Post 8/Reading 8

My progress this week was going a different route in the theme of fashion. I was inspired by Optical illusion art and fashion combined. I used an old photo of a friend back home and created my own designs within the proximity of her clothes. My goal is to have the model blend in with the background, but also be designed differently just enough to tell them apart. The content behind the piece stems from never "fitting in" with those around me and trying so hard to blend in with my surroundings. And even though no matter how hard I try, there's always something off or out of place with trying to do so. Sometimes I think that's how fashion is sometimes. I plan to involve color and other patterns to continue this series.

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My inspiration came from the fashion designs of Emilio Pucci and how they act as works of art, as well. The modern and op art aspects of it urged me to push my contrast in my artwork this week and I found it to be a lot of fun to make. 

Post 7/Reading 7

This week I finished my larger piece in the series and decided on my color choices: red and various other warm colors for the flowers, and olive green for the figure. I also made a small piece, too, to test out a conceptual idea. I've been struggling to justify a conception behind these pieces because none of the quite underline what I've been trying to express in this series. I've figured out that I'm enjoying the process of not only the stippling, but also paying attention to the details of the garments and clothes that the figure is wearing. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that the concept behind this series is not about the figure. In fact, its purpose is to focus closely on the clothes the figure is wearing. In society, we see these high paid models are wearing extravagant clothing as well as some that don't look as extravagant, but the label/brand makes the clothing exclusive. All these artists who make these looks and garments spend countless hours of time and love into the work just for society to focus mainly on those who wear the art rather than focusing solely on the artwork itself.  For example, New York Fashion week is notorious for celebrities and who is within the clothing, but the masterminds behind the work are usually afterthoughts and are muted by the media. In this series, I mask and take-away relevance of the person who is wearing the clothing, and instead focus all my attention on the artwork of the clothing itself. Attention to details such as how the drapery folds and how parts overlap and correlate to bring out the beauty of clothing no matter how extravagant or simple. 

 Larger attempt

close-up

small experimental piece

My inspiration this week is a watercolor artist named Yao Cheng. She paints mostly floral design and her technique of using blocked shapes to create value inspired me to try the approach in my artwork. The intertwining of multiple colors within the shapes are beautiful and simple at the same time.

Yao Cheng

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This week I wrote an artist manifesto. I was not expecting it to be super personal when I started but ended up really digging deep into why I look at the world the way I do, and I progressively put in some personal experiences that I'm not too comfortable sharing with the public quite yet. Therefore, I will not be posting it to my blog, and instead will show you that I have at least completed it when I come to class. 

Project Ideas: Contemporary Drawing

Drawing on Objects

Inspiration 1: Kath Girdler

My Idea:

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Inspiration 2: Melissa (instagram: orange.magpie)

My Idea:

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Inspiration 3: Ruby Silvious

My idea:

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Multiple Panel Drawings

Inspiration 1: Charis Tsevis

My Idea:

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Inspiration 2: Stefan Sagmeister

My Idea:

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Inspiration 3: Leisa Rich

My Idea:

Post 6/Reading 6

This week I started on a new piece in my series. The series will consist of 4-5 stippled images of a women's clothing paired with watercolor and a cut-out silhouette of the figure's body so that the only drawn object will be her clothes. This week I decided to go bigger (like I always do). Last week, the woman was wearing an over-sized, long-sleeved, button-up shirt that flowed over her body and was very suggestive. This week, I'm sticking to the same sexy and nearly-provocative type of garments by having my figure wear a long, satin dress in a seductive pose. The flowing of the dress paired with the woman's pose and high heels brings an all-over seductive atmosphere to the artwork. I plan on making the middle ground pattern in this one red, possibly with flowers and roses. The very background (the second layer that gives the piece depth) I plan on making an olive green color unless I change my mind and/or a different color works better. This series concept talks about the viewer's gaze. It takes away the privilege of knowing what the female figure looks like and leave it to their own imagination. The viewer can't sexualize the figure, even though they want to when provided with suggestive imagery. Because the figure is cut-out, the void creates a loss of identity and almost a sense of despair.

Progress and details

My inspiration this week was from Kara Walker's silhouettes that she does throughout her artwork. Her silhouettes underline and touch on subjects of slavery and the antebellum south. Her use of silhouettes masks the identity and works to strip them of their identity, as well. The idea of stripping the identity is what I aim for in my artwork as cutting-out the silhouette of the female body de-sexualizes the figure and defeats/mocks the male gaze.

Kara Walker

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In this weeks reading, 

Post 5/Reading 5

This week I was inspired by negative space. I decided to do stippling again but also apply more color, as well. My idea was to stipple the clothing of a female figure and then cut out the shapes where the rest of her body is, almost like creating a silhouette. Next, I painted the floral background in a monochromatic blue color scheme. This painting was then layered on top of a dark, maroon like red color to give the figure depth and make the negative space stand out. The concept behind this painting/stippling is about how clothing can define and reflect an individual and their personality. In this piece, the figure is wearing a white, long sleeve, linen, button-down shirt. Whenever I think about linen and these types of shirts I think of comfort and that fresh laundry smell. To create the interpretation, I painted a blue floral background to represent comfort and calmness as well as the idea of a fresh linen smell. This represents the mood and personality the clothing brings. The background is painted red to offset and contrast.

This art was inspired by Christine Kim, a cut paper collage artist who also uses negative space in her paintings. I was inspired to layer and cut out in my own painting to give it depth. I added my own style by stippling the clothing and reversed the silhouette (Kim uses the clothes as negative space, but I used the figure as negative space.

Christine Kim

My Red Silhouette

I had Cinthia to recreate the piece for. I chose to make it bigger and go more for the Russian propaganda look.

                                             

What I took from this weeks reading was that being an artist means that you are a part of something bigger than you think. Being an artist means that you reasonate with other artists and share their fear and desires when it comes to art. As artists, we all struggle finding time to create and finding our own voice and reason. Artists must keep creating work constantly in order to become successful. What I’ve learned from this reading is that I’m not alone as an artist, there is a community of artists who go through the same thing and faced obstacles just like me. Therefore, it’s okay to fail and struggle because that’s the process and it is normal.