Monday, October 24, 2011

tension in photography examples

Daniel Gordon:
 Jamie Permuth:
Also, I found this picture but was unable to find the photographer. It's been reposted dozens of times, probably, but the original blog doesn't have the artist's information.

three tension in sculpture examples

Beth Cavener Stichter is a wonderful artist! This is her artist's statement:

“There are primitive animal instincts lurking in our own depths, waiting for the chance to slide past a conscious moment. The sculptures I create focus on human psychology, stripped of context and rationalization, and articulated through animal and human forms. On the surface, these figures are simply feral and domestic individuals suspended in a moment of tension. Beneath the surface they embody the impacts of aggression, territorial desires, isolation, and pack mentality.”





Next, I found Christopher Lee Donovan. 
And finally, Nicole Dextras:

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

tension drawings, part one


about how tom completely approves of my talent and technique

during our peer critique, tom had only positive things to say about my tiny refridgerator. i'm not sure whether this was due to a lack of experience, a desire to preserve my self-esteem, or both. probably it was because my project is legitimately great and tom, like so many others, excitedly told me so.

some of my congratulations included:
1. "i liked the humor in it. it goes with the drawing style."
when i asked him to clarify, he said that he liked the cartoony quality about it.

and then he mentioned some areas where our creative differences made themselves evident. but, anyway, i did not get even a little butthurt. i had a couple reasons for making the choices i did, and they were simple enough to explain. for example:

tom: i think the chain looks pretty, but if i made it, i would have made it dirtier and more forboding looking. because a chain is something that discourages people from going someplace or looking at something and this is just kind of nice.

me: i agree with you. but when i made this little fridge, i filled it with tasty snacks and a little doodle of myself. this isn't a terrible place. it's a little paradise that i live in.

tom: in light of this new information i feel it is absolutely necessary that i retract my former criticism.



it was pointed out that the craftmanship of my fridge could have been better. there was a visible seam where the two pieces of paper joined. and the box probably could have looked more like a fridge if it had fridgely landmarks, like door handles. i guess that's right or whatever.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

response to 10/5/11 lecture [ray johnson]

ray johnson seemed legitimately insane, and not in the taboo, homicidal way. his habits betray a man with a type of introversion that, in my opinion, is rare among artists. he seemed to keep the majority of his work to himself, neatly piled away. the work that he did exhibit, sell, or circulate was tempered with a bizarre sort of perfectionism. he made icons. he distributed them to people who were in no position to reject him, critique him, or converse with him. he alienated audiences in his "nothings," where his goal seemed less to build a relationship with patrons than to confuse them.

how totally and completely neat. nobody knew what he was about. johnson lacked the air of pretentiousness that artists cultivate by explaining their process, inspiration, or method. he just made it, and he just liked it. i mean how many times have you broken up with an artist after reading a published interview, or something, and finding out that they're totally absorbed with "making a flesh of the canvas," for example? you want to know that an artist is considerate of their work, but not to the extent that they can wax metaphorical about it for 10 pages. maybe that's my personal beef.

 i liked that ray johnson was always "turned on." he could make associations with images by going through the alphabet. as a collage artist, he probably looked at everything with a creative eye. he pulled images from stickers and garbage and advertizements. i'm not anything like that. everything that i draw tends to come from an idea that i've had, not something i've seen. that's why, sometimes, it's so difficult for me to produce something: i just can't think of anything interesting. but johnson saw interesting things all the time.

actually, the only part of that film that really made me connect with a dead man was his hotdog stunt. really? he dropped hotdogs on people? from a helicopter? he hit a box wit a towel, or whatever, while concerned patrons watched, searching the act for meaning? that's pretty funny.

i can relate to that type of method, but more personally and less artistically. i make fun of myself at my expense, without suffering blows to my self-esteem, because i know that i'm not discrediting myself. i'm just contributing to the ridiculousness of a situation, or whatever. 

Sunday, October 2, 2011

the missing pictures, no longer

 



the lobster, remarkably, as become a recurrant character since this drawing.






see?