Final Cumulative Acts Project- "Doodles" project statement

Creating art over a set period of time is definitely a different experience from the norm. For my Cumulative Acts project I chose to draw a doodle each day starting March 22 and until April 22. The doodle was drawn on a white piece of copy paper and was completely intuitive; by that I mean I drew with out looking at the paper and then tried to make out an image out of it. I then copied the image onto canvas within a grid and painted the rectangle a certain color according to what day it was.

The decision I made on how to display my final presentation was based on the act I was doing. Once I decided to draw doodles each day I realized I wanted to display the final piece in a relatively organized way since the act of creating the piece was very unorganized. Because of that, I chose canvas as my material and a grid as the organization. I also decided to display the piece in a traditional matter by hanging it on the gallery wall so that it will be most effective to the viewer.  Each day of the week was assigned a specific color so the viewer can see the relation between the days. My piece began on a Friday which is purple, Saturday-orange, Sunday-blue, Monday-red, Tuesday-yellow, Wednesday-teal, and Thursday is green. 

The unorganized way of creating the day-to-day doodles led me to want some sort of organization in the final piece. So the process of making is shown within each drawing. Each day contained a new drawing and I never felt the same way each day nor did I make the doodle the same time each day. These two variables definitely had an effect on what the outcome was. Sometimes I would be extremely tired and other times I just didn't feel like working on the project. The viewer can clearly see the how each day affected each doodle. To me, that is the most interesting part of this entire project.

Final Project- "Beyond Your Reflection"

I am very intrigued with the thought of reflections. There are so many different aspects one can take upon hearing the word. After learning about Eleanor Antin and then doing some research on her, I became quite inspired. She likes to create pieces representing her different selves; for example, she created her male self  by putting a beard on her face. The many representations she came up with just amazed me. This allowed me to develop my idea of reflections. In my piece I want the viewer to be able to feel. That is all, just feel. Once they observe my piece they will reflect upon themselves. I believe each viewer is going to feel a different way when they look at my piece, so it is not right to tell them how they should feel.

Using a mirror as the base of my piece was done to really force the viewer to reflect, in a literal and figurative way. Looking at a mirror usually always means that the person is trying to make their appearance appropriate for the situation they will put themselves into. More so, to "look good" before they appear in  the public eye. The public eye is represented as the eyes that are viewed throughout my piece. The eyes are staring right back at the viewer when the viewer is at his/her most vulnerable state of mind. The mirror is also cracked  and jagged and the glass is frosted over. The idea is that when the viewer is looking into the mirror they see an unexpected distorted reflection and cannot clearly see themselves in order to avoid the perfect reflection the viewer is always looking for.

I created this piece to show that not everyone is perfect and that whatever feeling is created by observing this piece should always be thought of when looking in a mirror. You can't always get the appearance you want, but the appearance you already have is the best one.

Final Project Work in Progress

For my project I plan on getting the viewer to think  about themselves. To reflect on their personal image. The final piece will have a bunch of these eyes to the left printed on transparent paper and glued onto a broken mirror.

When people look into a mirror it is to see their own physical appearance before they go out in public or seeing someone they know. The mirror can only show you as deep as the eyes can see. A mirror can make a person feel very confident or very self conscious; you want to hide any blemishes you can before anyone else sees them. Now, with the eyes being placed on top of the mirror, it represents all the public attention one thinks they receive when they go out in the world.

This project is suppose to allow allow all viewers to take a moment and reflect on exactly why he/she is looking in the mirror. Is it to perfect yourself? Is it because of insecurities? Just why? Depending on the reasoning why you look into a mirror on a normal way will affect the way you feel when you look into a mirror with many many eyes staring back at you when you're at your most vulnerable situation.

I plan to create this piece at a medium size. I can't give specifics because the size will depend on how the mirror cracks. I think if it were to be too large it would be less personal and too small would cause it to be not personal enough. The prints of the eyes will be all different sizes and will be placed everywhere ove the mirror. I would want my final piece to be displayed traditionally on the wall at eye level.

All the feedback I want from my classmates at this point in time is if my project would be better off with a shattered mirror or a completely broken mirror?

Time-based Project- "Whiskey"

I researched Eleanor Antin. I really love her work in that it is time based but it is a still image. Just as she refers to her work at a still video. She does a great job capturing a moment in history as if it were taking place right then and there. There is so much movement in her images as well. I was most interested in the history aspect of it. She will take moments in history of certain cultures and recreate them, which I find very clever and fascinating.

My project consists of a man who is singing for money. He brings his instrument everywhere he goes to try and earn a buck in old ireland. The art of singing on the streets to earn money is called busking. This was very common in city streets of which many irish men were dirt poor. I recreated the history of busking in ireland in my piece by showing a man going place to place constantly singing his songs to make a living. I chose the irish culture because that is my heritage and it is a huge part of my life.

Like I mentioned earlier, this relates to the work of Eleanor Antin because she did some work on history; how it is perceived and remembered. History repeats itself and that is what she did, which is, in turn, what I am doing by using her as my guide through the process.

To me this piece conveys an upbeat and good-feeling mood because of the beat of the song. If you really observe the piece and know the history behind it the piece almost becomes a sad desperate cry for help. It has to do with a poor guy singing his songs just to be able to eat. The Irish went through a lot just to reach the equality that they have in the world today. Because of this reason, the buskers have many sad lyrics in their songs longing to see their loved ones again.

Final Project Proposal

For my final project I plan to create a piece that has the concept of reflections. This interests me because reflections are usually more personal than general and my plan is to make this piece one that can apply to anyone looking at it. I want to break a mirror and glue pieces on top of one another in an interesting way. There will be enough space to be able to see somewhat of a clear reflection of who ever is looking at it. What I wanna do is lay a picture on top of the mirror or within the glass, but have it at a low opacity so the person can see their own reflection and also see the image on the mirror. I plan for the image to be a person with their hands on their face being ashamed of what they look like because you look into a mirror to see what you look like to look your best before you go out into the world. This project will be about reflecting on your image to see the best of yourself you can see. To gain the confidence of not looking in the mirror and still feel great about yourself.

A Different Generation Gif

Technoscape- "A Different Generation"

I wanted to visually represent the impact that technology has on today's society, furthermore, today's younger generation. As a child, I did grow up with technology, but it wasn't that important in my life. I can recall that I spent more hours outside playing with the neighborhood kids than I spent on playing with technology. This is not the case with today's young generation. They were born into a world where technology already existed and was constantly getting bigger and better; that was their norm more so than it was mine. I can't begin to explain how many times I have seen little kids playing games with touchscreen phones or tablets and then teach their parents how to use the device. The kid is like five years old! It all just profoundly amazes me. To continue, kids always know what and when the latest and greatest piece of technology is being released. They aren't happy unless they have what "everyone else" has. For this reason I decided to to a piece on the relation between kids and technology. So I chose a little boy wearing an angry birds hat (a game on the iPhone) crouching ironically outside while being surrounded by technology. The ice cream doesn't matter anymore since he's got an iPad placed in front of him now.

I think my piece conveys a happy mood when you first look at it because the kid is so adorable and happy (who could be upset when you see that). Once the piece is analyzed, the mood placed on the viewer suddenly becomes a sad feeling. The thought that a little child is more happy to be playing a computer game than playing outside and socializing with the other kids can really bring down the mood, which was what I was trying to convey. The kid is missing out on valuable experiences that he could be reminiscing about with his friends when he's older. You only have one childhood, why spend it doing something that you can do when you're older?

I did not appropriate images.