Susan Sontag Q and A

1. I took this image of a friend of mine as I was teaching her how to breath fire for the first time. The image is a documentation of an invent and an achievement of an individual. The goal here is to preserve a memory.

2. The obvious answer here is that the relationship is one of friendship, but the emotions at the moment the image was shot lean more on the side of pride. A desire to show off what a friend can do and what I had taught her. The lack of flash leaves the subject to be eliminated by the warm glow of the fire casting her in an almost heroic light.

3. The image is a snap shot, a moment in time and as such is meant to be seen in the same light. It can be viewed by anyone and they would see the meaning behind it or by those who were there and who would attach a memory to the picture. Either way it is intended to be viewed fairly quickly.

1. This image was taken of a friend/coworker of mine and myself by an ex-girlfriend of mine, who was also an art major, on our last day in Columbus Ohio while I was touring. Our employes had taken us out to a local bar to say goodby. Here to there is an element of documentation but one holding a deeper personal meaning than the first image. The goal in this shot is to somehow hold on to a moment and a person the photographer is losing.

2. This image was shot during a time of happiness which concealed sadness. The image reflex these conflicting emotions. The colors are bright and vibrant which normally suggests happiness but they are also glaring and harsh. The woman in the background looks on with a sense of familiarity but also distance like she has been through the routine of making friends only to hold them at arms length knowing she will soon be leaving them. The man in the foreground is the main subject taking up a third of the image, yet the image was taken at a time when his back is turned from her and face is concealed, showing distance and separation.

3. This image hold emotion and as such one must take more time to examine what those emotions are. Its interned viewer are the subject and the photographer.  

1. This is not your stereotypical war documentary photo. While most war documentary shots focus on the horrors of war here we see a human side which is normally overlooked. By focusing so closely on a soldiers face while he is crying the photographer forces the viewer to sympathize and empathize with the soldier. The objective of this photo is to show soldiers as people too, ones who are every bit as affected by the horrors of war as civilians.

2. Cynicism aside, it would be easy to say that the photographer felt a strong sense of sympathy and sorrow for the soldier. One might also read an urge to protect the soldier, perhaps this is why to image is cropped so tightly on the face in order to shield him from any bad connotation that many have with the sight of weapons or of military uniforms. By doing this he, once again, simply becomes a person.

3. An image as simple as this can easily be glanced over in passing but the intent behind it is that the viewer take the time to let the meaning soak in. for an image such as this to be effective it must be seen by as many people as possible.

inflatable

A brief overview

The concept: (provided by one mister Mark McMurray) was simple enough. A large inflatable room in which movies would be shown via a portable projection unit. In other words a blow up movie theater.

The plans: a large inner skeleton made up of connected air bladder being filled via one large air pump.

Materials: 2,000 square feet of black plastic, two irons, one projection unit, one large work fan one white tarp and other odds and ends.

We chipped in to buy the plastic and drop cloth, mark provided the irons and projector along with the sound system, and I provided the air pump, work fan and laptop. (because Mark crashed his the night before haha) Alina did the lions share of the math, thank God. And we all took turns welding the plastic together using the irons on a piece of aluminum foil over the plastic. (thanks Bill and Kathy for showing us that trick that might have taken some time to figure out) We started it all off by welding the tubes together that would make up the inner skeleton of the structure testing each ones strength as we went. Once completed we, in this case Mark and Juston, glued and ducktaped the tubes together. They found out the the glue was easier to apply and with the tape just as strong as the welds. Next we skinned the structure. This consisted of measuring and cutting sheets of plastic and gluing them onto the inflated skeleton, a lot easier said than done this took all Sunday and most of the night. The whole thing worked great once we patched large holes the structure was ridged and self supporting. That is until we took it outside. Once in the wind, as we feared, the thin plastic was no match for even a slight gusts of wind and would fold to the ground. We figured out the solution to this issue would be could solve to problems. If we were to cut a hole into the side of the building and attach a large powerful fan via a plastic shroud to the structure this would give inner support to the building while circulating air in the otherwise hot and stagnant structure.

The Big Day: windy, cold in the shade and hot in the sun, at least for a large black building. We picked out a spot on the grass where sitting would not be an issue and erected our building. It went up fine and seemed to be working until the wind blew. Even with a combination of supporting air systems the plastic still lacked the structural integrity needed to be free standing in wind. So like good little boy scouts we tied thin, light rope to the four corners and stacked the structure down. Next we staked the building itself down using tent spikes. This gave resistance to the structure during wind and virtually eliminated collapsing.

All in all the ideas used to construct the building and the techniques applied were successful, (this is the part I cared most about) and the crowd had a mixer of responses ranging from mild interest to simple indirection. But no one thought it was stupid or hated it, still most people were put off by the stupid street preaching anti-Christ so what can you say?

Contemporary photo based art

straight: the oldest of old school. Straight photography is what it sounds like just plain photo shots of objects and people. Sounds simple. Its not. When you take away all the toys and trick, you remove all the cliches satire and you are left with composition, light, darkness, movement, line, form and beauty. This in my opinion is where photography truly becomes art or, more often then not, trash. With the right camera at the right place with the right eye and artist can take an image that will become synonymous with that place or time etc. but, if even one of those elements is not perfect and you are left with mundane rubbish.

Steeling: something that has been at the core of photography since its inception. Even at the beginning photographers stole ideas and inspiration from the paintings of grate masters this may very well be to blame for the hesitance of traditional artists to except photography as an art. In later years photographers now look to steel ideas, images, personalities and icons in an attempt to create new worlds or simply make a name for themselves out of shocking the art word.

constrictive world: when thinking bout this idea with a modern knowledge of art and the tools available ones mind instantly goes to photoshop and the infinite possibilities it offers. However, this is just as old as any concept in photography, artist have been arranging models in elaborate sets for well over a hundred years in order to create and recreate works of art like those of the old masters.

stranger than fiction: sometimes the world is enough. We have all seen things that we didn't think possible, things that could not and can not be explained. I'm sure its not a stretch to say that we have all seen things which people have created that seem impossible, a shark forever entombed in a museum, or people walking from building to building on wires no bigger than your finger. These things seem fictional and if captured by any medium other than photography they would lose all creditability whatsoever. However, despite the illusions we can create through the use of photoshop and other tools people still tend to believe a photo long before they would a painting or other work. Making it the perfect medium to capture such images.

personal narrative: the truth that photography can offer though the use of straight photography make it ideal for personal narratives. If you were to take a camera with you everywhere you go for one year and take a photo of those places you see the people you meet and yourself doing the things you do everyday, anyone could have a wonderful clear idea or who you are as a person. Assuming you were honest with what you took pictures of. For this purpose the photo is better than almost all and at least par with videography .   

Mark making Mini poster crit

I am afraid I have misplaced or deleted the images that go along with mini poster crit but I still have the notes so here's what I have (not direct quotes). Bad news first, as always

Bad (regarding an overview of all the mini posters): There seems to be a narrow range in type of mark, mainly seeming to do with drips or splatters etc. The words in some of the works seem “Bla” and don't become marks themselves.

Bad (regarding the final poster): {I don't know if this is a bad thing} this piece is much better turned to portrait rather than landscape like you had it.

Good (regarding an overview of all mini posters): The marks hold a lot of emotion, they are strong and masculine, closure is very strong ie it is easy to imagine these as violent or scary especially with the phrase. The words have good spacing, the meaning is clear and makes the marks look like monsters or blood.

Good (regarding the final poster): the words in the final work are easy to read and the one sideways word captures interest, the mark seems like blood and the phrase helps that.

My crit.

Bad: Some of the works seemed like cartoon villeins even though they were ink blots so maybe that's just me. I had a hard time not getting the feeling that the pieces seemed cliche.

Good: The final piece needed the most interpretation and I believe that help to make is less cliches. The placement of the words were similar to that of Da-Da art something I always like. Da-Da also worked in nonsense and chaos much like the way the marks were made in the first place so I felt this fitting.  


I found the pictures:

bugs

motion

balance

rhythm/relation

space

texture

color

shape

line

whole object

abstraction

scale

positive space

negative space

closure

light/dark

MFAH Museum questions

1. What was the most enjoyable thing you saw?

• I really enjoyed the Spanish Contemporary exhibit, this was the first time I had seen it.

2. What was the most disturbing thing you saw?

• I don't think I would classify anything there as Disturbing.

3. What piece in the museum is most like something you would make yourself?

• I don't know an exact piece but if I had the abilities I would sculpt marble in the Greek classical style. However, as I stand with my abilities now I would and do similar work as those found in the Spanish Contemporary works.

4. What made you curious, what did you want to know more about?

• Once again it would have to be the contemporary exhibit simply because I am well acquainted with this museum and its permanent collection.

Self portrait crit

So got a big reaction I'm always for that. People seemed to like the piece and touching it proved to be to much of a temptation for many people but that was fine me for this work and nothing got out so no harm done. Ok, the crit.

Good: The bees; they brought movement, color and tension to the piece. The bowl: was clean lined and simplistic. The Bible: brought a whole other element to the piece and let if up to interpretation, using a large old Bible made it more affective as a statement.

Bad: um... they seemed to like it

Interpretation: 1. The Bible was protecting everyone from the danger. 2. The Bible was an ideal that no one reach. 3. The Bible was killing us, thus we were the bees. 4. The Bible was heaven the bees were hell.

self crit

I wish I could have had more bees but I was happy the piece worked at all so I’m not complaining.

The first interpretation was right, and proved that my meaning came through however I felt the viewers were led away from my meaning in an attempt to vary the interpretations.   

Thanks to Mark and Juston for helping me catch the bees and Tam for the pics and the rest of T5 yall always rock and you know who you are 

Thats pretty good, for a girl: lecture of feminism, fem-nazis and being cunt-positive

Thats pretty good, for a girl: lecture of feminism, fem-nazis and being cunt-positive

Feminism is often thought of as a product of the 60s but this is by no means true. However, in the art world this is when things really took to flight. Before the 60s and the out and out woman’s lib movement the art world was highly resistant and restrictive towards the fairer sex. For centuries women were limited to “woman's work” visa vie tapestries, ceramics and so forth. Mediums such as painting, drawing, photography and sculpture were mostly restricted to men, at least in schools and art guilds. During the late 50s and 60s feminist artists had taken a notable place in all the fields of art world though this was seldom recognized. However, women artist still had and have a tendency to restrict themselves in their choice of mediums. To this day women tend to favor interactive arts such as performance art or interactive installation pieces. Psychologists would say that this is due to woman's natural ability and desire to express and share emotions. This is by no means a hindrance; more it is simply a different point of view giving an insight to women which is often out of the reach of the average male artist. People segregate and restrict one another this is a unpleasant reality of the world we live in but the average person, artist, student etc would be hard pressed to distinguish male from female art without a knowledge of the artist in question. Basically you girls are just as good as us boy yall are just different. The end

notes from the board

1 essentials: the persona, body, sexuality, vaginal icon, affirmative attributes

2 materials/techniques unique to women 

3. distinguish art of men and women

Pretty good for a girl

I chose to work with metaphoric representations of the human form similar to O’Keefe but in a style more like that of Weston. The images were shot using straight photography in direct sunlight and were not touched up, or altered. The meaning behind the use of candy and the positioning of the candy were thought out and can be explained if asked for, but until then I will leave it up for interpretation. 

hey we did this too

mark making

Kulers

Mood

Temperature

Season

Gender

Profession

mark making vide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W_OYSM7plA

DADA

Lecture last week was over DADA, a movement in art in which I truly am a fan.  Dada changed the world, it is what made art what it is today.  This is the movement which made people start to appreciate that arts place in the world as more than just a pretty picture and understand that it is and should be at the forefront of the world’s most important issues.  Dada changed everything, personally I believe that the praise so often given to the impressionist, cubist etc would be far more deservingly given to the dadist. The other movements are always given credit for asking “what is art” but what did they do really?  The movements before Dada and many after focuses on style and that is the bottom line.  Dada changed that, Dada focused on ideas.  They truly asked what art is, these are the people who created new types of art not just style in which to create it.  Collage, abstract typography, assemblage and video art just to name a few.  This is the forgotten movement and this is more than just a shame.  The reason it is so little known is due to how wide spread it is.  It is the only movement of the early 20^th century which truly continued till today. You cannot read a paper, a billboard or sign without seeing it.  You cannot watch a movie without it being referenced, or go to an art class without aspects of Dada being taught and generally unacknowledged.  Dada is the reason art is all around us, the reason we speak and joke and mock and appreciate art and culture the way we do.  And it all started by some, mostly forgotten, definitely underappreciated German expatriates in Sweden during WWI.

Crit on 3D project 2

In all I think it went well, most people liked it. 

Good points: the craftsmanship was meticulous and orderly, good use of lighting, good choice of display location (other than the small size), form was left up to viewers interpretation, shadows worked well, material became hard to recognize due to way it was used (I think that’s a good thing), nails made a nice border

Bad points: nails were longer than I thought they were so the backer board was punctured and splintered (my crit of the piece), the board looked like a chunk of plywood, the nails took away from the piece (this point came up on both side)

Suggestions made: nail the paper directly to the wall (I hadn’t thought of it and when that was suggested I couldn’t believe I hadn’t, but it would have been an installation piece then and I kind of want it back at some point)

Personal crit: the wood was left unpainted and unstained to show the natural aspect of the paper, the striped layers of the hardwood plys were intended to echo the layers of the paper.  However, as I feared, the board was not noticeable enough to draw attention to the aspects that I intended thus the point of the backer plat was lost all together.  The nails I choose were at first simply place holders to keep the paper aliened but when I say the contrast of industrial and natural along with the complementary nature of the colors and conflicting forms of hard round heads with diamond print with soft lines of the paper I decided to use them to mount the piece.  Again, it would seem the main focal point of the piece overpowered the meaning of the smaller elements.  Also, the nails were too long; this was due to a measuring mistake where in I did not calculate the compression of the paper.

Oct 8 Lecture

Human form. 

The human form has long been a popular choice of subject matter for artists, but in the last hundred and fifty years the way artist approach the human form has changed dramatically.  No longer bound to traditional academics, artist around the turn of the century began representing people in a whole new way.  Instead of the idealized forms of classic Greek the new art styles tried to show people how they truly were.  Now this is not completely new, works such as Da Vinci’s Grotesque series did much the same thing.  The difference came in how the subject was represented. Thanks to new art movements such as impressionism artist now painted people in ways that conveyed not only how the person looked but how they felt.  With bold uses of color and gnarled ragged line work artist could show dispositions, pain, heartache and despair. 

The choice of what to depict also changed.  Artist no longer limited themselves to the reclining beauty, they were now free to draw or paint whoever they wanted.  This opened a door for such things as the woman’s rights movement who began showing women in new lights.  By doing so this forced society to reevaluate the way they viewed certain groups of people.

With so many doors open to the modern artist a layman might think that the artist of today have it easy.  Here they would be wrong.  With so many outlets explored the budding artists of today find themselves in dire straits.  Within all the movements there are genres and subgenres, there are styles and categories never thought of in generations past, there are crossover styles and mediums the question that is posed to artists of today is not what can I do but how best to do it while maintaining that since of me?  There are new restrictions in a PC world that were unknown to the artists of the past putting new strains and social boundaries whom most dear not pass.  We speak of freedoms allotted to artist of today by those who suffered before but once more we find ourselves in much the same situation.  Once more oppressed by governing bodies, once more confined by style and movements, where do we go from here?  The simple and superficial answer is wherever we want; the deeper and more ominous one is nowhere.

How did I get to this subject from the one of human form?  Simple, take possible the first and defiantly most represented subject matter in art and study it; when you have done so you will have a core sample of art throughout time, with all of its movements, styles, mediums and indeed restrictions and breakthroughs.  When you have done so you will see that a pattern emerges.  It starts with freedom, at first there were no rules.  Then restrictions, limitations by mediums or lack thereof.  Then freedom once more, through new mediums such as marble and pigments.  New restrictions, by knowledge of point of view, the human makeup and other sciences.  Freedom through knowledge, restrictions by the church/by academics.  Freedom from the church, restriction by governments.   Freedom from governments, restrictions by social standards/explosion of styles and movements/development of technology and questions about what is art and if it even still exists.  When all is said and done we find ourselves in much the same place those artists of the 1880 did.  Restricted from all corners, with no real answers of where to go and the future of art and even its very existence in the balance.

This may seem off subject but it was the train of thought that I had during class yesterday.

Artists and works

Post Minimalism

Vito Acconci

Blinks 1969: With repetition and similarity this work is well placed on the side of harmony.

Trademark: Hard to define as it is a still from a live performance but taken as a photo the piece works well.  The similarity of line and value of the human form makes the work quit harmonious while maintaining tension from the abrupt intersection of line.

Post Minimalism

Sol Lewitt

Triangle, .1980: This work is beyond harmonious and sits well in the realm of patterning, yet the placement of the triangle and the direction of line creates a tension in the work in an attempt to not seem boring.  Still like most works where pattern is used the attempts failed.

Color Arcs in Four Directions, .1999: Here patterning takes an even more prominent role, yet once again the piece lacks depth and interest is short lived.

Minimalism

Barnett Newman

Adam 1951: While asymmetrical this work is still balanced due to its use of line and repetition of color.  A good example of how asymmetry does not always mean chaos. 

The World II 1954: Here too the work is asymmetrical yet the balance in not quite as good thus placing it farther towards chaos, but only slightly.

Abstract Expressionism

Mark Rothko          

White cloud Over Purple 1957: This work is symmetrical yet its use of clashing color creates a tension so strong that one wants to place it in the chaotic realm.

Number 10 1950: With more complementary colors along with the repetition of line and form this work work is easily defined as harmonious.

Abstract Expressionism

Louise Nevelson

Dream House 1972: Dream House has a strong use of patterning, yet the nature of the piece and the gapping of the pattern place it somewhere between pattern and harmony saving it from the monotony that comes from repeated use of the exact element. 

Royal Tide 1960: Not quite a pattern but more of a patterned feel makes up Royal Tide.  The repetition of boxes filled with similar items gives the elution of pattern while maintaining interest and identity.  Thus this piece fits well into harmony.

Today

Christina Empedocles

Mirrored Birds 2010: Empedocles’ work, in this series, lean heavily on repetition to the point of patterning.  Detail and placement is this pieces salvation and what keeps the work interesting.

Concert tabs 2010: Patter in less a part of this work though at first glance it may seem as such.  However, this piece is not patterned it is simply a repetition of thyme and subject matter.  Thus this work is more harmonious than patterning.

Today 

David Kinsey

Unknown Title 2010: This piece might seem chaotic yet due to the abstraction of the subject matter and overlaying imagery yet the use of complimentary colors and repetition of line, form, value, color, subject matter and proper use of placement gives the work a more harmonious quality than a chaotic one.

Unknown Title 2010: Again, we see a work that on the surface may seem chaotic but its truly quite orderly and refined.  The use of color, value, form and shape outweigh the varied patterns withing the piece and pull this work back from chaos and deep it the territory of harmony.