Monday Post 4-6-09

Banksy

Banksy does not allow his real name get into the mainstream media, though some speculate that he is Robert Banks, so it is tough to know much about his life before or outside of his art. What is known is that he is from Bristol, and his artwork has shown up all over London and many other places in the world. I have chosen him for this blog because his art references pop culture, most often exists without borders, and is filled with dark humor. He's sarcastic, funny, brutally morbid, and speaks to urban culture. He has a whole range of work outside of graffiti as well, including photos, installations, paintings, and pencil drawings. He's even mixed drawings with photos! He's one of my favorite artists, even though I didn't know who he was until recently, or even that some of my favorite pictures were all done by him.
Website:
http://www.banksy.co.uk/menu.html

Gallery:
http://www.weserburg.de/

Interview:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2003/jul/17/art.artsfeatures

Thursday 4-2-09

Dark humor

"People of humor are always in some degree people of genius."
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) British poet, critic, and philosopher.

"Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering--and it's all over much too soon."
- Woody Allen

"Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life."
-Terry Pratchett, novelist

(I couldn't stop at just one, I love it too much)


Weisenburger, Stephen. Fables of Subversion: Satire and the American Novel. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1995.

"Black Humor has therefore remained an enigmatically vague concept in American literary studies, when it might well have been understood as a central development of postmodernism in this country."

This book was a little over my head with its literary terminology and referencing periods of literature that I know nothing about, if I even knew they existed at all. But I'm sure of one thing - postmodernism in literature relates to postmodernism in photography. In order to be more confident in this claim I had to do a little research into what postmodernism in literature is. Just like in photography, it's a hard term to pin down, with its incredible wide range of manifestations and our generational proximity to it. In Wikipedia, that wonderful quick-research source, I found this: "For example, instead of the modernist quest for meaning in a chaotic world, the postmodern author eschews, often playfully, the possibility of meaning, and the postmodern novel is often a parody of this quest. This distrust of totalizing mechanisms extends even to the author; thus postmodern writers often celebrate chance over craft and employ metafiction to undermine the author's "univocal" control (the control of only one voice). The distinction between high and low culture is also attacked with the employment of pastiche, the combination of multiple cultural elements including subjects and genres not previously deemed fit for literature." This can so easily be applied to postmodernism in photography, which often relies on chance (such as the degredation of an image being scanned and rescanned, or photographed and rephotographed) rather than craft (not to say that the photographers or authors are throwing things together willy-nilly with no skill involved, but a lack of emphasis on a refined piece and more on the process). Postmodernism in photography also often deals with high and low culture, smashing them together and putting them in the blender until everything is one big pile of mush (not to say postmodern photography is mush, but you get where I'm going). In addition, postmodern photography often began to feature subjects not before deemed fit for fine art photography (the snapshot aesthetic in general). Either way - I digress. The topic is black humor. Before I read this I never thought of black humor as a significant "movement" or even a movement at all. I wasn't giving it fair thought however. It's use can be powerful in creating change, cathartic, and/or insightful. I'm not sure my work reaches anything so profound (not to say my work isn't good enough to be profound...that's just not where I'm going with it). However, black humor has played an important role in my life, it has helped me through some of the worst times, and thus it is often evident in my work. This work I think is the strongest manifestation of black humor in my work. I think it deals with more than just the playful danger on the surface of the image, but speaks to the terrible danger I have experienced in life and am still not ever comfortable speaking about without several drinks in me.


This was literally the first image that came up in my google image search of black humor art. So poignant.

Monday Post 3-30-09

Kristian Olson

After studying design at the University of California at Los Angeles, and an eight year career as a freelance graphic designer, Olson has returned to his first love. With only four years under his belt as a professional artist his work has been accepted into the Communication Arts Illustration Annual twice (America's largest illustration competition), Canada's Applied Arts Photography and Illustration Annual, and 3x3's illustration annual. He has also been featured as a spotlight artist in MacUser, Computer Arts, and Taxi Design. In 2006 he was chosen as the cover artist for The Graphic Artists' Guild's Directory of Illustration #23.

Alongside Olson's intricate style of illustration he has also developed a mixed media technique for his personal and experimental work, which he is now showing in galleries. Combining elaborately designed digital artwork, giclée printing, and acrylic paint he creates otherworldly entities and structures that beg for exploration.

I was searching around for fine artists that had a comic book style, or used comic elements in their work - mostly I was hoping to find someone whose images extended beyond the borders outside the context of comics. I ran across Kristian Olson's name and looked him up, and was immediately taken in by the ornate detail and vivid colors. Though his images tend to be confined by an outer rectangular border, there are often other borders within that the main image reaches beyond. His best stuff is the sickly funny (or amusingly sick) work. Before I realized that it was some sort of publication, the image that says BE HAPPY NOW at the bottom made me laugh out loud. There's people marching into some sort of factory with a mouth filled with huge chomping teeth. BE HAPPY NOW! I just can't get enough of it. The ejaculating tank also caught me giggling. I think his sense of humor is the part of his work I most relate to and am inspired by. The four images I picked were the four that I found the funniest in his portfolio. None of them feature anything that is overall "happy".

Website:
http://www.kristianolson.com/

Gallery:
www.hivegallery.com

Interview:
http://thelittlechimpsociety.com/theape/lcs-interview-kristian-olson/

Thursday Post 3-26-09

Framework (in the comic world - panels)

Broken panels, figures jumping off the page, Eisner storytelling art was not confined to the four corners of a panel or page of art.
- On the dynamics of Will Eisner, considered the father of comics.

Mccloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.

This book is all about the different aspects of comics, and how they don't have to be "crude, poorly-drawn, semiliterate, cheap, disposable kiddie fare". One of the sections of this book covers the dynamics of the framework used in comics and how the layout of the page can completely change the function of what is in the panel. Having something that is inside the bordered panel breaking through the border, becoming it's own border, emphasizes that image. I am really getting into the idea that these images should only be semi-rectangular. Maybe some of them might fare better with rectangular borders, but the ones that have more action should definitely be emphasized by the action carrying on outside the border, such as with the seal being attacked by the shark. In the case of the snake image, I'm not sure that would need a specially shaped border, I believe the rectangle would display it well. Whether the two types of borders can be mixed in a series of works that each have their own narrative (are not all part of the same story) I am not sure. I think if I mixed the idea of creating a contextual border (say for example having a snake wrapping around the desert image, the outer contours of the snakes body forming the border - obviously this would be a bit redundant but you get the idea) and broken borders (continuing the seals tale outside of the rectangle) then this could really bring a whole new dynamic to my work. I'm a little wary of making these overly comic, but at the same time I want to just dive into it a little bit, because I've often thought of making a graphic novel, and this would be a fun mix of fine art and graphic novel without actually having to come up with a single narrative that has a beginning, middle, climax, end. I hope that makes sense.

Monday Post 3-23-09

Charles Fazzino

Charles Fazzino, world acclaimed American pop artist, has created his own unique mix of the art form. The seeds of his inspiration came from artistic family roots and from Manhattan, the city which fired his youthful imagination during his formative early childhood years. His young and fertile creative mind was captivated by giant picture books depicting life in late 20th Century urban America. 3-D movies and pop-up story books further sparked his imagination. His work depicts the remnants of childhood visions of yellow taxi cabs, the Statue of Liberty, storefronts decked with color, and the heart throb of life itself that is embodied in Manhattan.

As a youth, Charles would take advantage of every opportunity to ride the train into the city to absorb the color and excitement of the Village of Central Park. The late 1970's and early 1980's found him as a regular at the Washington Square Park Outdoor Art Festival in the Village. The diversity and strength of his work quickly escalated him to the National art circuit exhibiting at shows such as Ann Arbor Art Festival in Michigan, Miami’s Coconut Grove Art Festival, and the Las Olas Museum Art Festival in Ft. Lauderdale. Today, the artist continues to show in international urban areas such as Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich and Tokyo.

The reason Fazzino's work caught my eye is his use of color. It's very bright and has a sort of coloring book feel, which relates to my work. He does a lot of pop culture references, and though some of it is quite cheesy, he uses some pop culture to create a framework for his work (a literal one, not a figurative contextual framework) such as the apple outline for one of his New York drawings. I especially felt inspired by the image he made of Israel that he created a frame for with news clippings about events in Israel. I like this idea of the image referencing the frame referencing the image. If I can make it work, I think I'd like to steal this idea (to use the lingo from my magazine class) and possibly incorporate hand-drawn frames that reference what's happening in the image and also creates a non-rectangular border. I think there's a possibility it will feel overworked and too much drawing (ruining some of the illusion) but I definitely want to give it a try.
Website:
http://www.fazzino.com

Gallery:
www.artexpos.com

Interview:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2327712/charles_fazzino_interview_with_a_pop_artist/

Thursday Post 3-19-09

Visual Analogy

According to the essay on Matta in Crosscurrents of Modernism, the inscapes' evocative forms "are visual analogies for the artist's psyche"
- Professor Claude Cernuschi

Stafford, Maria. Visual Analogy: Consciousness As the Art of Connecting. MIT Press: Cambridge, 2001.

This book talks about the dire need, in all fields including and beyond art, "for ways of seeing sameness-in-difference". Stafford states that "it is impossible to have a theory of difference without an equally nuanced conception of similarity. Even the fact that you chose two things to compare means they must have some aspect in common which is why you chose to compare them. If you decide to compare the differences in strippers and rocks, there must be some element that the two ideas share, or else there is really not much point in pointing out the differences. Of course anything we can think of shares the aspect of 'things we can think of'. Analogies relate to art, because as Stafford says, "First, I propose that both the proportional and participatory varieties of analogy are inherently visual. It requires perspicacity to see what kind of adjustments need to be made between uneven cases to achieve a tentative harmony. It also presupposes discernment to discover the relevant likeness and unlikeness in things. To the best of my knowledge, the optical necessity driving the entire system has not been pointed out before in the analyses devoted to this venerable conundrum. This brings me to the additional, novel claim that the visual arts are singularly suited to the nature and function of the analogical procedure." The basis for perceiving analogies is visual. In my art I am using this natural brain functioning to trick the eye. By using photographic material (that renders in the viewer as photographic and therefore at least somewhat depicting what it appears to depict) that I manipulate to more strongly represent something to which I can create a visual analogy with the original photograph, and combining it with drawings (that eventually register in the viewer as drawings and therefore possibly not congruent with reality) that are clearly representational, I take visual analogies further and present them as completely alike instead of simply similar.

Lecture 3-18-09

Trevor Flynne - Freehand Drawing

This lecture was incredibly insightful to me because he was speaking about drawing from a sculptural/architectural stand point where the drawing is not the final product but more a means to an end. He strongly emphasized visual metaphors - beginning the lecture speaking about the style of drawing where the exploration of form overpowers the need to render any sort of cosmetic precision of the exterior surface. He had a drawing projected on the screen and asked if it looked like some sort of round, hard winged/shelled insect, a stylized back with an emphasized spine, or a monumental face in armor. Possibly, can this drawing reference all three at once, and that's where the poetic quality of drawings comes into play. I thought this was so intriguing because this is what I'm achieving with my photos - not my drawings. I have in essence switched the roles, except with abstract drawings there is not necessarily a correct answer. In photography there is in essence a correct answer, not a right or wrong way of thinking of things, but what was actually photographed. So with my work I essentially take a photo of something (the "correct" answer) and as I look at it, I find that it relates to some other idea, and use drawings to cement that idea or "lie" in the mind of the viewer. I will probably use a title to slap the viewer in the face such as simply "Tree" or "Snow" that makes the viewer say what? Snow? Oh, those AREN'T clouds - why would I have believed those drawings. And hence I have found my sarcastic slap in the back of the head element! I'm so glad I went to this lecture.

Lecture

Amy Stein

I thought that Amy Stein's work was quite enchanting. I thought it was very interesting because her work in Domesticated reminded me of Simen Johan, but her attitude was the complete opposite of his, almost to her detriment because it took her forever to show her work. I prefer, however, the overly excited approach to the I can't believe I have to talk to these people approach. I loved her ability to create such surreal settings that appear so real that National Geographic thought they were documentary. I loved the combination of control and chance; she could use the animal stories as inspiration to create an image that was her idea of what happened, or could have happened, but she does not have control over the position of the animals - only of which animals she chooses from the ones available. I thought the light in almost all of those images was beautiful, and I hate to use the word again, but the light was enchanting. I thought her Stranded work was a little more hit and miss, based on the attitudes portrayed in the portraits, and though some had very good lighting, the others were a little flat and less mesmerizing.

Monday Post 3-16-09

Rei Sato

Sato, born in 1984 in Yamagata Prefecture, was discovered by Takashi Murakami in the very first GEISAI event in 2002. Since then she has been participating in numerous group exhibitions including Coloriage at Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris. She graduated from Ochanomizu College of Fine Arts and Design in 2005. Her artwork has a playful energy with strong compositions and a whimsical attitude.
Drawing from Japanese manga, but also from Impressionism and abstract painting, her use of color is highly individualistic and expressive. I really like the way she adds drawings into the photos and her subject matter. The photos are mostly neutral, not exactly striking images, and the drawings don't have a whole lot of action happening but they are still so interesting to look at. They have a tendency to bring out a smile or even a giggle when viewing them, and I want my images to have a somewhat playful feel - not necessarily so related to childhood but sort of upbeat.

Website:
Does not have a personal website

Interview:
http://www.geisai11.us/news/movie-geisai-artist-rei-sato/

Gallery:
www.lehmannmaupin.com/artists/rei-sato/

Thursday Post 3-12-09

Drawing

“Matisse makes a drawing, then he makes a copy of it. He recopies it five times, ten times, always clarifying the line. He's convinced that the last, the most stripped down, is the best, the purest, the definitive one; and in fact, most of the time, it was the first. In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt.”
- Pablo Picasso

Davies, Jo; Duff, Leo. Drawing: The Process. Portland: Intellect Books, 2005.

There is no finite way to think about drawing. Drawing functions more as a process than a means to a result, and though anyone can do it, the frustration lies in always knowing it could go further. In China, art students must perfect figure drawing before they may move on to more creative aspects of drawing such as basic design. In the Western World, creativity and imagination are stressed before academic connections or attempts at realism. I found this difference fascinating as one side of the world is stressing the technical side of things with imagination on the backburner while the other side has a drive toward unhindered creativity free of the burden of realistic depiction. With my new direction I am forced to define my drawing style. I have not often drawn on such a small scale with colored pencils and this may account for some of the "quality" issues my drawings may be having. I do not want them to look rough, so I don't think that drawing them directly onto the images will suit my purpose, but it is definitely an odd and awkward task to affix a drawing made on white paper to a colored photograph. I'm not sure how I can improve my transitions.

Monday Post 3-2-08

Steve Hogle

I was searching for someone who draws on photographs when I stumbled across Steve Hogle's work. While he doesn't draw on his photographs, he photographs in a way that pulls them visually away from photography toward painting. In fact he calls his style of working "watercolor photography". Though his aesthetic is not the same as mine, there's something in his method of looking and what his eye seeks out that seems similar to mine. His photographs are meant to mimic water painting, while mine tend to have a rougher quality, and in some ways mimic acrylic painting. Either way we are both trying to pull away from the photographic look.
Steve Hogle is a self taught photographer was born on Feb,7 1960 in Southern Florida, and now lives on the Seacoast of New Hampshire.

Website:
http://stevehoglewatercolorphotos.ifp3.com/

Article:
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/photographers/?inc=details&id=59096

Gallery:
http://www.nhartassociation.org/archive_gallery_2008.html