Color!

To start out...I looked for the specific prompt for this blog and the most updated information I could find was "blog post requirements to follow"...so I'm just going to talk about what i liked about the reading....but anyways I have to admit I was somewhat confused in class last week when we did our intro to color.  I understand the gist of it, and how the basics are red blue and yellow and every other color is formed from that, and how hues and tints work..but the actual "science" of it phased me a little.  However once i dug into the reading I understood more about the concept of color and what makes it so special.  One comparison Itten made about color struck my attention, and that is how color and music are so simmilar- two things i would have never put together.  He also compared musicians and painters to each other, saying "a musician may know counterpoint and still be a dull composer, if he lacks insight and inspiration.  Just so, a pointer may know all the resources of composition in form and color, yet remain sterile if inspiration be denied him."

This chapter also stressed just generally how important color is to our world.  Color is what gives the world life, and with out it, everything would be dull and dead.  Our world comes alive and functions through the use of color.  Even though we may not realize it, color has a huge impact on our lives.  Naturally we see dark colors as something that is sad, frightening or negative, and lighter warmer colors as happy, peaceful, or positive.  It is our natural intention to be happy when a rainbow is in the sky and sad or concerned when the sky is full of dark thick clouds.

It was helpful to learn more details of the study of color, especially approaching the topic in three directions- impression, expression, and construction.  Breaking color down into different categories allowed me to focus in on a correct way of studying colors- looking at the visual aspect, then an emotional, then a symbolic.  The rest of the explanations all seemed a little repetitive but I got the basic idea between relationships of colors and how they interact and interchange with each other.

Basically, what we did in class became a lot less confusing once i read about color hues and tints and was able to sit down and study the formulas and look at the wheel to really understand how they function.

Proposal: Round II

Ok, so two weeks ago I wrote some jibble-d-jab about not knowing what to do.

I STILL DON'T HAVE A DEFINITIVE GOAL.

But, I think I'm getting closer!

I'd like to keep doing what makes me happy, what's interesting...

Alof of what I had proposed originally really doesn't fall under any of that. I like the idea of... simplicity, or... Patterns. And detail. I do all of that..

So the goal is to combine all of those, and to somehow expand my materials use at the same time.

If anybody has any comments, I'd LOVE to hear them. Anything will help...

--Andrew

New Proposition

Originally my proposition was to be five paintings portraying movement. However, after my ten original sketches, and some suggestions from my professor, I decided to narrow my idea down. From my ten sketches the ones that stood out were the ones of different facial expressions, so I decided to make my final proposition focus on the movement of the face, specifically facial expressions. On top of that a few of my paintings are going to be inspired by different artists. My first two portraits, of my friends Phil and Madison, are different, but in a similar style. So, at the suggestion of my professor, to change up the style of each portrait I should use a different artist as inspiration for my final three portraits. For the third portrait I am using The Portrait of Gertrude Stein by Picasso as inspiration. For this one I want to use an amplified color palate, line, and more painterly strokes to imitate the style Picasso used. For my fourth portrait I want to use Franz Hals as an inspiration and for my fifth I want to use a pop artist as inspiration to make the five portraits vastly different, but still portraying my original idea of movement in the face. While not all the faces are making an obvious facial movements, they are still different expressions and each portrait will portray different emotions and will be inspired by different artists.

Proposal Version 3.0

Alright, on my way to sort of starting over I have yet again changed paths. The idea of simply re-creating a strawberry left behind, I first began thinking of ways to carry my liking of the strawberry into my new concentration. I was heavily considering a series of large works (not HUGE but large by my standards) that were up close, distorted studies of the air bubble's distortions to the strawberry, where you could sort of recognize that it was a odd up close strawberry, but not really. I was going to place a lot of emphasis on the color as well, keeping with the deep reds that I liked about the original picture, but creating new contrast as well. I didn't know what medium to use because Prismacolors were to slow and not practical for large scale works, I don't really know how to paint so if I was to experiment it would be with something simpler like acrylics instead of oils, watercolor was an option, but it wouldn't be bright enough and the edges could never be quite bold enough. It was then that I considered doing the drawing or outline in ink and then going over it with watercolor in an exaggerated fashion, but it still wouldn't be as dark or bold as I was wanting, it would just be lightly toned paper.

So it was then that I really started thinking about this as a technique. Sure, it probably wouldn't work for something I wanted to be bold like the strawberry, but it could work for other things.

One thing that I remembered that I have, is a lot of pictures from my grandmother's farm. They are mostly just random images of old objects and such, but I think they're interesting and they have meaning to me. So I wondered how it would work to draw the random objects as studies using a micron pen or something, and then go over them with watercolor. The images are not especially colorful, and using true and exact colors wouldn't be very interesting, so I instead figured using simply earthy tones over the entire page would work okay. That way I could do a few, and they would be tied together not only by their relations as old farm objects, but also in technique.

Thus, I have decided to do ink studies of random farm objects, both from personal pictures, and then through the use of online pictures as well if necessary. I don't know that I would even stick to just objects, I might do things like old farm buildings as well. But, anyway, the ink studies, then shaded with cross hatching, and then lightly washed in earthy tones using watercolor, to give and old, rustic, and nostalgic sort of feeling.

Updated Proposal: A Dictionary of Puns

I would like to create a clever body of work that makes people laugh using my love for play on words. Incorporating many common idiomatic phrases in my pieces such as “busy bees”, “putting all your eggs in one basket”, “hit two birds with one stone”, and “couch potato”, I want to show the humor and ridiculousness of these phrases by portraying them visually. Additionally, a goal of mine is to convey a sense of awkwardness in my works that makes them more humorous and intriguing for the viewers. While Peter Bruegel’s main goal in working with common phrases of his time was to teach moral lessons, I want to make people laugh. I also want to explore the ambiguous nature of these phrases, by contrasting the real and the imagined in my works. To do this, I will show the real aspect of the phrase through a photograph, while the imagined will be through drawing. I plan on juxtaposing the images together through photoshop. Then I would like to print the images on nice paper and work with drawing and possibly collage to give a more handmade feel to the work and make it more interesting. I think that using pen over the digital image will also serve to connect the real and the unreal. Compositionally, it will also connect the photo with the painting better.

I want to place my works in the context of an Idiomatic Phrase Dicitonary. I think that a dictionary will be humorous and it will also tie all the works together in an interesting creative way. I plan on making categories for the phrases such as Food Puns, Religious Puns, Sports Puns, and Anatomy Puns. Each category will have an image of a pun to represent it. Also, framing my work in the context of a book would further develop a sense of irony since my idea deals with some of the absurdities in language and books are typically places for writing.

I want to use a book that I created by hand as my dictionary, so that the dictionary will be entirely mine. I plan on gluing each page into the book that I have already created. Also, I want to design a cover for the book so that it has the feel of an actual dictionary. I may scan the pages so that my book may be viewed digitally too.

David Rokeby

David Rokeby was born in Canada in 1960. He has been creating interactive sound and video installations with computers since 1982. For the first part of his career he focussed on interactive pieces that directly engage the human body, or that involve artificial perception systems. In the last decade, his practice has expanded to included video, kinetic and static sculpture. Several of his works have addressed issues of digital surveillance. Other works engage in a critical examination of the differences between human and artificial intelligence. David Rokeby's installations have been exhibited extensively in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

One of Rokeby's most interesting pieces to me was "Long Wave". "Long wave" is a site specific installation that was commissioned by Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts + Creativity and was on view at the Allen Lambert Galleria, Brookfield Place, Toronto, June 5 - 20, 2009. It is a 380 foot long, 60 foot high sculpture tracing a helix through the entire length of the galleria. The helix is constructed from 63 large red spheres hanging from the Santiago Calatrava designed arches of the galleria, rising from just above visitors' heads right up to the vaults of the ceiling.

The "Long Wave" represents sound waves- which are normally invisible. It is interesting to note that something such a sound wave that plays such a large part in our lives is often overlooked. Rokeby challenges this by creating "Long Wave" to show how great an impact sound waves have our lives. The wave hangs above the visitors head- sort of looming there- uncontrollable and unpredictable. The "Long Wave" almost looks like the back bone to an animal, this be a metaphor inferring that sound waves are the back bone to society. I love the color red that Rokeby chooses. It has such a presence and many different meanings. Sometimes the color red can be violent.. other times it can represent freedom and hope. This also plays into how sound can affect society based on what the sounds are. For instance the sound of war may ensue fright while the sound of a sweet lullaby could cause peace and happiness.

Materials

In the reading on matter, I found the discussion about how to choose materials really interesting. I think that the author is correct when he says that “the range of matter is to great to lock oneself into.” When I was in elementary school, I always saw sculpture as limited to common materials such as clay, wood, and metal. Now however, I would agree with the author because our materials are endless. Technically, anything around us can be used as a material. This notion reminded me of the gallery we went to on a field trip, when we saw the artist who used dental floss and balloons in for her sculpture. I think that using unexpected materials often times can make a sculpture look more interesting. I really enjoyed the different examples of using different materials for different purposes. Particularly, the table attached that is entirely crafted after metal is really intriguing because it goes against our expectations of materials. It is really cool how the scene of a set table can be entirely recognizable with a different material. I think that using an unexpected material puts an interesting twist on a piece. In the future, I think that I would like to be more experimental with my materials.

Will Cotton

Will Cotton is a contemporary artist currently working in New York City. He has earned his BFA Cooper Union and his MFA at New York Academy Art. He directed the Katy Perry “California Girls” music video. While he works with a variety of different mediums such as drawing, sculpture, and painting, Cotton’s work all center around candy in a very surreal way. For example, in some of his realistic oil paintings, he replaces the hair with candy ribbon. Also, he paints a lot of surreal Rubeniste paintings where the clouds are cotton candy.

I find his cake sculptures really intriguing and interesting too look at. I love how realistic they are. Yet, at the same time they seem absurd. I think that his color placement very well balanced, and the pastel colors give optimistic and light hearted feel. I think that his attention to detail in the icing really draws the viewer in and holds his attention. The cakes remind me of weddings. Perhaps, the massive amount of cakes collapsing on each other could be representing the absurd consumption of weddings. Another interesting part of the sculpture is that he is able to use very recognizable shapes in our culture to create a very organic shape.

Andreas Slominski

Andreas Slominski is a comtemporary artist who creates simple yet compelling colorful sculptural flowers. In his latest show in London he did a series of these flowers that represent the social and financial unrest throughout europe. He shows this through the bright, branching forms of the flowers that remind me of snowflakes or garden decorations. Their designs have a graphic form to them that comes from the combinations of basic shapes and lines that connect them and gives them a clear and almost playful feel. One piece has a two branches but only one has a blue flower. The other side looks as if it had been plucked off which is a metaphor for financial cuts taking place in many european countries. It is a simple shape created out of welded metal but it has a visually interesting pattern. Andreas Slominski creates relevant and current pieces that are a commentary on world events and are also artistically creative.

The Value of Sculptural Materials

One idea in the Matter chapter in The Sculptural Idea that I found intriguing was the section on “the intrinsic character of the material”. It is interesting to think about the physical and psychological effects of the materials themselves rather than the sculpture as a whole. The idea that the material of the sculpture gives another dimension to affect a response from the viewer in a similar way to the colors of a painting. However it is more complex than a painting in the idea that a piece of blue painted metal will create a different feeling than a blue strip of cloth. The artist can take advantage of the primal instincts a viewer will have toward the different materials and use them to craft a certain emotional response to the sculpture as a whole. Combined with color and form this allows the artist to create a very specific type of feeling for the whole piece. I find it very compelling to think about all of the possibilities an artist has with sculpture in order to elicit different emotions from a viewer and also how each person will interpret the use of materials differently.

James Norton

James Norton is contemporary artists whose work emphasizes the expansion of material available for current art. He is a sculptor who creates individual pieces rather then installation art out of a huge amount of cable ties. Most of his pieces are shapes suspended from the ceiling. I think the reason why I find them so fascinating is because of how typical his medium is. By essentially creating massive chains of something so simple, he creates something so complex. Ironically, his process is certainly not that trouble-free. You can tell in each piece that there is care, there is a pattern, and a plan used to complete the end result. He also uses color to add another level of complexity to his work. He seems to place balls of color within the larger object creating a nest and egg type thing that looks very natural. On the other hand the harsh and sharp lines of the cable ties give the pieces a somewhat aggressive and hostile effect. The safety of a nest or a home in juxtaposition to the severe material presents an interesting contradiction in my mind. Overall I like his pieces and appreciate his methods and outcomes.

David Phelps

David Phelps is the contemporary artist I have chosen to focus on for this study. He first came to mind because I saw one of his pieces in person on the OU campus last spring, and I remember loving it but I didn’t pay any special attention to whom the artist was at the time. So a couple of weeks ago when I saw I short article on him, with the piece I had seen, I became intrigued and decided he was an artist I really liked. His sculptures are usually huge and cast in bronze. They are traditional in the sense that they are realistic depictions of humans, and bronze is a very traditional sculpture medium. However he is untraditional in his posing and placing of the models. Each is in a position, or doing something in the water. For instance in his work, “Oarsman” it is simply a man rowing a boat, but he makes it interesting by placing it as it would actually occur in water, on land. Instead of the man rowing across a lake, he appears to be out for a relaxing afternoon on a brick walkway in Tennessee. So as beautifully realistic and relaxing as his sculptures are, they are juxtaposed on completely unexpected terrain, giving the artwork a fun and unexpected twist.

It is or it isn't?

Throughout the presented stories, what I was most intrigued with was the argument posed: How do you define what is sculpture and what is instillation? I am of the opinion that they are almost one and the same, but I am sure there are artists out there who view themselves as sculptors and would be appalled to be called ‘instillation artists,’ and likewise many instillation artists whom would never refer to themselves as sculptors. However if this line between the two really does exist, how and where should it be drawn? In the story on matter, matter is referred to as pretty much any sculptural tool, but to be defined as a tool representative of sculpture is restricting, because many of the materials described as matter are used in other areas of art. This whole idea brings back the topic from the beginning of the year where we tried to discover what was really drawing, for instance, it could be many things, not just drawing with a pencil on some paper. So what is really happening here and with every aspect of art, is that the lines are starting to blur. The edges and definitions we have used are starting to disappear, and calling something a ‘drawing’ or ‘sculpture’ has become a much more defining and hard to accomplish task. The role of the artist has started to complicate itself because we no longer even know an exact title for what it is we’re doing anymore, which if you think about it, is kind of hilarious.

Damien Hirst

A contemporary artist who does sculpture and installation work is Damien Hirst. Hirst is a British artist who is an active member in YBA or Young British Artists. His work circles around the theme of death. Some of his most famous work the materials are simply a huge tank full of formaldehyde and a dead animal, including a shark, sheep, and cow. Some of the animals were even dissected before being put into the tank. Much of Hirst's work in very controversial and he is a controversial person as well after making some insensitive jokes about the 9/11 attacks against the twin towers in the United States. One piece of his, a rotting cow and bull, was pulled out of a show due to the inhumanity and unsanitary quality of the piece. Health officials banned the piece because they feared visiters might even throw up when they saw the piece. Hirst's other works include "For the Love of God", a platinum cast diamond encrusted skull that cost around $14 million dollars to make with an asking price of $50 million. If this piece were to ever sell during Hirst's life it would be the most expensive piece sold while the artist is still alive. The piece was inspired by Hirst's mother who asked him once, "For the Love of God what are you going to do next?" While I don't particularily like Hirst as a person, he has done well with his work and is successful with his sculpture and is known throughout the world; He is even the worlds richest living artist. He uses all materials from from dead bugs, pills, formaldehyde, and diamonds to make his sculptures

Matter

The two questions that were asked that I find most interesting in this piece is "Should a dematerialization and the elimination of function take place, or should the material remain in context or in its natural state and location? In the case of a found object, should the material be its own reality or should it be reshaped or distorted into the sculptor's concept of reality?" These two questions arise different points of view art can be taken from. For an artist, rule bending and breaking should and can be allowed, but this writer is asking, should they? This is where the question of reality versus conception presents itself. In art is it the sculptor's concept of reality that matters or is it the their job to make sure the material remains in context? This is interesting that this was brought up because most would assume that the sculptor's concept of reality is more important and that their vision should be the thing that is obvious to any on lookers. The other question asked that I found particularly interesting was "if this object is of such beauty or ugliness, why remove it from its context?" This is interesting to me because, as an artist, I think if something is beautiful or ugly it should be used in art and can be taken out of context. An artist is there not only to follow the general rules of art, but to bend and break them and make whatever they want out of their art. Something that is beautiful or ugly can also be used in context, but can also be taken out of context and made into something that has to do with the sculptor's concept of reality and particular project. This piece, overall, was very interesting and gave me an insight to sculpture and what it really means for artist to be able to form ideas and use any matter as their material.

Sculpting Materials and installation artists and such!

What struck me about this chapter was that I never realized that so much thought goes into selecting materials.  I never realized this was such an important element in creating a piece of art, and I wasn’t aware of its true importance.  I think it’s cool that artists can sculpt with pretty much any material they want, and it broadens their horizon in the process.  I was interested in the way sculptures select materials and what influences them.  At first I was confused with this idea because sculptures have two options in regards to selecting materials- they adapt the material to their initial idea, and them build the initial response off of that.  I don’t really know what that means, but then as I read more It explained how it’s a physical and metal element being put together that makes selecting certain materials work.  Kind of like a ying and yang idea- two materials you choose to work with can be totally opposite, but they still need to be able to mesh well together.  I think that’s a great perspective to look at that I have never really thought about before.  I think its important to experiment with lots of different materials so it is clear to see what works and what doesn’t.

One installation artist I really admire is tracy lee stum.  She basically rocks my world.  What I really like about her work is that she takes a material so childish and unsophisticated and uses it to its upmost capability to create some of the most unbelievable realistic art I've ever seen.  It's hard to believe that what you're looking at is actually chalk.  Not only are the details, colors, and accuracy impressive, but the element of these pieces that is the most impressive is the perspective and how realistic it looks.  I have very mixed emotions when looking at these drawings, I either get the feeling of vertigo because i feel like someones about to push me into/down her drawing, or i just sit there in awe and disbelief because I can't belive this is real life.  I would post a picture, but theyre all so amazing so see for yourself!!!!!!!

http://www.tracyleestum.com/

Thoughts on Reading

The most intriguing point that continuously reoccurred in my mind due to its reoccurrence in the readings was the concept of the history and growth of sculpture over time. The Vitamin 3D, New Perspectives suggests that, “We are far from the days when sculpture served the sole purpose of monument or memorial”. In the past, sculpture was primarily a form of art made 3 dimensionally using very classic skills, technique and material. Now, “everyone is welcome and anything goes”. I admire the idea and progress made within the contemporary sculpture/installation art world as it expands the space and meaning artists now can use, but this idea seems far more liberating than I believe it actually is. While installation art and sculpture bear no rules anymore, the creativity and possibilities are almost endless. My fear is of the length artists will go to create something evocative and new, and how far is too far? The use of human bodies has been done as well art with very outrageous meaning behind it, so at what point will material and meaning become far too shameful for viewers to handle. The answer is, “at the present time, any and all materials are fair game for the sculpture” (Matter). That “fair game” is what I believe could lead to artistic social turmoil.

Matter, Sculpture's Expanding Field

            When reading these two articles, I thought it was hilarious how much the concept of sculpture has changed in the last hundred years. I have always labeled myself as a conservative when it comes to art, 2-D and 3-D; when I read the world "sculpture” in a textbook, I always expect an inset picture of a classical piece, like Michelangelo's David, or Nike on Samonthrace, which were simple, representational creations. Instead, there are pictures of contemporary, abstract sculptures with complex, underlying meanings to them, and I don't even know where to begin analyzing.

            Getting to the actual readings, Matter stood out more to me than Sculpture’s Expanding Field, which is almost ironic, because the whole time only one thing shouted out to me: “Duchamp, what have you done?!” I guess where I’m going with this is that found object sculptures, or using found objects in conjunction with other objects have become so increasingly popular since the 1910s, it boggles my mind. My little conservative mind never thought that found objects would overtake marble or stone sculptures, but the invasion started way before my lifetime, way before I was old enough to even make a difference. I have never been able to understand the messages they’re trying to get across upon first glance; it feels like artists nowadays are taking the idea of intellectual rigor and running for the hills with it.

            In Matter, the author asked if putting an object in a representation/reconstruction of its natural environment would be better or worse than taking it out of its environment and distorting it to fit the artist’s vision or reality. I already mentioned that I have a mindset of nearly every artist before 1900, so my blunt answer to that question would be “let it be, a urinal was not meant to be on public display.” But putting on my modern artist hat, I understand that Duchamp and subsequent found object artists like him want to push the boundaries of what we call art, whether it be genuinely or comically. I thought Fountain was absolutely hysterical, but that’s because I saw it as art as we know it going down the toilet. Other people see it with different connotations, and I respect that. I suppose I have a hard time understanding why no one else wants to walk through a modern art museum and see a colossal marble statue of a figure, but I can grasp why playing around with light bulbs, stools, and trashed urinals would be a more interesting concept to the increasingly curious artist.

Danh Vo - JULY, IV, MDCCLXXVI

In this exhibition, Danh Vo, a Danish artist, wanted to investigate the concept of American freedom, hence the exhibition's name's reference to July 4th, 1776. He had copper replicas made of various, identifiable parts of the Statue of Liberty, like her massive toes, her torch, and pleating of her stola, and had them laid out all across a gallery space, as though she was still being assembled back in the late 1800s. With this strewn collection of colossal statue parts, he placed a miraculous find: the original typewriter on which terrorist Theodore Kaczynski wrote his Unabomber manifesto. These two contrasting images examine the idea of freedom and challenge the viewer's concepts of the pros and cons of the American political system. 

What I thought was so interesting about this exhibit was that Vo basically recreated the original Statue of Liberty; this was how she looked back in 1875, in her original copper state, and we get to see it face-to-face and explore the truly awe-striking and iconic pieces of her image. But at the same time, this classical throwback is coupled with a modern struggle that we didn't think we'd find ourselves facing: in the United States of America, we open our arms wide and welcome immigrants, travelers, and refugees to our land, but at the same time, we find ourselves letting in people who mean us harm, and is that right? We can choose to deconstruct our idea of freedom by forcing severe limitations upon prospective citizens, basically looking over their shoulders until they prove to us that they mean no harm, or we can keep our image of equality for everyone, and let slip past our borders terrorists, spies, and conspirators alike.

Also, I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite poems, Ozymandias while looking through the exhibition photos. The exhibit makes me worry about the soundness of our country; are we doomed to wither away some day, or will we somehow manage to uphold our glory, legacy, and physical country? Such mind boggling questions, but I love the intellectual challenge of this exhibit. I really wish I could have seen it myself, it would have been awe-inspiring!

Here is the exhibit page!

contemporary artist

Artist: Jang Yong Sun

Jang Yong Sun is a Korean artist who was a part of a solo exhibition entitled “Particles of Dark Matter”. In this exhibition, he has a series of interesting sculptures where he creates giant organic shapes through welding together a multitude of steal rings. These sculptures appear to be meticulously formed to emphasize the organic structures that they have become. I think what is most interesting about these sculptures is the sharp contrast between the substance used to create the forms and the forms themselves. When we think of steal, even though it can be manipulated, we perceive it as non malleable because of its purpose in every day life. But Jang Yong Sun contradicts this preconception in this exhibition through his fantastical works. I wasn’t able to find any of his artwork outside of this exhibition and it also seems that very little information is published about him but what I have seen seems pretty interesting.

Sculpture Reading

Thoughts on the reading

Sculptures are peculiar things. They serve no identifiable purpose and exist only to provoke a response from the viewer. That response is usually intended to leave an image on the viewer’s senses and open up their mind to thought. We, as viewers, are inevitably compelled to think about a sculpture, because as previously stated, a sculpture has no true purpose and so our mind’s long to give it purpose. I tend to find this entire process tedious, being a person who’s not really a fan of using their senses, and in all honesty I get physically tired quite easily when I’m being forced to use my senses to do something I’m already doing such as thinking profoundly about things. For me, external sources don’t tend to be very effective at inspiring my mind toward creative thought or entertaining my own creativity in my own creative process. This is because external things are always under the forced natural law that all physical things are forced to obey, such as gravity, physical form and a natural balance. And the way I perceive physical things, they are all the same to me. Even when objects are taken out of their “natural environment” in an attempt to provoke thought, it feels more forced than it does inspired. Only when an object or a sculpture starts to defy such natural laws do I start to find it intriguing.

Proposal

For the most part, my proposal has remained the same. The concept of my proposal is basically how we as people are affected by unseen influences, and those influences may be governed by any thing from our own emotion too the atmosphere that a person or room creates. In my drawings I intend on showing these unseen influences in a literal way, in the form of monsters or spirits. I've decided to keep my drawings done in pencil and not stray from that in any of my illustrations, but I am entertaining the thought of using a variety of drawing styles in them, to alter the feeling that an image provokes. The first couple of drawings are a little darker and heavier than what I prefer to draw and there hasn't been enough to these drawings to keep me entertained. I like my drawings to be more compact and chaotic and without any real distinguishable focal point, forcing the viewer to evaluate the entire image.

Updated Proposition

While the basic foundation for my project still exists in its current state, several factors have changed since my first proposition. At first I wanted to create a series of pieces each representing a different comfort level that people have in various social situations. I still want to show emotion through body language and facial expression but rather then creating a series of pieces intended to be viewed together, I have essentially combined them into a short animation clip. By changing from only still art to video I am now able to show points of view in a clear a logical manner that actually transitions. Another change is the medium I ended up using and overall drawing technique. Initially I was going to use ink, marker and possibly paint to create images in a fashion illustration-like style but I now have used only ball point pen to create very simplistic characters. The shift has allowed to really focus on the animation of facial expression and movement from step to step. Although I have only created one single story in one video clip I think viewers will be able to relate to the various feelings and points of view within it.

Updated Proposal

So... A lot has changed since my original proposition. My last proposal was to do a series of pieces that reflect the underlying flaws of a picture perfect place such as SMU. After struggling to truly understand exactly I was trying to convey, I accidentally stumbled upon a new idea.

I read an article in the Daily Campus that dealt with students abusing ADHD prescription medication to help them study and ultimately perform better academically. Abuse of Adderall and similar medications has become a huge problem not only at SMU, but also at college campuses around the country. It's pretty obvious why students abuse it. Getting better grades has become as easy as popping a pill to help you concentrate. Honestly, who wouldn't want to?

From all of this, I finally feel like I have a solid proposition that I can execute confidently. My new idea in a nutshell is the abuse of prescription medication to find perfection. Modern day society has become reliant on the use of drugs to be better. If you have a cold, take a pill. If you are depressed, take a pill. If you are stressed, take a pill. Cures for nearly all problems that we face in our lives can be taken care of by popping a pill. As I'm sitting here writing this, it's blowing my mind how reliant we all have become on prescription drugs, myself included.

My final proposition will consist of two larger pieces and a series of smaller images. It will basically be a study of Adderall. I want all of them to be composed using charcoal to create a very dark, bleak, black and white mood to the series. The two larger images will be based off of a picture I took of an Adderall bottle tipped over with spilled pills across the table. One will be a neat and clean drawing while the other drawing will be abstract and almost child-like. The smaller images will range from a close up of a pill, a crushed up pill, the bottle... etc.

Updated proposal

To be honest, practically nothing has changed at this point from my first draft of my proposal. I had a pretty good idea of where I was going this semester, and so far I've stayed relatively on track!

The only thing that has changed from then to now is the fact that I'm no longer incorporating a traditional element (i.e. gouache ground & color schemes) into my pieces; I'm working completely in Photoshop, save for the preliminary sketches, which I'm using as my bases.

Here is my first proposal draft, and if you just cut out everything about using traditional media, that's where I am right now!

Updated Updated proposal

So a few things have changed since my last proposal update.  I am still keeping my same basic idea, but i have definitely changed a few details around.

 I have just purchased my fabric for the strips on the carwash brushes.  I purchased navy blue felt and have so far cut 20 yards worth of strips out.  I am going to work with david dreyer and cut a 3 by 3 wood platform as the base, then drill a hole in the middle and attach a 7 foot wooden pole onto it.  I have not yet decided if i will make it so that it can rotate when you walk through it.  From there ill attach wire to the pole and put plaster strips onto it.  Once it dries im going to paint it navy blue, then from there attach the strips onto it.  I have been researching how i can make the felt some how mold to a certain shape so that my structure has volume and looks like its moving.  I have bought a substance called "stiffy" which is basically a glue substance that makes any material stiff.  I tested it out and it did not really work like i wanted it to...It just made the felt stiff instead of letting me form it to a certain shape.  I have decided to stiffen each piece, then nail it to the strucutre.  In order to give it more volume, im going to attach a small piece of foam or wood to the base of each strip so it stands on end a little.  this is going to be the basic look for my bristle, then i'll repeat the process and make one more.  I'm going to place the two next to eachother in a corner so that the viewer has to squeeze through them in order to view the rest of my exhibit.

The video has changed a lot.  I originally made two.  One video displayed different clips of children crying while going through a carwash.  These scenes were interrupted by flashes of tv snow and color bars.  The second video was different scenes of a car moving through a carwash, with jaws inspired music playing in the background.  I was planning on playing these two movies at the same time to evoke a censory overload. However the jaws music didn't fit in well with the scene in the carwash, and playing the two together didnt work.  The baby movie is dramatic, loud, and overwhelming, and the carwash video turned out to be a little bland and repetative.  So to change this, I have decided to incorperate all of these clips into one video.
 It's going to repeat the pattern
1. view from inside a carwash with jaws music.
2. babies crying
3. snow and or color bars

It's going to be on one screen now instead of two.  I still need to figure out if this video will be played on a tv or a projector, I can't really decide that until I know how much space I'll be able to use once my strucutres are built and put in place.

Proposal: Round II

So my proposal at the beginning was supposed to visually represent my struggles with the transition into college, and the stresses that go with it.

Unfortunately, only one of my pieces has had anything to do with the proposal. As Noah pointed out, I had a lot more fun doing the other drawings. They just flowed out a lot better, nothing was forced into being.

My point is this: The first proposal was a good one, but it was a little bit heated and definitely weighed on my time at college SO FAR. As I said in the original, I thought that the pieces I put out would change into what I'm experiencing at the moment, you know? Like a timeline almost.

Anyways. I'm tired of making a piece and trying to connect it to my proposal.

I have no GOOD new ideas, and I don't want to aimlessly create art. I'd like for there to be a purpose to my creations.

If anyone has any suggestions.. I don't know. Maybe we can talk about it in class.

Proposal Version 2.0

I have shifted a lot from my original proposition as far as subject matter goes, but I have stayed with the same materials. I'm going to create a large detailed colored pencil piece, but I'm doing it of a strawberry submerged in water as opposed to an old picture of my dad bull riding. So far it is probably the biggest and most complicated thing I have ever attempted, and I am not exactly known for working fast, so I'm becoming slightly worried about a time crunch. I know the simple answer (that believe me I've heard a lot) would be simply to 'work faster' but I sincerely cannot work any faster and still achieve the results I would like. So I'm working on a backup plan if it starts to look like my project will take more time than I have remaining, so that I can still finish, but hopefully not surrender any quality. There will most likely only be a 5% chance I would have to use said back up plan, but I want to have one just in case. One option I have come up with is perhaps getting an extremely small micron pen and going over the detailed sketch I have now, and simply making it a black and white contour sort of image, but I'm not sure. So any suggestions or comments would be appreciated :)

Caroline's Updated Proposal

Initially I had chosen a broad theme of "horses" in my first proposal. Although I am still using horses/equestrian as my overall theme I have decided to focus on equestrian apparel and riding equipment rather than horses themselves. I like the idea of cropping specific pieces of equipment/riding apparel on the picture plane in order to draw the viewers attention and possibly question what the subject of the piece is (if they are unfamiliar with riding equipment/apparel). Rather than using oils and charcoals as I had first stated in the prior proposal I think I am going to explore the use of graphite in my drawings (although I may use some charcoal as well.. not sure). Even though I changed my proposal theme for horses to riding/equipment and apparel I still remain passionate about the subject matter (as long as it has to do with horses I love it!).

Wilcoxon, Caroline Photoshop

brookes second edited photoshop picture

first edited photoshop picture

photoshop. yay

Photoshop Shadows

Response to Painter's Painting

One of the most interesting things I found in the film we watched in class was hall all of the artist's from the different periods after World War II in the 1900s interacted. When studying the different periods of art, it almost seems like each artists functions in isolation of all of the other periods. In contrast, i think the film did a good job of showing how each artists worked within his own movement but also knew and commented on other artists from different movements. For example, some abstract expressionists would claim that they were not a part of the Dada movement. Additionally, when looking at art I tend to assume that the piece was done entirely by the specified artist; however, I found it really intriguing that this was not the case in many of the movements discussed in the film. For example, a good portion of Andy Warhol's work was not actually done by him, and many artists had many extra helpers to complete the piece. Seeing this aspect of the art making, made me wonder whether the other people involved in the work deserve credit? Why do they not get any recognition. I suppose we can think of it in terms of an architect. The architect designs the house, yet does not actually build it; however, he gets the most credit for the building.

Response to "Painters, painting."

Most of what I found interesting about the movie was not part of the movie itself, but rather things in the movie that related to things outside of it. I found the clips of Andy Warhol very interesting because when I was really little he was my favorite artist so I would hear rumors of how he was crazy and didn't actually paint his paintings. The only image I had seen of him was his famous self portrait with the crazy hair, so now being older, seeing him, hearing him talk, and observing how he related with others has added a whole new dimension to his work for me.
The artists themselves were the most interesting things about the movie. The way they talked, acted and thought were all very interesting. Usually all you know about an artist is what you see through their work, the little plaques of information beside the work, or if you're lucky a picture. So seeing the artists as real people along side their work was different and refreshing.

Brooke's updated and altered proposal.

I did some thinking about my past proposal and decided that it wasnt very meaningful to me, and so i thought a little deeper about my theme, and what i could do to make it a little more compelling and meaningful.  Going alone with the "fears from childhood" theme, I suddenly remembered I had completely forgotten about my biggest one- carwashes.  I have memories of sitting in the backseat of my parents car strapped in my carseat as we drove through a carwash.  I can clearly see the car slowly moving through a dark tunnel with the giant brushes swifting back and forth and suffocating our car- blocking the view from every window leaving remains of colored soap in its track.

The thing that scared me most was the movement.  The way the long strips of fabric swayed back and forth as the bristles rotated; it was almost as if it was slow motion.  I felt like the bristles were going to  suck me in and swollow me.  I had nightmares about it forever, and still to this day thinking about it gives me the chills.

For my project I want to keep the idea of installation by making two giant car wash bristles, about 7 feet or hight tall.  I want to position them side by side very close to eachother, and install them right infront of the corner of a room.  That way when it is on display, one can walk inbetween the two bristles and get the feeling of claustrophobia i felt as a child.  Once they squeeze through, they will be trapped in a corner that will display 2 video projectors, one of a child in a car seat crying while going through a carwash, and the other of the bristles in motion at a car wash.  The volume will be high, and the screams will be very loud.  I want this to be complete censory overload; to be able to feel how overhwhelming and scary an experience like this can be. Positioning my art in a corner will allow the viewer to get the sense of trapped-ness I felt while going through a carwash.  Being overwhelmed by something scary completely thrown at you, and not being able to run away from it.  You're trapped.

I have a few ideas of how this might work.  First for the easy part, I am going to research on youtube different videos of children going through carwashes and crying.  I've already found a few good ones.  I'm going to make an iMovie of a collabaration of youtube videos that will be displayed on one of the projectors, and for the other one, I'm going to take my car through a carwash and film the experience.

For the two giant bristles, I'm going to take two of the thin tall wooden poles that are laying around the woodshop and make that the base structure.  I havent decided how tall they might be because first i need to decifer the space they will be in.  I am going to build a wire structure off of the pole and then put plaster mesh around it.  I am then going to buy felt and cut millions of strips out and attach them to the structure to give it its bristle look.  I really want the image of sway to be prevalent so i might put a substance on each felt so they stand on end.  I haven't decided if the giant bristles will be movable or not when somebody walks through them.  Either i'll do that or i might even get people to go inside the bristles and make the movements to make the art seem more real.  Also if i do that then the people inside can use their body to make the bristles seem much scarier- possibly grabbing or squishing the person going through.  The whole idea of this fear themed project is for the viewer to get a real feeling of sensory overload just like i did as a child.  I think my idea will portray that perfectly.

Photoshop/Shadows Project

Miss Missy

Missy McCullough is an LA based illustrator with a knack for super-sweet print portraits. After several years in the fashion and toy design businesses she began illustrating full-time. She uses indian ink (for those of you who like me have not heard of this, indian ink is a jet black soot based ink, commonly used for comic strips and drawing) and water color to create the techniques displayed in her work. She sells much of her art commercially but also is down create a custom portrait for those who so desire. Collecting inspiration from fashion to traveling her art exudes personality, color and gentle precision. I love her portfolio because unlike many artists these days who create very morbid pieces, her work has a refreshing innocent quality to it!

Photoshop