Week 5: Photography

This week's lecture deals with Photography and I was amazed by all of the work that was shown in the slide show. The main theme throughout the lecture is about how light is being used when photographing people or scenery. Gregory Crewdson and Jeff Wall effectively achieve this process and you can see in their work, Untitled (Ray of Light), 2001 and After 'Invisible Man' by Ralph Ellison, the Prologue respectively. These techniques reminded me of a photo I took in Arizona as my family and I were going to visit the Grand Canyon. On our way there, we stopped to take some pictures of the Hoover Dam and I was able to get a very bright shot of the dam take a look.

Untitled (Ray of Light), 2001
'Invisible Man', 1999-2000

Week 4: Sculpture

This lecture really made me reevaluate how a sculpture can be formed through different kinds of media. I witness art piece that had: clothing, wax, paper plates, steel pins, Styrofoam cups, plastic straws, fishing lines, buttons, tar paper, wood, fabric, and even nail clippings. The common theme with most of these artworks is that they are earth friendly material (excluding plastic). When I was looking at Tara Donovan's Toothpicks I was immediately drawn to how this piece was entirely made from only wooden toothpick and this art work reminded me of one of my 3D sculptures I did last semester called Static Turbine. It was completely made from wood-based materials and I spray painted it with a metallic coat. I hope you like it!

Week 3: Body and Soul

This week discussion is on Body and Soul but also focusing on various issues that are being represented in each of the artists work. Today I want to refer to Lucian Freud's painting, Benefits Supervisor Resting. When I was viewing the painting it automatically reminded of my life drawing class and how we had to draw a nude model and there was a piece that I drew of a plump woman in charcoal and it was my first time drawing a human figure but what was similar between Freud and I was that we both used the same models repeatedly. For me though, it was more of a way to understand how to draw a model in different positions (unfortunately this is the only drawing I have of a nude model) but for Freud, he was interested in how he can learn more from his models in an emotional, physical, and mental sense.

Week 2: Drawing and Painting

These two images represent my experiences in drawing and painting. The first image is an 18" x 24" self-portrait of myself in charcoal. I did this as a summertime project in 2012, just so I can keep my fingers moving and no lose most of the acquired knowledge of how to shade and blend objects or figure without the use of "cartoon lines". I must admit I still have a long ways to go in regards to drawing with charcoal and after viewing the works of Laurie Lipton's charcoal and pencil drawings, it gave me a hint of inspiration in how to use tiny lines as well as velvety tones to render an object effectively. My next piece is an abstract of geometric shapes and I am using complementary colors on each panel and trying to merge them as one unit. I completed this in the Fall of 2010 in my Design Fundamental class at my community college. This was my second time painting (my first was an assignment where I had to design and paint a color wheel) and I am sad to say this was my last time painting. I hope that I can find time to paint and really understand the fundamentals of how to paint efficiently.

Week 1: Pop Art Characteristics

I have been looking through my lecture slides about Modernism and Post Modernism and in particular the Pop Art era. Artists featured in this era are Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, Richard Hamilton, and Andy Warhol and each of their work are designed to look glamorous, popular, and mass-produced. I find myself attracted to these characteristics in way that starts up my creativity juices in my brain to emulate some of their work. In fact, an artwork of mine that I completed this past spring comes to mind. It was hand drawn and edited on a computer to further enhance the glamorous look of my work. The image you are about to look at is my ABC project and the main purpose of me showing this photo is to link together how the three topics mentioned above in Pop Art match the what I am trying to achieve.