Political poster project notes

I chose this theme because I am a Palestinian, its in my blood. Palestine is still a political issue till this day--Palestinians still struggle to live in peace in Palestine. I also wanted to express my nationality in a different way this time. First, I tried it with a T-shirt with a Kuffiya pattern and now I expressed Palestine by using a famous icon--Hanzala. I really liked the idea of alternating a famous icon to get my point across.

Like you said I should tell the viewers what is Hanzala waiting for. I should add this message on the poster "Waiting for peace..." in Palestine which is shown by the colors of the flag I should not add the word "Palestine". I should figure out a way to make my viewers familiarized with this icon without me describing what is this icon, or how famous it is, which will be a little difficult but I will try.

                                                     

Student Union DIGITALLY INCLINED2 4/19

The compass by Karen Pierce
 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/catch-rosie/5137735929/

I liked this photograph very much. There is an illusion of the girl as if she is lifted by the balloons, but I think if the quantity of the balloons were a little more it would’ve reinforced this idea. May be even change the color of the balloons to white to match the background of the picture, which is the sky. I know that it is not a critique and that it is already displayed in a gallery to be judged, but I just want to write about what I think about this image. My drawing teacher used to say: "never draw the subject of your drawing in the center of your paper because your drawing will be too fixed and rigid". She always advised us to draw a still life from a different angle. In this image the subject, the girl, is in the center. I think that if she took the photo while the girl is on the edge of the picture frame it would've been more interesting to look at.

BFA Show in Rowe Arts 4/14



http://nsgarris.blogspot.com/2010/09/taking-out-last-nights-sorrow.html



The work that was most interesting in style was Nicholas Garris' Those Modern Evangelicals. His style is different in the way he draws, applies his colors and how he works with the texture and composition of his work. Also, his titles for the works are most interesting. There was a work for him that I saw in the last visit in Rowe arts where he drew a man throwing trash in the garbage bin in daylight and the title was "Taking out last night’s sorrow". Who knew that you can also be artistic in the way you title your work. The title also could change the viewer's preconceived thought of the painting. I plainly thought he was throwing trash in the garbage bin. That is what he is realistically doing, but there is a symbolic meaning behind it.

Project notes/ brainstorm

This is my topic (finally) the domino effect / revolution in the Middle East. I will do a video of the domino effect that we all know, where the domino pieces one after the other. I will make the dots of the domino pieces match the colors of the tunisian, libyan, egyptian, syrian,... flags. (The rest of the countries who are protesting for their soon-to-be democratic nation. I will make some dominoe pieces resistant to the push that begins the fall of the dominoes because some nations have not achieved what they wanted from the government. Its going to be on video.

CHANGED THE WHOLE IDEA ( MY NEW PROJECT NOTES IS MADE ON 4/26)

Daniel Joseph Martinez and Wenda Gu 4/14

Text notes

Daniel Joseph Martinez

- What is the work about? His work is mostly about exposing political, economical and social issues in the world of today. He wants people to express their suppressed feeling about such issues.

- How does he provoke the viewers? By exposing issues that affect people today.  That helps people relate to what he is trying to help them expose.

- What does he expose? People’s feelings about social, economical and social issues.

- Has his work inspired change? Social, political, economical change? I don’t think so, but however there was one positive outcome which was an anniversary for the artwork that the minority students held.

Wenda Gu

- What is attractive or repulsive about his work? The repulsive part about his work is the medium he used for the Oedipus Refound series. However, the medium he used for the United Nations-China Movement: Temple of Heaven (1998) was a genius move. Hair as a symbol of unity. This artwork was not like any other work I have ever seen. It makes you feel (even though I just read about it) the aesthetics of unity by making the viewers from different ethnicities feel the same feeling of frustration when they see the work because the writings are pseudo-scripts of the languages included.

- Is it political? Why? Yes because his work is reflecting on unification between different ethnicities by using the human body as a solution.

- What is his goal through his art? His goal is to show viewers that we are all one. (In short, Unity between different nationalities).

-Has he gone too far? Yes. For the sake of accomplish his goal he is willing to impregnate one woman from each continent is a bit too much. There will be no unification between people anyway. Symbolically yes. Having kids that are multiracial, but in reality people will still discriminate against people who look different including his "multiracial kids" (not yet).

James Nachtwey 4/12

 

http://viiphoto.ning.com/profiles/blogs/james-nachtwey

Daily class notes

Nacktwey captures the bitter truth. We often forget and ignore people who face such tragedies every day. I mean today when I was watching a morning show, they invited an interior designer and she was talking about which colors are right for today's modern homes, I said to myself some people don’t even have homes to start with. I am not disrespecting the interior designing field, but it was just my thought during that moment. His pictures really reminded me of what is happening around me and made me realize the bitter truth. I don’t know how he does it, but all of his pictures have an interesting composition. There is not one picture that has the same composition as the last one. Photography is really not an easy field like I once thought. You have to capture a picture without any alteration of the truth, which is pretty hard to do when the subjects know that there is a lens watching and capturing images of their feelings and actions.

Art of the 21st Century 4/7

Dialy class notes

The artist that really grabbed my attention in the 21st century video was Cai Gyo Quang. Usually the art making is a quiet process but his art making process has lots of action. I sort of amazed at how he approached the process of art making. Due to my curiosity I decided to look him up on Google and what amazing works I found. These images that I posted are my favorite. His work has this unique taste. He perceives things differently. Like animals that are 4-legged and live on land are seen tumbling and flying into thin air. His work also gives the essence of nature and wildlife. The viewer who sees this kind of work makes him or her feel as if they are in the wild while noticing the strangest incidents.

 

http://leighgillam.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/cai-guoqiang/

http://www.artspeakchina.org/mediawiki/index.php/Cai_Guo-Qiang_%E8%94%A1%E5%9B%BD%E5%BC%BA

Guillermo Gómez-Peña/ Brainstorm 4/5

I liked that he used humor in his work to deliver a message. I think that humor is effective in the matter of delivering and receiving messages of an artwork. I also figured out that political issues are very hard to approach due to the controversy that might be triggered from such issues. You can't please everyone if you approach a political issue. That's normal due to the different points of view. So let me brainstorm here: what is the point of making political artwork, to prove the assumptions of the artist, to shine the light on a political issue, to convince people of the artist’s view. So what was Gómez-Peña's assumptions regarding the reaction of the audience and what was the reaction of the audience that have seen his performance? I think that my project (still don't know what it is going to be) should take these brainstorming questions and goals into consideration.