing where the photographer was, because the image is realistic. 


Thursday in class we were in the mac lab.  We started off with a slideshow in which we saw art and tried to describe what we saw.  One image I thought was mind boggling was a landscape by Van Gogh.  I thought it didn't contain much meaning until Professor Friebele put up the caption, "This is Van Gogh's last painting before he committed suicide."  After that the painting looked ominous and I saw much more meaning in the dark color palette and in the crows.  We then split up in groups to talk about the reading.  My group with Amy and Ashok focused on the quote, "When in love, the sight of the beloved has a completeness which no works and no embrace can match: a completeness which only the act of making lobe can temporarily accommodate." (Page 8) We disagreed with the part that said "no words" can be used.  We understand that no words can make someone feel exactly the way you do, but words can and are used to help explain your feelings.  People say that no words can describe love, but that's not true. People describe love all the time, and you won't understand if you've never been in love, but those who have will identify with those words and their personal feeling of love will come to them.  After that, we listened to (mostly) wordless music and drew on really cool touch-pads? I forget what they're called. But we drew what came to us when hearing the music.  I felt that mine got better with each song.


I've decided to do a little research on those who are color blind.  I feel a little bad for them because in art,  color has meaning, so color-blind people would get from a painting a message that the artist didn't intend.  

<<< How scary is this???

Being color blind isn't usually that big of a deal, but there are cases that have been fatal.  The gene that is defected is for "L-ospin, the protein in the retinal receptors that responds to long wave-lengths of light."  I learned that the retina is made up of rods and cones. Rods give us night vision but don't have anything to do with color.  Cones aren't that helpful at night, but they help us see color.  Cones are sensitive to different pigments, and if the gene coding for the cones are wrong, the person will see the wrong color.  Color blindness is something one is born with, and it cannot be corrected, although today there are tinted lenses which can mildly help those who are colorblind.

http://neuro.amygdala.net/2009/10/14/a-cure-for-colour-blindness-in-monkeys-now-they-can-drive/

http://colorvisiontesting.com/color2.htm

http://colorvisiontesting.com/color7.htm#most%20common%20question

9.14.10

 Video

In Memento by Christopher Nolan, the main character Leonard survived an accident that severely impaired his memory. He has short-term memory loss, and every time he falls asleep he has to relearn what he knows. The last this he remembers is his wife dying. He has tattooed himself with phrases such as “John G. raped and murdered my wife,” and “Find him and kill him.”  Leonard’s concept of time is different from everyone else’s because he doesn’t know that time has even passed when he first wakes up.  Every time he awakens he has to relearn what his motive is, which is to find and kill John G. One quote that I thought was thought provoking was when Leonard said, “How can I heal without time?” Leonard has no sense of time passing even though it has, and he has to realize everyday that his wife is gone. This movie reminds me of 50 First Dates in that Lucy suffered an accident and is now experiencing short-term memory loss.  She, too, must relearn everything about her life that has changed since the accident.  In Memento, Leonard talks about a man named Sammy who had short-term memory loss so bad that he would forget things within 15 minutes.  This reminded me of a story that my mom used to tell me about her grandmother.  I was a toddler and my mom and I were visiting Grandma Sabatini at the nursing home.  Grandma Sabatini asked my mom if she was working, and when she said yes, grandma asked what my mom does with me during the day.  My mom told her that she takes me to daycare.  Grandma said, ”Huh…Do you work?” and it went on like this for about 20 minutes.  I find it weird that old people’s memories can be as bad as people who have suffered an accident.  It would be so frustrating to have to start over every time you fall asleep, and especially every 15 minutes. 

Reading

In the second chapter of “What is Time?” by J.G. Whitrow, we learned about different philosophers’ theories of time. The French psychologist Guyau argued that time is not a, “prior condition, but a consequence.” (Page 16) If this were true, then time would not be something affiliated with the present, but instead is something that happens because we do things. I disagreed with this theory when I first read it.  Time goes on if we do nothing, of course, but I then thought that maybe time going on is a consequence for doing nothing.  A man named Herbert Spencer

Questions

On page 18 in the excerpt from Robert Hooke, he capitalized words such as quantity, organ, and memory.  I would like to know the significance in capitalizing the words.

At the bottom of page 18, Hooke also argues that we “can no more remember without the organ of memory than see without the organ of sight." I’m wondering if Hooke means that memory and sight are actual organs, because they aren’t body parts. If so, I don’t agree that they are organs but I’m wondering what memory is if it’s not an organ in the brain? Would one identify memory as simply a place in the brain or is it something different to everyone? I can point to your head and say, “This is where my memory is.” But I first mean my brain, and within my brain lies my memory. Is that actually where our memories are?

Research

I’d like to know more about what makes people’s first memories so significant that it is what they first remember.  People’s earliest memories normally happen before they start to consistently remember, which for most is at the age of five.  It is not known whether first memories correlate with one’s reminiscence function or defensive style.  Studies have shown that older people’s recollections of their early memories are happier, and are used to decrease boredom, maintain intimacy, and even prepare for death.  So, one’s first memory may not be significant because of the memory itself, but because it is needed as a defense mechanism in the brain against the negative thoughts one acquires as they age.

http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=paq.025.0228a - excerpt from textbook

http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/content/37/5/581.full.pdf - study on memories

see my comment on Amy's blog to understand these pictures.

9.07.10

During class last Thursday, we watched the music video for Sugar Water by Cibo Matto.  Throughout the video there were two frames side by side. The left frame constantly moved forward in time, and the right frame constantly moved backwards in time.  In class we discussed the timelines of each frame and found that the woman in each crossed paths with each other, and in that moment the women switched frames, so the one who was moving forward in time was now moving backwards, etc.  After analyzing the video, I found that the most interesting trick that the director threw in was a black cat that looked like it jumped in one frame and out the other, but it would be impossible since one of the frames is going backwards in time.  After watching it in slow motion, we found that the cat actually was moving backwards in one frame and forward in the other.  However, it was one swift motion and this visual trick got us thinking about the possible ways that the director could have made the cat jump forward when the woman was going back in time, without any film tricks.

In What is Time? by J.G.W., I found that throughout the text, the word “cyclic” was used to describe time when it was first discovered.  The Mayas viewed time as days, months, and years all moving in a circle as “relay teams marching through eternity.” (Pg. 2)  I found it interesting that only humans show that they are able to perceive time in the past, present, and future.  Animals such as dogs and chimpanzees are fully aware of the present, as they act on instinct, and are aware of the past because they know who their family is, and in a domestic environment dogs know who their owners are.

I would like to know how the first person or group to discover time actually did it.  I understand that shadows can be used to tell what time of the day it is, but I’d like to know how someone found out that there are 24 hours in a day, and 365 days in a year, etc.

It is interesting to note that the Gregorian year is too long by 3 days in a span of ten thousand years, and the Mayan year was 2 days too short in a span of ten thousand years.  I think it’s crazy that these civilizations were so close to being correct without any modern tools to help them.  It also makes me wonder what happens when you get to those 3 extra days.  Do they not count?  If that happened now would it be a sort of holiday?  Would people get school and work off because those days can’t be included in the calendar?

<<<>>> 

Think think think think think.  The word is losing it’s meaning.

Professor Friebele asked us to think about how we think, whether it’s in words or images or blurs.  When I tried to think about how I think, I didn’t think like I normally would.  I tried to make my thoughts appear really interesting to myself, if that makes sense.  So I stopped thinking about thinking, until a thought caught my attention.  (It’s as if my thoughts are different from me.) I was biking up that really big hill outside of Monty, and I made it up that first hill by the bell.  Then I got to the second hill and really had to force my legs to keep going or else I’d end up going backwards.  Well I made it up the hill and my brain thinks, “YEAH ME!”  That was a natural, unforced thought, and made me realize that sometimes I think in words.  I do think in images, when I think of a place.  And when I think of people, and even my dog, I think in feelings, the feeling that the person (or fat black lab) gives me.  My thoughts mostly rush past without me even noticing.  I know I am what my thoughts and actions are, but after analyzing my thoughts, and noticing that they go on without me consciously knowing it, I realized that makes me feel like there is a little “me” inside my head, and the big me (the one that does the actions) only feels like we’re connected when we (I?) have conscious thoughts like “YEAH ME!”

I am one person, but I am separated by my unconscious thoughts and actions and by my conscious thoughts and actions.