SMPs

Tom Conkwright focused on pairs of photographs that created relationships. He explained his various shooting methods and presented his contact sheets. Tom showed the difference between shooting through the lense of the camera and hip-shooting, which is not looking through the lense. It wasn't until his was finished shooting that he looked at the photographs and paired them together. I enjoyed the pairs oh photographs that looked like they were a continuation of eachother, like the pair with the concentric circles. The black and white photography really makes the formal relationships of the two images stand out. I think he captured his motive of celebrating life within photography, especially demonstrating how life can be made up of coincidences that fit together. From seeing his half-way smp presentation, Tom really developed the kind of diptych relationships and focused on several that worked strongly together.

Amy McIntosh created a childrens book entitled "Wheres the bear?" I enjoyed seeing who her illustrations and language were inspired by. There are few words within her book, but Amy explains that she chose them carefully and wanted to increase the value of each word. I like how she says she wanted this book to be fun for kids, but not as "cutesy" and some childrens books. The page that i enjoyed the most was the "hose, nose, rose" combination. The shape of the roses and the hose work really well and are just the right amount of playfulness for a childrens book. I think this book has the right amount of visual cues and language for a beginner reader. The final product was very professional and impressive.

The Mandrake

There was never a dull moment in The Mandrake. This performance was overall very entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed the exaggerated use of humor in the commedia dell’arte style. Each actor totally encompassed what his or her character was about and did so with enthusiasm. I was so impressed by their acting ability- the script was wordy and complicated at times. It was simply fun watching Callimaco take the audience throughout his complicated path towards lust. From the opening to closing scene, I felt as though I was almost at a circus.
Throughout the performance of The Mandrake, the morals of each character are tested. Whether their morals changed from the beginning to the end, the characters were put into a situation where they had to make a decision that was going to affect others. Callimaco, the main character in the play, was the person who caused these morals to be tested. Due to his degraded value of women, Callimaco brings several outsiders into his own situation. Callimaco does not rest until he uses everyone around him to acquire Lucrezia. Each character can make their own decision, to follow the plan made up by Callimico and Ligurio, or to question their morals and decide not to continue. Even Siro’s morals are tested. Though he is Callimaco’s servant and must obey him, Siro could potentially offer a more moral answer to the goal. However, he enjoys watching this indecent act unravel. Lucrezia’s morals are most concerned with her religion. She believes that her religion is the only thing she can trust and continues to stay with Callimaco. She realizes the crudeness that her husband has willingly put her through. Essentially, she thinks her moral are telling her that this could not have happened without the act of God.
This theme seemed to be emphasized within the performance. The characters were making their morals and values more obvious through their use of language and movement. For instance, Callimaco’s movement throughout the play suggested him immature and dramatic- maybe incapable of making responsible decisions? Also, the Zanni, sort of represented the motive behind each character. The movements of these Zanni emphasized the actions of the characters.

Lance Wynn

Lance Wynn’s main goal is to talk about art as an activity. He is more concerned with the process of art making, rather than specifics concerning the composition of the final product. Wynn uses unique phrases to describe how he believes his art to function, such as paint as an “ectoplasm” and art as the “inner being chewing out of your arm.” The “ectoplasm” refers to the way Wynn views paint or another medium. His inspirations include Jasper Johns. He likes his American Flag piece in which he uses an already established symbol in a different visual language. He says he used Johns as a starting point, and followed a path to something new. Jasper Johns used as object that worked within his time period, but Wynn said he struggles to find an image that can still be successful in our digital age.
Wynn discussed his Vietnam sculpture, in which he turned the infamous photograph into a toy army figure. I thought this was a really interesting idea. Transforming a powerful image like the Vietnam photograph into a product that is mass produced and considered a toy for children is a dramatic choice.
Wynn frequently uses font within his pieces. His “Just a thought” piece, in which he traces the phrase over and over until the piece become something that he never planned out. This font, he says, becomes a material in itself. I enjoyed his comment about how he generates pieces out of nervousness and error. I can relate to this happening. Frequently, in my artwork, I can find beauty within my mistakes.

Melissa Dean's show "Consumed"

The idea behind Melissa’s work is appealing because it surrounds our American culture. She is interested in the amount of material goods manufactured and purchased. When visually put into a different language, the amount to which people are surrounded by mostly useless material goods is emphasized. I don’t think Melissa is criticizing the amount to which useless things are manufactured and consumed. In fact, she herself said she was most interested in this topic because she is an avid shopper herself. Upon further explanation of her work, it seems that she is simply commenting on fact that the amount of man-made goods is overwhelming. I was a little disappointed that she wasn’t too worried about showing serious issues that some of these manufactured products might cause. Although, I did like the idea of a having a “portrait” made up of products that the person circled from a Target advertisement. In this process, the composition sort of evolves on its own. The outlines of the objects are overlapped on top of one another and form density of the shape based on the consumerism of the person. The arrangements of these portraits resemble a silhouette style portrait. The pale, quaint yellow and small framing also suggests an old-fashioned portrait. This quality combined with the subject that is actually made up of makes for an unusual comparison. It seems that people are actually defined by the products they purchase.

Teatro Luna's Sex-Oh

The uncensored skits and monologues covered several different ways sex is viewed and discussed, especially within the Latina culture. Though the play was centered on the Latina women, I still think it was easily accessible to other cultures of both women and men. The five women did not hold back on any of the sexual dialogue used in the skits or address to the viewers. I thought this was refreshing and served as a way to relate more to the actresses. It felt as though these women were already the viewers close friends, telling us their most intimate details. The beauty of theatre is that it is not censored. Unlike television or most movies, where this raw and uncut content would probably not be allowed, theatre provides artist expression that is live and real.

Throughout Sex-Oh!, the actresses of Teatro Luna either directly or indirectly performed skits based on their own sexual experiences. I think one of the main themes within Sex-Oh was that sex is part of everyone’s daily life. Some maybe different than others, but in most cases everyone around them has to acknowledge that they are prevalent. I think these actresses felt controlled and inhibited by the Latina and Catholic household in which they were raised. So, they are trying to say that it is not realistic to ignore these various sexual occurrences. For instance, telling the audience about their losing their virginity or the intimate details within the frustrations of pregnancy. While some cannot relate to the Latina-Catholic culture, most people cannot relate to someone who is not candid or vocal about their sexual experiences. This play serves to let this inhibitions break free. Women can relate to every experience in some way, whether they know another women or friend or themselves in the same situations. The scene in which each of the four women describe what they think is “hot” is an example of how the actresses tell their own opinion, and then the viewer is then inclined to think of their own experience. These experiences are probably discussed after the show. I think this is the intent of Teatro Luna- to tell their own sexual experiences and persuade others to share their own.

website collage

word association terms: city, wild, cage, exotic, walking, children, crime, trash, air, sun, water, land, field trip

Websites

mcdonalds

maryland zoo

ocean city, md

cosmopolitan

verizon

My first site

click here to link

Real Costs by Michael Mandiberg

This site uses the internet to give users a new perspective. The artist wanted to create a piece of work that could be interactive and personal to the viewer. The internet is the best medium for this aim because it is the fastest way to communicate and show information to the broadest group of people. The same affect would not reached using a tangible medium within a gallery. Anyone who has access to the internet is able to go to interact with Mandiberg's vision. Millions of viewers are able to relate the high cost of oil to personal, material things.
This art work uses the most up to date form of the internet to relate to an issue of concern. Any US monetary value located on the internet is converted to barrels of oil. This means that the high cost of oil is emphasized in a variety of areas. Any value from someone's bank statement, to the price of a flight is drawn back to the issue of rising oil costs. In 2006, the range of things possible on the internet is almost endless. This art project shows how an issue can be applied to the almost endless amounts of information.

Scans

Postcard sketch

Johns Hopkins was a wealthy philanthropist, whereas Billie Holiday was a struggling musician. I am imagining a relationship between these two individuals, even though they are from different generations. The postcard on the top will feature 3 scenes, like that of a postcard from a place. The border will or background will have scans of crinkled up money. This postcard represents what Johns Hopkins wants Billie Holiday to do with her talent and fame. The other postcard, however, is what Billie Holiday ultimately does with her talent and fame- that is waste away in drugs and alcohol. The bottom postcard has a picture of looking down into a bottle. The design is going to come out in sort of waves or petals, like a beautiful flower- to show how amazing Billie Holiday's talent was, but the details show how she sometimes did not make the best decisions. Holiday only had abusive males in her life, so this is imagining Johns Hopkins as a strong male figure, who sees how amazing Holiday is.

SMP critiques

Rena-
This sculpture consisted of squares and rectangles of plywood that were attatched to wall so that they overlapped and protruded horizontally and sideways. Most of the rectangles were painted so that the lines went from a darker red to lighter pink toward the left side. Concerning the issue of space, Rena said that she wanted to have a continuity from left to right without actually connecting the rectangulars. Inspirations to this sculpture included Mondrian and Stella. As Lisa pointed out, however, there was no real sense of purpose concerning the formal qualities like Stella and Mondrian use. Rena did explain that she has always been interested in squares and rectangles because she is very attatched to city life. She mentioned looking at things and only seeing them as rectangles and squares. I agreed with Carrie when she said that the motion from left to right was successful, but the mortion up and back was not really working.

Ashely-
This artist was interested in collections from the household. She used personal photographs of collections from her family for a starting point. Her pieces in this critique included a textile made up of an embroderiey of a collection of spoons. The tarnished quality of the spoons was transformed into a colorful mix of threads by Ashely. I enjoyed this piece because I thought it excuded the household quality that I believe Ashley was looking for. Other pieces included another fabric work that was placed over a muffin tin for form and then oil tins were drawn within the circular forms. It was agreed upon by many people at the critique that this was the least successful. It needed more structure and planning. The last piece consisted of about 25 portraits of an array of buttons. These were displayed in individual shadow boxes made of paper. Ashley explained that she wanted to draw the buttons instead of displaying actual buttons because she is interested in the differences of things. The overall opinion I have of this project is that the scale and way she is showing these "collections" is kind of repetitive the actual collections they came from. Ashley didn't really have a reason for not just displaying the actual items. I found myself asking Why? throughout her whole critique.

Tom-
This photography project consisted of sets of black and white photographs that had formal qualities or subject matter in common. There were about a few dozen sets displayed on the wall. These sets were going to be made into a book with the sets displayed on facing pages. Tom said that he wanted the book because it was more "friendly". He wanted to show these connections within the set of photos to show people occurances that they might not ever notice without the aid of a photo. Insprirations of Tom's include Ralph Gibson and Elliot Irwitt. I was surprised to hear that none of these photos were staged or directed by Tom. They were all visual moments that Tom saw and then recorded. Some of the sets, however, work a significant amount better than others. The sets that had formal qualities in common were the most intriguing. Carrie pointed out that the white space meant to separate the two photos sometimes continued into the composition. Especially in one set that included I think architectural elements that included many triangles. I think there were too many sets and it was too much to take in. He might think about concentrating on finding only about 8 sets that were formally alike and not as obvious.

worth1000.com contest

This is a bear that i made into a zombie through Photoshop. I started off by making the bear into a true zombie by lightening his eyes. The eye-dropper tool was helpful in finding colors similar to the bear and then making them a bit lighter. I replaced the water dripping off the paws and some of the water the bear is standing in with a red in a low opacity by selecting with the lasso tool. I also cut a portion off of the bear's ear, added darker and lighter red colors, and added few flies. Finally, I added two more bloody injuries I added to the zombie bear. I think he is quite scary! RAWRRR.

click here to comment and vote

quick mask

William S. Burroughs

This cut-up writing method reminds me of the magnet poetry that many people have on their refrigerators. It is interesting to pair words and phrases together that aren't logical, but it still lacks substance. It seems that this cut-up form of writing could not be taken too seriously. When reading the cut-up piece at the end of the article, I thought it was refreshing to read these rearranged sentences and figure out their origin. The meaning, however, is definitely lost. All that remains in the cut-up article is a sense of spontaneity. Though i guess i can see how the cutter may find some code messages, with special meaning as Burroughs explains. I don't really understand the exact method by which Burroughs cuts and rearranges his article?

"No one can escape from DADA." -Tristan Tzara

The piece to the bottom right is by Johannes Baargeld entitled, Ordinäre Klitterung: Kubischer Transvestit vor einem vermeintlichen Scheideweg (Vulgar Mess: Cubistic Transvestite at an Alleged Crossroads), 1920. Barrgeld used both photomontage and collage in this work. It looks as if he began with the photograph of the lady, then cut and pasted the two other figures. The two figures in the foreground look as though they are people of high status, people who had traditional values that the Dadaists were trying condemn. In the background, there seems to be a drawing of a military officer pasted. Placing this image within images of properly posed people was probably an assault on the war. The collaged "cubists" shapes add another element in this work by Baargeld. These drawings, which look as if they are from a mathematics textbook, probably are trying to substitute the use of a paint and brush. Baargeld probably meant to mimic the cubist painting movement going on around this time. These shapes are collaged and placed in areas that are meant to be strange and shock the viewer.


Le Roi rouge (The Red King), 1920 is by both Johannes Baargeld and Max Ernst. They used the Dada techniques of overpainting in this particular work. Wallpaper is the used as the surface in which to draw the image in ink. Instead of using a canvas or regular drawing paper, this Dada technique questions the use of everyday material. Why use a canvas, when it is easier to make use of accessible wallpaper? The image painted on the wallpaper looks like a complicated clock system. French words, including "the red king" are labeling the areas on the clock. This could be another techniques used by dadaists called typography. The labels might be metaphors that criticize some area of modern life.

audio journey

...to the center of the earth...

Janet Cardiff

Janet Cardiff's audio walk makes it seem like she is indside your head and mind, guiding your thoughts and actions. Though she says in the interview that she still wanted the listener to relate to the her thoughts and sounds and make them think of another memory. In the her audio walk, she reminds me of a good friend who is whispering into your ear, while you listen intently and relate to her thoughts yourself. I enjoyed Cardiff's idea that, sometimes there are too many choices in life. So this audio walk is nice vacation in which the listener takes a journey through another person's mind.
The three-level spatial structure in her London project worked well to take me to the same place. The footprints in the background were the guiding audio throughout the whole piece. They assured me that I was still on a walk with her and she was the guide throughout. Her voice that is pointing out places and memories is in the foreground throughout most of the piece, but is interrupted by the sounds that are specific to the area she wants to change her focus to. I like how these specific audio are sometimes referring to the present and at other points referring to the past or even a dream. The man's voice that comes into the foreground sporatically is not even acknowledged by Cardiff until the end. This almost makes the listener wonder if they are imagining this voice. The audio in the second layer, when it is not focused on in the foreground, helps to specify where Cardiff is taking the listener. The birds chirpping, child talking, water flowing, etc. place the listener in a certain area and make them imagine what is in Cardiff's vision.

audio exercise

Emily's Audio Exercise

I experimented with random voices of children that I found on the freesound project. The spanish voices sounded interesting to me and I thought the thunder crashing would be a good transition between the two voices.

audio journey project

My idea for the audio journey is to travel from here into the middle of the earth.
I want to start out with splasing sounds, like one is diving into the water and then swimming to the bottom. Then there is going to be digging sounds and metal-against metal sounds to suggest a shovel hitting a water pipe/harder pieces of rock. Also, running water sounds to suggest a pipe bursting. Digging sounds are going to be present throughout the journey. Then, there is going to be sizzling or steaming sounds to suggest that the climate is getting hotter.

Sound art links: Gregory Whitehead

The tracks by Gregory Whitehead were very creepy and made me feel uncomfortable. At the same time though, I could not stop listening to them. I could easily imagine playing some of the tracks within a haunted house. In "If a Voice Like, Then What?", the first narrator made the track begin to sound like a old, normal documentary. Then the track quickly turns offbeat and the narrator changes to a different man who sounds seductive but also strange. The random mix screeches, moans, and laughs that are to represent the "voice problems" are introduced by this strange and seductive narrator. He is trying to make these voices seem attractive to listener, even though they are frightening. After a lengthy introduction of the many "voice problems", the other narrator's voice ends with an advertisement for a cure for these voices. It is a weird contradiction that the one voice is trying to fix these strange voices, yet the main voice is asking the listener if they would take pleasure in the voices. It reminds me a horror film, but within a spoof of a commercial or advertisement for a prescription. A lot of Whiteheads early tracks gave the same creepy, but enjoyable effect. "Display Wounds" and "Eva Can I stab bats in a cave?" were especially disturbing. It seems that throughout most of the early tracks on the sound website, Whitehead likes to play the words and language in peculiar ways.

The Use of Forms

John Armleder
http://www.galerievangelder.com/artists/armleder2.html
specifically Furniture Sculpture 189 and Furniture Sculpture/Untitled Painting 1988-2000

www.wallright.com