accumulation proposal

My project has changed a lot since day 1. When I first heard about this project, I just thought of something easy to collect and that was soda cans. As I thought about what to make I thought I would just make some kind of representation sculpture of something that could help the environment. I would make that be out of soda cans to juxtapose how cans are usually littered and trashed but could be recycled for something good. As I went through the semester I realized that wasn’t very conceptual and I have become somewhat aware of concept in my artwork now. I don’t need to create work that is so easy to see. It needs to have meaning and people should have to work or use their brains to figure out what I am trying to depict.


For my accumulation project, I decided to do a continuation of my project 3. As I talked about in project 3, I have been doing study on urban sprawl and urban sprawl is pretty unplanned development on the big scale. Urban sprawl is a very big problem when it comes to the environment and I would like to really show how this is a problem. I would also like to make another sculpture to show a possible solution to urban sprawl, one that depict what we call “new urbanism”. This is a place that is has multi use buildings. For instance, one floor is a retail section and the 2nd and 3rd floors are high density housing units/apartments. There will also be single family homes that go in the well designed area, not just in cul-de-sac forms.

general idea of what it could look like, just think about

a couple thousand more cans.

Site: the site I had last time was fairly good because it kind of gave off a gloomy feeling. I think I would love to make this project in a junk yard or a trash dump. This would give the real feeling or mood that I want to convey. I think urban sprawl is nasty and the city would be a much better place if it cleaned up a little bit. As for where I’d put the sculpture of the solution, I think I’d go with a construction site. This would depict the fact that we are starting over and trying to build something new.

Materials: for my sprawl piece, I will have tons of different cans and bottles. This represents the different kinds of buildings that come along with sprawl and they will be separated so you can see the division of the land. I will also have a crap load of cans to represent the problem that I see with it; that it is overcrowded, dirty, and harmful. Unlike my last project, the amount of cans will be overwhelming this way you will feel like you’ve just been hit in the testicles. Its not a good feeling. For my solution piece I will also use cans and bottles to show the different types of buildings, but unlike the sprawl piece, the new urbanist approach integrates the different buildings so there will not be a clear separation. Like the sprawl though, there will be a lot of cans, it will just be more dense and neat to show that there was some thought behind what was happening.

this is the different kinds of materials i will use. notice the different size

of cans, differnet types of cans, and bottles; these will represent the different

types of buildings

Scale: I want these to be massive. I want people to walk around and through these “cities”. It should be experienced so that maybe I can make an impact in other peoples lives. This is a problem, and a big one at that so that it another reason. I really want it to be big so it smacks you in the face and you have to experience it. I want to have thousand of cans for just one sculpture so it is going to be one heck of a process to make this.

how creativity is killing the culture

i dont know if creative people need to be stopped. i think the people who tell people to be creative need to be stopped. if people are truly creative, they will be creative, they will come up with original stuff. most people do what is pushed on them, not what they want to do. in a way people do need to be pushed but if they get pushed and dont change then they arent really wanting to and probably shouldnt be the ones being creative. i think pushing someone a time or two is fine but i dont think everybody needs to push me into doing something i dont really want to do. for instance when melena pushed me to get away from the literal, i didnt really know what to do, but i stuck with it and figured it out, ultimately helping me become more creative. whats crazy about this though is that it makes me think. to be creative, i dont need to be completely innovative, i need to know what ive come from, what my subject is, etc. i need to see what history was like in order to see where i can go. i think that if creativity is grounded in history it can make the culture richer, not kill it. it may even create culture.

planned chaos?

"Planned Chaos?"
6"x48"x36"
aluminum cans

sources for ideas:




urban sprawl: general concepts


marcel duchamp "the fountain"

answers to questions:
the sources will make my ideas richer because i will know more about what it is
the audience would be anyone. i kinda want it to be a learning experience
the audience could walk up to it, walk around it, and get a birds eye view of sprawl
i think photos will be able to show you everything you need to see


i am deciding to major in urban studies and one problem that is always arising is that of urban sprawl. urban sprawl is basically development that is either unplanned or not carefully planned. it is low density development, single family suburban housing, that is usually spread out across the land. it is not very efficient at any means. it has more negative effects than positive ones on things like environment, transportation systems, etc.





i was thinking alot about what to use and in art history we saw works of art by marcel duchamp. he seemed to questions alot of things, for instance what is art?, how do we make art?, is it even something that we make? his piece "the fountain" is a urinal that was flipped upside down and he concidered it art. he even signed it? but it really make you think about art in a different way. he made me want to make something that might not be considered art?




















i chose to use soda cans as my media. first off, because its something that is mass produced and i didnt make, so could that be considered art? i wanted my piece to be one that might not be typical art but got peiople thinking about what art is and what my subject is. secondly i used cans because with sprawl, you usually get these buildings, mainly houses, that basically look the same but have small differences. i call them cookie cutter houses. other than the brand of soda, the cans look the same.





the way i chose to arrange this on the site kinda gives the viewer my attitude toward the subject. since i want to become an architect, i will need to think about originality, plan with the city, and use specific site which is exacty what sprawl doesnt do. i think sprawl is trashy, unorganized, and chaotic; this is why i just dumped the cans everywhere.





i chose to put my piece on a piece of cleared out empty area because that is what sprawl does. the developers bulldoze the land and there is nothing underneath it. sprawl doesnt interact or take the environment into account. it also shows my negative view because there is nothing spectacular about that site. if i were to put it in a place that had green grass or flowers mhy attitude may be a little more cheerful, but thats not my view. the place also helps to achieve my trashy look.








source quotations:


Samuel R. Staley, Ph.D., "The Sprawling of America:In Defense of the Dynamic City", http://www.reason.org/ps251.html#_Toc440269869, april 18, 2008








Bonnie Nobles, class lecture on April 7, 2008

yukinori yanagi

why ants?
is there a theme of nationality?
where is the works viewed?


the first 2 questions show an artistic attitude? the artist's attitude is shown through their work. the answers to these questions show his attitude toward a subject; one of the relationship between animal and person. obviously comparing humans with ant shows that he views us similar in the way we operate as an individual and society. the second is how he shows his view on certain works. what his nationality/identity is or how we as a group of nations are easily toppled by things that shouldnt be able to do so. as an artist the way you create art, what you use to create it, and even who you create it for helps determine the attitude of the artist. i think attitude is created not thought about before it is created; or at least thats how attitude happens to me. its a byproduct of your work.

would the type of ant he used change the meaning?
how about the nationality change the meaning?
would making renderings from an ants eye view help relay a concept?

arnaldo morales

what exactly is his work about?
is his work meant for everyone to view?
where is his stuff meant to be displayed?

morales's pieces are like hoaunted houses. they usually evoke some kind of fear or distress but still people come to see it. they want to experience it because they are curious and if they didnt want to experience it it will "experience them". i really love this people because its truly meant to be viewed by everyone because everyone has fear and no matter if you want to participate in it or not, when you come close enough it comes for you. its crazy how people are attracted to fear like this. most people go see scary movies or haunted houses because maybe they re curious. morales wants you to be subjected to this to learn how people react, to get them interacting with his work, and to get them to communicate with others. his thought is that if you experience violence, you can learn from it and make strides to lessen it.

would his stuff have more meaning if it were placed in violent areas?
would violence be reduced because of it?
would that work for positive aspects of life? will it keep positive things positive or turn them negative?

daniel joseph martinez

is his work aout one races struggle?
is it about social issues?
does he do it to get a rise out of people?

this guy is very interesting. he doesnt just do work for one race or one social order; its about anything that people dont or cant talk about. he says that no matter what the review, if people talk about his work then it is successful. he doesnt think success is in money or fame. i agree with that. i think to be successful, you have to accomplish what you set out to do. if you want to open up unopen issues and you get a rise then you are successful. a good review or a bad one is not a measure of how successful a work is. some people are more about making money or getting fame. they arent successful artists no matter how much they make. i think success is shown by people pushing the envelope and the outcome of that.


can he get more responses out of people or is he done?
is he as rebellious as he thinks he is?
what would happen if he attacked just one issue instead of all issues?

julian laverdiere

are most of his works tributs/memorials?
what is his inspiration?
who does he make his art for?

have you ever been told that artists are dumb or so stoned they have no idea what is going on? i have and i dont like that stereotype and i dont think its true at all. most artists works have complex meaning behind them. julian's art is the same way. he really knows his stuff. he is concerned with imagination, curiosity, and motovation and is inspired by what happens in the past. he takes important events in history that arent really documented and put his imagination to work to show what happened. he makes his works for people to understand what happened and to motivat or encourage them to think about what happened. i really like how he depicted the first attempted trans-atlantic telegraph cable crossing. the f.a.t.a.t.c.c. was one of the monumental events of the communications age, but nobody really knows about it. it actually ended up failing. jullian actually built his sculpture to show the tragedy of this event and make you see what happened, but also to get you to think about how it changed history. he wanted to resurrect the memory of the people who dared to make this invention. in a sense his sculptures are tributes but its not consided one; it is just to make you think and get involved.


would the f.a.t.a.t.c.c. be more justified in some other site?
would it be as effective if it were just a painting?

accumulation 4/25

i have finally realized what i want to do. my minor has is urban studies. one thing we study is urban sprawl. basically it is unplanned growth. people just build and have no plan for what is going on. my project is still going to be about the environmetn like i wanted but its a lot more than my original idea of doing another symbol.

pollen

i thought trying to accumulate soda cans was a pain in the butt. i would hate trying to work with pollen. this is exactly what wolfgang laib does. he collects pollen for years and makes sculptures out of it. he also uses rice, beeswax, sunflower oil, etc. trying to collect large amounts of things can be frustrating, especially when you have no control over how much you get. his works take time to make. im not that patient. i get an idea and i have to go work on it immediately. i really respect the patience he has in order to make it. it also has an affect on how his work is viewed. when i first saw it, i was like thats dumb but as i read and found out it was pollen i was like holy crap that is crazy. it put into perspective how hard it must have been to do that. and that to me is what is interesting.

unconventional

this class has seemed to get me to transform things and use them as the shouldnt be used. john bisbee seems to do that well. he dumped a bucket of rusted nails out only to realized the nails had rusted together and formd something totally different. so he ended up using this concept to make his art. he welded, hammered, and bent nails to create his works. some abstract and some recognizable. point is he used an unconventional media to create his work. i kinda like it. i like it more for the process though. i understand how hard it is to be unconventional and stuggle with that daily. so the time he puts into making his piece as well as to figure out how to do it is something i find intriguing.

classic struggle

there is just something awesome about carvings in stone. im not sure if i just appreciate the process behind carving or if it is the final look of the media, or even both. the sculpture sampson and the liion by gleb derujinsky is just phenominal. it is nice to be able to see some sculpture of the human form in the midst of todays very conceptual contemporary art. the smooth flow of the piece and all the detail of the muscles are crazy. the fact that someone can work and smooth stone to show that much movement is insane. this also has some meaning to me because i feel like i am sometimes in a struggle between my old self and the one of me trying to grow. sometimes i feel like i really try to fight off growth because im scared or vulnerable and other times i just let it consume me. but it is always a struggle the same way there will be struggle between man and animal.

art and science

structures of science have are very appealling. take scientist/artist julian voss-andreae's work for example. he takes things from science and make them sculpures. every thing from concepts to molecular structures. and its all appealling. i just like the forms. there is alot of energy flowing through his work. throught jagged lines and curvey smooth objects, i see plenty of moverment. i love the feeling that his stuff might just get up and move or just hover. it really justifies his subject. things in science are always moving

negative review

nelleke beltjens work is very simple. a little too simple. i seem to think simple is better, to an extent though. her pieces are complex like others, but their simplicities take away from their complexity. her inspiration is american landscapes; the openness. the way she made her pieces and displayed them doesnt portray a landscape to me. she has these simple forms, mostly rectangular and geometric, and places them on gallery floors and walls. i think if she would have been more aware of the site, it might would have been stronger. if she would have put these figures outside, i would see it. when they are placed inside i see them more as stepping stools or things you could sit on. i dont see the connection tht she wants me to get

new source of insparation

there is just something about architectural drawings and floor plans that appeal to me. i dont know if it is the complex thoughts that are conveyed through simple simple geometric designs, or the fact that its just visually stimulating. whatever it is, i really like don gummers piece, falling water over broadacre. gummer takes copies of floor plans and overlaps them. he makes sure they fit aesthetically. he then builds and paints them. its so easy but yet the 2 actual planes and the plane that is made by shadows make the piece so interesting. to me it makes me think that while these just seem simple, the thought behind it is utterly complex. knowing how there are reasons behind the layout of a floorplan and then he goes and places 2 different plans on top of each other kinda floors me. to think something so complex could be displayed so simply is a good concept. i really want to do something like this

continuing bodies of work

we have sort of touched on continuing bodies of work in class. until then i just figured they were of the same subject in the same meaning and they kind of have the same look to them. artist, Anna-Maria Bauer did the opposite. she was inspired by the geometric qualities of a turle shell and she has been doing works that are based on geometic principles. the thing that is different from what im used to thinking is that her work is done in many mediums. she uses steel, copper, brass, wood, stone, and so on. before i knew this, i just thought id get bored looking at a continuous body or ork because its basically the same thing. the fact that she uses different mediums keeps her art fresh. it also shows she is diverse when it comes to how she wants to make something. that serves importance to me because i used to only work with pencil and paper and as im growing, im learning new materials and its not easy, but it makes my works much more interesting cuz you have something new to look at

metalmorphosis

take the most recignizable feature of a person, the head, and make a work that distorts that image to the point where you dont even recognize its a head. thats exactly what David Cerny did in Charlotte, NC. his piece metalmorphosis was the sculpture of a head broken down into 7 sections that rotate at diffent times via computer program so that you dont even realize its a face. as i have learned in this class, people love to be able to always recognize what art is suppose to be. if that were the case, art wouldnt be that interesting. when his piece rotates with its different sections, it makes the scupture almost unrecognizable. people will wait for the head to take its normal shape. thats what public art should do. it should captivate people; keep them wondering what is going on. that seems to be what i am starting to do. my work used to be easy to figure out. now im learning to use different means to get my point across instead of a literal symbols.

4/21

its crazy how much art history influences things in todays society. we looked at some artists who reference things in art history. this goes to show that not much has changed in these times. i hear a lot of people complaining about how much sex is a factor in everyday life now days. truth is sex has always been around and has been depicted and flaunted. you can see this by how women are depicted in magazines, art, movies, and so on as objects of lust or just as body parts and thats it. people think its just recently started but that has been a problem for a very long time ago. this goes back as far as paintings of venus of urbino in the 1530's all the way to picasso and manet and up to now in advertisements. the women of today are are posed/ focused on just like they were then. its crazy to think that how women were depicted back then has to do with how they are portrayed now

4/16

today we saw barbara schreibers work. i dont know what it is but im starting to really like simple things. she took very simple, illistration figures and had comedic commentaries on them. her work was fun and interesting. its doesnt look like it took a whole lot of skill but it did take a lot of patience because of her scale she was working with. i really like how she made these paintings that look like they have no importance, and painted them it on 3 inch by 3 inch squares. at first glance, you could really miss how significant or how much meaning is behind these peices. its cool to see how contradictary the pieces are because it doesnt look like much, but in actuality these peices can be very complex.

4/14

today we saw alot of different kinds of work. it got me thinking, i need to have a portfolio of different things so people dont get bored looking at the same kind of stuff all the time. at least change mediums up or do diifferent subjects or something. just switch things up, keep it fresh, and keep learning and growing.

4/9

today we went and saw will pucketts studio/house/work. im not really sure how i feel about it. i love the way uses simple figures because simple things help get the concept through. i dont like everything i saw of his but thats usually the way it is. but at least he puts himself out there. thats one thing i learned. i need to be able to take negative criticism because not everyone will like it. i also need to just put myself out there and make connections with people. its like people say, any criticism is good because then you know you are getting noticed.

general comment

after looking through alot of these magazines, i still feel a little one sided. alot of these sculptures are gallery oriented and dont come off with very noticible themes. i wish i could see more work whhere the location has a lot to do with the meaning of the pieces. that really helps me understand the concept and what is going on.

4/7

in class today we had critiques again. im learnin the hard way to use new mediums. like my project shows, i feel all kinds of different things right now because im tryin to grow and change as an artist. im feeling all kinds of anxiety because im not used to coming up with all these concepts and trying to make art and document it. it is probably good but right now im feeling a little mixed about it right now

charles ray

1. is he just doing this to get a reaction out of people?
2. i notice he makes one thing become something else. why?
3. what is his inspiration?

answers
1. "kind of". he really wants people to notice things more than get a reaction but i take that as a getting a reaction out of people.
2. like i said earlier, he wants people to use their brain and look at art more than the replication of something. he makes something look normal but when you look closely it transformes into many distortions of what the object reaaly is and changes the mere essence of that object.
3. his inspiration is what he sees i would say. he takes things in every day life, mannequins and firetrucks to name a couple, and his experiences and makes them into sculptures.




as i was reading the author said charles liked to control the time people took to experience his piece. he like to have these sculptures that seemed completely normal and had something that just wasnt how it was suppose to be. when people noticed it, they spent more time on his piece and realized that his work was more than it seemed. i kinda like that because thats how so much contemporary work is today. most of the time i dont really look to much at art because i either see it right away and dont think much about it. after reading this i definately realize that there is more to art than it seems and i need to look for the subtleties in different pieces.

questions after reading:

1. would it be more successful if he would make things so abstract and then as you get closer you see the connections and the object he wants you too.

2. would the change in scale be a good or a bad thing? smaller or bigger?

3. could he do this 2 dimensionally? if so how?

accumulation 4/4

this week i just collected cans. this is what i have so far

im still not really sure what i want to do. i do know that i dont want to do my original idea,

inspiration

one thing this class is doing for me is getting me away from what im used to. im growing as an artist. im regressing back to being a kid. i read an article by rekha ohal in sculptural pursit that got be thinking. it was about how as a kid, you would be full of wonder and optimism. as an adult i am practical and do only what i know or dont do what im scared of. as a kid you learn the most. you try new things, you have to be open and willing to do things. you dont think about what you cant do. as an adult, im so worried about failure and what people think so i do what i know im good at. thats not good as an artist. i need to grow and do new things. keep things interesting so to speak. i need to be more like a kid and forget about fear and do new things. i need to keep and harness that imagination and not worry about what others think. thats the same thing i need to do in life to keep growing

4/2

today in class we had critiques. for some reason in class i couldnt stop thinking about how much i really didnt like my piece compared to others. i think thats because i didnt document it in the correct way. i documented mine by taking still pictures. my piece was fairly large and i dont think the viewer really could get the real experience. i wish i would have video taped it now that i think about it. but the point im trying to makeis that this class has really gotten me to think about documenting my work and how documenting it is a big deal. ive never really documented my work and i see there is another thing i have to think about in terms of my work, and this class is helping me realize that

3/31

class today was interesting. it made me think alot about my work and how i would be able to make a living off of what i do. come to think of it, i dont make things that could be sold either. im not so much of a contemporary artist, but my sculptures arent something i could see in peoples houses. at least with the stuff i do, i could eventually make stuff that could beause i dont do so much with huge scale projects. i will definately keep on using the things ive learned about making conceptual pieces with my art as i go on. i can also use this in my architecture, when i become an architect, and then i would be able to make money off it.

growth

"i dare you to jump"
6'x10'x3'
bristol board and fishing line and already existing structures

This project is about how people grow and change and some of the feelings associated with that process. As you grow up, you do things that are comfortable. you don't really stray away from what you know. I tried to depict that by having a strand of bristol board follow a tree. trees are associated with things like shelter, they are stong, and there are good feelings attatched to trees. And like the tree, as you grow you start to branch out, but you are still connected to what you know.

For me, change is something that is uncomfortable, scary, and has a dangerous feeling to it. that is mainly because, i am completely getting away from things i know. i'm doing new things and jumping out hoping i can make it. i chose to depict this by having 3 seperate pieces hanging from tree branches. it shows that there is no direct route to where i am going. anything can change my direction, that is where the wind movement comes in. i am just jumping and hope i make it to my destination, in this case the handrail.

The next part is what i hope happens. change will help me grow and get me away from what i know. i chose to have a structure that hangs off the handrail to show the growth and expansion of my efforts. it also shows the unstableness and danger that i am going through to make it to my goal. instead of growing with the tree, the bristol board goes in and out of the structure showing that i am doing different things, and taking risks. if all goes well i will make it and grow.

sources:

"Modern Architecture: Characteristics". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_architecture (april 3, 2008)

Malena Bergmann, meeting, March 20, 2008

i chose these sources because, first architecture was a big change for me so that was what gave me the inspiration, and second i chose melena because she helped me focus on a new way to do work. i think aesthetically, it was richer because it wasnt so straight forward, you have to think about it a lil bit.

3/28

i finally think im going to make structures out of my cans. i want to get enough so that i can make at least 1 that i can fully fit in and move around in. this will be rough but i think i could find enough to build something awesome. i also want it to be easy to construct but take time to do so i might have some help building it but it would be awesome

accumulation project 3/21

after talking with melena, ive realized that much of my art work is too cliche or literal, so im not really liking my original idea of makind a sculpture of somekind of alternate enery source from recycled material. somehow i need to make myself get behind the concept and work from expression or emotions or something. so now i really need to get thinking in another direction.

class commentary for 3/19

today we had to meet with 3 groups for our project 2. the first group i met with was sarah, allie, and rachael. the idea that i had was to make an hour glass and in the hour glass have reprints of artwork that i have drawn. as i worked toward the top of the hourglass i would have had my more recent 3/d works of art to represent the change i have made over time. the feedback i got is that it was a good idea and that maybe instead of making it all 2/d, somehow i should make it start 2/d and end 3/d. My next group that i had was melena. her feedback is that i need to get away from the cliche images that i work with begause they are so overused it becomes more interesting. after talking to melean i went and had a group session with art, brian, and allyson. as i pondered what i should do now, i thought that maybe i should use replicas of my 2/d art work and start with those flat on the desk and start to build some kind of structure out of those replicas to represent the change. i really like this idea and they said they liked it. art told me maybe i should try to make a still frame movie as my structure progressed and that would deal with my element of time and change.

class 3/17

this trip to the mccoll center was alot better than last time. first of all i liked the art more. im not big on fibers and stuff like that so the art this time was more appealling to me. i really like the fact that alot of the pieces were interactive. it let me physically enjoy the art and put me "in" it. i also like the fact that howard let us in his studio and really took the time to talk to us and tell us how he worked. his art was very abstract looking from far away but when you got close you could really tell there was substance to it and he used all the principles of design in his works. its crazy to me that anything can be his inspiration and it showed because all his works had different themes. it was also cool to see all the individual layers of the piece and that helped show some depth in his piece. another thing that was interesting is how he comes up with his titles. they just come to him, they may come before his work, during, or after its done; but no matter what, he doesnt force it. it just comes. one thing that really stood out to me was that he puts alot of thought into his pieces but he also tries to be spontaneous and just do what he feels. i have a hard time being spontaneos when it comes to my art. i really struggle with just letting things flow and maybe i can find a line where i can think about it but still just go with the flow. i guess thats something i just need to work on.

accumulation project 3/14

this week i havent been able to collect many cans but hopefully next week will be awesome because i have lots of people in the dorm helping get me some cans

class 1/21

today we went to the mccoll center and just looked around and got a feel of what its like to do a residency. personally, id love to do one. i'd get paid to do art, be able to live in a vibrant area to give me some inspiration, and be able to show my work. we got to go into the studio of a sculpture, ed anderson was his name or so i think, and it made me really want to get my own studio and just make art. just the atmosphere of being in there really made me want to get down to work and i think thats what i would need in order to keep growing as an artist after i get out of school

class on 3/10

today we got the magazines and one of the magazines i got was the "sculpture" magazine. i really like this magazine because its what i do. i love to make things physical things that people can touch and interact with. its funny because i have had a passion from drawing since i was in like 4 grade and the first time i took a 3-d class i didnt like it all. i'm not sure if i just got bored of drawing because there is only so much you could do with it, but now i would much rather do sculpture than draw. i like it because i can use new materials and make things as big or as small as i want. i can put these things anywhere i want to. these are just some reasons i like sculpture over drawing. i also like architecture. i hope to do my graduate program in architecture. i love the challenge of solving problems and still being creative and thats what architecture is about. as i was looking through the magazine i saw a sculpture by Sarah Sze called "corner plot" that just seemed to be a pyramid coming out of a sidewalk. after taking a better look, and reading the article, it turned out to be the corner of a building protruding from the sidewalk. the awesome thing is that its a sculpture that is above and below streetlevel. it is as if the building has been "swallowed" by the sidewalk. as you look inside the window, you see that someone was living there. there was light fixtures, a clock, book shelves, vitamins, and so on. the placement is what got me thinking. it is placed where Central Parks landscape and the surrounding urban grid intersect. in class we have been talking alot about time and art. this made me think of how times have changed from the landscape being that of a park, natural and open, to an urban scape of buildings. the significance to me is how the sidewalk is swallowing this building and we are going bakc to the starting point of a natural landscape.

thoughts on class

with all the craziness going on right now, it's crazy to think that something i learned in art class, during this particular time, can be applied to my whole life and make life easier. Organization. getting all these handouts and guidelines made something in my head click. ive always known that organization/preparation will make life go alot smoother, but ive always been the guy who just blows through everything as it comes. i dont plan things out, unless i absolutely have to and i dont put in any preparation time, i just go with the flow. lately that has gotten me in a lot of trouble. i havent used my time appropriately, maybe im getting more lazy or just dont care, and things just seem to pile on top of other things. its crazy that going through all these years of school and 3 years of college, im just now getting to the point where i realize i cant do that anymore. maybe getting these handouts has made me realize that i need to be prepared/organized so i dont get in this predicimate again.

Michelle Lopez

where does she get inspiration?
is she a sculptor?
does she create art for her or an audience?

as i read i realized these questions really had no relevance to what i was readig. her story was one about her and the media and success. she seems very humble and makes it clear that she doesnt think she ready as an artist to be in the media. the funny thing about that is that the media chooses when youre ready. if they think your worth talking about then they will. that in itself should tell you that you are mature enough as an artist to be in the media. not only that, but the fact that she has a galley partnership and is an accomplished artist so young shows that she has what it takes to be exposed. me on the other hand, im not anywhere ready for the "big time". Im still trying to figure out my direction whereas it seems she already found her way. id be honored to be where she is and would just take the media as it comes

Mariko Mori

why the different mediums?
is the work spiritual?
what exactly is her mediums?

i really like how she is using her pieces to show how she sees technology and nature could co-exist. personally i would love if they could co-exist but i dont see that happening. technology is pulling us away from nature. we no longer depend on the things we have in nature to get us by. we dont get to the outdoors. we stay home and watch television or listen to music. technology is having a good and bad effect on us. obviously it has help give us resource and entertainment, but its made us lazy and we take to much for granted. there has always been a stuggle between nature and technology and there always will be that struggle.

why use the new media to depict ancient things?
does the use of technology show shes for it or against it?
is this just a fantasy or does she really think it would happen

Kim Jones

Questions

1. what is his inspiration?
2. Why is his work done walking down streets?
3. Does his work deal with fact and fiction?

answers and insights:

i can relate to him because he went from drawing(a 2-d medium) to sculpture(a 3-d medium). I like how he took his fantasy of war, his fight with polio, his reality of war, and used them all in his work as he grew older. he used all his life experiences to make his art. i like how he makes his altar ego his piece. his alter ego is the mudman and he uses his sculpture in a performance piece. this is a way for him to use his experiences and talk to others. art is a great way to get to meet new people and have conversations with them. its wierd that all his work deals more with generalizations between what real and pretend and how it becomes fact and fiction. i kind of wonder if he didnt walk down a boulevard and he just sat in a down town area if he'd have he same effect. If i saw him walking down the street i think i would be a little bit freaked out to talk to him so i so how did he come up with this as a way to talk to people?

Scott Grieger

Questions:

1. What is behind the "be here now" installation?
2. What work does he typically do and why?
3. why does he do what he does?

Answers and insights

i really am intrigued by his stuff. the sheer size of his installations kind of show that is very important. i could sit there for a while and just look at his stuff trying to figure out what is going on, unlike i would with kinkead. I love how he took symbols and logos, important beliefs, relationships between military and religion, and things someone really wouldnt associate together and he juxtoposes these images to make intriguing work. i think his work is based on anthropological/cultural things because thats what he knows and what calls out to him.

other questions

1. is his stuff controverial?
2. would his stuff be so moving without the juxtopostions?
3. what if he did them on a grander scale like in an open park rather than in a gallery?

Thomas kinkead

questions:

1. are his lanscapes representing anything?
2. does his paintings come from anything that have happened to him?
3. who does he do his paintings for?

answers and random insights

I chose to do thomas kinkead because ive actually heard of him before. I have seen a few of his paintings and not really cared for them to much. I think he just wants to give people their fantasies and not do what he wants to do. I think thats what makes his painting boring to me. I dont relate to it and i dont feel it has any meaning. he makes his paintings for everyone and he markets them that way. his work doesnt provoke any thought, its all aesthetic pleasure

other questions:

1. Will it stay so popular or will people get tired of it?
2. if it would be conceptual, would i really like it then?

the art world expands

Contemporary art is very rich, diverse, and unpredictable. this allows for more diverse subject matter, interesting choices of media, and many new artists. with older forms of art such as Renaissance, the predominate medium was painting with a little bit of sculture. it is so much more interesting to see new mediums, such as movie making, mixed media, photography, and so on becuse you wonder why the artist chose to do that. did it have something to do with the concept or do they just like the medium? i also like the fact that with contemporary art, you can have multiple subject matter and multi media in the same piece. it's just more interesting to see the variety than looking at the same stuff over and over again. i guess that why i dont necessarily care for art history and what makes it boring.

looking at sculpture formally

This handout talks about how talks about how form, processes, materials, presentation, and so on have different effects on sculpture. i can relate to this because i am a sculpture. craftsmanship can have a massive part in getting your idea across. for instance, i've made things that would have wouldnt get the point accross if i had used the materials i used or constructed it the way i did. One time i made a chair that was made out of broken skateboards and ramp materials to show part of my personality. If i wouldnt have made the backing of the chair in the manner that they make ramps, or not used ramp materials, people would quite get the concept. it would have just been a lounge chair where you sit on broken skateboards. The point of this is to show that the use of materials, presentation, and form have a say in how your work is interpreted

The story tells it

often times a works meaning could change. As a viewer or an artist, life experiences have an effect on the meaning of a piece. Where the work is placed can change the meaning of a piece. What is going on in the world when that piece is made or when its viewed has an impact of what the meaning is. For instance, the identity project we just did had a particular meening to me. it was to show that three particular images make me who i am. a skateboard for what i do, a cross for my religious upbringing, and the fact that it looks like a gravemarker for the lessons ive learned through the losses of people. Now if i would have placed it on the side of a road, it would have taken the form of a monument honoring someone, instead of showing who i am and the generalization it shows. if someone else had lost someone maybe they would have a different intake of it. it just goes to show that just because i made it one way, it could have many different meanings and different experiences make the meaning change

An incomlete manifesto for growth

there were a few things that stood out that could really push me to grow as an artist.

1. Begin anywhere: "not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis." that is very true. Alot of times i just dont know where to begin and i end up getting nowhere fast. An art teacher i had in high school used to always tell me if i didnt have any ideas, i just need to keep drawing or brainstorm instead of focusing on the fact that i dont know where to go. i just need to start somewhere because that is better than nothing.
2. Collaborate: i love to collaborate with people cuz that get my mind flowing. thats usually where i get more ideas, better ideas, and more creative ones as well
3. blank: being blank or open would allow me to get new ideas and work on new processes that would allow me to grow.
4. Stay up late: this could be interesting because when i become deproved of sleep, i do things i normally wouldnt do and that could be great source for inspiration
5. taking breaks and going to different places: sometimes when im in a jam i like to take a break and come back or go to a different spot because it gives me new or rejuvenated creativity.

accumulation project week 6

With this being such a hectic week i havent been able to think or focus too much on the accumulation project. So far everything is still the same.

Who, me?

"Who, me?"
18"x12"x1/2"
broken skateboards and already existing structure




Identity Project: this project really helped me figure out who I am, where i came from, and helped me realize some situations that have shaped the person i am today.

abiding images: skateboards, cross, and gravestone markers

I chose these images/objects because they have greatly affected my life and who i've become. I chose skateboards because thats what i do. I have been doing it since i was 14 or so and i am now 21 so that has taken up alot of my life. It's one of the few things i have been able to commit to in my life. Another image is the cross. I was grew up in a christian home and was raised with those values. Sometimes i stray away from those values but ultimately those values are how i live my live and how i make decisions about my life. And the last thing image that has shaped me is a gravestone marker. In my life ive seen all too many people that i know, and who are close to me, die or have near death experiences. This has fueled me to live life to the fullest as well as remember the negative things life throws at you. All of these things have shaped me to the person i am today and who knows who i'd be, where i'd be, or what situations i'd have gotten into.


Form: I chose to use the skateboards as my materials to make my sculpture for a few reasons. First, i used it because thats what i had. Secondly, skateboarding is how i was connected to one of my friends, who actually died while he was skating. And i used the broken skateboards to symbolize the broken feelings that come with death and grieve. I chose to use the cross because its used as a gravestone marker as well as a reference to religion and the peace and hope that comes through god in time of very emotional experience. I chose to have the cross falling to symolize the "falling" of the people close to me. I wanted to put my peace in a place that had an eerie feeling to it because thats how i feel about death, so i put it in front of a run down shack in the gardens on campus. I wanted to keep the scratches in the skateboard to show that it is a skateboard and i thought because it is broken, used, and has character i should leave the edges of the form rough.

accumulation week 5

i am starting to do some reseach on alternate ways to make energy and trying to make the connection between that and recycling. so far its not going the way i want it to, so hopefully it gets better

accumulation project week 3

Now i have 2 13 gallon trashbags full of empty 12 oz soda cans. I have all diffent kinds ranging from pepsi and mountain dew to sunkist and yoohoos. I will probably make the sculpture with wire to hold my cans in the form i want it to be, but that might change. I still have a bunch of cans to collect before i figure out exactly what i want to build.

invention experiment

For this experiment, I transformed space by making a chair seem somewhat like someone was sitting in it or had been sitting in it. All 20 of my objects were found in my dorm room or around the dorm building. Most of the things have some kind of meaning to me so its kind of like a self portrait in an unusual way. A few of my objects I found when i was hanging out in the dorm, so it relates to the people I interact with on a daily basis.

accumulation project 2

I havent collected too many more cans but I have to decided to make a wind mill or a water mill out of the cans to make the connection between helping the environment by making my sculpture out of something that can be recycled.

accumulation project 1

i decided to collect soda cans. im thinking of doing some kind of environmental sculpture or something.

readings 1

SCOPING THE AUDIENCE:
Doing art for yourself can be a good thing. It can help you release stress, express yourself, free you from boredome, and so on. But one can only get so far doing art for yourself. Finding an audience can help you become a better artist more than doing art for yourself. As an artist, i create things that interest me and only effect me and sometimes i get bored with that and lose interest in the piece. Doing art for a different audience would make me focus more on art that people can learn from, indentfy with, or be consumed in. Focusing on ways to make art relate to other people would keep my ideas fresh and constantly changing and i wouldn't get so bored so easily.

SOURCING INSPIRATION:
The book defines inspiration as something that sparks "a significant beginning, particularly one laden with risks and exhileration." I find this to be completely true. Something that inspires me has some kind of significance to me allowing me to get away from the norms of life and take risks in order to produce something exhilarating. Something that inspires me is skateboarding. I love everything about it from the lifestyles to physically riding my skateboard and doing things that will probably get me hurt or killed. There is just something that lures me into this counterculture, meaning that its not in the norm, and that is the risk; but the reward is when you do something you never imagined you could do and that is exhilarating to me. So for one sculpture project i had to find something that is no longer used for its original purpose and make a sculpture out of it. I ended up making a lounge chair out of broken skateboards, keeping skateboarding as my source for inspiration. This let me stay focused and not get bored with art because i had something to inspire me.

CRAFTING AN ARTISTIC SELF:
Have you ever had someone tell you "Why aren't you acting like yourself"? I have plenty of times. The thing is that depending on your mood, or any situation for that matter, people act differently than normal depending on the situation or mood. It is the same way with art. An atist can have any identity through their work. They may be an angry person, a social person, an arrogant one, etc. As a person you change and that is the bottom line. As an artist you change as well and you can have many different "faces" and still be the same person. That is why i think style has alot to do with establishing your artistic "self" Self is how people identify you, and with yourself constantly changing, you need to find a way to let people know it is still you so i would develop my own personal style. That could be through clothing, the way you hold yourself, the music you listen to, or whatever. As an artist your style could be using the same medium for everything, or using the same technique, or the same concept. You may change but your style will set you apart and let people know who you are.

EXPRESSING AN ARTISTIC ATTITUDE:
What is attitude? To me attitude is something that creates interest. Attitude is also contaigous. I hate listening to people who are monotonous or reading something that has no pulse or meaning behind it. Art is the same way. If it has no emotion or meaning, it is hard to enjoy. It may be pleasing to the eye but thats it. If i put some thought into what i do it makes it interesting to make, as well as creates interest in a public setting. I like coming up with a concept, drawing it or making it, and letting people in the dorm tell me what they think. The ones that have meaning to it, people seem to like more because they can tell it is different and they like trying to make their own connections to it. I think developoing an artistic attitude is something an artist needs to do to stay fresh and keep people, and maybe himself, interested.

Day2

Today I realized how much this class is going to help me become a better artist. Being an upper level art student, I need to start focusing on getting my work out there and I guess somewhat organized. I am so used to professors giving me project and i have to pretty much stick to those guidelines, but when i get into the real world I'm not gonna have someone telling me what to do. It's like life in general. Back when I lived at home, I didn't have to worry about anything, but now that I'm on my own I have to think about everything and make sure that I am on top of everything. It would be great to have quite a bit of freedom when it comes to deciding what I want to produce and how I want to produce that piece, but still being under the supervision of someone to let me know if and when I get off track.

class 1

On the first day of class, I was wondering what the heck I got myself into. I was ready to learn some new techniques and mediums, but I quickly found out that wasn't the case. Now I am going to have to make connections with all my works of art. As I thought about it, concepts studio will probably help me more with art than I first expected it to. I have a hard time making connections between art and anything, I just get an idea in my head and go with it. It will challenge me to make my art mean something, in turn making my art more interesting for me and the people who come across it