Portfolio 2015

I am really happy with how my final review went today. I appreciate the input and generosity of all the Art Ed professors that critiqued my work. I cannot thank them enough for the important questions and references they posed to me today. They have guided my understand and thinking and have given me many things to consider and research the continuation of my work. They have helped me close the door to this work, while helping me use it as a platform for what will come next. I am extremely excited to try more of this work on new medias and with new materials. I have many ideas in my head and I have nothing but positive energy about the processes to come and the looseness of the process of investigation and experimentation.

Artist Statement:

Colyn Petre

December 16, 2015

Residue, stains, ripples, markings, scars, bumps, bruises, hiccups. The memories remain imprinted after the time has passed and the wounds have healed. My work embodies a transitional stage between what is and what is no longer. The layers and mixtures of the acrylic paints combine and intertwine, covering up what is underneath, but never completely hiding it. You can paint over graffiti on a bathroom stall door, but the graffiti is still there, underneath it all. Over time, the paint will crack and peel and the graffiti will be revealed once again.

The process of creating the work is of most importance to me, as it is a spontaneous, natural stream of creation. I get lost in the process and in the interactions of different feelings and energies I experience as I create. The final product shows movement, contrast, and contained chaos that could be read as a story. I prefer for the work to be interpreted by the viewer in the way that makes the most sense to them, without my influence or guidance in any particular direction.

Here are some photos from the night before my final review. These pictures show my work in the process of hanging and the plans and tools used to hang the work.

Here are some images of my work as it was in process. These are the works I will be showing in my final critique. Some images show the work when it was wet, and other show what it looks like after it dries. Even the drying process of the work changes the look of it in an unpredictable way that I really enjoy. Even when I am done with my part of the work, it is still not completed. It must act on its own to reach the state of solitude. At this time, all I can do is sit back and let the material be. The real final piece is not completely up to me, but up to the paint and the way the colors react to each other and the canvas through the process of drying.

Incomplete and Wet

Complete and Wet

Complete and Dry

Complete and Dry

Completed and Wet (Sorry for Audio in background)

Complete and Dry

Complete and Dry

Complete and Dry, Zoomed View

Complete and Dry, Zoomed View

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AUWG0186

I really enjoyed all the presentations so far from each of my classmates. One of the topics that stuck with me through the semester, however, was the presentation on sign language done by Tiffany. I enjoyed the way she presented the subject matter and her overall energy and enthusiasm about the topic of sign language. I have always been interested in signing and the art of visual gestures as words. Tiffany’s presentation was fun, engaging, interactive, and educational. It made me realize that signing is not only with the hands, but the entire body and most importantly, the facial expressions. Body language in general is extremely interesting to me. Adding a definite form of visual language to the art of communication definitely grabs my attention. Her presentation has motivated me to want to learn more about sign language. I wish take courses to learn sign language in order to be more knowledgeable and accessible to future students and their needs.

Here is a link to the music video for, You Need Me, I Don’t Need You, by Ed Sheeran. The music video is done in sign language by 17 year-old signing actor, Matthew Morgan. This video became available four years ago, so Matthew should now be around 21 years old. In The video, you can see how his actions, signs, and body language is fun and also necessary in understanding the song if one cannot hear the beat or the words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXvzzTICvJs&index=1&list=PLx1wHz1f-8J_xKVdU7DGa5RWIwWzRWNVt

Personal Artist Statement from Portfolio 2014 with Jen Hall

Artist Statement:

December 10, 2014

I am extremely interested in the human anatomy and the anatomical structure of the body. I also tend to base projects off of natural, uncontrolled subjects, such as flowers, landscapes, religion, or people. I enjoy working with charcoal, paint, and pastels. Sometimes, the ideas I get just come to me, while other times they are brought on by objects or scenarios I see in the world around me. I chose the human body as the main focus in my current works because the way I see it, the human body is easily overlooked. The body can do so many amazing things that often times go unnoticed. For example, when you squat down to tie your shoe, the force you put on your lower joints is around four times the weight of your body. Your knees and ankles must now support a much larger amount of pressure. When you bend down to tie your shoe, your joints, ligaments, and muscles are working together for you to complete such a simple and often subconscious act. Everyday movements are accomplished because of the internal and external structure of the body. I have also been playing with the theme of perfect imperfections by highlighting parts of the body that might not be perfect or flattering, such as scars or birthmarks. In my work, I bring attention to the natural beauty of things that are not always recognized.

This week I have been creating more paintings and am attempting to find the best way to perfect drip paintings with my own style, technique, and meaning. There is a lot of freedom and unpredictability in the creation of the paintings, but I am learning how to be able to control more aspects of the work with each creation. The more practice and experience I get, the better I can become at understanding the materials and the techniques I am working with. I am learning how and where to place the paint and colors to get the looks I feel are right. I am learning how to use the water on the canvas and the amount of water added to the paint to help my work go in a specific direction. I am discovering how the materials react to my actions and the environments I place them in and I am problem solving as I make new discoveries. I enjoy creating these paintings and I believe they tell more about me than one might realize at first glace. The paintings are visually appealing to me, but they also tell individual stories. I enjoy the fact that each painting could never be replicated through the same technique. Each one is fun and exploratory. I like the mess that comes along with the creation of this work and I like how the paint finds its way onto my skin, the container I use, the water, the table, the floor, and my clothes. Even when I try my hardest to contain the mess, the paint has a mind of its own. It cannot fully be controlled or predicted.

From October 13, 2015

Michael Grab – Gravity Glue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vswc7xB0V6c

Show video till 3min. Show destruction and relation to natural life at 5:30.

• His work pushes the boundaries of what is possible to exist on earth.
• Practiced rock balancing since 2007
• When he works, he is so in sync with his surroundings he forgets they exist. Does not hear the water or see the rocks, he feels their energy.
• He lets the rocks determine the limits of the work.
• He works for the pure satisfaction the work brings to him.
• End of video shows work being destroyed by nature and intention. Reminds me of the monk who creates a beautiful mandala but wipes it away and pours the material back into the water where it originated. Circle of life.
• The thing that allows the work to exist is also the thing that destroys it in the end-Gravity.
• Voice overlay is important part of the video.

-Person talking is Alan Watts, a British born American Philosopher, writer, and speaker.

-Studies eastern philosophy for western audiences.

-Starts off talking about voluntary and involuntary actions of the body.

-I love the human body so I appreciate the connections he makes between humans and the universe.

-Alan says that once you realize you are the one controlling everything you are, you become one with the universe. Your physical organs is a continuous process with everything else in the world, like waves are continuous to the ocean.

• When you accept that you are part of all things being, you become a part of the work and a part of the process, not just the artist that did the work that one time.
• This, I think, allows you to accept the materials you use and understand their limits. It allows you to be at peace with what is and what cannot be.
• Much like Michael Grab and the monk destroying the work when it’s over or returning it to its original state of being.

I have been working on acrylic drip paintings for the past week. After experiencing negative feelings towards my last work, I have decided to limit myself with colors as a guideline for my work. In doing so, I am able to keep the work form becoming too clustered or busy. The paintings tell a story and are also visually pleasing to me. There are problems within the work that I am finding as I create. I am slowly figuring out how to solve these problems and troubleshoot before I start the work. I like the process to this work because it is important to have at hand all the materials that will be needed, as I prefer the work be done in one sitting. There are a few things to prep before starting the work, but all this planning still will not help predict the final product of the work. I enjoy the freedom and exploration that comes with these paintings.

Jaison Cianelli

“My work is about passion and expressing joy. By putting my creative heart first I hope to experience art on a spiritual level. I desire to join with the oneness during the creative process, to produce art forms that deeply express this union and are a true manifestation of my experience. My goal is to be moved, and in turn move you. If I am inspired by the the filtered rays of light, living shapes, and unbelievable color palette right at sunset I do not desire to recreate the sunset as art. I desire to dwell in the creation of art, the action of painting, with all the emotions and memories I feel admiring the creative source (God) that is behind the sunset. In this sense my artwork is a product of emotions, a display of energy, a reaction to the light source.”

http://www.cianellistudios.com/about.html

“About.” Cianelli Studios: About. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Claes Oldenburg

I Am For… (Statement, 1961)

I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum.
I am for an art that grows up not knowing it is art at all, an art given the chance of having a starting point of zero.
I am for an art that embroils itself with the everyday crap and still comes out on top.
I am for an art that imitates the human, that is comic, if necessary, or violent, or whatever is necessary.
I am for all art that takes its form from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips, and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself.

I am for an artist who vanishes, turning up in a white cap painting signs or hallways.

I am for art that comes out of a chimney like black hair and scatters in the sky.
I am for art that spills out of an old man’s purse when he is bounced off a passing fender.
I am for the art out of a doggie’s mouth, falling five stories from the roof.
I am for the art that a kid licks, after peeling away the wrapper.
I am for an art that joggles like everyone’s knees, when the bus traverses an excavation.
I am for art that is smoked like a cigarette, smells like a pair of shoes.
I am for art that flaps like a flag, or helps blow noses like a handkerchief.
I am for art that is put on and taken off like pants, which develops holes like socks, which is eaten like a piece of pie, or abandoned with great contempt like a piece of shit.

… (continued)

http://www.walkerart.org/magazine/2013/claes-oldenburg-i-am-for-an-art-1961

“Walker Art Center.” I Am for an Art: Claes Oldenburg on His 1961 “Ode to Possibilities” — Magazine —. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

Kim Anderson

The age-old theme of the body inspires my work in drawing and installation. Often using my own body as subject, I am continually fascinated by the expressive potential of the hands, feet and skin, as well as the delicate structures and hidden processes taking place internally. I believe that the physical self must surely be considered the starting point for all psychological understanding: it is the vehicle for the emotions, the tangible presence by which we are known to others, and the most immediate tool through which our invisible inner psyche is able to manifest itself and act upon the world.

A recent development in my practice has been to take this interest in the body much further and explore the parallels to be found in both the built and natural world, whether it be an overt bodily reference, inferred likeness, or merely a trace left behind by a hand or foot. In essence, I am interested in the notion that a physical space can take on the characteristics and evoke the same emotions as a human body. Through constant wear our bodies bear the inscriptions of our life experience, our passions and fears and memories layered over one another like a palimpsest, and so too does the surface of place function in the same way.

In constantly wanting to challenge the capacity of my drawing, my practice has evolved from the production of more traditional works on paper to working ephemerally with installation. Using techniques such as projection and drawing directly onto the walls and floor, I explore the use of alternative surfaces and spaces. My original drawings on paper become transformed by light, scale and the distortions produced by using a three-dimensional space as my working surface. I am continually seeking ways in which to combine these ideas and bridge the gap between my work in two and three dimensions.

http://stevegray.com.au/blog/kim-anderson-artist/

“Kim Anderson – Artist.” Kim Anderson – Artist. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

This week I created an acrylic painting on canvas. I resumed my normal process of letting my mind be free and letting the art come naturally. The final result of the work is a product I cannot stand to look at. This is a big contrast to what I have previously been experiencing with my work. There are small areas of the painting I can find contentment in, but overall, I am genuinely disgusted with the painting and with the fact that I was the one to create it. I did not have an idea of what it would turn out to be, but nowhere in my mind did I expect it to look like what it is. I had slight dislike for it as I worked on it over the course of the past two weeks but after looking at the finished product for three days, I hate what it became. I am not extremely upset that I hate the painting because knowing what I don’t like can only bring me closer to discovering what I do like. As of now, I am almost 100% sure I will sand down the paint on this canvas and gesso over the entire thing to use this canvas for an entirely new piece. The remains of the painting will still be there, somewhere, under it all, and maybe this concept will fuel my next work. I never understood how people could re-use canvases or paint over a work of art, but now, I am starting to understand. I still want to create paintings and I still want the process to be free and unpredictable. Creating guidelines to direct my work, however, might be a good constraint to put on myself.