self-visualization triptych

in my triptych, i aimed to show my growth into who i am today. reflecting on my past, i feel as though i used to get lost in this kind of "noise" - i would always be too wrapped up in other people or events to really pay attention to or stand up for myself. in the leftmost side of the triptych, i am almost completely covered by the noise, which i turned into a visual element. in the middle, i am emerging more from behind the noise, and finally at the end i am fully shown above the noise. to punctuate my point further, i chose to incorporate song lyrics from one of my favorite songs - "flowers never bend with the rainfall", by simon and garfunkel. the final third of the triptych holds my favorite lyrics of the song, which i made much larger than the other text: "so my fantasy becomes reality, and i must be what i must be and face tomorrow". those are the words that ring constantly in my head, and therefore i found it of high importance to incorporate them into my final piece.

word visualization exercise

currently reading: ee cummings

"i carry your heart with me"
a poem by ee cummings

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)



i think of this poem in terms of a first love, how deep and strong and moving it can be. i plan on using more childish characters in my drawings, to show the type of innocence i read from this poem.

currently viewing: whitney biennial

perhaps the works that stood out most to me at the whitney biennial were those of david hammons and lee bontecou. david hammons' sculpture, "untitled 1992", was tucked away in a corner. the sculpture consisted of all types of strange materials, ranging from burned hair to a pearl to some red yarn. upon the first glance, it simply looks like a grotesque spider with way too many legs. if you are truly invested in finding details, however, as you circle the spider-esque construction, you will notice all sorts of small treasures.
lee bontecou's displayed work was not a full-room installation, but rather a sculptural wall piece. she uses all types of untraditional materials to realize her visions. her piece is executed with such great attention to detail. this is perhaps the strongest parallel between hammons and bontecou. though they use radically different materials, their works both display tremendous attention to detail.

currently watching: student presentations

"dangerous beauty"
this exhibit, which involves the juxtaposition of lynn herschmann and marina abramovic's artworks, explores the constantly changing role of women in society and the art world. their bodies of work explore what it means to be a woman, and discuss what it is to be female. the strength of this exhibit lies in the similarities between the two artists. though they use different media, they explore a common theme quite successfully.

eva and franco mattes/adriene jenik
eva and franco mattes create avatars that reflect society's ideals in a game called second life, whereas adriene jenik works through a program called desktop theater. in these somewhat similar forums, these three artists comment on societal norms and values.

"past and present"
the comparison between lillian schwartz and robert lazzarini explores the social context in which artworks are created. for their respective time periods, the technology that schwartz used and lazzarini is currently using is phenomenal. schwartz worked creating fully digital films, while lazzarini works with rapid prototyping to create skewed versions of common objects. this exhibit serves as an excellent retrospective on the beginnings of digital art, as well as a promising look ahead to the future of digital art.

"the real and unreal"
though the themes that teun hocks and ellen kooi use are strikingly similar, they use very different processes. both artists have surrealistic tendencies, but they mix in an adequate amount of realism. kooi does not use any photo manipulation to create her works, she plans each scene in painstaking detail and takes a photograph. hocks takes a photograph of his background, prints it in black and white, and then paints over that background to achieve the effects he wants. these artists both explore the "what if"s in life, which makes for a very compelling exhibition.