line

Michel de Certeau’s "The Practice of Everyday Life: Walking in the City,” is a demonstration on how to see, observe, and translate the motions around us. He finds his focus on Manhattan, specifically from the World Trade center; Certaue describes the world below him, as he stands atop the 110th floor, as “a wave of verticals.” (1) So far from the ground, he compares himself to an “Icarus… His elevation transfigures him into a voyeur.” (3) The god-like eye he possessed is reasonably due to the elevation he is at, observing and watching the people below him, not only physically small to him due to their distance, but mentally small to him; their lower level and ever-growing distance shows an obvious gap, seeing the “gigantic mass.” (1) In the same way that our Manhattan skyline is known for the godlike sculptures, that reach high towards the sky and climb further with each shimmering glass window, these divine views are no longer ordinary; they are available to the common person, who is now able to see through the eyes of a deity. These words marked by Certaue represent the gap between the bureaucracy and the common person, and inspired the exploration of the commonality of people and our intersections. My goal as the observer, from great distances or heights, is to reach those on the other side: constantly moving and almost invisible in the crowd, but all the same. It is our interconnectedness that drew me to draw all the figures I observed with one single line, in the sense that we are all the same, just strung in different manners.

www and babel

The Library of Babel and the World Wide Web both connect the vast realm of knowledge to a form of language, a code that can be learned and taught. In the World Wide Web, one of the languages referred to is html, the other, numbers and MCV. The library, or universe, is called forward to represent an unknown depth of knowledge, as the internet is referred to."The library is unlimited and cyclical," as the world wide web is. The word "univere" and "universal" are key in both articles, used even very frequently in both. The motif of collectivity in the vast unknown plane of knowledge is eased into the reader.

moma ps1

James Turell’s “Meeting” is an installation of a gaping skylight, unobstructed and free: quite literally, a hole in the sky. “Meeting” is reminiscent of my nostalgic outlook towards life, always focused on making the world seem less of a reality. When I was a child, I used to always look up at the sky, and pretend I was somewhere other than home. The sky is everywhere, and as long as I looked towards it, I felt as if I could be there as well. Furthermore, Roger White’s “How Artists Must Dress,” was an influential commentary on the social lives of artists, the messages we internalize and send out towards others. As an artist myself, I felt somewhat admonished by this description, especially with the choice of “she” as the descriptive pronoun. These works are representative of the ideals of Visual thinking in the manner that my view of art is broadened, reaching into countless different mediums of art and allowing it to positively affect my creativity, allowing me to grow as both an artist and a consumer of art. Various postcards were brought to my attention with its vintage style and obvious repurposing. The issue of plagiarizism, cropping, yet creativity in the mundane, and graphic design was intruiging to me. I wanted to make more art similar to the postcards that I had found.

newspaper

The motif of the newspaper in modern society is the bringing of chaos and calamity. With major news outlets constant reporting on the tragedies and polarized political climate of our nation, many go to great lengths to avoid it. The Last Newspaper Artists in Conversation discusses the possibilities of this medium to be used at a platform for art, as a comment on our society and our patterns and behavior of this time. It is referenced how styles and fashion are reflected in the papers, and how someone dressed with "long hair and a beard" can be seen as radical fashion for the time. My newspaper series focuses on the political-frenzied climate of our generation.

pattern

Do we not seek repetition in our lives? Is it not human nature to seek familiarity, in an effort to feel comfort? Does it enhance our confidence? When I make the swan a pattern, it transforms into a dragon. It feels too powerful to remain white, its veracity screaming at me. I feel playful when surrounded by the cute, bubbly waffle, and dreamy when swimming in the butterflies.

color

I think about the darkness often: the blackness that is perceivable to us. When there is such little light, that our cones stop processing color and all we see is in black and white. The absence of color, and the absence of light. Do we recognize our monochromatic vision in the dark? Most see the dulled reds of pillowcases as simply dark, but do they open their eyes and see what is in front of them? At what point do you override your conscious, who knows the red pillowcase remains red in the park, and recognize the deep black body in front of them? Paul LA Farge, of the Cabinet, writes, "it’s surprising that we can see black at all," after all, our eyes are "engineered to recieve light." In the absence of it, a deep, brooding, empty black remains. If we can see the darkness, why do we continue to close our eyes in the midst of it? Pursue the blackness, the darkness, and dive deeper beyond the myriad of cones and rods we are born with.