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>>Posts about artists relevant to my work >>Posts about my works as they are made >>Commentary on issues in the art world >>posts reflecting on art events and activities |
3/16/2018 0 Comments Progress Post #20This week has been a studio week, so I've gotten a lot of work done on my oil painting. I've been working on the landscape home project too, but I'll post all the progress shots at once when I'm done. I would like to keep oil painting in the future, but not so strictly realistic, more arbitrary I think. These progress shots have let me see where I should have/ would have liked to stop as well. So far, I really like the exposure to a new medium.
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3/8/2018 0 Comments Progress Post #19It’s getting better except the brushes are a pain to clean and you can’t do the old whack it against the easel because the brushes are too small. Also, I’ve found that turpenoid and liquex or something are my friends. Mixing different colors is fun too, and I haven’t stained an article of clothing too bad yet. So far it’s interesting compared to acrylic because with acrylic it’s easier to make a mess but also easier to cover big spaces. With oil however, you mix the paint the way you want it and there is a more natural and controlled way about it. Or maybe it’s the fact that we’ve been painting in the “natural sunlight” (dark) and inhaling carcinogens that’s getting to me.
2/24/2018 0 Comments Vans WIP #1So the paint on these is really thick. I'm trying to get as much of it off to get a nice even white base coat on top. I've finished repainting one pair and am working on removing the paint of the high tops. I don't know exactly what I want to do with them; I don't know whether I want a basic repeating design or something unique. I'm also considering doing a pair that is based off of another artist's style that I really like and would like to see as a print.
2/23/2018 0 Comments Progress Post #17We started doing oil paint in class and I'm in the most squished place. It's been pretty interesting so far. The underpainting process is fun to build up but a little slow for my taste. I'm scared to use too much raw umber in one layer and make it too dark, but it doesn't seem too bad for an underpainting. Also, this week I've been contacted by an interesting buyer for my purple abstract piece. I've never sold art before but if I manage to sell this piece at a reasonable price, I'll get the money for my new york trip this spring break. Finally, this Friday my NAHS group also organized the Colossal Art Cleanup. It was pretty fun, even while we were cleaning, and I ended up with two pairs of free brand new vans. They were exactly my size!! They'll be a home project, but I'll post some updates on here. Next week is going to be full of art-related things!!
2/15/2018 0 Comments Progress Post #16This week we've been starting on our oil painting section of the year. We've made our oil palettes. I finally got to use the paints Bob Ross uses like Titanium White. I also went to the Lunchtime Lecture this week, starring Hamilton Glass, a muralist. Unfortunately, he said that he is in fact not sponsored by Montana, and spends a lot of money on spray cans every year. He is my favorite lunch lecture so far, and I think a lot of people liked him because of the stickers he gave out for questions. I put the sticker on my sketchbook. Also, we had to start our still life compositions, so I did some thumbnail sketches.
2/7/2018 0 Comments Progress Post #15This week, we hung our abstract expressionist paintings and stretched our canvases to start oil painting. I've started collecting objects for the still life subject, but I think they might be too big and I'll have to adjust them to fit an 8"x10" in canvas. Getting to learn how to stretch and prime our own canvases has been an interesting experience, especially since Coach said they don't usually show you how to in art school. I'm looking forward to getting to use oil paint for the first time starting next week and am glad we did this rather than sculpture.
1/20/2018 0 Comments Awareness 5: Takashi MurakamiI first discovered Murakami's newest exhibit: The Octopus Eats it's Own Leg; depicted below. I liked the style I saw on the piece linked here: here), with a lot of overlapping and the use of spray paint. After doing some research, I found out that he is a contemporary Japanese artist, whose style is more like the works below. He has become a celebrity recently, by collaborating with famous people like Kanye West and the brand Louis Vuitton. He works in a similar fashion to Jeff Koons, who works by drawing his vision and then hiring workshops to actually create the piece on a massive scale. While Koons', as I learned in Art 2, interns painted by hand, in the video below, Murakami's interns actually screenprint most of the piece on panels and put everything together when it's done. After getting to learn about Murakami's progress, style, and inspiration and getting to see some of his pieces, I really like how everything comes together in his "superflat" style. Not only do I like how he incorporates Japanese traditional and modern images into his art, but I like his use of patterns and repetition. However, I'm not that big of a fan of his most iconic motif, DOB (the mickey mouse looking one). Although I understand it has become part of his brand, but I just don't like it. I think it reminds me too much of Deadmau5 and how hard it is to be original nowadays. On the other hand, I love Murakami's use of color, and hope that when I finally do get to using my screenprinting set, I'll be able to apply the bright colors into my style just as he has. From now on, I'll definitely keep him on my radar for exhibitions to follow/ visit. 1/18/2018 0 Comments Awareness 4: John Kissick's "burning the houses of cool man, yeah No. 5 (hang the DJ)"
1/17/2018 0 Comments Progress Post #14This week we've only had two classes but I decided to include all the progress I've made so far. I haven't decided which way I want to keep it yet (landscape/portrait). Every time I take a picture of my work so far, I put it in Autodesk and try new stuff out, so I don't ruin the canvas. Tomorrow (the second day), I'm going to add some type of orange to the waves. I'm fine with how it's turning out so far, and have been working with the same paint roller and paint pan for the most part. I wanted to use some regular gloss gel for some 3D parts for my painting, but with what I've been trying to make, it doesn't suit it too much, so I haven't been able to. 1/11/2018 0 Comments Progress Post #13This week being a short week we only really got one full class period... I stated my big abstract expressionist piece today using a roller and some watered down acrylic. I’m excited to see how it will turn out. I started doing white accents in regular gel and I hope it doesn’t dry out on my palette before I finish using it. Originally I wanted more of a magenta color but kept adding blue, so maybe I’ll use the magenta, some white, and some darker accents.
1/9/2018 3 Comments “MoMA, The Bomb and the Abstract Expressionists” and the “Modern Art was a CIA ‘weapon’” Connection Post #2 As Tom Braden, the first chief of CIA International Organizations Division stated, "It takes a pope or somebody with a lot of money to recognize art and to support it.” Regarding the CIA’s involvement in the art world during the Cold War, both the “MoMA, The Bomb and the Abstract Expressionists” and the “Modern Art was a CIA ‘weapon’” articles surprised me. It was actually due to the CIA that the Abstract Expressionist movement had grown so much. They had pushed American art onto other countries and turned it from being hated by Americans openly to avant-garde. All this done with some money and connections. The “MoMA” article described one of the subdivisions of the CIA: “the Propaganda Assets Inventory, which at its peak could influence more than 800 newspapers, magazines and public information organizations.” The article also reports that in an interview, a former CIA agent states that in order to do all of this successfully, they had to keep it out of the public eye. So, when it was the public that was to either condemn or applaud this new art form, why had it in fact become so popular? Is it really the idea of Abstract Expressionism that the government sponsored, or the art itself that is great?
While the US proclaimed that Abstract Expressionism was the epitome of individualism and thus liberty, they also condemned the authoritarian regimes in Russia. This “cultural war” was fought at the expense of the artists, the public, and also France. Although the message was pro-individual, where the government was not forcing anything, the CIA was in fact selectively advocating pieces that were banned in Russia, the “MoMA” article claims. The artists pieces were twisted to fit propaganda while their personalities were sold to the public, exactly as the American officials claimed that the Russians did. And so, while some artists became rich and famous, others suffered psychologically due to the idea that their works were no longer really theirs. The “MoMA” article states, “Images out of historical context can so readily be construed to mean their opposite, and most certainly this will happen if the interpreters wield tremendous power and have an urgent agenda to attend to.” This is especially true for any type of media, not necessarily an image. But this brings out a question about Abstract Expressionism itself. Without context from the artist, viewers can claim to see whatever their imaginations grant them, which could be positive or negative. The artist could have the purpose of using certain colors or lines to evoke emotion, but the viewer may interpret them completely differently. Before the CIA was involved, many of the artists in cities were poor, Marxist, political, nihilist and met often in groups. However, as is now known, their works were used to showcase individual liberty and cultural wealth against the Communist regime. They began to target the elite to try and sell their art rather than the masses, which actually benefited the CIA as they used millionaires to distribute American art around the world. While trying to sell their art, the American artists “became wary of losing their individuality by joining groups”, so they turned inward. They wrote a manifesto, describing what should constitute modern art: “It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. ...There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing. We assert that the subject is crucial….” This is my new art motto. It has become my inspiration for the project we are starting in class. It can apply to any piece, and if asked what a painting is about, the artist will most likely come up with something that it is about. If they initially say that the painting is about nothing, they can dig a little deeper and figure out something that can directly or indirectly tie to it. However, this statement brings up the question once again, about what makes a painting good. Is it good composition, mark/ surface, and color? Is it the emotion evoked? There is a nice little sentence in the "MoMA" article, “The Abstract Expressionist artists felt keenly that they had to present a pessimism, a somber refusal to paint either reality or viscera, as that would be frivolous, superfluous, and hollow.” This sums up emotions during the Cold War, but can apply to other conflicts as well. The CIA's use of Abstract Expressionism to show that the US and its ideals were supreme and justified to the world, tie with the idea of “universality” of the pieces. When going outside of realism, it is up to the viewer to decipher the emotions and thoughts of the artist on issues, especially during times of conflict. Art can sum up society during particular time periods well usually, however, the only things grouping the pieces of the Abstract Expressionist time period is their “individualism”. There is no specific motif that tie them to events or people. Now it is up to us to interpret the emotions of that time period into our own marks during this project, where we will have to keep in mind, how-- when out out of context-- they can be seen differently and become a common interpretation without our control. 12/18/2017 0 Comments Progress Post #12The top pic is the final, the middle pic was what I was doing before I remembered I was supposed to be doing a color field painting and the bottom pic was the painting I did originally before the changes in the middle piece. Coach gave me the advice to add the pink contours and I like what happened. As for my other piece, I liked it a lot better as it was, but I started to make some changes and now I don’t know what to do with it.
12/10/2017 0 Comments Progress Post #11So far we have been practicing techniques and media through action painting, zips, and color blocks (like Rothko). We watched some videos on how famous Abstract Expressionist paintings were made, so afterwards when we were to apply these styles I was sad to hear that we couldn’t use house paint. We’ve been practicing mixing the golden heavy body acrylics with the acrylic mediums, so it’s been interesting.
11/17/2017 0 Comments Progress Post #10We haven't really started on any new projects in class-- I've been working on my sketchbook-- but we have begun to study color. We've gotten to use the expensive Coloraid paper and had lots of fun doing so. So far, we've used the paper to make three colors look like four, four colors look like three, and two look like they've been layered on top of one another. I've learned a lot so far and look forward to what we do next week...
11/12/2017 0 Comments Progress Post #9Finally done with both of them!!! Maybe next week at some point during lunch I'll go and do something with the first paper I used for my self-portait ...But we also critiqued them on Friday and I got some good praise and polish about the tightness of my self-portrait, and the hatching difference, and how my pose conveys my personality. I thought it was really funny that in all of our self portraits we were looking off into the distance. Overall, I enjoyed this project because I got to work with and look at a lot of old master pieces as well as analyze and apply mark. Ink and ink wash weren't really that new of mediums for me, but I liked how I somehow got marbled/ ink splotchy effects when I used the wash. I've had a lot of fun these past few weeks and am excited to see what we do next.
11/3/2017 0 Comments Awareness 3: Inktober
This was my second time going to an InLight show and I enjoyed it especially because this time it was at the same time as a First Friday. I stayed on West Broad Street for the night, and went around with my dad, but the night started as the annual MLWGS Art Walk. The weather was perfect, and because the road was closed off, there were a lot of people and the environment was good. Of the galleries/artists we saw (and we saw pretty much of all of them on West Broad), the ones I liked were the Candela books+gallery with Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick, Nickolai Walko at Anne's Visual Arts Studio, and an Egyptian artist at the Half Moon Beads and Rocks Store. The Egyptian artist used glitter and glow in the dark paint to recreate old master paintings and Egyptian reliefs. This reminded me of what we're doing now in class, except that his pieces had a more 3D aspect to them-- different than my piece. The 100 pictures of the Drowning World was insanely interesting, but I had to get home soon so I snapped some pictures, saw the artists, took a flyer and left. Their exhibition is open until December 23, so I'll definitely be back. As for Walko, his prints were unique-- he took iconic figures and made them pose with a part of them as bare muscle and bone, and some other parts covered in hatch marks. All three of these artists make me want to recreate old people/ art in my own style (which I still have to determine), using unconventional media. This is like a combination of the old master studies we are doing in class as well as the balloon dog play page I'm doing. Overall, I want to go to the next Inlight in 2018, and hopefully it will be around the time of the MLWGS Art Trek and a First Friday again.
11/2/2017 0 Comments Progress Post #8The ink dried from last time, and bled a lot. In some spots the bleeding works, in others not but it’s ok. Also, the ink dries less yellow-brown than when I apply it so that’s good. So far, I’ve only used a Chinese calligraphy brush and a small round brush to make this, in contrast to the pen and brush the original artist used. Although mine is a little darker overall, I took the picture I’m drawing from at night and have a lot more shadows than he did. My whole “study” looks like coffee though, which is my favorite part.
10/26/2017 0 Comments Progress Post #7The brown ink works really well and I got a lot done this week. Coach Hall went and bought me new paper and ink, so I started over. I'm happy with what I've done so far and I think I'll finish it next class-- then I'll be able to do something with the paper that I drew on but then it decided it didn't like ink so I started over. I'm thinking marker or paint or something that will be absorbed by the paper.
10/20/2017 0 Comments "Arab Spring: Modern Middle Eastern Art Finds a New Audience in the West" by ARTnews and "Artists v Critics, round one" Connection Post 1"Arab Spring: Modern Middle Eastern Art Finds a New Audience in the West" by ARTnews and "Artists v Critics, round one" Connections
As the Arab Spring article states, Middle Eastern modernism is emerging. Since it was nonexistent to the West before, globalization has allowed for greater appreciation for artists from the area. This is especially due to the fact that digital media is a prominent part in our lives and “‘allows us a kind of superficial familiarity with range of information that wasn’t available previously’”-- which Richard Armstrong-- the director of the Guggenheim foundation-- stated. Media is the best way for exposing Middle Eastern art to the masses now and bringing it up to light to be compared with Western art. It works by echoing information among groups and has the potential of becoming viral. The Arab Spring article describes how there are little known documents and information regarding Middle Eastern art, so this echo effect will bring attention to the modern art there. Although it is unlikely that Middle Eastern modern art will reach the fame or popularity of Western art in our eyes, the growing level of exposure is better than nothing. There are still people in the Middle East that are making art, and they should not be neglected. Jessica Morgan-- the director of the Dia Art Foundation of NY-- said, “‘Many of these artists were from countries like Lebanon or Iraq that have experienced a great deal of upheaval, and often the work had not been shown simply because there weren’t conditions for showing it’”. This statement also applies to art in other places of the world that are not necessarily “present” or “art” in the eyes of the Western public. Like Morgan said, these people are in the midst of wars and protests, where their art could be destroyed or condemned; which is a common occurrence. As was said in the Art v. Critics article, “What Whistler understood about modernism was its political value, its capacity to shock and mock.” The art created in the Middle East will usually have shock value by having the “modern” label. In places of political instability or oppression, this shock value is not welcome and removed/ destroyed. Of the works that survive this, museums are now supposedly trying to collect them. Layla Diba, and independent curator states, “‘Exhibitions that are either regionally or thematically focused, or that are retrospectives of a single artist's’ work, is the direction we’re going now.’” Typically, modern artists are inspired by their lives and what is going around them, and this applies to the areas of unrest. However, as Venetia Porter, a keeper of Contemporary Islamic art at the British Museum, states: “‘People would look at the work of the Arab modernists and say, “This is really pastiche. They’re just copying Picasso or Braque.’” These two statements amount to the same conclusion: The definition of art and art-making needs to be assessed. While European artists were able to go through their modern period early on, like most movements begin in Europe, they were also able to write the rules of the game. They were the baseline. Other nations were to look to them for inspiration as an example, and develop their work from there. So, if the Arab modernists were using Cubist techniques, they twisted them to suit their culture and experiences, so it should be considered modern art. Had they not used European Cubism as a start off point, the Arab modern art would be very different-- and perhaps not be considered as modern art by the West. However, as said in the Artists v. Critics article about Ruskin’s denunciation of Whistler “‘It is the definitive rejection of modern art as fraud’”. The article describes how even Western modern art is called a fraud, yet even while Arab art is also denounced as fraud, it has a different meaning. As Shabout said, ‘“Academia and the canon of art history have not yet been decolonized. We have remnants of the colonial way of looking, particularly when it comes to modernism.’” So even if modern art around the world is declared fraud, art from parts of the world other than the West are prejudiced as less than Western art. Even I have this feeling when looking at art, yet I know and am learning from the idea that art other than that of the West still has the capacity of being “good”. Studying European art throughout my academic career and not really realizing that other art was out there, I have the colonized point of view. However, as I have begun to study Eastern art for example, I am starting to have a greater appreciation and am seeking out new art from those areas. This greater appreciation will most likely develop in the future for people around the world for Middle Eastern Art especially, as its modern art is currently emerging and the Middle East is a focus in the news for political unrest. All this events in history will looked back on, hopefully with the art (and literature) that has survived to illustrate it. 10/19/2017 0 Comments Progress Post #6Today we had a studio day so I finished the sketch of my self portrait, but when I went to ink I found out that my paper is ink repellant or something. On the test part of the paper, I tested all colors of ink we have and even when applied with a nib or a brush all of them stayed on top of the paper and were not absorbed properly!! I used the right side of the paper to sketch (the rough side), so I hope to figure out the problem soon. If I have to trade papers and start over it shouldn’t take to long to finish though, especially since I won’t have to mix my ink color, so I’m not that worried (but I don’t want to waste paper). On another note, I’m pleased with the picture I chose to use for the drawing because it suits my personality and will do well with my old master’s mark.
10/14/2017 0 Comments Progress Post #5Finally finished with my master drawing. Since most of the class is done now too and I think I got the mark down, I probably won’t do another painting. Also started taking good pics for my self portrait project, but I still need to figure out a way to convey emotion without forcing it by Tuesday.
10/6/2017 0 Comments Progress Post #4Started with a pen (w/ nib), but the ink was not opaque enough and I was scratching into the nice paper too much. Switched to a Chinese calligraphy brush and a small round brush-- it ended up working so much better. Might add a second layer of ink wash to the darkest part of the piece, but I had to mix more brown and added black resulting in the detail color. It's more green than the more purple one underneath but oh well. Maybe for my self portrait I'll do a set color like purple or something so I don't have to mess with mixing the colors anymore.
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