Word Visualization

Although I have never been in jail and never intend to go to jail, I thought jail was a great way to depict the word "imprison" and its definition.

Bruce Nauman and Charles Cohen Presentation

Becky Barrett and I created an exhibit focusing on the work of Charles Cohen and Bruce Nauman. Our exhibit was called Inside Out: Works of Captured Consciousness.

The works we chose for this exhibit all connected to the theme of our exhibit. The exhibit Inside Out: Works of Captured Consciousness focuses on themes of time and consciousness intertwining within the two artists' works. A moment or idea is captured in time, creating some type of manifestation of the mind or subconscious thought. Bruce Nauman's work focuses on the larger idea of time and consciousness. The best example of Nauman's work in our exhibit that fits into our theme is his Mapping the Studio. This piece is a six hour looping video that someone could leave and come back and see a different part of the video and have a different experience. Charles Cohen's work focuses more on capturing a specific instant in time. Cohen's That series is a collection of photographs of the sides of billboard signs. Cohen captures this moment that everyone experiences, but no one considers as being important. He is able to create a mood and emotion with only having the sign and the sky in the background. Although these two artists work in different media, Nauman working with video and neon lights and Cohen working with photography, these two artists convey strong ideas connecting to time and conscious and subconscious thought.



Here are some links for Bruce Nauman and Charles Cohen. Check out these links for these great artists when you get a chance:

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/nauman
http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/majorprojects/nauman/work_2.htm
http://rhizome.org/discuss/view/23105
http://www.promulgator.com/

Here are some videos you might want to check out too:

http://www.promulgator.com/StandardDouble_video/standarddouble_vid.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VugLUa47sLI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IrqXiqgQBo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxoHuVeNwUI

Career Pictogram

If I had to choose a career other than the one that I have chosen I think I would try to become a professional bowler. I have always bowled competetively and I think I would try to pursue that and establish a reputation as a professional bowler.

Self Visualization Project

With my self visualization I wanted to depict another side of my personality. The heads in the hands show the outside me that everyone sees. The reserved me and also the controled chaotic me. The part of the image that I like the most is the figure in the middle. I included this figure as a way to depict the mysterious me that no one knows.

Parable of the Garden: New Media Art from Iran and Central Asia

After going back to the exhibit and spent more time looking at the work, I really started to appreciate the work as a whole a lot more than I did before. I think the exhibit as a whole is a really good concept. I think a lot of people do not consider Iran and Central Asian countries that have advanced societies and technologies. I think this exhibit not only shows the creative capacity of artists of these regions, but also the technological advances these countries have made within the past decade.

After I really looked at the various works I found the piece by Karan Reshad to be very interesting. I think bRainstorm was one of the best examples of the "garden" within the context of new media. I think this piece took "new media" to the highest level. Reshad contacted artists through the use of computers, a newer technology, to create stickers to be posted in streets throughout Tehran. The artists also used computers to create their stickers and to send them to Reshad. The magazine was also created and published as an e-magazine which also falls under the category of new media. I think all of these uses of modern technology in the making of the magazine are just as important as the piece itself in considering this work of art. I think the multiple levels of thinking that are associated with this relatively simple piece is very interesting.

Reshad takes a symbolic approach to the garden. He takes the idea of putting these stickers in a place that has quite a bit of tension and a sense of loneliness in terms of expressions of creativity. Reshad putting these stickers in the urban environment makes the area happier and friendlier. He, in essence, creates his own garden out of the streets of Tehran.

Dia Beacon Review

The artists I really found interesting at Dia: Beacon were the German artists Bernd and Hilla Becher. All of Bernd and Hilla’s work that was exhibited was black and white digital photographs. The large series of photographs all had the same subject of industrial structures. All of the photographs seemed to almost have a symmetrical composition. The contrast of the black and white also seems to emphasize the shapes formed from the structure and the negative space.

Plant for Styrofoam Production, Wesseling near Cologne, Germany, 1997

Since all of their images show the details and textures of the materials the Bechers’ work stems from modernists Eugène Atget and August Sander. I think all of their photographs were simple, yet were still very appealing. I think the visual impact of all the photographs is very strong. The composition and cropping of the structures make the focus very clear and emphasizes the shapes formed by the parts of the structure. I personally think these photographs are a commentary on the growing industries that were taking place in the late 80s and the 90s. I think these images could easily be passed by in the museum, but if you take the time to look at them you get to see an unexpected elegance within the image.

Project One Alteration Two

With this alteration I went for a much lighter and fun feel. I wanted to make this image seem like a cartoon of a deer that is strolling along in the woods.