Deborah's Room

[hadtomakethisforclass]

Project #5

Project #5

This project really had me torn because the outlines given were so open that it was difficult to choose which direction to take it. In the end, I decided to go as simple as possible and make some sort of fortune teller. I used to make these all the time as a kid and my friends and I would treat the answers like a Bible. They were almost our creative version of a magic 8 ball where we would ask questions and took the response to be our fate.

These past few weeks have been full of endings as the end of the semester came a close, finals loomed, I walked in my CCD graduation officially closing that chapter of my life, and my boyfriend finally reaching the end of his education career as he graduated from college. I know that endings such as graduations can be extremely stressful times as students enter a new beginning that may not be certain. As such, I decided to dedicate my project to those going into new and scary times by writing “everything is going to be alright” on every single optional answer because I think that sometimes, no matter what, people just need to be told that. I actually left these in nooks and crannies around my graduation and plan on leaving more in other places this summer so that hopefully whoever finds them gets a little boost they might need.

As a self-critique, I do feel that after seeing others projects I may have gone way too simple and I should have put more time into thinking of creative ways to decorate these with words more like I did as a kid, rather than focusing on the theme or meaning of it all but I think the intrigue of seeing a random fortune teller in a random place will make up for the lack of it.

[deborahson4d]

Project #5 Text as Art

For this project I came up with some slogans that tell some of the important philosophies I hold. I cut out all the words with an x-acto knife and pasted them together to create a color poster. I played around with the color and the fonts to better articulate my messages. It was fun getting to design these posters. It was also nice to reflect on my fundamental values that I hope to share with the people around me.

This project required more courage than I expected. Upon reflection, I quickly realized that many of the values that I hold are often unpopular in the college setting. I am in the center right in terms of politics and am someone who firmly believes in individual liberty and the value of hard work, discipline, and responsibility. Often I find myself avoding situations where I could reveal my ideologies in fear of being called politically “incorrect,” bigoted, or racist. But I see the value of dialogue and the value of standing for one’s positions. No matter what people call me becauae of my beliefs or philosophies, I know that I am none of those titles people may call me.

So to embark on my new journey of standing my ground, I decided to go big with these posters. They are each about 11 x 17 inches in dimensions. The size is indicative of the promise I made to myself to not be afraid of standing my grounds.

I posted these posters in the auraria library.

[taylorcozart]

Word on the Street

This was such a fun and beautiful series to make! I myself, love lettering and think it is an amazing art form. I took my love for lettering and mixed it with different quotes from amazing poets such as Maya Angelou and other random quotes I found online or just created! I think it is so heartwarming and thought provoking to stumble upon words when you are just out and about. I know I stop and think about the time and the meaning that the artist put into making a meaningful statement. I based my series around loving yourself, being kind, being one with nature, and forgiveness. I hope when people look at these words it brings a smile to their face and perhaps makes a difference in their day!

[deborahson4d]

Reading Response #5

These readings was my first exposure to the works of Jenny Holzer and Robert Montgomery. Both artists integrate words into their artwork in attempts to ask questions and to create new dialogue. When learning about the works of Jenny Holzer, it was interesting to see her process of giving physical form to the texts she have selected, whether that be physical objects, billboards, or the form of a painting. The interesting difference I spotted between Holzer and Montgomery was the authorship of their text. Holler talked about how she started working with poets as she further developed her body of work. She has written for her work in the past but said that she prefers to let others do the writing and her take part in the transformation of the text. Because of this preference, she has veered into the realm of painting on government documents which produce an interesting body of work that blends visual representation with the meaning of text. This painting series that closely resemble the works of Malevich and Minimalist artists intrigued me the most. The blocking of the words in the documents which create the composition of colors creates a dynamic relationship between unreadable text and its underlying meaning. As for the works of Montgomery, I appreciated his works for their clean and direct presentation. The presence of poetry in an unexpected environment in it of itself creates new meaning for the space around it. I liked the part where he talks about finding a new unexpected dialogue in the middle of an urban city. Finding a set of text that evokes sentiment rather than commercial interest in these settings allows for people to take a minute and glance at their busy lives. It’s a moment where they can take time to escape their daily routines and to venture into a new realm of thoughts. The works of Holzer and Montgomery made me reevaluate the meaning of text and of theo bjects that embody the text. I hope to draw inspiration from the works of these artists to create visually intriguing texts for the next project.

[hadtomakethisforclass]

Project #4: “University”

***Disclaimer: This handle of vodka was actually filled with water! No need for concern as I refused to deal with hangover this would’ve brought or trying to attend classes tomorrow smelling like a distillery***

As an intro, I’m not sure if I’ve discussed this before in this class but I actually began my post-secondary schooling as a pre-med major at the University of Iowa. Located in a small city in the middle of the otherwise predictable Iowa cornfields, the University of Iowa was notable for its celebrated Writer’s Workshop and, during my short two-year tenure, it’s ranking as the #1 party school in the nation.

Throughout my 7 years in college, I must say that MSU Denver and the general Auraria Campus are simply unique in their lack of overall collegiate drinking culture. Perhaps it is the lack of university football tailgates, the lack of dorm culture, or even my older-than-the-average-freshman age, but I truly feel that even with a brewery on campus, Metro is worlds away from the damaging college drinking culture that seems to seep throughout every other major college campus I have ever set foot on.

Despite this separation of drinking culture within my current college community, I still find this to be a massive and overarching issue throughout the nation. When I went to U of I, underage drinking was essentially required in order to maintain friends in the dorms. And while this party atmosphere begins as a “fun” way to blow off steam, it quickly becomes a stressful form of societal maintenance that drains you of any other ability to focus meaningfully on academics and learning.

When I think about performance art, the first thing that comes to my mind is that in order to truly be successful a performer must sacrifice something - societal embarrassment, bodily discomfort, etc. In this piece, I essentially ended up water boarding myself with water impersonating vodka, coming out of a liquor handle. I wanted to show the loss of control that can come from this modern drinking culture, one that can become both emotionally and physically stressful. I was going to add some audio in the background of pop culture references to drinking such as famous quotes from the movie “Animal House” but I decided that it was almost more uncomfortable and striking to just keep the original audio of me essentially choking on the liquid.

[ashleybpowers]

This concept is so incredible. I think that it was so creative of you to create a performance piece that specifically speaks to and about college students. 

The way you subtly glance at the camera and calmly chug the “vodka” is a clever and ironic message sent about the true party scene in college. When you take away the loud music and the trashy outfits and the flashing lights, watching this is confusing and almost sort of sad. I think this was what you were going for, so I think this was a really successful piece!

[taylorcozart]

Here is my performance art piece! It took me forever to create because I was terrified and so unsure of what to do, but after looking at my verb list I just put together a concept. I wanted my video to somewhat show the struggles in life when you feel uncomfortable and feel as if you are sinking. I like how uncomfortable this video looks although it’s kind of weird. I purposely had normal clothes on and got in the bath tub like that because it is so uncomfortable and odd. I put my head below the water line and heard nothing but my thoughts. This was the point I wanted to get across and want others to feel. This isn’t a normal act but it makes a statement and makes people think. I also put Billie Elish’s song “When the Partys Over” on top of my video because her voice with the sound of water is soothing and creepy! Enjoy also I will post the YouTube link for a clearer picture but I have also screen recoded it just in case!

https://youtu.be/h5e18Uddw_U

[ashleybpowers]

I LOVE THIS! It’s very movie-like and has this romantic vibe to it. But at the same time it’s dark and a little bit sad. I applaud your concept idea and love how you got in the tub with all your clothes on to send such a powerful message.

[deborahson4d]

Project #4 Artist Statement

My mom had given me a large flower bouquet for my 20th birthday. Since then I hung the flowers on my wall, drying them out for almost two years. My mom gifts me hydrangea bouquets (my favorite flower) every year for my birthday. The bouquets and my dry flowers have become a family tradition and the flower themselves now embody our memories. So for my performance, I decided to create a physical embodiment of these memories by crushing the flowers and keeping the powder in a glass vessel. I first sorted the flowers by their color, crushed them with a traditional mortar and pestle, then poured them into safe storage. I enjoyed working with the natural pigments from the flowers as well as the process of crushing them in the mortar. Through this project I gave my memories a new safe haven, to which I can return to in the future for a fresh reminder.  

[deborahson4d]

This is my performance for project #4. I’ve included a video and several photos as documentation for the work.

[deborahson4d]

It took me a long time to come up with specific actions I could execute for these verbs. I was just completely lost on where to start. I eventually settled on the subject of flowers and started applying these verbs to my new established subject. I hope to expand on these ideas for the final performance project.

[deborahson4d]

The Artist is Present Response

Watching this film reassured me of the endless possibilities of performance art. Marina Abramovic may very well be the one artist capable of utilizing this limitless quality of performance art to achieve maximum results. Through her works, which I often find to be dark, Abramovic often draws out powerful emotional responses from her audience. Through these various responses, her work reveals hidden qualities in individuals, ask questions about humanity, and sometimes even paint a somber and bleak portrayal of our society. While I was amazed by the daring artistic decisions made by Abramovic, watching the various works of Abramovic and seeing her creative process made me feel even further away from performance art. While watching the film, I couldn’t help but feel as if this art medium was one that could be employed by a certain type of people, for which I didn’t fit the description. 

[deborahson4d]

Performance: A Hidden History

Reading this article made me think that perhaps performance art is the most post-modernist art medium of all. The integration and emergence of performance art came up several times when learning about art history of the 20th and 21st centuries in other classes. With that background knowledge, I was able to realize through this article that performance art truly has always been employed as the tool to challenge the artistic conventions of that time period. As the article mentions, Dadaists, Futurists, Minimalists, Conceptual artists, and even Cubists all developed their own forms of performance art in attempts to expand the horizon of art making by challenging the accepted parameters of their time. 

The part where Goldberg compares the limitless possibilities of performance art to the variety of frames film directors get to choose from made me reevaluate the limits of performance art. I used to think that performance art was the most constraining and limiting of art forms due to it’s limits of time and place. But when rethinking this notion, I realized how the possibilities are limitless when it comes to the performance itself. I, the artist, can literally do anything. For this seemingly limitless amount of subjects of performance art, I tend to find performance art too abstract, not relatable, and at times absurd. Through the completion of this module, I hope to yield a better understanding of performance art, and thus build new appreciation for it. 

[otravez88-deactivated20210122]

I chose to portray a simple love story with my video project. It’s the classic missed connection scenario in which a Barbie and a dragon are in the same spots of a park at different times. The two finally meet on a bridge overlooking the train tracks metaphorically, where there two paths cross. The romance is pretty PG since these are children’s toys after all. I had the opportunity to take these shots drenched in beautiful sunlight, the exact kind of day that a person, or toy,might enjoy the park. #love #spring #unconventionalromance

[deborahson4d]

Haha I absolutely love this approach! Enjoyed this short film (: 

[deborahson4d]

Project #3 “La Table” 

This is my final product for project #3, inspired from Sean Cubitt’s essay, “Projection: Vanishing and Becoming.” Out of Cubitt’s writing, what stood out to me the most was his theory on the universal core purpose of art as a “kind of memento mori.” The suggestion that perhaps all art is created in hopes to capture a moment and preserve memories inspired me to document this important moment of my life. I am blessed to live with my family at the moment (my mom, dad, and my younger brother), but I know that this chapter of my life is coming to an end. It is my wish to cherish every precious moment I get to share with my family. 

An essential part of our family life is the kitchen and the table. My mom and I often cook meals together and amidst the luxury of a Saturday morning, all four of us share the table for the meal. All of the footage that appears in the video is of my family and they were all shot by me. If it weren’t for this project, this moment too would vanish through the force of time. But through this video, the memory can now last a bit longer in our minds. 

[deborahson4d]

This is my music video exercise for Module #3. The song I picked is “Happy Bubble” by the Korean Jazz band, Winterplay. 

[deborahson4d]

Response to “Projection: Vanishing and Becoming”

The point Cubitt makes regarding the deep motive of preservation and memory as the basic desire for the creation of art is interesting. Reading this part had me think about and further agree with this speculation behind creation. The author writes “The realm of the dead is the realm of absence, and therefore the realm of the silent, colorless line” and that these shadows reveal a greater “fear of death”. Perhaps art really serves a purpose as a “kind of memento mori.”

Cubitt mentions the loss of the object during the process of representing; how representing an object through shadows, illusions, or art result in the loss of the actual object. This irony reminded me of Kazimir Malevich and his works. Through the newly developed art style of Suprematism, Malevich sought to stray away completely from the illusionistic false portrayal of representing real life objects on the canvas. He thought that “realistic depictions” of the world  spoke less truth about life because they were just false recreations of the actual subject. Thus he tried to reach the essence of painting by painting what is true on the canvas, such as squares and color that exist as itself on the canvas. This disparity between realistic painting and its ironic falsity was explored also by the famous surrealist artist Rene Magritte. In his work The Treachery of Images, Magritte presents a realistic depiction of a pipe only to write underneath “Ceci nest pas une pipe” which translates to “This is not a pipe.” The caption points to this irony of representation and reminds the viewer of the nature of realistic painting based upon the truthfulness of life.  

This reading by Sean Cubitt reminded me of all the readings I did for philosophy and tied those concepts in nicely with my background in art history. I understand that I might’ve pioneered into a different discussion from this text. However, I thought these were interesting connections that would be fun to consider. This reading made me once again realize the deep ties between philosophy and art. Artists create what they see in life. Their works reflect their world views which are determined by their philosophies. How each individual perceives the world is different and all those various perceptions are then projected into the world they live according to their philosophies. It is the artist’s job to share this perspective and have their viewers get a glimpse of a different world of the artist.

[deborahson4d]

Chapter 6 Reading Response

Reading through this chapter made me broaden my expectations and perspective on the relationship between time and art. For a long time I had chose to disregard the aspect of time in the artistic concept because I always associated it with media art and performance art. Mainly coming from a traditional art background, my interest naturally aligned with drawing, painting, and sculpting. I distanced myself from video art and performance art, thus turning off my interest to the concept of time in art, by quickly categorizing them as art forms that were too vague, avant-garde, and difficult to understand. But now I understand that the aspect of time is not something confined to the realm of media art or performance art. This chapter made me realize that time is present even in paintings, photography, and sculpture, the works I have familiarized myself with for years and had been quick to judge their absence of time. Artists incorporate time into their works in other ways besides the obvious direct incorporation. They can choose to incorporate time by implying it or by recording it. The incorporation and depiction of time in art works can vary greatly. It does not have to be done in one particular way. Now I started to realize that certain aspects of the paintings I so greatly admired and sculptures I had revered have greatly to do with time and the creator’s awareness for its importance.

[timelytea2000]

Project #2 The Loop (Forever):Rainbow/Music videos

[deborahson4d]

Really interesting collection of GIFs! I like this rare set of animated GIFs. The one non-animated GIF blends in well with the rest. This collection is quirky and fun to look at!