#ui-intermediaconcepts-blogs

[sarahshoemakerphoto-blog]

Podcasts, Blogs & Magazines

At first, I felt lost with which link I wanted to click on first. So, I clicked on the one that I’ve heard of before but haven't used much of. I click on Artsy and immediately went to the ‘artist’ page. I started scrolling through the artists until I stumbled upon a thumbnail that stuck out to me. I found Herb Ritts who is a celebrity photographer who I have never heard of. He took a lot of photos of nude models, which is something that I’m always attracted to. I love the human body and love when photographers photograph them in unique ways that anything but sexual. Many of his photos are abstract forms of the human body and I really appreciate that in his work, I’m glad that I stumbled across him.

[flezner]

Sergio Vega // www.artsy.net

I chose to explore artsy and it lead me to find artist Sergio Vega under the “artists” section of the site. I draw to his profile picture, shown above, and ended up diving in. His use of colors and shapes were striking to me and it lead me to more of his work I love, shown below. 

The amount of electricity the yellows and blues give off in these photos make them stand out to me. I love the modern colors and shapes over these elegant birds that you would only find in paradise. It makes me very calm, while also energizing me. I wanted to hang it in my room immediately! Unfortunately it was out of my price range.

I loved that Artsy had a page for artists to display their work in an organized fashion. It was easy to use and explore, leaving me to look at Sergio’s work for quite some time. His work is so vibrant and full of life, it puts me in a great mood. I hope to one day own a piece of his work, and I hope to be able to make someone feel this way with my work. 

[iowa-keanureeves-blog]

Out of all  of these links, the one that most interested me was the ARTFCITY one because it had these exhibits called We’re Not Getting Our Security Deposit Back, Baltimore Edition. Living in an apartment myself, some of these pieces made me cringe when I thought about how it would be if someone did this to my apartment. But they also intrigued me at the same time. The first one on the website is quite simple, it shows a white room, with white tiled floor. There are 7 paintings on the walls. Four of the pictures are small and put together in a square shape. One is black, one green, one red and the other purple. They have a brick pattern across their surfaces. Further back in the room, there is a fully black, rectangular painting. Furthest back there is a painting of a pool with palm trees and a sunset. Another shows what looks to be an art gallery. On either side of the pool painting is placed a fern plant in a black pot. Laid directly in front of the same painting and on the ground, lays the fur of a snow leporad in the form of a fur rug. The whole room is very simple but it is still very fun to look at. It is somehow elegant and contemporary looking. Imagine transforming your own apartment into something that looked like this. Yeah it would look cool, but you wouldn’t get your deposit back. Yet somehow I feel like it would be worth it.

[asacroweintermedia-blog]

The relatable name “Bad At Sports” initially attracted me to the blog and the fact that it has a podcast sealed the deal since I have a radio background and am always looking for something new to which to listen.  When I finish an episode I will need to update this post.  Yvette Mayorga’s featured work, pictured above, drew me in because it looks like it is made out of sugar and Barbies at face value but is much deeper and serious when you look at it longer.    Many posts were “Top Five Weekend Picks” lists, but Mayorga was the focus of a “Thinks to Think” post, which seem to be about specific artists.  

[phantomintermedia-blog]

....I might have several new art blogs to check out daily and what is the harm in that? My favorites that I saw where 16 miles of string, Hyperallergic, and Bad At Sports. I’ll definitely be checking it out! They ranged from contemporary art to activism. All things that I very much enjoy! 

[monetcantbuymelove]

https://vimeo.com/238962416

Alejandro Figueredo Diez-Perera

Love is a Rebellious Bird

2017

This installation takes place in two parts, first there are the very minimalist textured paintings pictured above. Second there is a video playing, a compilation of people from Cuba dancing presumably they are video taping themselves. The soundtrack to these dances is orchestral and seemingly out of place with the dance. An excerpt of the video is attached in the hyperlink above, please watch it. You’ll like it. Promise.

Ok so this one is a tricky piece, I feel like I have some appreciation for it but I also think that there is a large cultural component to it that I am blind to. Alejandro is himself a Cuban artist, which is presumably why he wanted only Cuban dancers in the video. What really baffles me then, is how we are supposed to step inside this piece and understand something that was built from a lifetime of Alejandro’s cultural context. Actually, I think that might be one of his points.

The thing that jumps out to me about this piece besides the meaningful cultural allusions, are all the awkward juxtapositions. The minimalist white paintings and classical music stand in stark contrast to the organic clips of dancers. It’s possible that what ‘Love is a Rebellious Bird’ is saying is that an understanding of a culture must be done in the context of that culture. It is unnatural to take one part, say a flashy dance, or a certain type of food, and slap it into mainstream western life without an understanding and respect for the culture which those things came from. That is theft of heritage, that is cultural appropriation. 

That is just my surface level interpretation though. I suspect that there is much more than just a critique hidden in Alejandro’s work. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was yearning to show us a part of his culture in this piece, to teach us about the people he loves on his own terms, not ours. But he probably wants us to try, to reach out and make the effort, to extend our ears and listen before he decides to share.

[shangxiaban]

Sculptural Paintings Oozing with Color

Leslie Wayne's richly layered paintings remind us of the playfulness and emotional range to be found in abstraction.

“What you see is not what you think you see” this is Leslie Wayne said, I really like this. the artist just try to find the relationship between painting and the real life. think about how to connect together, so making the paint/Rag projects. find the new ways to explain paint and find the new way to transfer 2D to 3D. and try to find the new way to show the art.