My work will continue to reflect my opinions and ideas about technology and its prevalence in our world. I will be updating the week after next with a new artist and hopefully more information about my next piece!
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Blog 9
This week, I am done with my latest piece (based off of "The Treachery of Images"), and getting ready to pull everything together from this semester and last spring for the winter art show. I'll be displaying four pieces (the gerber baby one, the apple kids, and the two I made this semester). Basically, the rest of this week I will be preparing everything to be shown downtown, so I probably won't start another piece until next semester (2016!!). At the moment, I am planning on appropriating another René Magritte work, titled "The Son of Man" and it looks like...
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Blog 8
(December 2 blog)
This week, I asked my art teacher for some suggestions of artists to observe and research, as I have been struggling to find work that I can relate to and artists who use the type of appropriation that I do. The person she suggested was Sherrie Levine. She creates art that is appropriation from 20th century pieces, whether it is with photography, watercolor, or other mediums. Through her work, she questions "Modernist myths of originality and authenticity", and argues that because of how modernist art has developed, it is nearly impossible to truly create something new. Mainly her work applies to mine because she conceptually and formally pursues appropriation, however, my pieces typically have different underlying concepts. Here are some of her pieces! (the gold one has the original before it)
This week, I asked my art teacher for some suggestions of artists to observe and research, as I have been struggling to find work that I can relate to and artists who use the type of appropriation that I do. The person she suggested was Sherrie Levine. She creates art that is appropriation from 20th century pieces, whether it is with photography, watercolor, or other mediums. Through her work, she questions "Modernist myths of originality and authenticity", and argues that because of how modernist art has developed, it is nearly impossible to truly create something new. Mainly her work applies to mine because she conceptually and formally pursues appropriation, however, my pieces typically have different underlying concepts. Here are some of her pieces! (the gold one has the original before it)
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Blog 7
*late post for November 18th
In a blog on MoMA's website called "Creative Appropriation: The Smallest Move is Often the Hardest" by Michael Mandiberg, he explains some of the process that goes into appropriation and says that "The artist's challenge is to marry just the right image with the perfect move that recontextualizes the image and, in turn, changes its meaning." This is a great description of appropriation because, often, I find myself looking for just the right image to use in a piece, but after that I have to decide what object or change I can make that best conveys the message I want to be understood by the viewer. This process can be slightly difficult since there are so many details that can be in a specific work. Mandiberg included these pictures showed reinterpretations of "Tank Man", a painting after the Tiananmen Square massacre, that reveal how different people can interpret a work in different ways (It's almost a "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" type of thing)
Some didn't want to add the man, Mandiberg said, for "unclear reasons" and perhaps "political or aesthetic?" purposes. One of the artists refused to paint it at all. It's interesting to see how different people approach appropriation.
In a blog on MoMA's website called "Creative Appropriation: The Smallest Move is Often the Hardest" by Michael Mandiberg, he explains some of the process that goes into appropriation and says that "The artist's challenge is to marry just the right image with the perfect move that recontextualizes the image and, in turn, changes its meaning." This is a great description of appropriation because, often, I find myself looking for just the right image to use in a piece, but after that I have to decide what object or change I can make that best conveys the message I want to be understood by the viewer. This process can be slightly difficult since there are so many details that can be in a specific work. Mandiberg included these pictures showed reinterpretations of "Tank Man", a painting after the Tiananmen Square massacre, that reveal how different people can interpret a work in different ways (It's almost a "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" type of thing)
Some didn't want to add the man, Mandiberg said, for "unclear reasons" and perhaps "political or aesthetic?" purposes. One of the artists refused to paint it at all. It's interesting to see how different people approach appropriation.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Blog 6
*late post that should have been for November 11
During my latest project, I studied the work of Renée Magritte, and specifically his piece "The Treachery of Images". I can say that I learned how tedious it must have been for him to have painted this because painting smooth and seamless letters (actual letters, like a, b, c) is quite the challenge. I honestly haven't looked at many other artists because it is difficult for me to find artists who have work that relates to what I am doing, but I'm working on that. Formally, (in my project) I wanted to achieve a clear and opaque background with smooth lettering, including the words that I chose to keep and/or cut out of the piece (altering from the original). I wanted the phone in the middle to have an imaginary texture similar to that of the pipe in the original piece. Conceptually, this piece shows a change in society, but also has the same idea of Magritte's piece, meaning that the picture is a phone, but it isn't really a phone...but it is a phone (it gets kind of confusing). Magritte said "Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see."
This can somewhat reply to my technology statements. We often hide true relationships with family and friends with our technology, and although we may keep in touch with them through smart phones and laptops and tablets, that is the exact thing that can mask a real relationship with them. We want to see them, but they are hidden by our technology. ((more to come in the next blog I'm making up, hopefully with a new artist to talk about))
During my latest project, I studied the work of Renée Magritte, and specifically his piece "The Treachery of Images". I can say that I learned how tedious it must have been for him to have painted this because painting smooth and seamless letters (actual letters, like a, b, c) is quite the challenge. I honestly haven't looked at many other artists because it is difficult for me to find artists who have work that relates to what I am doing, but I'm working on that. Formally, (in my project) I wanted to achieve a clear and opaque background with smooth lettering, including the words that I chose to keep and/or cut out of the piece (altering from the original). I wanted the phone in the middle to have an imaginary texture similar to that of the pipe in the original piece. Conceptually, this piece shows a change in society, but also has the same idea of Magritte's piece, meaning that the picture is a phone, but it isn't really a phone...but it is a phone (it gets kind of confusing). Magritte said "Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see."
This can somewhat reply to my technology statements. We often hide true relationships with family and friends with our technology, and although we may keep in touch with them through smart phones and laptops and tablets, that is the exact thing that can mask a real relationship with them. We want to see them, but they are hidden by our technology. ((more to come in the next blog I'm making up, hopefully with a new artist to talk about))
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Blog 5
This week, I'm looking at an artist named Robert Rauschenberg. He was a pop artist who used appropriation where he juxtaposed a previously made work of art and put his own spin on it. This particular piece of his, he took a comic book from the 1960's and clipped a piece of it to appropriate. He scaled it in to just the girl's face, and changed the text from "I don't care if I have a cramp! I'd rather sink-- than call Mel for help!" to "I don't care! I'd rather sink-- than call Brad for help!"
He changed the art from the original meaning to something different and perhaps modernized it slightly. The humorous concept of the piece is that the girl was so upset with her boyfriend or maybe ex-boyfriend that she wouldn't want to ask him for help to save her from drowning. (the work is titled "Drowning Girl")
This relates to my work in a sense that I am taking something well known (comics were popular in the 60's, and particularly DC comics) and modernizing it by relating the piece to technology and today's culture.
He changed the art from the original meaning to something different and perhaps modernized it slightly. The humorous concept of the piece is that the girl was so upset with her boyfriend or maybe ex-boyfriend that she wouldn't want to ask him for help to save her from drowning. (the work is titled "Drowning Girl")
This relates to my work in a sense that I am taking something well known (comics were popular in the 60's, and particularly DC comics) and modernizing it by relating the piece to technology and today's culture.
https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/lichtenstein-drowning-girl-1963
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Blog 4
In this piece I am making yet another technology statement, as this is the "theme" for my concentration. For this work in particular, I am appropriating "The Treachery of Images", as I said before. Instead of a pipe being the focus of the painting, I will replace it with an iPhone. Formally, since the pipe had shades of brown and some yellows and whites, I am going to paint a black iPhone so that I can have shades of grey, black, and white (maybe blue as well). The idea behind his work that states "This Is Not a Pipe" is a phrase explaining that although it is a painting of a pipe, it isn't a pipe. But it is. It's a picture of a pipe, just not the real thing. In the same way, my painting of a phone isn't really a phone, but it is at the same time. Technology hasn't changed the whole world, but it has. We still have families, like we always have, we have friends and relationships, we have presidents and leaders and the news. But now it has changed because so much of our life is centered around technology as a means of communication. Whether we like to admit it or not, there is little to no avoiding the constant feed of information. Technology has slowly become a way of life...whether or not it's always a good or bad thing.
So far, I have drawn the phone, text, and painted the background. In past pieces, I have addressed specific ideas, such as children with technology, and the idea of family time and relationships that are altered because of technology, but for this piece, it is more of a general development of our society statement. After I finish this, I will be appropriating another work of Magritte's. That will be included in later blogs.
So far, I have drawn the phone, text, and painted the background. In past pieces, I have addressed specific ideas, such as children with technology, and the idea of family time and relationships that are altered because of technology, but for this piece, it is more of a general development of our society statement. After I finish this, I will be appropriating another work of Magritte's. That will be included in later blogs.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Blog 3
Okay, as of October 21st, (I would say today, but I'm writing this a day late) I am finally working on my second piece. It's going to be much more simple than the last one, which was an appropriation of Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks". This time I'm appropriating a piece from a man named René Magritte. He was a Belgian surrealist artist who dealt with thought-provoking images and produced witty work–– near and dear to what I love to do. So here goes...
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Blog 2
In this blog I'm exploring the qualities, characteristics, and uses of appropriation, like I said in my first post. The artist I am studying right now as I begin my concentration is Edward Hopper (seen below in his self-portrait), and specifically his painting Nighthawks. Although Hopper's painting did not have a great deal of conceptuality behind it, my project that is based on it will. The restaurant will remain the same as in the original piece, but the background and area surrounding it will be entirely different. Into more technology statement artwork I go...
Friday, August 21, 2015
Objective
In this blog, I intend to explore the areas that interest me most in art, and currently, that area is appropriation. I want to find ways to transform well known pieces into something that relates to today, specifically by incorporating technology. I want to make as many statements as possible through my art about technological advances, whether it is a positive or negative element. Here I will explore how other artists with the same interests translate those ideas into their work, and I may find that I want to use similar techniques.
Thus far I have appropriated:
Norman Rockwell's "Freedom From Want", the Gerber Baby logo, and an ad for apples called "Apple Kids" from the 1950's. Next, I will either incorporate the work of Whistler, Hopper, or Magritte. I have not decided which one I want to appropriate first, but I imagine I will use the work of all three artists in my next few projects.
Nighthawks by Edward Hopper
1942
(http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hopper/street/hopper.nighthawks.jpg)
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