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