Poster Post-Better Late Than Never.

Cut paper is over looked. A few simple shapes, one or two colors, and you have a bold statement. I found these posters on Google, assuming they are reimagined by a younger generation.

Dirty Harry

  Simple is beautiful and forces an artist to use economy, the principle nobody adds to their elements and principles list. With so little visually said, you have to get straight to the point, and make it loud. It's like the equivalent of shouting haiku during poetry hour. In this poster, there is not any depth, just two dimensional shapes. The negative and positive space reverberate, one fighting over the other for focus and emphasis. But once again, the viewer understands: Gun, lone bad ass, ass-kicking.

The Blues Brothers

It's weird how SNL gave birth to so many stars. Without knowing who John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd are, the viewer might be at a loss for what genre the film is in.
That is why the stars are prominently apart of the poster. Here the color scheme is exactly the same and only shape and color convey the message. The height of the hats on the plane describe the stature of the two male figures. In using minimal aesthetics, the viewer is asked to complete the picture with his or her imagination. In that way, the poster is more interactive.



Halloween

While there is form and dimension in this poster, it is relatively flat and high contrast, giving away lots of drama. Simple text. The emphasis is placed on the highlighted mask, which has become an icon for 80's horror films. In this poster, so much of the darkness surrounds the half highlighted face, it becomes a frame and creates emphasis by isolation. 

End Of The Semester Musings

http://thisplanetsmellsfunny.blogspot.com/2011/05/wacky-mania_30.html

At the end of the semester, looking back, I'm adding here a few things I've learned. 

TIME MANAGEMENT: Time management is something I've never been great at. In fact, I've always been a little envious of people who come prepared, people who turn in the most resolved projects by the deadline, people who are not susceptible to distraction. I REALLY suck at that. However, I know I'm in good company. 

It has become a personal goal of mine to make projects more manageable by setting time aside to do something before I absolutely have to. It hurts. But it hurts more when you procrastinate. 

ASSUME A MARGIN OF ERROR:

I always think things are going to turn out better than they actually do. I think I do this because I don't want to face the reality that it probably won't. In this case, I have to set aside more time for errors, and reworking a project. But I'd rather pencil in drinking an Avocado smoothie and watching YouTube. Sometimes the space and time you designate for a project won't be enough. You need a cushion. Make sure you have a cushion. 

EAT RIGHT:

Woman cannot survive on Starbucks alone. Really, in the fast food world, chances are, you are buying refined sugar, fat, and caffeine. So caffeine isn't so bad. It just shouldn't be a major food group. While refined sugar may give you a boost super quick, it also leaves you feeling blah not too much later. How productive can you be when you have the blahs? SO you go to Starbucks to get your legal upper fix. By the end of the semester, your body, your brain and your spirit is dead. Don't do it. Eat veggies. Buy protein bars. Opt for something healthier than a bag of sugar/fat.

SOCIALIZE:

All work and no play makes Jane a bitch. If all you do is work, your mental and emotional well being suffers. Your relationships suffer. Your work suffers and then your grades suffer.  You turn into a bitch and nobody wants to be around you. YOU don't even want to be around yourself. Find balance. Go be a kid and play a little. A little! Not a lot!

ASK FOR SUGGESTIONS:

So artists get artist's block. It just happens. Ask people around you for help to get a fresh perspective. Just make sure not to ask an asshole. Always say thank you afterwards and offer to critique their work too.

BREATHE:

No matter what is happening, you have enough room to breathe. Will it resolve your problems? No. It will just center you for a moment and give you a break from life. Don't think about anything else but your breath and don't worry about shit. Just breathe and relax. 

and finally….

STAY POSITIVE:

No matter what, it helps to stay positive. You can do it!! And if you really can't. Don't worry. You'll get another opportunity to! You're fucking awesome!!

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR FINAL PROJECTS AND FINALS!

Nobody Thinks Art Is Hard Work. Is It Undervalued?

By  Benjamin Sabatier

"Oh you're an art major? That must be fun."

"Sometimes it is. But I have to dedicate a lot of time to my projects. Sometimes my efforts aren't fruitful."

This is a sample of several conversations I've had with people when I tell them I'm an art student. Art is hard work. And I'll say it again. Art is hard work.

I finished my AA in liberal arts, so my general education is done. This semester has been the first semester that I've taken only art classes. It has by far been the most challenging for me. Some artists are naturals. If they accidentally got cut, blood would fall in a beautiful pattern and create a piece de resistance. I bet even their signatures look fancy, like a founding fore father's. But most artists aren't so fortunate. You work, and work and work some more. After throwing out 3 earlier versions and messing up some umpteenth times, you turn something in just for your instructor to tell you that you didn't do it right, or that it needs to be tweaked. It's the way it is. It takes a persistent, patient, hardworking soul to be an artist. But somewhere along the way, art became undervalued and under appreciated.

You would pay a plumber for their time, equipment, and skills. Artists also spend their time into a project, use their materials and tools, and all the skills they went to school for. And somehow, plumbers work gets more respect. 

Maybe art is seen as unnecessary. It is one of the subjects to get offed first when there are budget cuts within school districts. But if art is so discardable, why is it that when an invading country or sect wants to obliterate a people's identity and culture, the first thing they do is burn or destroy their arts, music, and literature? Because art is valuable and so are those who create it. 

Museum of Jurassic Technology

"This place is creepy as hell," I overheard a student declare in the dark of the museum. My own impressions carried in the same direction. It was a place where weird, strange, macabre art and science history came to lay in it's final resting place, taxidermied, displayed under vintage glass bells and antiquated microscopes, and nestled in spaces carved into the shadows by weakly powered spot lights. It was a circus, meets a funeral parlor, meets an art museum, meets the History Channel, meets Maggie Taylor, meets me. I encourage anyone reading this post to visit this museum once in your life. The exhibits are unique and fascinating and I doubt you will ever see them in another location on earth. But I can't cover the entire museum. No. You'll have to run down to Culver City, Ca and discover your own delicious gross all by yourself.

One of my favorite exhibits was the Floral Stereoradiographs of Albert G. Richards. Please feel free to peruse his shots courtesy of the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

"Rose", Albert G. Richards

Just look at that. Take a breath. I know I did. I saw this and felt like I was looking at something divine and celestial. The radial undulating glowing folds mesmerize me.

The delicate texture is reminiscent of old Flemish paintings, like Van Eyck, except instead of visible light to describe a flower, Richards uses, electromagnetic waves.

It forces the viewer to see an everyday object through different eyes. Something as ordinary as a rose blossom transforms into an angelic explosion.

I Don't Know What Makes A Good Photograph.

Photography VS. Art History

In art history, there is no bad art. There is simply art. It's like therapy. There are no bad feelings, just feelings. You don't judge them. You just process them. But you know when something in art seems distasteful to you.
So, I'm confused when it comes to photography. don't know much about photography. I have no idea what makes a good photograph, a good photograph. I have no idea what makes a bad photograph, a bad photograph. Sometimes I look at a photo and it evokes thoughts and feelings inside of me, it sends me into a silent conversation with myself, or it leaves me completely confused. In my book, if art does any of that, it's successful.

My old art history teacher, Ms. D, used to say to the class, (and I'm sure this isn't verbatim, but somewhere in the ballpark), "If you are confused by the piece, or if it doesn't register in your mind as being good art, or even art at all, stop and ask yourself why. Is it because it is challenging what your idea is about art?"

Marcel Duchamp, 1917, " Fountain"

So after taking contemporary art history, after spending 3 hours talking about Duchamp and his urinal and "ready mades", after the shit the performance artists got away with in the 60's, and after Jackson Pollock, "Jack the Dripper," inspired articles in both Life and Time magazines, what can't pass for art? What do you have left after you include everything?

Jackson Pollock, "Jack the Dripper"

At our last class meeting, Mrs. D. said something to this effect:

"I hope I have helped you look at art differently. I hope that when you look at something that doesn't make sense to to you, you don't immediately judge it. Ask yourself, what is it about the piece that doesn't meet your standards. And if it doesn't meet your standards, ask yourself if it doesn't meet your standards because it is challenging your idea of what art is supposed to be. You don't have to like it, but don't say that it's not art. But if you do, don't tell anyone you took my class."

Thanks, Mrs. D.

So, for those 3 of you that have clicked on my blog and got to the end of this post, I'm asking you to give me a little input, on what makes a good photograph. And if you don't know, just tell me what you THINK makes a good photograph.

Jack the Dripper Biography
Marcel Duchamp

"Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany."

Hannah Höch, Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany, collage, mixed media, 1919-1920 (Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin)

This photomontage was made between 1919 to 1920. In this year, Germany was experiencing tremendous political upheaval after WWI. Violent conflict broke out between Spartacists, the far left-wing communists, and the Freikorp. The Freikorp, (translated to free copse), was a paramilitary group encouraged by members of the government to oppress the German Revolution, the Marxist Spartacist League, the Bavarian Soviet Republic. In addition, they attacked certain political figures, such as Karl Liebnecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who were arrested and killed January 15, 1919.

Hoch uses readily available and current images from newspapers and magazines to reconstruct a story told from her perspective: a total fragmentation of government and a country. The title, "Cut with the Kitchen Knife" appropriately describes the way in which her media is processed. In the same instance, it is also a allegory for the schism running through Germany at the time. Being the kitchen knife, a domestic tool, the title hints at the themes of feminism woven into the image. Most of the powerful and popular male figures are emasculinated, infantized, or satirized. Hoch uses the portrait of Kathe Kollwitz, a prominent female German expressionist, as the focal point of the piece, around which gears and machines of industry move and rotate. Countries that give women the right to vote are highlighted in a map of western Europe, which is pasted to the lower right corner of the photo montage. Instead of signing the piece, Hoch places a portrait of herself on this map, identifying her values.

View a beautifully annotated video from SmartHistory about this piece.

Hannah Hoch - Queen of Collage

Hannah Hoch, Berlin Dadaist

Hannah Hoch, born Anna Therese Johanne Höch, born in 1889, was a Berlin Dadaist, and the Queen of Photomontage (Collage).

Hannah Hoch, Russian Dancer

Hoch went to the School of Applied Arts in Berlin (1912) and then to National Institute of Museum of Arts and Crafts (1915).

She was bisexual, in known relationships with Dutch writer, Mathilda Brugman, and Raoul Hausmann, another member of the Dada movement (not concurrently)  Her works from 1926 to 1935 often depicted same sex couples. Many of her characters have both masculine and feminine features.

 Hannah Hoch was one of the first pioneers of photomontage. 

To me, the strange pieces of flat worlds, pieced together like quilt squares create a surreal world that only Hannah knew. 

Zen And The Art of Taking a Drawing Class.

I thought I knew something about art. But with every passing class, I am finding that every teacher asks  his or her students to bring something different to the table. My drawing instructor challenges my patience. He's awesome. But the projects challenge my brain. He requires that I slow my mind down to really observe what I am drawing, turn off the part of my mind that judges what I am doing, the part that assumes something about what I am seeing. I must stay innocent, so I do not interfere with what my eyes are telling me is there. The first few weeks, we did nothing but exercises. It wasn't about how the end result came out. (Not at first.) It was about our process. He was painstakingly persistent about how we absorb and purge what we see. Our eyes crawled like a snail around every contour of plastic fruit, teapots, boxes, spheres and leaves. Our minds wanted to speed around every corner but he reprimanded us and issued speeding tickets. Gentle yet firm.

I feel like I am finally understanding. My mind has to slow down. I have to stop judging. It's a skill. And I'm learning very slowly.

Five Hundred Pixels

500px

I don't like photos posted online. They scare me. I never know what's going to come up on a Google Image search. And someone once said to me,

"Once your picture is on the internet, it will always be on the internet."

I take that to mean that you lose the privacy of your images to whomever is able to see them at the speed of their internet connection. Where they end up, who knows? Your images can be stored in someone else's hard drive, manipulated and unscrupulously republished.  There are dangers to storing and sharing your images online.  I just don't buy it when someone says, "You control your privacy settings." Sorry. Technology has its loopholes and weak spots. But for those who make their bread and butter off of the visual arts, publishing your images is a necessity.

One photo sharing site that I like browsing is 500px.com. I was introduced to it via Google Newstand and News Republic. A picture can speak volumes, and it turns out that they tell pretty good stories. The company describes itself as a "premier photography community." You can follow your favorite photographers and comment on their work - a good way to get feedback. You can also share, sell and buy each others photographs. They also have an app available in case you want to peruse gorgeous landscapes or cute furry animals when boredom attacks for 30 seconds.

Enjoy . 

Eggs-cellent Tutorials for Photoshop

Egg Born in Photoshop, Zhiyi Zheng.

 

Tuts Offers Educational Tools for the Digital Designer.

Everyone has room for improvement. I happen to have enough room in my Photoshop skills to land an A380 Airbus. (It's ok. I'm not ashamed. That's why I'm in this class.) So I'm really grateful that there are online tutorials to help me develop my skills and knowledge of Photoshop, especially when I'm shy about asking questions.

I found this tutorial off of TutsPlus, an online community of designers and creatives willing to offer free tutorials in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and pretty much anything else Adobe sells.( I have to add a disclaimer. The world doesn't run on dunkin' donuts. They also offer a premium service for a fee, of course. ) The angry orange eye in the middle of a pool of gelatinous egg white caught my attention. I think it reminded me of the "This is your brain on drugs" commercial. You know, the one with Rachael Leigh Cook?

 Yeah. That one. 

In this tutorial, the student uses brushes, smudging and gains a better understanding of highlights and texture.  Try it.  I have to. I need the extra credit.

Pedro Meyer, Photographer.

Okay. When I hear the name "Pedro", I am bombarded with mental images of Nacho Libre scenes and the over worn Napoleon Dynamite t-shirts with "Vote for Pedro" written in red type. I can't help it. I blame the media for being a ubiquitous presence in my life. It grew me up.

so introducing me to another Pedro in Photoshop class, one who has not somehow been transformed into a t-shirt, hoodie, or button at Hot Topic, is very refreshing. It turns out Pedro Meyer isn't just some guy that sports an uncanny resemblence to the "most interesting man in the world." Aside from looking accomplished, he actually is accomplished.

In 1987, he was awarded the Guggenheim Grant. In 1993, he received the National Endowment for the Arts in conjunction with Jonathan Green and the California Museum of Photography in Riverside . He's kind of a big deal in the contemporary art and photography world. The resume goes on and on and I don't want to bore you. So, if you want to check out his Bio, here you go.

Final Image, Pedro Meyer

But enough about the Spanish version of the Dos Equis spokesperson of photography. Let's talk about a little about his work.

Image 1

The above image is a composite of two separate photographs.

Image 2

Meyer placed the seated woman from Image 1 into Image 2 to create a new scenario.  The older woman seems to be sitting leisurely upon a blanket of large jutting pebbles, seranaded by a band of presumably Mexican garden gnomes. Ironically, the only breathing human is turned away from the viewer and the inanimate cartoon figures make iconic stares in the direction of the audience.

It is as if we as human beings feel more comfortable interacting with puppets of ourselves than with each other.

We make caricatures of our human experience and somehow it's safer. But whatever world we may construct, it creates a disconnectedness within us and between us. Alone behind a pair of towering trailers, she sits with down cast eyes, away from everything. And somehow, she is the focal point of the picture. Psychic lines created by the eye lines of the band members point to her. Her eyes point to the empty space in the foreground, the expanse, the disconnect, that stretches beyond the picture plane.

Happy Birthday to ME!! (Bitches)

Today is my birthday. Nah nah nah nah nah nah. 

It's your birthday too, YEAH!

I'm so old!!!

I got WRINKLES ON ME FINGARS!!

He Speaks With Color, He Speaks In Blue.

Van Gogh, Oil on Canvas

An image of a man staring through a thickly painted, colorful canvas loomed over the seated student audience. The lights dimmed until the undulating impasto paint became the only light source in the room. It glowed like daylight streaming through a church stained glass window. I welcomed the cool darkness, a refreshing escape from the late summer's heat. A slow acoustic guitar began to play an unfamiliar song. It sounded like the 60's in here.

"Starry starry night. Paint your colors blue and grey."

And the image began to change. Another self portrait. Whimsical, purposeful brush strokes. Bold, unapologetic colors. A set of unaverting eyes cast outward onto me.

"Look out on a summer's day, with eyes that know the darkness of my soul."

The images shifted from one self portrait into another, morphing, as if the paint was not yet dry and had not decided how to settle into the canvas. The man's expression seemed so reticent, and yet the expressive color seemed to say what the silence could not.

"Now I understand what you tried to say to me. And how you suffered for your sanity."

I related to the still, wordless man who painted himself over and over. I have heard it said, that you write about what you know best. I guess artists create what they know about most intimately. He must have known himself and his own sadness very well.

The word "sanity" implanted itself into my mind. How alien the word sounded to me. I never knew what sanity felt like. I have never been sure anyone has. I think people just pretend they know what sanity is. Maybe people are afraid of being judged and so they pretend to know things and feel things they are not yet convinced of.

"They would not listen, they did not know how perhaps they'll listen now."

I began to feel colors like emotions. Blue is sad. Blue is relaxed. Blue is spiritual. It is all together as one. The next slide was not a self portrait, but a nightscape with exploding circular stars, swirling above a quiet church town. The sky had a life all its own, as if some part of me became the turmoil of it. The tiny boxed residents nested below it were peppered with orange glowing squares of windows. So peaceful the town seemed, unaware and unacquainted with the violent colors above it.

Vincent Van Gogh, 1889, Oil on Canvas Museum of Modern Art, NY, USA

I understand. It's about disconnectedness. Inside oneself and between people. And how quietly, how peacefully it happens. My heart stirs a little. A small painful twinge. And then another. I take a breath to keep from crying.

"They would not listen, they're not listening still, perhaps they never will."

Tearfully, without my permission, I connect to the colors. I do not fully understand why I lament. But I know something powerful has been said with paint and it has been said so vividly, and it's voice has remained so painfully unadulterated, it spanned the barrier of more than a century.

*Sixties acoustic guitar song later identified as "Vincent" by Don Mclean.

**YouTube slideshow of Van Gogh's work set to "Vincent" by Don Mclean.

Cottingley Fairies

1 of 5 Photographs taken by Elsie and Frances Griffiths

With the invention of photography came the invention of photo editing. The "Cottingley fairies" were used as evidence of psychic phenomenon by Sir Conan Doyle, when he was commissioned to write a magazine article for The Strand in 1920. Viewers had mixed reactions.

The photo series was taken by two cousins, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, ages 16 and 9, respectively, in 1917. Harold Snelling, a photography expert, was sent the original glass plate negatives for examination and concluded, "the two negatives are entirely genuine, unfaked photographs ... [with] no trace whatsoever of studio work involving card or paper models".
Kodak technicians, at the time, concurred, "showed no signs of being faked", they concluded that "this could not be taken as conclusive evidence ... that they were authentic photographs of fairies.”

In the early 1980’s, Elsie and Frances admitted that the photographs were faked, but Frances maintained that the fifth and final photograph was authentic.