Art Blog

Hello. My name is Walter Eliab, and I am an Illustrator. You will find my work, sketches, and projects here. Please Enjoy!

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Artist of Influence Phung Huynh and Extra Credit Gallery Visit Reviews

I decided on doing my artist of influence on an artist I came across for the extra credit opportunity Phung Huynh and my visit at the CB1 gallery

CB1 gallery

This gallery is one of my favorites to visit. There was two artist shows going on: Phung Huynh’s “Pretty Hurts” and Osvaldo’s Trujillo’s “Of Our Time”. From the two, Phung Huynh’s was the one I was primarily interested in, so I will be only discussing Huynh’s work.

“Pretty Hurts” is an exhibition show featuring work around the theme of western beauty’s influence in asia culture. Asian women (from the work show is primarily Chinese and Japanese culture) will use certain products to help them achieve the western ideal through nose/eye shapers and hair dye. In Phung’s work, we see the women using these products to achieve that ideal.  An example of that would be “Nose Sharpener”.

Phung Huynh, Nose Sharpener, 2016 Oil and collage on canvas, 20" x 20" Taken from CB1gallery.com

 In the piece, we see the woman using the nose shaping apparatus to “sharpen” her nose. A shapely nose adds value to a woman’s face, especially the type westerners have. We can also see this woman not imposed to western beauty ideals, but her culture’s as well. The foot that protrudes out of the circular window is, like the rest of her body, deformed. This is in reference to early customs of having Chinese women wear small shoes to shape their feet.(small feet were a sign of beauty of Chinese culture). This woman represents an amalgam of different beauty ideals. With this in mind, we wonder how much is cultural and how much is patriarchal values? Stylistically, this work has the look of differing influences as well. The central figure is naturally rendered in a western painting style while the setting is recognizable to early asian painting styles.(the cigarette smoke is also done in an asian style) And finally we see the mix of a newer contemporary style influence from how the trees and plants are rendered as graphic thick strokes. I believe, just as the subject matter, the visual components are about mixing different influences and cultures to examine the effects they have on women’s bodies. The women themselves are stylized, yet their body is altered for the sake of beauty. 

In Phung’s other pieces we see the interplay of a western woman interacting with asian women in “Tea Party”. 

Phung Huynh, Tea Party, 2017 Oil and enamel on canvas, 60" x 60". Taken from CB1 gallery.com

Here we see a trade of cultures between the women. One of the Asian woman offers tea to a western woman who in turn gives her the nose sharpener. While this may seem like a trade from a cursory glance, there is a power dynamic involved were the western woman benefits from everything. We two more (Asian) woman. One is at a table either looking longingly at the statues outside. The statues outside are also about western beauty and seem to have ideal proportions.(a greek ideal) The last woman at the bottom is trying on contact lens to look more western as well. This work follows the previous mixing of styles as well, but the women figures are more graphic in nature. This may reflect the changing of beauty ideals brought forth fully to the west and how it is starting to take root. The background also has an interesting effect this time as well. We see the marks of paint stains as they ooze down the painting(is this an effect of using turpentine?). This effect may also be read as Asian culture’s decay. This piece was the reason I wanted to visit the gallery. Its scale is large and the details of it are remarkable. Especially the technical skill range Huynh possesses. There was another interesting part to compliment the paintings Huynh did and these were the products used in Chinese culture. Unfortunately, I didn’t take photos of them since the staff were moving paints around and made it difficult o take a photo of this particular section. 

I did find these multiple drawings interesting. We get to see the ideation and concepts Hunyh would integrate in her oil paintings.

Phung Huynh, Untitled (drawings), 2016Graphite on paper, 4.75" x 4.75" each (framed) Taken from CB1 gallery.

In several drawings, we see the feet binding results in several ways and surgical procedures on women’s eyes to look more pleasing. There are natural eyes shown next to altered eyes with heavy make-up. We also see what looks to be model portraits of women that are most likely the ideal women want to have. Each on their own is interesting, but the output together makes the message cohesive.

One more piece I would like to talk about is part of a series Huynh influenced by Japanese woodblock prints.  

Phung Huynh, Woodblock Drawing (Breast Implants), 2015Graphite and collage on wood, 24" x 18". Taken from CB1gallery.com

I recognized the work from Shin Hanga artist Hashiguchi Goyo’s “Kamisuki” piece.

Kamisuki (Combing the hair), A colour woodblock print, Japan, Taishō era, 1920 Goyō (1880-1921) Taken from Wikipedia.

The work is from the Bijin-ga genre of art pieces depicting “beautiful women”. This has relation to Huynh’s current interpretation of shifting views on what it means for women to be “beautiful by their cultural norms especially in a historical manner. 

In Huynh’s work, we see the work depicting how Asian women must go through more alterations of the body of breast implants as opposed to just combing hair and wearing intricate garments(now we like our beautiful women nude). I am curious to know if Huynh decided to intentionally leave the piece as a line drawing on a wood panel(the original was a woodblock print) for conceptual reasons related to the message of the work. Are we more interested in seeing the bareness of this woman’s altered features than the artistic aesthetics? Since the original is part of the Shin Hanga movement, I believe it still is about western influence seeing as the Shin Hanga was a revival of woodblock prints, but using western painting conventions not featured in previous japanese woodblock prints prior to the Meiji era.

I spoke with one of the curators and got them to take a picture of me with the tea party work. I plan on visiting on Sunday to see the panel talk, so i can find out more about Phung’s work. Her message technical skills and body of work left me intrigued and concerned about patriarchy, cosmetic surgery, and western influences on other cultures. This isn’t a new topic, but Hunyh’s way of discussing these issues have a confident voice. I researched the artist and found only a small portion about her on metro.com discussing her influences and interest in contemporary cross culture influences between the western and eastern world. https://www.metro.net/about/art/artists/huynh/

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Homework # 3 Fiber Sculpture + Reflection

What is Fiber Sculpture? How is it different than sculpture? How would you articulate the qualities that might characterize an artwork to be a work of Fiber Sculpture to you?

Fiber Sculpture is a type of sculpture that uses materials from fiber to create forms, concepts, and design. This is Fiber sculpture in a nutshell and its difference with sculpture. The sculpture itself is a broad term that can be any type of medium, but fiber sculpture is primarily using fibers and exploring what one can do with them, or introducing fiber sculpture techniques into a work. A quality of Fiber sculpture is its specificity. Examples would be using crochet, coiling, and dry felting. These are specific techniques and mediums used in fiber sculpture. Yet the specifity isn’t limiting. One can crochet with non-traditional mediums like wires and simply construct a work from using regular way.  

What do you think that the ideas, materials, and processes we have looked at in this course have to offer your art practice? What do you think you will actually revisit or explore further on your own in the future? Why?

I believe coiling, embroidery, and dry felting were techniques I would enjoy pursuing more in my art practice. Since I will be graduating, I can focus on the techniques at my own pace as well. I simply enjoyed the quality, texture, and technique from these processes. They have their specificity that cannot be captured in other medium which allows me to explore a completely new avenue for art making. 

What have you learned about your tendencies, habits and point of view as an artist this semester?

I need to stop being so hard on myself. To be honest, it’s difficult. I get told that I am a pleasure in class, but I put this strange amount of pressure on myself to be better. There isn’t anything wrong with that mentality until to disconnects you from everything else in the art making process. I suppose I just believe I want to always make good work, so I continue to question my practice. But I definitely need to lighten up. Art should be a creative, insightful, changing, and fun process. 

[onlinecounsellingcollege]

Don’t you dare give up. Not tonight, not tomorrow, not ever.

Unknown (via onlinecounsellingcollege)

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Final sculpture project POST!

“28 Times”. Paper-mache, wool yarn, acrylic, crochet. 2017.

The title comes from the number of times I painted the phrase, “You will always, be a loser.” on the outer part of the sphere. The sculpture has a hole on the bottom one can put their head and see the message. “And that’s okay!” Both these phrases are lyrics to Titus Andronicus song, “ No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future“ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzjuA4RgSDk

(song is 5:16 minutes and has a slow intro. Not for everyone)

This work stems from my relationship and experience with art education. I’ve been in school for almost 10 years from 2008 to 2017(hopefully lol). I didn’t exactly accomplish what I originally set out to do in college(be a successful illustrator) and actually found myself confused, upset, and lost. A lot came from my own shortcomings and personal issues. As I continued school, I believed I could find some solace in the action of finishing school anyway, while working through the depression and reflecting on these past 10 years. Part of me feels sorrow and shame, while the other side tries to accept everything. From there, I start wondering, “Can things change? Can a person change? Will I change?” I like to believe in the possibility of change and I’ve come to learn change is uncomfortable, difficult, and a long process. 

The sculpture itself is the planet Saturn. In Astrology(sorry I know this stuff kinda lol) Saturn represents Karma, responsibility, and discipline. I got an astrological birthchart done once cause I became interested in the subject, and found out Saturn is my strongest influence. As uncomfortable Saturn may be in astrological terms, it’ suppose to provide harsh lessons to help an individual, so I decided include that aspect in the project.

With these things in mind, the lyrics to the song resounded with me immensely. I didn’t feel sorrow but provocation and a sort of understanding; I cannot always win. I will lose eventually and that’s okay. I will try again. 

I also wanted the work to sort out all that focus of school, art, failure, and change in my final project, but in a fun manner.The professor caught how I like my work to be fun. and I also want it to be therapeutic. Hopefully, people felt either, both, or none.(that’s okay)  

I was glad people were engaged with the work. I wanted everyone in the class to have fun. It was an interesting project. I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart that were there, my professor, and my family(especially my mother) for allowing me to create this work.

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Samples and Final project process shots

I decided to only post, except the embroidery, the newest samples since the ones I presented in class are already here on my blog.(All the blogchecks)   

The first one is the coiling method sample. I re-purposed my 1st project and altered the form by taking away coiling and yarn. I used a cut piece to then create a handle for a basket. I felt the shape would be best suited as one. To make it a bit more interesting. I decided to make a caterpillar crawling over the basket. The caterpillar was made with dry felt needle method.(This would by sample for the felt samples) I thoroughly enjoyed these two techniques, and there were the ones I wanted to learn the most in class. I noticed people were also interested in both samples, so that made me happy.

The second sample, which is two actually, I did was the most challenging. Embroidery and sewing machine. I originally drew an image on top of a fabric my mother had for embroidery and stitched the form out. I didn’t realize how size is important because it became difficult sewing the details in this image. Embroidery is about making chains, so it became somewhat easy to make following that concept. I would’ve been completely lost if it wasn’t for my mother helping me.(Thank you mom!) After finishing the image, I decided it would be cool if I could have a function for this piece, so I decided to make a bag out of it. With help from mother, she showed me how the use the sewing machine(I forgot how to) and I made simple stitches to connect the cloth into a sack bag. I put all my samples in the bag after finishing it :) People really enjoyed this one along with the basket. Embroidery is fun and I developed a great respect for artists that incorporate it in there practice.

The third sample is my yarn bomb. I needed to make something quick and easy enough to complete the requirement. I decided to crochet over a Pringles container. To make the process easier, I used double crochet to complete the form. I also put the yarn I took away from the basket inside of it for storage.

The final images are progress shots of the final project. I added three more layers(with help from my mom thanks again) and let the piece for 2 days. My first layer was pretty thick, so it took a while for it to dry completely. After everything was bone dry, I took my dry felting needle and popped the balloon inside of the form. Now I am trying to figure out how to proceed. I spoke about dry felting the surface, but I noticed the yarn I had didn’t adhere quite well to it.(maybe yarn doesn’t like felt does?) I also found myself enjoying the texture it has, so I might paint the outside. I also have to decide the treatment for inside as well. I don’t want to arbitrarily paint inside or out...Ugh decisions, decisions.. 

I might small samples of the sphere and try out different methods. So far I thought about: 1. Paint 2.Dry felt 3. Rice paper

Well see how it goes this weekend :) 

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Hey everyone. I ducked out of class early to not waste time finding supplies. I decided to post some of what I got and what I’ll be working on.(hopefully done by class.)

Supplies: 24 in. balloon, flour, and newsprint paper. I’ll be using these supplies to make a paper mache mold out of the balloon for the final project. I want to have it done by morning, so I could spend time before class getting other supplies, so I can go to the next step. Dry Felting.

We’ll see how it goes!

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Final Project proposal

1. What is it that you intend to make? The project I plan to make will be my intended piece for the 1st project. I ran out of time to make to project so I opted to make a simpler piece. The proposal is a sculptural form of Saturn hung from the ceiling. A hollowed out area will allow classmates to stick their head inside to see a message.

2. What is the work inspired by? The work is inspired by overcoming failures and learning lessons from them. School and art have humbled numerous times in that regard and I want to finally be able to make peace with the experience by showing that the lessons have been valuable, even when the lesson will persist in some form. The lesson for me is to never give up on success even when you’re at the lowest. It’s humorous to me that the project itself became failure, and now I want to complete it to make it success.

3. Concept, function, and process of the piece? The concept of the work is about taking responsibility of failure and overcoming my individual weaknesses through positive attitude. The function is it becomes a physical manifestation of what that concept is to me in symbols and objects. The process of the piece will be construction of objects put together and experienced by the class in two different ways: outside shape and inside shape.

4. How many pieces do you plan to make? I only plan to make one piece.

5. What are the dimensions or scale of piece? I don’t know the exact dimensions, but seeing as I want someone to stick their head inside, I want it to be large enough for the hole to not take up a lot of the shape. The person looking inside should have enough space to turn their head and read the message.

6. What materials/fabrics do you intend to use? Why? I intend to use: paper-mache, dry felt, yarn string, fishing wire, and paint.(possibly a light fixture) I intend to use these items because I believe they will be the most effective tools in execution and time efficiency. I want to make sure this work is a success!!!

7. How do the materials and techniques you are choosing strengthen the concept or function of the work? I believe the materials are time efficient in producing a piece primarily. Originally, I picked a technique that closely followed the concept of the piece, but proved to be very time consuming. This costed me greatly. The materials are convincing enough for me to create a work that can be visually appealing but still follow the concept of patient labor/work. 

8. What specific techniques or process will you research/cultivate for this project? I will be definitely be using dry needle felting and a type of coiling. I have possibly considered doing collage once again, but haven’t decided on it.

9. The color palatte will stay within the color zone of saturn on the outside of the object: desaturated oranges and brown plus white. I considered the inside to be different color that corresponds with the message. I believe the inside color may be red.

10. What sensation or mood do you want the work to embody? I want the work to be interactive and confrontational. It calls you to look inside and isolate you with a stinging message. The message will get to you, but it only exists to help you.

11. What do you wish your work to communicate? I want my work to communicate how I personally feel about my humbling experiences with art/school, and hopefully people can be connected with their similar experiences. The work pushes you to do your best even when you have lost. A harsh but hopeful piece is what I have in mind.

12. In what context do you see this work once it is finished? It will be a reminder for the rest of your life. The message of the work will not leave you if you can benefit from it. 

13. How do you plan to present your work for the final critique? I will have it hung up in class where students can approach the work and interactive with it.

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Project 2: Response work

“Self-portrait with fried eggs.” Image is provided by tate.org.uk   © Sarah Lucas

Title: Hey Cutie. 

Materials: Photo-collage, wood, felt, eggplant, ribbon, and jewelry.

Dimension: 60 inches by 51.5 inches

I wrote ALOT and it isn’t pretty, so I am putting it under the cut 

This piece is a response is to Sarah Lucas work. The piece in particular is “Self-portrait from her self portrait series 1990-1998. I spoke about her work here. I picked this piece after an incident in company with friends. We were watching a UFC fight and a friend of mind kept sexualizing the women’s division until some of us confronted him about it. Sarah’s piece is about redefining femininity by taking on an unconventional persona in the self portrait, yet the feminine body is still objectified. The fighters are women, but masculinity still regard their worth by still finding something sexual.

I felt I had a piece in mind. It was going to be about men’s nature to objectify women sexually anytime in nonsexual situations. Everyone in the group discussion seemed to be interested. But after I spoke about it with my professor, I wasn’t sure if my project’s execution was responding in any sort of meaningful manner.(more on this later) I wanted to discuss how men can still sexualize anything about women, but then I thought how Sarah’s piece already discusses this in her self-portrait; So what am I really contributing to the discussion? I didn’t want to be a parrot, so I had decided to change my project idea. I wanted to explore the discussion into how/why men objectify women. 

The project became more about men’s behavior to sex and how the patriarchy informs it. Straight and cisexual men tend to idealize themselves, or wish to be highly sexualized. Their resource is the penis. Men believe women can’t function without it and thee symbol for being men.(lol) While it isn’t necessarily wrong to identify with their body, it’s the unhealthy way they decide to express what they believe is attractive and sexy. This line of thought brought me to the phenomenon of dick-pics on casual dating media. Men enjoy sending unsolicited dick-pics to woman they feel are worthy of “getting it” before having a discussion. Women on average are disgusted and find the idea of anyone sending photos of their privates(without permission) pervasive and harassing. There hasn’t been any sort of official research on this issue, so I wanted to probe and make the project about this. It’s polarizing/ironic: Women want to stop being oversexualized, yet men are constantly begging for it. I started analyzing why men tend to do this, and through some online research I discovered men want sexual attention and dominance. They are lonely/depressed because they don’t feel attractive or unaware how to express that side of them positively. I believe this stems from the notion men(straight & cis) are afraid of losing the straight masculinity the patriarch instills in them. Other reasons are bored and would take any sort of attention even negative, and maybe one woman will enjoy it.(see “gambler’s fallacy”)

Anyhoo, I noticed when women that got a dick pic, they posted it on instagram “byefelipe”. Here women screen shot men doing it and the verbal harassment they gave after. I noticed they wouldn’t show their actual junk, but instead covered it with the eggplant emoji. I also noticed that men didn’t really show their face in the shots. The most someone could see besides the junk is their lower body or stomach region. I believe this was for anonymity, but also it derives from how porn represents men. I was watching a documentary about the violence the porn industry inflicts on their women pornstars and how that sells incredibly. Not only is violence supported, but whenever men are featured, the viewer cannot see the man in pleasure really. The camera likes to focus on the woman’s pleasure/pain. This is interesting because most porn is directed towards men, so they want men to dissociate with the actual male pornstar by only showing their lower body.(again, straight men aren’t interested in the male pornstar at all) The penis is mainly shown and shows to be the driving force to trick viewers into thinking the penis is the key to sex.(what women want.) 

From here on out I started to formulate my image. I didn’t have much time left, so I decided to make a photo collage on photoshop. The image would be an ideal male form, but a self-insert. It would serve as the avatar for how these men see themselves and act when they do their actions. I decided on using a photo of the “Statue of David” by Da Vinci. It’s hailed as a masterpiece, and that’s what men believe their bodies(artwork) are to their audience(women). I thought it was humorous enough, but it still needed more. I remembered reading works from writers, psychologists, killers, and the dick pic’ers themselves explaining sexist/abusive behavior. Someway, I wanted to include this information together.  I used 4 people: Bell Hooks, Lundy Bancroft, Richard Ramirez, and anonymous dick pic’er.

They are:

  “ Conservative mass media offer daily lessons in patriarchal pedagogy; they tell boys what they must do to be men. In those homes where enlightened fathers daily work to repudiate violence, television reaffirms its importance, making courting death glamorous and sexy. Poor and working-class male children and grown men often embody the worst strains of patriarchal masculinity, acting out violently because it is the easiest, cheapest way to declare one’s ‘manhood.’ If you cannot prove that you are 'much of a man’ by becoming president, or becoming rich, or becoming a public leader, or becoming a boss, then violence is your ticket in to the patriarchal manhood contest, and your ability to do violence levels the playing field. On that field, the field of violence, any man can win. Men who win on patriarchal terms end up losing in terms of their substantive quality of life. They choose patriarchal manhood over loving connection, first foregoing self-love and then the love they could give and receive that would connect them to others.”— bell hooks, The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love (2004)

Abuse of women by men is so rampant that, unless people can somehow make it women’s own fault, they are forced to take on a number of uncomfortable questions about men and about much of male thinking.—

Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men, by Lundy Bancroft

“ The sex drive is the most important and powerful behavior in mankind. ”— Richard Ramirez

I can’t find the last anon source. But it spoke how the person did it as the ultimate form of confidence: He wanted to show women he was ready to have sex anytime anywhere.(woof)

From these concepts and ideas, I decided to spend my time making the collage:

I printed most of the image with my printer. It was a long complicated process because I had to designate the size and make sure it would print okay enough on my printer paper size.(Printing large would be way too expensive) I grided the image and designated two rows. Horizontal row would be 1-7 while vertical row would be A-Z I spent 3 ink cartridges.(close to $70) I had to find a 24 Walgreens because it was late.(don’t buy ink there. it’s $6 more) This process was also a nightmare because I had to make the image extremely dark because my printer wouldn’t print lighter gray tones XP 

The only issue I had was how to cement this in relation to the dick pic voyeurism. At first, I thought about taking a dick pic of my own, but I felt it would be too crude and possibly offensive to the class in the most crass sense.(Mind you I wanted to blow this image large) Also, I realized Sarah never used her actual intimate body. Since I was playing with anonymity and digital elements, I decided to incorporate the eggplant that succinctly represents the penis. From there I tried to see how I would go about that. At first, I tried using the emoji over the body’s pelvis, but it was too simple and dry for me. I decided to buy an actual eggplant and use that instead. I planned on taking a dick pic, but using the eggplant as my metaphor. This way I could use the eggplant and in the manner Sarah Lucas has in her work.

Her work. I realized she touched upon this very concept when she had objects stand in for penises. I felt like I was parroting again. And when I decided to take the candid shots..I hated it. Everything felt so cheesy and weird. It wasn’t interesting in the slightest. From there I started to realize my plans were falling apart.

I had a minor breakdown, but I regrouped myself. I know I could make this good. I still had an eggplant; now I needed a new approach. Then I recalled how woman are never flattered by seeing the dick pics, so I thought about how I could make the eggplant I had ugly looking and place it in a phone box. It would serve as a gift with a bow on top. I loved it. The idea became hilarious to me so I set forth to do it. From here I got some help from my mother about checking the temperature while we heated it in the oven.  

Now I needed to construct a box..which I had panel frame laying around from another class I was taking. 

7x10 inches. Pinewood.

I got the box covered in felt and added little details to make it appear “phone-like”.

After doing so, I checked up on my eggplant to see it was ready.

My mother suggested it would be easier to slice it in half, so that’s how it’s shown here!

After that. I used pins I bought for macrame and pin the eggplant to the woodpanel. I painted the interior with gouache and pasted fake jewelry and placed a bow on top of the eggplant lol I did this because a lot of men believe their junk is a gift to be shared with others indiscriminately. 

After I finished both these things around 4:00 AM Wednesday. I set forth to setup for lecture. I got there around 4:30 AM and went to it right away. I had placed my prints in a manila folder and the phonebox in a tote bag. 

To make sure I wouldn’t be confused about the images, I labeled each one on the back with the system I used to grid them. I placed them in order on a table and flipped them over to put tape on the back. 

After getting the tape on it, I had difficulty taping it to the wall, because the wall wasn’t a flat hard surface. It had holes and was kinda soft, so it made the adhesive of the tape hard to stick on. The AC kept blowing pieces down too, so I would come and go to check on it.  

tadaa(you can see the pages slip off)

As for the critique: I was surprised. People were making interesting conclusions about it being male fragility(which is true) and others got the references. Some even nailed what it was about! I was a bit concerned that it may be confusing with the text, but the class were interested. I am curious to know how others felt because it’s not lost on me that most of the class is women and what they would think of me doing a work about this subject matter. I didn’t want to make this about “MEN SUFFERING” but an analysis and satire of it. Sarah Lucas herself has come to similar conclusion that it’s difficult to find the answer to completely eradicate sexism and instill gender equity, but like her, I wanted to discuss and humorize it. Some told me it was “insightful” and I was “thoughtful”. One of my main concerns was about the materiality. Would the two mediums seem off-putting to others? We ran out of time on my crit for me to ask but I had a chance to speak with the prof about it. She made a point I was concerned about: The purpose of your materials. This was something I am trying to be conscious of more, so I was curious. We spoke a great deal and suggested about using technology(video) instead of print. It makes sense, but I didn’t want to feel like I was being “lazy” about my materials. If I did video then I would’ve approached the work very differently.  

I spoke a great deal with @artistgail and @itsjustjin about this work as well. I was relieved to see some people were interested in discussing it. They had some interesting insight in how the patriarchy tells boys to treat girls differently because they’re delicate beings.(enforcing the idea that women are weaker)

[waltereliabticas]

Apologies

So it hasn’t been a great semester for me. I’ve been trying to deal with some underlying problems, and trying to get to the bottom of it. To be honest, it wasn’t until recently that I came across what it was: depression. I’ve been depressed for a long time without really considering it. I just wasn’t really happy about art and school and myself anymore. I just stopped caring about responsibilities lately and I would stop going to classes and sleep in a lot. On average it would be 13-16 hours a day. I was surprised at myself because I would always convince myself to get up no matter the situation. I haven’t felt really in control of things these past 3 semesters, but it hasn’t been this bad. I’ve been told to just power through and get your work done. I’ve tried it, but it just had me produce lackluster work and mismanage my workload.(I’ll stop going to classes just to work on other projects sometimes) I stopped believing I could do this anymore.

Last night, I talked to my family about it. They were pretty surprised and very concerned. We discussed what the root of the issue is and it has been a negative outlook of myself. I just don’t like myself. Or at the very least, I let my worst aspects cloud a balanced view of myself. I have no genuine self-love. It became obvious when my family commented on my disbelief whenever someone says something positive about me, yet I whenever I think negatively about myself, I believe it. To bring this back to my art practice, It has inhibited any sort of interest I could I find in myself creating work. Or believing I could. 

After the confrontation about my depression, there came a great support from my family. They love me, and they always find it upsetting to see me treat myself as if I am trash. But it has helped to talk about it. I felt so much better letting all my internalized negativity out. 

So if anyone is reading this and you are feeling down, tell someone. Find someone you can talk to about it or it will eat you up inside. It sucks. If you don’t know anyone, I am here. 

I just wish I figured it all out sooner because I wasted time, and my final semester is looking bleak. I am sorry.

[waltereliabticas]

Sewing machine basics, diamond netting, and embroidery

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fiber dyes

The top one is done fiber reactive dye. bottom is acid dye 

For materials, I used previous samplers: a cut piece of wet felt I did and a crochet piece I did to show increasing and decreasing.

From the two processes, I believe the acid dye turned out best. I tried to achieve a gradation process from dipping the bottom portion longest. To be fair, I used a blue dye for the reactive dye, while the acid was purple.

[waltereliabticas]

Artist Sampler project: Pineapple

Coiling, dry felting, and crochet. Forth item was removed.

My artist sampler project was a disappointment. I had many ideas and concepts I was trying to work on that I ended up abandoning because of time, mistakes, and material. Originally, I wanted to make a very large coiled piece that could be viewed outside and inside. The issue I faced was I didn’t realize how long coiling takes to make. I spent my spring break coiling away, but I made a grievous error and started over on a much smaller scale, but my second attempt wasn’t much better. The shape I was trying to get was a sphere, but it became oval/jar shaped instead. I didn’t have any time left, so I opted out of just finishing the piece in whatever way possible. I completely rehashed my original concept and assembled something last minute. After most of my ideas didn’t pan out, I realized after looking at this miserable piece, it sort of resembled a pineapple. So I needle felted some leaves and crochet a bottom support. My forth piece was a pair of glasses, but I decided to remove them in the end even if I found it humorous. 

I believe this piece was a failure because I couldn’t let go learning how to coil. It was the process I wanted to try in class the most. The form and the way it builds upon itself from coiling sculptures I’ve seen interested me; I wanted to pursue that, but it wasn’t working out. The yarn I used wasn’t suited for the look I wanted and the rope I used was too flexible. Regardless, I got stubborn to make it work, but it ended up nothing close to what I wanted. 

I suppose on a positive note, a student commented, “Nice pineapple!” when I was on the bus.

[waltereliabticas]

Artist of Influence: Ana Mendieta Warning graphic images and content

Ana Mendieta was an artist that practiced varied disciplines: performance, sculpture, photography, and video. Her work ranges on issues about feminism, violence, gender, culture, and elements of Santeria. Her work is something I feel should talk about more, and her body of work still hasn’t lost impact. It is unfortunate especially with the lack of visibility women artists, especially WOC, are given in the art world. (which is bittersweet knowing her abrupt end spoke more of her than the art)  

She is well known for her “Silueta” series (1970-1980). 200 pictures which features herself connected with nature.(body art mixed in with land art as sculpture) Ana used her nude body to be a part of earth and make connections between femininity and creation. Mendieta was displaced from her homeland of Cuba at the age of 12. A layer in this series is discussing displacement from your origins.

In the select images above from the series (all named “Untitled”), viewers can see the materials Mendieta favored from branches and flowers, to (actual) blood. Mendieta was invested in the primordial. Ana has said:

 "I have been carrying out a dialogue between the landscape and the female body (based on my own silhouette). I believe this has been a direct result of my having been torn from my homeland (Cuba) during my adolescence. I am overwhelmed by the feeling of having been cast from the womb (nature). My art is the way I re-establish the bonds that unite me to the universe. It is a return to the maternal source." 

One recurring element in her work would be the use of blood. This stems from different sources. One being blood used in many works about feminism/femininity during the time, and Mendieta’s influence from Afro-cuban Santeria rituals of beheading chickens. An example of this is her 1972 6 minute video, “Death of A Chicken” where Mendieta decapitates a real chicken. The piece itself is about the trauma of violence/rape. 

The blood spilled is not only a signifier of trauma here, but it represents power. Her choice in being nude is the vunerability of action taking place and a connected line between herself and the chicken. She would continue using the chicken as a sacrificial being in allusion to treatment of women by having herself covered in feathers and posed in “Bird Transformation” (1972)

Here we see just how both animals and women are easily objectified and made helpless between power and violence. Hence is why I believe she decided to call it “Bird Transformation.”

The work itself is partly confrontational. I would argue that this image may have been an influence on Sarah Lucas or, at the very least, a strong comparison in here “Self Portrait With Fried-eggs”.  

Her interest in blood as a medium continued in mark making in “Body Tracks” (1982).

This contains a visceral lasting quality even after it’s performance. It treats the mark making process as something ritualistic and kinetic. During the performance, Cuban music is played as Mendieta performed. 

Finally, one of her strongest work is Untitled (Rape Scene) 1973. This work is a performance piece that was based on one of Mendieta’s fellow students, Sara Ann Otten, being raped by another student. 

The photograph was shot at Mendieta’s apartment. The harsh lighting, the broken glass, and Mendieta’s position shows the aftermath and horror that took place. Mendieta decided to invite an audience to her home and she performed this scene again for 2 hours while people looked from a open door ajar. The actual rape frightened her. In a interview she discussed her thoughts: “I think all my work has been like that – a personal response to a situation ... I can’t see being theoretical about an issue like that.”

Unfortunately, Mendieta’s career and life came to an abrupt end in September 8, 1985 in NY by falling from her 34th floor apartment. Her husband and fellow artist, Carl Andre was with her moments before the fall. Neighbors proclaim they were in a very heated argument with one witness claiming they heard her yelling “No, No, No” before falling. Carl Andre was acquitted of any murder charges. 

Artists, protesters, and women  in general were in outraged and have protested since. 

I believe Ana Mendieta’s work is simply devastating and visceral. It unnerves me and pushes me to understand a reality separate from my own. Also, Ana Mendieta is a strong artist in her concept and execution. It’s a tragedy how her life ended, yet I believe she deserves to be known.

If you’re interested in learning more there is a article with her sister Raquelin discussing Ana Mendieta’s life: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-inexorable-lifeblood-of-forgotten-feminist-artist-ana-mendieta_us_56d8d518e4b0000de403fb70

This article discusses Mendieta’s life growing up with only Raquelin after they emmigrated to the US after Castro incarcerated their father. They moved around a lot as orphans until there final stay in Iowa were Ana learned about art and pursuing in college and afterwards. The article also discusses her interest in feminism, violence, sex, and santeria. Raquelin also goes into the kind of person Mendieta was: Smart, bold, prankster, and enigmatic. There was no doubt Mendieta would create the legacy she created to this day. The article touches on the controversy surrounding her death and the art world’s protection over her husband. 

It sucks to known the art world had a great artist and yet decided to not pay it’s respect towards her.

[waltereliabticas]

For Further Study Behind Sarah Lucas and her work

sarah lucas self portrait with fried eggs 1996

What You Need To Know About Sarah Lucas

Sarah Lucas: A Young British Artist grows up and speaks out

Gladstone Gallery features her work, biography, bibliography, and interviews here

Next is a video of Sarah Herself discussing her work with someone that resembles one of the illustration teachers I took last semester (lol). Enjoy.

Video that succinctly explains her work and method.

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Contemporary Sampler sources

For our first project, we are to make a contemporary sampler using 4 sources. They could be from anything we find interesting as long as they are varied from one another. We also need to use 4 techniques-3 are from what we learn in class and one of our own.

I’ve been having trouble thinking what I want to do, so I decided to figure out what 4 sources/topics I am interested in at the moment so far I have 3:

Discipline/responsibility 

Energy/motivation

Sloth/comfort

Technically, you can argue there is 6 sources or topics. I feel they are closely related that it’s looking at the same thing in a different way so I set them in pairs. At this point I look at these words and begun to question why they matter so much to me. I believe it’s because they show my weakness and aspirations. So I decided to assign these concepts to things I think are related to them in particular:

Astrology - Saturn the planet of responsibility, karma, and discipline

Music - Titus Andronicus song No Future Part III: Escape From No Future

Goats - Represent the sin of laziness/apathy

In Astrology, you have 10 planets and 12 signs. Planets represent energy while astrolgical signs are archtypes. Each planet represents a different type of energy. Sun is ego/personality, Mars is anger/sex, Venus is love/arts and Saturn is responsibility/karma. When people say “what’s your sign?” they are asking for your sun, yet it goes deeper. Everyone has a birthchart carrying these 10 planets in their chart, and depending what planet and sign, it identifies that person personality, way of thinking and etc.  

I had a birthchart done by an astrologer once, and I found it interesting. Primarily the psychological aspects behind it and how to use it to understand oneself better. After doing mine, I found out my strongest planet and sign is Saturn and Capricorn. Even though I am a Sagittarius I can come off strongly as a Capricorn.

Saturn is like I said discipline and lessons. It is said it gives you hardship to teach you a lesson. Not a great planet, but it’s lessons can be very rewarding. Capricorn is the goat of the zodiac and known to be the hardest workers and over achievers in the zodiac. Anyhoo, I identify with this but in the harshest manner. I lack discipline and constantly get humbled by my failures. That has been my prime experience, but I believe working through it is key, so success is something I aspire to be.

 Next, I decided on music because it is very significant to me. I use it like anyone else. To escape, enjoy, and motivate. Music has power over me. When I run I use it for motivation. I feel like I can do 3 miles once I hear a certain song. An artist I enjoy is the band Titus Andronicus. They are punk rock band, well at the very least, carry a lot of punk rock energy which I throughly enjoy. Back in 2010, they created the album, “The Monitor”. It is one of their best and overrated to be honest. On the album is the song, “No Future Part III: Escape From No Future”. It’s starts off very slow and then hits you fast. The vocals are cynical, angry, and loud. Near the end, it goes soft and grows fast, angry and etc. again with the lyrics repeated, “You Will Always, Be A Loser.” about 28 times until it finally ends with “and that’s okay.” 

Once I first heard that song, I was extremely provoked and feeling very energetic. I was being called a loser, and it got a great response from me. “I am not a loser.” I would rebuke. That provocation was great, and still has an effect on me whenever I listen to it while running. I believe it’s a great motivator whenever I hear it.

After that, I thought about my weakness. I am having trouble making art and it’s getting me nowhere unfortunately. Whenever I try I fail so I try again, but sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I just let it be and never try again. Part of it is lacking self confidence and love, but I think it’s become apathetic now to a point of laziness. I remember a professor discussed a party she went to about dressing up as your deadly sin. She picked Gluttony and explained her dress was made of treats people ate off. When someone asked me what I would come dressed as. I sez, “Well my sin is definitely sloth, so I don’t think I would’ve shown up.” After some time I came across a book with essays by authors discussing their “sin”. I read the one on sloth by Thomas Pychon. He proclaimed that Sloth is the worst sin of all 7 since it opens up to the rest of them quite easily and it’s difficult to stop. I felt this statement was true to a good degree. So I wanted to pursue my sin Sloth. I decided on looking at symbols and one was a goat(which is funny because capricorn is the goat in astrology) for sloth. I wanted to incorporate goat figures into this sampler somehow, but I wasn’t sure how this project would look.

I’ve been thinking various ways of making the sampler and with some discussions with my amazing professor I was able to bounce off ideas. I might construct a wearing head piece. At first I wanted it to be strictly self portrait and make it a figure. The head would be the planet saturn and the goats could be on the rings spouting christian scriptures(which is silly and entertaining). But I wasn’t into it until I thought about the headpiece idea. The professor took it somewhere interesting with having other people wear it instead of just only me. I thought performance, but I didn’t feel it would work as well as having others wear it. Lyrics of “You will always be a loser” could be placed inside the head once someone puts it on.

I decided on felting Saturn’s surface and dry felting goat figures, but I am still working out the kinks. I want to have a four idea resolved and hopefully that will help me piece it all together. I am excited about this project and what may turn up. Hopefully I can use it to help me overcome my issues of making art especially great ones at that :) 

[waltereliabticas]

Artist of influence: Ai Weiwei

A few weeks ago, I sat down and watched a documentary, “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” on netflix. It is about contemporary artist and activist Ai Weiwei. I was impressed with this individual. His art practice is used to bring social awareness and change in his country. One of his works for example is his investigation on Sichuan province earthquake that demolished a school building and killing the children inside. There was complaints the building fell due to poor construction. The government decided not to respond, nor give out the names of the victims.

Ai Weiwei decided to start a blog and, with the help of any volunteer, find those names by asking the families of the victims. Eventually, him and others gathered 5,385 names. He posted the names on his blog, but the blog was shut down by authorities. On his studio wall, and studio piece “ Names of the Student Earthquake Victims Found by the Citizens' Investigation “  a list of those names can be seen:   

I was humbled. He also made a documentary about this subject. In it, he speaks about how the government monitors his home with PI’s and cameras.  One is even found asleep in their car. There have been cases of Police abuse that led to grave repercussions for Ai Weiwei’s health. So his relationship with the government is severe.  An interesting topic about his activism and his art practice is how he uses social media and recordings: Ai Weiwei is interested in documentation I believe. He wants to show evidence and history, so others can see his story and connect to those issues. That’s important to me because not only are you fighting a just cause, but you use your art to augment it. The arts can be used as a tool to bring awareness, if not immediate change. Also, it’s important on a community level. People can engage in his art because of its concerns with social affairs. 

In my humble opinion, Ai Weiwei is someone artists should consider knowing. What he does is art and it can help finding out what views you may have, and how to use the arts to discuss them. At least, it’s something I consider. One of the goals for me in my art practice is using it to help others in some way. A service to benefit others or a just cause.

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CROCHET AND FELT SAMPLES

Howdy. I am behind on research and progress posts. I am catching up. Anyhoo, these photos are of my progress with crochet and the wet felt.

Crochet:

These two I did this past weekend. The top part is the “free form” crochet with increase and decrease knots using chains and slips. I don’t really enjoy the form I made in particular, yet it helped me understanding crochet a bit more. I wish I played with increasing more. I felt that making things increase would show your decrease much better. I did double knot to triple knots on the same crochet in some places. Next time I’ll think of a better shape than cooked plantain(I need to eat those again.)

The bottom piece is where I spent more of my energy. I was looking at examples for the crochet samples(dumb rhyme sorry), and liked the square crochet with text. So I did a similar one but used my dogs name, Opie. The hardest part was the lettering. It was difficult to align correctly like the kerning and spacing of letters. I feel the top part of the “I” is lacking. In the end, it was fun. I had great difficultly to be honest, but it helped having my pro crochet artist mother provide guidance. Thanks, mom.

Felt:

 This is my wet felting sample. I started it in class, and took it home. The felting process of applying pressure to flatten the layers took so long. Though I did enjoy the process, I had difficultly getting the red to adhere to the other greens. I feel there is a great opportunity to make interesting sculptural forms. I’ve used sculpey clay before, so I have some experience making forms(mainly figures) but felting has some advantages over it. Such as blending colors and texture. I am interesting incorporating the felting definitely in the sampler project. 

One more thing. I apologize for not posting my work. I’ll be marking my progress from school and personal on here as of now. With better quality pictures of course. Thank you!