aananduniverse-blog

[aananduniverse-blog]

Blog 8

1. Which artist or artists that you were exposed to through this class had the biggest impact on you - why? (in class work, video, trips, etc)

The miniature worlds of Tracy Snelling, I think, provided the greatest inspiration for my work. I think because we were limited to a box, when I read the article detailing Snelling’s work, I was able to make a connection between trying to portray a world in a box. The picture below shows some of the worlds Snelling created.

I wanted to create a world, bigger in size, limited in a box yet expanding beyond. I wanted to create a sense of infinity, and that was what I did through the backgrounds and lighting in my box. Snelling’s boxes, on the other hand, were with backgrounds that helped contain the world immediately in the box itself.

Snelling’s use of light to illuminate, and create shadows, also features in my own picture of the box!

2. How do you feel about your final piece as a box and as a final image? How do you feel that this work differs in viewing it as a 3D collection of objects vs. an image? Explain how these two were connected during your photographic process 

The final box, when I was trying to compile the objects I had (more than 30 unique items), seemed elusive. Yet, I used the knowledge that I didn’t have to use everything I had in the composition to my advantage. I placed and replaced and removed many pieces from the box. I didn’t use things that were tangentially related and used things that were directly related to the world I wanted to create. The individual pieces I had were similar in size, and there was no way of creating depth. So, I experimented, and built platforms for some of the pieces, to create depth.

The end result for the box was something I was satisfied with. However, I started thinking about the possibilities a bigger box could’ve had for all the pieces I had created over the course of the semester. I will take all the pieces I have from the Art Studio and try to recreate this in a large storage cardboard box from Home Depot over the second week of May, as one of my creative ventures post-graduation.

The pictures I had prepared for the final critique were ones I was extremely satisfied with! The black and white regular-sized picture encapsulated a city-scape that I had wanted to create towards the middle of the semester! The colorful second picture allowed me to change the same organization of objects into a foreign, surreal setting. It seems set in outer space, rather than on Earth. This was my objective, too! Finally, the large poster of the black and white picture, too, met my goal of trying to create a sense of urgency and fear – personally, the scale of the poster and the objects created this feeling, which I will further describe below.

(The pictures aren’t attached because they’re too big files. I will submit them via email if you’d like me to).

3. What do you think you did well and what do you still feel needs work in terms of your final piece?

I think working away from the physical to the digital went well for my final piece. Being able to use the Digital Photo Lab to manipulate the pictures that we took really allowed me to move the needle towards the world I wanted my picture to depict. Having the ability to magnify, using the poster printer, also broke a ‘barrier’ of sorts that the small-sized box seemed to have reduced the prospect to. For that reason, too, I was very enthusiastic about having my large poster in display for the final critique.

I think what would provide even more clarity to the final piece would be a greater sense of depth. If I could go back and redo some steps, I would iterate many of the processes (3D printing, laser cutting, molding, etc.) to create similar objects of multiple sizes. The size of my objects was set, because of how each phase was based on the previous phase, but with hindsight, I could’ve changed a few outcomes (doing multiples of the same object in different sizes, rather than different colors, etc.) during the semester that could’ve prepared me for a final piece that evoked true depth, rather than an artificial depth that I had to create.

4. Which processes or technology were most interesting to you this semester? What would you like to try again, why? What could you see yourself using again, maybe even for another (non-art) purpose?

I truly enjoyed laser cutting and 3D printing. Both of these will be staples in my near future, as I will try to find places, wherever I may be, where I can go and create more and more objects that I can use to decorate my living space with my own ‘creations’. I know that Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as Tinkercad, will be tools that I will use for various purposes, and I am truly grateful to have learnt these skills before graduating! I was always someone who didn’t want to take a intro to drawing class, or a traditional art class, but this course has piqued my interest and understanding of art and that knowledge along with the many processes I learnt will forever inform my observation of art.

5. What were your starting intentions in this course vs. where you ended? 

When we first started to play around with clay and make physical models to 3D scan and then 3D print, my idea was to create a scene where a destructive force was about to engulf humankind, with saviors attacking the destructive force and pushing it backwards. Keeping this initial idea in mind, I moved through the eight phases we had. However, over time, the idea had to evolve due to the nature of materials, techniques, and iterative steps we had to take, as well as limitations of equipment we faced.

While the final pieces seem like either, one, a cityscape, or two, an alien world, I personally am still able to see the main goal I was trying to allegorically depict. There is a destructive force in the top corner, and all the rest of the population is ready to face it.

Through the course, there were a lot of moments of learning and adapting, and I think that the outcome I ended up with provided better learning outcomes that what I wanted to end up with. It led to some abstraction, manipulation, seeking meaning from what exists, reading between the lines, and making deeper observations.

6. What was your intended tone and hierarchy for the final piece - example, how it makes viewers feel, the use of space and scale, the use of color and light, etc. 

The three pieces presented at the final critique were all intended to create different effects. I will discuss each below.

The first piece, the black and white 13*19 piece, was created under limited natural light. There were various lights illuminating different aspects of the box. On Photoshop, I stripped the photo of color, and created a black and white picture with emphasis on multiple parts and shadows in others. My intention was to create a cityscape that moves into infinity. The white dots in the background are a continuation of the city, and it truly looks and feels like that is what it is. It is a strong shift away from what the actual box looks like, but a shift that I wanted to create.

This piece, like other pieces, is crowded in the center and right, and empty-ish on the left. This is to create a divide between the object ‘hanging’ above, and the rest of the building and objects below.

The second piece, the colored 13*19 piece, was created with intense exposure to natural and artificial lights in the Art Studio. With long exposure time to light, the image was almost obliterated. However, using the Digital Photo Lab and the digital tools available there, I was able to manipulate light and colors to create the final image which is exactly what I wanted to do – create a surreal landscape, that seems out of this world. Furthermore, in this piece, the art seems to extend into infinity, because the background is no more an extension of buildings but rather into the sky, the stars, and further.

I presented this piece at the final critique to distinguish what the effect of light exposure can do to the same scenario. It also resonated with some of the comments that my peers had made during the in-class critique last week – that the black and white picture reminded them of an alien world. I decided I truly wanted to create an alien world – and allowing the faded colors, as well as the shape and textures of the objects to show, truly allowed me to create this effect.

The third piece, the poster, was my way of magnifying what we had created. This poster was something I deliberated deeply whether to include or not, and in the end, I decided it should be included. It gives perspective about the size of the objects. Throughout the class, we had talked about having some of my objects existing as standalone art work in public spaces, and those conversations also fueled my decision to present this larger scale poster at the final critique. I think the details of the art in the large poster allows the audience to see where the picture came from. The details and mistakes and discrepancies are easily visible, and that is something I wanted to lay bare.

Lastly, this has been a wonderful class of discovery, learning and fun. Thank you, Professor Boone-McCreesh! It has been an amazing journey, and it feels like it ended too early.

[aananduniverse-blog]

Artist Inspiration (Part of Blog 8)

The miniature worlds of Tracy Snelling, I think, provided the greatest inspiration for my work. I think because we were limited to a box, when I read the article detailing Snelling’s work, I was able to make a connection between trying to portray a world in a box. The picture below shows some of the worlds Snelling created.

I wanted to create a world, bigger in size, limited in a box yet expanding beyond. I wanted to create a sense of infinity, and that was what I did through the backgrounds and lighting in my box. Snelling’s boxes, on the other hand, were with backgrounds that helped contain the world immediately in the box itself.

Snelling’s use of light to illuminate, and create shadows, also features in my own picture of the box!

[aananduniverse-blog]

Blog Entry 7

PHOTOSHOP IMAGES

The three photoshop images I created and/or manipulated to fit my hopes for the final project are shown below. The logic behind each is also explained below.

This first background is what I wanted to use on the ceiling - an allusion to a brightly lit night sky - which isn’t readily visible above city-scapes due to the high amount of light being emitted by buildings. While I want to light up two buildings in the scenery I create, they are still not sufficiently overpowering the skylight. 

This is the background on the right side of the “scene”, a continued expanse of buildings, stacked one after another in neat rows, an imitation of large cities that seem to be endless blocks of buildings. This mostly reminds me of Tokyo Japan, which seemed to extend endlessly in each direction from the center of the city.

This background is what takes up the back of the box and the left of the box. It is used to provide depth to the scenery unfolding in the box. A continued city, with shadows that provide depth as well. This was my way of extending the central events of the box to the edges of humanity.

The three background pieces go together due to the color scheme of buildings - blue lights. While the backgrounds are different colors, they are still dark colors and evoke a feeling of doom/danger, darkness extending to engulf the whole scene.

The backgrounds, hence, in harmony and are balanced (1st and 2nd - asymmetrical balance, 3rd - symmetrical balance) and do not have extreme variety. The use of color is limited, hence somewhat economical. The center piece does draw more attention than the sides, but that also depends on the angle at which the photos are taken. Hence, while the central illuminated portion of the third background above is a dominant aspect. The star like illuminated figures in the background definitely add an implied motion to the backgrounds.

BOX COMPOSITION

I took multiple pictures of which I submitted the blow four as my top choices.

1. Frontal picture with no lights

2. Frontal picture with deep-pink light illuminating the external (threatening) creature

3. Frontal picture using purple (eerie) light to illuminate two towers

4. Frontal picture with intense yellow illuminating the external (threatening) creature, splashing color on the ‘defense force’

The pictures do not do complete justice to what I have tried to do with organization of objects. I tried to create balance through asymmetry of color, but symmetrical distribution of objects - the angle of the picture doesn’t illustrate that. The depth that I wanted to create using objects on platforms vs those on the ground isn’t as strongly visible either. Through the process of playing with lights, I was able to experiment with many colors and placement of light. I think this will help inform the final compositions.

Hearing feedback from classmates and professor, I see some strengths that I personally didn’t see when I took the pictures - my overall message, of impending doom, and the ‘readying to fight’, seems to filter through the intensity of objects present - this is one thing that I’m happy about.

The comment about keeping the background dark, to further escalate the ‘doom’ feeling, is something that provided perspective on what I can attempt. At the same time, it was good to know that people appreciated the buildings being illuminated as that is something that I want to do. To balance these aspects will be the tall task, but I have some momentum of ideas going into Wednesday and on.

My notes includes “balance the effect of the background, while illuminating important objects without overpowering the background.” This note truly highlights the issues that I will face as I move forward.

My personal favorite composition right now is 3, with the purple lights.

[aananduniverse-blog]

Blog Post 6

Object 1: (Created 7 pieces, most are of different sizes)

Object 2: 7 outlines for the above pieces.

Object 3: Stacked to create 3-D effect

Object 4: Alien like, random figure

Object 5: Buildings

Forms:

1. The triangular form - (Texas, Uterus, Sheep/Cow/Bull’s head, India)

A. Origin: Form made of clay, then casted.

B. It’s more organic whereas most other shapes are geometric An abstracted version of a form I had made which doesn’t have a role in my final idea as of yet. (MATERIAL = WOOD)

C. Used small wood wedges to ‘raise’ the different sized iteration of this design. Used wood glue to combine the pieces.

2. Weird fetus/alien like form

A. Origin: Created with illustrator

B. Disconnected from other pieces created so far. (MATERIAL = BLACK ACRYLIC)

3. Building

A. Origin: Created with illustrator

B. Connects with the idea of a cityscape, with building of different sizes. Very similar to 3D printed structures, but also a variety compared to them. (MATERIAL = WOOD & CLEAR ACRYLIC)

C. Used Epoxy glue, and yellow “plastic board?” as wedges to create 3D buildings

D. While the building will feature in my final piece, for certain, I don’t yet know whether the other pieces will play a role. Abundance of materials is better than a dearth, so I printed as much as I could, with ideas that came to mind. I will use paint to try to combine the different pieces together, to create harmony and balance. I think I will use the concept of dominance to call into attention the ‘havoc’ being wrecked on the scene I want to create.

I think I will use photoshop and laser etching to create a sense of motion, too. Still to experiment.

[aananduniverse-blog]

Blog for Field Trip

I really liked the hostile terrain installation at Phillips Museum due to the conceptual reason behind it. The emphasis on humanity and the struggles that people migrating (most usually for the safety of their lives) to foreign nations, is one that seems to be misunderstood in many parts of the developed world. To see De Leon exemplify the humanity of these people using day-to-day personal items is very strong. It humanizes the numbers and statistics - it helps the viewer connect with the subject of the border situation in a personal way, which can draw more empathy.

The use of name tags that was stuck to the location of demise for the migrants is relatively innovative - to call attention to the humanity, rather than simply be ‘statistical’.

I also liked this particular island by Bruno Miguel as shown below. I think the amalgamation of different objects fused into one, and the colors that enhance the fusion are well thought out and exemplify the nature of the objects and what they seem to represent. While I don’t have a specific connotation in mind, I think it appears cool.

[aananduniverse-blog]

Inventory Phase 4 and Phase 5!

[aananduniverse-blog]

Blog Post 5

The readings and TED talk each highlighted the importance of failure in creativity. The reading, ‘How creativity is helped by failure’, focused on the aspect of creativity, that those who try and fail most tend to be the most creative ones. The TED talk, ‘The surprising habits of original thinkers’, showed that there is a category of humans who are neither pre-crastinators nor procrastinators, these humans are ‘originals’ and are the creative force of the human world. The article, ‘Is it good for people to fail occasionally?’, and the article about ceramic artists both highlights the importance of failure in learning and character building. I will explain these four sources below, drawing relations to my own successes and failures.

Creativity is amplified when it is a result of failure. In the study of creativity, “the works of highest quality, the most beautiful and creative designs, were all produced by the group graded for quantity”, not the group determined to produce one masterful design! Practice is key, and experimentation leads to creativity. This has been evident in the course, as we have continually experimented with materials and media, playing with color, texture, and equipment. Learning different means to create art, and different ways to interpret art have continually amplified my creativity and creative acceptance of something that doesn’t look immediately artful or exciting. The process is helping me experience creativity in a new sense, and one which will have a lifelong impact.

The TED talk talked of ‘original thinkers’, those who are nonconformists and those who like to stand out and speak up. They are those who drive change and creativity in this human world. They have the minds of a ‘procrastinator’, the speaker says. In the course, I have continually tried to explore and experiment, without limiting what I can do within the given, limited time we have. Hence, I have behaved somewhat like a ‘precrastinator’, except, going back to the reading discussion above, I have continually tried to create a plethora of objects, so I can have an abundance to choose from, and I leave no option (material/color/medium) untried, if I can! Hence, my rush to get things done has been driven by my want to do as much as possible. This has allowed me to create objects that look and appear unique from others that I’ve created, through multiple materials. I’m happy about it! Furthermore, I haven’t fallen into what the TED speaker labels ‘self-doubt’, I have continually produced output, even though some ideas were doubtful when trying out. Some worked out, some didn’t, but I continued on.

Failure builds resilience and provides an opportunity to learn from mistakes. Being limited or having a mould/cast broken provided some setbacks, but ones that I was able to become inspired from. This has led to me keeping broken pieces and wanting to utilize them in my final art piece.

“You take a deep breath, pick up the shards, and start over.”

To reclaim, I printed 3D prints of different objects, and painted objects using spray paint. They have sharpened the looks of my objects, and the colors will build into what I plan to do for the final phase!

[aananduniverse-blog]

Blog Post 4

Solid Clay

This material looked and felt smooth, but also dull without shine. It had no reflectivity of light. The clay we used were white and grey. The emotions I could observe in clay was flexibility and adaptability, taking whatever form the sculptor wanted, and adjusting to the environment as needed. This material, like earth, is very natural and shapes made from it could very easily exist in nature as stand-alone objects or can appear very man-made.

Paper

The paper I used appeared smooth on both sides, but like the clay, had no reflective property. It was very opaque. Paper, for me, ascribes a certain ability to create value. While it wasn’t flexible like clay, I was able to fold the paper in whatever way I wanted. However, fixing the shape into what I wanted was difficult.

Resin (for 3D printers)

The resin 3D printers produce objects that seem to have a smooth surface and texture. This is true both to the look of the material and to the touch. The material was available in different forms and colors. Such as flexible resin, tough resin, and regular resin. I used white, grey and black colored resins to create the 3D forms, and the textures across the forms were relatively similar.

Casting

We used alginate and silicone to make our own casts. Furthermore, we had different premade casts available, and I used multiple of them to create forms. The alginate had a visual texture that appeared rough, however it was very smooth to the touch. The silicone looked and felt soft. Both felt very weird, though; especially alginate. Once, I even shuddered when I was ripping off alginate off an object I had created.

Plaster

Plaster created both smooth and rough surfaces, depending on whether they were on the open end of the casts, or the closed end. The plaster created a surface that looked and felt smooth to the touch on the enclosed sides. On the open end, there were rough bumps that stuck out due to unevenness. Plaster seemed cool to the touch and reminded me of the summer months in Nepal where leaning against an indoor concrete pillar always helped cool the back of my body!

Silicone

As described above, silicone both looked and felt smooth. It was also heavier than I assumed it would be, and stronger than it looks. Not very stretchy as a solid form! This simply brought my attention to my chemistry classes in high school, when I was working with various compounds that had silicone in its structure and the formulas I had to memorize!

White Urethane Plastic

Urethane plastic is a light weight object and looks plaster-like from a distance. However, the texture is different. It looks very smooth, too, like plaster. However, I don’t seem to be able to describe the texture very well, due to the age of the mixture I used which led to a slightly unique formation of the object. The object I made was ‘leaking’ from one spot, and was almost ‘melting away’ at another, which gave the object a slightly less rigid look.

Pigment

Using colors to change the monotone that making objects out of (white) plaster was a good experimentation. They turned out well for me, creating nice contrasts and contours. The different colors created different colored intensities on plaster, with red turning to pink in plaster, red pigment separating to create a ‘dotted’ feature with urethane plastic, and blue remaining a deep blue despite being mixed into plaster!

Monster Clay (Liquid to Solid)

             I attempted monster clay as my last venture in this phase, and it was a hard material to work with, with the casts I tried to use. Because the clay didn’t really harden that well, my casts disallowed the forms to be removed from the cast intact for 2 of 4 that I created. The other two were very soft to the touch in texture and looked soft too. The material was very dense and wouldn’t reflect light in any way. The piece I created, a shot glass I believe, reminded me very much of pottery.

  Of all the materials I used and described above, I prefer working with silicone. This is because of the potential it has for color and texture, as well as being both a material to create a cast out of as well as a material to create forms out of. I would want to experiment with this further either in this class, or outside of it!

I would want to create more objects through the 3D print process that will add to my theme from earlier phases. Through phase 4, I have slightly drifted away from my theme because the process of creating was so intriguing that I wanted to try each step as best and uniquely as I could. Furthermore, there were restrictions to my abilities as to what I could replicate through casting. By getting a few more items 3D printed, I will be able to align the objects I casted along with what I previously had, so that I am able to bridge the gap. I am still thinking as to what I need, but I should have a cleared idea through the next few days.

Some important things I learned from the article on Materials and Texture that I couldn’t integrate into the above summary is followed below:

·       Materials have numerous possibilities, and sculptors need to be aware of them

·       Nothing a sculptor does is neutral – everything has meaning

·       It is a 3-way conversation between sculptor, material and viewer

·       Creating forms transcend the material with which they is made

·       Constantin Brancusi’s Torso of a Young Man in wood and brass

o   The dullness of the wood

o   The shininess of brass

o   Marks left by tools for wood; nowhere for brass

o   Parts of the torso could be invisible depending on the light setting, for the brass piece

·       Cellophane-wrapped candies – sculptures can be made of anything!

·       Arcadian Cluster by Shinique Smith – again, anything can be considered materials for sculpture since mid-20th century

·       Each material has its own life:

o   Cannot make something out of marble that you’d make out of wood and such.

·       Surface quality observed by hand, eye or both.

·       Actual texture – touch

·       Visual texture – look

[aananduniverse-blog]

3D Prints - Blog Entry

Print 1 (Grey)

Print 1 (White)

Print 2 (black):

Personal Item Tinkered:

Low Profile for Casting:

[aananduniverse-blog]

Blog Post #3:

Continuing with the ideas from the clay modeling phase, I wanted to evoke the danger and calamity that I had tried to model earlier in the course. Because the 3-D scanner in the library wasn’t able to scan my Snake and Building clay model, I decided to create the structure in the first idea on Tinkercad.

The model, to me, connects my previous form of two circular loops with the snake head from a 3D structure I found on thingiverse.com and attached it so that the snake becomes significantly grander in size that it was as a standalone print. The magnification of the size was a play on the dangers of various social problems that humanity faces, as I had described earlier.

This first idea relays the message through utilization of different forms: there is a skyscraper that has been uprooted by the snake - allegorical of what havoc issues we face, such as climate change, can have. Another magnificent building is trapped below the monstrous creature.

Furthermore, the split in the building, as I was designing this idea, reflects the split in thinking of humans - half believe climate change is real, half believe it’s a hoax.

This piece reflects contemporary living, and the issues that human beings face. The paradox of agreement and disagreement is reflected through the sharp structure that split’s the magnificent building into two.

Phase 2 Idea 1:

Phase 2 Idea 1 Top-Down View:

In idea 2, I have explored multiplicity of a form, as Jacolby did in the video we watched in class, to create a sense of chaos, keeping with my overall theme. The structure has the reflection of joy and pain, through the happy and sad faces stuck to the tower.

Phase 2 Idea 2:

Phase 2 Idea 2 Back-View:

Idea 3 below is the form that I seem to prefer over the others - simply because this moves beyond chaos and into hope. I have included a unicorn figure as the ‘hero’, which relates to the majestic and mystical thoughts that exist. This savior drives a ‘sword’ through the snake’s tempestuous, colossal body. This prevents the snake from driving it’s teeth from behind the ‘hero’ and humanity is ‘saved’.

The reflection of this on humanity is that the problems we face can be solved, however the dangers are imminent if we do nothing about it. Our downfall is as close as the snake’s head is to the unicorn.

Phase 2 Idea 3:

Phase 2 Idea 3 Angular-View:

This final idea was a free-form creation of something that I still don’t know what it may represent. I wanted to print this form and see it in my hand, and try to understand what may have been my thought process in creating this. However, the 3D printer couldn’t handle the structure of the form and generate supports to print.

Phase 2 Idea 4:

Phase 2 Idea 4 Top-Down View:

[aananduniverse-blog]

Blog Entry #2: Clay Sculptures

First clay sculpture: This sculpture, in my mind, formed from thinking about public objects that have inspired me in the past. I wanted to create something that would be able to gather people around it if it existed as a large structure, something like the Cloud Gate in Chicago, which I saw and was awed by during November last year. Furthermore, I wanted something that would look geometric and organic - hence, the piece has a center piece that has sharp lines, and angles, whereas the outside circular forms are circular but free-flowing, like snakes.

Due to these reasons, the piece as a whole seems both representational (snake-like structure) and abstract, the central geometric piece doesn’t represent anything but was just a shape I thought looked visually appealing to me personally, and one that would be distinct from a straight column/pillar.

The picture below shows this piece from the front - and the combination of turns of the circular structure, along with the sharpness of the central piece gives a great contrast that I am intrigued by.

The picture below shows the same sculpture from the top. Here, as I was creating the piece, I looked at the overlap and it seemed to create an infinity loop, that extends on and on. This was one of the subsidiary meanings I drew from this piece, because I wanted to create something that could represent human life, suffering, and hope. Infinity represents, personally for me, an infinite possibility of solutions and betterment.

The picture below is the same sculpture, but from the side. 

Second Clay Sculpture: The picture below is my second clay sculpture. This one is very representational of a scenario that came up as we were in the process of sculpting on Monday 1/21. 

The darker clay base represents an island with two buildings, the ones that the giant snake (made of white clay) seems to be using to hold itself up. In the process, the weight of the snake has collapsed the building near the snake’s tail. The snake is peering past the expanse of the sea that separates this island from the mainland, planning its next attack.

This scenario is symbolic of the problems that humanity currently faces, and was to connect with the fact that my first sculpture was dealing with humanity and hope, something that could move people to gather, discuss and lead change.

The two pictures immediately below is the left and right representations of the snake-doomday sculpture.

Finally, the picture below is the top-down representation of the same sculpture - and it shows the devastation it has had on the buildings. Furthermore, it lets us imagine what the size of the giant snake (i.e. climate change, the refugee crisis, etc.) that humanity is to face off with is.

Both of the sculptures, while I was sculpting them, matched with the overall theme that I was planning - of an threat and of overcoming. I believe that I will continue along this story-line, if changing media allows for a continuation of that.

While the first sculpture had a mix of abstract and representational; geometric and organic, the second sculpture was completely representational - buildings and snake. There are some geometric shapes, the island isn’t shaped like any island - it’s got sharp edges on every side. 

Overall, I think these two pieces can spin a story about the problems in society, and how we need to get together to tackle them.

[aananduniverse-blog]

Check out Carel Visser, Kleine Glat (1966), From The Mayor Gallery

Balancing iron blocks, and welding them to retain their stature - seems so unique. Furthermore, I would love to look through the hole in the middle at different objects just to see what the view would be through the uncommon snapshot.

[aananduniverse-blog]

Check out Dan Flavin, Untitled (to Ileana and Michael Sonnabend) (1970), From Phillips

#minimalism

The use of different colored lights to create the contrasting shades on the wall is mesmerizing.

[aananduniverse-blog]

Blog Entry #1: Serial Art, Repetition and Minimalism

Serial Art:

Understanding of concept: Where uniform elements or objects were assembled in accordance with strict modular principles

Feeling about this form of art: I really appreciated how the Endless Column looked, which is an example of serial art.

Thoughts/ideas from here: Making a chain of some shape to create something that raises awareness about a social issue. I need to think more about what that could be, but it was great to see this art form.

Repetition:

Understanding of concept: repeating images, elements and gestures in art works.

Feeling about this form of art: Some pieces of art work using repetition are very appealing to look at such as the Chauvet Cave linked below.

Thoughts/ideas from here: As described under serial art, i was thinking of creating repetition, which is what we intend to do in this class using different media – I’m excited for the course and our discoveries ahead. I would want to experiment with creating meaning through repetition.

Minimalism:

Understanding of concept: ‘simple’ artform based on squares and rectangles. Not mimicking what already exists – hence giving art its own meaning.

Feeling about this form of art: Take it or leave it – this is the way I feel about different art works that fall under minimalism. Some really stand out, whereas others seem very uninspiring.

Andy Warhol Untitled (Serial Art)

·       Artist name: Andy Warhol

·       Art date: 1979

·       Art medium: 12 Polacolor Type 108

Endless column (Serial Art)

·       Artist name: Constantin Brâncuși

·       Art date: 1938

·       Art medium: Stone

·       Thoughts: I wonder how the stone slats were so carefully stacked, there isn’t a large foundation. What keeps the structure intact...

Chauvet Cave (Repetition)

·       Artist name: N/A

·       Art date: 30000-28000 BCE

·       Art medium: Paint on Limestone