Lee

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People protest U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement that he plans to  ban transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military, in Times Square, in New York City, July 26, 2017

The whole idea that just because someone is transgender they don’t deserve the same rights as everyone else is so stupid and it baffles me how some people can be so ignorant about the rest of the world. They treat trans people like they are less than human and don't deserve rights at all which upsets me greatly because I know so many trans people and they are much better people than the people who treat other human beings like garbage.

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SATR

SATR is a street artist from Guangzhou, China. She is 22-years-old and does amazing works of art all over China. The majority of her works include animals such as birds, tigers, lions, leopards, etc. They are usually in all black except for one accent part of the image. This work drew me in because my favorite animal is the tiger and her art just sort of screams Chinese. 

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18 Transgender Killings This Year Raise Fears of an ‘Epidemic’

The killings, many of them against transgender women of color, have deeply disturbed groups already familiar with threats to their safety.

Recently, there has been an increase in the murders of transgender women. They are being targeted solely for being trans. This issue is already apparent in so many countries around the world but for it to happen in developed countries such as the US or even Canada is shocking. It is 2019 and one would hope that society has changed enough to at least allow people to live their lives in peace. Unfourtanetly, this is not the case. We have started going back to the days where you can be killed for being who you are. This issue is even worse for black trans women as they are targeted even more. This issue is so important and yet the media barely covers it because the victims are not white or cis, and the killers are white and cis.

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I'm thinking life's too short it's passing by, So if I'm gonna go at all, Go big or go home.

American Authors (Go Big Or Go Home)

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Banksy

I found this image extremely eye-catching when I first saw it. It shows just how stupid people who say that global warming isn’t real sound. The effects are clear and scientific, and yet people refuse to see what is right n front of them, rather they hide and isolate themselves from the truth. This issue is a big concern for me and my generation as we are going to be the ones left to clean up the mess past generations left. We are going to be the ones experiencing extreme weather conditions and breathing in smoke filled air. 

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Descending Dragon - David Tevenal

Tevenal is an illustrator, muralist, and tattoo artist and this is one of his works. The image is of a traditional Chinese dragon. Chinese dragons are very important to Chinese culture and are celebrated regularly. This dragon is illustrated in a sort of cartoony way which I think is a different take on the traditional Chinese dragon paintings, yet it still stays true to the traditional side as well. 

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Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present.

Master Oogway (Kung Fu Panda)

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Pokemon Heart Gold - Game Freak

I really enjoy this sort of pixel art style because it gives such a retro look and you can imminently tell this was from at least a decade ago. This game was also the first Pokemon game I ever played and it gives me so much nostalgia and a warm feeling. The visuals and animation were so mesmerizing coupled with the fantastic soundtrack. And even in 2019 the animation still holds up and looks great in my opinion. The 2D animation just gives off such a simplistic vibe that I really enjoy in basically all art styles.

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Firewatch (Video Game) - Campo Santo

Firewatch was one of the many video games I got the pleasure or playing. The story and plot itself was decent, but what really made Firewatch memorable was the visuals and the design. The colours and textures were the reason I picked up this game in the first place. They are so incredible and stunning to look at. To get the full idea of hoe amazing they are you must play it, these pictures do not do it justice. The art style looks simple, yet is so complex when looking at it closely. This is definitely one of my favourite art styles out there. 

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I loathe my own face, and I've done self-portraits because I've had nobody else to do.

Francis Bacon

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Emily Carr

Emily Carr was born on December 13, 1871 and died on March 2, 1945. She was a Canadian artist and writer who was inspired by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast.Carr was one of the first painters in Canada to adopt a Modernist and Post-Impressionist painting style. Carr did not receive widespread recognition for her work until the subject matter of her painting shifted from aboriginal themes to landscapes such as forest scenes in particular. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes her as a "Canadian icon.”

I like this piece of art because the brush strokes add a different energy to the work that wouldn’t be there without it. The fact that she is not smiling in the portrait also adds something that many portraits don’t have and separates it from the rest.

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Yasumasa Morimura

A contemporary Japanese artist who is known for putting his own face in other famous works of art. Morimura uses extensive props and digital manipulation to create his images, resulting in scarily similar iconic works. He was born on June 11, 1951 in Osaka, Japan. Many of his works focus on characters from Western history, especially women.

I like the realistic and more lifelike approach to Vincent Van Gogh’s famous self-portrait. His eyes are so realistic in this work and it seems like the model is staring into your soul. 

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The famous and beautiful self-portrait by Abigail de Andradei. Abigail was born in 1864, in Vassouras, a small city in Rio de Janeiro. She began her art studies at the “Liceu de Artes e Ofícios”. Liceu was the alternative school for women who wanted to study art. Women were not allowed to sketch models instead opting for flowers, so since Abigail was not allowed to sketch a living model, so she used herself to practice.

A Corner of My Studio was her most famous work and for good reason too. This work was one of the winners in the Salon of 1884. Abigail received positive reviews about her work. But it was always said that she was a woman to remind that she was still just a beginner. 

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Albrecht Dürer 

A German artist who was born on May 2,1471 and died on April 6, 1528. He was a painter, print maker, and theorist of the German Renaissance. He was born in Nuremberg. Dürer established his reputation and influence in Europe when he was still in his twenties because of his high-quality woodcut prints.

I like this piece of art because of the detail and precision in the textures of the piece. For example, the fur of his coat, and the strands of his hair. 

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Everything is a self-portrait. Everything is a diary.

Chuck Palahniuk

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Fernando Amorsolo

Born on May 30, 1892 and died April 24, 1972. He was one of the most important artists in the history of painting in the Philippines. Amorsolo was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. He is most known for his  use of light.

This is a self-portrait he did of himself. This work is very realistic for a painting. It has a lot of little details that are hard to notice but without them the portrait would not be the same. The portrait has been created in a very realistic manner. Amorsolo is portrayed doing a daily task rather than posing for the portrait which is rare to see. He seems to have a sense of realism and getting the grittiness of the paint and the atmosphere around himself.

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Murillo: The Selfies (Yes, Spain’s Golden Age Had Them, Too)

Just over a dozen Murillo portraits survive, and the Frick’s got five, including two see-and-be-seen self-portraits.

The article is about self-portraits in Spain during its Golden Age. It speaks about a particular artist named Murillo who was the leading painter in the 17th-century in Seville. The majority of his artworks were depictions of religious pictures such as “The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables.” 

Many of Murillo’s portraits have been lost or destroyed, just over a dozen Murillo portraits survived.