Sol LeWitt Conceptual Art blog

This activity was very unique because I have never done any type of conceptual art before. It was certainly a new experience, and it was interesting not only to see the end product, but also the process required to get there. The end product, the compliation of the curved and straight lines, was visually not appealing to me personally due to the fact that there was no real focal point, and I just did not find it to be visually engaging. However, it became interesting to look at once I tought more about the idea behind it, about letting chance take many smaller parts to make a big one with connecting lines. It was engaging following the different lines with my eyes and watching where they converged and where they ended. I had previously learned just a small amount about Sol LeWitt and how he would have other people execute his art, but I didn't quite understand it completely until now.

Performance Art Blog

Today we performed our our proposals in class, having everyone do various different roles. I participated in two, the first was Sara's proposal, and the second was Jill's proposal. Sara's involved taking pieces of paper and writing your name on it, then randomly selecting one and imitating the person who's name is on it. This was somewhat difficult due to the set time was a minute. It seemed that the other group members and I ran out of things to say and imitate, and it might have worked better and with less awkward silent time if the limit had been thirty seconds. I had to imitated Jill, and I did so using a piece of paper rolled up to look like a cigarette, and a little dialogue. However everyone had a hard time filling the one minute time span. The second one I performed in was with Thiana, and it involved stepping on each other's shoes and walking briefly. It was challenging since I'm several inches shorter, but it worked fine eventually. It involved balance and a clear space to be performed in. It also took less time, since there was no specific set limit, but instead just as much time as it needed for completion.
My proposal was entirely conversation based and it involved a two people speaking alternating sentences to each other, but with the first letter of the first word going in alphabetical order. In my opinion it was pretty successful since Chris and Diana were able to hold their conversation without too much pausing or hesitation. They completed it within a few minutes, but still without a time limit. It started with longer more coherent sentences, then progressed toward short phrases, and then to just one word at a time. The conversation made less sense towards the end, but it was also more humorous. Overall I think it worked out well and even though it wasn't a very physically based performance, it had a good overall outcome.

Fluxus Blog

Fluxus was an art movement that was strongest in the nineteen sixties, and had similar ties to the Dada movement. Like Dada it was somewhat "anti-art", meaning traditional conventional art, but it was not as socially rebellious and anarchical as Dada was, but instead more positive and constructive. It did focus on simplicity over complexity, and also combined aesthetics with other art mediums, such as music. Both Marcel Duchamp and Allan Kaprow were very influential to this movement, particularly Kaprow's "happenings", which greatly influenced the Fluxus performance art. However, the Fluxus performance art was slightly different than the "happenings" because it was meant to be simple to oppose the popular culture music, poetry, and other art forms. The "happenings" were somewhat more complex than the Fluxus performances, which were frequently not dialogue based, but instead action based. They were also more brief and not meant to blur art and reality but instead focus on simple tasks and aspects of life and bring them to attention. Overall, it was about the artist's actions, opinions, and intent, not about the end product that they make.

information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluxus

Mirrors blog

Upon stepping outside into the cold, dreary rainy day I didn't quite know what to expect from this activity. Saraswati and I were partners and we aligned our mirrors then made faces while following the assignment instructions. It was an interesting exercise because it was my first actual introduction to performance art aside from just reading about it. It seemed that this performance art is somewhat spontanious and built upon what could be considered a mundane activity (looking in a mirror) to instead an activity which imitates and expands on that, while utilizing another person. The activity becomes not about just looking into a mirror, but instead the relationship between myself and the other person with the mirror only as a connecting bridge. It was a simple yet good introduction to the performance arts.

Research Logos Blog

I found this to be an excellent example of iconography. It is a handicap sign, indicated by the radically simplified figure in a profile sitting position on the simplified wheelchair. This sign has become commonly used for things such as certain tables in restaurants, and also designated parking spots. However this is not a logo because it does not belong to any specific brand or company to help identify their product. It uses simple forms and no text to create a universally understood message indicating that the location or facility it is placed on is for the use of those in wheelchairs or other similar apparatuses. Even that neutral blue color almost always used for this sign.

Image taken from http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.signmonster.com/catalog/images/d9-6_LG.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.signmonster.com/catalog/handicap-decal-p-81.html&h=400&w=400&sz=19&hl=en&start=8&tbnid=pzgxmkDYQVKUKM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhandicap%2Bsign%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX
on october 17th 2007

The Bride blog

Marcel Duchamp's "The Bride" is an immensely complex and well thought out work, yet still focused subtly around humor. He even describes it as "hilarious", and as somewhat of a giant farce. He also uses the word "delay" to describe it, to emphasize that it is a not a picture or painting, and instead a work that he created. His stained glass creation also ties to the question if people can make works that aren't works of art. This question relates to the quest of Marcel Duchamp and many of the other surrealists to have complete artistic freedom especially from preconceived set guidelines about what art is and should be. This is demonstrated in the work by the amount of creativity displayed in its construction and the language that goes with the piece. In most traditional art previous leading up to that time period it was simply made to be aesthetically enjoyed, however Duchamp incorporated linguistics (by using his notes) in with the visual part of the work. Other Surrealist artists, such as Man Ray, also believed in combining multiple senses (such as visual, auditory, etc.) into their works, because that allowed the art to become closer to real life.
Even the composition in conceptually fascinating due to his planning of the different forms in the glass and their representative functions. He has the upper half of the window being the bride's half, which is abstract and free flowing. However, the lower half is that of the bachelors' and it is far more rigid and controlled by the laws of perspective and proportions. This represents the control and advantage that the bride has over the bachelors, and Calvin Tomkins puts it, "the bride imagines and commands; the bachelors react and obey." This is only part of the way the composition relates to the plot of the work. There is a complete cycle of events that compare to a machine and relate to the bride's sexual desires, such as her "love gas" and the bachelors' use of the "glider" machine. Overall, Duchamp's work has baffled art historians for years because of its complex and somewhat contradictory messages. However it has become one of the most well known and most debated pieces of art in history, if it can be called art.

Repeated Pattern blog

Upon researching patterns from a variety of decorations, including the Islamic style stained glass window above, I found that patterns have become a very distinct and frequently occurring part of art, both historical and current. They have been used in renaissance illuminated manuscripts, to M.C. Escher artwork, to Islamic style architecture, and in many other works of art. I found that some patterns, such as the one above, are completely symmetrical along a center line, however others have various other axis of symmetry. This seemed to be a good choice because it seems to me that if the artist had used other symmetry lines, the pattern would have become too overwhelming and confusing. Also, the complimentary colors in the pattern above help define the shapes formed, such as the stars and the octagons. These shapes would have been far less clear and defined if only the same blue glass had been used. Even the pattern border around the edges helps accent the larger shapes and colors in the center. I feel that this particular pattern is a very strong piece because of its bold use of color. Possibly because of these color choices and the angles used in the pattern it has a somewhat lively and energetic feel to the piece. Overall, I do like this stained glass window because I find the pattern to be complex enough to be interesting, but not overbearing.

Gestalt

Image of "Sky and Water I" by M.C. Escher from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_and_Water_I.
Gestalt is a configuration of lines and shapes to form an overall image that has various parts that can be looked at and interpreted different ways. There are several different properties to Gestalt, such as emergence, reification, multistability, and invariance. Multistability is the one that is frequently referred to in images such as the wine glass with the two heads, and the lady and old woman. However multistabilty is only one aspect of Gestalt. The other elements are also very important to this concept, and learning how Gestalt makes the eye move in such ways that the mind implies and creates the images.

Value Composition

Value Project Blog

I wasn't very excited to start this project, since I had already drawn ten different value scales for my drawing class a few days before. However, this probably helped me complete the scales quickly, so I then had more time to work on my value composition. The scale drawing was a little tedious, since I was trying so hard to keep all the edges clean and to clearly differentiate each value block. I constantly had to keep going over parts of it with the kneadable eraser until each shade was solid and had no darker or lighter spots. After that, I moved on to drawing the outline for my value composition, which was far more interesting than drawing the scale. I tried to make it a somewhat abstracted form based off of a tree branch. On the left I had the shapes more geometrically based, and I had them progress to more organic shapes on the right, which all together made up the entire composition. I used a full range of values, with some of the shapes dark grey, and others completely white. It became very hard to try to make sure the values didn't blend into each other in the composition, so I just began to pick shades that contrasted somewhat next to each other. Overall, it was a pretty decent activity.

Line/Shape drawing activity

This activity really made me realize how closely lines and shapes are connected. It became difficult to try to distinguish the lines from the shapes that I drew because all the lines formed shapes, and all the shapes were composed of lines. However, I found that putting the paper down and stepping back to look at it from a distance helped me a lot. Then I could see better how the lines and shapes formed the overall continuous design. First I thought about it then penciled everything in to get a composition that i liked, and even after I started coloring it with the marker I kept erasing pencil and redrawing it in differently depending on how I saw it with the black marker. When I was done I was actually fairly pleased with the final outcome, although if I could do it again I might have done a few things differently, such as try to fill more of the page.

String blog

At first I was a little confused by the string activity, since the instructions were so vague; we were told to just do whatever with the string, as long as it was away from the computers. So when i grabbed the ball of string i just tied it to a stool leg and started dragging it around toward other chairs. I wasn't really planning or thinking about the designs at first, then eventually I began to experiment with some line designs and shapes, like making "X" shaped designs by repeatedly pulling the string around the chair. I decided it wasn't a great idea to get my string tangled in the giant knot forming at the other end of the room, so i continued to connect the string around a cluster of desk chairs, and then continued to create some more of the "X" shaped designs. Eventually I definitely saw the point of the activity and I undertood how it related to our study or lines and shapes, similarly to the artist who made the pictures with lines of the playboy models and other women. Even with our activity you could still begin to see how the lines of string created the positive and negative spaces around them and how you could change them my changing the direction and placement of the string. Overall, it was a fairly fun activity and it did surprisingly really demonstrate the point of the lines and shapes lesson.

I think they're are lines.
I think they're all shapes.
I think a line is made by a relatively direct line that can vary in size, thickness, and direction. It can curve or create angles.
I think a shape is made by lines that converge together somewhere to make a form. When multiple lines come together and meet to form positive space, it's a shape.

Critique 1

This Courbet painting is overall a horizontal composition, due to the general shape of the outline, however it also seems to have some vertical elements, such as all the people standing, and the cross that's being held on a pole. These people with the strongly vertical composition contrast against the sky, with the long horizontal composition and clouds. The crowd in this picture seems to be gathering around some sort of pit or grave in the ground, and to the left of the pit are the more important looking people, and to the right and center are all the people dressed in black observing whats taking place. The people to the left are in red or white clothing, which contributes to a slightly asymmetrical composition.

The left of the picture feels like the more important side, not only because of the colors of clothing the people there are wearing, but also the cross is on that side. The painter might have intended the cross to be one of the main focal points of the picture, since the skyline there is larger than it is anywhere else in the painting. However, my eye was immediately drawn to the white cloth object with the "X" looking symbol on it. Also, I think the painter might have used the red clothing on the two men near the center as a dividing point for the picture, since the people to the right are all in black, and they seem to be separated by the red color on the two men from the more religious and important looking figures to the left. However, he balances the paining by having the light part of the sky behind all the dark figures, and the darker part of the sky behind the light figures.

At first I thought this painting looked a little jumbled, and slightly confusing due to all the people, but then I examined it more closely and identified some of the compositional elements, such as some of the focal points, and I then found it to be far more clear, and that I did actually like it. I also liked that the artist used mainly muted subtle colors, instead of overly bright and bold ones. Overall, I found it to be a nicely composed and well thought out piece, but still not a very emotionally expressive one.