Blog 13

(this is my Monday, Feb. 1st blog)
Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm interested in playing with photography for some of my concentration and I'm trying to figure out if there are any artists who do what I'm trying to do. I basically want to take some pictures that I took in the mountains of Tennessee and edit pictures of buildings from New York into them so that there's a mixture of outdoors/urban city to show development over time. I might also take old pictures of downtown Montgomery and try to take a picture in the same spot and edit those together. If anyone knows of other artists who do this type of thing, please let me know! Here are some pictures I might use 

Blog 12

As I continue working on the Magritte piece (pictured below), I'm starting to think of ideas for my concentration. To be completely honest, I'm getting really bored with just appropriating paintings and exploring nothing else exciting. So, that being said, I've decided to try something new. Except I haven't completely decided what that is going to be yet. I know I'm interested in incorporating photography with my work because I love photography, and I figure it might interest me more. I found an artist on this website (http://www.mocp.org/exhibitions/2000/5/painting-on-photography-photography-on-painting.php) who both combines pictures to create a large image, and also paints on his pictures. His name is Randy Hayes. This is an area I'm interested in. I will still be including my theme of technology statements, but I might try to combine images I have taken, or potentially paint on top of them. We'll see

Here you can kind of see how he painted the little shack.

If you look closely, these are all little pictures

of old, country houses.

Blog 11

Today, I was searching through practically every name listed as artists under the appropriation Wikipedia page because, for whatever reason, I have the hardest time finding artists who either relate to me or that interest me. I found a guy named Brian Dettmer who has formally interesting pieces that also incorporate ideas of appropriation (finally!!). He takes items such as books, albums, maps, and recreates them into his own piece of art.

His artist statement is as follows (spoiler alert. He basically takes books and gives them new meaning and role by transforming them into a new item because he fears that history is slipping away and needs to be seen in a fresh and new form.):

"The age of information in physical form is waning. As intangible routes thrive with quicker fluidity, material and history are being lost, slipping and eroding into the ether. Newer media swiftly flips forms, unrestricted by the weight of material and the responsibility of history. In the tangible world we are left with a frozen material but in the intangible world we may be left with nothing. History is lost as formats change from physical stability to digital distress.

The richness and depth of the book is universally respected yet often undiscovered as the monopoly of the form and relevance of the information fades over time. The book’s intended function has decreased and the form remains linear in a non-linear world. By altering physical forms of information and shifting preconceived functions, new and unexpected roles emerge. This is the area I currently operate in. Through meticulous excavation or concise alteration I edit or dissect communicative objects or systems such as books, maps, tapes and other media. The medium’s role transforms. Its content is recontextualized and new meanings or interpretations emerge." 
http://briandettmer.com/bio/

Blog 10

Once again, my objective is basically to explore the elements of appropriation by making statements about technology through the pieces that I choose to appropriate.

As I move on to my next project, I have decided to appropriate another piece by René Magritte called The Son of Man, which I mentioned in my last blog. I will most likely maintain the same techniques and the same color palette as the piece (pictured below), but I will replace an element of the painting (most likely the fruit on his face) with something that relates technologically to present-day culture. I enjoy Magritte's work because his pieces are fairly straightforward and sometimes simple to analyze, though it is still highly conceptual. Also, since he is a well-known artist, his work is great for the use of appropriation.

**also for those who said they didn't understand this, here's what Magritte said**

"At least it hides the face partly well, so you have the apparent face, the apple, hiding the visible but hidden, the face of the person. It's something that happens constantly. Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see. There is an interest in that which is hidden and which the visible does not show us. This interest can take the form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of conflict, one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present.^[1]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Son_of_Man