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.