Showing posts with label Text Commentary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Text Commentary. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Nan Goldin

I see that the artist tries to cope with the loss of her loved ones through her films. To be completely torn away from someone dear to you really can cause an impact on your life. Sure her friends have passed, but it seems that no matter who dies around her, her's sister's suicide will stick out the most even if it happened decades ago.
I've come to realize that many people cope with death differently. Some it takes a few days, others it can stay with them the rest of their lives. Sure they will try to get past it, but sometimes they don't want to get past it. They rather live or stay in the past rather than move on. For if they do move on, i suppose to them it's like erasing something dear to them when really they are just moving on to enjoy the days that remain for them on this earth. That's why i try to get people to realize that they can't stay in the past for too long. Sure it's going to hurt for a while, and that's understandable, but over time it's best to move on or else your past will become your present and future if you're not careful.

I like how she does her work. She takes shots of events as they are happening. She isn't trying to focus on the past, or what's in store for the future. It's all about here and now. For we are to live the moment and think nothing of tomorrow. That's something i tend to do at times. Instead of worrying about what's ahead of us, enjoy what you have now for it may not be there tomorrow.

I think I understand now as to why her sister's death sticks out the most. They were extremely close and all of a sudden, her sister is gone. Dead. No longer apart of her life. Something like her sister committing suicide didn't even cross her mind and when it happened...she had no chance to see her sister ever again. So now she does what she can to capture every moment of life on camera as it happens. So that once the people around her are gone, she can look back and see how she was able to at least have a moment in time with them through the photos.

A quote that the artist said which stood out to me in the text. "Memory allows the endless flow of connections."

Will Schade

Will is known for odd additions in his art pieces. He spells like a third grader, has odd humor in adding irreverence often directed towrds biblical prophets and saints, and leads the viewers to acknowledge the mastery of draftmanship. He finds ways to humor by sinking to low points in his work.

This text was one that i couldn't really get into for some reason. It could be that I just don't have much interest in it. Not trying to say that he isn't an interesting artist, but it could be how the text talks about him. It's not holding out some certain hook that i can grasp and hold onto in order to get full understanding of his work.
Then again, it could be how I'm feeling at the moment which isn't very good.

I do know that i like his route of putting childlike qualities into adult-like work. For example he could have a complex drawing, but a child's handwriting talking about something simple. Or he could have a child-like drawing, but text that speaks through the mind of a 30 yr old.
I like the contrast that tends to have an affect of how you see people. When you think you have your view of them, something else completely throws you off of what you thought of them in the first place.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Thomas Kinkade

Kinkade's goal seems to be not focused on individuals, but everyone as a whole. He wants to spread his vision of peace and harmony throughout the culture. He's also creating art that appeals the the majority, not just a certain specific area of people.
He is known as the "Painter of Light" yet can be called the Sun King of Art since people are captivated by his pieces of cozy Cottages, blossoming gardens, picturesque waterfalls, and many more that seems to have the theme with nature.

Personally i think my mother would love his pieces. They have a way of making you want to escape reality for a bit and enter that little dreamworld of his inside the panel. Would i love to sit by the lake on a sunny evening outside of a warm cottage waiting for me to enter.
His paintings are like a stress reliever for all to just be able to take time from our busy schedule to sit back and daydream as long as we please. I know i already do. Lol XD

Mathew Ritchie

Ritchie's work offers more information that the human mind can comprehend at times. He tends to ignore space and time and focus on the third part which is expansion. To me expansion tends to mean that he goes outside one's knowledge, their perspective of things. He wants to make you think about what it is that you are seeing and try to wrap your mind around the idea itself.

His art is mainly material for you to learn and take into your own understanding for he is basically the teacher and the viewer becomes the student. To the fact that his work isn't sophisticated nor easy to understand, he just shows a complex art scheme and expect the viewer to get it. Think of it as a video game where he tells you the rules and you are to learn them then play.

To him a baffled audience means a failed endeavor. If the people did not get the message at all nor if they understand what it is that he is showing, then I suppose in his eyes he did not teach the material well and must go back to re-teach what it is that the viewer did not understand.

Alix Lambert

Alix bases her work on real-life experiences. To be more specific it's focused on life-transforming situations. Whether it is seeing someone in the hospital getting surgery, encountering death, seeing an accident take place, etc.
It doesn't have to all be tragic or drastic. She goes off of the emotions of love, commitment, jealousy, trust, compassion, and others.
The artist designs activities that take place each day. It's her way o f making up for all she's missed in her life since she grew up in a quiet, sheltered, calm neighborhood where one wouldn't really experience such events as shooting, sex before marriage, drugs, and so on.

This factor right here makes me wonder how is it she felt when she actually got out of her neighborhood and into the real world. To think that one was able to grow up with no major issues of worry such as alcohol, being raped, death, and ect. It's funny how those that grow up in rough areas wish that they can live in easier, safer places. And that those who grow up in safe, quiet areas want to be around the danger/excitement of the world. So for her to step out of that comfort zone and see the world for what it is must have made quite an impact on how she wants to go back and experience all that she's seen aka missed out on.

Hubert Dupret

This artist focuses on the history of art: the different inventions that expanded the art world, the new ideas that developed over time, how everyone's view of art started to change as people began to branch out more and try "daring" pieces not knowing whether they are going to be hated or loved.
To be honest i'd be kind of afraid to be one of the firsts to branch out. Back in time i'd probably make a piece but never really display it due to some of the negative feedback that I'm sure many artists have recieved. However in today's time one mustn't be afraid to try something new. For now, just about anything is accepted. Sure there are going to be a few that dislike it, but at least you made your step in putting your piece out there for the world to see. I'ts like "hey! look what i made!!" lol

A lot of technology got a change in the art world as well.
Photography invention added a lot to still life images representing a moment in time. Computers are now made to where you can modify just about anything. Whether it's a still image, a sound, a video, even words on a document. All you have to do is know the skills behind the technique and there you go. Interesting how far the art history has changed throughout the decades of time itself.
Dupret was also trying to get into the resurrecting of art history to be more specific. He mentions how an artist is to seek inspiration whether it's through themes, images, forms that compromise annals of art, etc.
However, his one main goal in many of this pieces is to provide an emotion, a surprise, or even a wonder to the viewer. Surely we all try to get a message out there to the viewers as artists. We want them to be able to understand what it is that we are thinking, trying to say, or see the idea through our point of view. If we can get that message across w/o actually having to say it, then i say that's an accomplishment all on it's own. However it's always going to be the few that never get it.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Scott Grieger

Why have only Camo cloths in your piece?
Why have the wall in red with world map?
Why have a digital clock/timer?

The artist doesn't use wild creative imagination or dwell into dark sorrowful thoughts for his work
- resides in commonplace experiments and normal models of perception
Likes images that are ignored
- logos and illustration
Takes them, manipulates them, then sends them back into the world
-to unbrainwash people
- change their view of thinking when they see the logos in a new defined way

Why choose logos and illustrations?
*interesting how people become drawn to one meaning behind something. Yet, as soon as you display that object in a different form, the meaning immediately changes.

"I believe change actually comes from the thoughts of many individuals."

He enlarged a large map of the earht on a large cloth that was all casted in red
- red means "warning"
+ "emergency hot"
- true state of the world: threatened with inferno, eruption
+ unless we head the artist warning
*Clock or timer on the cloth could mean that we are loosing track of time or that time itself is running out until the fate of the world falls
* that is...unless we do something about it first

Julian LaVerdiene

Why is there a safe falling?
- reminds me of the safe from Titanic
+ muddy, old looking rusted
Why does the safe have wheels?
- easy to move around? too heavy?
Just how many lights did the artist use for his piece?
- how much power was that? (watts)
- was it time consuming?
- hard to set up?

Artist sees the Legend of Faust as an inspiration
- infuses his art with the power to inspire original achievements in others
Imagination, motivation, and curiosity are his main concerns
- it's what shapes his art
+ not events from his past

Enjoys finding people in history who have not been honored/ celebrated
- Does he see them as hidden heroes or something?
Julian feels that people take pleasures/ get caught up in change
- that they don't try to remember the past
+ of which is the starting place of how we came to be in today's time
Artist is inspired by missing chapters in history
- loves the gaps, unofficial documents, forgotten/ rejected information
Why does he love this so much? Why forgotten history?
- loves the mystery behind it?
He feels things seem to be incomplete because of our time being accelerated
* We don't take the time to just calm down and look at how far we come or appreciate what we have. As soon as they come out with the next thing, we abandon the "old" object as we call it and toss it away like a broken mass. Especially when the media gets involved and displays it in a way where you HAVE to have it.

His challenge is to distract us from the perpetual renewal of available and glittering enticements
- so we can develop our own creative potential
He addresses the truths ignored in our official versions of history
- yet, his main concerns exceed sitting the historic records straight

"I see corruption and unhappiness, but today is better than yesterday. Tomorrow will be better than today."
*i love that quote because it speaks on a positive note. Even though the world as we know it is full of chaos, hatred, and torment, it's still good to be alive today than it was yesterday. We still have the power to change the world today so that we can have a better tomorrow. We should also thank the fact that we are still here and able to accomplish our dreams when someone didn't get to have that chance...

Arnold Morales

Why is it that the works are mechanical?
Why have only metal?
Do they move at all?

Why is it that the artist makes his works cause fear? light injury?
- the pieces of art he has tend to hit the viewers or even shock them

Had a life-death experience when an attacker placed a gun against his head and fired
- the artist survived
- it changed him and his art

Interesting how the artist takes note of what responses he gets from certain actions with his viewers
-hot water: tantalizing as well as distressing
- blinding bright light: releases aggression even among those who normally denounce such act
- zapped with bolt of raw electricity: attracts as well as repel

*It's like he makes his art pieces no tot display them, not to show you what he can do nor express himself, but to see one's reaction to a sudden action.

He always wanted to do similar things long before the gun incident. Had numerous near-death experiences mostly due to curiosity; to see how things worked.
He learned to fix things off of his mother giving him things to fix.

Why is it he always wants a reaction?
- when a child, his mother never was overly concerned for his safely when he did dangerous experiments
- nor was she too thrilled when he showed her his finished piece
So he strives to get that reaction from people any way he can

Enjoys new rules, different spaces one isn't used to
-likes the unexpected
Even though he enjoys being over others, like a bully having control over individuals, his viewers still have a good time.
- they don't feel completely like victims
- it excites them

Charles Ray artist

Why is there a naked man? No, mannequin with a real private area?
- Why not another part be real? Like the face?
A clock with legs? Why have legs hanging out the clock?

One thing about the artist is that he wants to draw attention instead of expressing an emotion.
Why draw attention? Why not show your nature through your artwork like everyone else?
- there's no need to be drastic
- it is simple, but definitely not boring

The artist tends to create offbeat situations
- make you feel awkward
"What drugs do is redesign the world a little. Not too much, just enough to make you realise how fascinating your surroundings could be if you really paid attention."
* to be honest i love this quote
* it's actually quite true
- simple objects become amazing

Doesn't really shove his artwork down your throat/ doesn't let you get the idea quickly
- wants you to think about it/ take your time to analyze it
+ basically to let your mind wander a bit
But what if one's mind were to wander in the wrong direction?
- what if they get the wrong perception?
- does he actually want them to guess right? or does he enjoy different outcomes?

His ideas of his works are done from his experience in childhood. During his memory lost every little thing fascinated him.
Why is it the artist did not mind not knowing who he was?

"We rely on the reliability of clocks"
* i always say that time is just a bunch of numbers that we wrap our lives around
* when you think about it, we have all the time in the world to do as we please
* we don't have to always follow a set schedule

Placing a part on a mannequin that isn't suppose to be there
- yet on the human body it's appropriate
+suppose to be there
- simple act changes the meaning
+ no longer is just a mere mannequin for dressing up in clothes

The artist basically brings his ideas to the table in different manners.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Comments on First Reading Assgn.

Pages 8-11
To be honest, this was the hardest part of the reading for me to understand. I had to re-read it many times before I could come up with an idea of where the author was going.
It's interesting to learn how society is able to easily adapt to changes. I'm sure we all know this but we don't really think about how quickly we abandon something just to have the new item being put out on the market. Or, it doesn't have to be a new item. It could just be a new idea that everyone just follows through with.
However I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to move on to new attempts, I was just commenting on how fast we quickly forget where it all began sometimes.


Pages 16-17
I like how it talks about audiences reactions and the importance of how it is for an artist to grab one's attention. I can understand how hard that is because even though you try to grab their attention, you don't want to do it out of your style to where it doesn't represent you. So finding that balance between your style and society's can be pretty challenging. Especially when going up against hundreds of other pieces from around the world.

Pages 112-124
Reading these pages made me think about the things that inspire me to draw, write, or do whatever comes to mind. Being an artist I do draw, but whenever an emotion comes i mostly write it out. My main inspiration to draw is when I see the works of many others and how they first started out. It makes me remember that they had to begin as well and that I can make it just like they can. My goal is to make my art appear in the Rowe Arts Gallery by the end of the semester. ^_^

Pages 194-195
People in fact do try to make an "image" of themselves. With the technology we have, we can do almost anything we desire to our bodies so that we can fix it to "perfection" as some say.
I'm sure everyone has at least one thing they wish to change or don't like on themselves, no matter how confident. It doesn't have to necesarilly be physical, some wish they could change their personality, others wish to be in a different culture.
Reguardless of whichever, we can do some "editing" but a person should never completely remove who they are. At least preserve a piece so that others can still see the original you inside all that change.

Pages 282-283
When being asked what i wanted to be back in middle and high school i kept saying "an artist". Never did I realise how difficult my answer was. So many opportunities, directions, jobs, professions, I was completely lost. Perhaps I wasn't ment to be an artist. Or so I thought.
As time progressed I noticed how I loved to do all things in art. From singing and dancing, to drawing and painting. Even if its arts and crafts I'd do it. However, I loved computers and was good with them. So, why not combine them?
My decision was made when i found out about the field of Graphic Design. And so my path was set. Sure we all get a little lost along the way, but as long as you're willing, anyone can figure out their "mission" as an artist.

Page 354
Graphic Design has branches too of where to go. Whether it's web pages, animation, photo editing, my main concern is to learn them all and become better so that I may reach my goal: to be a graphic designer in a famous industry. I want to be sucessful in everything I do.