Shout Out To Aaron Curry

Aaron Curry, 2009

I was flipping through the pages of Architectural Digest and read this article on contemporary artist Aaron Curry (see picture).  According to the article, most of Curry's projects originate as scribbles.  He "traces his visual vocabulary largely to comic books and science fiction."  I have noticed that I have been drawing various shapes in my college classes on the pages of my notebooks.  They are mostly automatic drawings, inspired more by the boredom of class than anything else.  I can see where these scribbles have potential for future works of art.  I even like comic books.  Enjoy!

Design 2, Project 2

Troy Picou

I am starting a new project in my Design 2 class.  It is a hybrid sculpture combining wood and metal.  The sculpture will be a hybrid of visual information extracted from two unrelated objects.  The first object will be my purple violin and the second object will be a garlic press.  Shapes, lines and patterns will be extracted from these objects to create a final sculpture.  The pictured sculpture is example of a wood and metal combo by Troy Picou.

Vincent Van Gogh and Mark Making

Vincent Van Gogh

Drawing is about mark making.  Kit White states, that artists need to "give every mark or line authority and make sure it serves a purpose.  Try to use only the marks you need."  Does this mean to think about every mark or line one makes?  I don't think so, because as an artist matures the ability to draw something becomes automatic and as confidence increases the tentative drawing is replaced with an artistic instinct.  The hand and mind become one, with every mark moving the picture forward to achieve his/her vision.  Enjoy!

Vermeer And Genre Painting

Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid, 1660

According to About.com, "Genre -- typically immediately followed by the word "painting" -- is most frequently used in art to mean "a scene of everyday life." A genre painting has a person (or people) in it doing something."  Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life.  Vermeer was a classic genre painter, where his paintings were mostly of women doing everyday activities.  His use of natural light and colors brings, for me, a meditative and warm sense to the painting.  Enjoy!

An Art Show To Show

Randal Stringer, 2013

Last night I went to an art reception of a show that I am currently in.  The show had a diversity of art, from representational, to figurative, to abstract, to non-objective.  Media varied from watercolor, acrylic, oil, ink, and mixed media.  The show was judged by a local curator, with the best in show going to Randal Stringer (see picture).  Stringer's work was dynamic, contemporary and incorporated mixed media.  Though I won no award, I am proud of the artwork in the show and feel I am improving and growing as an artist.  For me, it is important that I am constantly pushing myself to master technique and expand my creativity in art.  Enjoy!

Wool Over Our Eyes

Christopher Wool

Words are images.  Words are image and thought embodied.  Christopher Wool, according to Wikipedia, "is best known for his paintings of large, black, stenciled letters on white canvases. Wool began to create word paintings in the late 1980s, reportedly after having seen graffiti on a brand new white truck. Using a system of alliteration, with the words often broken up by a grid system, or with the vowels removed, Wool’s word paintings often demand reading aloud to make sense."  I think graffiti artists have know that words can be art, even before Wool started his word paintings.  Nowadays, graffiti artists have a place both on the street and in the galleries.  Enjoy!

What Is Contemporary Art?

Mike Maydak

According to Wikipedia, "Contemporary art is art produced at the present period in time. Contemporary art includes, and develops from, Postmodern art, which is itself a successor to Modern art."  Usually artwork from the 1950's to the present time is considered contemporary art.  Nowadays, basically anything goes with art.  Every genre is accepted, landscape, abstract, figurative, still life, portraits, narratives, representational, non-representational, etc.  Mixed media is very hot right now, including collage work.  Fifty years from now I do not know what the art critics will be calling this current art time period, for it will no longer be contemporary, but I am certainly enjoying the freedom that is currently available.  Enjoy!

Design 2, Project 1

Alice Cook, Project 1

After 9 weeks and approximately 80 hours of work, I have completed project 1(see picture) of my Design 2 class.  Yay!!!  First week had to create a shape and make it into a puzzle.  Then I had to create planar nets for the shapes, in order to make the shapes 3D.  After cutting out all the shapes, I had to fold them and glue them.  Photos then had to be taken, I used close up photos of my purple violin.  The photos were cut and collaged to the shapes.  Finally the collaged shapes were glued to a piece of foam board.  The End.  Enjoy!

Supernatural Art

The "Theotokos of Vladmir" icon,
12th century

According to Kit White, "images have a special power and that is why, through the ages, they have been attributed to have dangerous and magical qualities."  Religious icons (see picture) are works of art, usually paintings, from Eastern Christianity and their functions — whether they are for instruction or inspiration, treated as sacred objects of veneration or worship, or simply applied as ornament, depend on the individual.  Some see religious icons, as having some supernatural power and are highly esteemed and protected.  Any artwork can be powerful, and it is what the individual brings to the viewing of the artwork that is truly powerful.  Enjoy!

What is traditional art?

Bidauld, Still Life, 1810

According to ehow.com, "There is no official definition of "traditional" art paintings. However, the term "modern" art generally refers to any art created from approximately 1860 through the mid-20th century. That said, if one were to compare "modern" art paintings to "traditional" art paintings, one might say that a "traditional" art painting would be a painting in a style similar to paintings produced before 1860 (approximately), while a "modern" art painting would be a painting in the style of paintings produced after 1860."  One could also say the modern art embraces abstraction, expressionism, impressionism, cubism, surrealism and etc, these are all styles after 1860.  Nowadays, I believe, traditional painting also limits themselves to the genre of still life, landscape and portrait.  Enjoy!

Manga Art

Woodrow Phoenix and
Andi Watson

According to Wikipedia, "Manga are comics created in Japan, or by Japanese creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century.
In Japan, people of all ages read manga. The medium includes works in a broad range of genres: action-adventure, romance, sports and games, historical drama, comedy, science fiction and fantasy, mystery, suspense, detective, horror, sexuality, and business/commerce, among others."  In the mid-1990's manga became a big influence in America, and American writers and artists began making manga.  The picture you see here, is a cover from an American artist Andi Watson.  The story is also by an American, Woodrow Phoenix.  Enjoy!

Rene Magritte and Abstraction

Rene Magritte, 1928-29

All images are abstractions.  According to Kit White, "they are never the thing pictured, they are a conceptual or mechanical reproduction of a thing past."  Magritte's painting of a pipe (see picture), with the words, "this is not a pipe," plays into the fact that a painting or photo is not the actual object that it depicts.  When we look at the painting, we say it is a pipe, but it is really a symbolic representation of a pipe.  Magritte stated, "The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture "This is a pipe", I'd have been lying."  Enjoy!

Photography: Is It Art?

Seamus Murphy

According to the Guardian, "for 180-years, people have been asking the question: is photography art? At an early meeting of the Photographic Society of London, established in 1853, one of the members complained that the new technique was "too literal to compete with works of art" because it was unable to "elevate the imagination".  Well, nowadays I would think we would all agree that photography is indeed art.  With photography taught in art programs and hanging on the walls of museums and galleries, photography has elevated the imagination.  Enjoy!

Japanese Woodblock Prints

Hokusai, The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, 1829-32,
color woodcut

Japanese woodblock prints, according to Wikipedia, "is where the text or image was first drawn onto washi (Japanese paper), then glued face-down onto a plank of wood, usually cherry. Wood was then cut away, based on the drawing outlines. A small wooden hard object called a baren was used to press or burnish the paper against the inked woodblock to apply the ink to the paper."  Many artists have been influenced by Japanese woodblock prints, so much so that the word Japonism, refers to the influence of Japanese art on European artists.  According to Wikipedia, "from the 1860s, ukiyo-e, Japanese wood-block prints, became a source of inspiration for many European impressionist painters in France and elsewhere, and eventually for Art Nouveau and Cubism. Artists were especially affected by the lack of perspective and shadow, the flat areas of strong color, and the compositional freedom gained by placing the subject off-centre, mostly with a low diagonal axis to the background."

Kara Walker and Reinvention

Kara Walker

Each generation gets to reinvent art in its own image.  According to Kit White, "it is inevitable that what art describes will reflect every generation's bias of the moment."  Kara Walker is a contemporary African-American artist who explores race, gender, sexuality, violence and identity in her work. She is best known for her room-size black cut-paper silhouettes (see picture).  Once again White points out the influence of society, past and present, on what an artist creates.  It is what the individual does with the past and present that makes them truly unique.  Enjoy!

Turtle Relief Print

Alice Cook

This relief print was carved on mounted linoleum using woodcutting tools.  Oil based relief ink is rolled out onto the carved linoleum block using a small hand roller.  Lightweight paper is centered on the inked block and a burnishing tool or baren is used to rub on the back of the paper to transfer the ink.  Where the linoleum is carved, one will see the white of the paper, the uncarved part of the linoleum will pick up the ink.  Linocut, what this is called, was introduced in the USA in 1910.  Enjoy!

Focus On The Goal

Pablo Picasso, 1907

Focus on the goal, not the distance.  For an artist this is a key phrase.  To master a technique and medium can take many years.  To go from amateur artist to professional artist can be a journey of a lifetime.  Even completing one piece of artwork can take an enormous amount of time.  According to Wikipedia,  Pablo Picasso, before completing Les Demoiselles D' Avignon ( see picture), "Picasso had created hundreds of sketches and studies in preparation for the final work."  I believe the important thing, in art and in life, is to never give up.  For with each step we take we move forward to the life we want.

Jan Groth and Perception

Jan Groth

Perception, according to the dictionary, "is a single unified awareness derived from sensory processes while a stimulus is present."  An artwork is the stimulus that causes our conscious mind and unconscious mind to unite and accrue meaning to the artwork.  I have often stood in front of an artwork with other people, and we all see or experience something different.  According to White, "the artist can control the image, but not the reaction to it."  Jan Groth's work, can be a challenge to view and understand, but it offers the opportunity for different experiences.  Enjoy!

Shout Out To Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Fritza Riedlet, 1906

Gustav Klimt was a Viennese artist, born in 1862.  Around 1897 his artwork took a turn towards decorative curves, suppression of perspective, and use of rich and rare color schemes.  Gold and silver were predominant, showing the influence of Byzantine art.  Klimt's artwork had something in common with Art Nouveau, but had a fascination all its own.

Rain Room

Rain Room, Museum of Modern Art

This summer at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City, was an installation called Rain Room.  According to ArtForum, "after entering the tent...visitors find themselves at the center of a field of water streams from ceiling to floor at the rate of 260 gallons per minute."  3-D cameras search for the presence of visitors and when it detects them, the water (where the visitor is) stops and follows them through the installation.  So basically it is raining everywhere else in the tent except where the visitor is walking or standing.  Pretty cool!  Fear would be a big issue.  Will the technology really detect me and follow me, so that I don't get wet?  Enjoy!

Art Isn't Utilitarian?

Meret Oppenheim

According to Kit White, "art isn't utilitarian, and if it is, perhaps it isn't art." Utility (where utilitarian comes from) means, "the state or quality of being useful; usefulness."  I find art to be very useful, to affect moods, thoughts, words and deeds of a person.  People can be inspired by art, motivated by art, challenged by art, and just plain enjoy art.  How then is art not useful.  I find the designs of everyday objects, like mugs, plates, pens, etc., very artistic and useful.  I would disagree with White, and say his definition of art may be too narrow.  Enjoy!

Human Figure Manikins

Figure drawing can be challenging.  Drawing from a live model can be difficult to arrange and expensive.  So what do artists do if they need to draw a human figure in a particular pose.  What I have done and many other artists, is to depend on small scale human figure manikins (see picture).
The two gray manikins are called Art S. Buck Anatomical Models, and the one on the right is a Blick Hardwood Manikin.  All of them are articulated, though the gray ones have many more articulations.  The wooden manikin is not easy to pose and has limited flexibility.  The gray manikins are easy to pose, but can lose the pose is moved to much.  In price, the gray manikins run around 23 dollars a piece, while the wooden manikin runs for under 5 dollars.  For myself, I use the gray manikins for there more life like look and ease to pose.  If budget is not an issue, I would recommend the Art S. Buck Anatomical Models (the gray ones).  Enjoy!

Art Is Not Self-Expression?

Andy Warhol

According to Kit White, "Art is the self expressing all of the elements of the culture that has shaped it...We filter the ambient information that surrounds us, from our families, from our communities, from the information that bombards us every day from myriad sources.  We do not create this information, it helps to create us."  I would partly agree with this quote.  I agree that we are shaped by society at large, but I believe that each person can bring to art something that is uniquely them that comes from their individual spirit.  So there is room for self-expression in art.  Enjoy!

Design 2 Continued

Alice Cook, Design 2

In Design 2, weeks 4 through 6, I had to make a puzzle out of shapes that I created (this is still a work in progress).  Each shape is a different height, from half an inch to three inches.  The shape starts out as a planar net on a piece of paper, then is folded into a three dimensional shape.  It is kind of like origami.  It was tricky gluing the sides and top and bottom together to get the correct shape.  As you can see, some pieces of the puzzle shapes don't fit that well together, but I say, "Oh well, that will have to do."  For I spent at least 20 hours just making the 3-D shapes, and I am done, so done.  As this project continues, I will post the final work of art.  Enjoy!

I Am A Zombie

Artist - Pungent Basement

At a comic book convention there is a place called Artist Alley, where comic book artists and artists in general have tables and sell their artwork.  Most are pictures of superheros with the occasional fine artist thrown into the mix.  I admit, right now, right here, that I love zombies.  So when I saw a sign in Artist Alley that stated they will zombify you, I went for it.  The artist (Pungent Basement) took a photo of my face and then I returned an hour later to see myself zombified.  It is a pretty good zombification, including my glasses and the Supergirl hat I was wearing.  Whether you like zombies or not, in my opinion the art world is even big enough for zombies.
 

Vilppu and Figure Drawing

From my local library I have been taking out the video series by Glenn Vilppu on figure drawing.  Chapter 1 involved teaching gesture drawing and starting with action.  Chapters 2 through 5 involved drawing the figure using spheres, cylinders, and boxes.  Basically, the trunk is a sphere, pelvis a box and the extremities are cylinders.  Chapter 6 involved, what he called the basic procedure, incorporating gesture and all the shapes.  Chapter 7 he instructed us to look for bone landmarks on the human figure.  Currently I am on chapter 8, teaching basic anatomy.  There are 12 videos in this series and am looking forward to completing it.  As Glenn Vilppu says, "there are no rules in art, only tools."  Enjoy!

Martin Puryear and Form

Martin Puryear, sculpture

Art is a form of description.  According to Kit White, "how it describes is its form and what it describes is its content."  When asking, what does this describe, one is asking about subject matter.  But then there is the question about form, or "the organization, placement, or relationship of basic elements, such as line, color, or volume."  When deciding on creating an artwork, one must decide the right form for the content.