In-Depth: Thriving

As I was sketching out and brainstorming for this project, a specific memory came back to me. When I used to live at home I would always try to grow and nurture small plants and no matter how much I cared for them they would always die; my dad would then scold me and tell me "Trồng cây cột điện cho nó sướng" which roughly translates to "Why don't you just grow a telephone pole so it won't die to save your breath. This little anecdote of mine prompted me to explore with this idea for the metamorphosis project. 

Post-Critique:
I learned that this is more of a representation of transformation and is unresolved in terms of the transformation aspect of the assignment. Needs further exploration.                                                                    

 

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

 

 

Portrait/Propaganda

 For the portrait I chose to depict my little brother as an admirable young man.


 For the propaganda piece I thought it'd only be appropriate to depict my brother as a teenage delinquent.

Creature/Other

Creature #2

Other #1

 Re-touched this piece and took out the yellow streak at the top that didn't read like I intended it to and made the others' skin more "red" like the reading described.

Response to "Photographing the Past During the Present"

     Like the end of the reading stated, both Edward Curtis and Richard Throssel created work that "invites contemporary audiences to interrogate the past and the people who documented it with a more critical eye". This reading enlightened me on the fact that there were Native American photographers at that time. After reading this chapter of Lampert's book, I came to admire Richard Throssel for utilizing the new medium of photography to address problems in his community; Throssel's work is admirable in that it accurately captures the lives of Native Americans. Although Curtis's work did leave an "extensive record of Native peoples", I still can't get over the unpalatable fact that he took a selfish approach and left damaging stereotypes on the Native people.
     During a time where many were curious about the lives of Native Americans, Edward S. Curtis capitalized on the chance to portray Natives through his own lens and sell these images to "wealthy clientele". It's one thing for Curtis to be curious, then document and "create a reality for himself" but it's another thing to intentionally utilize a whole group of people to create visual propaganda, altering their reality for a large audience and then leave them to deal with the negative stereotypes that remained. Richard Throssel's work served as "a form of community activism" and he was genuinely dedicated to helping his people through the photography medium, with their permission. It's a shame that Throssel's work wasn't given as much public recognition as Curtis' work; I think if it had been the other way around, Native American people would have one less problem to face.

Response to "The Rhinoceros from Durer to Stubbs 1515-1799"

     During a time in which the image of the Rhino became popular throughout Europe, Albrecht Durer managed to produce the most iconic depiction of the animal "due as much to chance as to genius". By viewing a rough sketch and reading a small description of the animal, Durer combined previous knowledge that he had with the new information to illustrate his famous rhinoceros. I appreciate the fact that Durer incorporated his knowledge from armor design to illustrate the rhino's own "armor". Even with Durer's slight imaginative exaggerations to the rhino, those that know what a rhino looks like still find Durer's depiction to be fairly accurate and worthy to be recorded into books.
     One part that I found interesting in the reading is when Clarke mentions that a friend of Durer's, Hans Burgkmair, also produced a similar looking woodcut print of the rhinoceros. It's odd that scholars couldn't figure out if the two pieces are related in any way. One thing is for certain, Durer's more stylized and ingenious representation of the rhino became long lasting and iconic while Burgkmair's print faded into the background. The other variations of depictions seem to follow Durer's scaffolding of the Rhino's figure. I enjoy how new depictions of the rhinoceros became more and more stylized according to each artist's method of work and the messages they are trying to convey.

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