Summer's Art Blog

For this week we have the chance to pick our own artists to compare. I have decided to choose Pedro Reyes and Damian Ortega. Both of these artists are based in Mexico and have extensive experience within the field of art.

Pedro Reyes is a Mexican artists who studied architecture at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City. He is known for his large-scale works that have garnered him international attention. His artworks vary in terms of mediums used. Sculpture, video, performance, and activism are some of the main forms that he uses. With these medias he is able to address current social and political issues.

Damian Ortega is also a Mexican artist and was born in Mexico City. He began working as a political cartoonist and used humor as well as "incisive" critique on social and political issues. Now he also includes large scale installations, sculptures, performances, and video's as various forms to express his artistic ideas.

These two artists are similar in the ways that they approach their art. They use multiple types of media in order to get their ideas across to their audience. They also use their art to critique social and political issues within their country. Pedro Reyes has created art from guns by turning them into musical instruments, with this he is trying to rid his country of these weapons that cause pain and turn them into something beautiful. Damian Ortega has always been criticizing the political and social issues of his country and started through his political cartoons. Both their artworks represent this sense of longing for peace and prosperity.

Joseph Delappe is an American artist based in the UK, who became a professor of games and tactical media at the Abertay University of Dundee in Scotland. Before this, he directed the digital media program at the University of Nevada in Reno. His interest in art falls in online gaming, performance, electromechanical installations, and sculptures. He has used many forms of media to convey his artistic ideas like game art and performance, sculpture, installations, and even digital media. Much of his work uses little color and seems to be more monochrome. But because of the various media, the characteristics of his art vary. Lots of his work does have roots within the digital world or involves a digital aspect. The other interesting part of his work is that he may use normal things but in his art, he turns these "normal" things it sizes much larger than their original ones and he loves working with cardboard which adds an interesting take to his art.

Micol Hebron is an American artist that works on performance and video art. She works at Chapman University and has been working on art for 15 years in Los Angeles. Hebron's interests fall within the media of performance art, video art, and new media. In Hebron's art, she uses a more abstract approach than Delappe. Her art has rough lines and uses a wider variety of colors. Her Sculptures are large and can have varying textures like jagged edges and rough exteriors. She also incorporates the human body into lots of her work. In forms of the performance and visual arts as well as sculptures. Many of the art pieces use the human body.

Both these artists use a large variety of media and I believe that choosing the media depends on what they are trying to express. Many variables can follow because the artists might want the media to express their message proficiently, how it can reach the intended audience, as well as the number of people the artists want to reach. I would say that the media that I did not really think of as being media is the computer software that Delappe incorporates. Not because I could see it as an art form, but because I would have thought it was its own main category. I believed that computer technology and gaming was their own separate category so they did not come to mind when thinking of art.

Delappe's and Hebron's work have similar takes in talking about trying to spread positive messages of change whether it is political or about human rights. They both try to reach audiences and express their message on their take on the world and what is happening in it. They also commonly use technology in their work. Although Hebron does use her work to spread messages of feminist rights and everyday stereotypes, on the other hand, Delappe uses his work in a more political type of way.

Lynsey Addario is a photographer, her work encapsulates real life events including wars and the lives of people. Many of her pictures include the lives of people living through challenging times. On the other hand, Cardiff-Miller are also visual artists but their works also involves digital impact. They essential take photos as well as videos of the real world but incorporate the digital world in them.

These artists have unique ways of showing and allowing the viewer to feel what the people in the photo are feeling. This is where they are similar. They are capable of showing the feeling and emotions of the people and their lives so that the viewer can experience the trials and tribulations of the image. Both artists do well in creating a story line through their images and videos.

The differences of their works can be seen through the different environments and places they have to go in order to take their thoughtful images. So essentially their method o creation and locations that the images take place are the difference I have noticed.

The works of these two visual artists are both important. The grit of real world experiences and the diversion of a more whimsical dialogue are contradicting but both are important. The real life experiences show what kind of world we live in and the whimsical dialogue acts as a diversion from that experience.

Annie Leibovitz is a photographer that is able to create amazing and stunning portraits. Her images are truly enchanting and seem to focus on a more fairy tale theme or more fantasy-type vibe. Giving her work a whimsical and unique style. She also seems to incorporate many famous singers and actors into her portraits. The portrait that stuck out to me is shown below. It shows a female sitting on a chair, but what stands out to me is the positioning. She is in positions that are associated with males, the hand tucked into the pants, the wide/open-legged position as well as the cigar. This portrait shows a dichotomy of sorts between male and female norms.

Nan Goldin is another photographer who also creates impressive portraits. Her style is more of a catching-the-moment type style. In other words, her portraits seem less staged than those of Annie Leibovitz. Her images have a unique feel to them because it almost feels like you are witnessing something that you shouldn't. In other words, it's like the view is a spectator in the lives of the people in the images. The portrait that I like from Nan Goldin is posted below. It is an image of a heart-shaped bruise on the leg of either a male or female, it cant be said, the only thing is that they are wearing clothes that are usually associated with females. What this image shows me is a simple message of tough love or love is not an easy thing.

In my depiction of CSULB's campus, I am missing lots of buildings but it looks like the general outline is good. You can definitely tell what buildings I've been to as well as the surrounding buildings. But the one that I drew is definitely lacking in buildings. This shows that although we spend lots of time on campus, there is still space to get to know the whole campus. There are still buildings that many of us have not been to or have heard of, this is why it is good the explore the campus and get to know the outline.

Sarah Elgart is a choreographer, director, and producer with a unique style. Her choreography emphasizes human movements and includes visuals. She also paints these movements and with it creates beautiful images/art.

Camille is a french singer/songwriter who began with an interest in ballet. In adolescence, she soon found interest in Bossa Nova as well as American musicals. Other than her own music, she has also been part of multiple other titles because of her vocals.

As for finding flow in their art, because Camille is a singer and Sarah a choreographer, flow is essential. They must both get into a state of focus and concentration. Due to this flow of concentration and focus, they are able to perform their art.

They both create art that is unique to their respective fields. When comparing or finding similarities the uniqueness is prominent. How each artist emphasizes different parts of the human body like movements and voice shows similarity.

For this week's art activity, we had to "paint" our names in bubble letter fonts as a representation of Graffiti. In normal circumstances, spray paint would have been used, but because of specific reasons, I was not able to do so. I opted out of using chalk instead. Although I did not get the satisfaction of painting with a spray can, I was still able to capture the vision I had in mind for my artwork.

CORNBREAD is a graffiti artist that began his work on the streets of Philadelphia. He is acknowledged to be the first modern graffiti artist. He earned the name CORNBREAD because in 1965 he was sent to a youth development center in Philadelphia where he would repeatedly ask to cook cornbread. A moment that is recognized throughout this artist's journey was when he topped all his NYC rivals by jumping the fence of a Philadelphia zoo and tagging the words "Cornbread lives" on the side of an elephant. This brought him lots of recognition.

Keith Harring is an American artist who rose to fame in the 1980s in New York in the East Village. He is said to have bridged the art and street world. Before committing to studio practice, he would use the subways, sidewalks, and other street areas to exhibit his art. His work revolves around the appeal of uniting cartoons and the "raw energy of Art Brut artists." With this, he "developed a distinct pop graffiti aesthetic that comprised energetic, boldly outlined figures against solid or patterned backdrops."

What these artists have in common are their art style and art beginning. They both began in the streets of their affiliated cities, CORNBREAD beginning in Philadelphia and Keith Harring beginning in New York. They would paint using various mediums in areas like subway areas and street walls. On the other hand, Keith Harring's art themes consist of exploitation, subjugation, drug abuse, and the threat of a nuclear holocaust.

The difference between street art and gallery art is that street art is considered public art or public space artwork that is consumed through exhibiting outside of a gallery setting. It can also be described as having "untamed energy and vibrancy" and being more massive in size showing that it cannot be confined to the walls of a building. On the other hand, gallery or fine art is more about the value of its aesthetics and beauty.

For this week's art activity we had to focus on an activity that went hand in hand with our major. In my case, I had to focus on how art and community health could correlate. As I was researching, I came across lots of murals and paintings that depicted community health and wellness but I wanted to do something different. This led me to realize that art does not have to be singular, regarding only drawing and painting, but instead I can focus on different structures of art.

Last semester I took an art class that revolved around focusing on art outside of the United States and I chose Mexico City. In my research, I came across an artist by the name of Pedro Reyes. He had an inspiring take on art. The piece or exhibition that he created was called "People's United Nation" or pUN for short. This artistic expression welcomed 193 regular citizens from their respected countries and throughout a few weekends, the delegates get to represent their countries in group activities. Essentially this event allows the delegates to speak on current or possible future issues that can occur in their country and in the groups the other delegates can help with coming up with solutions.

The art activity for this week can be either small and possible to complete in a week or large and takes more than a week to complete. So taking inspiration from Pedro Reyes's event, I would like to do something similar on a smaller scale but would take more than a week to accomplish. I have two possible scenarios, the first being an event where local schools decide on "student delegates" to represent their local communities. The second scenario is much larger in which the event would revolve around larger separate communities choosing local delegates, it could be local residents or someone in office, regardless of the scenario. The purpose would be to discuss the local disparities that affect the population of each respected community and come up with possible solutions. The difference would be that the school scenario would focus on the younger population and the community scenario would focus on the community as a whole. The event itself would only be one day.

This "activity" would take more than a week because of all the confirmation that must be met by multiple parties. Some approvals can take up to a month or longer to be confirmed. It would also require lots of resources such as a furnished venue to host the event, proposals to encourage discussion, willing delegates, approvals from parents and school boards if the first scenario is chosen, and information/data about each represented community so that accurate information will be discussed...etc. The research must be done to provide accurate proposals and information, meaning we would have to look into each community thoroughly. This art excursion would need many approvals and confirmation so depending on which scenario we would have to speak with multiple parties whether with the school district or the board of directors of a community. Because of the scale of this project, we would have problems in actually pulling it off. Getting willing delegates and approvals/ permission would also be an issue. Having inaccurate information/ misinformation could also hinder the reason for this event. To gauge the effectiveness of the event, a possible method would be pre/post tests of a community sample and see if there is a change from the solutions provided in the event if any. Time is a big issue here because the post-tests would have to be given at a proper time when enough time has passed to implement the solutions.

Betsy Casañas is a studio artist, public mural artist, community activist, and educator raised in North Philadelphia. She obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Moore College of Art and Design and has worked in the Latino community since 1994. Her art has been shown in several solo and group exhibitions, and she has developed over 40 public murals and mosaics both domestically and internationally. Casana's creation of public murals shows that with art there is an increase in community engagement as well as art that is rooted and displayed in community spaces have shown to strengthen solidarity within communities. Public art created and displayed in communal settings can have a variety of effects on community health. Much of this is participatory public art, which involves members of the community in the conception and construction of the work.

Lauren Clopper was a 4th-year senior student at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and a Gold Humanism Honor Society member in 2020 who, because of COVID-19 had lots of spare time. After her courses went on to become asynchronous she saw herself wanting to stay connected with the community. She described painting as already being a part of her life, using it as an outlet. She saw that the local hospital that was affiliated with her school had many colorful murals. She had the idea to make a mural to brighten people's days and to recognize those who cared for patients during the pandemic and in the future. She not only wanted to create a mural that was bright and filled with joy, but she also wanted to create a mural that showed as many community organizations that did not receive as much spotlight as they should.

Juliana Cerqueira Leite is an artist with an emphasis on sculpting. Her art is interesting because it involves the capabilities of the human body. She creates large-scale sculptures with the primary tool being her body. Essentially, she scratches, digs, and pushes through her art medium such as clay, latex, and plaster to create unique forms. This is a unique style because as Leite uses her body to create her sculptures, impressions of her body parts are left behind creating unique sculptures. With this, she wants to show that she is in as much control of the matter that she uses as the matter is to her.

Tara Donavon's unique style of art and sculpting uses everyday things like paper plates, plastic cups, pencils, buttons, and pins. With these materials, she is able to create large-scale sculptures and installations. Her work can be described as reveling in both the natural and artificial world. For example, using the translucentness of scotch tape or the malleability of slinky to show off the structures of the natural world like cloud formations, caves, and other geological/biological forms.

For this week's art activity we will be focusing on sculpting. When people think of art, their thoughts are mainly drawn to drawings and paintings. But we live in a 3D world and sculpting is a great representation of that.

I began this activity by digging a hole where my hand could fully fit. After that, I placed my hand inside and began to fill up the hole with sand with my hand still inside. This created a mold where the plaster would later fill. After I was done filling the hole with sand, I gently began to remove my hand from the hole. Now it was time to create the plaster solution.

This was the part that was more difficult. The plaster instruction says that the plaster should be made with 2 parts plaster and 1 part water. I had some trouble getting the correct consistency but once it was made I was ready to pour it into the mold. The plaster has a 30-minute setting time, and after those 30 minutes, it was ready to be dug.

Once the 30 minutes were up the sculpture was ready to be taken out. For this process, I had to be careful because I did not want to break off any pieces. Once it was out, I headed to the shore and washed it off. What was revealed was a sculpture that was not perfect but that is what makes it unique.

For this week's activity, I will identify two youtube content creators. One YouTuber must be "popular" and this is defined as having more than 100 thousand subscribers and the "lesser-known" creator is defined as having less than 10 thousand subscribers. I will be comparing and contrasting the two YouTubers and how I perceive them.

Stephanie Soo is a youtube creator that has 2.64 million subscribers. She creates eating videos along with storytelling. She caught my attention because she story tells and makes and buys food to eat along while she tells true crime stories, Reddit mysteries, and scary stories. What I like about her channel is her authenticity. She creates the videos in a manner that feels like she is including you or as if she is having a conversation with you. Her goals are to create videos that make her viewers feel like they have someone to talk to while having a meal as well as to make them feel comfortable.

As for a content creator with less than 10 thousand, honestly, it was difficult to find because all the YouTubers I watch have more than 50 thousand subscribers. But I do watch a content creator by the name of DroidMonkey. This creator has 656 subscribers. His content is about speed drawing. I like watching these types of videos because they are "satisfying" to me. He draws cartoons, anime, and other characters. He is all about showing his audience that anyone can be creative and anyone can draw. His videos and way of drawing show that he wants his audience to not only enjoy the drawing time but also learn from his style of drawing.

When comparing these two content creators there are immediate differences. The subscriber and view count are different, this is because of the exposure Stephanie Soo has compared to DroidMonkey. Stephanie Soo also has different content than DroidMonkey, Stephanie Soo makes food and storytelling videos and DriodMonkey makes speed drawing videos. Both of the channels seem to be authentic to their audience. They seem to be doing the videos for the benefit of their audience regardless of what they get in return.