09.16.10 : Guest Lecture Response : Wafaa Bilal

Bio : Iraqi born artist Wafaa Bilal has exhibited his art world wide, and traveled and lectured extensively to inform audiences of the situation of the Iraqi people, and the importance of peaceful conflict resolution. Bilal has exhibited worldwide including in Baghdad, the Netherlands, Thailand and Croatia; as well as at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the Milwaukee Art Museum and various other US galleries. His residencies have included Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California; Catwalk in New York; and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
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Favorite Quotes :
"Where is PETA for Iraqis?"
**"Even by refusing to do political art, that is a political act."**
" If I believe in it why shouldn't I speak out... you lend a hand for other to speak out."
"The worst thing that could ever happen to an artist is to relieve no response."
"The modern man has become the Trojan Horse. No place is safe."

**This quote is my ultimate favorite because it made me think of my own work in a political sense. Though I never intended for my work to be political, as I look back on them and my thought process many of them have political elements I didn't expect.
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3 Words : Iraq Political Awareness
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The most important thing I learned from this lecture was the impact of the body on artwork. The thing that impressed me more than anything was his willingness to use his own body as a guinea pig in his artwork for his overall message. After hearing him speak about his work, I understood why using his pain and body to influence his audiences view of the work was such a significant part of his projects. As a member of the audience, I cringed during many of his performances and I realized that that was the reaction he was looking and hoping for.
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Original Question :
Why do you choose to make your body the canvas for your work (referring to the ...and Counting project)?
Similar to what I wrote above. To get the audience to react to his pain and try to understand why he would cause himself physical pain for art. He is trying to get people to read past the surface level of his work and look for something deeper, something political.

Have you ever focused on one set of medium or media, since most of your work seems to be about documenting performances through video or photographing?
He explained that video was the majority of the time the most effective way of documenting his performances. Videos allow the audience to experience the actions with you instead of just viewing them from a distance.
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The project that I enjoyed most was ...and Counting.
Learning about why he chose to use invisible ink to represent the Iraqi and American people who have died in Iraq(which confused me before his lecture), I appreciate the project and presentation more. The hidden death and the visible names of the major Iraq cities makes the impact of the death stronger when they are visible.
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New Questions :
When and where will your next performance piece be held?

09.16.10 : Idea Entry : Ball and Claw Foot

Ball and Claw on a Chippendale Mahogany Desk and Bookcase
Wilton House Museum

The ball-and-claw foot is thought to have originated in China as a dragon’s claw grasping a pearl. Perhaps first adapted in Europe by the Dutch, it spread to England, before it was introduced to America about 1735. By the mid-18th century it had become firmly associated s the foot of American cabriole leg furniture in the Queen Anne and Chippendale, styles. The design lends itself to interpretation and there are variations associated with different parts of the 13 colonies. In America, a bird's claw was generally used, mostly the eagle's.

I become interested in this idea of incorporating animal feet into American furniture when I was cataloging animals at the Wilton House Museum. The idea that an animal claw would be places at the foot of a piece of furniture was a strange idea to me. I noticed it on decks, dressers, tables, chairs and stands. I wanted to learn the origin of it and why it was then translated to furniture.

Sources :

Heckscher, Morrison H., and Frances Gruber Safford. American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Random House [u.a., 2007. Print.

Kirk, John T. American Furniture: Understanding Styles, Construction, and Quality. New York: H.N. Abrams, 2000. Print.: H.N. Abrams, 2000. Print.

Landon, Eugene. "Carve a Ball-and-claw Foot." Fine Woodworking. Mar. 2010. Web. 15 Sept. 2010. .

09.15.10 : Guest Lecture Questions : Wafaa Bilal

Why do you choose to make your body the canvas for your work (referring to the ...and Counting project)?

Have you ever focused on one set of medium or media, since most of your work seems to be about documenting performances through video or photographing?

09.13.10 : Artist Entry : Charles Le Brun

Physiognomy of Heads

Charles Le Brun was born in Paris in 1619. He was a French painter and art theorist, one of the dominant artists in 17th century France. At the age of eleven, he was placed in the studio of Simon Vouet. He was also a pupil of François Perrier. Le Brun and Colbert founded the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and the Academy of France at Rome, and gave a new development to the industrial arts. Le Brun primarily worked for King Louis XIV, for whom he executed large altarpieces and battle pieces. He died in February 1690 from an illness.


Phys·i·og·no·my [fiz-ee-og-nuh-mee, -on-uh-mee] : the art of determining character or personal characteristics from the form or features of the body, esp. of the face.
Le Brun did multiple lectures on the topic of Physiognomy. According to him, physiognomy is judging characters according to the features of the face.

Le Brun created a series of drawing bases on the ideas of physiognomy and directed it toward the comparison and combination of animal and human faces. His drawing trended to humanize animals and dehumanize humans. He used geometric measurement to align the faces of the animals and humans to find the similarities between the two and utilize them in the drawings.
Le Brun states " all of the various manifestations that he had drawn, both animal and human heads, pointing out the features marking their natural inclination."

Gareau, Michel, Brun Charles Le, and Lydia Beauvais. Charles Le Brun: First Painter to King Louis XIV. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1992. Print.


"Le Brun attached great importance to the line of the eyes and eyebrows, and drew different conclusions depending on whether it was directed upward toward the soul, or downward toward the nose and mouth, considered to represent the more animal aspects of human nature. Le Brun inferred human personality and faculties and animal character from a geometric analysis of the structure of the head."

J. Baltrušaitis, Aberrations. Essai sur la légende des formes, Paris, 1983, p. 26.


I chose this artist because I am still intrigued with the idea of combining characteristics and personalities of animals and humans. The relationship between the two is really interesting to me. I enjoy seeing pets and their owners who share similar appearance and/or personality. I am just not sure how to portray something like that in a photography.

Louvre
Charles Le Brun

09.09.10 : Idea Entry : Half-Man Half-Beast

Example of Half-Man Half-Animal hybrids in Greek Mythology include : Centaur (horse-man), Echidna (snake-woman), Harpy (bird-woman), Mandrake (plant-man), Mermaid (woman-fish), Minotaur (bull-man), Satyr (horse-tailed man; later, goat-man), Siren (bird-woman), Sphinx (woman-lion-bird), Tragelaphos (goat-stag).


The best known of these Half-Man Half-Animal hybrids is the Centaur. According to The Book of Imaginary Beings, Centaurs are a well-known beast with the torso of a man and the hindquarters of a horse. Most are portrayed as savage beasts, but others can be well learned in many arts. Many mythological hybrid bring the the best feature in a man and an animal to combine them into a new creature that has more skills. Many of these hybrids were created in stories told of heroes who conquer these outstanding and powerful creatures.

Borges, Jorge Luis, Margarita Guerrero, and Andrew Hurley. The Book of Imaginary Beings. New York: Viking, 2005. Print.

Barringer, Judith M. Art, Myth, and Ritual in Classical Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. Print.

Exhibition We Are Family
Sculpture by Patricia Piccinin

"Piccinini's works animate the promise and the perils of the runaway scientific developments that pervade our time. Her art embodies our dreams - dreams of perfect children, of perfect health, of life disease-free, and articulates the value of difference and uncertainty in human life."

Silversmith, Jane. "New Zealand Art Monthly - Articles." NZ Art Monthly - Home. Jan. 2003. Web. 08 Sept. 2010.


This idea of a Half-Man Half-Beast is very interesting to me since would like to continue to incorporate animals into my work, but an not sure how I would like to do it. Though creating these bizarre hybrids may be interesting, I don't know if this is were my work is heading.

09.02.10 : Idea Entry : Sand

Sand is a small rock fragment commonly made up of quartz and comes from the weathering of rock fragments by wind and water. It is used to make plaster, bricks, mortar, paint, paper, plastics, glass, and vinyl. On beaches, severe storms cause waves to pull the sand out into the sea that doesn't return which causes land and property behind the beach vulnerable. Beach sand comes from streams and river that bring eroded materials to the shore. The color of the beach is biased on the types of sediment. The sand on the beach is also a home for many organisms.

Quotes:
"In La Jolla, the beaches have a large proportion of clear quartz, which indicates that the cliffs are a significant source of beach sand," Driscoll said. "There's just no other way around it... Central and Southern California rivers carry a huge amount of sandy sediment to the Pacific Ocean during seasonal downpours."
"Often, the sediment-laden river water is denser than seawater, so when this slurry reaches the coast, it sinks and follows the bottom, escaping the shallow water region near the shore where it could replenish sand to the beaches."

Graham, Rex. "Coastal Bluffs Provide More Sand to California Beaches than Previously Believed [Jacobs School of Engineering: News & Events]." UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering. 15 Oct. 2005. Web. 01 Sept. 2010. .


'Among the grains of sand is a microscopic ecosystem populated by sand-lickers, sticky-toed worms and four-legged "water bears."'
'Scientists estimate a bucket of sand might hold thousands of these tiny creatures; in a few square yards of beach, there might be millions.'

Fahrenthold, David A. "Nation & World | Beneath the Towel, the Beach Is Alive | Seattle Times Newspaper." The Seattle Times | Seattle Times Newspaper. 13 July 2007. Web. 01 Sept. 2010. .


Text:
The Ocean's Sand, a Natural Resource. [Washington, D.C.]: Minerals Management Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 2002. Print.

Packham, John R., and A. J. Willis. Ecology of Dunes, Salt Marsh, and Shingle. London: Chapman & Hall, 1997. Print.

Over the summer, I took a lot of panoramic and HDRs with beach sand. I am also taking a trip to the beach this weekend and would like to do a shoot for class while there. I want to explore this element as a possible theme for my concept.

Fraser Island, Australia
Photography by Andrew Watson

first fridays : may

MayDay Parade

I went with a group of people to first fridays this May. One of the big attraction of this first friday was the MayDay Parade which started at Gallery 5 and went down Broad Street for a couple of blocks. The parade was called "MayDay! Workers of the World Unite." One of our friends was in the band that led the parade called the No BS! Brass Band. I thought there band did a good job and the poeple in the parade seemed very excited to be a part of it. One of our classmates, Zack Concepcion was in the parade as well (showed in the picture to the left holding the workers unite sign). The parade was entertaining with the papermache hands and float. In addition to the parade, there was a guy who was playing the drums and the bass at the same time. He is at every first fridays I have been to this semester. He is extremely talented and highly entertaining.

The main galleries that we looked at were the Gradstudent and Senior Photography shows. I was slighly disappionted in both. Though I enjoyed some of the pieces in both, I expected the more from both. The gradstudent show seemed more like a senior show and the senior show looked more like the work that my grade is producing now. There were exceptions tho. The Gradstudent show did a good job at mounting and presentation in there show. I enjoyed the images with dirt in them (shown to the left). I liked the idea of putting such a dirty thing in a clean enviroment and making it playful with dirt lines. In addition, in the show, I liked childrens photographs and the long panoramic shot. The childrens photographs were taken by Jessica Stambach. I think the thing I liked the most about her photographs was the composition and chose to not show the children's face. The colors were vibrent and imboded the spirit of a child in my opinion. The panaramic photography was playful and interesting with the same furniture repeated in the shot and the girl climbing. It had a playful element because the girl seemed as if she was trying to avoid touching the ground. The colors in the piece was subdued.

I think that this was one of the better first fridays I have been to since I started attending VCU.