Line Artist Statement
In my six panel art piece, I explore my personal reactions to different genres of tv shows and movies. I first wrote down a list of film genres that I thought would elicit a visual response that I could then translate into my art pieces. My list consisted of drama, horror, action, romance, sadness, and comedy.
Applying my idea to the thinking of Michel de Certeau’s “The Practice of Everyday Life: Walking in the City” helped clarify my understanding of what I was going to create as well as thinking of new ways to approach my situation. Certeau pointed out in one line of this chapter that “It’s hard to be down, when you're up,” (92) and if I understood this correctly, he was focusing on the idea that there are multiple ways to view something, in his case pedestrian crowds on the street. When you are within those “crowds” you cannot fully grasp how you look or are portrayed to an above viewer. I used this idea to strengthen my artwork between my first work in progress and my final.
I began this idea by filming myself within the middle of a tv show, Greys Anatomy, and found that although I liked the concept, how I simply used five minutes of a random episode did not elicit an exciting response that I could see myself repeating multiple times in different ways. So by taking a different approach, and taking myself out of that “crowd” I thought of being more general and using different genres to evoke different responses in my artwork.
I’d also like to touch upon the moment where Certeau talks about the “blind spot” of space (95), where space itself tends to be forgotten because we build all around it. So through this thinking, I looked at the deadspace between the elements of design in my pieces and began to grip onto an understanding deeper than what we can just see on the page. For example, the space in between the ripples on the romance and the comedy piece, give way to the moments between laughs that we have to take a breath. I felt like that did not need to be anything else but blank space to give meaning to it. Overall, Certau’s writing influenced how I visualize my pieces both before and after creating and has led me to be more open and interpretive with my work.
Newspaper Artist Statement
Recently, a clock that looms over Union Square park, counting by the hour, the minute, the second, and even goes to milliseconds, went through a quick change and is now counting down. It is counting down the years, days, hours, minutes, and seconds until the effects of climate change are irreversible and ultimately to the demise of the human race. As I gathered my newspapers I saw that each headline page always had either the main article or one of the sub articles dealing with the effects of climate change. And on the days where it wasn't the most important article, something politically charged that also is setting the human race back, was. I decided to incorporate this idea of human deterioration in my newspaper headline pages. On each main image I include the corresponding time we have left to the date of the paper, so the viewer will be able to accurately see how many days we have left depending on the date of that specific paper.
Furthermore, I read through the entirety of each headline page and highlighted signifying words by etching out unimportant words that culminate the year we have lived through, 2020. In doing this, I hope to draw attention to the main problems this year has brought to us. For example, words such as pandemic, Trump, virus, global warming, and flooding, can give a pretty good understanding of what time period we are in and what is currently going on in the world. I feel as if this also brings more attention to the main photos rather than the mass amounts of reading usually there. The viewer is now forced to look at the picture and make their own assumptions before they are able to read about it.
While listening to the podcast “The Last Newspaper Artists in Conversation” with Sarah Charlesworth, Alexandra Mir, and Nate Lowman, I noticed towards the end Alexandra Mir brought up how critical she is when picking out things she wants people to see in her art, she says “I think the artistic process is all about being an editor,” (~47 minutes). I found this statement quite compelling because through this project, I am quite literally picking and choosing from the text and images,what I want the viewer to see and take hold of. I can mitigate or enforce anything I want to, almost taking control of what the viewer is able to learn. This gives all of the power to the artist at hand, making them accountable for the education of the people in this instance.
Glendalys Medina Statement
Glendalys Medina, a contemporary artist came to talk to our visual thinking class and explain her process and ideas that flow within her artwork. Medina’s work is all about connection, feeling and emotion. She breaks down items that apply to the theme she is currently working with, usually having some relation to her Puerto Rican culture, to create something more representative of how it affects her personally. For example, Medina took an object and broke it down into its simplest forms, she then arranged the shapes into different structures that made sense to her, after that she stenciled out the shapes to create a larger shape encompassing what was already there, finally Medina took different stenciled out combinations of shapes and turned them into portraits of herself, Ms. Nuyorican, her mother, Ms. Puerto Rico, and her father, Mr. Borikén. She plays with multiple mediums throughout her bodies of work, including spoken word. One of her songs called “Caterpillar,” in reaction to Drake’s song “Find Your Love,” is about the ability to display power and strength while still maintaining an element of vulnerability with her listeners. This experience then led her to create her own performance, entitled “Dear Me” where she resided in a dark box for six hours a day, reciting her spoken piece to one singular person at a time.
I think the most important takeaway from this talk, that affected me personally, was watching Medina’s process. From just a simple object she was able to create a pathway of artwork that led her to trying out mediums such as spoken word and song. Medina demonstrated this even further by taking the class through an exercise of meditation, reflecting on specific standout memories we have residing in our brains, and how they make us feel. She then instructed us to turn one of those memories, one of the most glaring feelings into a piece of artwork. We were able to use three objects/shapes, something round, something rectangular, and something that specifically resonated with ourselves. I was able to recollect on a time where I had felt this immense sadness take over my body over something that, honestly, wasn’t that big of a deal. That night, I had a person dear to me reach out and pull me up from this hole I was falling down. I was angry and sad at the person, but at the same time they were aiding me by making me laugh and smile and get over the ridiculous feelings I was having. So, in my artwork I wanted to demonstrate myself, as the circle, enclosed in this dark space of negativity, represented by the rectangular shape, reaching toward the pink, messy towers of enjoyment and positivity. The black, darkness morphs into a yellow joy, and the pink towers represent the ups and downs of happiness. It is certainly not a constant feeling and comes in waves of obscure highs and lows. Altogether, this piece reminds me of hope and an ability to leave a dark space, even if it's only temporary.
Colour Statement
The colour blue comes in a plethora of shades. The dark, deep, endless strain of blue is mostly associated with the night sky or the area below the happiness of the widely known ocean. The light, bright, happy shade is associated with the day sky, the freshness of a summer chlorinated filled pool, or a hot and steamy beach day.
I had just arrived in the area right before you entered the beach. There were colourful houses all lined up. Pink after purple. Red after green, a christmas disaster if you ask me. And blue after yellow. They were pretty, cute, and unanimously followed one colour. I looked at the blue house. In the sun, the shade resembled a light, airy colour. In the shade, it resembled a deeper, greeny-blue colour. It's interesting that depending on the light, your colouring can widely change.
There was a blue chair sitting patiently waiting for the owner of the house to take a seat. It was placed directly next to the blue steps, also waiting for the owner to travel downward or upwards. I took a seat. I wanted to feel what it was like to be completely engulfed in a blue state. And honestly, it was quite peaceful. I feel as if there was another colour, such as red, who is so strong and fiery, I would have the same peace that the blue gifted upon me. I looked to my left and saw blue stairs. I looked to my right and saw a blue potted plant. And I looked in my peripheral vision and saw the light blue chair I was sitting in. This comfort of being surrounded by all one colour made me happy and questioned why every house is not like this. There is such a strong emphasis nowadays on classically modern architecture… all white or grey with maybe a pop of colour. But, where is the fun in that!
Blue is tranquil. Blue is the colour of calmness. But blue is also the colour that many associate with sadness. So why did I not feel sad when I felt completely and utterly engulfed in it. I think it depends on the circumstances. When I’m lonely and down, I picture blue in my imagination. Yet, it’s darker, it’s flow is more viscous, it's like I’m in an endless night sea, where I cannot see the way out. With this, It was a happy, beach day. The sky matched the seat I was sitting in. The water was flowing happily and smoothly. This shade of blue embodies a feeling other than darkness. There are always more than one side to the story. So this exemplifies the difference in blues anatomy. Some shades call for a darker time and some remind us of a $3 snow cone coming from the ice cream truck in the parking lot of the crowded beach. The ocean along with the many people in a various array of coloured bathing suits with their floating toys are all waiting for you.
3D Artist Statement
For my 3D project, ultimately I decided to map out a shell split down the middle and taped back together. Coming upon this object was definitely not easy. I began my concept with a woman's razor, exploring the ideas of society's conflict over beauty standards of women being freshly shaven and “clean”. Yet, this idea failed to produce a solid outcome. With the specific qualities that an object needs to have to be scanned and printed (i.e. matte, non-reflective, opaque, non-symmetrical) and how it has to be shot, my razor did not even produce an outcome. So, from there I began wracking my brain of an object that fit all of these categories and resembled some form of conflict. This was definitely the hardest part.
I came across an old seashell that I found on the beach during the summer. It was interesting because I loved the texture and pattern the shell had on its back, but it was only one half. I continued on for a little while, keeping eyes out for pretty shells and I actually found the other half. I put the two together and they fit perfectly. I was going to make them into necklaces for my best friend and I, but never got around to it.
The idea surrounding my seashell is the conflict human society has with our environment. This shell, broken in half by the environmental destruction that humans have caused, such as air pollution, plastic pollution, deforestation, overuse of land, and the list goes on and on, is merely taped back together with flimsy washi tape, symbolizing our superficial efforts to maintain real change in order to save the crumbling environment.
This project was definitely more challenging, both conceptually and technically. There were many requirements for the object and the shooting process. Yet, I am very pleased with my idea and how the scan turned out.
Artist Book Statement
My artist book explores 19th century post-mortem photography, a common practice where recently deceased relatives would be photographed in order to preserve their memory within the family lineage. I find this topic quite interesting regarding the nowadays heavily weighted notion of needing consent before photographing someone. These people are dead, therefore unable to give consent. In order to preserve their identity, I went into each photograph and removed the defining facial features of the deceased subject, hiding them from their display of "life".
My aim in creating this book was to evoke curiosity in a past life. There are many aspects of human life during and prior to the 19th century that would just seem bizarre to our postmodern world. To me, post mortem photography is one of those traditions.