Response to Miami Book Fair Event #2

     Today, Sunday the 20th, I attended the Child's-Eye View: Memories and Memoirs of Youth panel, where Emil Ferris, Tom Hart, and Meags Fitzgerald discussed this subject and relating it to their most recent works. Towards the beginning of the session, Emil Ferris provided a great response to the opening question "Why kids?"; she responded with, "The perspective of a child is a very pure perspective, they get to see things in the periphery." I highly agree with this statement and can relate to it because I've been spending a lot of time with my two younger cousins lately (one is two and the other one is five) and just being around them and observing how they interact with their surroundings is rather refreshing. They remind me that a lot of these superficial things that we worry about is 100% fiction. I was interested in the the different backstories of the authors' that inspired these memoirs. All three of them approached the task of telling a story differently but they could all agree on one thing when it comes to boiling all of the ideas that they're trying to convey down to one piece, they all agreed that one must keep the hand and mind busy, live in the moment(in the work) and find a way.
     Hearing each of the three of the authors explain their method approach and choices of mediums further informed me about our current topic. They all tailored their mediums to best portray his narrative as effectively as possible. Emil Ferris' story is about a young girl living in 60s Chicago so she chose to use regular paper and a ball point pen to illustrate her whole book to give it a diary-like quality. Tom Hart acknowledged that he was technically not the most talented illustrator so he relied on his strong sense of drive to carry his narrative all the way through, he said that he enjoys letting "the brute attempts work its way out". In her graphic novel "Long Red Hair", Meags Fitzgerald uses duo-tone to color her story; she chose to do so because the her main character deals with two sense of self and the duality of things, that's why I think it's so interesting that she considered the push and pull factor that the duo tone would create.

Response to Miami Book Fair Event #1

     On Saturday the 19th I attended the panel where Art Spiegelman and Charles Kochman discussed and celebrated Si Lewen's work titled "Parade: An Artist’s Odyssey". During this panel I learned that wordless stories quickly gained popularity after World War I and how Frans Mazreel and Lynd Ward were prominent pioneers of this genre; to me, this new piece of knowledge reinforced the belief that great art results from times of turmoil. Spiegelman briefly told Si Lewen's life story and the part that caught my attention was when Spiegelman revealed that Lewen was once a very successful painter but the darkness from his experiences with war caught up; this darkness that returned prompted Si Lewen to turn his back on the commercial galleries to make art that fulfilled his personal goals. An ideology that Si Lewen proposed to Spiegelman is that, "Art is not a commodity, art is priceless"; by following this idea, Lewen was able to paint more prolifically than ever, or as Spiegelman would put it, "better in many ways".
     Upon receiving permission from Si Lewen himself to remaster "Parade: An Artist’s Odyssey", Spiegelman decided to introduce the new version of the book in an accordion fold format. Not only did this format catch my attention because of our recent workshop in class, but the reason behind it helped me further understand relationships between narrative and the structure in which it is presented in. Si Lewen's intention for the book was for the " pictures to talk to each other" and the format does just that. Another thing that stuck to me was the actual gist of the narrative in "Parade: An Artist’s Odyssey"; the images in this book tells a story about "man's perpetual desire to destroy himself, about a generational affair with love and war, eventually people get exhausted and move on, and then it starts up again, a new parade towards destruction and war", said Spiegelman. It's amazing how this story is still so relevant in present day. 

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I got the chance to talk to Art Spiegelman himself on Sunday. We
talked about Si Lewen's idea that "pictures talk to each other" and he
gave me some advice for my art practice.

Response to Visionary Metropolis: Tony Garnier's Une Cité Industrielle

     The amount of work that Tony Garnier has produced for Une Cité Industrielle shows how obsessive he is about bringing this idea of a modern city, that was planned to be virtually utopian, to  life. Considering what the citizens of this city would want, Garnier depicted every single intricate detail in the architectural floor plan and also in the specific sketches of different areas of the city (residential zones, industrial zones etc.) I must admit at first glance his renderings do just seem like pretty architectural illustrations but as I looked closer the small texts revealed that in creating this ideal metropolis, Garnier was considering the needs of every individual that would live in this society.
    Not only did Garnier and his peers create proposals for a "greener" society, they also brought to light the flaws of industrialization. In Pierre Paulus' piece The Industrial Region, the portrayal of the smog billowing out of the factory chimneys caused me to almost smell the toxic fumes. I can not begin to imagine what life was like to for people like Tony Garnier during the industrial revolution. Yes everything around you is advancing at a rapid rate and society is improving, but at what cost? Humans were beginning to be less and less considerate of environmental degradation that was also occurring and that drove Garnier (and many other "designers and reformers") to propose a change for the better. To me, Une Cité Industrielle is a fine example of how one person was able to process and synthesize the information around him and turned it into a proposal to revamp society.

Une Cité Industrielle

Plate 123, Habitation [Dwelling], from Une Cité Industrielle, 1917

Poster, Le pays industriel, De nijverheidsstreek
[The Industrial Region], 1911
Pierre Paulus
Chromolithograph

Response to The Discipline of Nature: Architect Alfred Browning Parker in Florida

     Upon finding out that Alfred Browning Parker was an environmentally conscious architect, I immediately thought of Frank Lloyd Wright. I later found out that Parker was indeed inspired by Wright's trailblazing "organic architecture" ideology (I am rather familiar with Wright's work because my high school was very close to Florida Southern College, home of the world's largest single-site collection of Wright's architecture.) From reading a small section in one of Parker's journals that were in display, I could tell that he is very consistent with his practice and it shows in his marvelous architectural feats. In one of his journals he noted, "Efficiency is largely a matter of concentration. Health is an important factor. Keep resiliency and energy. Excess energy". With a mindset like this,  Alfred Parker always stayed conscious about his surroundings and continued to incorporate it into his work throughout his long career.
     When looking at Alfred Parker's work, I noticed that the nature(plants, flowers, bodies of water) and man made buildings in his renderings are always unified in a natural way. In some/most of his drawn models and sketches, Parker illustrates each building in a whole landscape, and gives each of them an environment to coexist with. Even after reaching celebrity status, Parker continued to innovate knowing that he has gotten to a point where he can continue his practice on a national level.

Adobe Villas

Caribbean Projects

Belin Residence #2, Coconut Grove, 2059

World Trade Center Project

Response to: Titus Kaphar, The Vesper Project

     I definitely felt Titus Kaphar's ambitious energy emitting through his installations. Due to the historical nature of his art, I felt as if I was in a time capsule. During the process of trying to make sense of the internal fictional narrative running through his head, Kaphar chose materials ranging from painted canvas to an actual house that he reconstructed to fit the narrative. The house was actually the last installation in this exhibit that I chose to look at and the first thing I noticed was a presence within the walls of the demolished room. The presence was radiating off the materials that he used; the newspapers covering the walls, the photographs, the mangled furniture et cetera together creates an eerie and chaotic atmosphere that, to me, resemble the state of a human mind during a mental breakdown.

     One of Titus Kaphar's most admirable characteristics to me is his commitment to his artistic process. He completely allowed himself to experiment, indulge, and get lost within his artwork. In the end, he wound up with this collection of works that carried out his intentions to "nod to hidden narratives and begin to reveal unspoken truths about the nature of history." Another thing that I find fascinating is the fact that he worked and lived with his fictional narrative (much like fictional writers) and is completely okay with allowing fictional stories to integrate into his reality. Like Kaphar, I would like to develop a stronger sense of trust with my art by continuing to create and letting the process draw out those hidden narratives in my own life.

Watching Tides Rise, 2012
Oil and tar on canvas

Front Page, 2012
Oil and newspaper on canvas

Below are images from the "house" part of the Vesper Project

 

 

Response to the Wolfsonian's exhibition "Art and Design in the Modern Age"

     I really enjoyed how this exhibition displayed the artifacts in a variety of themes ranging from National Identity and Political Works to Modern furniture and entire blueprints for future cities/metropolis'. This arrangement really helped me get a feel of how the people living in this period  viewed the world at the time. It was interesting to realize that the attitudes that the artisans felt about the rapidly advancing environment are reflected in the artworks. Some people embraced new modern aesthetics while others clung on to their love for ornament and embellishments. The most interesting pieces, to me at least, were the ones that combined both modern design principles with historical ornamentation; some examples are: Wilhem Hunt Diedrich's "Candlestand" and Carl Melmsten's "Chest". 

Candlestand, c.1925
Wilhelm Hunt Diederich

Chest, c.1925
Carl Malmsten

     Although I did thoroughly enjoy the minimalism and "form over function" aspects of the bauhaus furniture and housewares, the ornate and intricately embellished furniture informed me a bit more for our current unit Ornament and Pattern. Ornament completely adorn these furniture pieces and they are fully functional. These ornamentations not only serve as decoration but also incorporate motifs like the "Folding chair" piece and narratives like the "Stained glass window". The patterns on  "Sideboard" by Thomas Jeckyll showed me more examples of enclosed ornaments and how they look on wooden furniture.

 

 

Folding chair, c.1905
   

Stained glass window, c. 1930

   

Response to PAMM visit: Ornament and Empire

     The visit to the PAMM to see the "Ornament and Empire" exhibit was especially interesting for me because I've never thought about how ornamentation can correlate with status and power. I was in awe and amazed at how Hew Locke utilized a perishable and everyday material such as cardboard to create such a magnificent  structure. The chaotic piece is comprised of incredibly elaborate patterns abound; with no resting spot for the eye, I was forced to carefully study the piece in detail. Upon learning that Locke's intent was to address symbols of British royalty, colonial histories, and narratives related to global migrations, I began to appreciate the piece more knowing that the object and material that Locke chose was intentional.
          Seeing Firelei Baez's work again remind me of my first Art Basel experience. I remember admiring Baez's massive, colorful and ornate installation that resembles the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It was nice to see her work once again in the Perez and have time to stop and read about her pieces. I have learned that she utilizes her art to address the long history of ornamentation and fashion as acts of resistance among African American women during times of French colonialism in New Orleans and the Caribbean. I especially enjoyed staring back at the figure in Baez's "Sans-Souci" piece and learning that the piece is about how free women of color of 18-century Louisiana turned oppression into expression.

Firelei Baez
Sans-Souci (This threshold between a dematerialized and historicized body), 2015
Acrylic and ink on linen

 

Firelei Baez
Bloodlines, 2015
Acrylic and ink on linen

    

                             Hew Locke

                     Hemmed in Two, 2000

        Cardboard, wood, acrylic, glue, and felt-tip pen

Response to ICA Visit

        The first exhibit I saw was Ida Applebroog's Mercy Hospital, which I observed to have a rather negative connotation overall. Her journals depict scenes of domestic abuse, rape, harlotry and even murder. I noticed that all of the scenes shown in her work are very private scenes that Applebroog took and made to be very public through her expressive and cartoonish journals and paintings; these scenes can easily be uncomfortable to some viewers for they hit very close to some triggering experiences and feelings. I was especially intrigued with her "BLUE BOOKS" series; she illustrated several domestic dramas utilizing repetition and poetic monologues which prompted me to become fascinated and curious to analyze each of the situations. When observing Appplebroog's large oil paintings, I find that it's interesting how she utilized cartoonish figures to render gruesome hospital scenes. The figures in Ida Applebroog's drawings are very organically formed and bear an eerie resemblance to anatomical human parts; these drawings, coupled with her thought provoking writings become very emotionally charged pieces.
        When looking at the work of Susan Te Kahurangi King, I could feel her impulse to work and create. From a distance, some of her drawings look like typical abstract works, maybe even landscapes, but upon closer inspection I could see that she utilized many cartoonish figures and objects to make up these abstract scenes. Another thing I noted is her artistic transformation throughout her life. Her early works comprised of bold colors and forms, then they gradually started to become less colorful to focus on the possible narrations that could be occurring; her recent and later works are almost completely abstract and comprised of the vivid colors once again. After learning that King lost her ability to speak as a child and was diagnosed as severely autistic, I started to look at her work through a different lens and was left with a sense of awe-struck curiosity. I began to ask questions like: What prompted her to start and continue drawing? What must be going through her head as a child for her to start illustrating the way she does (referring to the distorted drawings of Donald Duck)?

    

              

    

    

Labels Help You Organize

All blog posts must be labeled with two keywords, which blogger calls Labels. When faculty visits your blog for evaluation purposes, we will use the labels to quickly find your work. If you do not use the keywords properly, we will not be able to find your work. Proper set-up and maintenance of your blog falls under the Research and Participation part of your grade which counts for 30% of the overall semester grade. 

Topical Keywords

The first set of keywords correspond to the module we are working in. We will refer to these as topical keywords since they correspond to the topic we are exploring over the two-week periods. Your first group of posts will be labeled under Topic: Creative Impulse since this is the first topic (Topic #1). Here are the topical keywords you will use through out the semester:

Topic: Creative Impulse

Topic: Pattern and Ornament

Topic: Rhinoceros

Topic: Narrative

Topic: Landscape

Topic: Zine

Categorical Keywords

The second set of keywords will organize your posts according to kind. Here are the Keywords you will use for Labels:

Exercises - tag for posts documenting all assigned exercises. The first one will be the paper folding exercise from the first class. 

Readings - tag for posts containing your two paragraph responses to the assigned readings. The first ones will be for "The White Bird" and the Jerry Saltz article from Vulture.com. 

Small Works - tag for posts documenting all assigned small works. The first blog post labeled Small Works will contain images and accompanying descriptions of the three small works you complete for the Creative Impulse Module (Topic #1). 

In-Depth Projects - tag for posts documenting all assigned In-Depth projects. The first blog post labeled In-Depth Projects will contain images (or video if appropriate) and accompanying descriptions of the more robust work you produce in response to the Creative Impulse Module (Topic #1).

Outside Visits - tag for posts containing your two paragraph responses to all required visits outside of the classroom. These include visits we do together as a class [during class time] or individually outside of class time. 

Please be sure to use both a topical and categorical keyword when labeling your posts.

Next Steps

1. After copying and pasting this text into your first blog post, create your labels from the keywords we listed above. In the Edit post window you will find an area titles Labels where you can add your own custom labels to your blog. This is where you will add the keywords we listed above. Please be sure to add all keywords to the Labels window for this first blog post. 

The easiest way to do this is by copying and pasting the following text into the Labels window for this blog post:

Topic: Creative Impulse, Topic: Pattern and Ornament, Topic: Rhinoceros, Topic: Narrative, Topic: Landscape, Topic: Zine, Exercises, Readings, Small Works, In-Depth Projects, Outside Visits