Handmade Book: Poem Visualization

The poem "Water Music" is a poem that I really appreciated. Wanting to deal with something that deals with music or nature, I picked this poem because it incorporates both. I wanted to make my book seem as though it is a music book, so I created an accordion-style book. This way when it opens up, it seems as though someone is reading sheet music. I had a hard time picking out the visualization, but I somehow managed to pick some decent pictures. I wanted to create a nature-like book that makes it seem as though the words were the music. To accomplish this, I typed the words inside the music staff, while also adding real music notes as well.

I created all the background in photoshop and brought it into illustrator to do the type. I ran into a lot of problems saving the project onto my USB because it got corrupted. I did this project on my computer, so I had to transfer it somehow; also the Phaser printer wasn’t working, which was also bad news. Luckily, my friend lent me her USB and we went to Kinkos to print out my project. One of the pages is messed up, but there is no other way for me to fix it if the printer at school is broken. Despite all the trouble, I’m pretty happy with the concept of my piece.

Class Presentations

Living Computers:

Laurent Mignonneau and Chirsta Sommerer joined with Rafael Lozano-Hemmer were the artists that were focused on the exhibition. While Mignonneau and Sommerer focus on smaller, scientific aspects of their work, Hemmer focuses more on the architectural principles. Hemmer, a electronic artist, uses robotics, projections, sound, sensors, internet, and large scale installations with new technologies. Pulse Park, located in Madison Square Park, was a fascinating piece that was presented. The park lights up according to the individual’s heartbeat, lighting up the whole park. Midnonneau and Sommerer use interactive computer installations and scientific principles in their work. In their Interactive Plant Growing, the sensors correspond to touch onto artificial plants. This gives the viewer a greater appreciation for plants as it changes color, which was my favorite part of their work. The artists use human interaction as well as hands on qualities into their work. These artists were really a great pair.

Independence:

The presentation of Q.S. Serafijn and Gerhad Mantz showed great beauty in their artwork. While Serafijn uses digital media to explore free of gravity and sees hidden beauty and adds to reveal it, Mantz takes the beauty of nature and makes it digital; he sees the hidden beauty and digitally manipulates the images to capture it. Serafijn’s D Tower is an interesting piece that involves with the viewers; the tower changes colors according to how the majority of the people feel. This exemplifies the concept of taking digital features and making them into reality.

Define Structure:

This exhibition incorporated Erwin Redel with Hani Rashid and Lisa Anne Couture. This was especially interesting to me because Emma and I focused on Redel as well. They focused on his larger scale works, using LED lighting. Redel plays with simplicity and emotions, while the others focus on the subconscious. Rashid and Couture’s work were very large and extravagant. As the artists produce experimental art, they fit very well together, making the exhibition a unique place.


Future Shock/ Love Sounds:

Dan Deacon and Danny Perez were the artists in the exhibition. would make a perfect pair in an exhibition such as this, their stylistic manner and synesthesia being so cohesive; this exhibition would truly be a sublime juxtaposition. The information provided and the videos displayed offered the viewer with vast understanding and comprehensions of both individual artists. All I have to say now is when this exhibit is comes into play, sign me up for opening night.

Perceptions:

The two artists that challenge the same types of themes and create new environments are Gregory Scott and Oliver Wasow. Both dealing with perception, the two artists differ in various ways. Scott challenges definitions of photography, painting, and video. He challenges the viewer’s perception of truth and reality, art and non-art. Intentionally showing the difference between mediums, the artwork suggests issues of isolation. Wasow, however, makes the separation between the mediums less apparent, making the works seem more realistic, but surreal. These artists make a great exhibition and I really enjoyed the pieces they presented.

Future Shock Love Sounds:

This exhibition differed from all the rest because of the sound artists that were used. Dan Deacon and Danny Perez were the focus of this exhibition and both are known for their sound art and sound manipulation. They both relate in their experience and long lasting effects of new technology and instruments with psychedelic art. Deacon is known for starting wham city and works with other artists. I was really fascinated that Dan Deacon made the music videos for Animal Collective, especially because I love their music.

Mechanical Creations:

Ken Rinaldo and Ken Feingold deal with technological elements with natural elements. While Fiengold studies more in depth, Rinaldo focuses more on darker topics that require the viewer to think more. Blurring the boundaries between the organic and inorganic, he uses the movement of the body and converts it into something robotic. Feingold, known for video, drawing, and film, deals with the interaction between humans and the virtual world; he questions the meaning of intelligence, something that is hard to define in our everyday lives.

Whitney Museum

Visiting the Whitney museum for the first time was a great experience for me. Going with the art majors of TCNJ, I had a great time going with people who have a similar interest for art. Filled with different artworks, I noticed that I was appealed to pieces that were symbolic and powerful. Lee Bontecou, Larry Clark, George Tooker, and Stephanie Sinclair are a few artists that made quite an impression on me. All of these three pieces deal with problems that people in the world were facing, some which still apply today. Though all artists use very different techniques to portray their intention, they are all very powerful and strong pieces that drew my attention in the various styles that were presented.

The first piece that I saw was Lee Bontecou’s Untitled, 1961. Made of welded steel, wire, and other man-made materials gave this piece a very cold look to it. The visual elements that Bontecou used makes as though she intended to speak of the disasters of war. For example, the barbed wire and ropes are mounted to a canvas, along with other man-made machines. Before reading more about the artwork, I noticed how raw and cold this piece is; the materials that are used in the piece create a mentality of destruction. With the rigid details and the rawness of the material, Bontecou’s piece gives the viewer an understanding of human nature and the disasters of war.

Just as Bontecou dealt with a current situation during her time, Larry Clark also dealt with a current situation he dealt with growing up. His Untitled Photographs show a series of events that occurred in his life when he was living his friends in Tulsa. Surrounded by drugs and sex, Clark decided to document the events that he experienced. The images represent the destructiveness in drug use, abuse, violence, and the development of adolescent life. I found each image to be very powerful, especially when it noted that he experienced these events first hand. Though many may find these images very graphic and disturbing, I found it very raw and “real”. The issues that he presents were never publicized as works of art, but it presents to be influential in the way the photographs are taken.

Along with artworks that suggest social and current events, George Tooker focuses on the problem with the modern world in his piece called Subway (1950). The focus is directed to a distraught-looking woman, surrounded by similar, indifferent looking men. Located in a subway with monotone walls and surrounded by unfamiliar faces, the painting gives an eerie feeling. This isolated mood reflects the social injustices in the urban society. Tooker believed that the subway was a good placed to represent denial and negation of life. Being underground represents the weight that is put fourth on an individual. I found it really interesting that this painting is used for psychology and sociology texts “as a rendering of the anxieties and soullessness of our cities."

Another series of photographs that I also found to be powerful was the Self-Immolation in Afghan: A cry for help, by Stephanie Sinclair. These series of images show the tragic burns of the women of Afghanistan, who attempted to commit suicide by burning themselves. The images are very graphic and are very painful to look at; their whole bodies were practically burned off, leaving traces of flesh that was remained on the skin. It was hard to see how badly the women were suffering. As I read the description, I found it very appalling that these women tried to commit suicide by lighting themselves on fire because of their lifestyles. The women in Afghanistan are known to have no freedom, especially when they get married. The husband makes their decisions, leaving the women feel worthless. Looking at these series of images made me really think about how hard the lives are for the women who life in Afghanistan. They live such hard lives and it is important that people become aware of what is going on in the country. Such events may not necessarily be common in America, but this documentation shows that such events do occur more often than one thinks. Sinclair’s documentation of these women gave a very powerful feeling.

Lee Bontecou, Larry Clark, George Tooker, and Stephanie Sinclair chose to use art to express a certain situation that occurred during their lifetime. Each used their own style with the materials they used, all of which were suitable for their works of art. As I took notes on the pieces that were appealing to me, I found that I was drawn to pieces that represented a social situation; those pieces are very powerful and appealing to me because they have a deep meaning behind the artworks. I realized that as I visit more museums and gain more exposure, I learn to appreciate artwork more. I will defiantly visit the Whitey Museum again.

Poem

Water Music by Robert Creeley

The words are a beautiful music.
The words bounce like in water.

Water music,
loud in the clearing

off the boats,
birds, leaves.

They look for a place
to sit and eat--

no meaning,
no point.

Word Visualization

Final Triptych

(all separate images that are placed next to each other)

Triptych Concept

For the triptych project, I decided to focus on three main aspects that inspire me in life: music, dance, and art. I decided to use all of my artwork to emphasize my creativity and to show that these three aspects make up who I am today. To show that my brother was also a huge influence in my life, I wanted him to be apart of my project. Last year, I drew an abstract picture of him playing the guitar with a rainbow in the background. I connected the rainbow to all three pictures to show that music, dance, and art are intertwined—music influences dance and art, dance influences music and art, and art influences music and dance. Though each picture represents a different element, it is all connected in some way. It took a great deal of time to edit the pictures and put them together, but I enjoyed creating the piece.

Most images were done in photoshop, but the image of my brother, the music notes, the and the bird were done in illustrator.

Here are some of the images I used: