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Week 11 – Art Activity – Choice

Question for this week: Why did you draw an elephant and what do elephants mean to you?

For this week’s art project, I decided to draw my favorite animal, the elephant. I’ve always had a fondness for elephants, in particular African elephants, due to their intelligence, their emotional sensitivity, and how great of a memory they are known for having. To me, elephants are more than just an animal, they symbolize wisdom, peace, and independence. When I look into the eyes of an elephant, I see innocence and strength at the same time.

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Week 10 – Art Activity – Intermedia

My idea here was to combine different traditional art mediums to convey something a little more complex and meaningful to me. I used different materials to show texture, as well as to show emotions. The sky is red because even though it’s meant to represent the sunset, it can also be taken to mean that the world is currently under fire due to everything going on right now. I think I did a good job at showing what I meant through the canvas and using the different materials.

Out of the 3 mediums I would have done, I would have tried to create some kind of sculpture through Minecraft with the help of my friends who play it in order to, just like the artist of the week, use video games to make art and create a message. The second medium I would have liked to use was to have some kind of open spaced studio in order to try and create some kind of unique photograph.

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Week 10 – Artist – Joseph DeLappe & Micol Hebron

Both Joseph DeLappe and Micol Hebron are intermedia artists who utilize a variety of mediums in order to get their art, vision, and message across. Micol Hebron is a feminist artist who incorporates femininity and encourages people to be themselves. Micol Hebron works with several mediums such as social media, studio work, public speaking, and more. I think that Hebron chooses her art medium based on what she thinks will be most effective. For example, On Hebron's Instagram page, she promotes a specific type of top that looks like it's exposing a woman's breats. She did this in order to make a statement about how women need to be treated just the same as men do.

DeLappe uses different art mediums such as sculptures, just like Hebron, but DeLappe uses video games a lot in his works to incorporate his political thoughts into his pieces. For example DeLappe created a 3D work called "Taliban Hands" where he recreated the hands of a playable Taliban fighter from a video game in response to the controversy said game had received due to the player's ability to be able to play as a Taliban soldier against US troops.

Both of these artists use their political beliefs to further their artistic vision, and both of these artists use multiple mediums such as studios, sculptures, social media, and even video games to get their messages across. Both of these artists seem to have a similar creative process by which they make art based on what's most on their mind regarding contemporary political issues. I can't particularly think of any medium that these two artists have not yet used, but maybe they can use photography to tell political stories in a way that their works cannot.

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Week 8 — Art Activity — Photo Stories

I start my mornings staring right at this exact ceiling fan, reading the day’s news and pondering what the day may bring ahead for me.

After a few minutes pondering, here is where I decide to go downstairs and eat my breakfast. Today’s choice: Apple Jacks.

Once I’ve eaten, I like to go back upstairs and look at the courtyard outside of where I live, enjoying the breeze and hearing the sounds of nature.

Before I leave, I always make sure to come here and look out at the ocean, beach, and aquariums that lie out beyond.

Today, I went to the grocery store and bought cheese for my dad. Here I am buying some!

This is my first dog, Versace. I love her, she’s very calm and quiet.

My second dog, Wally. Even though he’s smaller, he’s much feistier and much more likely to bite.

Most days, especially on weekends, I spend time with my girlfriend watching movies, tv shows, and playing video games.

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Week 8 - Artist — Addario - Cardiff-Miller

Lynsey Addario’s work is very real, raw photography showcasing human suffering in different forms worldwide. For example in her works taking photos of wildfires in California, she documents how firefighters work hard to stop the flames, and how houses burn under the fire.

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, like Addario, also work with photography, but with different types of pictures. Cardiff and Miller’s photos are very surreal, and they feature many photos which they call “works”, that, just like Addario, feature regular people in regular places, albeit from the perspective of a photo taking device such as a video camera, phone, or photo camera.

To me, the gritty edge of real-world stories are more important because they convey the truth and the real world that we live in. Photos like Addario’s highlight the struggles and realities of the planet, and open people’s eyes when they read articles that feature her works. I wouldn’t say that the world “needs” whimsical mind explorations, but they are interesting and definitely do offer different life perspectives which are always important.

If I decided to pick up a camera and microphones to pursue a career in storytelling, since I would prefer nonfiction stories, I would prefer the raw and real gritty edginess of Lynsey Addario’s photography. I feel like Cardiff-Miller would be great for some sort of mystery story.

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Week 7 – Artist – Nan Goldin & Annie Leibovitz

This week’s artists are professional photographers Nan Goldin and Annie Leibovitz. Both of these photographers have in common the fact that their preferred art medium is art, but after looking at both of their works, I would say that the similarities end there. Nan Goldin takes more “documentary” style photos, documenting ordinary people and their experiences. Annie Leibovitz focuses more on taking photos of celebrities.

This is my favorite work of Nan Goldin’s. It’s called “Red Sky from My Window”. I really enjoy the use of reds and pinks in contrast with the silhouettes of the buildings and the water tower. This photo connects with me because it really evokes my mind and puts me in the “thinking” mood. It reminds me of my days spent throughout my life staring out of windows around the world and the many thousands of thoughts that I’ve had while doing so.

This photo of Michael Jackson taken by Annie Leibovitz is my favorite. I grew up listening to Michael Jackson my entire life, my mom was always a super fan. When I look at this picture, it reminds me of the past. It gives me nostalgia, it makes me think of the 1990’s and all of the good feelings I had associated with those times.

Annie Leibovitz uses more “manufactured” images of celebrities as her photography style, while Nan Goldin uses more “documentary” style images showing people in their natural environments or Nan’s world through Nan’s eyes. I don’t personally believe that their is a difference in authenticity between these two artists’ works. Even though Leibovitz uses celebrities, of which many people would think are emotionless robots who are disconnected from reality, Leibovitz finds a way to still convey the emotions and authenticity of her subjects through effective use of lighting and environmental focus.

If I had to choose between Annie Leibovitz and Nan Goldin to take a professional environmental photograph for me, I would have to go with Annie Leibovitz. While I would appreciate Nan Goldin’s work, I feel as though the way she edits her photos would not suit a professional situation. I believe Annie Leibovitz would bring out the best of myself, my background, and even my emotions to help with a good first impression.

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Week 7 – Art Activity – Headshots & Environmental Portraits

This photo is of myself in front of the view I have in my backyard (I live on a military base, and it’s next to the beach). I usually come out here to think or to get creative thoughts flowing that have helped me get through some tough assignments at school in the past.

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Week 6 - Artists of the Week

For this week’s artists, we were asked to look at the singer Camille, and the famous choreographer Sarah Elgart. This week’s art activity was to try to use our brain and our cognitive abilities to create art, and that is exactly what these two artists do themselves.

Camille is a French singer and from what I’ve heard from her music, she makes very calm, soft music. I didn’t realize this, but upon listening to her music, I found out that I actually already did know one of her songs from the film Ratatouille, which is great because I always loved the song but never knew the name for it! Camille’s style is very minimalistic, soft, and she reminds me in some ways of a French version of the Icelandic singer Björk, which is a good thing! I most certainly can find flow when listening to her songs, especially “Sous le sable”, it puts me in a very calm place, and I love that she utilized her vocals so much as an instrument as well as part of the background music.

Sarah Elgart is a choreographer who, just like Camille, makes very ethereal, cerebral dances and takes photographs that are not necessarily about a specific “subject”, but rather an experience. To see Elgart’s dance choreography and to view her photos is to experience her art. I also find flow in Elgart’s choreography, because it displays carelessness and evokes a sense of peace.

The great thing about the art of both of these women is that both of their works go well with one another. I’d love to see a Sarah Elgart performance to Camille’s music, if it hasn’t been done before. Listening now to Camille’s cover of “I Wanna Be Sedated” made famous by The Ramones, and then viewing Sarah Elgart’s work puts me in a place of happiness, peace, carelessness, and that is exactly what I felt when I was drawing my own cognitive art piece, because even though it did not come out to a specific image, it provoked, at least to me, a sense of my brain and how carefree I felt in that moment.

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Week 6 - Art Activity - Drawing II

My girlfriend and I decided to work on this project together. We both decided to relax, listen to music, and just go wherever the direction of the pen we used took us. It was interesting for me that even though the design we drew didn’t look like much, the fact that we were both able to draw anything at all the way we held the pen is cool! It’s funny to note that perhaps, if I were to frame this drawing and tell someone that a famous artist did it, maybe someone who doesn’t know about art might believe it! The best part about the whole experience though was being able to laugh with my girlfriend while we drew and laughing even more at whatever we were coming up with. A lot of the lines in the drawing are due to us pulling the pen in certain directions due to laughing so hard. I didn’t really experience a flow or zone because I don’t particularly consider myself to be an artist, so it was hard for me to focus on something I’m not particularly good at. Drawing to me is being able to articulate your mind’s visions into something visual, and despite whatever my girlfriend and I drawing not looking like anything in particular, the fact that something visual was depicted from our work together shows that “drawing” does not necessarily have to be dictated by the “quality” of the artist drawing.

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Art Activity Week 6 - Cognitive Map -

For this week’s art activity, we were asked to draw a map of the CSULB campus the way we remember it, and then compare that with an actual map of the campus. To me, when I compare what I drew with the real campus map, I noticed how what I always interpreted to be “going north” on campus, was always me actually going south due to the direction I would always enter the school from. This is due to my political science major which required most of my classes to be taken in the SSPA building, which is why I would park closer to the South Parking Structure. I also noticed that since I’m an avid sports fan, I drew in detail things like the tennis courts, the soccer field, the Walter Pyramid, and the gym, things that somebody who hates sports might not label for example. To me, this shows my brain’s thinking process and how I saw my school, as an athletic social science school!

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Week 5 - Artists of the Week -

For this week’s artists of the week, I went with two of my personal favorite artists; Takashi Murakami and Banksy.

Murakami is a famed gallery artist whose works have been celebrated worldwide by millions and used in collaboration with some of the world’s biggest and most influential fashion houses like Louis Vuitton, to just name one. His works have a clean, corporate feel, and the use of cute and innocent flowers with happy faces is appealing to everyone of all ages.

Banksy on the other hand is a famed graffiti artist who made a name for himself by illegally spray painting stencils of original artwork along buildings to convey a political message. He gained most notoriety and prominence when he began to show his work along the Palestinian-Israeli border. Banksy once infamously put an art piece of his for sale at an auction and once the highest bid was set, the artwork began to be shredded immediately, sending investors into a panic.

Both of these artists are unique and very talented in their own right, they just use their talent and vision differently to create works that are consumed differently by different people who come from all walks of life.

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- Week 5 Activity - Graffiti Name

For this week’s activity, I was asked to write my name in bubble letters, similar to a graffiti style. I chose to do them in blue and yellow, the colors of my favorite soccer team, for which you can see a pendant hung in my room in the background. It was fun and interesting to write my name this way, and especially fun to be able to use the colors the way I wanted to.

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I wanted to take a biographical approach to making my zine. I decided to go for “short but sweet”, and convey my life story into a short, bite-sized version that would symbolize my story.

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Week 4 – Artists OTW – Tom Sachs & Johanna Fateman

Upon analyzing the two artists Tom Sachs and Johanna Fateman, I notice that the two artists seem to be polar opposites, at least in terms of their artistic approach. Johanna's art is much darker, much realer, and much more emotional. Tom Sachs' work seems very clean, very pure, and very commercial, however I also see the art behind his work as well.

Johanna Fateman is part of the riot girl movement, an underground feminist punk subculture that formed in the Pacific Northwest during the 90's, associated with popular artists at the time as well like Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. Fateman's work is rooted in feminism, in politics, and expressing her emotions. I don't particularly identify with Johanna Fateman's work in terms of its direct message, but I can relate to it more in terms of the principle of expressing yourself and being true to how you feel.

Tom Sachs' work as I mentioned before seems a lot more carefully executed, and this comes from Sachs' background as an architect. It's harder for me personally to interpret his artwork and what it means because it seems so commercial, almost like an advertisement. His work conveys a very robotic, mechanic message. It reminds me of the future and robots taking over for some reason. However, I also see the art in his work. Sachs' clean images remind me of the work of the late contemporary fashion designer Virgil Abloh, who also utilized a clean image to convey his vision.

Both of these artists use zines to convey their art and their vision, and both of these artists do it effectively, however I have to say that I mainly identify with Johanna Fateman's work, not only due to its artistic appeal, (I love the black and white and the way she used it) but due to its more emotional appeal. Fateman's work puts me in a more emotional place, a place inside my own head. For that, Fateman's work definitely strikes a more personal chord for me. Tom Sachs' work, while impressive in its own right, simply doesn't move me very much, and reminds me of corporate artwork you would see in the lobby of some financial office somewhere in a commercial district of a big city. Though there is nothing wrong with this, it simply does nothing for me to provoke a response from me the way Johanna Fateman's zines do.

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Wk 3 – Art & My Major

For my small project, I decided to make a "political" cartoon. In reality, there's nothing political about following health guidelines and wearing a mask, but as of the last two years, the issue has become political, and people have become further divided on the issue of wearing a mask. I wanted to convey this through art, so I created a simple image telling people to wear their mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

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Wk 3 – Artists OTW – Lalo Alcaraz & Steve Benson

My major is political science, so for the two artists of the week I went with political editorial cartoonists Lalo Alcaraz and Steve Benson. I find both of these artists to be interesting because they use their artistic expression and creativity to convey their emotions and political stances on current events. Regardless of political affiliation, these artists have shown an ability to mix their knowledge of politics, their artistic know how, and their own opinions, to be able to crate art pieces that explain things in a humorous and easily consumable way. Both Alcaraz and Benson share their professions, both of them make political art, and both of them seem to have the same political views and stances. Alcaraz however, as a Latino man himself, seems to make more cartoons aiming at Latin-Americans and portraying their mistreatment in America. Alcaraz uses bright colors with small images that will surely catch your attention. Benson on the other hand, while sharing similar views to Alcaraz, uses his art differently. He uses larger, more intricately drawn patterns and designs to get his message across. Both of these artists draw for different newspapers as well. It's very interesting to me how politics and art can be combined to convey messages and opinions that are freely expressed for others to find relatable to.

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Week 2 - Art Activity #2 - Sculpture

Unfortunately, unlike Tara Donovan or Juliana Cerqueira Leite, I myself am not good at using clay. I didn't really understand the instructions well enough, and the material ended up hardening before I had a chance to set my hands. Ironically, even though I failed at this art project, I was still left with some positives. For one, the messiness of working with clay has left my shirt with some new designs. Second, I will now have the funny memory of trying to work with clay and failing for the rest of my life, which is something humorous and pleasant to look back at. Experiences like these always remind me that all of life's negatives have something positive to look at as well. Next time, in the future, I'll make sure to set my hands in the clay a lot quicker, and I'll make sure that the material doesn't harden before I get the chance to set my hand!