My Thoughts on the Exhibition

So when we were asked to look at the work at the Welcome Back show I was excited. I have to admit though that none of the works their popped out more than any others. Like allot of them were cool looking or interesting or funny but none of them were jaw dropping in my opinion. We were asked to find the piece of work which we liked the most and the piece of work that we liked the least. 

The piece of art that I liked the most was Tony Masso's "N-Piece"

When I first saw it I was a little confused. The piece of art is a block "N" which kind of looks like the N found on a wooden block that a child would play with. The wooden N was placed in a frame that looked elegant but it was all cracked and kinda looked destroyed. Also the N was placed to the left opposed to being centered which makes the viewer assume that another letter should be going in the spot that is blank. Like when I saw this the first thing that popped into my head was the word NO. Then I started thinking that if the letter O was next to the N there would have to be another letter next to it unless the kerning of the letters was abnormally large. Then I started playing a word game in my head. What would fit there? Not, Nor, Nah, Nip, Nib, Null. It was fun because in a way it it circled around to being a kids game again. Also, the whole project is painted the same color as the wall which is a juxtaposition for being a kids game/toy because most kids things are vibrantly painted. It raised allot of questions for me and it held my interest for more than a fraction of a second which is more than I can say about most of the other pieces of artwork that were there. Though one of the girls in the class did bring up that this piece would look great alone on a wall and I have to agree with her. Having this piece sit alone in the middle of the wall would look great.

The piece of art that I liked the least was Clifford Owen's remake of "Whipped Cream Piece (Lick Piece),"

I looked at this piece for awhile and I can't get over the fact that this piece just reminds me too much of porn. I understand it's a performance piece and I did my best to try to put some meaning behind it but it's just foreplay to me. Composition wise, I don't understand why the images are laid out the way they are. I don't understand why he is naked as well. It's a very confusing piece that made me reach a point where I didn't want to understand it. It's degrading to the woman who was there and disturbing to anyone who would actually licked this whipped cream off of her. This piece of artwork left me feeling uncomfortable and almost annoyed. I don't mean to sound harsh or rude but it's art like this that makes allot of people scoff at the art community. If there is a deep meaning behind this work then it should have been accented more. I believe this piece should have been left in 1964.

What I learned in the Critique

Some of the notes that I jotted down were the questions that were being asked while other people were being critiqued. 

The first question that got me thinking was "what is the subject matter?" which brought to my attention that if there is a subject matter (which I assume there should be a subject matter), it should be prominent enough that people should know what it is at least after they've stared at it and thought about it for awhile.

Some of the other things that I was reminded to keep in mind was the composition, color choice, and medium. I'd also like to play with the idea of the work being interactive. If there was some way to make it interactive I know that it would make the piece a little more enjoyable for the audience.

Another question that was asked that I enjoyed was "What is the typical feeling that you want people to have?" And I liked that question because it's really important to think of your audience when placing a piece of work in the gallery.  In class I discussed making a piece of artwork that was overwhelming. I liked that idea because that's the story of my life. I'm constantly doing homework or studying or doing a piece of artwork or working. There's always something that that's why I want my viewer to be overwhelmed as well. I want them to see the amount that I go through every day.

So we discussed the leaves and what I wanted to do as far as cutting them out. I was maybe thinking of putting like my schedule onto a leaf. 

Like one leaf would say:

Monday

9/12/11

10:35-12:35

worked on thesis project for 2 hours

And I would map out every day and every event and in a way it would be so overwhelming and people  would visibly be able to see that.

My reason behind using leaves.... Besides the fact that I like leaves there is a list of other reasons that I would like to use leaves opposed to other paper like objects. 

One reason is the one I pointed out in class. The juxtaposition between the technological aspect of typography and schedules opposed to the natural aspect is really nice. Like it's not too much like an office schedule and it's not too much about nature. I really enjoy that concept.

Another thing I like about leaves is that no two leaves are the same which relates to my schedule thing again. I may officially have the same schedule each week but it's not like I'm doing the exact same thing in the class week after week. In a way leaves are like that where they can look similar but still be different. 

Also, and this reason is purely aesthetic, but since autumn is upon us the leaves are going to be brilliant shades of color which I can use to my advantage. Like if I'm in a bad mood I can use a red leaf and if I'm in a happy mood I can use a yellow leaf but if it's neutral I can use a green leaf. 

So I got allot out of the critique we had and I came up with good ideas. I'm going to work on my ideas and bring in examples for next weeks class. Wish me luck with hoping it comes out okay.

Researching Leaves

I am in group B so I didn't get a chance to have people critique my work yet. 


So I spent the day researching what it is that I eventually want to do for thesis.


The story basically is that I went for a walk one morning during the summer and found this leaf that was bigger than my head. I thought nothing more of it until I started to walk away. I couldn't help but think that I NEEDED to take that leaf and do something with it, anything. While I was walking home with it I came to the conclusion that I wanted to make it into a mask. I cut it up in the sense that I left the veins of the leaf intact and I cut all around them. 

[In case you have no idea what I mean, it was this style of work]

[This is NOT my work, just an example of the style of my work]

I fell in love with this style and made a few more smaller ones (leaves). I want to find some way to incorporate typography onto a leaf and maybe cut it out? I'm still not 100% sure exactly but like I was told by you guys (our teachers), it's good not to have a solid idea because it's probably going to get changed anyway. But this is my main idea and I hope it doesn't change too much.
Here are some more images of my style of work

The main artist who works on this style of work is 

Lorenzo Duran 

and he is definitely gifted

My Interview with Francesca Fiore

Before the interview started I took a look at some of Francessca's work. I was instantly intrigued because I haven't actually seen work like hers before. I was shocked because almost all of her stuff practically looked like it was floating mid air. It might as well have been. The images on the glass were fantastic. I would have to say that my favorite piece of artwork of hers is the girl painted on plexi-glass which is sitting on the bed. That one was so intriguing. I think the contrast between the actual bed and this girl who was painted on a 2 dimensional glass in a 3 dimensional way was sitting on top of this bed that was found on Craigslist. There were so many interesting things that I was even asking questions before the interview started. I asked how long things took. Why she did things the way she did them like that and by that point I realized I should actually be recording all of this stuff. So I did.

__________________________________________________________

[MC] So you do paintings, how long have you been painting?

[FF] Since I was 12 years old, it's actually funny story, we have a local art association where you can take art classes. I really wanted to learn how to oil paint but I wasn't old enough. So my parents lied and said i was older so I could get into the class.I remember I was the only one who hasn't been through college yet, everyone else was from 30-80 years old. I started really young and have been working on it ever since and it doesn't get any easier.

[MC] Other than oil paint what kind of art do you do?

[FF] Well coming to Rutgers i have classified myself as an instillation artist. I do allot of large scale installation work. People have classified my paintings as sculptural. I don't see them as sculptural but I see where they are coming from. I also have dabbled in video work and am still exploring those options. I'm open to any way to express what I am saying. I don't close any doors.

[MC] How did you get into installation because I know that's not really a common form of art?

[FF] Yeah it's not like you pick it up one day and say hey lets do an installation

[MC] ha yeah yeah

[FF] Actually the first installation i did was for drawing class. The second semester foundation drawing. The teacher gave us a project. It was either and installation or a big drawing project. I just remember it was the first time i had the feeling that i knew what I wanted to do, the image popped into my head, it was immediate and urgent and it was the first time I knew exactly what I wanted to do. It's about my grandmother. She has Alzheimer's. In this piece i was trying to capture the mind of an Alzheimer's patient. What it's like to step into that world. So I took pictures of her life and i drew them and printed them onto acetate and mounted them onto glass and hung them from strings so I had them floating to space then i used her furniture to make this corner. I wallpapered the walls. I had picture frames at the bottom. There would be really intricate drawings. where it would be my grandma, whoever else would be with her would be empty space. Because in my mind she doesn't recognize them so she sees them as white space.

[MC] And that was your very first installation?

[FF] Yes it was

[MC] And you did it by yourself?

[FF] Yes i always have help. Like putting it up. boyfriend dad build a room and get better at carpentry

[MC] So what's the biggest installation you've ever done? Was it the room?

[FF] probably yeah it was the bathroom water show, it was thrown together really last minute, biggest done in a week

[MC] oh wow

[FF] Well I was working on something and it wasn't going anywhere and my teacher said to have it covered up but you have to have something done in a week and the water show was next week so I decided.

So i have all these pictures on a bulletin board and there was a photo of my mom brushing my sisters hair. the wallpaper was of these crazy tassels which made the image look flat because the tassels looked like they were pushing up against my mom and sisters face so I just looked at it and I was like that's the image. And I figured the sink had water so it fit.

i had to build a space that would allow the wallpaper to encrouch apon that

i build a space that the audience. the mirror helped to act as that

when the show happened i had 9 hours to put it up

walls out of foam so it wasn't that bad

[MC] How did you get started painting on glass?

[FF] My first installation, the grandmother one, got me interested. I got inspired by that

these were regular paintings i experimented with the medium trying to figure out how to work with it. I came to the realization that keeping to the rectangle did not reach it's full potential that's why i branched out and painted without background. I am very interested in the physicality of things, not in the painted objects. I want the paintings to be on the level of a person. I want the person to look them in the eye. Instead of being on the wall and making people enter 'this' world it's on the same plane, on the same realm, its standing on the ground. Everything i've done is standing where it would be if it were a person. It's exactly life-size. And it's interesting because after you paint you realize how tiny people are. People are small.

[MC] Ha ha ha, well cause to me that's huge

[FF] Well it is a 6 foot panel but when you get close to the face you realize you can hold it in your hand

[MC] Yeah wow

[FF] So yeah, any other questions?

[MC] You said you had ideas for thesis. What were you thinking?

[FF] You've seen the progression of my work. This past semester i was in Italy for 6 month. I didn't have many resources cause i couldn't bring my glass pieces and there's no way of doing that. So i took a photo class there and i was taking allot of photos. I started seeing these characters in my photos that i was working with. I've always loved theater allot but this past year I realized how much theater is a part of my life. I do at least one show a year and my other major is English. And I fell in love with play-writing. So the work i wanna do this semester is really very theatrical. In a way its like set design. My focus has drifted away from painting allot especially because of last semester. I realized I didn't need paintings to say what I wanted to say. So i'm actually playing with the idea of doing a couple of large scale installations with the same kind of idea. So my thesis is kinda huge so I'm gunna need a grant ha ha ha it's going to be incredibly difficult but I think I can pull it off. I mean this is the thing. Every time i come up with a project I'm always in way over my head and yet somehow i always kind of achieve it. But like I said I'm not always 100% pleased with it. because i think its like so fake I need more experience with more materials and more money. And i can't count on always getting money for my work. I have to be able to succeed on my own. There are other works this year I need to finish first.

So I have my blog up

I saw my painting friend struggle in an attempt to design her web page. I couldn't help but laugh a little. Sometimes I don't feel like I'm as good as other graphic designers and that maybe this is the wrong field for me to go into... Then something like that happens and I realize how easy it is for me to have my web page look good all together and I can't help but smile. 


So this is my blog and I expect great things from myself