Photo Booth/ Andy Warhol

Artist Talk: Mary Early

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/29/artist-spotlight-sculptor_n_664263.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/29/artist-spotlight-sculptor_n_664263.html

Mary Early is a sculptor who lives and does her work in Washington DC. She makes her sculptures out of beeswax and wood. For her work to be shown at its best, lighting is very important to it. She talked about how reflection and shadow are the two things that she want show in her work. The process that is done to the sculpture is that beeswax is brushed on and heated to make the work glossy. The work is then buffed and placed together. She said that she liked making things with her hands, but the ending results do not look like it. Also because of the type of beeswax used, it leaves a smell. 


I like the work because it uses materials that most people or artist are afraid to use. 

Artist Talk: Public Art!

This was an artist talk that talked about how public art (graffiti, stickers, protest signs, etc.) is important to the space as well as the people that evolve around it. The talk also talked about how politics and art come together and express the interest or importance of the subject to the public sphere. The people that spoke at this panel style artist talk were: Diana Boros, Lisa Scheer, Billy Friebele, and Katie Gantz.

Professor Boros talked about how politics and art is important to the public space. She explained that the art in the public sphere "can redefine space by alerting the people of the interest". She gave a list of three ways that the art is important to the space, they were "beautification, the artist can perform direct protest, and this encourages participation of the general public". Professor Boros also talked about how the art takes the person's focus off of the stress by it being placed in the public sphere. She said that it also causes "motivation and creates new ideas". With this, participation with the art and the public is important.

Professor Scheer talked about her own work and how it is important in the public sphere. She started off by asking the question "What makes public art public?" She talked about how architecture was the first form of public art. She said that this inspired her to do installation and most of her art work. Professor Scheer also talked about public art is based on personal judgement and creativity and the art reacts with or engage with its environment. With this, she listed three things that the art must be aware of when making public art: Physical, where the art must work with the space and not just be added to it. Identification of where it is/ Location, the art must cooperate with the location. And community, the art works with the community with the different thoughts from the people (personal signification).

Professor Friebele talked about how art redetermines public space. He said that most public art must include or can include public interaction. And he also talk about how the development of technology can change public art in different ways. He also talked about how the person can be creative with the work by forming their own art with the public art that is already there.

Professor Gantz talked about the difference between monuments and graffiti. The location she based her lecture on was Paris and how their art has changed over time. She talked about how they first started off with architecture and how this made Paris beautiful. As time went on, graffiti artist as well as protesters started bringing their own personal views and interests in the streets through their public art. She said that the stickers, graffiti, and media public art shows or tells "their own personal story". But this can be compared to the monuments from the past because they tell a story as well.

Music

Engaved Footwork!

http://www.dombis.com/work/Text(e)-Fil(e)s_2.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-14Om42EjEI

http://www.dombis.com/work/Text(e)-Fil(e)s_2.htm

What I like about the Work:

I like that the work is a form of public art. This means that when the person walks into the space, they have to look down and see what the artwork. I like that the work takes up so much space, the scale, to me, makes it look like a sculpture instead of a painting or printed work. I also like that the artist can find enough words to fill up the space. I like that the artist can express how he feels about politics and his surroundings within his surroundings. I also like that the artist overlapped the text so that he can express everything that he is feeling at one time. Because of the overlap, the artist could talk about things that maybe taboo to talk about in the public space. I like that the work is long and almost the same size as a red carpet in Hollywood or at a celebrity event. When looking at the work like this, it makes the viewer feel like they are important in the public sphere.


What could be better about the work:
I do not like how the text overlaps so much until half of it makes a black line. I believe that the text should overlap, but it should be clear through out the work. With this I believe that the artist can express himself more if the text was clear. I also think that the artist should have placed the text in different languages, not only french. Placing the work into different languages would not only express his feelings to people who understand french, but to other people as well. I also think that the artist should have made small block of thoughts instead of having his thoughts continue down the long path. In order to understand what he wants to say, the viewer has to read from one end of the work to the other.


The Artist:
Pascal Dombis was born in 1965 and lives and work in Paris France. He is a digital artist that uses computers and algorithms to produce excessive repetition of simple processes. In 1987, he went to Tufts University where he attended computer art classes at Boston Museum School and began to use computers and algorithms in his art. Dombis initially works with simplistic rules, an example being drawing a straight line and using different tools to alter it. He also uses Digital tools to reach the wildest creations possible. Visual objects appear out of the excessive enforcement of rules. Dombis does not conceive a structure in advance. He expresses simple rules and makes them go through a series of interactions. Through this obsession of technological processes, Dombis tries to allow the viewer to create his own thoughts about the work. 




Works Cited: http://www.artabsolument.com/en/default/exhibition/detail/524//Text-e-Files-Installation-de-Pascal-Dombis.html

C'est moi, Ma vie!!!

It's the Boondocks, not with the Saints.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9U86tboi64

http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/Print/boondocks.html

The Boondocks Cartoons are the most African American controversial cartoon in America. These cartoons make fun of and show the true side of the issues that are hidden in America. For example, the Wal- Mart controversy, BET issues, and political issues. This cartoon started out as a comic then because 

of all of the popularity, it became a cartoon on Adult Swim and Cartoon Network. Because of the controversy that was created within politics from the cartoon, it was banned from television and newspapers. 

What I like about the work:

I like that this work expresses the politics that most people are afraid to talk about. I like that even though the graphics are simple people, the artist keeps them simple so that the people could be drawn into the words of the comic. Even with the cartoon, the words make the audience pay more attention to it then the actual graphics. I like that this is a form of public art. To be more clear, I like how the artist attack politics, news, music entertainment, and the media and allow people to make their own opinions. And because of this, it caused politicians to pay attention to what they are doing in the media. I like how the work makes the audience think about not only what they are watching, but about the world around them.  I also like how all of the characters in the show and comic have their own specific personality. For example, how Huey Freeman is seen as a terrorist because he challenges politics. I also like how the comics and the cartoons are funny, so that even though these issues are being exposed, they still have a sense of humor. I also like how the comic and the cartoon makes different races re-evaluate themselves. 

What could be better about the work:

I do not like how the artist does not give any of the characters any detail. I also do not like how the artist speaks badly about the government, but does not show any of the good things that the government has done. It is good that these issues are exposed, but other solutions have been done to make some things better in society. I do not like how the artist plays on most racial stereotypes. 

About the Artist: 

Aaron McGruder was born in Chicago, but grew up in a neighborhood close to Baltimore City. Spending the majority of his life there, young Aaron got a first-hand education on race relations. It was during his productive and highly influential youth that McGruder would come in contact with the things that would change his life forever. The first was 'Star Wars' . After viewing the film, he became obsessed with the film and the style. The second was Hip-Hop. The uniquely African-American musical style became to new generations what jazz and the British invasion had been years before. As the civil rights movement ended, Hip-Hop became the only viable, uncensored style for Black youth to express themselves unchallenged. The third was comics. Not just the adventures of Superman and Spider-Man, but comic strips. Aaron's tastes over the years ranged from Charles M. Schulz with "Peanuts" to Berkeley Breathed and Bill Waterson "Bloom County" and "Calvin & Hobbes"  to the political humor of Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury". These all inspired him to create the controversial comics and cartoons of today. 

Works Cited: http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2973/McGruder-Aaron.html