1) Medium-Photo Series
My family is very sentimental and loves to look at old photographs. My thought was to take old photographs and recreate them now. I would include the same people, try to make the outfits/environment as similar as possible. It would show how much things change over time. it depicts moments captured in history and how people grow. For example, one of my favorite childhood photographs is one of my sister and I dressed up as the stereotypical witch for Halloween. Back then, the situation was fun, exciting, innocent. Halloween and witches meant nothing to me, really. Just a fun holiday and getting to dress up was enough for me. However, in the photo, we are contributing to a culture that consistently portrays Witchcraft in a totally incorrect light. Since then, I've researched and read a lot and I now actually am a Witch. Although I don't get upset or offended with witch costumes or the way Halloween has become so commercialized, I still am adamant about dispelling the negative stereotypes surrounding Wicca and educating people about the religion. So I can show how the old photo and the new one relate to each other, how those moments in time are similar and how they are different. Halloween has become accepted, adored, and commercialized while witches face oppression. (So witches are satanic and evil and green and ugly and eat babies, lets discriminate against them and strip them of their basic human rights and privileges, but lets misappropriate, lets keep their most sacred holiday for ourselves so we can have fun.) In the past, I took part in this and now I aim to change it.
2) Medium-Film; "The Shining" Concept
The film The Shining by Stanley Kubrick is one of my all time favorites. I recently watched the documentary"Room 237", revealing all kinds of crazy symbolism and hidden messages in the movie. (Highly recommend if anyone is a Kubrick fan.) One thing incredibly interesting that I learned was that the Shining can be played forwards and backwards simultaneously and the scenes will match up and relate to each other in some way. They could contain metaphors, foreshadowing, etc. I thought I could try to use this theme in my project-film some kind of story in sequential order, and then use some overlay effect to play the film backwards at the same time so that the scenes match up and relate to each other. I'm still not completely sure what the subject matter would be or what kind of story I would tell, but I will mull over it some more.
3) Medium- print installation
After working in the print making studio, I noticed that after I had been reworking the same stamp over and over, the print gradually started to fade, blur, lose quality. This gave me an idea to make a single print of an object or figure of some kind and then repeat the images closely together so that the resulting effect would be that the object or figure is moving. Not only would the piece capture a moment in time; it also addresses time progression and how things/memories/events/scars/pain/happy times fade or deteriorate over time.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Friday, February 7, 2014
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/do-ho-suh
Do-Ho Suh is a sculptor from Korea who focuses largely on telling his stories and life experiences through his artwork. A lot of his work is nostalgic of his life in Korea and he focuses a lot on human interactions with each other and with public space. I really enjoyed his pieces that emulated the architecture of his past homes. I thought that was so genius-a foldable, portable piece of fabric that replicates a place that is near and dear to you. I love discovering new places, but I also get incredibly homesick and a piece like this would serve me well. It gives a sense of security, safety and comfort. It's like going back in time and savoring moments you've enjoyed in the past. I also really enjoyed his work that included multiple replications of a single object-the school uniform, the dog tags, the miniature people. He really explores/challenges identity, originality, uniqueness. I also think a lot about the average every-day person; how many of us there are, how we interact with each other without a second thought. It's really kind of eerie when you actually consider how many people are out there, how different/alike we are, and all of the stories that every single person carries with them.
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/kara-walker
Kara Walker is an artist from California who creates silhouette works depicting themes of racism, slavery, drama, the shocking/unexpected, etc. I personally was blown away with her work. Not only is it incredibly beautiful and whimsical and mysterious and ominous, it also makes the viewer reflect on the glaring issues this country tends to ignore. I resonate a lot with her work. The subject matter of my artwork is also very twisted and theatrical, I like to tell stories with my art. I also explore themes of sexism, racism, homophobia and try to use my art to make people more aware of the systems our country has built itself upon. My favorite piece of Kara's was the one of her depicting a slave revolt; the slaves are disemboweling their master with a ladle, it is very graphic and the silhouettes intensify the sinister ambiance. I thought it was very clever to have the projector light, causing the viewer's shadow to be cast onto the work itself. It forces the viewer to be a part of the work. I think it is really symbolic as well. These viewers are also members of the country that builds itself on the systematic destruction of people of color, especially women of color. The viewers are forced to see that they are in actuality a huge part of this story, are responsible and are at fault.
Do-Ho Suh is a sculptor from Korea who focuses largely on telling his stories and life experiences through his artwork. A lot of his work is nostalgic of his life in Korea and he focuses a lot on human interactions with each other and with public space. I really enjoyed his pieces that emulated the architecture of his past homes. I thought that was so genius-a foldable, portable piece of fabric that replicates a place that is near and dear to you. I love discovering new places, but I also get incredibly homesick and a piece like this would serve me well. It gives a sense of security, safety and comfort. It's like going back in time and savoring moments you've enjoyed in the past. I also really enjoyed his work that included multiple replications of a single object-the school uniform, the dog tags, the miniature people. He really explores/challenges identity, originality, uniqueness. I also think a lot about the average every-day person; how many of us there are, how we interact with each other without a second thought. It's really kind of eerie when you actually consider how many people are out there, how different/alike we are, and all of the stories that every single person carries with them.
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/kara-walker
Kara Walker is an artist from California who creates silhouette works depicting themes of racism, slavery, drama, the shocking/unexpected, etc. I personally was blown away with her work. Not only is it incredibly beautiful and whimsical and mysterious and ominous, it also makes the viewer reflect on the glaring issues this country tends to ignore. I resonate a lot with her work. The subject matter of my artwork is also very twisted and theatrical, I like to tell stories with my art. I also explore themes of sexism, racism, homophobia and try to use my art to make people more aware of the systems our country has built itself upon. My favorite piece of Kara's was the one of her depicting a slave revolt; the slaves are disemboweling their master with a ladle, it is very graphic and the silhouettes intensify the sinister ambiance. I thought it was very clever to have the projector light, causing the viewer's shadow to be cast onto the work itself. It forces the viewer to be a part of the work. I think it is really symbolic as well. These viewers are also members of the country that builds itself on the systematic destruction of people of color, especially women of color. The viewers are forced to see that they are in actuality a huge part of this story, are responsible and are at fault.
Monday, January 20, 2014
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/jessica-stockholder
Jessica Stockholder is an artist from Seattle, who works a lot with installation art. I really enjoyed her pieces and I loved seeing a little bit of the process of paper making. Like Jessica, I also like to work on my art alone. I thought it was really interesting how she makes these grand, beautiful installations using very cheap, very boring materials--materials not many people would consider using as parts of a sculpture. Not only is she recycling and putting waste to good use, but she's using it to make meaningful art that has a profound effect on others. Like she mentioned, her work is very playful in the sense that she doesn't really know what the end result will be. Her work is similar to Herrero's in that case, because there is also some risk, unexpectedness with his work as well (film in water technique).
Jessica Stockholder is an artist from Seattle, who works a lot with installation art. I really enjoyed her pieces and I loved seeing a little bit of the process of paper making. Like Jessica, I also like to work on my art alone. I thought it was really interesting how she makes these grand, beautiful installations using very cheap, very boring materials--materials not many people would consider using as parts of a sculpture. Not only is she recycling and putting waste to good use, but she's using it to make meaningful art that has a profound effect on others. Like she mentioned, her work is very playful in the sense that she doesn't really know what the end result will be. Her work is similar to Herrero's in that case, because there is also some risk, unexpectedness with his work as well (film in water technique).
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/arturo-herrera
Arturo Herrera is an artist from Venezuela who focuses largely on collage, photography and wall paintings. When watching this clip, I was extremely inspired by his technique of letting his film sit in water or coffee to give it this really cool, spontaneous effect. It reminded me a lot of the Ancient Chinese porcelain-crackling effect. I definitely want to try it out myself. I also really resonated with his pieces that incorporated images from childhood popular culture, like Dopey (Snow White was my absolute favorite film as a kid--I watched it about 5 times a day, not exaggerating), which I think was the point--to connect with people using symbols like that. I thought he made a really beautiful point about his abstracted art--how he takes images that are blatantly representing something, and then combines unrecognizable pieces of those images in a collage. It's really mysterious/secretive almost, making subtle references to many different things, which I really liked a lot.
Arturo Herrera is an artist from Venezuela who focuses largely on collage, photography and wall paintings. When watching this clip, I was extremely inspired by his technique of letting his film sit in water or coffee to give it this really cool, spontaneous effect. It reminded me a lot of the Ancient Chinese porcelain-crackling effect. I definitely want to try it out myself. I also really resonated with his pieces that incorporated images from childhood popular culture, like Dopey (Snow White was my absolute favorite film as a kid--I watched it about 5 times a day, not exaggerating), which I think was the point--to connect with people using symbols like that. I thought he made a really beautiful point about his abstracted art--how he takes images that are blatantly representing something, and then combines unrecognizable pieces of those images in a collage. It's really mysterious/secretive almost, making subtle references to many different things, which I really liked a lot.
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