Confessions Project Proposals

Proposal 1: Kitten Obsession: I love to watch cat and kitten videos on youtube. I literally have seen all the top ones, and get excited if I notice a new one. I use stumble and even my stumble has taken to mostly pulling up images, videos and articles that relate to cats or felines of any kind. To be honest, it doesn't matter what kind of cat it is, whether it be a cat or a kitten or a tiger lion etc. My confessions project would consist of creating a slide show of all the cat images and videos that I can think of having looked at and then I would cover my computer with fabric fur and create cat ears for this since my laptop is the tool of this obsession.

Proposal 2: Drinking: I have to say there have been way too many times living in IV that I have drank just in the hopes that I will make new friends from the experience of going out and connecting with people. It seems sometimes that the only thing people want to do socially with each other is drink a lot of alcohol. My house in particular consumes so much that sometimes I think they might be alcoholics. I am a transfer and sometimes I go out and drink even though I'd rather stay in and watch a movie or something like that because I know people will think that is lame. This really saddens me. To execute this I think I would take all our empty alcohol bottles from the weekend and put my friends pictures near them.

Proposal 3: Dad: I've just never been naturally close to my dad. He was always the strict mean parent in my eyes and we never had anything in common. He has a heart problem. I always hope that he will change his diet and help himself but he is just too stubborn to stop eating the fatty foods that he always has.I'm too afraid to tell him to change because he always gets offended so easily.I sometimes think that I will never become close to him and it will soon be too late. I always tear up at commercials that have to do with father daughter relationships and am very jealous when my friends describe theirs'. I don't know how I would execute this proposal and am not sure I would want to.

Response to Comics Chapters 3 & 4

A normal person will finish mentally and make assumptions about what is not pictured in the image above... but why??

Chapters 3 and 4 of our comics book taught me more about how to think of art differently. It is a very philosophical book that introduces many basic philosophy principles with relation to art. The concept of closure is something humans all naturally do on a subconscious level. Since our senses fragment the world and we can never experience everything, we often finish images or scenes mentally. Like in the viewing of a photograph, if a part of a human is cropped out we still assume the part was there and can even envision in what position it is in. This process helps humans to construct a fluid reality.Artists can use transitions, crops etc to engage the viewer in mentally finishing or assuming an end to a piece of art and it may differ from person to person. This is an interesting thing to consider and another element for manipulation in art. I plan on trying to use this in some way even if it's not finishing a sentence and seeing what another person says in order to finish it. That reveals something about people.

The other idea presented dealt with the direction and perception of action through art sequences. Size, direction and framing of a scene can affect the weight and meaning a reader gives it. An artist should direct theviewer's attention in order to get their intended meaning or purpose across.

Marcel Duchamp

After reading about Duchamp from the reader I have to say I learned a lot about his work and his life. Personally, I don't care for any of his work. I can however, appreciate it after learning the ideas behind it. Duchamp was a man who was frustrated and disgusted by the cheapening of the art scene. He saw artists as selling out to achieve mass appeal to create the most sales. Duchamp wanted to express his emotions and critique art in a way that would be very powerful so he took to creating it. First he was into cubism and painting. Then later and much to my interest he introduced the ready mades. I was surprised to learn that the first ready made exhibition that Duchamp did was at the Pasadena Museum of Art. This museum is 20 minutes away from my house, and I have visited it a few times. It is interesting that the ready made work would be hosted in such an area because Pasadena is notorious for being the home to "old money" and republican stuffy people. This probably made the exhibition all the more controversial. It is so amusing to think of it because even now an exhibit like that would be looked upon strangely by the Pasadena natives. It is kind of out of place because that museum is very modern and so I can understand why they would host an exhibit like that. I learned that Duchamp was a man who was highly critical of the art scene itself and expressed this in an interesting way. His work has a very unique idea behind it and he wanted it to engage his viewers in a meaningful way.

Art Objects??

This is my water faucet in my bathroom. It may not look like art at first glance, but when abstracted you can appreciate the form of the sculpted metal. It is something that was designed by someone who knew aesthetics and though it may not seem like a huge deal to everyday life, people spend a long time trying to choose the perfectly aesthetically pleasing faucet to complete their bathrooms. The curvatures and reflections of the abstracted image that I took make the image interesting and let you examine the faucet in anew way. The way the metal manipulates light is very pretty.

This is a Larry Bell piece. I have tried and tried to understand how such simple work like this could be seen as art. I do not understand how a simple square of color in another square of color has art value beyond being a tool that could be used to teach small children the colors of the rainbow. I am amazed that this guy became famous and was able to sell things like this. Even if I could sell a colored shape inside of a color I would be kind of embarrassed to do it because it is not representative of any skill level.

It is hard to understand what is and isn't art, it is a very personal choice that is often left up to experts. I have my own definition of art and it usually pertains to things that I believe to have art value whether or not I like them.

Ordinary Action, Unordinary Place

For my assignment I decided to do something a little crazy. I wanted to take something very personal, private, and feminine and juxtapose it with an are that is so opposite of all these things. At the end of Sabado Tarde road where I live there has been construction going on for a while. I decided that since it disturbs me in me personal time, I would bring a personal activity into the middle of it. I went outside in my towel robe armed with my razor and shaving cream and shaved my legs at the end of the construction site. I am actually not really sure if anyone saw me, I was really focused on not missing any spots. A few groups of students and cars drove by, but no one commented. I'm sure if the people around were too interested into what they were doing to notice or they just thought I was a weirdo. This project changed my ideas of space and how doing something in an unconventional space can make it all the more powerful. When you do something that is out of place it draws more attention to that action and the oddity value of the action will attract people to examine it further. Something like shaving legs is an action that is very feminine and private and men don't really think about the work it takes to maintain smooth legs, they assume it just comes along with being a woman. Actions like these aren't often appreciated by the other sex. I took this action to a very masculine area where there would be people around and kind of brought this action to light. I felt a little uncomfortable at first but that sign was the perfect height to get a good shave on so I figured I might as well take advantage of it. This exercise showed me that I can be bold and fearless when I need to be and that the artistic value of an object or action can be enhanced or affected greatly by it's environment.

Breaking News

He Better Bundle Up! Its gonna get chilly!

In further attempts to immortalize himself, Kanye West has been spotted at various Cryonics Preservation Labs around California discussing the topic of freezing his body after death for preservation purposes. The rapper has been documented saying "The only sure thing in life is death." and it seems that Kanye West wants to preserve his glorious body forever. The preservation process is a long one that first started with the replacement of his front teeth with diamond encrusted veneers. He has said that he feels that by the end of his life he will be a monument, having transformed different parts of his body to achieve his own artistic image. His Manager commented saying, "Mr. West feels that every generation to come should be able to view and worship him long after his voice is gone, by then they will have forgotten that whole Taylor Swift ordeal." This has not been Kanye’s only altercation with a celebrity, in one of famous hater 50 Cent’s recently released songs he bashed West along with Wiz Khalfia and other rap stars saying that they should be thrown out like trash. A representative of Mr. West states in response to this, “He may have been shot 9 times and lived through it, but we’ll see who has the last laugh when Kanye and his new grill are livin’ it up in 2200 style with them evolved hoes.” The possibility of life after death in the future through the freezing process has long been a topic of much controversy and research. There are currently over 200 people and numerous dogs and cats cryonically stored in labs all over the country. 62 scientists have supported the process as a legitimate preservation method even though there is currently no technology to bring the frozen subjects back to life. As far as the possibility of developing this technology in the future goes Mr. West is hopeful. "You just never know" he says he is open to the idea of living sometime far ahead in the future because "I was always ahead of my time, anyway" he says. The rapper has been considered revolutionary for this time. As far as the possible damage it may do to his organs and brain during the freezing process the only comment that he has released was “What don’t kill me, can only make me stronger.”

Response to Monday Lecture

Today in class we discussed identity. It is interesting to contemplate identity because it is such a complex and multifaceted concept. Identity encompasses so many different labels and categories and each is weighted differently by each individual. It is common for artists to create projects addressing their identity.I know Kip Fulbeck often does photography based on identity. I have seen his work on "The Happa Project" and "Permanence:Tattoo Portraits". Both are powerful images that deal with identity and give an insight into the people who are the subjects of the portraits. It is only human to want to hear and understand other people's stories and these photo books document that curiosity. My favorite artist that was presented was Maya Lin. I loved her pieces for the "Systematic Landscapes' exhibition. The precision and science that went into the two pieces that were shown was completely impressive.They made very interesting pieces as well as showed off great skill. The sculptures were amazing. She has a definite clean and scientific style to her work both in these pieces and the Vietnam Memorial. I could definitely see similarities there. One of my other favorite artists that uses identity as an important theme in their art is Jeff Sheng. He photographs gay and lesbian people. One of his projects titled "Fearless" documents portraits of high school and college athletes that are out. His greatest project though and most famous is "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" which deals with gay and lesbian service members. His website is http://www.jeffsheng.com/

Identity is a very common intersection of art and life and can be used to create awesome personal art. I can't wait to explore what I can do with my identity in my art.