Julian Schnabel Response

most interesting thing about the artist:

Julian Schnabel's talk was interesting. I felt that the interviewer was leading Schnabel to talk about things that Schnabel wasn't interested in. The interviewer was also very dry and not really understanding of Schnabel. Schnabel was lighthearted and wearing pajamas for his interview. It was really enjoyable and the relation to Picasso seemed far off at first but there is a clear relation between them.

most interesting quote:

"art is about travel; time travel." Schnabel was explaining how paintings show a length of time. Schnabel compares paintings and art to diary entries. There is a life in each painting and a personal history. He thinks that art history is interesting beacuse people want to know about the lives of the artist at the time. Art is about time travel in this way. The want to understand the history of each piece is wanting to travel through time to understand where the diary entry started. Artists also have to travel in time to create each piece. I also just think Schnabel is awesome for saying art is about time travel.

three words:

History, sarcastic, innovated

most compelling work:

I really enjoyed Schnabel's work. I liked the range of his pieces from plate paintings to paintings on velvet to feature films. I liked his reasons for making work. He was interested in seeing something that he hadn't seen before. He wanted to make work unlike anything he had seen before. So he experimented with work on velvet and work with broken plates. He was highly interested in process. This relates to my work. I want to show process and in the importance of process. He also made things based on creating something new. This was my basis on making work with cutouts. I want to try and create something new.

Julian Schnabel questions

How do you feel about having to talk about Picasso's work along side of your own? Ironic? Honored?

You speak Spanish and French. You have a house in Spain. How is being international affect your work? Do you feel inspired by life all around the world?

international photography awards

applied

Photographers forum show

applied

Trevor Paglen response

Interesting quote:

I found many different things that Paglen said to be very interesting. What Paglen said during his questions portion was "If I'm interested in something than there are 20,000 people interested in it too. They just don't have the time to research it." This was great. I think its a great reason to make art. I think that people want art to have more meaning. Paglen does not think that his interest is anymore complex than anyone else's. He said that he considers himself a regular guy. therefore, if he is interested in these questions than there are surely to be many more people interested in these questions. I think this applies to almost all art. People are all basically the same. If you are making artwork about anything there are many people in the world interested in it.

Three Words:

secrecy, government, research

Interesting work:

I found the most interest in the way that Paglen showed his work, not just the artwork itself. At first I thought it was strange that he was just showing us different pieces and not ever really explaining anything further. Then when asked about conspiracy theories he said that he doesn't believe in them. That he just wants to show the research in itself. He just wants to let the information hang. I like that his artwork was interspersed throughout his lecture. It was hard to determine what was his artwork and what was just research. So this made me think of researching in an artistic choice. The time spent researching these secret government plans was just as interesting or engaging as his work.

Questions Trevor Paglen

Which interests you more, Conceptual art or activism? They are both driving forces in your work but does one drive the other?

What issues do you have with the teams of people you need to create these projects (besides the government) ?

artist Post #9: Kara Walker

"Darkytown Rebellion"
2001
Installation view at Brent Sikkema, New York
Projection, cut paper and adhesive on wall, 14 x 37 1/2 feet
"Insurrection! (Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet We Pressed On)"
2002
Installation view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Projection, cut paper and adhesive on wall, 12 x 74 1/2 feet
"No mere words can Adequately reflect the Remorse this Negress feels at having been Cast into such a lowly state by her former Masters and so it is with a Humble heart that she brings about their physical Ruin and earthly Demise"
1999
Installation view at the California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California
Cut paper and adhesive on painted wall, 10 x 65 feet
"Burn"
1998
Cut paper and adhesive on wall, 92 1/8 x 48 inches

Kara Walker

" The typewriter leaves every flaw intact. When I write longhand, if all else fails, I can draw a picture. I can cover up the errors, the mistakes of switches in tense or grammar. With the typewriter, it’s, “I am flawed, but I’m going to keep trying!”"

"I feel like I’m constantly at step one of learning how to be an artist, or how to make art. I have an idealized folk artist in my mind. . . . I don’t know if it’s my calling, I don’t know if there’s a divine voice behind this, but I know that I have to do it."

-Kara Walker via BOMB magazine

BIOGRAPHY

relation to my work:

Kara Walker is an artist that has been using silhouettes successfully for years now. She received the MacArthur "genius" award at 27. The youngest to ever receive one. She uses her silhouettes to interact with each other and create a narrative on the wall. In starting to use silhouettes I wonder how my silhouettes can interact with each other on the wall. Walker uses these silhouettes to rewrite Southern antebellum history. She wants to turn being an African American woman on its head. She does this by revisiting the South and rewriting who was important. She takes the American history and makes it her own retelling of it. In my work, I am trying to retell my own history. Tell people my story the way it was and I think the silhouettes will help with this. They will be my characters of characters.

interview

website

gallery

Ryan McGinness response

Most interesting quote:
"Why should I make shoes? Well I wear shoes so thats okay."
Ryan McGinness seemed to take his art seriously but not so seriously. His works are lighthearted and lightly conceptual. He wants to have fun with his work. His work is very visually pleasing and intricate. He is very much interested in design and sketching. At first glance the simplicity of the lines and figures made looks simple but then seeing the process and realizing that you could never make a symbol that perfectly represents something else, you understand the complexity of the whole work. That is very satisfying. McGinness's approach to art making and viewing changed for peice to piece but each starts out the same: with the sketch. He also said that he is not interested in making the viewer feel dumb.
Three words:
design, pop, art history
Most interesting work:
The work he did for VMFA was the most interesting to me. Its interesting to see which artworks he picked. They weren't really the most important or coveted they were just the ones he picked. Then it was great seeing the sketching process on how they became symbols. I found it interesting how he thought about art history. Its interesting to think about how art history isn't linear and that it is always building on its self. Working with and for a muesum to create this work is what brings it all together.
Answer to questions:
After moving to New York, do you find importance in your hometown of VA beach? (Not to offend) but do you find inspiration from coming back to Virginia specifically Virginia Beach?He said that he was interseted in how design communicated ideas simplicitcally. Even tough he was unaware of making a life in the art world based off of design he was inspired to create designs when he was in high school.

Your work for the VMFA is slightly humorous and very intelligent. A lot of your work is funny and slightly serious to me. How do you mix lofty, artistic ideas and still make them seem lighthearted, airy and often funny?
Ryan made it seem like he was never very serious. And now he is working on trying to gain more serious projects like the VMFA one. He said that you should only be and artist if you simply cannot deny being anything else. If you have to question being an artist then you just shouldn't become one. I think that since he has to be an artist he is going to make work that is interesting and kind of funny to him. Like his new women series that go up in strip clubs. funny times.

I also found it interesting that he admitted to doing screen printing "wrong". Or at least not how you are taught to do it. Its always refreshing that people admit to this.

idea Post #7: Silhouettes

Silhouettes

Etomology from Oxford English Dictionary:

Etymology: < the name of Étienne de Silhouette (1709–67), a French author and politician.

According to the usual account, which is that given by Mercier Tableau de Paris 147, the name was intended to ridicule the petty economies introduced by Silhouette while holding the office of Controller-general in 1759, but Hatzfeld & Darmesteter take it to refer to his brief tenure of that office. Littré, however, also quotes a statement that Silhouette himself made outline portraits with which he decorated the walls of his château at Bry-sur-Marne.

Silhouettes were originally a cheap way of creating a likeness of someone.

"The silhouette lends itself to avoidance of the subject. Of not being able to look at it directly, yet there it is, all the time, staring you in the face."

"I couldn’t really name these characters or caricatures in the way that the wall texts at the museum ... I think these figures are phantom-like. They’re fantasies. They don’t represent anything real. It’s just the end result of so many fabrications of a fabricated identity."

-Kara Walker

"Art21 . Kara Walker . Interview & Videos | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/walker/clip2.html.

this Interview is about how Kara Walker uses silhouettes and her adaptation of Gone With The Wind. Kara Walker is a contemporary artist today that uses silhouettes in her art work. She talks about race and slavery and the history of African Americans. Her silhouettes are placed directly on the wall and in some works she projects color lights on the the wall as well. This way as viewers are looking at the characters they are also creating their own silhouettes on to them. Walker looks to historical paintings as a hidden inspiration. She didn't realize how much she related to them until she started making work with silhouettes. She understands the idea of creating history through a painting is like setting a stage with the important people of the time. Walker in her own way is telling a different version of history with her characters, set out on a wall that acts as a stage. This creating of characters is quite interesting to me. I do not wish to rewrite a history as grand as America's but just telling my own story with characters I create. I believe I've been doing that all along with the cutouts I've made. Now using the silhouette is creating a whole different cast of characters among the ones I've already created. The history of the characters is growing and changing.

Second edition, 1989; online version March 2011. ; accessed 31 March 2011. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1910.

Ryan McGinness Question

After moving to New York, do you find importance in your hometown of VA beach? (Not to offend) but do you find inspiration from coming back to Virginia specifically Virginia Beach?

Your work for the VMFA is slightly humorous and very intelligent. A lot of your work is funny and slightly serious to me. How do you mix lofty, artistic ideas and still make them seem lighthearted, airy and often funny?

Kiyomi Iwata response

Kibiso Two, 2009, 10x17x13" Raw silk is dyed, woven and stiffened
Kiyomi Iwata

interesting quote/most interesting aspect:

"Essentially what I do in the studio is play!"

This was very refreshing to hear. I found Kiyomi Iwata's work interesting and engaging to look at. She herself was adorable. Her work wasn't overly conceptual. The materials were not overly worked. There is an intricate simplicity to everything about it. When asked why she made smaller pieces she responded easily, "I am the boss! I am the one who must create the work..." implying that her small stature makes it difficult to create much larger works. She then uses that to create concept. She likes the intimacy of her pieces. And the small pieces speak for the larger ones knowing that she had to make small trial sculptures first to then make them big.

For me it was just great to see interesting work that is slightly conceptual but mostly visual. I felt great hearing her speak about it very plainly about process and technique. It was a breath of fresh air with all of the conceptual artists coming to talk and being in senior portfolio where concept is the emphasis. She talked about how she has to work with gold when its colder and dryer because of the adhesive she uses to apply the gold compound to the metal. The adhesive will become too "wet" and allow the gold to oxidize when she adheres it in the summer. This working for the seasons is an old tradition in Japan. She said it feels poetic to make things seasonally, almost romantic. She did not choose to create work seasonally but since she did she related her work to ancient manufacturing and this rises the meaning of the original work. This concept was created post-creation which is something that few artists admit to.

Three words:

scale, recycle, tradition

Most compelling work:

For me the work with Kibiso is very interesting. Kibiso is the rejected part of the silk threads that are never made into kimonos. It is collected and usually just thrown out but Iwata uses it to great gorgeous sculptures. The work does not look like reclaimed trash (essentially) but a beautiful art piece. I think it speaks about her leaving Japan and moving to America. It is how she can recreate her own life in the West by reclaiming her culture in the East.

Kiyomi Iwata questions

Kiyomi Iwata

q: Do you find hidden meaning in using discarded thread from kimono makers? Does this correlate to how you moved from Japan to America?

q: Silk and metal are very different materials. However, you use them in similar ways to create vessels. What commonalities do you see in these two materials? Do they functions similarly to you?

Laurel Nakadate response

Laurel Nakadate

Interesting quote:

Well everything that Nakadate said during this lecture was very interesting to me.

"The world is great-trust it."

This is how she described her filmmaking process. She went to shoot Stay the Same Never Change in Kansas and for many of the shoots she hadn't seen the locations until that day of the shoot. She said that for so many of the location they were just perfect and worked out so well for her. This is inspiring to me to see what she created with little manipulation. I find in my practice I try to do the same thing. I try to let my life go with it. I try to let my work go with what is going on. Or at least I try. I try to be more free.

Three words:

Futile, travel, truth

Most interesting aspect of artist:

I think Nakadate's attitude was the most interesting part to me. She was humorous and serious at the same time. She had conviction with all of the work she made but also had conviction in the silliness of her work. She understood what had to be done. I love that she was interested in the fabrication of recording events. That life has importance after it has been recorded in some fashion. She recognizes the power of photographing or recording an event and the power lies within the camera. She is one of the first artist to say that she finds comfort in her camera and I actually understand. I have not really felt this comfort before. However, the way that she describes it makes more sense to me than it ever has to me.

Most Compelling work:

Once again I found all of her work special and great for one reason or the other. For her work that she did with strangers she describes the situation as: "Anyone that would spend time with anyone at anytime is beautiful." YES. Human connection is a beautiful thing. The fact that complete strangers want to collaborate with her and create art with her is so beautiful. That people everywhere are just looking for connection to others. Nakadate has found so many different ways to reach out to others in her work. It is touching and tender to me. I don't find her work exploitive because the people in her videos just represent what all humans want and live for.

I was able to talk to Nakadate for just a few minutes after her lecture and it was great. She is half Japanese too and she knew I was right from meeting me. Aw best birthday ever.

Birthday Artist Lecture: Laurel Nakadate

q1: How are you always the hunter? Are these men ever hunting you?

q2: How do you feel about using your own body and self in the crux of your work?And as you make feature films is it hard to hand over your ideas to others? Do you find it hard to video other girls creating the art you want?

"I’m interested in discomfort. Discomfort is a place where we’re still close enough to comfort to understand our unhappiness. Most of the things we desire are things that can destroy us."

I think I"m going to really enjoy this lecture.

edit: http://therumpus.net/2009/04/bravery-panties-and-devils-tower-the-rumpus-interview-with-laurel-nakadate/

this interview with Laurel Nakadate is just perfect. The way she describes happiness and discomfort and everything is exactly how I have lived my life since birth.

Artist Post #6: Eleanor Antin

"A Hot Afternoon" from "The Last Days of Pompeii"
2001
Chromogenic print, 46 5/8 x 58 5/8 inches
"The Artist’s Studio" from "The Last Days of Pompeii"
2001
Chromogenic print, 46 5/8 x 58 5/8 inches
"The Golden Death" from "The Last Days of Pompeii"
2001
Chromogenic print, 58 5/8 x 46 5/8 inches
From "Before the Revolution"
1979
Installation at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
Left: "Karsavina," masonite figure on wheeled base, 54 x 30 inches
Right: "Nijinsky," masonite figure on wheeled base, 58 x 15 inches

3 quotes:

"Essentially what I do is invent histories."

"You can find anything you want by going back to the past. You don’t even have to look. The metaphors start erupting all over the place. I've always loved the past because of the relations that I could make as an artist with the present. I don't remember this once it's finished, but I do all this enormous research. Once it's done, I kind of forget it and I don’t remember it too well. Otherwise I would be carrying a trash pail in my head... "

"...I have this love affair with the past. I wanted to be an ancient Greek. And one of the reasons I wanted to be an ancient Greek was because I would already be dead. And I was very aware of this. You know, even as a child you can be very logical. I was very aware that I would be dead. If I was dead I would no longer have to go through all of the disasters and difficulties of living."

-Eleanor Antin

Bio:

Eleanor Antin was born on Feb. 27, 1935 in the Bronx, New York City. Her parents immigrated from a tiny town in Poland. She went to the City College of New York to get a bachelors in creative writing and art. She moved to Southern California with her husband, David Antin, and taught at UC Irvine and UC San Diego.

Relation to my work:

Antin uses cutouts and created scenes in her work. She has a relation to the past that I also share. She talks about how when she was little she wanted to be an ancient Greek. She understood that if she were one then she would already be dead and this was the key. She wouldn't have to deal with the struggles of day to day life and she would have already lived an interesting life. I had the exact same sentiment when I was young. I thought I was going to die young but I also just wanted to have already lived a full interesting life. I never felt that this was a depressing or sad thing. I don't think that Antin's description of it is sad either. I think its something that just was. This is the first time I have ever identified with someone on this topic. It is also the way that Antin describes her relation to her work that deals with the past. Her reasons for creating the work is to understand her own obsession with the past. Its interesting that I am recalling the memories I had as a child and where my insecurities come from to create work. I hadn't considered the ideas of my interest in death as a child, or the understand of death, that was coming out in my work. Antin creates histories of important histories and I am recreating history of my own story.

Gallery

Website

interview

interview

Idea Post #5: vulnerablitliy

" And shame is really easily understood as the fear of disconnection. Is there something about me that, if other people know it or see it, that I won't be worthy of connection. The things I can tell you about it: it's universal; we all have it. The only people who don't experience shame have no capacity for human empathy or connection. No one wants to talk about it, and the less you talk about it the more you have it."
-Brene Brown
"[Whole-hearted people] fully embraced vulnerability. They believed that what made them vulnerable made them beautiful. They didn't talk about vulnerability being comfortable, nor did they talk about it being excruciating -- as I had heard it earlier in the shame interviewing. They just talked about it being necessary. They talked about the willingness to say "I love you" first, the willingness to do something where there are no guarantees, the willingness to breathe through waiting for the doctor to call after your mammogram. They're willing to invest in a relationship that may or may not work out. They thought this was fundamental."
-Brene Brown
"Vulnerability refers to the susceptibility of a person, group, society or system to physical or emotional injury or attack. The term can also refer to a person who lets their guard down, leaving themselves open to censure or criticism."
- Wikipedia definition

anno bib:
Brown, Brene. "The Power of Vulnerability." Lecture. TED Talk. Houston. June 2010. TED Talks. TED Conferences, LLC, Dec. 2010. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. ted.com.

Brene Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston at the Graduate College of Social Work. She has studied shame and courage and vulnerability for the past ten years. She shares some of her insight in this lecture. She shares about her own doubts and fears that came about as she was researching these topics. She had collected data from many people and came to realize that there were a certain group of people that have connections and happiness because they believe they are worthy of it. She calls these people "Whole-hearted" people. These people also have connection, compassion, and courage and ultimately vulnerability. The vulnerability is something the whole-hearted people see as beautiful and a necessity when feeling all of the other "C's" they feel. They put themselves as people out there. Vulnerability allows these whole-hearted people to live connected lives.

relation to my art:
This talk was a suggestion from a classmate after my group meeting. I really see how it works with how is see my art and myself. I'm not sure that shame is present in my work and I'm not sure I want it to be. For me however, I see a vulnerability in my work since I am making it about something that has such a heavy meaning in my own life. I think there is also a fragility in the cutouts I create which allows the viewer to see vulnerability. It is something that I hadn't really addressed outright before but I think it is holding the work together.


"Vulnerability." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulnerability.

Kathy Rose Questions/ response

What, if anything, do you fear when doing a performance?

Have you ever studied dance before?


Kathy Rose
Kathy Rose's lecture was more of a screening then a lecture. We watched all of the performances she'd ever done with film. And then the performances she did with veils and installation and finally all of the video art she created. She said she had points to cover that she had prepared but then just went into q&a part. I felt that I wanted to hear about her process and interests. She touched on ideas slightly but I felt there could have been more said.
best quote:
"I don't know anything about intent"
This summed up how I felt about her lecture. I enjoy work with intent. With a plan/vision that has been thought out before it was created. I think for her videos that she showed last were almost amateurish in the way they were created and then the way she talked about them. I wasn't clear if there was a purpose to the way that different cutouts were selected poorly and why they were floating about in her pieces. She then goes on to say there really isn't a reason made it hard to validate the credibility of her work.
3 words:
Butoh, choreographed, intense (she described her music for a piece as "in-your-face")

I did really enjoy her earlier works. Primitive Movers was incredible to me. The combination of performance and animation was compelling. I enjoyed how the hand drawn animation was interacting with the person that created them. Her movements were very rehearsed but seemed to be loose and interpretive which was impressive.
Rose's explanation of how she doesn't know anything about intent was also interesting to me. She said that she tells her students to let their unconscious do half the work. This is a way that I feel that I could never work. I enjoy the process and planning of image making. However, I think trying to create work in this manner could be helpful to me. Perhaps a sort of therapy from my artistic process.

Artist Post #5: Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle

Installation views from Gravity Is a Force To Be Reckoned With (2009)

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle was born in Madrid and now lives in Chicago, Illinois. Growing up Manglano-Ovalle moved from Spain to the US and Colombia. This combination of living on three continents made his childhood very different from most. Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle's parents are both scientists and this has a big influence on his work.

relation to my work:

I am mostly interested in work that Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle made at MassMOCA. He created an installation Gravity is a Forced to be Reckoned With that is a construction of Mies' design of a glass house. There are many components to this installation including an Iphone that plays various messages to the person that is living in this space. The whole house is created upside down as well which makes the work even more confusing. I like how the work makes me question which way is up. It also creates confusion on what is really the truth of the piece. I want people to question what is real for my photos as well.

2 quotes:

"People think that art fits solely in culture, and that science is not culture. I’m interested in science generated as a cultural necessity."

"The creative process for me, whether it’s scientific or artistic, is driven by a number of forces. And one that I’m most interested in is desire, a desire for something that will change us."

- Art 21

Links:

Gallery

Interview

interview

website

Idea Post #3: Gris-Gris

"Gris-Gris: either an object or an incantation used to make magic, probably from the Mande language."

Gris-Gris." The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. http://www.voodoomuseum.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33.

"The practice of sticking pins in dolls has history in folk magic, but its exact origins are unclear. How it became known as a method of cursing an individual by some followers of what has come to be called New Orleans Voodoo...The practice became closely associated with the Vodou religions in the public mind through the vehicle of horror movies and popular novels."

Haitian Vodou." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_doll#Myths_and_misconceptions.

Anno Bib:

Gris-Gris." The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. http://www.voodoomuseum.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33.

As I was researching voodoo dolls I found that they aren't really a common practice for people who follow the Voodoo religion. The dolls are more of a popular culture invention. Voodoo does use a practice called Gris-Gris that is where the idea comes from however. Gris Gris is an amulet that a wearer creates and sometimes can take a form of the person or a likeness of someone else. The amulet is worn daily and has different properties based on the magic that it is being called upon to use. There can be different stones or other objects that have been blessed that are placed in the amulet. Gris-Gris is also the term for the magic spells and incantations that are preformed. I was disappointed to learn about voodoo dolls being mostly a made-up situation.

Relation to my work:

With each of my characters that I am creating, I want there to be a cherished feel to them. Paul wants me to carry them around and have them wear and tear as I "love" them. People who practice Voodoo and Gris-Gris carry their amulet around each day. Even in contemporary societies in Sengal use Gris-Gris as a form of birth control. There are many uses of Gris-Gris (protection, love potion, good luck, uncrossing a hex etc) but the wearer must be faithful to its amulet and wear it everyday for the spell to carry out.

note: it was very hard trying to find information on voodoo dolls. There aren't any books at the library and most websites looks like this: http://www.calastrology.com/grisgris.html

Artist Post #3: Charles Ray

Charles Ray. Tabletop. 1989.
Wood table with ceramic plate, metal canister, plastic bowl, plastic tumbler,
aluminum shaker, terra-cotta pot, plant, and motors. 43 x 52 1/2 x 35".
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. ©Charles Ray
Firetruck
1993
Painted aluminum, fiberglass
12 ft. x 8 ft. x 46 ft. 1/2 in.; 366 x 244 x 1407 cm

Charles Ray

Bio:

Charles Ray describes his life as a "a peanut butter sandwich that you squashed across the tabletop." His artwork is a part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern art in New York and has won a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts. He was a part of the 1995 Whitney Biennial and then had a retrospective at the Whitney in 1998. Ray receives many awards and fellowships but seems to be lacking confidence and passion. Ray has a laid back attitude and feels average amongst other artists.

Relation to my work:

At first look at Charles Ray's work, there seems to be very little to relate between his work and my own. I find the similarities in our work from the type of work we make. A lot of work that Ray creates is based on trying to understand what is strange or off with each sculpture. Ray makes work that is about being present. Ray tries to create a "present relationship" with his viewers. I think that Ray shows his audience commonplace objects and makes you question why you are looking at a table top or clock. I want to have people have this experience while viewing my work. I want there to be a question of what is real/normal vs. fabricated.

2 Quotes:

"Ray is mischievous, but not sadistic. He calibrates each situation only enough to disrupt people's complacency, not their lives."

"Marketing experts typically spice up their products and then offer them in a conceptually predigested form so that they can be gulped down before attention is diverted to a competing stimulus. In contrast, Ray's work is made for slow savoring."

- Weintraub

Links:

Gallery

Gallery

Interview

Website

works cited:

Weintraub, Linda. In the Making: Creative Options for Contemporary Art. New York: D.A.P./Distributed Art, 2003. Print.

Idea Post #2: Self Image

"I didn't want my picture taken because I was going to cry. I didn't know why I was going to cry, but I knew that if anybody spoke to me or looked at me too closely the tears would fly out of my eyes and the sobs would fly out of my throat and I'd cry for a week. I could feel the tears brimming and sloshing in me like water in a glass that is unsteady and too full."

~Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

"Almost four out of 10 girls in a poll of more than 500 teenagers said their mother had the biggest influence on how they perceived themselves."

-Dara Chadwick

Anno bib:

Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. New York:HarperPerennial, 2006. Print.

This book is about a fictional character, Ester Greenwood, and her descent into mental illness. It is autobiographical about Plath's actual life. She gets great opportunities like going to New York for a whole month to write for a magazine and a marriage proposal and yet she cannot function sanely with these accomplishments. She finds herself constantly thinking about death and eventually ends up living in a hospital after a suicide attempt. Plath describes the fall she has into mental illness but also explains her recovery.

Relation to my work:

In no way am I relating my life or work to Sylvia Plath but the driving force behind my work is about my insecurity of my own life and body. Plath's book deals a lot with negative view of her own self. The beginning is about the character Greenwood's internship in New York and how it should be the best time of her life but she can't get past the materiality and shallowness of her life there. She is left feeling empty and alone about her self. Her insecurity towards the end of this time is something I feel that most people can relate to. A low self image is the subtle part of my work and my life. I never really want to share this part of me. I think the challenge will make my work stronger. If Plath can write a book about her descent into insanity I can make work on my feelings about my self.

Works Cited:

Chadwick, Dara. "Do Mothers Cause Eating Disorders?" Psychology Today 22 Dec. 2010. Web. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/youd-be-so-pretty-if/201012/do-mothers-cause-eating-disorders.

Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. New York: HarperPerennial, 2006. Print.

Artist Post #2: Robert Taplin

I. Thus My Soul Which Was Still in Flight (The Dark Wood)

2008

Wood, polychromed resin

edition of 3

50 x 48 inches x 42 inches

III. Across the Dark Waters (The River Acheron)

2007

Wood, resin, plaster, lights

edition of 3

84 x 94 inches x 50 inches

II. She Turned Away (Beatrice Sends Virgil to Dante)

2008

Wood, polychromed resin, lights

edition of 3

78 x 56 inches x 47 inches

VIII. Get Back! (The River Styx)

2008

Wood, resin, polychromed resin

edition of 3

82 x 64 inches x 52 inches

Robert Taplin

“Among last season’s most haunting exhibitions, Robert Taplin’s ‘Everything Imagined is Real (After Dante)’ (2007-2009) featured nine eerie ‘tableaux’ enacted by small, life-like figures contained in massive wooden ‘shrines’."

- Wilkin

"What is hell? Desolation, godlessness, other people? Interpreting the creations of Dante with inventions of his own, Taplin dramatically suggests that what goes on in your mind is every bit as significant as the world outside it. Everything imagined is real."

- Harvey

relation to my work:

Robert Taplin's work "Everything Imagined is Real (After Dante)" is work made based on Dante's Inferno. Taplins depiction of the poetic inferno isn't the connection to my work. It is the way that he allows you to look at each scene that he creates. Some of his work is viewed from a small frame that Taplin lets his viewer see only a little bit at a time. Then there are other set ups where the scope is larger and the Taplin allows you to see more. This change of viewpoint is how I want viewers to see my work. I want to pull out and have a wide view but also zoom in and have the viewer see only a small portion of a scene.

interview

Gallery

Bio

Website

Works cited:

Harvey, Michael. "Robert Taplin - Reviews." Art in America. 7 Apr. 2009. Web. 07 Feb. 2011. http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/reviews/robert-taplin/.

Wilkin, Karen. "Robert Taplin, Sculpture Magazine | RISD Sculpture." RISD Sculpture | Department Website. Web. 07 Feb. 2011. http://risd-sculpture.com/news_events/faculty_news/robert-taplin-sculpture-magazine.

Idea Post #1: Surrealist Collage

"Surrealistic impulse is still very much alive in contemporary art, and there's a good reason: whether or not it reveals mystic truths, the free play with disjunctive, contradictory and paradoxical images, materials and forms has a way of relaxing conventional restrictions on creative imagination."

-Johnson, Ken. "ART IN REVIEW; 'Surrealist Collage' - New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 15 Feb. 2002. Web. 02 Feb. 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/15/arts/art-in-review-surrealist-collage.html.

"The assembling of materials from various registers and sources challenges traditional notions of heirarchy in a process which treats the fragments without discrimination."

- Adamowicz, Elza. "Chapter 2: Cutting." Surrealist Collage in Text and Image: Dissecting the Exquisite Corpse. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998. Print.

Anno Bib:

Adamowicz, Elza. "Chapter 1: Beyond Painting." Surrealist Collage in Text and Image: Dissecting the Exquisite Corpse. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998. Print.

Adamowicz talks about the opening show of Max Ernst surrealist collages. The show was not reviewed positively by critics but Breton and other Surrealist found the work profound. This chapter tries to define collage. Surrealist collage uses text, pictures, high art, and bus passes all equally as building blocks for the final piece. Every scrap of paper and every work of art is equal in a Surrealist collage. Also, Surrealist collage has a tapping into the unconscious mind for it to be created. Surrealist also use this process to create poems and other works of art.

Relation to my work:

Paul and I talked about how to use my cutouts in a more tactile way. To show their flaws and inaccuracies. This will ultimately be the way of showing the degradation of memory. From the work that I showed Paul he said that the work reminded him of collage. A collection of scenes and characters pasted together to recreate my memory. This was a very fresh way of thinking of my own work. Both Paul and Tom have suggested to actually paste/draw on top of my final prints. Each time I disagree for different reasons. However, I feel that I might try it to see how my prints would function with a disturbance on them.