vincent serbin.

vincent serbin constructs his work in a different, imperfect manner that i really like. i also really enjoy the way that he pairs complete opposite images together, like the one above. 

jessica burko

jessica burko

i found jessica burko's work when i was in high school and forgot about it until recently when i came across a research journal i had from junior year.. i remember that what struck me about her pieces was that she was mixing photography with paint, paper, and other materials.. but i also really liked how you could never see the face-it was always blurred. it must have affected me somehow because i did a piece similar to it for my rpm where the face within the image was blurred.

today i tried something new with my photography that ive been thinking about doing for a little. i decided to use a projector and place objects within the photograph by physically putting them in there. i really like the photos that i got today.. im really excited to use other objects/figures in more shoots.

such a beautiful song.

salva lopez.

salva lopez.

jen gotch.

jen gotch.
i love polaroids and using writing with photography. 

maureen drennen.

maureen drennan.
i like maureen drennans work because of the simplicity and backyard, rural america that she uses as her subject. 

john kelso.

john kelso.
im really inspired by john kelsos work because he works alot on portraits of everyday people and objects that others would otherwise overlook. 

alex leme.

alex leme.

mike osborne.

mike osborne.

kate peters.

kate peters
i really like the kate peters project 'home' because i find it really visually interesting and intriguing. 

hollis brown thornton.

hollis brown thornton.
when i saw hollis brown thorntons work it reminded me a lot of what i tried to do in highschool, using old photographs that were around my house and taking out, or covering up things within the photograph to change the meaning behind the photograph.

the truth is not in the mirror.

In my photography, one of the biggest struggles I’ve had over the years has been associating a sense of identity in photographs. I tried to give others a glimpse into others lives that were otherwise dismissed or looked down on.  Identity has always been the base of my message that I want others to understand more fully after they look at my work. When you take a picture of someone, somewhere between the lens the actual self, an extreme amount of vulnerability takes place; you are essentially revealing part of your identity. Throughout the exhibit, you are forced by the somewhat simplistic, straightforward approaches, creative displays, and wide range of approach to the subject, to look deeper at the person in the photograph.

            I found it interesting to see how each artist approached the subject of identity differently. David Hockney created identity by arranging the images in a collage that ultimately showed one photograph, whereas Alec Soth travels around the country exposing the identities of people that are otherwise overlooked. The person that I connected with the most was Alec Soth’s work for that sole reason. The way he scoped an audience was by taking five years to gather a collection of photographs that he felt present a side of America that was otherwise neglected. He drove 2,000 miles along the Mississippi River to find the subjects that he was photographing. By doing this, he creates a wide range of people that can relate and view his work as an audience. Knowing that Alec Soth was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it’s clear to see his inspiration for following the less traveled roads in the United States. It was also Robert Frank’s The Americans, a profile of the country from the mid-1950’s that inspired him to do something similar. The attitude that’s expressed in the collection of photographs on display at the Haggrety is simplistic at first glance, but easily relatable. The people and scenes in the photographs are all similar to people/things that are in our lives, therefore connecting us and drawing the audience into his work. Alec Soth’s mission was to capture these seemingly mediocre events and show others scenes along the Mississippi that are neglected to the rest of America. His mission was to expose the audience to a side of that others overlook. As far as Soth measuring success, there was no cookie cutter answer within the exhibit to help me determine it. But, you know that you’ve made it as an artist when your work is hanging in a museum-it means you’ve done something right. The thing I found most inspiring about Soth’s work though, was the quote that Soth related the work to himself.

            “For me, photography is much about the way I respond to the subject as it is about the subject itself. My portraits don’t reveal all that much about the people I’m photographing. I often say that what I’m really photographing is the space between myself and the subject.” 

anthems for a seventeen year old.

ive been listening to this all day while working on editing photos. reminds me of pipilotti rist in a way.

will steacy.

i found will steacys and felt that it he focused on some of the same subjects and materials that i do. i really like the approach he takes to each of his photographs when shooting-its interesting and different.

http://www.willsteacy.com/

thoughts on the symposium..

going into the symposium i wasnt sure what to expect, or what i would get out of i. while other classes had questions they needed answers to, having the choice of asking questions because were interested, not because its an assignment was something new to me. knowing i had complete control over how much or how little i got out of it was overwhelming but exciting.im really happy we didnt have a formal assignment for it-because i know that if we did i wouldve walked in there with one thing in my head; to get the assignment done. not to learn about different careers and how they got there.

the first table i wanted to go to was the photographer, sonja thomson. before the symposium i looked at some of her work online, and really enjoyed it. i was most excited to talk to her about how she made a living off of her work, if she did. once i got to her table, i looked at her work, but much to my suprise, i didnt have any questions. yes, she had beautiful work, yes i enjoyed it, but to me, it was self-explanatory. nothing drew me in closer to ask what her message was or how she got there.

i didnt realize that there was an art educator there until after i stopped at sonjas table. i was suprised, because i thought that the symposium would mainly be focused on jobs you can get with degrees strictly from miad. lately, ive been second guessing going into photography as a major, mainly because i cant see myself making a living just on that. i started to explore different majors, and found the most appealing to be art therapy and art education. because my work is so heavily influenced by emotions and experiences, thinking i could have a job to help those cope with problems through art would be ideal. i talked to sarah ozurumba about the differences between her field and art therapy, i was really happy to hear that the same benefits you get from helping others in art therapy, you get in art education. after talking to her i honestly made up my mind that even though i love photography, i love helping people more. seeing how excited sarah got when she talked about her job made me realize i need to have the same passion about mine. she told me that she was still able to do her own personal work on the weekends, which opened my mind up even more to the idea of going into art therapy/education. by the time it was over i knew that i wouldnt be majoring in photography. talking to sarah gave me the courage to start pursuing it...the few minutes i talked to her changed my mind about where i want to be five years from now.

crafting an artistic self.

I chose this picture because I felt that this image described my “self”. I chose to work in a digital format because almost all of my work is generated from digital photographs, like this one. After reading the introduction I realized that the purpose behind my work is changing. My ideas are being molded and shaped by my everyday experiences…it’s when I’m taking pictures that I subconsciously capture those emotions and situations I’ve experienced recently.

sourcing inspiration.

this assignment helped me realize who i am as an artist and what exactly inspires me. it also allowed me to see into why i find inspiration in the things i do.


 I’m more likely to be inspired by:

The absence of contentment
-If I am uncomfortable in my surroundings it gets me out of my comfort zone, which causes anxiety, which causes me to internalize and think more.

Personal situations
-I can clearly remember most experiences, and can benefit the most from working through a personal situation. My work will mean the most to me if I have a personal connection to it.

Interactions with humans
-Conversations that I have with people and the why people behave the way they do intrigue and inspire me.

Fatigue
-I don’t think as clearly when I’m stressed out and haven’t gotten enough rest. Surprisingly, some of my best ideas for artwork have come out of being in this uncomfortable state of mind.

Sobriety
-When I’m sober I feel like I can process my thoughts and emotions better than I can when I’m under the influence. Since my thoughts and emotions are the core of my work, it allows me to be more inspired when I’m sober. They’re clearer and make more sense to me then.

Pressure
-When I feel like I’m under pressure I work harder. My brain goes a million miles a minute and I have different ideas and inspirations because of this change in my state of mind.

Sorrow
-I’m more inspired by sorrow because it’s a very raw emotion that everyone can relate to. It’s intense and real and something that everyone experiences in their lifetime; its relatable and honest.

Culture
-I can draw more inspiration from culture because there are positive and negative things going on in our culture. You can choose to focus on the negative and/or the positive, the people affected, etc. There are so many different ways inspiration can sprout from that for me.

Familiarity
-I’m more likely to be inspired by familiarity because I know whatever it is I’m inspired by. I’ve seen it, felt it, and experienced it, therefore I understand it better and I’m able to pick it apart and draw inspiration from it more accurately.

Production
-I become inspired during times when I’m editing photos, as well as when I’m taking the pictures. Knowing I’m producing something and doing something creative allows my mind to be at peace and comfortable with letting it go wherever it wants to.

The past
-I feel like the past is something I can draw a lot of inspiration from because it’s something that I already know about. I’m familiar with the emotions associated with it and things that happened.

Feelings
-Feelings and emotions are vital in my work. It’s the basis of every piece that I make and I know that I’ll continue to work off of them because everyday we go through a number of them…each that inspire me in different ways.

Anger
-When I’m angry I tend to write. When I write when I’m angry, I’m wholeheartedly honest with myself. If I’m writing when I’m happy I find it difficult to be honest with myself if it doesn’t fit with the rest of the page because its emotion is different. When I’m angry it all just flows, and it gives me the opportunity to look at pure emotion later on.

Yourself
-I’m more likely to be inspired by myself because I don’t consider myself to be extremely social. I feel like I know myself better than I know anyone else, and I think it’s rare these days to know that about yourself.  I’ve processed through things in my head millions of times and overanalyzed everything too much, and I feel like that makes my inspiration more interesting and deep.

explosions in the sky-inspiration.

although my work is based off of emotions and experiences that i have had, music also plays a huge part in inspiring me. this song, your hand in mine, by explosions in the sky always can get the wheels in my head turning and allow me to think more in depth about different things. the song itself for me is very emotional, so it allows me to tap into parts of my brain and memory that i may have forgotten about. while creating art, music has to be there. its thought and emotion provoking, and can sometimes speak louder than an actual voice to me. a piece of music can inspire a piece of art, or vice versa; they both go hand in hand.

pipilotti rist-case study.

for my case study, i chose pipilotti rist. before this i had no knowledge of what went into creating a multimedia piece, and i didnt think that i would have anything in common with her artwork and message. after researching, i found out that the inspriation for her work came mostly from emotions, and traumatic experiences, such as heartbreak. she also looked to women's roles in society and what we were were labeled as inspriation for her videos. the video i posted above, is one of her works from 1988, called "I'm Not the Girl Who Misses Much". The title is based of the song, "Happiness is a Warm Gun", by John Lennon. she chose to personalize the title because pipilotti looked at herself as the reincarnation of John Lennon when she was a child. the message behind this bizarre video, is speaking out against the media and society, and what they portray women to be, sexual objects. she addresses that women are looked at as mearly physical objects by exposing her chest in the video, but makes fun of this by her jagged, sparatic movements that is anything but ladylike; graceful, and fluid. in this video, pipilotti also addresses the idea of emotional turmoil through the editing processes that she went through-by cutting up the film in certain parts and allowing it to freeze, changing the color in the background, the clarity, and the pitch of her singing. although the phrase that she repeats throughout the video seems redundant, her voice and movements are intoxicating and bizarre, and draw you in to watch more.
im really happy with my choice to research pipilotti rist because i found out that we both have common inspirations, emotions, thoughts and interactions. she describes her work and the process that she has to go through in order to achieve the end result as theraputic; exactly how i look at my work for me. finding an artist interested in a different medium with the same objective has opened my eyes up in the sense that although some work may be comepletly different visually, the message can be the same. its the way that we as the artist express and interpret that message that makes our work unique.

audience.

 i found erin hansons website, called recovering lazyholic, that helps her get out of bed in the morning and accomplish something. not only did i find her artwork intriguing, but she does her artwork for herself. i found this important and relating to my uv2 experience because after attempting to write the artist statement last week, i realized that my art is solely for me. if people happen to enjoy it, happen to like it, its an extra bonus. 

i also saw connections to some of her artwork to what we were writing about relating to audience; erin works for herself, but consequently affects people that have some of the same thoughts going through their head. her audience is people that stumble onto her artwork, and those who find it, like me, become intriqued and almost obsessed with her style.

writing assignment one.

part one:
I see myself in art history as an artist that went against the norm, such as in the preface that we read, against the guild. I believe I fit into this category because I set the bar for my work, what I want to accomplish and when. I choose the subject matter I want to shoot, and the message that a piece may have behind it. I wouldn’t have taken rules from the guild in order to become a “master” in someone else’s’ eyes. Part of the thrill of working in art is messing up and making mistakes. Without them I wouldn’t be able to recognize a good piece when I made one.
I’m the only person that can push myself to get work done. Knowing what I can accomplish drives me to want to set the bar even higher for myself, which makes my standards towards my artwork change numerous times. If I were told to only do so much to a piece, it would be difficult for me to just do that and nothing else, even if I felt driven to do so. Their standards would deviate me from mine, causing one or the other to be unhappy with the outcome.
I create and choose the way I want to express myself through art. I get to choose between painting, drawing, sculpture, or photography. Being told to only do one just because it’s what someone wants wouldn’t sit with me well. Through trial and error I know which medium I’m strongest in, and feel as though I can express myself in the best. It is because of my persistence through trial and error that I have gotten to become the artist I am today.
part two:
I create art in order to show others how my perception of the world may be different from what they see. Behind each picture is a deeper meaning. The meaning may differ from person to person, but my main objective is to create art that I’m proud of, and reflects whatever emotion I was feeling at the time it was shot.
I create art to show others the way I percieve things.