Totoro: An Artful Masterpiece

Recently I rewatched my favorite movie: My Neighbor Totoro by Miyazaki. I think he is a master storyteller. The animation is so detailed and the shots are all composed as if they could be paintings in themselves. There is a definite artist's consciousness going on in the movie's composition. The story is about 2 sisters who move to a new house, their mother is sick and in the hospital. Strange things go on in their new house and they encounter a number of magical creatures. They meet the king of the forest. His name is Totoro and he is above in the photo. They show him kindness and in return he gives them an adventure and they make the trees and flowers grow which is what he does as king of the forest. All of Miyazaki's films seem to have a theme of environmental preservation and harmony between humans and the land that they inhabit. I think this is such a worthwhile message and think the way that it is incorporated into the film is beautiful. The film is also descriptive of Japanese culture and the landscape that rural Japan has to offer. It made me want to visit. This movie is a masterful and creative  animated film. I would highly recommend it. I grew up watching this move and I think that it has influenced my work in that I pay high attention to detail. I also think that this may be the start of me feeling a magical sense of nature. I don't like to paint landscapes but I feel like my art does have a very natural and organic element to it.

Freeform

So basically. I'm just going to share with you all the cool stuff that I found today.......

Two guys made a giant water balloon and then recorded them trying to pop it in slow motion. The effects of the slow motion are beautiful and weird! This video was really cool. This was an interesting idea. Definitely artistic.

and thenn....

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/28CwCO/www.arkinspace.com/2011/04/manul-cat-that-time-forgot.html

I found this cat that hasn't evolved since the prehistoric era. And it totally looks like that too! This cat is bad ass and would definitely kill some serious stuff. It has been able to be a top predator for hundreds of thousands of years. I am surprised that we don't learn more about animals like this. It looks crazy and angry and I can totally respect the fact that it is ancient.

Annnnddd.....

Meet my new obsession:

These are Rainbow Eucalyptus trees. I think they are so beautiful! They are a genetically engineered species that have been designed to have these colors form naturally in their bark. I totally want to grow one, but the seeds come in packs of 300 for $20, Definitely don't need that many and don't need to drop a twenty on 300 trees when I just want one! :( But I think these trees are so pretty and awesome! Its the total example of science and art coming together to make something so beautiful in nature. One day I will own one or 300 of these trees! They are awesome!

Critique of Sequence Projects

The sequence projects yielded a great number of unique pieces. I was surprised at the wide range of media that everyone used. I think that since everyone's were so different I'm gonna have to call out a few that I really liked.

Erika: Her project was so well done and hilarious. I liked the use of video as the media. Her script was ingenious. The manner in which it was executed was very professional. It was reminiscent of something like The Office. Her idea of creating a narrative that is totally fictional instead of using one that existed made the work completely hers. The piece was very telling of her personality and comedy. Being half cat half human opens up the possibility for many funny moments and she chose them well.

Michael: His piece was very emotional. I thought the images and the audio were put together perfectly. The way he distorted his voice to sound like that of a child's was very skillful and convincing. The story was a great tribute to tsunami victims that was kind of heart wrenching. I thought it was very very well done, of course by use of skill but the topic made it effective

Eddie: His song was incredibly professionally done. The lyrics were well written and the fact that the music matched perfectly with the words show a level of skill and planning that I can admire. He spent a long time on his project and it was evident in the final product. He chose a good subject that I feel is a relatable story for many of modern women. The inability to trust men is a very common problem that many women struggle with.

Great Job Guys!

My Sequence Project

I was inspired by Robert Maplethorpe's work to create a narrative using black and white flower  film photographs to depict a theme. My theme was beauty fading and the cyclical way that life works. The rose started as a bud and grew and grew until it withered and died. The use of focus was one of the indicators of my intentions. The focus started out normal then got really crisp while the flower was in full bloom, then it started to fade at the end because it was dead. The only thing left was what was on the inside after it's beauty had faded. The pollen seeds on the inside of the flower would be what would carry on and repeat the life cycle of this flower. That is how it's beauty survives. I wanted this project to be a sequential narrative that told a story of beauty fading and the rebirth of life anew.

Reaction to Lecture

Beau Sia responded to "Asians in the Library" with an interesting piece

Today's lecture was awesome to say the least. Beau Sia was so amazing. His work is so full of passion and angst. I can tell that it is sort of a therapeutic art form for him. I don't know if his usual work is more comical than this but I really liked that he shared his emotions with us so openly. I got lost a few times in the metaphors and decoding what exactly he was trying to say in certain lines of the poetry and since I didn't have a written page in front of me I couldn't stare at the words and contemplate them. It was very fast paced and that's what was difficult for me about it. I did thoroughly enjoy it though. The students were so amazing as well. I can't imagine memorizing something so long! I totally appreciate the skill it took them to write their pieces and then also the crazy amount of time it must have taken to memorize and practice it. I loved Chanel's piece. I liked how she started talking about living in the shadow of her sister, and how she feels taken advantage of because she is too nice. When she got firey and ripped her paper and started saying how she really felt and all the mean things she would say to people out of resentment for always being called nice and the lack of a relationship with her sister, it was evident that this was heartfelt and a deep issue for her. The way she executed the insults with seriousness and a sort of flat tone made it so matter of fact and hilarious. I liked all the student work and I liked Beau Sia, but I loved her piece the most. She did an amazing job with it.

Progress on Assignment

I shot some film with my film camera with a black and white film roll, I took pictures that followed Maplethorpe's style and I also shot a series that is meant to juxtapose urban living with nature. I went and rented an hour in a darkroom and developed my own film and made prints by hand. I don't know which series to turn in so I might turn in both. I kinda feel like this assignment was not the most epic topic to work with and I wish I had had a stricter task to complete because I feel like then I would have been forced to go outside of my limits more. I am very happy with my work and I feel like I completed the task well. I guess it's just a little more boring for me because it is something that I am so familiar with. In this class I have been pushing my limits and learning something new from every assignment that I have done and they have usually had a performance or deeper aspect to them and that is why I feel like this assignment does not fit so well with the rest. I am happy with my work though and think that the class will like it.

Art Show Review

I did not really see any art shows that were going on or around UCSB this week. There are definitely a lot going on this upcoming week. I plan to go to the MFA Exhibition Yummier/Brainsickly, also the Achromatic Variations exhibit also looks interesting. Thank you Trela for flooding my inbox literally everyday with announcements of this stuff. A lot of the artists have been my TA's so it is always interesting to see what they're working on and how that relates to what they show in section. I would however like to share an experience that I thought was beautiful and that I thoroughly enjoyed anyways. It may not have been art made by man but it was art in nature and it was beautiful.

My family came to visit and I went with my mom, dad, brother and sister to the Ellwood and Coronado butterfly reserves and hiking trails. I walked with my family and we saw butterflies, enjoyed the nature hike and headed to the beach. I explored tide pools with my brother and sister and interacted with the wildlife like we did when we would go to the beach when we were all much younger. We saw whales migrating.up the coast. It was so beautiful and peaceful being out in nature. It was weird not always hearing techno blasting from somewhere or being in a rush to do homework. I just had a great time and bonded with my family and explored the landscape that has inspired many artists. How could one not classify that as art in itself?