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For project three, it was difficult to decide which artist to go with because it was hard for me to understand the grasp of the theme "organic mechanic". I milled over it for a few days to no avail. The problem lied in how I would incorporate a mechanic aspect to something organic, but I realized I was thinking too in depth on it. Mechanics could come from the general "gear/wrench" model, but it could also come from geometric shapes, or even adding things that do not necessarily belong in an organic continuum. This is kind of where David Altmejd fit in for me upon that understanding. Born in 1974 in Montréal, Canada, Altmejd attended the Université du Québec à Montréal for his undergraduate degree and finished a Masters at Columbia University. With his particular works covering themes for abstraction to the whole piece, he finds the process of "making" and blurring internal and external more meaningful than having a concrete idea to start off with. This could possibly be a reason for while a number of his pieces are powerful, yet remain Untitled. The artwork was interesting to note because of the various abstractions he created with intense distortion and and found objects. It was borderline grotesque, but it made me want to explore more about each piece he chose to add. With that being said, my favorites of his work consisted of "Fan of Soul", "Eye" and "The Eye". Fan of Soul caught my eye because of how it was an additive process —a process I might use in my piece— and the raised surface looked neat and textured. The "Eye", was hard to look at because it reminded me of a zombie, but I still liked the internal quartz arrangement made the the center hole mesmerizing. And finally, "The Eye" was may favorite because of how it utilized the mirrors to create a sense of light being redirected. Why might this artist have been included for Project Organic Mechanic? I think it was for his his use of bodily forms and the abstraction he does with it. More often than not, organic things may have some sort of pattern to them whether it be growth, striations, or actual visual patterns. He creates pieces that originally have a pattern, but he then distorts them to give a "supernatural-esque" look to them. I equate a transformation of things as a type of mechanism —no pun intended— that pushes organic figures to something more inorganic or mechanical. If he was participating in this project, I think he would opt for molding his own pieces and only have various parts casted in aluminum. His work is made up of a large amount of mixed media so I think he would work with anything he could find in the studio. I feel as though he would have a rough time coming up with designs as we have to in the beginning of our projects because of the way he works, but he may come up with something around clay heads, glass (and plexiglass), and/or geometric containers with hanging installations. I would be very curious to see what he would come up with. Sources:
http://www.davidaltmejd.com/ http://www.xavierhufkens.com/artists/david-altmejd http://www.andrearosengallery.com/artists/david-altmejd/images#andquotuntitled-8-bodybuildersandquot-2013 http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/david_altmejd.htm https://art21.org/watch/extended-play/david-altmejd-heads-short/ Interestingly enough, I came across her work while I was completing my Nature Inspired piece. I say that the circumstance was interesting because of how similar my theme was to her execution of the many pieces she produced in the 2010's. My professor recommended that I check out some more of her work when she received her Sculpture magazine for the month of March. Alice Ayecock's work was on the cover and I was just shocked because of how flawless the sculpture was and how it was how I envisioned my work to hopefully turn out! There was no sight of uneven weight distribution (which was what I was struggling with the most) and the flow between the numerous swirls was seamless. I looked at more pieces that were featured in the spread and I took to the internet to find out more. The work on the cover of the sculpture magazine was made with aluminum so I figured that might have been a reason of how she could offset the weight easier than with sheet metal. Aluminum is the most common material she has used since the start of the 2010's, but before that, wood and concrete were her most used. Her website arranges her works by the decades so I thought it would be fun to see how much she has evolved while selecting a favorite from each!
Read Chapters 2 and 3, then select 3 quotes and write/brainstorm in response to the 3 quotes you chose. 1. "...it’s in the act of making things that we figure out who we are." (Kleon 27) This was an amazing quote for the reason that it applies to our future career path. I, as a science major, have always been pushed to pursue something medical because that was one of the only options my parents deemed would allow me to make money in the future to have a good stable life. Though, I am still en route to becoming a physician, it was from my own choices, but not without a little influence. This is where this quote comes in. The "act of making things", or getting out and going to do things on my own without much regard for what others want you to become is the process I am currently in to figuring out who I am and what inspires me to continue on the dual path I am currently undertaking. Somewhere along the road, I know I will figure out what drove me for both paths, but for now, I will continue making things. 2. “Write what you know.” (Kleon 47) Boy did this hit home. I am a science major and the concept of our examinations is to show what you know by answering multiple choice questions, short answers or even essay questions. After reading the chapter and the following sentence it got me thinking about how structured we are in our basic sciences to learning the material. It must be what has been discussed in lecture or it is not good. I understand both points in the argument that the fundamental understanding of science and the methodologies used, but I also think it is important to include elements of what people enjoy earlier into the curriculum to see what all being a science major has to offer. In all honesty, I think this is my interest in research coming out to 'bark' at this quote. 3. "...think about the work you want to see done that isn’t being done, and then go do it." (Kleon 47) In reference to creating your own works and not being subjected to the "imposter syndrome", this idea really rolls in my brain often. Most often I am afraid to hone in on a project fully because (1) I am not good at making final decisions and (2) I am afraid of copyright. Even though I cite my sources, and remember to make a bibliography or references sheet with APA or MLA, I still have a fear that my work would be too close to the person(s) that I was inspired by. I have relaxed on my feeling of copyright though because of a talk we had in class. A person cannot wholly copy someone's art work if they use inspirations from many sources and combine them. It's that process of thinking on how to combine the ideas into one that makes it "original" so to speak. I believe in this quote even more so because of its reference to me and the science community. I always try to find connections between what I am learning in my arts to validate my reasonings for having this minor and my learnings are doing just that. This applies to my interest in research and how to solve problems in the community by trying to think outside the box with use of creative problem solving. 4. "Copying is about reverse-engineering" (Kleon 33) When I read stories I really like, I often find myself infatuated with the genre for a time. An example I use is from a writing I've been doing for years. It is reminiscent of my all time favorite comic story but every so often I go back to it and add elements of things that I have recently come into contact with. I like the term engineering because the word itself is a creative process that works to solve a "problem" in a way that no one has done in your particular fashion. Reverse is neat because you are working backwards to create your product. You see the end, but then you must figure out the steps you must take to get to that final product. For project two, the artists I encountered on the list varied greatly. On my first perusal into who each of them was, I was not connected initially to any of them —one reason being that I could not readily find their art work on their websites. Even so, I browsed more thoroughly and eventually chose John Bisbee as the sculpture of my interest. Who is this person? Bio details? John Bisbee is a sculptor in Maine who received his education (B.F.A) at Alfred College and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. The primary medium he uses for his works include nails/spikes in a variety of sizes that he welds together to form the structure of his pieces. Creating pieces using spikes for the last 30 years, his mantra was "Only nails, always different" because of a set of "found objects" sculptures he was in the process of creating when he ran into old fused nails. Later explanations of his mantra deemed the nails to be like "lines" that can do anything from geometric shapes, to making curved figures from the overwhelming amount of nails that have gone into his meticulous sculptures. His actions are ecclectic, most would say, but not without reason to helping develop his students further into a reasoning of "revealing" the art they produce Which artwork did you like the most? Why? The artwork I liked the most was Blocks that he completed in 1994. I tried to think organic for purposes of this project, and when I saw this piece it reminded me of two things (1) adipocytes —and then to not have that idea in my head—and (2) washed out butterfly wings. I prefer to think of it as the latter, but in reference to the structure of the piece, I was drawn to it for the simplistic look of the cubes against the white background. Up close, I think a different story will be told, but from afar and depending on the arrangement of the blocks the level of complexity can increase or decrease. Cyclonaut (2014) was my honorable mentioned Why do you think Professor Bajuyo included this artist on the list?
Much of his works consist of a singular repetitive motif that is stylized in a certain way. For project two, we are supposed to focus on the patterns that are observed in nature and some of his sculptures are reminiscent of sea urchins, tree trunks, abstractions of canyons, and intestines, but I feel are, nevertheless, focusing on the pattern aspect to drive the piece. What would this artist do if he/she was in our class? If John Bisbee was in our class, I think, with his more recent works, he would work heavily with bent metal pieces to create his overall sculpture. The Acetylene torch would be one of his favorite machines and I think he would opt to work with large thin pieces of material. Sources: https://www.johnbisbee.com/biography http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/11/only-nails-always-different-artist-john-bisbees-life-of-sculpting-with-nails/ https://www.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinmagazine/archives/features/002177.shtml Read Chapter 1 and select 3 quotes and write/brainstorm in response to the 3 quotes you chose.
1. "What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere". (Kleon 7) This is one topic I am only recently becoming more comfortable to talk about. I used to think that you have to be the most original of them all to be able to claim the art as your own, but as I am noticing in the course I am enrolled in now, I have come to understand that is not the case. Every new idea is something that had just bunched many other details of various concepts into a way that people have not thought about deeply enough. This idea was in the chapter—it was probably an explanation for the quote I pulled out—but the fact that I was able to put it into my own words astonishes me. I did not work on my 2D arts as much because I was stuck in the "am I stealing this idea" phase even though a good chunk of my forms were different. But now that I am enrolled in this class and reading a book literally titled "Steal Like an Artist", I know my way of thinking for creative concepts has/will dramatically change. A particular subject in class we chatted over was that of artists using their favorite artists as inspiration. They might have their work some where in their office, or just have their websites/readings somewhere reachable to where ideas can churn but to later evolve into a free standing new work. This now has given me the idea of to keep a physical form of my favorite artists' work. Pinterest boards are all fun, but looking at them in person, I feel, will give a different point of view to work with. 2. "You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life... We are shaped and fashioned by what we love". (Kleon 11) I hear this quote in a different sense many times from my parents. They often say that who you hang around can determine how far you go in life. If they are not doing anything to benefit themselves, then you too are also being affected in a negative way. As for the vice versa scenario, the relationship serves to help build each other up and that is what we need (at least in partial) to help with our process to attain the goals we have set for ourselves. It is very neat how this style of thinking will travel across 'disciplines' or spheres of knowledge—I am not sure what word would fit the best here. This stuck out to me because this is a concept that I whole heartedly believe in. It might have been because of the influence my parents have set, but I honestly think I started doing this a while before I started having talks about how my relationships with certain peers could 'derail me'. My elementary days were surrounded by many Vietnamese friends so when I decided to explore outside my own cultures, the Asian influence was high and it lodged itself in everything I did. Since then, I have decided to increase the regions that will influence me because I will also be learning about them. Be they a scientific study, culture, or a person, I will have the autonomy to choose what I want to receive (in knowledge) and also what to expound on. This idea has truly shaped my entire being, because when I think about starting a project, I want to be fresh and new or even try something I have never done before. But when that happens, I kind of get in a rut. I am stuck on the idea of doing something new because I like to explore techniques. When I finally start thinking about my values and past works, ideas flow that attempt to connect my past works to the new way I am thinking about a piece. This happened when I was working on my Project 1: Light and Shadow. Though my connection to the idea was just incorporating a swirl/twist, I really enjoy adding that feature of organic-ness to my work. 3."Read deeply, stay open, continue to wonder, Google it, yo." (Kleon 18) I was not sure if this was a viable quote for us to pick out, but I loved it. It was kind of tricky to figure out what order the words were supposed to flow it, but I just stuck with the general Left to Right reading style of the English language. Nevertheless, I chose this because one phrase is on my Vision Board for 2018 and the others are beliefs I hold for myself for becoming globally minded and also for continuing my path as a lifelong learner. "Read deeply" is literally my pledge to pick up my leisure read books more. Too often are we bogged down with required texts that it is very difficult to start up something new (at least in my case). I just want to be able to learn from a new perspective about my other topics of interest. Lastly, "Google it, yo", spoke to me because I look of everything. We are so lucky to have such supercomputers at our fingertips so I use various search engines to keep me updated with the things I do not know, and should know about in the world. Why have it if you do not make the best of it? |
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