Caleb Ballesteros

[caleballesteros-blog]

Check out my YouTube video!!!

[caleballesteros-blog]

For this exercise I decided to do a recycling theme. I found a couple of poems about recycling and stuck them on trash cans around my neighborhood. I have found that my neighborhood doesn’t do good job of recycling and that my apartment complex doesn’t even offer recycling bins. I think at this point we all know how important it is to recycle, but I think as a society we do not do enough. It’s like we all like to talk about it as an idea, but we don’t want to act upon it.

[caleballesteros-blog]

[caleballesteros-blog]

Reading Response to Jenny Holzer interview

I thought the interview interesting and a little easier to relate than the other interview.  What stuck out to me was that Jenny realized she was a weak painter so looked for another way to for another way to use her skills.  I believe she said that she didn’t really see herself as an artist, but rather someone just throwing her ideas out to people.  I think this is a powerful statement for artist just starting out.  This class has challenged what I view as art, and growing up writing stories I never really see it as art.  I think it was nice to hear an established artist say this.

[caleballesteros-blog]

[caleballesteros-blog]

Response to WORD ON THE STREET: ROBERT MONTGOMERY

I think you know you have made it in your field, more specifically art, when someone gets one of your pieces tattooed on them.  Robert Montgomery’s words are impacting people around the world in a positive way, and I like his view on things.  He could easily just make art for the money, but instead he wants to spread a message to the public.  I like that he said his goal is to buy a wooden house and billboards in cities so he could spread the “truth”.  I’m not really interested in his art, but it seems like he is making a positive impact and for a good purpose.

[caleballesteros-blog]

With finals and presentations coming up it feels like there is a lot of weight on my shoulders.  There is a lot of pressure to do great and end the semester with good grades.  I feel like I make presentations and tests a lot bigger than they really are.  Sometimes I put barriers around me, and I realize not everything is so serious.  I made this goofy piece to show that you need to lighten up and not take some situations as serious.  When I start thinking like this, more positively, it feels like I am empting all that negative energy, and it feels great!

[sarahfolsomart-blog]

I was so nervous about going into this project and unit, I  did not know much about performance art and was very unsure about trying to create one. However, after I started thinking and got started on the project, this was probably one of my favorite ones we have done in the class. 

For my project I chose to write negative words, but in cursive and try and make them look good. My purpose in doing this was to show, that sometimes people tend to put on a positive face or mask, but really suffer from many of these traits. And while we can try to hide them, we ultimately can not cover them up. I used a word for each letter of the alphabet, with the exception of x, y, and z, because I was unable to think of any that fit for those ones. Since it is hard to see in the video, here is the list of words I wrote in chronological order: apprehensive, belligerent, condescending, despair, enmity, fatigue, gloom, havoc, irritate, jaded, killjoy, lonesome, misery, neglected, oppose, pessimistic, qualm, regress, shameful, timid, unwilling, vice, and weak. 

[caleballesteros-blog]

I like this, this is a similar idea that I had for my project. We can hide a lot from other and sometimes when people ask we still don’t give an answer. I really liked this concept!

[dicommdesign-blog]

Artist Statement:

[jay323mm-blog]

I liked the concept of this one. While new technology is great and has afforded us many luxuries, I also agree that it is unhealthy to be so addicted to our phones and other devices. I liked how you tackled this issue with this project. 

[caleballesteros-blog]

Ugh, there is something frustrating but yet satisfying about video where people hammer phones and other devices. I do like the message because I have always wanted to be less dependent on technology.

[jay323mm-blog]

The artist is present-project 4

I had a hard time figuring out what I was going to do for this one but I eventually decided to go with this clip of myself balancing on a railroad track. I live in a small town with two railroad tracks running through it, so it was a reflection of where I am from in a way. I have always been fascinated by the way giant, heavy trains can travel such long distances and so fast while staying on two narrow strips of metal.  The act of walking along and balancing on a railroad track is a playful thing I used to do as a kid and I forgot how hard it actually is. Anyone who has ever walked along a railroad track has surely tried this as well and in that regard it is something that the viewers can connect with. The terms play, risk, and failure in the theme category on the project description are evident in this project as it is a playful act, and there is also risk of losing balance and falling off of the track which would result in failure. I chose the banjo music because it seemed upbeat and playful. 

           Balance is an important aspect of life as there will always be highs and lows. We strive for balance between our professional and personal lives and maintaining that balance is an important part of happiness. Overall I wanted to do something simple for this project and I chose to do this because it brought me back to my childhood, and it showed balance, which is something I am constantly striving for.  

[skylairhilton-blog]

I feel that you really nailed the concept of play, failure, and risk. This clip is simple in the best way. I’m glad chose to start from a distance.

[foundations4drew-blog]

Definitely was a great concept. Trying things again from when you were a kid can definitely be and obstacle and it was simply well put.

[badthoughtsandbadluck-blog]

There’s always that element of danger with a train track, even when there’s no train in sight. Really nice composition too.

[caleballesteros-blog]

I think it’s cool how simple but entertaining this piece is. We know you are going to walk closer to the film but we can’t take our eyes off of the screen till you do so. The music makes it more even moreenjoyable to watch!

[jay323mm-blog]

The artist is present-project 4

I had a hard time figuring out what I was going to do for this one but I eventually decided to go with this clip of myself balancing on a railroad track. I live in a small town with two railroad tracks running through it, so it was a reflection of where I am from in a way. I have always been fascinated by the way giant, heavy trains can travel such long distances and so fast while staying on two narrow strips of metal.  The act of walking along and balancing on a railroad track is a playful thing I used to do as a kid and I forgot how hard it actually is. Anyone who has ever walked along a railroad track has surely tried this as well and in that regard it is something that the viewers can connect with. The terms play, risk, and failure in the theme category on the project description are evident in this project as it is a playful act, and there is also risk of losing balance and falling off of the track which would result in failure. I chose the banjo music because it seemed upbeat and playful. 

           Balance is an important aspect of life as there will always be highs and lows. We strive for balance between our professional and personal lives and maintaining that balance is an important part of happiness. Overall I wanted to do something simple for this project and I chose to do this because it brought me back to my childhood, and it showed balance, which is something I am constantly striving for.  

[skylairhilton-blog]

I feel that you really nailed the concept of play, failure, and risk. This clip is simple in the best way. I’m glad chose to start from a distance.

[foundations4drew-blog]

Definitely was a great concept. Trying things again from when you were a kid can definitely be and obstacle and it was simply well put.

[badthoughtsandbadluck-blog]

There’s always that element of danger with a train track, even when there’s no train in sight. Really nice composition too.

[caleballesteros-blog]

I think it’s cool how simple but entertaining this piece is. We know you are going to walk closer to the film but we can’t take our eyes off of the screen till you do so. The music makes it more even moreenjoyable to watch!

[caleballesteros-blog]

[caleballesteros-blog]

To Roll

To Fold

To Bend

To Twist

To Split

To Tear

To Simplify

To Mix

To Splash

To Flow

To Curve

TO Lift

To Fire

To Smear

To Rotate

To Swirl

To Light

Of Time

To Continue 

To Expand

[caleballesteros-blog]

Performance Art Response

After reading this article I thought it was very interesting to learn that performance artist challenge what viewers perceive as art. Coming into this class I always thought that paintings, drawings and movies were considered art, but taking taking this class has taught me that art has multiple mediums.

[caleballesteros-blog]

For this project I thought the best way to display light and color was to do a time lapse video of the sun setting.  This was not the best of ways, but I think this still does a good job of displaying light no matter the condition, and how the colors and light change when the sun goes down.

[caleballesteros-blog]

I decided to add one of my favorite Kanye West songs over a highlight video of my favorite basketball player, James Harden.  I think the music goes really well with the video and they complement each other very well.

[caleballesteros-blog]

Reading Response #3

  Reading chapter 6 in the book helped me realize what an important factor time is in art.  There are different ways that time can impact art work but the two examples that stood out to me were Robert Irwin’s Getty Garden, where the use of different flowers and plants blooming over the different seasons would give the audience a new experience every time they came to visit.  The other example is the use of implied motion using a camera.  The impact it can have on the meaning of a piece of art can be big.

  Reading Cubitt’s article was a hard read, but I thought it was interesting that light and projection was the first art form and actually influenced other art forms.  When it comes down to it that is how a camera works, but I never thought of it like this before.  I thought it was a cool thought that some of the first artist or entertainers were our ancestors dancing in front of a fire trying to think of interesting ways on how to one up the competitions dancing shadows.