Collaborative Presentations

Mine and Jared's Presentation

For mine and Jared's presentations, we chose Pascal Dombis and Jeffrey Shaw. We titled our exhibit "Art Through Systems: Pascal Dombis and Jeffrey Shaw". We chose these two artists because they both use systems, such as algorithms and different search engines. We liked how Shaw's pieces were interactive and Dombis' were large installations. We chose Shaw and Dombis because we were immediately attracted to their work. We really liked the fact that Shaw is more of a well-known artist and Dombis is not. Through further research, we discovered that there were many similarities between the two artists that could be used to our advantage for this presentation. We specifically chose certain works from each artist for the exhibit. We wanted to make sure that there would be a correlation between the pieces. We chose Dombis’ Google_RBYKW and Shaw’s The Net.Art Browser because both artists use Internet browsers to create the work. In Shaw’s piece, it is more obvious how the Internet is being used. We found it very interesting how two artists use the same system (the Internet in this case) and end up with such drastically different end products. We also really liked how Shaw’s piece is very interactive, and Dombis’ piece is more of a piece that viewed and the audience does not contribute to the changing of the work. We chose Dombis’ Irrational Geometrics and Shaw’s Web of Life because they both have a distinct line quality that is aesthetically pleasing. These lines, in both pieces, were not created by hand, but by means of interaction or algorithms. Dombis’ piece that we chose out of his Irrational Geometrics series is an installation video. We believed this would fit together nicely with Shaw’s interactive piece. In Shaw’s piece, the lines and patterns being created are based on the viewer and what he or she does.

http://www.dombis.com/index.htm
http://www.jeffrey-shaw.net/


Christine and Diana's Presentation

Christine and Diana's exhibit was titled "The Intolerable Truth: A New Take on Consumerism". Their exhibit featured Toni Dove and Christopher Jordan. Both of these artists connect to consumerism, however Toni Dove's work is more conceptual. The fact that one artist's work is interactive and one's is not is good because it will engage the viewers. The videos that they showed during their presentation was very informative and was helpful in understanding the pieces they chose.

Sarah and Nicole's Presentation

Sarah and Nicole's exhibit was titled "Self Confrontation in the Absence of Individualism". It features Jessica Bruah and Grahm Harwood. Bruah's pieces have subjects that are faceless women doing everyday activities. I was confused as to how stories in Harwood's pieces were being told. Not knowing who the storytellers are relates well to the theme because many people may be able to relate to it.

Liz M. and Jess's Presentation

Liz M. and Jess's exhibit featured Usman Haque and Rebecca Allen. Their exhibit was very interesting and I believe it would attract a lot of people. The idea of and indoor and outdoor exhibit is very interesting, but could create problems if the weather was bad. Liz and Jess were both very well informed on the pieces they chose and how they work. The interactive pieces by both artists are very different, but relate to each other in a good way.

Kyle and Ryan's Presentation

Kyle and Ryan's exhibit was titled "Manipulation: Cory Archangel and Lillian Schwartz". I felt as though this was a very broad and could have been more specific to these two artists. The theme was not shown in all of pieces that were chosen, however, most of them were. I did not see enough of a connection between these two artists to be a good exhibit. Kyle and Ryan knew a lot about the pieces they chose, but not as much about how the pieces were created and altered.

Brian and Alfred's Presentation

Brian and Alfred's exhibit was titled "The Development of Digital Art: John Lasseter and John Knoll". This theme was very broad and could have related more to the animation of each artist. Both of the artists were very involved in movie animation, and I felt as though the presentation had more to do with the artists' background than the pieces that would be used in the exhibit. It was not clear what pieces would be chosen for the exhibit.

Liz and Jess C.'s Presentation

Liz and Jess C.'s exhibit was titled "Constant Repetition Carries Conviction: Pascal Dombis and Terry Mulligan". Both artists show good repetition in their artwork, however, they did not seem very well informed about the pieces that were chosen for the exhibit. These two artists are a good choice for an exhibit because there are many subtle similarities and differences between them.

Book (Poem-Visualization)

Falling Up
by Shel Silverstein

I tripped on my shoelace
And I fell up-
Up to the roof tops,
Up over the town,
Up past the tree tops,
Up over the mountains,
Up where the colors
Blend into the sounds.
But it got me so dizzy
When I looked around,
I got sick to my stomach
And I threw down.

For this project, I plan to create a childrens' book. I am going to use book board and book cloth to create the front and back covers of the book. The pages will be done in an accordian style and each page will have one or two lines in a curved shape. Below the text, on the bottom of the pages, there will be line illustrations of what the narrator is flying above.

Word Visualization

College Art Gallery Exhibit

I really enjoyed the opening of the show Distortions: Contemporary Media Art from Mexico. I really enjoyed seeing Ivan Abreu's live performance of m(r.p.m.). Being able to see the actual performance and not just documentation of it made the piece a lot more affected. The different ways the artists approached the big idea of distortions was really interesting. Being able to go back into the gallery and discuss each of the pieces with Sarah Cunningham helped me understand them much more.

Self-Visualization

For my self-visualization, I want to break up my face into four quadrants. In each quadrant, I plan to portray a different emotion. For the two quadrants that show my eyes, I am going to show sadness and surprised. For the other two quadrants that show my mouth, I am going to show anger and happiness. The colors in each separate piece will all be different, but they will relate to each other in ways that tie them together in the composition as a whole. I want to show these four different emotions because I believe they are four prominent emotions in everyone’s life that everyone will be able to relate to. Just by looking at these four images, the viewer may be reminded of things in his or her own life that triggers the emotions. Each canvas is 20 inches by 20 inches and I chose to hang them in a horizontal line because I did not want the four images to be looked at as a whole, but as individual emotions.

Khalo-Sherman-Xiuwen Comparison

Frida Kahlo portraits are very recognizable. Her portraits are not very easy to understand unless the viewer knows her background. But, when the viewer realizes the connection between her background and her work, it is obvious that her paintings are direct representations of her ideas. Many of her pieces are based on femininity and its different aspects. For instance, fertility and the clothing women wear.

Cindy Sherman's work is an excellent example of feminism. I think her work shows women in a very sexual way, which is very different from Kahlo. Her series of Film Stills are very dramatic, the color especially accentuates this. Many of her portraits are in the style of the film still which gives her work a different feel than Kahlo and Xiuwen. Sherman's work makes the viewer guess what happened before the shot was taken and how the woman came to be that way. Her work shows women in their natural habitat throughout their daily lives.

Cui Xiuwen's work shows feminism in a very different way than both Khalo and Sherman. The women portrayed are very young. Her work tells alot about pregnancy in teenagers and young women. There is a very strong calming and peaceful sense in her work. The backgrounds and layout of her work is one of the main things that adds to the peacefulness. However, the young women seem vulnerable which gives the viewer something more to ponder.

Adobe Illustrator Exercise

Icon Exercise

Adobe Illustrator

Project 1

Project 1

Photos for Project 1

Interior

Exterior

Human Interaction

4 Artists

Gregory Crewdson:
My first reaction to Crewdson's work was that it was disturbing in a way, and also unfortunate. However, some of the images, such as Untitled (Ophelia), were very eerie. As I went through his different works, it was a little difficult for me at fist to realize the media he used just by looking at it. Even though they are photographs, it looked like they had been altered in other ways. Alot of the photos also gave me a sense of fear, because I did not know what was going to happen next. The color scheme seems to be generally the same in most of his works. The colors are not very vivid, but they all give off the same sort of feeling.

Teun Hocks:
I was really intreigued by the surrealism of his work. I also really enjoyed that the man in all of his works was the same. It seemed like he was on a continuous journey in a surreal world. I especially liked Untitled (Playing w/ Train). The way he works with space and a variety of materials is very interesting. There is a calming sense in all of his work.

Jeff Wall:
At a first glance, I did not really understand Jeff Wall's work, therefore I do not like it all that much. In his work, I see scenes from real life. I do not like the way Wall designed these photographs because it seems to me as if anyone could do it. I know art has a lot to do with the concept behind the work, but I do not think Wall successfully shows what his ideas were.

Cindy Sherman:
Cindy Sherman's work is focused on femininity. She is interpreting women in many different ways throughout her film stills. However, her work seems like a cliche feminist approach. Even though each photograph is unique, they all have the same general idea. I do, however, like her use of values in each photo. The black and white photographs show alot about women in her time period and what she wanted to see women as.

Influences

Shepard Fairey

Peter Max

David Levinson

About Me!

I'm a sophomore Art Education major. I currently have a MacBook Pro, so I do have experience with Macs. I have played around with Photoshop and Illustrator on Macs, but most of my experience with the programs are on PCs. I took Computer Graphics and Commerical Art my sophomore and junior years of high school, which is where I did the work in Photoshop and Illustrator on PCs. Although I took these courses, all that I really remember are the basics.