Photoshop Painting

Here is a painting I did on photoshop.

Exaggerated Current Event Project

Last week's homework assignment for foundation computers was to take a current event and exaggerate it using photoshop. I chose to depict the current ACORN fiasco that has been happening since last November. I wanted to incorporate not only just the voter fraud but also the more recent humiliation involving James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles dressing as a pimp and prostitute and asking ACORN employees for advice on how to open a brothel.

Sharon Louden Lecture

Last Tuesday, New York based artist, Sharon Louden came to speak to us about her work. Louden can be considered multimedia, because she dabbles in most fields of art like drawing, painting, film, and installation. Instead of focusing on just one form of art, Louden likes to look at all of them and above all else considers herself just an artist. She has a minimalist approach to making art and finds herself inspired by many things especially by a sense of motion in things like dance and sport. Overall, I thought she was very worthwhile to listen to. She was a really good public speaker and has very interesting ideas and concepts about art and material. Shown in the picture above is one of her installation pieces, Reflecting Tips. This piece can be found in Dallas, Texas at the Connemarara Conservancy. It is made up of twenty-two units of high intensity reflective sheeting and powdered coated steel epoxy. The generated effect I think is quite whimsical.

Illustrator Self Portrait

In class we scanned our faces onto the computer and then made self portraits based off of the scanned picture. Here is mine.

The Jack Wolgin Exhibition

I recently got to go to the opening night of the Jack Wolgin Exhibition at Tyler. It is an amazing show. It features the work of artists Sanford Biggers, Michael Rakowitz, and Ryan Trecartin. I found all of the artists' work to be extremely interesting and well executed. The work of Ryan Trecartin proved to me to be the most interesting. His installation was built around a film he made, P.opular S.ky (section ish). It was thought provoking and hypnotizing at the same time. The longer you watch the movie, the more disturbed but entranced you become. It caused me to think critically of the post-gender, post-race, post-family world we are living in today. Kudos to all the artists for an outstanding show.

Pairs

My first pairing was of a father and a son on South Street. I also included a sketch of people around a fountain and a local church because I think all of them evoke a sense of community that is present in Philadelphia. My next pairing was a photo of a pigeon, a sketch of pigeons on stairs, and found pennies. I paired pigeons with the pennies because both are all over the city, but few people take the time to notice them. Next I have pictures of people walking, driving, and taking the subway. There are man ways of transportation in Philly, these are just a few. 

October 6th Lecture

Last tuesday, funny guy Bradley Litwin visited Tyler School of Art and spoke to the Foundation BFAs. Litwin brought with him his amazing handmade machines which are in display in the front gallery of the Tyler building. Litwin spoke about how, ever since childhood he has been making complex machines. He has also started a visual communications business when computer made art was just beginning. When making advertisements and such, Litwin relies mostly on programs such as photoshop and illustrator. He said that although his work is done on the computer, one still has to rely heavily on the composition and the color of the piece. Litwin said that while technology is important to art, drawing is still the fastest way to communicate. As for the amazing machines that are on display, Litwin said that he, "likes to celebrate the human eye's attraction to movement."

Slow Walkers

I find slow walkers very annoying.

September 29th Lecture

Kate Cuffari, art conservation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, came to speak to the Tyler Foundation BFAs about the repair, restoration, and analysis of art. She posed some very interesting questions such as: How do you sell a piece of art if you know it won't survive? Does it matter to you if your work survives? Cuffari used very interesting examples from both present day art and art from the past; Jackson Pollack for example willfully destructed all of his early works, and every so often Damien Hirst has to replace the Formaldehyde Shark. Her lecture reminded me of an article I had previously read about how art collectors are becoming more hesitant to spend large sums of money on the works of Andy Warhol because he used cheap paints to make his portraits. In turn, they are becoming harder to preserve and therefore recognize as well. People now are wondering if it is worth their money to spend a fortune on a painting that will not make it another twenty years. Overall, I found Cuffari's lecture very helpful and interesting. One of the best yet!