Final Project: Artist Statement

The Intrigue of Images: A Multiple Artist Case Study

Cool Artists:

Xanti Schawinsky: "Head Drawings and Faces of War" (1941-1946). Mixed Media. Watercolor and black pen.

Deals with the struggle of an artist coping with identity and the struggle of war (The Drawing Center)

Natalie Frank: "The Brothers Grimm" (2011-2014). Gouache and Chalk Pastel. 

A psychological twist on what stories we all know and love. She takes the familiarity of the fairy tale genre and twists it into something unfamiliar (The Drawing Center)

 

Abdelkador Benchamma: "Representation of Dark Matter" (2015). Mixed Media. Black pen, India Ink, and charcoal against the gallery's white walls.

Creates striking large-scale drawings. This one in particular, was meant to create a vortex representing the highly complex nature of black holes (The Drawing Center)

 

Paul Chiappe: "Untitled Series" (2010). Pencil.

Verging on the psychologically dark and creepy side, Chiappe creates small hyper realistic drawings that replicate old photographs (The Drawing Center)

 

Lebbeus Woods: "Architect" (1988). Media not specified. 

Woods takes what is physically represented in our world, and changes them to depict something psychologically different. This feeds into his narrative of how our constructions feed into our beings (The Drawing Center).

Reflection: I chose these artists as some of my favorites, based off of the website The Drawing Center. This website houses a huge amount of artists' work, all of which is featured on their site.

The above sequence of images are from artists who really captivated me. As you can see, we can create similar underlying themes that each drawing has in common with each other. By doing this project, I realized that I am more intrigued by images that shape reality. When artists twist and contort what is psychologically already familiar to us, I find this really fascinating. Not only this, but the media used in these drawings can be fairly complex, but it does not necessarily have to be (as we see Chiappe's and Schawinsky's works done with only a few tools of art). These pieces are highly intriguing in that they make us question what can be considered 'art', and draws responses of how we each view art differently. We each find fascination in varying images, and techniques that are created by artists.

(Subjectively) Not as Cool Artists:

Jackie Ferrara: "Lines" (1993-Present). Colored Pencil.

Lines are drawn to represent architectural elements and components. Underneath or through the images are film titles written in Morse code (The Drawing Center)

Jennifer Bartlett: "Hospital" (2012). Pastel.

Her works are based through a series of photographs that are taken at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Deals primarily with interior spaces (The Drawing Center)

Ken Price: "Slow and Stead Wins the Race" (1962-2010). Work on paper.

Relatively new artist, aiming to represent a multitude of techniques done on paper (The Drawing Center)

Sean Scully: "Change and Horizontals" (1945). Acrylic, Ink, and Graphite.

Geometry that is changed based on the artist's representation of the abstract form (The Drawing Center)

Ignacio Uiarte: "Line of Work" (2010). BIC Pens.

Inspired from a former career in business administration, Uiarte aims to represent this line of work through the use of office BIC pens (The Drawing Center)

Reflection: I chose these artists as some of my least favorite because they are of things that I do not find interesting. Do not get me wrong, some of their techniques (such as Uiarte's work in BIC Pens and Ferrara's work with Morse Code) are actually quite interesting, but the way in which they are pulled off did not really catch my interest. I think drawings that are more psychologically or politically based are what really get me excited about art, and although these pieces have their own charm, they lack some sort of representation or theme that I was going for with this project. Overall, I think that these last five pieces are a sharp contrast to the ones I provide above. The color, content, and styles prove that people find different interests in different drawing techniques. 

Figure Study Online Practices

Class,

This is an excellent source for those who want to continue with figure drawing.

http://artists.pixelovely.com/

Internet Research Project

Ally Goodman-Janow

Drawing 106

Artist Research

Artists I liked: 

Kate Ten Eyck : charcoal

 

Kimia Ferdowsi Kline : Oil on panel  

Alex Brewer : Silkscreen, Graphite and Acrylic on canvas 

Scott Espeseth : Ballpoint Pen 

- Monique Luchetti : Gouache and Watercolor  

Artists I didn’t like / didn’t understand: 

David Staniunas Adam Hinterlang : Pen

 

Daphne Plessner : Watercolor 

Judith Fegerl : Metal / Wire  

Diana Shpungin : Sculptures

  

Jarrod Beck : Iron Oxide, Charcoal, Graphite

The artist I felt the strongest connection/reaction to would have to be Kimia Ferdowsi Kline. Her art stems from the stories her father told her about his garden back in Tehran, Iran. She has not been able to visit or go back home to Iran, so she lives vicariously through her paintings and the gardens that they depict. Not only are the paintings beautiful, but they also represent speech, power and gender construction. 

I chose this artist because her work is extremely colorful, vivid, and really tells a story about the garden she is imagining. The colors are what originally caught my eye, and how detailed every inch of the panel is; there is no white space, but there are vast areas where nothing is happening, keeping the picture balanced with calm and chaotic. The colors are also not just your ordinary reds and greens, but hot pinks and dark blues and royal purples. These colors don’t lay flat on the page, they stand out and make each and every object pop from the background. She also tends to put contrasting colors next to or in front of other colors, and it really makes that object stand out and gives it dimension, even though some of her paintings don’t have a particular focal point. 

Another thing I really like about her work is that it depicts an imaginary garden that she created from stories told to her by her dad. I really enjoy nature, both viewing it and being surrounded by it, and her paintings give off a natural and euphoric sense of being outside in a garden. She paints plants with leaves of all shapes and sizes, trees, bushes, flowers, grass, etc. and makes it seem as though these plants were actually alive and moving. Although the colors are not realistic, they portray the excitement she got from hearing her dad’s stories about the whimsical garden and all the beautiful plants in it. Just looking at her paintings makes me want to see that garden too.

Lastly, I really like how she uses girls and women in her paintings to give a message and make the image more powerful. For example, in the sample painting above, there is a naked girl, probably young teens, sniffing some flowers. Nothing about the girl being nude is provocative or sexual, but instead, peaceful and rather ordinary. It’s as if this girl is in her natural habitat and just doing what she always does. It’s very innocent. In another piece, she has four teenage-looking girls laying in the middle of a walkway with their heads on each other’s stomachs. They are simply relaxing in the garden and enjoying each other’s company. Again, very innocent and undisturbed by the world around them. I know that whenever I lay outside I feel very tranquil and serene, and these women give me the sense that they feel the same way. 

Extra Credit Assignment

Class,

For those who interested in extra credit assignment - this is your chance!

This week, Thursday and Friday, April 7th and 8 our Department of Art & Art History will hold a Graduate Art studio and Art History Reviews.

You can witness this unique opportunity of critique for graduate students in Academic settings. Please refer to the schedule below.

To get an extra 10 points - visit one or more sessions and write a brief, one page review.
DUE: April 14

Graduate Art Studio Review

Thursday, April 7^th
 Schedule

 

TIME	LOCATION		STUDENT	AREA	COMMITTEE
9:30-10:30	Mattox 318		Kaitlyn Bryson	AE	Gould, Henel, Cruz, Fry
9:30-10:30	Mattox 308		Sallie Scheufler	PH	Ho, Shimano, Zhang, Lumpkin
11:00-12:00	Mattox 309		Nick Simko	PH	Ho, Tsiongas, Cyman, Hernandez-Duran
11:00-12:00	Mattox 307		Jess Peri	PH	Bouton, Gould, Manning, Andrews
11:00-12:00	Mattox 302		Kristen Roles	PH	Rangel, Henel, Hart-Mann, Lumpkin
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:00		Annex 106C	Hollis Moore	PM	VanGinkel, Gilbert, Tsiongas, Buick
1:00-2:00		Annex 115	Ariel Wilson	PH	Salinger, Rangel, Harris, Hernandez-Duran
1:00-2:00		Annex 112	Charis Fleshner	PD	Exposito, Bouton, Stine, Andrews
2:30-3:30		Annex B15	Babak Shahsiah	PM	DeJong, Hart-Mann, VanGinkel, Cornejo
2:30-3:30		Annex Foyer	Molly Zimmer	PD	Stine, Exposito, Salinger, Anderson-Riedel
2:30-3:30		Annex 106A	Amy Johnson	PH	Manning, Jesse, Lovell, Buick

 

 

Art History Spring Symposium
Friday, April 8^th  
CFA 1020
Schedule

 

 

 

Name	Prog.	Time	Committee	Title
Chloe Courtney	MA	9:00	Anderson-Riedel, Andrews, Buick, Cornejo, Fry, Gould, Hernandez-Duran, Jackson, Lumpkin, Tsiongas	Decoloniality through Lo Cotidiano: indigenous epistemologies in Delilah Montoya's codex
Rebecca Weinstock	PhD	9:30	Anderson-Riedel, Andrews, Buick, Cornejo, Fry, Gould, Hernandez-Duran, Jackson, Lumpkin, Rangel	Right Here and Right Now: William H. Johnson's Manifestation of Modern Life in Jitterbugs II
		10:00	break
Jessica Marr	PhD	10:15	Anderson-Riedel, Andrews, Buick, Cornejo, Cyman, Fry, Harris, Hernandez-Duran, Jackson, Lumpkin, Rangel	The Indigenous of North America: through the Photographic Lenses of Edward S. Curtis & Frederick Starr
Breanna Reiss	MA	10:45	Anderson-Riedel, Andrews, Buick, Cornejo, Cyman, Fry, Harris, Hernandez-Duran, Jackson, Lumpkin, Manning	The Great Serpent and The Birdman: Exploring the Materiality & Religious Iconography of Copper in Mississippian Era Burials at Etowah, Georgia's Mound C
		11:15	break
Jana Gottshalk	MA	11:30	Anderson-Riedel, Andrews, Buick, Cornejo, Fry, Hernandez-Duran, Ho, Jackson, Lumpkin, Manning	The New Deal Era in New Mexico: Henry Gonzales and the Revival of Craft Culture

 

     

Artists' research: Updates

Class,

Some of you might experienced difficulties to navigate drawingcenter.org for your research project.
The 'Viewing Program' is available now and you can access all the require information.


NOTE: Deadline for this assignment is extended to April 21st.

Thanks,

Julia

Figure Drawing: Tutorial

1st step: Getting the gesture of the figure:

First start with the overall gesture of the figure. In this step don't worry so much about proportions and anatomy, and focus on getting the figure some flow and movement. Start with the bean and find the center line on the torso and pelvis. Then place some gesture lines for the legs and hands. Try to avoid placing straight lines for the feet and hands and exaggerate the pose a bit because it's going to stiffen up as you go further with it.

 

2nd step: Refining the base
In this step, try and fill out the anatomy with simple shapes and also take the time to measure out the proportions and see where they should be in relation to other body parts. Measure how far down and up the elbows go, how wide his shoulders are compared to his torso, etc.

3rd step: Final refinements & rendering
Once again, we working from general to specific.