Terry Winters

I checked out this artist, that created the work in the post below, oh and by the way sorry about that, I had some technical difficulties.. but anyway I checked out Terry Winters, who was the artist featured in Tiffany's post. I really enjoyed the way he varies his art work. The work in Tiffany's blog was surreal though had some very naturalistic aspects to it, like the tape measurer ribbon. He varies in medium as well, from oil to lithographs and other printmaking techniques. Although both featured in the blogs are oil paintings, you can see the differences in his execution. In the one featured below his focus is on pattern and repetition of colors. The background is very abstracted along with the obscure figures in the foreground, in fact one of the only things that this painting shares with the other surreally done one is its focus on dimension. They both place on emphasis on layers and depth. I just thought this was interesting and shows how an artist can evolve.

Macro vs Micro

So I am very excited about this new project. I think it's very different from any of the ones we have done previously, especially since many of us probably are considering doing the nursing competition. I have seen alot of people starting them and most of them are very biologically themed so it should be interesting. For mine I am hoping to somehow collaborate brain cancer cells and then the support ribbons that have raised money for research on this disease. The ribbon color for general cancer is pink so I am going to layer and intertwine the two. One of the things that made me think of the whole layering aspect was Paul Carpenter's work in the recent Undergrad Show. Some of you probably know him, I think he is a senior painting major. I do not, but I found his work really amazing. He layers scene upon scene on his canvases with various colors and different areas of dripping paint and sketchy line quality. It really is quite unique to see. Hopefully I will depict a layering quality similiar to that but with my own spin on it.

Sol LeWitt

So I really enjoyed reading about Sol LeWitt today. He was someone that I had never really heard of until now and his story was very refreshing. First of all, whenever I hear a success story to the degree of the LeWitt family's, it always kind of sparks revelation in me. If the road ahead for us hear at UD looks bumpy, it's kind of reasuring that those have been through much worse and have managed such great success while keeping true to themselves. LeWitt's parents were two lower class, Russian immigrants that came to America and started a legacy, whose son moved on after them, living up to what they were, and probably to what they had hoped from him. LeWitt's modest attitude that was captured in this article reallly was impressing. He was granted awards which he turned down, public interviews which were denied, even commemoration that was not accepted. This man wanted absolutely nothing for all the work he had lived his life doing. He had all the fame and fortune that only seldom comes with the life of an artist, and he wanted nothing of it. Stories like these always seem to amaze me because after all the obstacles we all know will come with living the lives of artists, I think if you are rewarded it would be easy to fall into that snotty sort of lifestyle.
Its something I have been thinking about lately especially because of some of the things Amy Wilson had to say on Thursday. I really appreciated how she admitted to keeping herself grounded with the small "toys" she that she likes to create and hand out periodically. And how it keeps the audiences she had always intended on having instead of only those now who can afford her art. All artists at one point or another have been through the "starving artist phase" but to me its those that don't lose their heads when they reach the top that are the real artists.

Happy Easter

Ok so I hope everyone's having a Happy Easter, even though its like 30 degrees outside, but anyway I am really excited about the new project. For the Narrative, I am painting images of the animals at the shelter that I work at. I took pictures today at the shelter of some of my favorites. I am trying to depict alot of the issues that the public usually doesn't see, lke the animals with sicknesses that eventually will have to be put down. If you look at some of Sue Coe's work you can really see the suffering animals endure, especially her piece of animal control bringing in a new dog to a kennel. Her work definitely inspires me and I will definitely be writing more on her later.

Narratives vs Non-Narratives

So when thinking about this project, I figured the best way to start would be to look up the word Narrative. A Narrative is a spoken or written account of connected events, a story. Since most definitions of the word apply to some kind of writing, I think that the difference between a non-narrative and a narrative painting is a little less distinguishable. A narrative painting could involve anything from an interaction between two people to even in a way, a still life. And though traditionally a still life isn't usually a narrative, I think certain details can elevate a still life to a narrative. For example; a fruitbowl. Is the fruitbowl located in a kitchen? Is the light in the kitchen portraying day or night? What kind of condition is the kitchen in? Is it spotless or filthy? Maybe some kind of disaster has just occured or maybe the house has been abandoned and thats responsible for the mess? Or maybe the fruitbowl is just a fruitbowl on a table, with nothing else in sight. I think it is these types of decisions and attention to those kind of details that lead to what type of painting it is. Narrative or Non-narrative.

Understanding the Abstract

I was reading through the artists of the Abstract Impressionism movement and of course like I am sure all of you did, I had my preferences. I also asked others of their preferences of the 1940s and 50s artists and there was a general consensus. Although all of the artists of this time worked with a similiar goal in mind; to create something of gestures with emotion in mind, (influenced by surrealism) and no consideration of anything objective or representational, there was in the minds of many a favorite. Ad Reinhardt had an awareness of the elements and his efforts to "involve himself" in his paintings through the careful planning of the paintings execution, especially the size, was unique. And the political influence behind Mark Rothko's brightly colored work was new and different, many of the qualities were apparent in either of the artists work. Most did not see the preparation the two artists put into these paintings, and instead ironically turned to someone else. Jackson Pollock, a painter famous for his new technique "action painting," was a favorite among many. He, himself, has said that his paintings were nothing but paintings. They meant nothing more than that, whereas others that used careful preparations in their works, were overlooked.