Final Project

Ninja!

I relate to the protagonist in that my life never had much discipline when in came to my studies prior to art school. However, once I came to Tyler, I felt like I became more disciplined and passionate about my work. In relation to the 36th chamber, like him, I want to teach others my craft and hopefully inspire or nurture their artistic ventures. Shaolin requires a great deal of discipline and practice. Nothing is usually achieved on the first try, but if you work hard and don't quit, the product can be rewarding and beneficial. This is the idea of perseverance. Our life as an artist and the world that encompasses that does not span on a small scale. It embodies who we are and what we live for. On top of that, the vitality of it relies on perseverance. I wouldn't say that artists are monks (they're completely different concepts and purposes), but they require a great deal of dedication like monks. I feel like a comparison depends on the perspective of each individual. In my opinion, its more because it has more importance and relevance to me and my interests. Once I get out of school I feel like it might be harder to find time to do my personal work, but I hope to find a job in the art field that allows me some freedom to work on my ideas. I just want to be able to explore and continue to learn new things, while simultaneously making a name for myself in the art world. It will be tough, but it will definitely be worth it.

Lecture

The lecture on Thursday was definitely interesting. I found it hard to relate to the speaker, but I did enjoy his work. My favorite parts of his work were his paintings and his black and white sculptures. They were definitely the style I'm interested in. I also enjoyed his sense of design and aesthetic. However, I wasn't as impressed with the videos. Yes, they were interesting in terms of transformation and how they seemed to create complex abstract imagery through realized images, but simultaneously, I didn't feel like it was his original work. I more saw them as funky spoofs of these various videos. If he had taken his own videos and manipulated them, it would have been much more interesting. I was inspired by some of his work, but he wasn't necessarily my favorite artist.

MFA Show

When I first walked through this show, I was extremely confused. I honestly thought that it wasn’t worth my time to be there. There were things that I was definitely interested in, and some of them I thought were well done in terms of craft and how they were put together. However, I couldn’t understand the concept and content it was trying to present the viewer. From what I saw, it was a bunch of random objects that were put together in odd forms and center in a room lined with sparse amounts of photos. However, when I looked at it further and took a closer look throughout the entire show, the pieces began to fit better together. It actually helped watching the video first. Some lines popped out from the video like, “I’m tucking you in… Don’t fail me.” This spoke to me more than the random objects I had seen before, because the words “Don’t fail me” I relate to. Listening to that and seeing the images throughout made me think of the idea of love versus lust and the fragility of it all… The disappointment amidst the chance and hope for success… It all seemed to manifest in my mind, because it’s something I struggle with personally. Then when I looked through the show again, I began to notice different things that related to this concept. The marble with the pit made me think of a void, something that was missing, and the candle wax made me think of romance. So the pair makes me think of the void and emptiness left by romance. I’m not sure what the paper had to do with it, and I’m not even sure if it was meant to be there. The photos and such made me think of lust and the complications of attraction and love. And the photo hanging loosely on the wall signifies the fragile situation, the thought that maybe it will drop and come undone in moments. The objects and their placement also began taking textual forms. For example, the wire actually spelled out the text/technological version of I love you forever (I <3 u 4e). this almost undermines the actual value of the phrase, just like the text version does. The whole show just spoke to me about this topic, and the placement of the objects almost forces you to truly reflect on it while walking in and walking out.

5 x 5 Matisse Pattern Drawing