Gallery 2: ICA Photo Essay

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Even though I had a pretty rough semester, I was able to find help and many options on how to catch up with all of the work I needed. This project was originally to be done about the exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art  but I was unable to attend to it, so I got other options of different places I could go to make it up. The place I went to on January 10th, 2017 was called The James A. Michener Art Museum, it is located at 138 S Pine St, Doylestown, PA 18901.

At this museum there were a lot of exhibitions of different themes and one of them is Contemporary Art. This show was actually a permanent show which means theres no specific name of a show, instead there are just a lot of artist and their work. There two specific art works that caught my attention as soon as I walked in the room, maybe due to their size and color, also I realize that I have a thing for big sized art and colorful one. One of this art works is called A Wooden Watershed, 1926 and is by the artist Daniel Garber (1880-1958) This piece actually has an interesting story behind it. Daniel Garber was commissioned to paint a mural for the Natural Resources Exhibit in the Pennsylvania Building. This building was designed by architect Ralph Benker and its cost was $750,000 to be built at this time this was a considerable amount of money as well as one of the most expensive buildings to be constructed at the Sesquicentennial. The other piece that caught my attention was called  Door and Surround and it’s by  Phillip Lloyd Powell (1919-2008). This door had a microscopic analysis by furniture conservator, Behrooz Salimnejad of the door’s paint layers and he concluded that the original piece had six shades of bright red, reddish-orange, and yellow-orange oil-based paint. Salimnejad also did some intense conversation for this door over the last  several months.  

Another art piece at the museum was Street Quartet (1990) by Paul Keene (1920-1990). Keene is a Philadelphia born artist, he is a self described “abstract realistic” in which his story describes both the difficulties and achievements of African American artists in the 20th century. Keen’s figures images usually involves and combines the history mythyology and memory of his personal life in Haiti, Paris, Philadelphia with his love of music. His window scenes and landscape studies demonstrates to us his knowledge on knowing how to manipulate scale, color light and atmosphere. The fourth painting I saw at this museum was Vulcano from the Air by an American painter and photographer Diane Burko. Burko was first known for her painting and later on she has being recognized as a Photographer for her cinematic aerial explorations documenting the natural environment.She is very concerned about climate change as well.

As there were these beautiful paintings as well as statues/3D objects there were many more, not only in this selection of contemporary art pieces but also in other selection of expositions/shows. They all look very interesting and I feel it could be really nice to go and take a tour at that museum. I remember the lady that works there and showed me where everything was said that if my professor wanted to make a reservation for a student tour, then he could get one I believe she said for free. I really enjoyed seeing the type of art work they had on display, I would definitely will go back in the future to look at new work or shows they put up.


Exercise 2: Nine Square Grid

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In the project the software being used is Autodesk Maya 2017

This was an exercise for the next project. The goal was to learn how to use POLYGONS and NURBS shapes and exploring different materials

I made a Chess-Board-Like base that contains 9 squares and each cube has 6x6x6 units.

After I was done modeling the cubes in different shapes, I render the file using mental ray at 3000 wide X 2000 high pixels in .jpg format.

 


Project 2 | Elements | Checkmate

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For this project we had several choices on what we wanted this project to be based on, it coulee been a Still Life, Tea Time, Checkmate or TransMedia  Narratives. In my case I chose Checkmate because even though I don’t really play chess, I have lots of my family member that love chess and play it on their daily basis.

The goal for this project was to choose a chess game I which I had to create all the pieces with the playing surface included. I modeled the king, queen, bishop, knight, rook and pawn using the techniques I learned on the nine square grid.

 

After done modeling the shapes I placed them in their correct space and I added the color and its material that I would like and I render it using 3000×2000 high pixels in.



Project 3 Possible World | Project 3.1 Environment | Project 3.2 Entity

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In this final animation project I had a lot of struggles because not only its was my first time taking a class like this but also because I had a pretty difficult semester due to my sickness which caused me to miss a lot of classes which means I fell behind the material and I missed the tutorials the professor could have taught us during those classes.

I know 100% if it wasn’t for my illness I could’ve made this project a whole lot better but since that wasn’t the case and I only had a certain amount of days and I could only do so much to get this project done, I can say that I’m pretty proud with what my my result if for this project because to be honest I thought I wasn’t going to be able to finish this on time.

I wish I could have had time to render this project because you could definitely could see a whole big difference but again this is the final result I was able to hand in.

I hope you guys like it!

I hope after this semester ends I could have time to render this project because I actually do wanna see the final result and not only that but it could be a good experience for me and also for the future.


Module 6: Art Review

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Peter Morgan: “(Almost) Good Enough to Eat”

Peter Morgan is a ceramics artist where he work- full time. He has given lecture on his work at numerous institutions in the U.S and Beijing. Peter has also been a teacher and taught at California State University in Long Beach and Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, Tyler school of art, and for the Claymobile in Philadelphia. Many of his artwork has been exhibited across the United States and Europe.

Apart from being an artist, Peter has many other hobbies. One of them is bird watching; he likes to go to New Jersey because as he said “there are lots of birds in New Jersey”. Another hobby of his is being an ultra marathon runner, the highest he has ran was the JFK 50, he was asked what does he gets from doing all of that? And he answered “world domination because why not”.

Since he loved bird watching he actually made some shows of just birds. For example one of his very long project was called “The birds of North America”. Another show was called “The birds of Philadelphia” and many other ones

His artwork consists into transforming everyday objects into big landscapes and changing it up a little by converting massive objects into toy-sized replicas, and is an exploration of the world through an investigation of location, representation, perception, taxonomy and language. Morgan considers his artwork as platonic ideals collaged from a global encyclopedia.

I would most certainly recommend seeing his artwork because he has such a great imagination and all the pieces he makes goes together. Peter looks really passionate about his artwork while making them and exhibiting them. I personally loved it because one, it shows two things that I love which is food and animals, so for those who love those two things, this might be the show for them. They are sized in a larger scale as well and also really colorful which not only for me but the other people, as they walked by, may it catch their attention. I work in the gallery where his work “(Almost) Good Enough to Eat” was shown. This gallery is located at the Penn State University at the Abington campus, Woodland building. This show was probably the most viewed at the gallery and/or attended at the artist talk. When you see his work, you ask yourself so many questions that make you want to find out what was going through his mind while making it and what’s the meaning to it. I’m sure that’s one reason why so many people went to the artist talk and the people that couldn’t make it, they most likely researched him online to try to find out about him and his work.

 


Essay 2: Artist Statement Redux

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Ever since I was little my family would always be looking at each others kids and start comparing them and would start judging according to their personality outside of school and inside of school, who would be more successful in their future life. Ever since then I would always had in my mind and that worrying feeling that I had to be someone huge in my future or else I would give my parents a bad reputation and getting them look down. I had the people always asking me what am I going to do as a career and to look at what’s high in the market of pay during my time because “money was everything and without money I couldn’t be happy”. While on the other hand I had other people telling me that I just have to do whatever makes me happy and I will succeed in life and make the most out of it. I would always be so confused and not know what to do, it was extremely overwhelming.

Every time I would talk to my family they would always be asking about me and what I was planing to do since I was going to college. My parents would always tell them that they don’t know and they will wait for me to tall them soon or later, and their answer was “help her out to choose the best choice since they are  older and they’ve lived more an dot look at the example of X or Y in the family that he/she is gaining a lot of money by doing X or Y as a career. In my family’s mind if you are a doctor, a lawyer or a business person you would go really far in your life. Once I got to college I actually didn’t have anything in mind therefore on orientation day I took a test my adviser gave and it said I would be great as an art major but once I got home and told them they said thats not going to happen that I should look more into doing something else. Even though they said no I took some art classes and some other courses to see in what I was good at. As the year passed by, I end up changing my major to criminal justice and took some courses with that once they heard thats what I was going to major in they also told me no and that I had to change it. At the end they told me to go into the business field, I listened to them and I was just not finding myself in it and it felt forced, my parents saw that I was having a hard time and they didn’t want to loose money and they told me to switch to biology to become a doctor and yet again I did it, long story short this happened 5 times in total of me switching mayors. After all of that happening my parents came into sense and they saw that I was not happy and they actually realized that ever since I was little I would always stand out in my art classes and after that they just told me to go and study what I loved to do which it was art. Ever since then Ive been focusing in my classes more and I enjoy  them and they see a smile in me.

Some of my artwork mean things that I’ve gone through my life or things that I like or dislike, or sometimes its not about me but about someone that I know and I’m close to, I try to do something trying to illustrate either how they’re feeling or what they’ve gone through etc. When I want people to know what my art pieces mean I would of course tell them but on the the hand when I don’t want them to know I would just leave to for interpretation and I would not say if its about me or someone else, I guess I leave it as a mystery. When I graduate from Penn State with an art degree I want to put my focus to become an Interior Designer and I’m hoping the best one out there. I really enjoy looking at a place and try to put things together in what comes in it and out of it, I always found it interesting how you can turn one thing into something so much better and something that people would enjoy as well. When Im making my art work I don’t really focus in theory I just go with what I have in my mind and whatever impulse I have at that moment, I become really passionate when I do my art pieces, I have to feel satisfied with my final result.

 


Module 5: The Death of the Death of Art

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  • Do we need a post-postmodernism?
    • If not, why not? Is Pluralism, the chief critical criterion of Postmodernism, sufficient to describe or support contemporary work? Does the Pomo theoretical framework (Semiotics, Post-structuralism, Deconstruction) remain relevant? If not, what additional critical criteria or theoretical constructs should be adopted to keep Postmodernism relevant without destroying its essence: skepticism, irony, distrust of the grand narrative, etc.? Name at least one contemporary (living and practicing) artist who maintains the validity of the Postmodern framework and explain how she/he does so.
    • If so, why, and what should it be? What should be its essence: should it value authenticity or virtuality, embrace technology or handcraft, etc.? On what critical terms (Realism, Formalism, Expressionism, Cognitivism, Pluralism) should it operate? What theoretical framework(s) (Existentialism, Phenomenology, Gestalt, Hermeneutics, Experientialism, among others) should replace or enhance those at play in Pomo, informing the new -ism’s essence? Name at least one artist who works within the post-postmodern theoretical framework you define and explain how she/he does so.
  • Does either contemporary condition you identify above constitute a break with Modernism or Postmodernism, or is it simply a continuation of a movement? If it is a new grand movement, what are the societal upheavals it is responding to? If it is a continuation of an existing movement, what societal forces allow this -ism to continue its contribution to the Modernist or Postmodernist narrative arc?

Postmodernism is born in the mid 1960s replacing Modernism. Some people call Postmodernism a concept, theory, philosophy, movement. set of attitudes, or condition. “Postmodernism is a contested concept: Postmodernists themselves  hold different positions, and philosophers of other traditions are often hostile to Postmodernists claims and conclusions.”(Barrett 161). As time goes by and culture changes, art movements start to change and people’s thinking as well. I can say this because when Modernisms was happening there were artist that refused to allow theory to control their expression of art.

I don’t think we need Post-Postmodernism because its principles affects artist in the present . For instance, Deconstruction, Semiotics, Poststructuralism are still significant in artists’ art pieces today. Artists are still liberated from strict constraints of Formalist theory, and aesthetic pluralism still reigns with a multiplicity of styles and art forms. Culture will always be changing, a new art movement is not necessary because Postmodernism can easily evolve.

There are people that believe we do not need Post-Postmodernism as I do. This belief primarily comes from the idea of technology influencing culture, and therefore, art. My argument against this constitutes of my belief that technology does not impact the reason behind the making of the art.

One contemporary (living and practicing) artist who maintains the validity of the Postmodern framework would be Cindy Sherman because her beliefs of femininity is something just created by us human being rather than something being natural. Sherman herself explained her work by saying, “I don’t theorize when I work. I would read theoretical stuff about my work and think, ‘What? Where did they get that?’ The work was so intuitive for me. I didn’t know where it is coming from.” (Barrett, 188) and there are other many artist like Sherman that have the same way of thinking. As I have mentioned before I kind of have the same way of thinking as Cindy Sherman does.

Cindy Sherman. | Untitled Film Still #3, 1977

 

Work Cited:

Barrett, Terry. “Postmodern Pluralism.” Why Is That Art?: Aesthetics and Criticism of Contemporary Art. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. 170-189. Print.


Module 4: Postmodernism

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  • Is Sherman sincere when she claims innocence of theory in the creation of the Untitled Film Stills? Defend your answer.
  • Does her growing awareness of postmodern theoretical constructs influence her work over time? Is she more, or less, self-conscious about application of theory to her work in, for example, The Sex Pictures than she is in earlier serial work? Does theory begins to lead her work, (and if so, when), or is she content to let theory “find” her after the fact?
  • Should an artist’s work be aware of and consciously guided by theory, or should an artist cultivate a conscious insulation from theory? If the latter, what good is understanding theory for an artist? What are the creative consequences, personally and globally, of accepting or adapting any one postmodern belief?

I believe in the creation of the Untitled Film Stills Cindy Sherman is definitely sincere when she claims innocence of theory. Sherman says “When I make work I get so much done in such a concentration time” (Barrett 187) “I know that once I’m working  I don’t get distracted by paperwork or emails, letters” (Barrett 187). Cindy states that she does not think of theory when she is creating something “I don’t theorized when I work. I would read theoretical stuff about my work and think. ‘What? Where did they get that’ The work was so intuitive for me, I didn’t know where it was coming from”(Barrett 188).  Sometimes Sherman isn’t aware of how people interpret her work “There were times I would read something and I wouldn’t understand what the hell they were talking about or where they got that idea; there were times when I’d say, Oh, yeah, that’s right, thought I wasn’t thinking of it when I was doing it. I work without really pondering what am I doing” (Barrett 187).

Sherman understands that her Untitled Film Stills is seen as feminist theory because she answers to that “I don’t want to have to explain myself. The work is what it is and hopefully it’s seen as feminist work, or feminist-advised work, but I’m not going to go around espousing theoretical bullshit about feminist stuff” (Barrett 188). For Sherman’s opinion she doesn’t care what theory critics label her as. The fact that Sherman is a woman we can probably say that the male gaze can affect her. In The Sex Pictures from what it look like its like there was no self-conscious about applying theory in her work and she continued doing what she been doing.

I believe if the artist wants to be aware of and guided by theory than they should do it only if they know that they will fulfill that theory in full but if the artist is like me then most likely thee will be no theory. What I mean by this is that I do not use theory when I do my art work, theory is really not so much in my mind. This doesn’t mean that I dint think art theory is important because thanks to theory I was able to understand “what art is”,  I am able to identify when was some sort of art work made and what probably what the artist was thinking and what’s the story behind the piece made.

Work Cited:


Project: Curatorial Creativity Proposal

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My proposal for this project would be Feminism.

There are so many woman in this world and feminism is a word that in it’s broad definition promises to fight for equality to each of those woman.

  1. Judy Chicago: The Dinner Party
    • 1974-1979,  mixed media 48 x 48 ft.
  2. Nancy Spero: Torture of Women 
    • 1976, 125-foot long scroll consists of 14 panels.
  3. Guerrilla Girls: Do Women Have To Be Naked? 
    • 1898, Screen print on paper.
  4. Louise Bourgeois: Femme Maison
    • 1946-1947.
  5. Cindy Sherman: Center Folds
    • Untitled No. 96, series of twelve 2 x 4 foot images shot in 1981.
  6. Kara Walker: Anntie Walker’s Wall Sampler For Savages 2013
  7. Barbara Kruger: Your Gaze Hits The Side of My Face 
    • 1983, black and white photograph, 6’1’’x4’1’’.
  8. Hannah Wilke: S.O.S – Starification Object Series
    • 1……….
  9. Eva Hesse: Untitled (Rope Piece)
    • 1970, 5 X 18 X 4ft
  10. Faith Wilding: Wall of Woundsudy Chicago: The Dinner Party
    • 1974-1979,  mixed media 48 x 48 ft.
  11. Kiki Smith
    • 1…….