Part One: Research :: What makes a good Artist Portfolio

-Li Fan-

http://www.liography.com/

Li Fan’s website drew my eye for a couple of reason. The first reason being that it is very simple and direct. There is no confusion on whether something is button or not, which makes it very easy to navigate your away around. It is not too simple, to the point were it is boring. The second thing I liked about this website was that color scheme. For the home page there is a very neutral gray but it is contrasted by bright green of the grass that the ducks are on. This makes the picture really stand out, as if the ducks were jumping off the page. The very last thing that I liked about his website is that the theme remains constant through out all the pages. The gray, white and orange color scheme on his “photo blog” creates a subtle, but nice eye movement, and makes for interesting page. Although I do think that some parts of the webpage could be a little bit more dynamic, not too much, but just a little bit. Overall, I love the simplicity of the website, and the neutral color choices.

RESEARCH- Alberto Giacametti

("Cat" left "Walking Man" right)

The sculptures that Alberto Giacometti are all bronze which can be somewhat boring to see, but he does it in such a minimalistic way that its truly eye grabbing. The sculptures have this feeling that they were excavated from Pompeii or volcanic site. They have a very eerie feeling to them the really catches my eye and makes me want to stair at them for hours on end. Also I like how the sculptures have so little detail to them yet they are still very identifiable.

RESEARCH- Tony Smith

("Stinger" left, "Smoke" right)

The next artist that I liked was Tony Smith. The main reason why I liked his work so much was due to the sheer size of his sculptures, for example his sculpture “Smoke”. It does not really resemble that of smoke, which is probably because he went to a minimalist school. The thing that impressed me the most was that his sculptures are made from concrete. I also liked the geometric forms, and the angles; they are just so sleek and sharp. This is implemented from the background he had in architecture.

RESEARCH- Alexander

("Woman Combing Her Hair" left, "Woman" right)

Alexander Archipenko’s work caught my eye for one reason, and one reason only and that is because it reminds me of Picasso’s art. His sculptures deal with many simple shapes the really help accentuate the figure, and that is what grabs me about Picasso’s art. I really like his sculpture “Woman” because the shapes by themselves they would just be arbitrary, but together they resemble that of a woman, which makes for a very intriguing sculpture.

RESEARCH- Eva Hesse

("Sequal" right, "Right After" left)

Eva Hesse, was a truly a minimalist artists. She took the most simplistic materials and ideas and still made them artful, for example the latex walnut piece she did entitled, “Sequel”. The piece of hers that I like the best was the one she did with only string a wire, “Right After”. What intrigued me the most about this piece is how the weight of it is completely contrasted by its scale. I like how she does not use the same materials over and over, which make her pieces very interesting to look at.

Professional Concept Proposal

The concept of my video is going to start with me sitting at the bus stop just waiting. Then the bus will come down street, as that happens I will walk out into the street with my arms outstretched. After I walk into the street I will cut between shots of me standing in the street and the bus coming down the road to build intensity. I want to show it as though the bus and I are going to collide. While this is going on loud opera music will be playing in the background, which will help heighten the intensity even more. Once the bus and I collide, it will cut to a dead silent shot of me sitting on the bus leaning against the window with a smirk on my face. The intensions of my video are geared towards opportunity. Great opportunities only come by once and a while, and we need to take them when they come around. The audio for my video will be opera music. There will be a series of different shots but mainly close ups, full shots, and extreme close-ups.

Project 2-1 (Reading Response QUIZ)

1)Name an Early artist mentioned in the article for CONCEPTUAL WORK performing in front of the camera.Describe a work. (2points)

John Baldessari is an artist from the 1960’s and in 1971 I produced a series of black and white short films entitled in I Am Making Art. The film was about twenty minutes long and consisted of a series of gestures and he repeats the title of the film over and over.

2)Name an artist mentioned who deals with PERSONAL NARRATIVE. Describe a work. (2 points)

One artist that deals with personal narrative is Bill Viola, in 1973 he made a video called, Information. The video dealt with a sequence of images that he could control from the out side of the camera, often he add light and dark interplay on the center of his images. He also wore a loud speaker on his back to add sound.

3)Describe the piece you were most interested in viewing after reading this article. Look the work up on the links, and expand on Rush's comments. (2 points)

The video that found most interesting was Peter Campus’s Three Transitions. In Rush’s article he discusses how the video is a metaphor for internal and external selves. Which is very evident in the first two transitions, but he does not explain or even introduce the third transition. Which is a reflection of him on a piece of paper that he burns. Which emulates an underling tone of emotion. The film is an interesting fete of editing, which like his other films if shot with a series of cameras.

4)What do you better understand now about Video Art? (2 points)

Before reading this article my perception of filming and video art was more less that it was used for trying to tell a story. But Rush has opened my eyes and helped me realize that it can be much more then that. Video art is also about trying to convey a feeling to your target audience. Also, film allows you to incorporate all different types of medias into art, such as filming a painting, or a photograph. Just because you are using video does not necessarily mean that there has to be movement taking place in shot. Overall this article was very informative, a bit long, but I am glad that I was exposed to it.

5)Based on Rush and this article, what makes Video Art vs. an "artful video"? (2 points)

Video Art consist of things such as documentaries, news reporting’s. Although many artful techniques help make commercial television and advertising more interesting they are not to be considered and artful video. An artful video lies within the intentions of the artist. It is to produce something with out limits and for no other purpose but your own. Even though the differences in these two types of videos are minute, ultimately it is the artist who makes the decision.

Blog Entry #2

Negar Nahidian

This image has a brown over tone almost as if it was black and white. It looks as if it was just a regular photo of a girl from a foreign country. As you look deeper you see there are two different sides to the women in the center. One thing that deters from this image is that it is hard to make out the writing in the background and I feel that would make the whole composition more interesting if you could really read the text. Although, the abstract shapes in the foreground and background make up for it.

Showing the woman in the center from two different angles and inverting the colors makes me think that the identity is about how country’s can be so two faced. Every one seems to be very nice and polite on side, but behind closed doors some people act completely different. It has to be a different country because the girl is some sort of bandana, and her hair seems to be styled with some kind of jewelry.

I like the image because it reminds of dream but yet it is very real. Some the aspect displayed in the image are confusing. But it makes for an interesting image and adds to dream like feel through out the image. Even though this was not best image it was the one I was attracted to the most.

Blog Entry #2

William DeKooning

This piece is composed of thick, bold, aggressive brush strokes, with very earthy tones. The earthy tones contrast well with the lady who is abstractly depicted in the center of the image. The artist did a great job of catching his emotion at the time he was creating the painting; it is very evident that he was angry.

The identity is some what skewed by the bold brush strokes, but it depicts the crazy/monstrous side that women posses. If I had to guess I would say that he was breaking up with a girl when he created this work of art. The earthy tones normally suggest calm and maternal feeling. Which leads me to believe that image is about woman.

The face on the figure in what attracted to me this image. It reminds me of monkey, but then I noticed that it was on a woman’s body. Also I like this image because of the uses of the womanly earthy tones and contrasts it with a monstrous image. Earthy tones normally catch my eye simply because they are so versatile, you can make a dark image or happy image. Or like this image some were in the middle.

Blog Entry #2

David Ho

This image is very intriguing. The image has very strong lighting from the top left corner, and all the shadowing helps support it. The fruit has a vibrant glow that really helps capture your eye. Overall the image is composed very well and everything is spaced out in a way that keeps you interested in the image.

The Identity of this piece in somewhat mysterious. Its seems like its saying that the apple does not fall from the tree. But at the same the shaded creature in the bottom right hand corner makes me think that it is saying that everyone has a secret, or something to hide.

I relate to this image because it is dark and eerie, and isn’t that easy to distinguish the true identity of it. This is not one of those images that you take one look and understand it in its entirety. You really need to stop look and analyze this image to fully appreciate it. Which draws me in and makes me like the more and more I look at it.

Blog #1

There are many reason as to why some one would want to study digital arts.  To me art is field of work that will always be here.  People will always new designs, and new people with different artistic abilities.  The art field has a wide variety of jobs available.  Although I am a graphic design major I am interested in all different types of medias but, I do not really know exactly which one I would like to pursue.  My goals that i would like accomplish here at BGSU is to graduate in a timely manor and have a degree in some artistic major. 

Blog Entry #4

1.       How has this work contributed a new or different understanding of color to the world?

HISTORY OF ART

This work laid down the foundation for all color schemes to come.  It is why we have some of the color schemes we do today.

FASHION DESIGN

Designing helps us understand color because with clothes you can mix and match colors that you never thought would match.  Also it helps people create new and trendy color schemes.

VISUAL CULTURE

Visual culture images help people see the more urban color schemes.  Most people just see them as regular colors but when you arrange them in different orders you can get new and different colors.

 

2.       What visual phenomenon or color principles make it stand out among works in the same medium or genre?

HISTORY OF ART

With historical arts you can really point them out easily because of the horizontal and vertical line use.  Also, the perspective in which they paint it from is very commonly seen.

FASHION DESIGN

In design art they can use patters such as plaid, to mix and match colors. Thus, making them stand out more.

VISUAL CULTURE

The medium used in visual culture art is really what makes it stand out.  Once you see a visual culture piece you know that’s what you’re looking at.

 

4.       How have they used dominance to organize or structure their work?

HISTORY OF ART

The bigger images are in the foreground of the picture making them the more dominate image.

FASHION DESIGN

In fashion design they establish dominance by using more of a certain color.

VISUAL CULTURE

Cultural pieces tend to over dramatize the dominate structure in their image.

 

5.      How do they address the human form (in the picture or in relation to it)?

HISTORY OF ART

In historical art the human body is represented in a very formal way.  From time to time you will see a nude person but they are displayed very elegantly.

FASHION DESIGN

Mainly people are portrayed as fake because they are trying to create clothes.  They are not worried about how realistic the person looks.

VISUAL CULTURE

The human body is either seen in its actual form or is a picture.  Overall the human body is rendered very realistically.

 

6.       In what ways have you been influenced after seeing this work?

HISTORY OF ART

Create new compositors that are realistic.

FASHION DESIGN

Try to test out new color schemes

VISUAL CULTURE

Not be afraid to try new things.

Image Essay #10

The black and white media used to create this image is gives the picture a lot more emotion and makes that clear to viewer. Also, the way she is positioned on the chair, with her head down, helps convey the depressing emotion the artist is trying to get across. There is a nice use of tenebrism as you can see there is a strong directional lighting, moving from right to left. You can see excellent use of chiaroscuro that is used to define the figures body, creating definition in the person’s body structure. The hair is rendered very well, you almost can see the blondness in here hair, even though the picture is in black and white. Although this image is a little boring you can tell that the artist took there time. Over all this is a well composed composition with crisp lines and a good use of shading.

Image Essay #9

This painting possesses many of the color properties. There are four main color properties over all, dominance, temperature, color symbolism, emotion and this image has them all. The dominate color is obvious in this image, the black trees, they seem swamp like. The trees get smaller as they go back. Creating the illusion of space, making the trees appear as if they are far away to the audience. At first this image looks to be a cold and musty picture. Then you see the faint red be hind the trees and notice that they may look like they are on fire instituting a hot temperature because red is known to be a hot color. The color symbolism would be evil, creepy, and eerie, which is evident right away. Emotion was defiantly a big reason behind the creation of this image. There is an angry emotion that goes with this painting, giving it great pop making it such an amazing image.

Image Essay #8

This image was composed by Mark Tansy a very well known artist. He is known for his monochromatic images. This is a monochromatic image done with shades of blue. The image is that of the Wright brothers testing there plane designs. The only difference is Tansy decides to use his artistic freedom and make the plane a little more inventive. It looks like a flying creature of some sorts. The hills fade from dark to light creating the illusion of space. Notice one other thing; there is a paint bucket and a little stool in the bottom left hand corner of the image. The seat could be were the Tansy say to paint the flying creature. On the other hand, the seat could be for you, the artist. As if he were saying u can paint what ever u can imagine. Giving u artistic freedom to change plane into what ever you desire it to be.

Blog Entry #3

1. Do we define a place or does a place define us?
A place is defined by the way an individual artist renders it to be. An artist can make a happy place like cedar point with lots of little children riding rides and smiling. Or the artist can take Cedar Point and make it a horrific image by creating a image of a rollercoaster derailing and depict the deathly scared faces of the people riding the ride. The artist defines how we view the place.

2. How is each of the featured artists influenced by particular places? How is this influence reflected in the artist’s work?
Each artist is influenced by in which manor they were raised in. for example artist Do-Ho Shu’s art is very reflective of his Chinese background.

3. Which artist do you feel most connected to and why?
Richard Serra, because he has found a way to make a living out art, and that inspires me to try and do what he has done. Being an artist is no easy task for one person to handle, and having to make a career out of it is even harder.

4. When you were young, was there a place that interested you? A place that scared you? List five places from your childhood. Use one word to describe each of them.
1. Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame
2. Space
3. Attic
4. Cellar
5. Closet

5. Pick one of those places. Try and remember it as well as you can. Answer these questions about it… What objects occupy that place? What are the textures and sizes of those objects? What was the lighting like? Was it a dark dreary place? Or a bright happy one?
Cellar
House decorations, suit cases, fans, screens, candles, boxes, dusty, moist, dark, creepy, shadows, monsters, Halloween costumes, files, water heater, sub pump, bricks, paint, stain, Christmas tree.

Image Essay #7

This image was done by the controversially known artist, Sally Mann. Sally Mann’s pictures are known to be controversial because of the subject matter she chooses to photograph. This image is not one of her more revealing images, but I chose is because I believe is best represents her style. Which is known to be as in the moment, and that’s exactly what this picture is. The picture doesn’t look staged or choppy; the image is very crisp and elegant. The way the older girl on the left is waving her hand and the position that the little girl on the right has her hand on her hip is all very elegant and fluid. Even more elegant is the expression emulated from each of their faces. The girl on the left has a sharp, fierce gaze on her face; that is what really drew me in when I first saw this image. While also the little girl on the left seems to display more attitude on her face, almost as if she was trying to imitate her sister.

Texture, Symmetry and Gestalt

sorry about the quality, i took 5 pictures and this was the best one. The texture on the right side is the egal on the back of a quarter collaged together. the teeth are are cut from a tick cardboard so they pop of the page a little bit. Everything else you can pretty much see.

Image Essay #6

There are many different gestalt principals displayed in this picture. There is the repetition of a pixilated patter throughout the two figures faces, and is also continues into the background a little bit. The close proximity of the pixilated pattern really seems to hold your eye. Were I first look at this picture my eye is immediately attracted to the high and low contrast of the black in white at the top right hand corner of this image. The negative reversal of the mirror and frame, the scarf, and jacket in the back ground is a cool effect that really livens up this picture. They way they used the negative reversal on the jacket gives it a sawed looking texture to it. Overall this is a well composed image implicating many of gestalts principals throughout the whole composition, and doing a very good job of it. The picture is not boring or stagnant. It moves your eye around the picture quiet fluidly.

Blog Entry #2

The Three elements displayed in this picture are very easy to distinguish, they are, a football, sun rays, and a Gatorade bottle. There is a dominate positive area to the right side, and a subordinate positive area on the left hand side of the image. With a dominate negative area falling through the center of the picture.
The reason I choose the football was I played football all throughout high school. Naturally it was a big part of my life. I placed the footballs in dynamic positions, even placing a smaller positive shaped football inside a bigger negative shaped football. Also, displaying the laces of the football in both a positive and negative way, at the top right hand corner of the image.
The second element I choose was the sun rays. I used that shape because I lived in California for seven years. Ever since then I have loved California and always go back as much as I can. I used the sun rays in both positive and negatives shapes, all throughout the picture. One is also juxtaposed with a football on the right hand side of the image.
The third and final element displayed in this image is a Gatorade bottle. I decided to use that object because I don’t drink soda. There for, Gatorade is one of my drinks of choice. I dynamically placed the bottles throughout the picture, one moderately sized bottle spilling liquid from the left hand corner to the right. The liquid is expanding as if it were coming towards you. Within the fluid there are two Gatorade bottles juxtaposed with in the liquid. One appears to be spilling more liquid, while the other one is an outline of the bottle.
Over all it is a decently composed image, all the elements are placed dynamically. Thus, creating an interesting image that easily catches your eye and holds your attention.