Blog Assignment Semester 2

Welcome to My Semester 2 Blog you are about to view. I hope you will enjoy it and share you thoughts with me.

BLOG ASSIGNMENT DUE: 8 NOVEMBER (Formative week beginning 18 October) 25%

Requirements:

Complete the following in a blog document
1. Begin by identifying 3 favourite works from your own practice. Post them on your blog and briefly explain why you have selected these works.
2. Post at least one example of written research that is relevant to your work from the following internet contexts; a dictionary site, a gallery site, an electronic resource from the Unitec library catalogue, and an artist site. Each of these must be referenced correctly.
3. Write a comment to explain the relevance of these research contexts.
4. Now post at least 3 works from other artist/designers that are relevant to the works that you have posted of your own.
5. Write a comment to explain the relevance of these art contexts.

Question 1

1) “Exposed Death”

This work above is one of my early series of art under the title “Exposed Death.” I drew this picture when I did Graphic Design. This is one of my favorite chosen pieces. When I drew this picture, it reminded me of a “Still Life Paintings”, which are done by famous artists, but instead of the fruits and vegetables, I drew symbolism of death and a “disregard to life”. A subject matter in this image at a time I drew it, was connected with some of my emotional past and my thoughts when I was depressed, but I wanted to take my irritation out on the pen and paper. I have used Blue Pen on an A4 paper. My inspirations of this drawing began with a packet of cigarettes and a lighter in front of me, from which I had my imagination take over. I have tried to make this drawing look miserable and depressed by using a single “cold” colour which is blue, combined with an idea of death by drawing cigarette packet, skull with a snake through it, marijuana leaf in a background, knife, lighter and a spray can. I wanted to make this image stand out by drawing matters we come across in the front, and what it can lead you to in the background, for example “Skull” meaning Death.

2) “Vandalism”

This is my art work collage of drawings and photos put together. When I did this work, I wanted to express my passion for street art combined with an illegal side of it, which is Vandalism. I have made a collage of Unitec Building 76 photos and my own drawing of me standing and facing back to the viewers, as I wanted to give an impression that I was the one that did all the tagging on a building. I drew tribal shaped patterns for more then one reason. Firstly I was interested in Maori and tribal designs, which influenced me through the Pacific Cultures, and secondarily I drew them as a decoration, to give an effect of them going in and out of the building 76. Also you can see a spray can in a form of an angel with wings. I didn’t try to declare that Street Graffiti is an innocent and guiltless type of an art, however I wanted to raise an argument that it is not a crime either, but a type of art, however there are times and places were it should be done, and is definitely shouldn’t be on a private buildings, without owners permission or were people wouldn’t appreciate it. I have used a black and a blue pen, and the photographs of Unitec Building 76, which I had cut out and glued on the paper, to make an impression of a building entrance. I like the attachment between an art and a vandalism associated with this image, even though most of people wouldn’t agreed to that.

3) “Fantasy Vs Reality”

This is one of my drawings from a series “Fantasy Vs Reality.” It is a shelf that I have designed for my Product Option, but I also wanted to add a twist of Fantasy to it, which ended up with interesting outcome. As you notice the colours change when you look at it from the right to the left. I wanted to combine warm colours which are brown, yellow and orange with blue and gray, which are cold colours. The reason I did that was because the contents of this image are partly real and party fantasy. For example: the hose pipe you can see running across is actually a snake, however the viewer can only see a hose, as the this image is part of triptych series I drew and you cannot actually see a snake. Also the shelf is in blue colour where the water dripping down in to the bawl, which again represents fantasy, the reason for that is because the form of a shelf has a hole drilled through just for the water to drip, and is not a commonly done thing. You can see some connections with my other work named “Exposed Death”, as both of the works have snake in it which would represent Death, however the viewer cannot tell it is a snake unless I show my other work from this series, were you can actually see the hose transform in to a snake, and that is one of the best features about being an artist, only you know what your work is about.

Question 2 and 3:

1) “Exposed Death”

Gallery Site: Gagosian Gallery –

Damien Hirst

End of an Era
January 30 – March 6, 2010

Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present “End of an Era”, an exhibition of new paintings and sculpture by Damien Hirst.

The exhibition takes its title from the central sculpture in the exhibition, a severed bull’s head with golden horns and crowned with a solid gold disc. Suspended in formaldehyde and encased in a golden vitrine, this totemic sculpture acts as a powerful coda to The Golden Calf (2008). End of an Era proffers a sacrificial head, here dismembered from the majestic body of the earlier sculpture. While The Golden Calf symbolized the worshiping of a false idol, with End of an Era (2009) Hirst demystifies the biblical tale and, by extension, debunks his own myth-making.

Reference: http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/2010-01-30_damien-hirst/

“End of an Era” 2009

This is a great video about Damien Hurst’s work in a Gagosian Gallery. I found this video interesting, as it reflected on what Damien’s work is all about, and as I was watching it, I understood why and how his work was related to his mean theme which is Death. From a colorful plates with a skull designs on them, to a huge triangle pieces of canvas, and when you look at it closely, it is actually butterfly’s that create an illusion for it to look like a painting from a distance.

As I explored Galleries that would relate to my own work, I came across Gagosian Gallery with a sources of info about Damien Hurst and his amazing work under the title of “End of Era”. Therefore this Gallery was relevant to my work under the title of “Exposed Death”. It has connection which were shown in my work. I also uploaded a video to understand more about a visit to a gallery and what took place at that time. It felt like I was actually there.

Electronic Resource from the Unitec Library Catalogue:

Human Adjustment and the Problem of Death

“As far as we know, human beings are the only entities who are
conscious of their mortality, and as Mohammad Samir Hossain
states, our difficulty in acknowledging that we are mortal, and that
life comes to an end—or perhaps goes on into another realm, or
onward through the transmigration of souls—is a stressor in our
lives. Human beings have found it difficult to establish a clear,
comprehensive, and central conceptualization of death for themselves,
and without such a formulation, adjustment to the reality
of death becomes far more difficult than it need be.”

By: Gilbert, Peter. Death Studies, Sep2009

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/results?vid=8&hid=107&sid=e99ad0d5-810a-4333-ac15-e5aa6656aa0a%40sessionmgr115&bquery=%28DE+%22HUMAN+Immortality%3a+Death+%26+Adjustment+Hypothesis+%28Book%29%22%29&bdata=JmRiPXBiaCZ0eXBlPTEmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZlJnNjb3BlPXNpdGU%3d

This is one of the quotes from a Peter Gilbert’s book “Human Adjustment and the Problem of Death”.

I found this information as I was browsing through electronic resources from Unitec library, which would relate to what my work is about. The main idea Peter Gilbert is trying to highlight, is that everyone knows that they are going to die eventually, however the actual thought about it and what is going to happen to your spiritual understanding is harder for people to realize, as humans not ready to understand such a complex subject.

Dictionary Site: Dictionary.com-

form·al·de·hyde

[fawr-mal-duh-hahyd, fer-]

–noun Chemistry . 

a colorless, toxic, potentially carcinogenic, water-soluble gas, CH ₂ O, having a suffocating odor, usually derived from methyl alcohol by oxidation: used chiefly in aqueous solution, as a disinfectant and preservative, and in the manufacture of various resins and plastics.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/formaldehyde

“Vladimir Lenin” in Museum

As I was looking through the Gagosian Gallery Web page, I came across the term I had never approached previously, called Formaldehyde, which is used to prevent animal parts from rotting by adding a number of chemicals to it. This is what Damien Hurst had to do to an animals viewed in his Gallery. I can reference to this from my own experience from similar perspective. One of the Russian museums, Red Square’s Mausoleum, were well known Soviet Leader Lenin is still kept in one piece as from the day he died, due to chemicals that were placed on his dead body, as it remains in a perfect shape and is prevented from being rotten. Lenin’s body is kept as it is due to his recognition as a famous and important leader in Russia, people agreed for his body never to be berried, but to be there for them to look at, as history memories. In my point of view Lenin’s body should be berried 6 feet under, because it is a disgrace for matters like that allowed to happen. I think that Damien Hirst’s work has a great connection with Lenin’s story, however it is up to the people to judge whether it is appropriate or innapropriate thing to do.

dis·mem·ber

[dis-mem-ber]

verb (used with object)

1. 

to deprive of limbs; divide limb from limb: The ogre dismembered his victims before he ate them.

2. 

to divide into parts; cut to pieces; mutilate.

3. 

to reduce, reorganize, or discontinue the services or parts of (a company, government agency, etc.): Our business was dismembered by the conglomerate that bought it.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dismembered

This is another interesting word I came across when I read Gallery article. This word has great connection with a context to what Damien Hurst work is about, relating with a definition to what happens with an animals he uses for his gallery. I had never came across this term previously, therefore it was interesting to learn a new definition that I will encompass with my work.

2) “Vandalism”

Artist Site: 2ESAE

 

2ESAE & SKI INTERVIEW

2Ease & Ski
Street artists are out to destroy our cities. It is a sad truth, that this is how most of the world, and certainly all authority figures, look at street artists. Ofcourse, street artists are much more than that. They are sharing a part of themselves with their community. Street art is sometimes aesthetic, personal, anti establishment, and emotional. One collective’s work is all of those things, at once. The Destroy and Rebuild Collective, has a deconstructivist attitude towards their street art. They take elements of New York’s urban fabric and make it the crux of their pieces. Parts of what most people recognize only as city infrastructure, is turned into beautiful art.

All of the artists in the collective were once graffiti artists. The natural evolution for them was to go into a street art setting where they could begin to rebuild the city they once were out to destroy. The fact that the group formed on that premise shows an interesting transformation from a naive creative outlet to a sophisticated cultural experience that demonstrates an mount of intensity, intellect, emotion and craft that is a rare combination found in any artist.

http://ubmassive.blogspot.com/2010/07/2esae-ski-interview.html

New York Graffiti artist 2ESAE introduces us to his world of art. Great video were 2ESAE gave me an opportunity to understand what graffiti is all about, by taking us to a gallery, and discuss whether graffiti is an art or crime. I was interested in this video as the surroundings were totally different, it took place in indoor space, where people could actually appreciate Graffiti for what it is and for not where it is.

This artist has inspired me in a major way. When I came across him online, I understood that his style of graffiti art is a great inspiration for me,  and the work I like to involve myself with. 2ESAE is an artist, who creates a unique style by capturing an areas of the USA that are important to him, which he then edits on the software programs, combined with his graffiti artwork. There are few similarity’s between his and my work. In my work named “Vandalism”, I’ve tried to express a great argument whether Graffiti is an art or crime. I collage my photos I took which were important and close to me, e.g. Unitec Building 76, with my drawings. Inspiration is really important to me and my art, as through out my study’s I have learned to research my work and relations to it from other artists, and it really helped me in a big way.

3) “Fantasy Vs Reality”

Catalogue Article: Within The Blue

“Within the Blue”: The Art Catalog of Symona Colina contains some of the paintings made by Symona Colina with oil on canvas. Most of the art-works of Symona Colina are paintings made on canvas with oil paint.
The works are about perspective: space, time … The fifth dimension.
There are also some drawings,pencil on paper, in this Art-Catalog “Within the Blue”.
Symona Colina:

“Balancing” on the surface of the canvas, on the edge of Time …
Visual-Spatial “thinking”, Visual-Spatial “seeing” to me these concepts or rather this concept is the basis used by me to create my paintings.
Time … The fourth dimension …
My time … is defined by seconds, hours, days …
My world is defined by: Height  -Width – Depth …  the three dimensions defining Space.

Visual Arts

When I look at Symona Colina’s work, it brings out a feeling of space, imaginations mixed with reality, which is related to my work called “Fantasy Vs Reality.” “Within the Blue” is a great painting of colour contrast and fantastic touch ups, which makes a viewer wonder if this is actually painting or Photo shop made image. In my opinion there is a feeling of loneliness combined with freedom. It is well painted image, as I noticed that it is actually waves that turn in to the Dolphins, but it looks like they jumping out of a water, which is a unique idea.

Question 4 and 5

1) “Exposed Death” / “Smoking Is Death” by Kamal Gurung

This is a watercolor painting done by Kamal Gurung. This work was made in order to present Anti-Smoking Art Competition, and has achieved 1st prize. “Smoking Is Death” is relevant to my drawing called “Exposed Death”, however the main focus intended in this painting, is to show an opinion expressed by an artist of what smoking does to you. However in my drawing, I have tried to achieve a total idea of what Drugs do to you, and what you can expect from them. Another similarity’s between two drawings is the use of cold colours. Kamal Gurung had tried to make this drawing look sickening in a way, by reflecting on it with dark and boring colours surrounding the person. A great fact is that in Kamal’s work, you can see that body of a smoker turning into a skeleton, as well as my drawing which has a skull in a background.

2) “Vandalism” / “Little Red” by Larissa

Here is a “collage/digital” work I had researched online, which is relevant to my drawing. This work is called “Urban Little Red Riding Hood” done by Larissa. This artist wanted to “tweak” the original icon of Little Red as much as possible, by adding a taste of street culture and urban life to it. Unlike my drawing, this work has been done digitally, including medias like photography, typography combined with collage and graffiti articles. I chose this work because it had a connection with my drawing “Vandalism”, in a relation to an “Urban Life.” Larissa made a collage of places that were important to her, in order to highlight an understanding of “Western Street Life” and the culture involved with it. As in my work, I have tried to highlight place that is important to me, which is Unitec Building 76, as it is associated with my future aspects and importance of it. When you look at Larissa’s work, you can notice that she has included picture of herself, just like I did in the “Vandalism,” however, she kept her Urban style and combined it with a “Little Red” theme. She digitally edited picture of herself to look like a cartoon character. In my instance, I drew myself facing towards the Building, which is covered in Tribal Design’s. I wanted to show a connection to the street art, as well as ask myself a question. Which pathway is more important to me, street life or future with a degree?

3) “Fantasy Vs Reality”/ “Dragon on the Shelf” by Kellie L. Williams

During my Shelf Design Unit, I wanted to express my artwork in more then a natural way by adding a twist of a “fantasy” theme to it. My “Fantasy Vs Reality” is relevant to a drawing done by Kellie’s work, because the aspects of “unnatural world” were revealed, as both drawings were compared. Kelly L. Williams shelf was designed with 18th century theme, to highlight medevil times and “creepiness” involved with it. You can also notice old fashioned books, skulls floating in a bottle and a dragon crawling up the shelf. In my opinion, there is a strong connections between both works. In “Fantasy Vs Reality” the bawl is filled with water, which is dripping through the hole in a shelf, as in “Dragon On The Shelf” drawing bawl is filled with skulls, proportion of which doesn’t match realistic sizes. A “dragon” creature which is drawn in Kellie’s picture is relevant to a hose pipe in my picture, as the hose pipe is actually a snake, which isn’t shown in “Fantasy Vs Reality” but is displayed in one of my other drawing series. The colours used in Kelley’s drawing contain black and white contrast drawn by pencil, unlike my drawing, which has a variety of different colours, expressed in cold and warm content. Overall both drawings are relevant and connect in different ways even though the contexts are different.

Stefan Sagmeister

 

Semester 1 blog

 

Hello people 🙂 thank you for viewing my blog

My name is Ivan Folvarochnyy and this is my blog

with an artists of my choice who’s work inspired me.

First artist we will have a look at is Stefan Sagmeister.

stefan sagmeister

born in 1962, bregenz, austria. stefan sagmeister
studied graphic design at the university of
applied arts in vienna. in 1987 he moved to new york
to attended pratt institute on a fulbright scholarship.
he then returned to austria in 1990 for community service
as an alternative to obligatory military conscription.
at the age 29, he attained a job with leo burnett hong kong.
in 1993 he returned to new york to work for the hungarian
graphic designer tibor kalman at M&Co. when the studio
closed the same year, sagmeister opened his own office
‘sagmeister inc’. in 1994 he was nominated for a grammy
award for his album cover – ‘h. p. zinker mountains of madness’.
in the following years he designed album packaging for
artists such as david byrne, lou reed and the rolling stones.
in 1996 sagmeister began developed posters for AIGA
-american institue of graphic arts-
he took a ‘year out’ in 1999, closing his studio
to commercial work and concentrating on his own experimental
projects. in 2001 released the book ‘made you look
(another self-indulgent design monograph)’.

.

Sagmeisters grandfather was educated in sign painting, and Sagmeistergrew up with many of his grandfathers pieces of wisdom around the house traditional calligraphy carefully applied in gold leaf on painstakingly carved wooden panels. Sagmeister following his families tradition with a great piece of typography he has created: “Trying To Look Good Limits My Life”.

Another artist of my choise who inspired me with a work i did in Typography is Damien Hurst.

The major reason why i chose him as an artist is because his work with a theme of “Death” reflects on my works theme “Mortalitas” translated in Latin as Death.

Damien Steven Hirst (born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and the most prominent member of the group known as “Young British Artists” (or YBAs), who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and has been claimed to be the richest living artist to date.

Death is a central theme in Hirst’s works. He became famous for a series of artworks in which dead animals (including a shark, a sheep and a cow) are preserved—sometimes having been dissected—in formaldehyde.

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, a 14-foot (4.3 m) tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde in a vitrine became the iconic work of British art in the 1990s, and the symbol of Britart worldwide. He has also made “spin paintings,” created on a spinning circular surface, and “spot paintings”, which are rows of randomly-colored circles.

Franz West

Franz West is my other artist of choice because his sculpture artwork inspired me to work with a shadows, basic form shapes and how simple everyday things can become so unique and beautiful.

Franz West (German: Franz West) (born February 16, 1947 in Vienna) is an Austrian artist who currently resides in Vienna. West studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Bruno Gironcoli. He is married to the Georgian artist Tamuna Sirbiladze who too is based in Vienna.

West’s artwork is made out of plaster, papier-mâché, wire, polyester, aluminium and other, ordinary materials. He started to produce paintings, but then turned to collages, sculptures, portable sculptures called “Adaptives” or “Fitting Pieces”, environments and furniture – “welded metal chairs and divans, some minimally padded and upholstered in raw linen.”

Mel Bochner is one of my favorite artists, as his work is very unique. He uses cubes, numbers and other geometric shapes to create his work, and it is really interesting to see how he expresses his work from just a simple shapes.

Mel Bochner (born 1940) is an American conceptual artist. Mr. Bochner received his BFA in 1962 and honorary Doctor of Fine Arts in 2005 from the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University. He lives in New York City.

Here is some of my fauvorite peices of his work that i really like:

One of my favorite quotes by Mel Bochner that i reaserched is: “Ways of Thinking is designed for anyone interested in exploring contemporary art and its exhibition framework. This section offers succinct and synthesized information on the exhibition’s concept, the artists and the works featured. One finds a general presentation, areas of inquiry and ideas to reflect upon as well as suggested Internet links and bibliographic references that allow one to gain a general understanding of the artist’s approach to artmaking, the works featured and the curatorial framing adopted. Ways of Thinking’s primary objective is to draw the public into the Gallery so that it can experience first hand the work in the exhibition and gain insight into the issues at work in contemporary exhibition making. Once the exhibition is over, Ways of Thinking becomes part of a documentation database of particular interest to students, teachers and researchers interested in the Gallery’s exhibition program”.

Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons (born January 21, 1955) is an American artist known for his giant reproductions of banal objects such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces, often brightly colored. Koons’ work has sold for substantial sums including at least one world record auction price for a work by a living artist. Critics are sharply divided in their views of Koons. Some view his work as pioneering and of major art-historical importance. Others dismiss his work as kitsch: crass and based on cynical self-merchandising. Koons himself has stated that there are no hidden meanings in his works.

Jeff Koons as an artist has created some amazing work. By using stainless steel and a colour mirror finish it is just a question for me sometimes if his work is real, because it is so perfect and his context in his work is great.

Take a look at this great car created by Jeff Koons. Isnt it just amazing and colorful?! and a choice of an background is unique.. Alfail Tower. Great job.

Take a look for yourself:

Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987), known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became famous worldwide for his work as a painter, avant-garde filmmaker, record producer, author, and public figure known for his membership in wildly diverse social circles that included bohemian street people, distinguished intellectuals, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy patrons.

My fauvorite quote by Andy Warhol is: “An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have”.

Another quote by him that i really like is: “My idea of a good picture is one of an focus of an famous person”.

Now take a look at this Video: