Community Interaction

For my community interaction I plan on asking different people to draw a self portrait of themselves in under 20 seconds. Their goal will be to make a picture that clearly identifies who they are, so that it is easily recognizable by other people. The purpose of the time limit is to make the participant put emphasis on their characteristics which they believe indentify them. Once I have everyone’s sketches, I will have everyone take a vote on which drawing is the easiest to determine who it is, and also include a description of why their drawing was the most recognizable.

Online Scavenger Hunt

1. Monet vs Manet
Both Claude Monet and Edourad Manet were French impressionists in 19th century. They both were born in Paris, and used similar painting techniques that were typical of impressionists. Monet is known for his loose paintings of landscapes, which was the result of him trying to capture nature's natural sunlight. His paintings can be identified by their obvious dabs of paint. He preferred to paint nature outdoors, which differs from Manet who chose to paint inside. Manet also included people as his subjects rather than nature. His painting style was similar to Monet in the sense that it was looser than traditional styles, but his lines were more defined and more structured than Monet's.

2. Camille Claudel
"L'Age Mur" is described as an autobiographical sculpture that depicts a love triangle. Camille Claudel fell in love with Auguste Rodin while she was apprenticing for him. They were in a relationship for a long time, but Claudel wanted him to leave Rose Beuret, who he lived with and had a child with. Many believe that Camille went mad after he refused to leave her.

3. The following were stolen from the Gardner Museum:
Johannes Vermeer - The Concert
Rembrant- The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, The Lady and Gentleman in Black, and a self portrait
Govaert Flinck- Landscape with an Obelisk
Degas - La Sortie du Pelage, Cortege aux Evirons de Florence, Three Mounted Jockeys, Program of an Artistic Soiree
Manet- Chez Tortoni
Out of those stolen, my favorite was Landscape with an Obelisk by Rembrant.

4. Eugene Delacroix
The man in the top hat in Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix is believed by some to be a self portrait of the painter. More recently, however, historians have come to believe that the man might actually have been modeled after Etienne Arago, who was a theatre director.


5. David Mach
David Mach's "Gorilla" is made entirely of coathangers.



6. Rob Mueck
One of my favorite Rob Mueck sculptures is "Two Women", which is a very realistic sculpture of two elderly women standing together. The position of the two women makes it look like they are having some sort of conversation, which neither of them are enjoying. My favorite part of the sculpture is both the realistic position of the women and their hair.



7. Paul Rahilly
a) The dog in "Girl in a Paper Dress" looks like it is a poodle. b) His painting Still Life, Beef & Vegetables has a green chili pepper in it. c) His painting Brioche, Pears and Eggs has a brioche in it.



8. The "Concert Bill Sketch" has red, white, and blue as the colors.



9. Ryan Smith
a) Ryan Smith's "Taxidermy Tammy" shows a little girl creating really weird and deformed stuffed animals. b) The people in "pig pile" are described as Mexican wrestlers. The way they are piled though is similar to football.

Wikipedia:

1. Vincent Van Gogh - Amsterdam - Gothic Architecture - Italy - Romanians - Count Dracula - Vampire
2. Francisco Goya - Post Lingual Deafness - Hearing impairment - Outer Ear - Ear - Cartilage
3. Lucian Freud- Goldsmiths, University of London - Brian Molko - Glastonbury Festival - Glastonbury Festival line ups - Tool
4. Mark Rothko - Mythology - List of Legendary Creatures - Serpent
5. Diego Rivera - Providence, Rhode Island - Roger Williams

Critique #2

Shepard Fairey’s iconic “Hope” poster of President Barack Obama is a symbol of freedom, change, and the values of the United States of America. Fairey gives his work a patriotic tone though his use of simplistic colors, identifying the president using only the three colors of the American flag. Surrounding the president in the background and on his suit are solid, bold colors, putting emphasis on Obama and his facial expression. Contrasting with the dark red to its right, the light side of Obama’s face immediately attracts the eye of the viewer. The lines which create his face are also over simplistic, using only what lines are necessary to form his recognizable facial features. The simplicity and repetition of colors contributes to the overall effect of the image, for it represents President Obama in a bold and iconic way.
By including the word “Hope” underneath President Barack Obama, Shepard Fairey in indicating that he intends for this piece to be inspirational. He shows that he believes in the president through the way in which he presents him. With his head held up confidently and a calm, reassuring gaze, president Obama is portrayed as a strong and courageous leader. The inclusion of the word “Hope” also classifies him as a bold individual, for it associates him with the emotion that most people strive to find. Shepard Fairey accurately depicted his positive personal views on President Barack Obama though the way in which he chose to show him.

The noise of my stomach grumbling filled the empty room. When was the last time I ate? One week? Two? A few days? I couldn’t remember. They all blended together now, into one seamless, endless day filled with despair and poverty. I heard the footsteps echoing down the hall from the floor below me. Five minutes.
I remained sitting silently on the edge of my mattress. Staring at the wall, I could barely make out the spots with no stains from where my furniture used to be. Before I sold everything. I have nothing left to sell, I convinced myself. I had no other options left. The keys from the room below me were jingling into the lock. My lazy gaze didn’t waver from the wall, but inside I was more alert than ever, listening intently for the cues I have spent so long deciphering. It felt like hours passed before I finally heard the footsteps enter the apartment. I was surprised to find that nervous beads of sweat were collecting on my forehead. Relax. It would all be over before long. I would be in and out before anyone even knew I was there. I closed my eyes and allowed my senses to take over. Four minutes.
I could still be saved, I argued. I could be pulled from this misery as easily as I had slipped into it. Things could go back to the way they were before, back when my life had a purpose. I could recover, create a family and settle down somewhere. This isn’t who I am and I know it. Once I enter that room, there’s no saving me. Even if I get away, my soul will be tainted. It’s in the Bible. I’ve never read it, but I know it’s in there somewhere. When it comes to this, there’s no gray area. I heard the pattering of the dog’s footsteps as he ran across the hardwood floor below me. Three minutes.
I had no other options left. If I didn’t do it they’d kill me anyways. They don’t care about the Bible. My deadlines were way passed and I had no more sources of money. It was this or nothing, they had said. All my hopeful thoughts were killed instantly. This is who I am now. I let my mind wander for the first time into the darker side of myself. I erased all worries of who the man was or if he had a family. It was him or me. My life or his. I could hear him letting his dog out for some fresh air on the balcony. The click of the lock was the loudest noise I’d heard all day. Two minutes.
Underneath me, I felt around for the envelope which had arrived at my doorstep a few days ago. Or was it only a few hours? I couldn’t remember anymore. I rose from my position and emptied the contents out onto the mattress in front of me. It was all already for me; I just had to assemble the silencer. I stood waiting for the noise of the television to turn on, as it did every other day at five o’clock exactly. Pacing the room, I fidgeted with the cool metal in my hands. I was grateful for the first time to be one in control of the trigger. I would be in and out, before anyone would even hear the dog bark. At last I heard the muffled voices of the local newscasters. The footsteps passed directly underneath me into the south corner, where my rundown, broken bathroom perfectly lines up with his. One minute.
I slowly made my way over to my door and quietly descended down one flight of stairs. With one hand on the doorknob and the other behind my back, I opened the door which I knew would be open. There’s no going back from here.

Declaration

For my concept-folio, I have decided that my topic is going to be “Identity”. I wanted to choose a topic that would allow me to be creative and show my own personal opinions, while staying away from typical concepts that have been done before in the past. In my Concept-folio, I plan on addressing the question “what makes us unique as individuals?” and figuring out what elements of a person are used when recognizing them. I will be focusing on images that deal with ideas like individuality, conformity, and personality to show what factors differentiate one person from another. Using these images, I hope to not only be able to show my own opinion on the importance of knowing one’s own unique identity and what it consists of, but also to provide enough materials for the reader of my folio to form their own opinion on the subject.

Critique #1

          “The Subway” by George Tooker portrays a frightened looking woman who is descending down a fluorescently lit hallway. On either side of her, metal bars are blocking off her route into other corridors. Although these bars are meant to distinguish the route to the subway, they have an ominous tone that gives the tunnel the appearance of a prison. All wearing similar clothing and expressions, the passengers in the background contribute to the overall eerie feeling of the painting. The bold color of the passenger’s jackets contrasts with their surroundings and puts emphasis on the uncomfortable brightness of the subway tunnel.
          The panicked woman in the center of the scene draws the viewer’s immediate attention. Her royal blue jacket catches the eye because it is surrounded by red, pale yellow, and white. In between two hallways, she is strategically placed in a position where the reader’s vision is lead to by the surrounding lines. The expression on the women gives the viewer the impression that she is taken aback by the scene before her. Her curved arm in front of her stomach could either be to protect herself from her frightening situation or to symbolize that she is sickened by what she sees. Tooker could be using the woman to portray his fear of conformity and express his thoughts on what he believes people are like today. Although her clothing is the same, the women’s expression is what separates her from the sea of people at the subway. She is obviously not one of them, and symbolizes the individuality which Tooker idealizes.