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Final Paper on Avatar

Evan Schwartz is an artist that works within the medium of Photography.  Schwartz is from Chicago and received his Bachelors in Photography from Pratt Institute in 2005.  The work that he presents shows a behavioral process of humans and a focal point on gender. Schwartz has fun by showing off his transgender identity that is how his career got started.  He is specifically a Brooklyn based transgender artist.  On November 4th, our class went to the Postmasters Gallery to visit a curator who has been in the Chelsea area for over 30 years.  She described that people come and go into the gallery in order to view Schwartz’s work. While entering the gallery I began to notice a few things about his photos.

The exhibition that Schwartz put out to the public is called Best Man.  I saw that his photos are all large-scale photographs and they are worth a significant amount of money.  There is a vast amount of information about this exhibition.  According to Evan’s website, Best Man is about “the study of male bonding”.   He states: “I was born in a female body and raised as a woman. Yes, my own natural instincts afforded me a beginning.  Just enough male instinct for transitioning to make sense.  Body language, intimacy and the silence that forms the masculine relationship are behaviors I’ve studied for invisible survival.  Some of the male behavior is nature, much of it is how men are raised; taught that masculinity is founded in lack of intimacy. Silence is an integral part of communication between men, perhaps to insure a level of intimacy isn’t verbalized. By creating these moments, not only am I synthetically filling the void from my past, I am experiencing the intimate male bond that I have.”  He changed to become a man because he did not like being a woman.  He also wanted to be himself and therefore people would judge him for this idea of becoming transgender.  

While studying his work in the gallery I was intrigued on how sharp the pictures were. The lens and camera that he uses must be remarkable.  Perhaps some photos were staged during his exhibition and some actions that people did were not; yet typically, caught in the moment.  He also catches individuals or models that were natural in the environment that he was shooting in.  

I was always intrigued by the fact that some photographers take their photos much differently than others.  Personally, when taking photographs of people, perhaps portraiture, I wanted to focus on the person or persons in the frame.  I usually ask my model where they would like to take the photographs and then we decide by giving each other different ideas.  Once we are in the area that I intend to shoot in which honestly could be anywhere.  For example, outside on campus, in an empty parking lot, near a few trees, it really depends on the narrative of the project, assignment or what I want to shoot.

One of the photos that I can connect this to is definitely his photo titled Jump, 2014.  It is listed at seven thousand five hundred dollars; the photo is taken with flash since it is being taken at night.  There are three men that are in the frame and they are all nudes that involve them jumping into a lake.  In the background you can vividly see there is a bench, trees, a fence, and a ladder to climb out of the water.  The three men all have different expressions of excitement or astonishment on their faces. The male nude on the left has his arm in front of his face and he is looking away from the camera.  The male in the middle is jumping up with excitement and you can clearly see his whole body, his arms are up in the air, his genitalia is visible and he is looking away from the camera; his eyes are down away from the camera.  The third male is also jumping but he is looking at the water.  I believe that Schwartz did not stage this photograph. With my interests, I plan on taking my subjects naturally because that is when they are not trying to be something that they are not.  I never plan on staging the photograph unless I would like it to be staged or my model would like it to be staged.  This could also depend on the context or narrative of what we planned on doing.  I am not interested in taking photographs of nudes but capturing the models in their natural environment fascinates me. For example, not having them “try” to look good or pose, everything that they do should be natural.  

Another one of his photos that I found to be captivating was definitely Time Kill #2, 2015.  This photo portrays two men standing up with their backs up against a fence.  One man has a mustache with a hat, a stained shirt and jeans on, hands around his back and is facing forward and the other is next to him with his hands up on the fence, looking down, he looks almost as if he is “pushing” the fence.  In the background, you can see some trees, a road, and office buildings.  In my opinion, I think this photo looks staged due to the fact that the one model on the left is looking in one direction and the other is facing toward the ground.  Their hands are put in a position that does not seem natural or ordinary.  Perhaps, Schwartz told the men what to do and how to stand making them superior.  When it comes to photographing an individual or more than one person I try and put them in a place where I can maneuver them and I can say “stand there, put your hand/hands here, look this way.” These little things are something that I am a fan of doing because when I shoot photos it comes from an idea that I have or something that I want to imitate.  I have shot many photos of males, females, objects; landscapes, pets and I always thought it would be best if the photographer were not directing the subject. Usually the model asks me some questions like “What do I do? Where do I go? Do you want me to do anything?” I usually answer with a “do this, do that, honestly be natural, do not fake anything.” I have taken pictures that resemble Time Kill #2, 2015.  I enjoy taking full body shots and it is one of my interests because you get to see everything that the person is wearing and all the physical features that they have.  

After looking at his work, I will now experiment with different techniques when it comes to taking photographs.  These techniques could be the angle that I am shooting the photograph, what my main focal point is, telling a story within the photo and I believe that Schwartz shows does perfect examples of these techniques.  With portraiture with models I have them be relaxed, have fun but I want them to be confident when they are in front of the camera.  The male nudes in Jump 2014 seem to act assertive while jumping into the lake.  That is how I want my models to be when taking pictures. Sometimes it could be difficult if the person is not comfortable but I always try and crack a joke in order to loosen them up.  

It was an awesome experience seeing Schwartz’s work and learning about what type of photography he shoots.  I never would have guessed that he worked with transgender identities.  I loved getting to know more information on him including his background, his style and his exhibitions.  In the future, I am planning on going to see more of his shows and work and I will keep an eye out on where they will be located.  

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November 18, 2016 - Whitney Museum & Seeing/Visiting Jenny Perlin and her exhibit.

Today we visited the Whitney Museum in Chelsea.  It was awesome to go to a museum to see an artists’ work and then later see the artist herself.  On the 5th floor of the museum is Perlin’s exhibit.  The works of hers are called “Canopy, 2016″ and “Twilight Arc, 2016″.  Canopy is a sound installation that is 12 hours long.  She uses Russian Orthodox church bells that were recorded on 48 track each with a different ringing sound.  Perlin was inspired by Alexander Scriabin, a Russian composer.  The sound correlates with the viewer’s experience of the silent film.  Twilight Arc is “an ancient dream”, it is to create a device that can translate music into light, light into sound and sound into color into tone.  The artist draws a long history of musicians, inventors and composers who try to realize that the dreams are made either by creating color organs rather than by instruments and musical sounds.  The film is hand-drawn animation made from Perlin’s own graphite drawings.  The projector was twitching between pictures of the animated images.  Jenny had so much to say when we visited her.  She talked about how much time she put into her work.  She is humble and loved having us in her studio.  I loved she uses film within her medium and the number of drawings she creates for her work is astonishing.  

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November 11 - Guggenheim, Neue Galleries

We started the day off by traveling through Central Park in order to go the Guggenheim Museum.  We visited Agnes Martin’s exhibit and it was awesome to see all the work that she made.  Most of her work is large and small scale consisting of paintings that have lines, and shapes such as pentagons.  Most of the paintings were separated by small lines.  The coolest thing about the museum is how the building is in a circular shape.  As you travel up the museum the dates becomes more recent, early to old. The next destination we traveled to was the “Neue Galleries”.  There was work by Gustav Klimt, Marcel Breuer, and Pablo Picasso.  There were many drawings of figures such as nudes, portraiture, women in dresses, architecture, furniture and bags from that time.  It was relatively small and the location had three floors so there was a significant amount to explore.   

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November 4th - Emily Harvey Foundation & Postmasters Gallery

I had a wonderful experience by starting out the day by visiting the Emily Harvey Foundation.  We spoke to a woman that led through almost a cermony-spritual like experience.  We used candles and talked about water and types of water diseases, bodies of water, chemicals in water etc. Typically, almost anything that had to do with water.  We were given an ice cube that we had to describe almost as if it was our pet and we had to see if it would melt or not by the time we left the exhibit.  There was grass like moss on the ground and the room was dark.  She told us to feel the grass with our hands and feet.  We were in a circle reading out of a book and it was nice to have everyone involved with what we were doing instead of randomly wandering around in an open vast room staring at certain pieces on a wall.  After lunch we went to the Postmasters Gallery to view Evan Schwartz’s work. We also talked to the curator who has been there for 30 plus years.  Schwartz’s work is successful, he had a lot of prints that seem to be telling a story.  The curator gave us a lot of information about the gallery and how often people come in and out to the view the art.  A significant number of my classmates asked questions and she seemed to answer all of our questions which was helpful.  I enjoyed this day and would love to go back to both galleries to view unique artwork.  

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Art Blog Analysis - Scott Daniel Ellison

For my blog analysis I will be analyzing the artist: Scott Daniel Ellison.  He was born in the Bronx.  The title of the article that I am reviewing is “Every Artist is in some way is self-taught”. He does an interview with Two Coats of Paint and shares some information with us about his background, and early life on how he got started painting.  Ellison talks about how he works with tertiary colors and animals wearing strange jewelry.  Scott has strong marks on his paintings, which try to emphasize creepy and eerie feelings in his work.

His work is extremely fascinating to me and I am choosing to review, critique and analyze it.  I would personally say that his work is successful.  To the viewer, the paintings could be acting like a threat of some sort.  His paintings are not cheerful or jovial.  Some of his pieces consist of scary monsters that have deformities such as skinny legs, long fingers, and more.  While scrolling down this interview, there is a picture of a green monster like figure that has heavy lines and shading.  It does not have much tone and contrast to it; this piece is called “Vampire, 2016, oil and acrylic on wood panel, 11x14 inches.  Another piece is called “Vulture, 2016, oil and acrylic on wood panel, 8x10 inches. The vulture’s body seems to be human and the shirt is black with a white chain with a white skull pendant.  The head is red and it seems to be looking to the right hand side of the picture.  

I was also drawn to the limited amount of color that he uses when painting.  Ellison says that he’s “intuitive”, his favorite colors tend to be dark and grim.  He believes that his paintings are a representation of his well-being.  There are many works of his that have strange imagery.  Ellison tells us: “I started painting with no formal training.  I went back to school to study art after I have been invested in the arts.  I think every artist that has a unique style is in some way self-taught.  For Ellison it became satisfying for him to create what he wanted as opposed to looking at other artists’ work and building off ideas from them.  I believe that every artist is unique especially if one teaches them and puts the time and effort in to doing so; I agree with what he says to the interviewer. Ellison usually uses oil and acrylic paint; he starts to use layers on a few smooth pieces of wood and then begins to paint and he then sees where it takes them.  Most of the time he has a general idea but it is not too often that he does.  Soon after he does this, he begins to work with what he has and he builds off of it.

           Two Coats of Paint continues to ask whom he was influenced by and he confirms that since childhood he has been a fan of creating horror-like images.  He has tried several techniques in order to see what type of images he liked to create the most.  Ellison states: “I like awkward, uncomfortable images”.  Clearly, while looking at some of his pieces you can see that he has various paintings that gives the viewer strange vibes.  While I was gazing at the paintings, I was trying to interpret what was going on within the frame.  He talks about other artists that he has been looking at recently in order to get multiple ideas.  Ellison states that his other important influences are dreams that involve children, and he frequently works from emotion and restlessness.  He listens to different bands and musicians to spark some more ideas. Some of the musicians include Black Sabbath, Nick Cave, and Prince.  Ellison also watches films that have compositions, unique tones and meanings of narrative influences for his work.  It makes sense that Ellison loves Steven Speilberg and horror movies from the 1970s and 1980s.

           I also found another brief article about Scott Ellison; this one is by ClampArt.  ClampArt is a museum located in the Flower District in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.  The museum specializes in modern photography, prints, and paintings.  They had an exhibit on Ellison and it turned out to be successful.  They state: “Ellison paints a loose narrative involving an assortment of beasts, monsters and ghouls.  Often beginning with a favorite moment from classic horror cinema, the artist allows his mind to wander, setting the stage for an obscure episode from a story with no beginning or end.” I understand what ClampArt is saying when they describe his work.  I wish that they could go deeper into the subject and analyze the background of the painting itself.  In the article, the museum states obvious facts since we are viewing his work on the page.  

           While reviewing and critiquing his art, I realized that I have become a better examiner of art.  I analyze art more and start to depict what the piece could potentially be about. Reading interviews and watching a few documentaries has made me more aware of what I was analyzing when it comes to finding out more information and background stories about the artist and what influenced them to become where they are today.  I was happy to look at Scott Daniel Ellison’s pieces.  While finding artists, I was drawn since I was fascinated about the horror-like images.  I am glad that I stumbled upon these specific paintings because I believe that these creatures were extremely unique in numerous ways.  

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October 28th, Art News & New Museum

This past Friday, my class and I traveled to the Art News and New Museum.  In the morning we met with two curators at the museum and they talked about internships and what it is like to work for a graphic design firm.  We talked to a woman who had been in graphic design for over thirty years and I thought that was extremely impressive.  She talked about how much times have changed and how she had to adapt to new technology in order to stay up to date with her job.  She discussed printing and other techniques that made her successful.  Both of the curators were kind enough to have us on their working floor.  They showed us many magazines that they have printed and the images that were inside.  It was fascinating to see how hard someone has to work in order for one thing to come out “perfect”.  In the afternoon, we traveled to the News Museum and many different galleries along the way.  The News Museum had to be my favorite experience due to the fact that there were unique experiences.  Pipliotti Rist’s Pixel Forest had to be my favorite exhibit.  I was walking through a plethora of light bulbs hanging from the ceiling.  They were changing color periodically and in the exhibit and you also had the chance to lay down and relax.  It felt like I was dreaming or “tripping” nonetheless.  I was relaxed and I thought it was a wild experience.  I traveled to all the different floors because I was curious to see what else I could find.  The music was soothing and the white drapes on the 2nd floor had kaleidoscope projections on them; everything felt slow, the aspect of time, and movements. It was a disjointed experience for sure, but I felt as if I was visualizing a memory or a dream; so strange yet so incredible at the same time.  I would love to go to the exhibit again. 

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“Hyperreactive Imagination” -  Extra Credit Seminar, October 27th

I attended the “Hyperreactive Imagination” seminar which was hosted by Negar Ahkami.  Her work has been exhibited in the U.S. and abroad and has been in other private collections.  Negar started to go to museums at a young age.  She then soon began her artistic journey when she was eighteen years old.  Ahkami was constantly exposed to Persian and Iranian artists.  She went to the MET at an early age to discover artists and their works.  Her work consists of playing around with texture, splattering around acrylic paint and using fine and long lines; she is also influenced by Matisse.  She loves talking about work that has oriental like figures and clothing in them so she used some “cartoonish” and menacing imagery.  I was fascinated that she has a piece that she painted; it shows a street in Iran.  This street is important because they have a “Freedom Tower” and she painted the base of the tower on the right hand side of the canvas.  She used complimentary colors such as blue, yellow, white and more. Ahkami has different patterns in her work such as fancy big and small lines that she used with the “fineness” of her brush.  There were numerous times where she spoke about Iranian women.  She used the words, “occidentalism, consumerism, and subversion”.  Ahkami then reached a phase where she cut out paper in this instance, it was Russian ballet and more oriental-dressed women.  She then made a sketch diary that consists of photos of a young married woman that she thought would perhaps murder her.  I was glad that I went to this seminar; learning about different cultures within art is a great experience.  I am looking forward to attending more seminars in the future.  

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October 14th, Traveling to So-il & BAM

I traveled to the city for another extravagant adventure with my class.  We went to “So-Il” which is a graphic design firm in Brooklyn.  We talked to one of the curators there, his name is Bryson.  Bryson showed us some projects that the firm was working on and he told us that they were working on a project with China.  Global communication/work was such a fascinating thing to hear about on Friday.  I definitely enjoyed listening to what he had to say about it and what some of the diagrams were during his presentation.  He also showed us mini projects that have been completed such as the “house on the prairie”.  After listening to Bryson, we traveled to BAM which is a theatre and art museum.  We met Holly; talking to Holly really interested me.  She was showing us different rooms that had artwork in them and she also included that Lee’s artwork was on display and I thought that was great to see.  We then walked to a different building and downstairs there were many books on display.  Holly told us that people could just go this room and hangout, relax, do homework etc. I thought that was great to hear.  I had a good experience exploring these two places and I would go again.  

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Four Colleges - Morris Museum - October 8th

After I left the Summit Museum, I headed on over to the Morris Museum to visit the “Four Colleges” exhibit.  I saw work from the four colleges that surrounded my school.  The schools I saw were County College of Morris, Fairleigh Dickinson, Saint Elizabeth, and of course Drew University.  I noticed that were different professors and students from each school.  They all wrote about who and what they are influenced by.  They explained what their paintings were about and how they completed them.  I noticed that Professor Karolak and Anais Lopez had their work on display.  Professor Karolak’s painting was about the representation of abstraction, organizing color and pictorial structure.  There were different colors, lines and shapes - simply a 3D image.  It was really cool to see Anais’ work.  Her painting was called “Manipulation”, the piece included a bunch of different lines and shapes within the painting; mostly spheres and triangles.  I also saw Todd Doney, a professor at the County College of Morris.  “Tree Shadows” is the name of his painting. This was personally one of my favorites.  He had 2D design color and theory incorporated into his piece.  Art and design were influenced; orange and blue and colors were the complimentary colors and lighter hues were made for the sunlight.  Seeing the different work surrounding my school was great and I had a lot of fun reading and observing the different pieces of art.  

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Rachel Beach Exhibit- Summit Museum - October 8th

I took a trip to the Summit Museum take a look and learn about Rachel Beach’s exhibit.  As I walked into this well lit room, I saw these large sculptures that had unique designs.  The shapes that were formed were balancing each other.  These shapes included triangles, rectangles, squares and more.  As I was walking around I saw photographs of hands with paint on them.  Everything was so precise, one stroke was taken from the the brush. I observed that different colored paint and designs were made on each photograph.  A couple photos have only her pinky painted, some her index finger, palm etc. I thought it was fascinating because I never saw someone use paint on their hands or finger paint to create artwork.  What made it so iconic was that the photograph was the artists’ hand. I was glad I made the trip to the museum to see her work.  

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Semester on Contemporary Art -September 16th

During class today, we traveled to Storm King and Dia Beacon, New York.  I thought it was a great eventful trip.  Exploring Storm King was an awesome experience.  I never explored a plethora of art outside.  As I was walking through the vast campus of Storm King, I stumbled upon different artists and their unique pieces.  I was shocked by the three headed buddha, I could never imagine how much time that took to make.  As time passed by, we had to get on the bus to travel to Dia Beacon.  Dia Beacon reminded me of an old train station that is now a present day art center.  The large hallways contained some striking artwork.  I saw cars that were crunched together and different colored lights that would play tricks on your eyes. The artist that impacted me was Bruce Nauman.  Bruce Nauman’s mouse experiment in his studio was something I would never think anyone would do.  He set cameras around every angle of his studio so he could catch the mouse.  In the middle of his large exhibit, there were chairs that you can sit in so you can experience the full effect of the video.  Dia Beacon and Storm King blew my mind with all the different sculptures and art that I saw.  Someday, I would love to go again.  

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Semster on Contemporary Art - September 9th

Today, I traveled to the Museum of Modern Art for the first time.  I saw a bunch of different works from various artists and I thought it was so fascinating to observe.  As I was walking through the exhibits, I stumbled upon my favorite artist.  Pablo Picasso, he is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century; going through his exhibit was almost like a thrill.  I was overwhelmed by his paintings.  I have never seen an artists’ work in person, it was a sight to see. I loved how there were many different floors holding special exhibits for certain artists. Art is so different and vast in many different ways, that is what is so great about it.  You can almost call anything art.  Some sculptures were intriguing, I tried to analyze what the pieces meant.  The works of these people had such an impact on the world for the past century.