For an Artist Blog- There's Not Much Art!

Under painting, oils.Finished result- acrylic

Shark-bait

It is 9:44 PM, and I am currently watching the magical theatrical production of Finding Nemo... and I am inspired by all the color used throughout the movie... I know the Ashland Art Department seems to disapprove of anything created by Disney/Pixar, but how can one NOT help but to feel some sort of awe?  I mean, the artwork behind it all is magical and the colors- oh, how I love color.  There are so many hues and chroma... I do feel inspired and slightly motivated to create a painting using bright colors, like in Finding Nemo.... except, there will be no clown fish or sharks, or turtles.

It's been a while...

It has been a while since the last Drawing II Blog... but I am finished with that class and now I figure I could continue this page for my personal, artistic abilities... Although, I will admit I became a little more inspired after blogging about Kiki Smith and Kathe Kollwitz, that I am able to expand upon my artistic abilities and push myself as an artist.

But I recently just finished reading, The Glass Castle, and I am honestly touched by the novel. Everyone has something about their past that makes them the person they are today, or that's the way I perceive it... and it makes me more inspired and motivated to do the same- write a novel about my past... but everyone does that, right? Yet, everyone's past is different...

But back to the whole personal, artist abilities... I am thinking of new ideas for future summer art projects...

Drawing II Final- Proposal of My Ideas

I am debating between a few ideas I want to furnish for my Drawing II final, but the ideas all relate with working with portraits.  The first idea that came to mind was doing a series of three portraits of myself and of my boyfriend.  I want to express how our relationship has developed in a sense that we are always there for each other as well as we have learned to laugh at ourselves when either of us does something silly and spontaneous.  I would like to stress the happiness I feel because that is one of the few things that keeps my mind off the stress from school and personal, family issues. 

Another idea I had was working with music.  I wanted to work with one of my favorite artists/bands and express my feelings I get when I listen to their music, and some how convey their message they are relaying through lyrics.  I want to take the lyrics and make them visual and literally a piece of art that they truly are. 

Lastly, I thought about creating a series of past memories using different photos when I was growing up.  I have gone through a lot of things in my life, and right now I am at another turning point.  I really want to express critical moments and memories in my life that influenced the person I am today.  I think that this last idea would be most interesting for myself and for the audience to view, because everyone has a story to tell from their life and I feel like now is my time to express what I have gone through.

I will most likely do my last idea, working from memory and experiences in my life.  I know it will work effectively for content, and I am hoping I can accomplish this task artistically.

Figurative Work by Kollwitz

The piece above has excellent scratching techniques and I know this is why Prof. Petry chose this artist for me.  The composition shows hardship and middle-age in the person above.

Now, this piece above I'm not too sure of. I do like how the small figure on the bottom left is the brightest figure because it is the main focus, then leading the eye to search for the other two figures.  Yet, the two figures in the back are not as defined as the young figure and give a sense of lack of importance (maybe?) and they show possible age.  The small figure shows hunger and poverty, as it is holding a spoon in their hand.

This is probably one of my favorite pieces by Kathe Kollwitz.  To me, it expresses the struggles females go through.  It appears as if the women has tension between death and youth.  I'm not sure if the skeleton represents her death or a death of a child?  But there is a child in front of her, reaching for affection... and perhaps the "mother" does not want to be apart of anyone's lives.

At first I couldn't recognize what this piece was, I knew it would be some form of a human figure but after carefully looking at it I recognize it is a mother, holding a child.  The picture is vary vague and I don't know if it was intentional or if the photo is of poor quality. 

Kiki Smith... More Work Revealed

Here is a picture of Kiki Smith, I figured I would show a picture of what she actually looks like.  I think it is important to see what artists look like because if you view a piece of one's work you imagine them to look completely different than what they actually do, and I find it really interesting how their looks may or may not reveal in their work.

This is Untitled (Hanging Woman) by Kiki Smith from 1992.  This piece sort of reminds of Professor Petry's work (when she gave a demo for Art Club earlier in the semester) because she would somehow incorporate a human figure.  I like this piece because it is creepy and you are not sure what was going through the artist's head at the time.  I personally think, going along Smith's "Body Artists," that this relates with female sexual difference and the possible burdens and stereotypes women feel throughout their life.  

LOOK HERE...

I love doing portraits and I found this website of an artist who does several portraits.  I think his style is very unique and I wanted to share his site.  Just click on the "Work" link on the top...

Enjoy.

http://www.thetourshow.com

"Poverty"- 1893-4

This piece, Poverty, is by Kathe Kollwitz.  The content of this piece is very overwhelming  and upsetting because it appears as if a child has died (because everyone else in in the work seems distraught and the child looks fragile and ill).  I really like the mark making or etching used in this piece.  I think it sets the emotion that is needed for the image to work. Also, the composition works really well because the child in the bed is so light in contrast to the rest of the image, so the eye focuses there first before exploring the rest of the piece.  

Finally, Something Kollwitz

I have a few posts on Kiki Smith and now it is time to endorse Kathe Kollwitz and her work.  Here is a link I found on YouTube of different figurative pieces, and I think this is why Prof. Petry chose this artist for me... to find a way to expand my techniques when working with the human figure. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P7aPXwQB94

Enjoy.

Janine Antoni

Saddle, 2000- Janine Antoni

So I found this piece by Janine Antoni while browsing through a book with some Kiki Smith pieces.  I really was intrigued by this piece because the artist had made a cast of herself on her hands and knees using fiberglass and then took a cattle hide and molded it over the cast.  After the hide officially dried and hardened, she removed the cast giving Saddle this ghost like appearance of this body crawling or just stationary underneath the hide.  I find this piece spooky, yet different from other art work that I have observed and I wanted to share this picture.

"My Blue Lake"

My Blue Lake, 1994- Kiki Smith

This piece I don't really understand by Kiki Smith because the portrait is distorted  and on a flat surface.  I'm crossed between liking and disliking this piece, I just think the blue marks catch my attention more than anything.  Although I do like the blue face that represents a lake and the dark orange hair that can represent the sun.  The face itself sort of reminds me of portraits done in the 17th and 18th century, or something you would see on American money.  Perhaps My Blue Lake is a symbol of drowning oneself- burdens, lies, etc.  I'm not saying I totally believe my interpretation of this piece, but it can work.  

Why I like this piece...

I find Kiki Smith's work interesting by the choice of content.  Virgin Mary in particular is of a female body that represents other females as a whole, and it expresses how women are degraded because of their gender or sexuality.  And this piece is not just a nude figure either, but the inside- underneath the surface and the portraying of the scars and damages left on a woman's body.  I like work that has deep, thoughtful meanings and the "answer" is not obvious, or can have several meanings based on your own interpretation.  The first time I viewed the photograph of Virgin Mary, I would have never guessed the content that Kiki Smith chose to portray.  

Smith's "Virgin Mary"

During the 1990s, artist Kiki Smith and several others, labeled themselves as "body artists."  The idea of "body artists" relates with the:

 "American debates over abortion, AIDS, artificial intelligence, euthanasia, genetic engineering, overpopulation, pollution, reproductive rights, sexual difference, and sexual practice..."

Smith created pieces to help understand abjection, or degrading, of gender and sexuality.  In Smith's piece, Virgin Mary, she expressed the human body through it's physical and spiritual nature and presented them in "abject, fragmented, and damaged states."  This sculpture displays the female body as vulnerable and in moments of crisis and trauma.  

Materials used for sculptures like Virgin Mary are: wax, soap, chocolate, urine, tears, sweat, blood, and several other bodily fluids. 

"My work is about trying to reclaim one's own turf, or one's own vehicle for being here, to own it and use it to look at how we are here."-Kiki Smith, 1995.

 

Doss, Erika. "Abjection and the Body." Twentieth-Century American Art. Oxford University Press: 2002. 230-1.