The Critique Assignment

This tumblr is a critique tumblr for pieces produced for the youtube series, The Art Assignment. Not officially affiliated with the show.

[udaykhanna97]

Fake Flyer-Nathaniel Russell

This is for my funeral. 

You could argue that at some point in time this will happen so it’s not really an imaginary event but just notice the date. I was thinking about how we all know that the date of our funeral is out there but we still believe in the illusion of permanence. The uncertainty of our fragile lives goes about unnoticed with those events and seminars and other stuff in everyday flyers

This too started out as a joke. I thought it would be funny to see a flyer about a funeral along with others for actual events but then it also got me thinking about how would i advertise my funeral if i had to. 

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit #262: udaykhanna97′s Fake Flyer

Puns on puns. I feel like this piece could be interpreted different ways -- which is a great trait for a piece like this which gets put out into the world and part of the piece’s purpose is for people to interact with it. I read it originally as a poster for the funeral of the leaf -- a poster welcoming people to enjoy fall (which is a particularly beautiful time of death and decay). Leaves are all in fact dead bodies -- the smell we associate with fall leaves is the smell of leaves decaying on the ground. 

But this wasn’t the artist’s intention -- and that’s okay! This poster out in the world will be puzzled over by many people hopefully who may all walk away with a different interpretation. And a small amount of confusion.

[aclaireview]

#The Art Assignment : Paper Weavings

Had a lot of fun with the recent Paper Weavings Art Assignment. Brought back memories of doing these with faded construction paper and dull scissors back in grade school. Definitely a tools/material upgrade since then! The paper I used was almost like origami. Very thin with color only on one side. I was curious to see what the effect would be. I chose all cool colored strips for one and gold/metallic strips for the other. It doesn’t show well here, but the metallic strips shine brightly in direct light.

Once I had some normal pictures of the final product, I took advantage of a very sunny window to see what that thin paper would look like when back-lit. Answer: Super interesting! Almost a stained-glass appearance to them. Finally let the sun shine across them at a strong angle to exaggerate the relief of the woven strips, which showed way more dimension than I expected. Really put the tactile experience of the material and action of the weaving on display.

Thanks to Michelle Grabner’s awesome work for inspiring this project. Cool assignment!

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit# 261: aclaireview’s Paper Weavings

I love the transformative use of light in this piece. Before I read the description, I thought the first panels were actually computer generated patterns rather than the same weaving seen below. While the geometric preciseness of these first panels are interesting on their own, I find myself more drawn to the last panels where the light highlights the texture of the weaving. It really brings into sharp contrast (pun slightly intended) the overlaps of the paper strips and feels closer to a cloth weaving. I also like that the blues merge together into more of a gradient in the relief panels whereas the colors are more distinct in the non-lit piece-- somehow the colors are softer in a brighter light.

[thecritiqueassignment]

Year One of the Critique Assignment

Hello dear readers, those of you who have been here since the beginning and those of you who are newer to following this blog.It has officially been 52 weeks or a year since I started doing these (almost) daily critiques of people’s responses to the Art Assignment. I started this is response to Sarah’s video about the role of critique in art, because I didn’t see a dialogue happening around the pieces I saw on tumblr. It felt a little bit like people sending art pieces out into the void, especially since when I started this the artassignmentresponses blog hadn’t yet begun (meaning that unless you scrolled through the tag, you only saw pieces highlighted by the main blog). 

I wanted this blog to be voice in that void shouting back, “Hey! I see your art and I think it’s pretty dang cool. Here’s what I like about it. Maybe think about  this for future work.” When I began the blog, I wasn’t quite sure how long I’d keep it up or if anyone would actually be interested in hearing what I thought about their art assignment responses. I certainly didn’t think I’d still be doing it, almost daily, a year later. But here I am, and here you are, reading this. Thank you to all of you -- those of you who follow my blog and like my posts and remind me that these random little art thoughts are intersting to more than just me.

And thank you to all the artists whose work I’ve talked about over the past year. The messages and comments I’ve gotten from you guys have always, always brightened my day -- I started this blog because I wanted to appreciate and celebrate all you wonderful artists participating in the art assignment community, so I’m always happy to hear that my critique made someone’s day.

Moving forward, I’m going to keep doing critiques, but no longer daily. As those of you following along with my weekly recaps may know, I’ve started a PhD program this fall and my free time is much more limited. I’m planning to do semi-weekly posts with recaps at the end of each month. I won’t be gone, just less frequent on your dash. And as always, you can find me over on my main tumblog, @lucretiamott .

Ok, enough of me getting sappy about this lovely internet community. Recap of last week’s critiques:

Crit # 257: joshuapazos’s Paper Weaving

I’m really drawn to the paper weavings that incorporate different images, morphing them together to form a new image.

Crit # 258: usernameforrent’s Become a Sci Fi Character

Even the full shots of the character have an almost out of world feeling, with the brightness of the light behind the character giving it an almost glow.

Crit #258: stranissima’s Sorted Books

The color scheme, I get – the artist did a nice job of picking books with a similar, blue spine or text – but the text itself is a bit opaque.

Crit # 259: molliemurphy’s Surface Test 

I really like the use of negative space in this piece. The artist easily could have filled the entire page with a rubbing of the grating, but instead chose to leave certain areas blank, giving the image more depth than a mere pattern would have.

Crit # 260: cheese_tator’s Sorted Books

While I’d be technically lying if I said this Sorted Books response made me lol, it did make me do the silent laugh in my head that I actually associate with the phrase lol.

[theartassignmentresponses]

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit # 270: cheese_tator’s Sorted Books

While I’d be technically lying if I said this Sorted Books response made me lol, it did make me do the silent laugh in my head that I actually associate with the phrase lol. I suppose I shouldn’t find this quite humorous, this piece about a shakespearian tragedy, about a girl driven to madness --but it is nonetheless. There’s a tongue-in-cheekness to it, the phrase “A User’s Guide” creating an irreverent take on the serious nature of Shakespeare’s play.

The fencing swords are a nice touch as well, making the etting of the books fit the topic. 

[molliemurphy]

#theartassignment #surfacetest x.simonelli (at Princeton High School)

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit # 269: molliemurphy’s Surface Test

I really like the use of negative space in this piece. The artist easily could have filled the entire page with a rubbing of the grating, but instead chose to leave certain areas blank, giving the image more depth than a mere pattern would have. It creates a foreground -- or I suppose the white could be the background, though I tend to think of the bright, white spots of a piece to be at the front of the scene. I’m also intrigued by the choice of medium -- it looks like it might have been done with graphite? There’s less smearing of the pigment throughout the rubbing, which suggests a harder medium ( where I’m thinking of graphite = hard, charcoal = middle, chalk/pastel = softer).

[deactivated-blog]

Art Assignment: book sorting

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit #258: stranissima’s Sorted Books

I’m not sure I understand the message of this Sorted Books. The color scheme, I get -- the artist did a nice job of picking books witha similar, blue spine or text -- but the test itself is a bit opaque. I like the rhythm of the lines .To see, to take / O taste and see. But all the lines together don’t quite form a complete idea. “For the Union Dead/ A Prospect of the See” in particular breaks up the flow of the idea,veering the sorted books into a militaristic bent.

[themixxedwitch-deactivated20180]

I deem him… DARK TIME-CONTROLLY GUY!

You should enlarge the photos; they look so coooooooooooooolllll.

Anyhoodle,

BECOME A SCIFI CHARACTER - THE ART ASSIGNMENT

This nonbinary human [uses any pronouns, btw] suspends the hourglass in between his hands and can spin it in different directions to control the sands of time. He’s also very swirly and spins really fast and creates gusts of wind and stuff.

If I could control time, I could fast-forward through arguments. I could talk to people without fear, knowing that if my social ineptitude were to become too obvious and rear its ugly head, I could rewind and undo any mistakes. I could pause time and do… um… something cool that I can’t think of at the moment.

…you know, all the typical/ cliché wishes.

And I’d probably end up creating all sorts of paradoxes/ wormholes/ alternate universes, but I’ll just ignore that.

by usernameforrent

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit # 256: usernameforrent’s Become a Sci Fi Character

I really like the use of close ups in this response to the assignment. The artist describes the character as moving quickly, spinning, etc. and I think the close ups, particularly with the slight blur that most of the images has really conveys that kind of movement. Even the full shots of the character have an almost out of world feeling, with the brightness of the light behind the character giving it an almost glow.  The costuming in the piece is really simple, but this framing and this lighting makes the character feel like it belongs in a scifi story ,rather than just being a person holding an hour glass. 

[joshuapazos]

Contrastes Tejidos 

As soon as I watched the video I felt a very strong connection with my proyect Contrastes Tejidos. Contrastes Tejidos was made up of street photographs that I took during 2014-2015 and cut outs of advertisement  found in local newspapers and magazines. The photographs were printed on paper and all of the weavings and cuts were made by hand. 

The street photographs were mainly people that I encounter at different places of from Quito. The advertisement  cut outs were of people as well. The idea behind weaving both materials was to create a contrast between what we see in our daily routine versus what we are shown repeatedly in ads, media and even history. Personally, I love order and that is why every single piece was wave like it is. I found that weaving and the act of arranging images really shows how society hold us together and yet some simply stand out. 

More photographs of the process and series in the links below 

Contrastes Tejidos:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuapazos/sets/72157651424537870

Tejido fotográfico:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuapazos/albums/72157647467809476

Collage lineal:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuapazos/sets/72157651997735173

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit # 256: joshuapazos’s Paper Weaving

I’m really drawn to the paper weavings that incorporate different images, morphng them together to form a new image. I particularly like the way the artist used scenes with similar scenes (a group shot of people, protraits with the face tilted the same way, crowd scene, etc.) to highlight the differences between his shots of daily routine and advertisements. The color contrast in the last piece is particularly striking -- cool colors in the background against a warm and bright image weaved in. 

[thecritiqueassignment]

Week 50 and 51 of the Critique Assignment

Hello dear readers -- my week has been quite a busy week full of stupid amounts of problem sets, midterms (for both me and my students), and and unfortunately timed head cold. As such, my critiques have been spotty and I’m combining the last two weeks of critiques into one recap of the pieces I’ve looked at these past two weeks:

Crit # 252: tanukitrickster’s Sorted Books

And though the ideas in the stacks are heavy, the bright colors and placement of books, particularly in the first Sorted Books with the diagonal stack so carefully chosen, add an almost levity to the piece.

Crit# 253: nerdymay’s Here There

As someone who recently moved away from a home of two years and before that from my college home and four years before that my childhood home, there’s something very nostalgia inducing and thought provoking about seeing other people’s “place”, their chosen room to share with the world via the art assignment.

Crit #254: Joshua Middlebrook’s Find Your Band

All static-y and indistinct, but the artist quickly adds to the band around him, layering different sounds over each other and picking up the tempo to almost a frenzy as we near the end.

Crit # 255: ArmyMomsplace’s Quietest Place

It adds to the lonely feel of the piece, by creating depth and making the stable seem further away and more derelict.

Crit # 256: s2r2th’s Paper Weave

I like the artist’s idea that melding together of the opposite sexes actually acts to deconstruct the binary created by society– the juxtaposition of building something to unbuild something, so to speak.

[s2r2th]

“Sexes in Fashion”

Paper Weave submission for #theartassignment

So, I was going through some fashion magazines today, and sort of weirdly connected (images of) the models to Emma Watson’s shout out against sexism in the fashion industry. This assignment was done with the idea to diffuse (weave) the images of models of opposite sexes, and thereby address the issue. But then, I began to perceive an even deeper symbolism in that the sexual orientation has no say in one’s freedom of life, and people, regardless of where they are in the gender spectrum deserves the same opportunity to exercise their existence. Hence, the result.  

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit # 254: s2r2th’s Paper Weave

This is freaking fantastic! It’s a really dynamic take on the assignment, and immediately popped out at me as I was scrolling through the artassignment tag (partially the colors, admittedly. So bright!). I like the artist’s idea that melding together of the opposite sexes actually acts to deconstruct the binary created by society-- the juxtaposition of building something to unbuild something, so to speak. I’m also struck by the way that this piece flattens the image -- by pulling apart people into strips woven together, it removes the depth cues that I presume the original ads had.

A last thought -- the piece reminds me a bit of one of my favorite pieces of art, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, a cubist piece by Marcel Duchamp that also deconstructs the human form into geometric shapes, obscuring gender. 

[theartassignmentresponses]

@ArmyMomsPlace:

#TheArtAssignment Assignment 5 - Quietest Place @artassignment #900257942 

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit # 253: ArmyMomsplace’s Quietest Place

I really like the composition of this photograph, particularly the decision to keep the fence in the foreground of the piece. It adds to the lonely feel of the piece, by creating depth and making the stable seem further away and more derelict. 

But though I often like how instagram filters can enhance a piece, I think he choice of such strong saturation pulls against the mood of the piece. This scene feels like it should be muted, perhaps even tinged with sepia, not bursting with deep green hurs.

[theartassignmentresponses]

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit #253: Joshua Middlebrook’s Find Your Band

This response to Find your Band at first felt to me almost like a butt dial (if you’re not familiar, that’s when you accidentally call someone by pressing your phone’s buttons while in your pocket). All static-y and indistinct, but the artist quickly adds to the band around him, layering different sounds over each other and picking up the tempo to almost a frenzy as we near the end. The choice of images for the video itself is also a mirror of the indistinct, blur feeling of the piece, with an out of focus, barely there background that is hard to pick out individual markers from. 

[tylermaymedia]

I decided to make a short film for the Here There Art Assignment. The assignment is originally meant for people to film inside their neighbors’ houses and piece together footage with other houses to create kind of a tunnel between spaces that doesn’t physically exist, but appears to in video form. I took that concept and changed it so that I was connecting the spaces of digital neighbors. This short film is a representation of the connections we make with people through the Internet. It proves that the connections we make with people online are just as real as the spaces we live in and the thoughts we have. 

In the video’s description, are links to all of my very talented friends who helped make this short film.

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit# 252: nerdymay’s Here There

For whatever reason, this short film made me tear up a little. It evokes feelings of home and nostalgia and change , the collaborators talking about what their space means to them and for some of them, what changing homes or leaving a place feels like. As someone who recently moved away from a home of two years and before that from my college home and four years before that my childhood home, there’s something very nostalgia inducing and thought provoking about seeing other people’s “place”, their chosen room to share with the world via the art assignment. What makes someone choose a place that is there room of choice? Do I have a place? Do you have a place?

Also, kudos to the artist for editing all those shots together in as seamless a manner as possible. 

[tanukitrickster]

I did twist the assignment to fit my own needs, but I currently don’t have the opportunity to go through someone’s books. Instead, these are all books in the psychology (my chosen major) section of my school’s library. The titles seemed so vibrant, like they called out to me for this project. This is a portrait of a person I’d like to get to know better; myself.

Name: Elizabeth C.

Assignment: Sorted Books

Title: A Self-Portrait in Books

Preferred Pronouns: she/her

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit # 252: tanukitrickster’s Sorted Books

This is such an open response to the Sorted Books assignment. And when I say open, I don’t mean vague or unclear, but rather that the ideas in the piece feel almost like confessions or private views that one wouldn’t usually open up to the internet ( even in the name of art). And though the ideas in the stacks are heavy, the bright colors and placement of books, particularly in the first Sorted Books with the diagonal stack so carefully chosen, add an almost levity to the piece. They don’t quite make the pieces happy, but they prevent them from being dragged down by drab colors. 

[thecritiqueassignment]

Week 49 of The Critique Assignment

A recap of the week’s critiques:

Crit # 248: what-is-summer’s Surface Test

The pavement seems to almost glow and it’s actually the light, getting brighter as you go up the path that creates a line of visual movement for me.

Crit #248: janeair83″s Off

I really like the sparse use of bright color in the actual composition of the reflection.

Crit# 249: femalemarauder7′s Walk On It

The texture in this piece is great. It’s particularly shown to advantage in the close up, both on the cardboard and on the shoe post-walking on it.

Crit #250: adamcbritt’s Surface Test

I do, however, appreciate the colors – yellow and browns, reminding how soon fall is!

Crit # 251: sylvia-morris’ Off

This is one of the more unique and thoughtful set ups for an Off response that I’ve seen.

[aivleyoak]

Two Worlds. by Sylvia Morris

Response to The Art Assignment - Ep 9 by Lauren Zoll

[thecritiqueassignment]

Crit # 251: sylvia-morris’ Off

This is one of the more unique and thoughtful set ups for an Off response that I’ve seen. Not to diminish the thought that has gone into other Off responses, but the majority of Off responses take the frame of the device as the frame of the image, and set up the image without an integration of the reflection into the background behind their screen. And that can result in very effective pieces -- there have been many a piece that have thoughtfully constructed the image within the device’s frame.

But this artist goes a step beyond that, integrating their reflection into the scene as a whole, making it at first unclear to the viewer that this piece even includes a reflection. A first glance might make one think that there’s merely a lighting shift, shadow, over the scene. But a closer look at the scene in the window reveals that no, this is merely a perfectly aligned reflection tricking your brain into seeing one window. An intriguing piece, certainly -- creating a duality of light and dark, creating a trick to the eyes, creating a whole from two parts.

[theartassignmentresponses]

[thecritiqueassignment]

@adamcbritt:

I loved #TheArtAssignment bc it was really challenging 2 find something 2 trace when you’re in the middle of nature. 

Crit #250: adamcbritt’s Surface Test

I really disagree with the artist’s sentiment that it’s harder to find things to trace in nature. While it’s harder to find pieces with even patterns that you usually see in manmade goods, there’s something to be said for rough patterns where you can’t tell exactly what’s beneath the paper. In this case, it is incredibly obvious by the darker marks on the paper that someone must have intentionally done that.

I do, however, appreciate the colors -- yellow and browns, reminding how soon fall is!