For my final project, I decided to do a self-collage. I used a canvas, acrylic red paint, dried roses, images, and gem diamonds. The artist who inspired me to do this project was Amy Sherald since she does a plain bright color background and gray skin colors, with a serious face, which I find so powerful, same with Micklane Thomas, she used rhinestones, and bright colors, Micklane Thomanas make women be powerful, through her paint, she makes women be seen heard and that she matters. For this reason, I decided to be inspired by these two great artists.
"Don't compare yourself" is the title of my art project, which I came up with because I frequently compare myself to others. Social media can be a threat because we only see the positive content there and are oblivious to what goes on behind closed doors. I feel like I'm still sorting out my life, but I keep telling myself that I'm on my own time and journey and that everyone else has a different time and journey, so I shouldn't feel rushed about it. I also see individuals my age who already seem to have their lives together. The media can put a lot of pressure on yourself to make things look a certain way or about beauty standards, how you are supposed to look to fit on beauty standards, and nowadays tv, social media always advertising about surgeries, and how your body it’s supposed to look, it can all get to your head, and make us feel ashamed or insecure. For my project, I wanted to do it differently put affirmations for myself to not be so harsh on myself and to accept the mistakes and the “imperfections” that I have as a human being. We should not let social media, or society make us feel some type of way we are all perfect in our way.
When I saw the painting that Amy Sherald did for the first lady at that time Michelle Obama, it gave me power how something so simple but yet so powerful at the same time. That is when I thought about giving that power to myself, that I should accept who I am, and How I am. I printed a black-and-white picture of myself and painted a red background because I feel red stands for fire and courage. Also, Mickalene Thomas gave me that inspiration of feeling powerful, how she explores the beauty and constructs images of femininity and power. I want to keep giving myself that power and feel that I’m good enough in my own way.
This class shows me how photography, and art it is so important in our life. How art can be expressed in so many ways, it can be expressed through painting, making a movie, singing, and so on. All of these artists that I learned through the semester show me how much we are supposed to love our job to make it so worth it and feel happy with the outcome, and the journey, and to love the process.
This selfie I had taken when I went to Spain in the summer of 2021. I had visited Madrid and Barcelona in Spain. My maternal grandfather is from Asturias, Spain. So let alone my first time out of the country, I had visited Spain to see my Spaniard roots. That’s why I had chosen this picture. Plus, it also had La Sagrada Familia church in the background, so I wanted to show historical buildings in the picture as well to relate to my roots. I also added my son who always makes me feel at home. Also a picture of my mother and I when we were in New York City at Radio City Music Hall seeing a Spanish artist, Rosalia. I also added a picture of a person covered in the flag of El Salvador. My father is 100% Salvadoran and my mother is 50% Salvadoran. And lastly, I added a picture of the New York skyline from the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, since I was born and raised in New Jersey.I also would like to point out that I specifically bought this red dress with flowers on it for my trip to Spain. I loved how it had a high slit on one side of the dress. I thought red would represent my latin and Spanish heritage.
Mirzoeff, Ch. 6:
We have already not only long absorbed the costs of this conflict but learned to find them beautiful.
We need to compare across time and space and learn to see from other people’s perspectives as well as our own.
These quotes and entire chapter are talking about the climate change happening on Earth due to humans. The first quote goes to show how the conflict and cause of climate change has made us appreciate nature more. These climate change effects have gone on for so long that because of the damage, it makes us see things more clearly and appreciative. The second quote talks about looking through other people's perspectives and how climate change is changing not just by your home but somewhere else around the globe. Even in general, it is always good to think about other people's perspectives instead of your own to gain more knowledge.
Last week’s quotes relating to my selfie in NY Times article about Frida:
“The ancient objects convey the couple’s eclectic taste and deep appreciation for Mexican art and archaeology.”
“The supplementary mix of Mesoamerican objects, one of the many types of art the couple favored, with her paintings and photographs divulge her yearning for Mexico’s indigenous and agrarian culture and her conflicts with capitalism, especially in the income inequality she witnessed during her travels in the United States.”
“Kahlo championed her homeland’s indigenous customs in wearing huipiles (woven tunics), rebozos (shawls) and flouncy, long skirts.”
Amy Sherald, Breonna Taylor:
1. “I wanted this image to stand as a piece of inspiration to keep fighting for justice for her. When I look at the dress, it kind of reminds me of Lady Justice.”
2. "She calls this portrait a contribution to the “moment and to activism—producing this image keeps Breonna alive forever.”
Amy Sherald Effect:
1. "All are African-American. Should this matter? It does in light of the artist’s drive to, in her words, seek “versions of myself in art history and in the world.”
2. "When art changes in the present, it changes in the past, too."
Kehinde Wiley, Classic Spin:
1. "For the moment depicted in the painting, the men are protected and invincible, inhabiting an Arcadian realm far removed from the grit of the artist’s childhood."
2. "Mr. Wiley’s champions tend to view his work in overt political terms. He redresses the absence of nonwhite faces in museum masterpieces, “using the power of images to remedy the historical invisibility of black men and women,”"
Black Masculinity:
1. "As I wrote just after the unveiling, the portrait helped bring the many parallels between "portraitist and President" even more clearly into view."
2. "I think I’m pretty good at representing what my work stands for. But when you’re sitting down with the head of state and discussing how he fits within a history of representation, how he specifically can interface with your aesthetic—that’s a pretty high bar to cross."
In this selfie, I felt the most confident. It gives off the self-portrait vibe that is seen in Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley’s poses.
From Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle:
“The spectacle is not a collection of images; it is a social relation between people that is mediated by images.” This means that the display is not just images, it creates a social relation between people to talk about and discuss. The spectacle will affect human interactions and relationships. Instead of disregarding a spectacle as a series of images, it has a deeper meaning and message that will affect people.
“In a world that has really been turned upside down, the true is a moment of the false.” To me this means that what we deem to be true is actually false. In this quote, he is saying that in a world that has just turned ugly, what we are looking at isn’t beauty and true, it is being hidden by providing something false. It is deceiving us to think that the world is good.
Last Week’s Reading:
We have already not only long absorbed the costs of this conflict but learned to find them beautiful.
We need to compare across time and space and learn to see from other people’s perspectives as well as our own.
My final art piece is tittled "dont run with the rest", my title is a refrence to the way my painting is dividing a individual from the rest. The television projected in the piece is the main source of the flames that are reaching the group of people. The tv is how society is controlled, it started with the tv but has evolved to your phone, tablet, or anything with a screen. As a society we swallow what ever the media gives us wether that be the realistic horrors happening around the world or the instagram likes that eat at your ego. whatever it is the mass media is what is taken over our attention span, we are too busy with agreeing or disagreeing with the masses that we all forget how to think for ourselves.
That is why in my art the flames are over taking all of the faces that are in there. The skeleteon flying away in the piece is a representation of someone who was becoming a corpse to societal thinking but was able to fly away by thinking for himself. The phrase "Dont run with the rest" is scattered around the bottom of the skeletons legs which is the skeleton shaking off even that phrase that people like to label others similar to "folllower", this supports the thought of thinking for yourself so much that no one else can even tell you to be you. I did both painting and collaging, used black cut outs from the magazine to make the cement in the piece and also used face cutouts to use as the people being taken by mass societal thinking. I painted the rest of the subjects on the canvas such as the flames, the sky and wings. Aside from the art itself the meaning of not runing with the rest is one that resigns with me. There are certain points in life where you either find yourself following everyone else or find yourself doing your ownthing. I want people to always know that what they decide to do is self provoked. Following the next person might not even benefit you or it might, my point is not to divide what you should do or whatyou shouldnt do my point is to just have people think for themselves that is also why the project can be interrpreted many different ways.
An artist that inspired my art piece is Mear One whos i a street artist known for his bold and political art paintings. His art pieces inspired me alot because of the colors that Mear chooses in his artwork,all the colors are very bold and meaningful. You can see that inspiration in the way i painted the flames, the blue sky, and the pitch black cement. His work represents inner thoughts about the politics going on in America and the oppression on poverty based citizens.My art has a political stand in which it chooses to represent independent thinking for everyone. Alot of his artwork creates the subject in a fantasy type of way to indulge the audience and also most likely poke fun at the subject itself, i had my main subject in the project have a skeleton face, his appearance reflects how you feel after getting sucked up by the rest of the worlds problems.I was inspired by mear one for his rebellous thinking and creative art pieces and his art is very similar to the type of art
"Art should reflect one’s intellect and facilitate a path of communication that conveys truth and transcendence.""Not all graffiti is done with political intent but the simple act is a political one in the sense of breaking restricting rules and expressing ones self." "Art is the ultimate way to combat the machine because it reflects imagination, something the talentless authorities cannot control. So Art is the weapon of choice because it can speak and pierce straight to your person and you don’t need to read a book to get it."
For my final project I chose to do a self collage. I used a canvas, Acrylic paint, glitter, images, and small little trinkets, as well as other craft materials. Throughout the process of my project I wanted to incorporate things I enjoyed, people I admired, and loved ones. The artist who inspired me the most would have to be Mickalene Thomas and her collages, paintings, and photos. Mickalene Thomas and her vibrant color palette and different mediums influenced the color palette and the process of my collage. Many of the colors that were incorporated into my project correlated with the artist’s using bright purples, oranges, and blues along with patterns and cloth.
Like the artist I wanted to incorporate my family, my loved ones, and people who have taught me valuable things throughout my journey of life. I believe through my project viewers Can see many perspectives of me. The title of my project is “Euphoric simplicity’s”.I chose this title because like the word Euphoric I wanted to convey The things and people that truly make me happy and also contribute to my identity. While learning more about the artist Mickalene Thomas I found many of her works to be inspirational Creative and centric. Many of her works touch on sexuality, women’s bodies, gender, and identity. The artist Discusses her own culture while binding her creativity through her collage work and photography. There were many pieces I took reference and inspiration from. Her Collages Titled “Jet Blue #1”, “Tète De Femme #8”, and “Le Dejeuner Sur L’herbe Les Trios Femme Nior” Gave me the inspiration for the color material and overall layout of my collage.
In the center of my canvas there is a cut out image of myself. Around the canvas there are some flowers. These flowers represent my love for nature as well as my favorite flower.The right side of the canvas Is mostly made up of glitter and acrylic paint. Around the border of the cut outs insert image there are little objects like paint brushes and pencils representing my joy for art. Going along the border there were little mini Coca-Cola bottles Representing my favorite drink. On the lower left side I painted my zodiac sign. Like Mickalene Thomas and her love and admiration for her family who inspire most of her work, I wanted to incorporate that same idea in my peace. The left side of the canvas mostly conveys photos as well as different background material like cloths, fabric and beads,and patterns. I Throughout the semester as we learned about different artist and art methods, Artist like Wangechi Mutu, Mickalene Thomas, Frieda Kharlo conveyed women ,there beauty, struggle, and Overall perspective of how these women saw themselves. I think my final project grasps and connects to the similar concept of the artist Mickalene Thomas while incorporating my own personal identity, things and people i enjoy in my life in my work.
Quotes
The Feminist Challenge of Wangechi Mutu
“ These layered references and remixed body politics contribute to an interrogation of otherness, race, alienation, and female representation.”
“These women are not metaphors, they are not waiting to be represented, rescued or destroyed. They are gloriously, catastrophically themselves, and we meet them on their own terms — as we so frequently meet each other — in stagy, embarrassing, endearing selfies launched into the world” Cindy Sherman
“People have an insatiable curiosity with her, and this presentation is a rare opportunity to see how she built her identity” (Morris).
First off, I want to start by saying that this class has opened my eyes and showed me how important art is to the world. To be able to view art in many forms such as image, film, paintings, and sculptures and see that value that it holds is mind blowing. All the great artists I explored throughout the semester were masters at their craft and also were able to share so much history and knowledge of their work. So, for my final project, I decided to make a video as a display of art. I was going to use my project board that I developed prior to this but I thought a video would have been cool to make to end the semester off. In my video, it is me and a few of my friends. I told all of them to let's make a video and they were automatically down. This is a visual representation of joyful times and having lots of fun. I had decided to navigate and do research on more artists outside of the one that was discussed in class and the artists that I chose that mirrored my final project is Abidin Dino.
Turkish artist Abidin Dino (1913-1993) was a versatile artist A man of culture who lived through the great changes of the 20th century, Including two world wars, social revolutions, end of empire with text, lines, colors and form. In pursuit of a fruitful artistic life, Dino is not only a painter, Author, also illustrator, draftsman, ceramist, sculptor and filmmaker
Across borders. His work covered all aspects of life but the work that really caught my eye was a piece he painted called “official happiness”. It displayed a big family piled up on the bed laying together, sleeping so peacefully, and looking so happy while there doing that. There were so many ways I could express his paintings, but I decided to go with a video. Me and my friends represent the big family that is on the bed and us dancing is us displaying joy and happiness. Now Abidin artwork covers almost every topic in life so I could take so many approaches when it comes to his work.
My first project was a poster board which covered my whole life. That project explained my background, my struggles, how I overcame things, and how I became the person I am today. I was going to stick with that and better it to become my final project but due to bad weather, my project got destroyed outside in the rain. It was a lot of work I put into it, so I did not even feel like doing it all over again. As I was doing research on a new artist, I stumbled across the great painter, Abidin Dino, and one of his pieces stuck out to me. I manifest a lot of great things in my life and joy and happiness is one of them. Then I started to question myself on how I can make a visual concept that displays that theme. I asked my friends if they wanted to go over to GSUB to chill and they were all down to do it.
As me and my friends are hanging out, we are watching trendy Tiktoks and laughing, so I then sparked another question which was “do yall want to make some dancing videos”? Of course, they said yes so, we grabbed a speaker and decided to shoot this video which turned out to be lots of fun since we were laughing and had done multiple takes.
With this video not being a digital project, the video is demonstrating how i felt throughout the semester. In Mirzoeff text, he quotes: “Seeing the world is not about how we see but about what we make of what we see”. Every time I link with my friends, I’m more at ease and not worried about all the negative things that has been occurring. Experiencing family issues, wanting to give up on school again, starting to feel that I was not valuable had me captured in a cage. Mirzoeff also stated in his work “trained to pay attention to distractions”. I would let all the bad and distractions stop everything good I had going on. Me taking a breather and reflecting on everything with my friends through our demonstrations put me back on course to want to go forwards with my academic career and not give up again. The video was title “The Lab” because whenever we link to dance, we view it as us being in a laboratory, improving our dance moves, upping our creativity, and creating great visuals to be produced and wanted to be partaken in. I made the video over 2 minutes long, placed us in a big room inside of the student union building on campus, speakers were blasting, and added 2 of my closest friends that attends the university as well, to show this vibe where we zone out and enjoy the moment without any worries. As I’m dancing in the video, you can see me smiling alongside my friends, expressing that we are having a great time and joking around in the moment. Some may look at the video and say that it is just a dance video and not a real project, but when you really look at the facial expressions, body movements, listen to the 2 minute song that is looped, you could easily identify that is a joyful setting. It was a fun experience recording this video as my final project.
Citation:
'Can you paint the picture of happiness for me, Abidin? (hurriyetdailynews.com)
Art Now and Then: Abidin Dino (art-now-and-then.blogspot.com)
