Stewart: Plastic

As I'm reading through I see Ron Mueck, Boy and I wasn't sure if it was a real installation, well turns out its made of silicon and glassfibre. So of course I had to see what else he does and sure enough its more realistic sculptures(Hyperrealistic Sculptures) of people that are largely scaled. Very neat to see. It would be awesome to go and personally see this exhibition.
Here are some other pics:

Stewart Readings: Choice of Materials

In early chapters, I understand that brainstorming is good for ideas, when the idea is created now its time to construct. Deciding what kind of materials to use seems pretty crucial. The only experience I have so far is acrylic painting on canvas and gesso painted over plywood. Pretty minor if you ask me. So the worse that can happen is that I paint something I hate and start over on the same canvas. So artist dealing with many mediums may have to play scientist to see what is going to work when it comes to using many different kinds of other materials before embarking on a large scale piece. Makes me wonder if Richard Serra has ever wanted to redo an installation (which I know he has people to do the work for him) and if so does he just scrap the metal and start all over. Sounds like any mistakes he makes can be massively expensive. But who knows, maybe his brainstorming techniques are so well thought out that there isn't any room for mistakes.

Stewart Readings: Closure

The artist Zac Freeman is very inspiring to what I have had in mind for using found objects and to create images in large scale. Its interesting to learn that our minds create closure when we see lots of different objects combined to form an image. I liked reading the part in this section about the artist or designer can convey an idea through suggestion rather than description.

Here are some more pic of his work:






Close-up

Stewart Readings: Time

Reading in the section about art and time, I was interested in the artist Claes Oldenburg and his sculpture on page 214. So I decided to look him up. I love how he uses everyday objects and makes large sculptures of them and places them out in the open. His work does created a sense of implied time and motion. And projects surrealism. I love it.
Here are some more pics of his work:











 

Steward Readings: Compression and Expansion

Richard Serra  sculptures really fascinate me. The one image in the book caught my eye so I had to look at more of his work. There was an interview with him and he states,"I’m interested in the clarity of building, in gravity, in the tendency to overturn, in the exactitude of measure, the addition and subtraction of weight, the rotation of weight. I’m interested in mass."
http://farticulate.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/7-december-selected-sculptures-amp-interview/

There is just something about large masses of work that you become very much aware of your surroundings. To me it gives the ability to see the  unlimited workspace that one can work within.

Here are some more images:

DTC-356 401-413

On the section of global brands, the few countries that i have traveled, i have seen McDonald's, Starbucks, Coca-Cola etc... I personally don't go for those brands when I'm out of the U.S. I try to enjoy the culture that is native to that specific area. I shop locally owned whenever possible. These global companies seem to create job for many countries and contribute to many charities, that's the good thing about it. I have some traveling buddies who take comfort in the known products that they are familiar with when out of the country. I guess they are not as adventurous as i am. But that's okay, to each their own.

Women,Fire, and Dangerous Things

So this reading material was mainly about how our minds categorize all things. It's interesting to know that naturally our minds want to group things and have some kind of order to them. So this question of our minds categorizing everything, created the theory called prototype theory. So to understand how we think and function, gives us more understanding of what makes us human. This scientific reading was somewhat hard to follow through without taking a mental break. There were some interesting parts, but I'm going to categorize this reading under the not have to read again list.

Stewart Reading 176-198

In this chapter, my favorite section was Environmental Work. I really love it when I come across an installation when visiting art galleries. They fascinate me, I feel more involved with it. I love the 3D aspect of it. I like examining work of this nature very closely. There is so much information within these pieces of work. I imagine there is so much thought into this kind of work. Knowing the space your going to have it in. Lighting is another element to be conscious about. And I would imaging size of the installation. So yeah, I'm a fan.

Art Exibit at WSU Gallery

This past week I got to see Sena Clara Creston and her partner's work in the WSU campus gallery. Sena Creston's black and white photography was the most interesting to me. Her partners work was a series of collage style art. I liked his work also. The question was asked if the two styles meshed well together as an exhibit. Personally these two styles could easily been exhibited individually on their own. The each had half of the gallery, so it looked fine. There was an interesting light box art piece that separated the two artists works, which was neat to look at. The light box was what I saw first when I walked into the gallery. It was the center piece of it all. Overall, I enjoyed the visit.

DTC-355 pgs. 149-176

Changing things on a art project sometimes can make it feel more complete than it was before or that opposite. I think art work can always be modified, but i think the nice thing about being an artist, is that your the one that decides where you want the process of manipulation to stop unless you create multiple version of the original to satisfy the viewers thoughts and  curiosity. I like seeing stereotypes and cliches in visual images. Maybe its needed to be used to get some kind of message across.

DTC-355 pgs 134-149

I think its nice to see when an artist has a sort of theme going on with their work. Its kind of a signature that one can recognize if they were to see some art displayed somewhere. Its interesting to know that each artist out there has their own habits of mind and work. Perhaps some characteristics can be identified through their work but others may not. As an artist, it seems beneficial to know what habits one possesses so that they best deliver results. All artists should be able to take a critique of their work. Its honest feedback and can learn from it. For a person viewing art, critiquing should a be fun and interactive way to be part of the art process.

DTC-356 pgs389-401

The technology of satellites has made it easy for people to learn whats out there in the rest of the world that we are not able to physically see. Its nice to know whats going on in the world around us. I feel a sense of inclusion because of it. I am so thankful of the GPS technology that has been created through the use of satellites. Makes me feel more comfortable about taking a road trip to any destination i choose. And it allows me to be somewhat more adventurous. I embrace cultural imperialism. But as the person viewing, one needs to filter what truths are in the message if its about political content. Media tends to really exaggerate news content for example. So some things need to be taken like a grain of salt. I enjoy watching international entertainment, its fun and different. And it keeps me to continue to have an open mind. 

DTC-356 Lessig 213-234

Can or should information be owned? Yes information should be owned by the owner. I guess if your the copyright owner of something and want to extend the copyright on it, it seems if you have the money to bribe the congressmen to extend the terms than i guess that will happen. Public domain suffers but if that's what the copyright owners want then that's what they get. Doesn't follow the constitutional rules but sound like they can get away with it.

DTC-355 Cultivating Creativity

When reading the part of having an open mind and that artists are not just artist but are many other things, it really puts my mind at ease that an artist can be so much more than what a person sees in the piece of artwork displayed. I want to be an artist but I don't want to stop at just that. I have many interests that I would like to take on. These interest may benefit my range of creativity for my art. As far as the creative thinking process, I feel that I connect with some of these characteristics. I am very receptive to new ideas. I do listen more than I talk. As far as curiosity, I could do a better job at researching topics. My range of interest isn't too broad. I could definitely learn some things by  like I mentioned earlier, learning other things that I'm interested in. I am very attentive to my surroundings. When I go to a restaurant for an example, I always look up at the ceiling, the walls, flooring for details. I like to mentally dissect the place. I don't do much of connection seeking, at least I am not aware of it. As far as conviction, I am a creature of habit when it comes to food and daily routines, but as far as everything else like new products that come out, I all for it. I identify with a lot of what the complexity characteristic has to say. I put a lot of time into a work until I feel its done. I take in everything the world has for me to look at and see if I can project any part of it back through art. I usually have a healthy balance of work and play. School has disrupted that balance a bit, but not by much. I'm more of a safe-keeper than a risk-taker. I would like to balance that out a little more. I'm mostly an introvert. The passion with objectivity speaks true to me. I get obsessed with an idea for my art and I put lots of hours into it. But if it doesn't go in the direction I wanted to go, I just stop and rethink the idea and start all over again. I think I'm pretty good with time management, so I can manage well with deadlines. And lastly, I'm a modest person to begin with so any work that I do, I will always contribute the success to anybody that has helped in the process.

DTC- 356 Advertising and Consumer Cultures

The marketing industry has a difficult task at hand always trying to interpellate consumers with their products. It will always seem like a never ending process. Sounds like job security to me. Consumerism has come a long way to what it used to be. Its so interesting to see how the change of shopping for things in the past used to be only for goods that were of necessity not for pleasure or entertainment. Our society today has fulfilled their lives with shopping as pleasure. I will have to say that I shop for pleasure even if its for something that's of necessity. After a long week of work and study, I relax by getting out of the house and go into town and spend a couple hours shopping or simply "window shopping". I consider it to give me a mental break. With the visuals of art, exotic places, and the inclusion of  images of our multicultural society in advertisements. Companies and their marketing strategies has done a very good job at attaching an attractive image that the consumer would like to find themselves indulging in. So because of all this advertising, they make shopping fun, people just have to know when to distinguish what is actually a good product and what is crap. I used consumer reports on high dollar investments, but with other inexpensive things I just go with my instincts and maybe some interpellating advertisements to coax me into buying their product.