Hanley and Me

Rebeca and I, the next generation at SOU. Wanabe art moguls and all around hooligans. It has been so fun to have a peer of equal age, ideas, goals and enthusiasm. She is bright and driven. Totally silly and genuinely kind. 

At the CCACA 2012 conference a few weeks ago I engaged in a real young art community. It was so fun to show work within such a wide spectrum and see ourselves toward the top. To talk to other new artists about their work, answer challenging questions about your own. My undergrad fan girl status regarding the other artists in our show turned to reciprocal respect and friendship as the weekend progressed. It felt young and grown up and professional and fun all together. 

Enhance Yourself

One of the weirdest assignments. "Enhance yourself". Brings out every petty insecurity and every 2nd wave feminist "I should know better, I am woman hear me roar blah blah blah". Ultimately I feel both, but the process was very unnerving. Just two hours of work and I got an editorial style version of myself; fuller lips, higher brow bone, different shaped eyes, even complexion. I resolve to never buy a beauty magazine again. I feel tired. I don't even want to address "social standards of beauty", it's a lecture we have all attended. But here it is again. Do I love myself more? Do I feel I should change? No, I just covet photoshop all the more. 

Infographic Mockinjay

    This pie chart was intended to critique the terrible writing from the untouchable Hunger Games, I used a pie chart specifically because I wanted to use the Mockingjay shape. The information was highlighted by the use of the Mockingjay emblem as the platform for the pie chart information. The font was based off of the title font for the book The Hunger Games. The dark grey background, yellow pin, and muted pie chart tones were also apparent in the book cover as well as thematic to the movie.
    The most challenging and least effective part was getting the opacity of the layers of the pie chart to be compatible enough to show distinctly different colors. The second most challenging part was putting up with the eye rolls from angry girls sitting behind me in lab wondering why I was critiquing their precious Hunger Games. Also as I uploaded it this morning I noticed that one pie slice is unlabeled.
    All together I think it is an excellent start. The colors and idea was well executed but the lack of distinction between the colors is not effective. The font type was also a decent match.

I Guess I Have Orange in my Eyes

Kudos to my dad for being a trooper and taking these photos. 

A dinner party with one of my favorite family friends family. So cool, they are splitting up for spring break, mother and son going to New York and DC, father and daughter going to London. Absolutely cultured, present, charming and hilarious. Such a treat. And I got to dress up for the first time in awhile, despite my greasy-busy-bun I managed to rock some more formal looks. 

These boots (more images to come I assure you) are my newest choice find. They are scarlet inside! Thank you Nordstrom Rack.

     While I talked art and London life with these visiting folks my dad told me that he was very reassured and proud by my "passion in art". He said tonight was the first time he was shown that this wasn't just a fad. Seeing me communicate on an adult, academic level about museums in London, Damien Hirst, my budding passion for mob movies and Banksy, really showed him that (gasp of novelty) I am serious about my pursuit of art. One point for art students everywhere. 

The Economy of the Gift

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, a new favorite.
The amazing thing about art is it's unique ability to induce empathetic/ understanding spaces. In my "Art Theory and Criticism: Postmodern Perspectives in Art" course last term, I struggled. The title alone was daunting. Reading about pieces and theories about marginalization of race, women, and the queer community I just couldn't relate. One day I asked my professor, a man I deeply respect a simple and totally naive question: "I am not a gay man in contact with the AIDS crisis, how am I supposed to understand this work? The answer was Felix Gonzalez-Torres. 

Two Perfect Lovers

Two generic clocks are set side by side set to the exact same time to run on the same brand of batteries. Naturally one battery begins to slow and the clocks lose synchronization. Eventually they both slow, one before the other  until one stops completely and leaves the other ticking on. 

If that doesn't pull your heart strings I dunno your species. 

So this is the artist I decided to engage in dialogue with my final. He did a series of paper stacks and candy spills each questioning the idea of the economy of the gift as posed by Nicholas Bourriaud, granddaddy of Alter-Modernism. This idea investigates the dialogue and exchange between audience and work as the actual art piece and actually more important than the piece itself. I reproduced this piece on campus. 

"What asshole wasted this paper?"

Phillistines. 

A Touch of Springtime

Shirt: Thrifted, Hat: H&M, Bag: Target, Jeans: American Eagle, Shoes: Steve Madden, Sweater: J Crew

      

      It's beginning to feel a lot like spring time this February. Good thing we are expected to have snow for the rest of the week. I took this rare opportunity to don some sandals and barricade myself to the library to start my research paper. 

   This earring is one of my favorites, multiple feathers and a snail shell. I like to pair it with a smaller earring that picks up the green string towards the top. 

     My research project is on the transgender community and its participation in post modern art, and based on that participation and the benefits gained from post modern activities how we can anticipate that community to act in alter modern art (what we are currently in). Juicy stuff. 

Midnight Art Building Adventure

   Late the other night I left my paint brushes in my painting locker in the art building and I needed them for homework. I grabbed Stephanie and Chelsea Garmon and made them come with me, little did we know it would be a little adventure. The art building is great with huge windows and filled with the strangest things. We went to the painting studio first.

My favorite shoes. If you haven't caught on by now, I'm real short. 

This is Chelsea. What a cool cat she is. See that pocket? She sewed it herself. 

Stephanie in her new Sherlock shirt. 

There's this weird new section in the art building which is a hallway painted with weird circus types. But we loved it. 

        Then I took them down to the print lab. Printmaking is my focus for my art major. I started this project a few weeks ago which has been a great experience. Printmaking is so much about the process, so many things are permanent or stubborn and everything takes a very long time. In this project though I had a very different sort of process all together which required me to work quickly but with great care. 

         I found a dead robin on campus (good thing the purse contents glamour shot wasn't that day). I knew it needed to be in a project. Initially I thought about giving it to a friend in the ceramics department to make a mold of it. But then looking at the feathers I knew I wanted to print off of it. Directly off of the carcass. So that night I took it to the print lab and tried it. 

       I would daub ink onto the body and then hand press it onto sekishu paper. It required me manipulating the body in a slightly forceful manner, daubing with pressure to apply enough ink, stretching wings, adjusting the head and neck, pressing firmly. I had to work quickly for the body would only stay flexible and (relatively) non smelly for a number of hours. It was a difficult process, I tried to be ginger with my actions but when I heard the first bones snap I stopped, teared up, and pressed on. After that I let bones and tendons snap with less mourning but was teary all the same. I would fold his wings over his body, under his body. Tilt the head at extreme angles, push hard on the skull to get the impressions of the eye socket. Pull the feet at full length to get solid linear shapes next to the ephemeral looking feathers.  By the end of the process his wings and head were sadly limp and mangled. Eventually his feathers were pulled out by ink and I could not use him any more. I wasn't sure If I was exploiting this body or if I did the best I could. But the thought of being responsible for the mangling of a body was not a good one. However the results were quite beautiful. So my morality and my art-hungry self battled that night. Ultimately I think the pieces are lovely. I buried the bird the next morning and felt right. 

Mother's Milk

I went and saw Hoon Lee, ceramisist and performance artist at the Schneider Museum on campus. I saw him  speak earlier this week and even had the courage to approach him to discuss an aspect of his performances. Lee's performance usually include using milk to serve a penance to his mother, to racial differences, and gender issues. Tonight he washed raw clay molds of strange but edible objects (roosters, sheep heads, cabbage heads, corn cobs, giant snails). After the mail performance he invited anyone to wash an item which . Lee and my ceramics professor Robin Strangefeld went to school together on the east coast. It's pretty inspiring to think that friends we meet now in art school could potentially be internationally celebrated. It must be a kick to be professors now and inviting each other to be visiting artists at their respective schools.

A Picture of India

I just returned from an incredible trip to India. I went with my parents who are doing anthropological research in Tamil Nadu. We traveled to Bangalore, Thrivandrum (Kerala), Thiravannamalai (Tamil Nadu) and Pondicherry. We stayed in Amritapuri Ashram and Satya Chetana Ashram. It is really hard to explain how the trip went. Simply I can say it was unreal, being subjected to so many unfamiliar things at once without a break really is shocking. The shock was definately challenging but so fantastic. We bathed out of buckets, slept on the ground, and ate minimal meals. The most significant fact about it overall is that we found these aspects so novel when much of the world lives like this. I ran back into the arms of materialism when I returned. Not in a "so relieved" type of way, but rather with total appreciation. Believe it or not our parents are right that we are totally ungrateful children. After being around complete abject poverty I understand the simple luxury of material wealth. Here are some photos from the trip, I tried to show some that covered a little bit of everything.