Flash painting w/ Erik Natzke!!!

so i was surfin around this really cool website when i stumbled upon this guy [Erik Natzke] who paints using adobe flash if im understanding it right. his stuff is... well, unique. not only do his paintings exist in their final stages, but also as videos that show how he makes them... not my normal brand of kool-aid but even i cant deny how impressed i was. the stuff is kinda kick a**





http://jot.eriknatzke.com/

Takashi Murakami Outline

Birthday: February 1,1963
Place of Birth: Tokyo, Japan
Art Movement: Contemporary Art/Pop Art
Mediums: Digital Media, Painting, Installation, Animation, Sculpture, and Drawing.
Personal Movement: Superflat (bridging the gap between High-Art and Low-Art)
Schooling: Tokyo National University of Fine Arts
Company: KaiKai and Kiki co., LLC.

Takashi Murakami originally studied 19th century traditional art in college, but after a couple years of study, he ended up wanting his art to reflect the culture of modern Japan. He created the superflat movement which made pop-art extremely accessible and "flattened" out the barriers between High and Low art. His work is seen as the opposite of famous Pop-Artist Andy Warhol. Instead of appropriating common goods and making them into high-art, he creates work that is a form of high-art and then sells them to a mass audience. He created KaiKai and Kiki Co, an art studio wherein he creates a majority of his work. He has offices in both New York and Japan. He is the head creator of all of his work, but has his employees finish his work. He created a fair in Japan called Gesai. where he invites young Japanese pop-artists to show their work. He does this to promote pop-art in Japan, because it is still currently shunned by the Japanese art community. One of his most famous collaborations was with Luis Vuitton, wherein he not only designed one of their most successful handbags, but also created a 5 minute commercial for the company, entitled 'Superflat Monogram.' Takashi Murakami devises a lot of his character's shapes from natural objects such as cacti and mushrooms. Another trade-mark in his work is his extensive use of eyes on characters. He is currently working on the film KaiKai and KiKi; an official release date has not been set. He recently finished collaborating with Kanye West, where he created his album cover for his latest CD as well as animated a music video for one of his singles. Although the video has yet to be released, it was leaked online and can be found on youtube.

Below is a clip from the BBC 'Japanorama.' It's quite possibly one of my favorite shows, so be sure to check it out!

Here is the link to Takashi Murakami's official site:

KaiKai and KiKi


-Jason

Decay-Damien Herst

Damien Herst is by far one of my favorite artists. Though decay is just one of many ideas behind his work, he uses this concept to create art that generally shocks people. This tactic gained him notorioty quickly, dating back to his exhibition "Freeze." In this exhibition he takes animals spliced in pieces, kept afloat in an aquarium like structure. An interesting fact about these pieces is that when bought, he will service the piece for life. Though the bodies of the animals are preserved, they still decay (roughly within 10 years of their death). I find the natural decay ironic as the piece is in a way made to symbolise immortality. Another one of my favorite pieces is "For the Love of God," in which he covered a skull with millions of dollars worth of diamond. This is still the most expensive piece of art to date, being sold at 100 million dollars. He came up with the name for the piece when his mother exclaimed "For the Love of God Damien, what are you going to do next?" It is very reminiscent of the saying, you can't take it with you. Though the skull is covered in diamonds, the person is dead. It is an innevitable fate for everyone, something in which even the rich cannot escape. I find it interesting that he chose to cover the skull (something that will disintegrate in time) with earth's most hard substance. The diamonds outlast the person, but these too will eventually return back to the earth. Though there is a straight-forward connection with decay in his work,

Vanitas and Memento Mori

• Vanitas
• Memento Mori
• Memento Mori
  

The first artist i looked at was Banksy. I love how he uses humor and satire to somewhat ask the questions of what are we leaving behind for the future? The one image of the two old ladies stiching "Thug forever" and Punks not dead" reminded me of our generation in the future. He also used iconic images in history combined with these characters that look of now. I love how is outside/graffiti art takes shots a society in a nonconvential way. The use of sihouletted children seem to make it less harsh.His overall work seems to deal with the decay of everything beautiful and sacred of the society of old. Using imagery like David with a bullet whole or the car in the pasture with the shepard and sheep.

John Fekner's work is more straight forward. His use of words on the picked backgrounds makes his subject much more obvious yet, using words that can keep your audience interested in the piece is much harder to do. Yet he does it perfectly.

As far as Joy Garnett works go, i find them very interesting, yet confusing at the same time.While her overall aesthetic does remind me of our theme of decay, its just hard to understand her themes.

DK artists

After viewing the recommended artists, I enjoyed the works by Hirst, Garnett and Banksy. Hirst's images were a bit disturbing, especially his monument to St. Bartholomew and the creepy preserved animals, but I thought his work related to our fourth project pretty well. I liked Joy Garnett's use of colors in her paintings. They have an element of decay and gloom but also are intriguing and pleasant to view. Banksy's work is really fun and creative. I like how he intigrates the setting of his exterior work into his art.

aside from decay and nature and diversity... I've always looked at matthew woodson's work for inspiration. (I used his illustrations in my valentine's crap)

I just love his stuff.

http://www.ghostco.org/

artist commentary

So my friend had exposed me to the awesomeness that is Banksy over a year ago, and I think he's absolutely amazing. I'm always on the lookout for the possibility of seeing something from him, and I almost feel like something I saw in Spain over spring break was indeed his. But I could be totally wrong. His work is always just so eloquently comical and poignant at the same time, it kind of boggles my mind. I feel like usually when people are trying to say something about the world today, they end up saying something trite and boring. Banksy does the opposite for me. I think his work is one of the few effective attempts at making statements about war and consumerism. Mostly because his works aren't presumptuous or pretentious or ill-informed or anything... rather, they just kind of originate from real human emotion and affect, which is why they are so easy to comprehend and relate to.

Fekner and Crumb are kind of two artists that I think are important, but the reason why I like Banksy so much is why I don't really care for Fekner or Crumb. For me, they use satire and appropriation to call attention to human waste and decay in a way that's blatantly ironic, which is probably totally the point, but because of my own background and knowledge of art, I don't really feel very moved by it even though within their time, they were probably doing something remarkable. It's probably because my eyes aren't fresh to that kind of work though. Maybe other people would find it more impacting.

I like the idea of Joy Garnett's work, but not all of her paintings and drawings really translate well enough (personally) to evoke a true emotional response. Every now and then I came across a painting with a really beautiful color combination and stroke that I appreciated but even so, I don't feel completely sold on how these works represent media images (but maybe that's the point?).

Damien Hirst is always really really interesting. Breaking down ideas of life and death, of the link between art and truth, art and science. And pretty much perfect for looking at decay. Regardless of whether you're for or against him (especially given his reputation and subsequent art fame), you have to admit that any artwork that ends up making people question themselves or others is worth considering.

The jury is still out on Mark Tobey and Glenn Brown. Mostly because I don't think I fully understand or relate to their works quite yet, but the possibility is still there. Glenn Brown's stuff looks amazing, but I don't know if I've related it to the right sentiment yet. Also, I'm just not really sure how to go about looking at Tobey's work. It feels like unchartered territory somehow. HMmm... perhaps after hearing about them in class, I'll know better how to react to them.

Anyways, I hope that's enough? I kind of just rambled on, didn't I?

artists.

i really enjoyed looking through all of these artists works! I find Bansky's work interesting, even though graffiti is a common medium, i think that Bansky's work is uniquely inventive. The images he paints on the sides of buildings almost seem real, as if you could just walk up and talk to one of his characters. I really enjoyed reading about his inspiration as well.

I also really liked Joy Garnetts work. She uses iinternet images, and has a way of turning even the most tragic inspirations (hurrican katrina etc.) into beautiful paintings. I think the idea that something so "ugly" can be turned into something so beautiful through someone elses portrayal of that event is very interesting.

Artists

Looking at the artists, I agree with Paul and Adrianna that they are really interesting and striking. Their subject matter is so well-fitted to their chosen media.

The early work by Joy Garnett in the Buster-Jangle series of expressively painted mushroom clouds reminds me of some of Spero's work that Nixon described in the lecture last week. Spero did a "War Series" of paintings that are these very rough, sketchy gouache pieces. Similar subject matter and similar energy, yet such different effects!
Garnett,
Spero (or here)

Until I saw John Fekner's graffiti I hadn't thought of "decay" as "DK" ... and the initials reminded me of the clean, informative, starkly-white pages of Dorling Kindersley "DK" books that I read growing up. I'm considering the juxtaposition for a possible project avenue. (The opening image on Fekner's page -- the collaboration with the City Squad -- reminds me of the Space Invaders.)



















Here's some lovely prints by Mark Tobey. (I'm not sure if it's the same guy as the post listed, but they're pretty cool for natural textures.) An article from the NYT described some of his work in his exhibition as: "This show of nearly 40 works on paper and, occasionally, canvas is his largest New York exhibition in nearly 20 years, and it includes both little-known early work, examples of the mature "white letter" paintings, and the small, meticulously wrought, often shimmering cascades of different marks and densities that followed."





ADDITIONALLY,
I found books on Spero, Tobey, and Crumb at the library.
I couldn't find any books about Glenn Brown. There was one blog that described an exhibition of his. Apparently he makes vaguely rococo-like women in grand "impasto" brush-strokes and a highly "painted" surface ... however the actual paintings are flat and glossy like a reproduction, NOT impasto textured! I'm not exactly sure how he fits into "decay" other than the imagery looks sort of melty and it's sort of a commentary on the decay of culture to commercialism.

DKfuy

Besides the artists that Hale presented, I am a fan of more subtle forms of "DK" such as Spam e-mail subject titles:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/linzie/sets/72157602417089145/detail/
I have an old e-mail address I abandoned a long time ago but I check it every so often just to laugh at the spam I still get. It's mostly penis-enlargement pills, but the funny thing is that they make no sense. They garble bad words and sex words to get past Yahoo's anti-spam filters, but end up making no sense. Here is one of my favorites:

I also have a certain interest in the Do Not Enter sign. It's something I'll have to explore further in time, but I think it'd be fun to see where one can place it that might be thought-provoking. More on that later.

Artist Research

Banksy
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John Fekner

Looking over the artists on the blog for the decay project two caught my eye: Banksy and John Fekner. Both of their work reminds me in someways of Shepard Fairey. They use the street to display their work and flirt with the idea of whether graffiti is art and the streets the ultimate gallery. An advantage of using the world as a showcase for the work is many of there pieces become apart of the issues they are addressing. There work becomes apart the decay of society and blends in with atmosphere around it or engages those who come in counter with it.

OUCHies!

i guess Everton and I must have been at the wrong LETS GET PHYSICAL exhibition around 2:30ish yesterday afternoon....

Overoverlapap

Since we all seem to be choosing favorites, I choose Pikachu!
I think overlapping is my particular favorite form of showing space just because I don't usually work in terms of geometric 3D shapes, I prefer working in a 2D world, creating the illusion of space with somewhat transparent, overlapping layers. Perspective does have some really great uses though, of course, though 3-point perspective can be very hard to use without referring to comic book art.
On the topic of depth perception, they say that our ability to perceive depth visually
is a result of having two eyes. I once heard one of the TAs at WARP pondering how Dale Chihuly is able to work to show depth because he sees everything as if it is flat. I wonder about this. It makes me want to consider wearing an eye patch for an extended period of time to get the same supernatural abilities he has. Plus, a lot of people would think I'm some sort of modern pirate-especially if I carried a cutlass around. That'd be sweet.

Reading

I would say that the most important part of the reading was the one, two and three-point perspectives. I am learning this in drawing class and it is extremely important in making a work that has depth. With one-point perspective we are looking at an image that is straight on that disappears into the horizon. Two point perspective still has the object disappearing into the horizon but we can see more than one side to it. Three-point perspective is when 2 sides can be seen from the object as well as the top and the bottom. This takes away from the flat feel of an object and is extremely useful in not only drawing, but paint and digital media as well.

-Jason

Chapter 4

When making art, the creator must have an ability to create the illusion of space and motion on a flat surface. Throughout history, there have been basic formulas to creating these tasks. Many of the classics in art enlisted these tasks. When creating realism, the ability to create these illusions will make or break an artist. These are what make art realistic. I feel as though artist are essentially born with o develop over time and ability to create these things through their mediums. I personally feel as though I have a great semblance of creating illusion and space in m work. Its hard to teach these things to non-artists because they just stick to what they know. I remember looking at some kids one, two, and three point perspective work while i was in school and it completed the task but they still didn't understand all the way. There are o many ways at attacking the solution and many people don't know that. They were all listed in the book. It is up to the artist to explore, understand, and utilize the tools.

the reading

The chapter talks about space and motion. About the space, it talks about linear perspective, which is a mathematical system for projecting the apparent dimensions of a three-dimensional object onto a flat surface. The surface is called picture plane. The book also talks about other ways to create the illusion of space: Overlap, size variation, and definition. The book specifically mentions about constructing the Walt Disney’s animation movie, Mulan. When the book talks about movement, it talks about the kinesthetic response, which is the science of movement, the decisive moment, before and after, and fragmentation.

Illusion of Space

There are many different ways to create the illusion of space. Besides the one, two and three point perspectives we all are familiar with, there are ways to amplify a perspective, fracture space and layer space in such a way that it gives the illusion of space. Amplified space is when the linear axis is emphasized and exaggerated. It is an interesting perspective because it is not one that we see everyday and can emphasize a certain idea or object. Things to keep in mind would be overlap, size variation, atmospheric background (objects are more blurry when farther away), and even cinematic camera angles. The most important thing to keep in mind is to not have competing information since it can get cluttered and difficult to understand the point.

Diamonds are a Wars Bestfriend

My project is dealing with the issue of "blind consumption" in the United States and other areas of the world. Diamonds a symbol of rarity, beauty and commitment have become the cause of death, destruction and war in countries around the world. The poorer areas and people of Africa have fallen victim to the greediness and demand of nations like the USA. While commercials portray everlasting love and beauty; families are being split apart, slaughtered and manipulated by their own to search for these "treasures" and trade them for weapons and drugs. It is a battle of blood for beauty. This piece reveals the cold reality behind blind consumerism and pain of those victim to it.

reading

-the sections about balance and scale were probably the most important (at least concerning this class) because based on our critics it is these things that seem to play a big factor in whether or not our intended messages come across clearly. While they did not provide easy answers to these issues, i doubt there is a 'perfect' solution, it was helpful in for the section about scale especially to spell out exactly how the visual elements were working in the design called Save Our City.
-the section about the illusion of space was fairly good also because on a 2d surface, creating this illusion effectively will inevitably add an interesting component to a piece. the part about fractured space and the example of David Hockney's photo were particularly useful because it not only creates a comparatively dynamic illusion of space but it does so very well.

A better one

Four Point Perspective!?

Ah, if only such a thing were possible. Anyway... the section on perspectives was most memorable because perspective adds a lot to a drawing. I think I could stand to get a lot better at showing perspective in my drawings, actually. I already knew about one and two point perspective, which we're studying right now in Perceptual Drawing, but I had sort of forgotten about 3 point perspective. It is a little confusing... but I got it. ...Probably. I think definition is my favorite way of creating the illusion of space. Overlapping and size variation are fine, too, though.

Ch4: Illusion of Space and Motion

In this chapter reading I learned about moving space in work either through the three types of perspective, or more simpler options like overlapping and atmospheric perspective. I learned about the illusion of space and how it is often amplified in works that are more imaginary. I had not previously known about amplified perspective, or the exaggerate use of linear perspective or fractured space where multiple viewpoints are combined in a single image. Or about layered space when the foreground, background, and middle are clearly defined. I related the comments on our ability to percieve motion in animation by connecting multiple small frames to the work of pointillism painters. My favorite example was the painting of degas dancers, even though it is very still you can still get a sense of movement because of posture and position. I felt like this chapter was highly informative in terms of creating space for paintings in drawings but not as much in the digital process. However I am sure these same concepts can apply to my digital work.

posters

i need help with the border-still having some illustrator problems

The Readings

Reactions to the readings:

*A combination of the image examples of atmospheric perspective (misty, dramatic background) and the location perspective (layers for depth) remind me of Kelley's nature project.

*The David Hockney photograph of Henry Moore -- I can't stop looking at it. Even though it's chopped up, the color similarities and thoughtful alignment make it work as a whole image, or as a film seen in a single frame.

*The section that detailed the Mulan frame-shots is particularly interesting because it highlights the artistry that goes into "kid's" animated films. There's a piece by Brendan Dawes where software samples every second of a film and create a single wall panel of all of the tiny frames, one minute for each row of samples. The color modulation gives a sense of the edits and palette of the film.

Please let me know what you think...

For this project about diversity and its role in your life and art I decided to reflect upon my everyday surroundings. I live on sorority row and go to college parties where the common poster is not very enlightening. Actually I find the majority of college posters, mainly of half naked woman rather offensive and inhibiters of gender and racial diversity. For this project I began researching vintage posters and found particular interest in the Pin-Up posters of the 20's. Nudity and porn are considered taboo or a human behavior that faces unwritten social constraints. The pin up girl is a model whose picture is mass produced as a sex symbol. During this period there is little multiculturism found in these images as the majority of the models are pop culture icons and the stereotypical- white blondes.

In my work criticize this taboo genre of posters and the images that decrease diversity and are sexist towards woman. These pin up posters treat woman as sexual objects and do not show any sensitivity to the actual people they are. As a white dirty-blonde female living in a highly sexist environment, I feel that I am often stereotyped and treated as a sexual object. The use of woman in this manner for posters and advertisements encourages this cultural way of thinking. Through a pin-up self portrait and satirical text I hope to stop consumers in a state of lust and think twice about what they are looking at, what they encourage, and what they choose to indulge in every day. “The trivialization and objectification of women in this way has led to a large extent to minor and major sex crimes such as rape and coercion to have sex. Harassment and traditional views of sex roles are also a consequence of the deliberately degrading function of stereotypical images in pornographic material.” Through my art work I hope to raise more awareness of the harmful effects of this cultural taboo that is becoming more and more acceptable in a way that attracts the target audience and makes them think again about what they are really looking at.

pg. 91-107

-Asymmetrical compositions can be used to balance objects of different sizes and "weights"
-sometimes a degree of imbalance is necessary
-rhythm can be created when multiple units are presented in a deliberate pattern
-Emphasis can be created by anomaly, or a break from the norm, through placement, or through contrast.
-One point perspective: lines converge at a single point on the eye level
-Two point perspective: coverge at two vanishing points on the eye level
-Three point perspective: two vanishing points on eye level and one above or below the eye level
-Layered space can be created by clearly defining the differences between foreground, middle ground, and background
-To create the illusion of space: overlap, linear perspective (1, 2, and 3 point), atmospheric perspective, "camera" angles.
-decisive moment: capturing the most telling moment of emotions, space, and movement.
-using before and after images and multiple movements can create the illusion of movement.

ARTISTS FOR DECAY PROJECT

• Banksy
• John Fekner
• Damien Hirst: Samples
• Glenn Brown
• Mark Toby WWII
• R. Crumb
• Joy Garnett
  

For Wednesday's Class

Please read and blog p. 91 - 107 in your book. We will have a discussion as well as look at some artists.

a new one