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.

Rowe Arts Galleries visit 3/22



http://amberdwatts.blogspot.com/

I liked Amber D. Watts’ “New object infrastructure". Her piece looked so real and the composition was very interesting. Due to the 3-dimensionality of the objects that are placed in the piece, it made me want to touch it and see if it operates. Artists who place an object that looks like it can be opened, pushed, spinned makes the viewer want to touch it. This it is a success I think, that is if it was the artist's goal. Another thing that grabbed my attention was that the piece looked as if it was cut from an old house and then placed in a modern gallery. Love the old and new contrast in this piece.

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http://www.pinestreetartworks.com/artists/

The second piece that I really liked was "Graphology" by Carol Golemboski. I got to comment her on finding a way of making two completely different subjects (math and art) harmonious in her piece. It is like she's showing us the exact calculations and notes of drawing. I admire her approach so much because in all the student galleries that I visited I never seen such contrast. The use of white colored media on a black panel makes me think of a mathematician sketching his calculations on how to position a hand while drawing.

Art of 21st Century: Ecology

Robert Adams, Mark Dion, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, and Ursula von Rydingsvard.

The artist that most spoke to me is Mark Dion. To be specific- the tree log that is in the Seattle Art Museum. The log is showing even though the tree is dead it still serves an ecosystem for many creatures and plants. I also admired nature even more when I watched this video. In the room there was an irrigation system, windows that controlled the light, machines that controlled the temperature and other equipment to maintain the stability that is supposedly innate in nature. Nature does all of these environmental necessities by itself. And also when Mark Dion mentioned that even with the most high tech equipment of today it takes a lot of time to cut an old tree and it might be even impossible to do so. As if the tree is fighting for its life.

Photo: http://eyelevel.si.edu/2008/09/mark-dion-wins.html

Environment Project Notes

I chose to work with gumballs because they are all over my back yard and I always thought their pattern to be very interesting. But I got to say that it was very hard working with them due to their spiky texture. That's why I always say whenever you use a medium for the first time, you always have to do a trial or a model of what you are trying to do before you build the big scale piece. Before I presented my project today, I knew that the pictures where the piece looks like a little girl wearing a hat and leaning on the tree would grab attention and it did. So if I had another chance to take a photo of it, I would place "the little girl" on a branch. The little girl would look as if she just finished climbing the tree.This would be very symbolic because the gumballs original location are on the gumball tree.  I noticed that my project also took the form (the swirls) of the creatures that I found in the gumballs. I found a little spider, green worm and other creatures.

Michael Betz McColl artist lecture 3/17/11

The lecture was very interesting and unique. Or in other words, Betz's work was interesting and unique. How he perceives space and how he manipulates it. I never thought of the idea of how we get controlled by the space that is around us. For example, if the table is round we are supposed to sit in a circle. However, he changed the traditional way we perceive space. Like the dining table or the sketch of the circular table with a family sitting inside of it. I also liked the work with the molds of feet. It is amazing how he did the radial perspective of the feet. It is amazing how his mind works. I thought of him as a unique artist when I saw the belly button and the ear plastered on the buildings. When I saw the ear on the building it conveyed a lot of meaning to me even though he only said "I just walked up to the building and got some plaster and made an ear". It reminded me of the saying"even walls have ears". It is like a sign that the building can hear what the residents there are thinking and saying every time they pass it.