I’ve been enjoying doing these human/warmachine hybrid drawings for awhile. It hearkens back to my artistic roots, but presents something fresher and more interesting. Also, I’ve been enjoying documenting work in away that captures the physicality of the paper, whether it is slight gradients or wrinkling.
The latest:
The mixed media sculpture workshop I took at UWM with Katie Martin really allowed us students to explore materials and concepts. The only major barrier was time, we could have used 12 hours a day instead of 5. I was really impressed with what my fellow classmates produced. I felt most pieces were pretty strong. Unfortunately I didn’t get many photos, but here is one my favorites:
I believe the name of the artist is Nancy McManus. Her craftsmanship with the paper material was wonderful as was the lighting and narrative. For most of the class these represented beautiful objects, but to her it was a scene from one of her most intense nightmares.
This one is my Mindy Frankfurth:
And some passed out dude:
I often find myself scolding myself about being more responsible with my career path. “Draw more, you’re not advancing quick enough” “Paint more, your losing your skills”, or “Bust out the MIDI keyboard and get back to making electronica before you waste all that money you spent on the MIDI.”
In some deep conversations with a fellow art student I realized that even while you’re not focusing your energies towards a certain path or goal, your other interests can and will feed into later paths or goals. For example guitar. My friend feels torn between his 2d art, his interests in film, and his guitar playing. These are all great interestes and deserve some self respect, even if they aren’t directly linked to, say, making a living off one’s drawings.
Sometimes you’ve just got to slow down and appreciate what you’re doing at the moment. Find value in the things that you enjoy doing. Many times I think I know what direction I want to go in and what it takes to get there. What I fail to realize is how dynamic life is and how the structures I build in my mind can fall apart quite easily. In todays world a broad range of abilities and paths is needed because of the torrent of new possibilities. No moment is ever wasted while one is alive.
Johnny by Nathaniel Haack
Artocalypse 2.0 is now Visual Hierarchy. It just makes more sense. I do make some apocalyptic drawings, but the way I think is in terms of visual hierarchies. Our brains are excellent at sorting data and optic information is what I make. There it is.
The last time my computer was turned on it died. A friend flipped on the power strip and a spark flew out of the back of my machine, signaling its death. I have since ordered some new parts to test and see if any vitals are damaged. Hopefully I can get the beast up and running this week so that I can post some images on this blog (if there are still any images to be had).
This is the largest scale I’ve worked on yet. Definitely a good experience. Perhaps the next step is drawing directly on the walls or on objects.
This work was for a summer class with artist Kathryn Martin Meurer (the link is there for a reason).
I love going to Madison. I forget how much I miss my family and friends sometimes. This weekend my sister graduated, the weather has not been more pleasant in the past ten months, some very good friends played the very good game of Settlers of Katan, mortal combat, army of two, halo, and some other games. The arboretum is still just as beautiful as when I last saw it. My family is still healthy and well. There was a fair amount of drawing and bumming around the old computer which holds so many of my memories. Towards the end of my stay I shared some wonderful memories of my childhood with my mother. We stood in our hundred year old basement and flipped through the artwork of my sister and I. The works were from the 90’s ranging from 91 to 97. I’m not sure I’m capable of properly expressing those moments with words. Not just the time in the basement, but the moments of the past which filled my mind.
Often when thinking back, it feels like not much happened that is all a fog. I know that much of my memory is fabricated, but the inaccuracy doesn’t bother me. It still feels real and I still retain the general feel of that period in my life. When thinking further I begin to realize how much actually was happening at the time. Not just in the world, but in my own personal world. I can’t even imagine trying to understand what it was like for my mom or my dad or my sister, let alone others.
An old friend of mine and I were able to share a few drinks last night and remenice on the olden days. The days of yore in elementary and middleschool. Mr. Watters, dominated the mainstay of the converstation because of his amazingness. His intensity, his character, and his good will. My friend and I both agreed that he was probably the most influencial instructor we ever had, by a long shot. Thanks for reading my nostalgic rabletonic post.
Steve Lambert of the Anti Advertising Agency (see the previous post) and Eyebeam developed the Add Art firefox plugin a couple years ago. I recently installed this on my computer and its as good as I thought. I actually start looking for areas with advertisements to see drawings, prints, paintings, etc. They update the add-on every two weeks with new art from contemporary artists and curators. This is a wonderful mix of technology and art. Check it out!
The Anti-Advertising Agency and the Graffiti Research Lab (GRL) teamed up to do this project a couple years ago.
I really admire the types of work both these groups do. Those with wealth are permitted to swath our public spaces with advertising, much of which is not beneficial to people. I don’t need to be told to drink more beer, drive an expensive car, or that I should go gamble tonight. Public space has the potential to be much more than an advertiser’s playground.
Blu is an artist from Bologna Italy whose work I greatly admire. It would be shameful of me not to mention him here. Below is his most well known work, an animation called Muto:
MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
Below are some of his gigantic wall illustrations. I really dig his style, but also his capacity to work BIG.
These three are on the Israeli/Palestinian wall = badass.
According to my roomate Bologna is a super socialist city which might explain some of the strong political content in his work. I would highly suggest checking out his drawings at his website here. They are quite different and have a distinct “blu” narrative.
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