Here's a pic of one of my latest works. It's pens and sharpies but I'm using a different style and making it seem more painterly. I think it looks hardcore. I'm painting this way because I have been under a lot of pressure and I have deadlines and in some way I feel like my world is melting. Everything is caving in and I"m inside a huge void! Help me!!!! Don't worry I'm ok lol :)
I just wanted to show you my most recent painting in my koi series. It may need to be glazed, but I'm calling it done for now. I've been working on it for about a month (I'm a very slow painter). The ducks and fish are a little out of proportion, but I wanted them to be larger in scale. If you can't tell from the picture, the purple object at the top, right-hand corner is an ashtray with two cigarette butts inside. The water was the most difficult part of this painting, since I'm still trying to learn the realistic effects of light and ripples. Trapped and disoriented, the fish is trying to escape the rubber ducks and becoming entangled by the cloth's extensions. Feel free to suggestion anything you might think would enhance this work. :)
On Wednesday I attended an opening reception at YBCA for a show called, When Lives Become Form: Contemporary Brazilian Art, 1960s to the Present. It was a lot of fun and totally worth getting a mild sore throat over the next day.
There were live Brazilian bands (both traditional and contemporary), Brazilian cocktails, ladies dressed in pink feathers and half naked, and there was art too. It was a show that could only be fully experienced at the reception because it really transformed the atmosphere from a museum to a party.
Purpose of the Show: The art show was about using cultural, historical, traditional, and societal influences that were deeply rooted in Brazil in order to create a movement of contemporary artistic statements using modern American and European inspirations, such as Dadaism and Deconstructionism to name a couple. Made up of Brazilian, Japanese-Brazilian, Jewish-Brazilian, and Afro-Brazilian artists, the show consisted of visual art, music, fashion design, sculpture, film, and architecture. The central theme revolved around Tropicália.
Tropi-what?:
Tropicália was an art movement in Brazil from 1967 to 1972 that focused on how art was shifting from what was considered "high brow" to commercial art. The idea originated from Hélico Oiticica -who was also the central figure of the art show. In 1967, Oiticica used clichés and tropical tropes, such as palm trees and tropical birds, to show how the culture had been consumed by commercialistic art. It was a form of expression that protested what society was becoming.
By 1972, a military dictatorship emerged in Brazil, which established censorships on art and freedom of speech. Many of the artists who led and followed the ideas and beliefs of Tropicália were incarcerated, exiled, or executed. Despite years of having a military dictatorship, Brazil returned to its democratic government in 1985 and the spirit and ideas of Tropicália flourish once again, but with a modern twist.
Enough with the History: I will show some artists that I really enjoyed at the show and briefly discuss their work. Some work may relate to other issues and themes depending on the artist’s ethnic background.
Fashion Design: Jum Nakao. Sewing the Invisible.
This is a modified version of the video at the museum -the one at the museum is better. Fashion designer Jum Nakao created all of these clothing articles out of paper. Yes, paper. The featured fashion show was based on traditional Japanese dresses. Nakao wanted to show the rigidness of the past and how people tried so hard to conform to these ideals and to obey governmental authority. By busting out of the delicate dresses, the models were breaking away from the rigid past and governmental restrictions and becoming free to the modern ways of self-expression and freedom. It was stated that some people who saw the fashion show had cried because they could not picture a life without the strict traditions.
To Learn More Information: If you would like to see more pictures and to learn more about the show, visit my blog: http://www.leslieannart.blogspot.com/
I’m taking a statistics class and we have to create online surveys. I wanted to incorporate a measurement that somehow combined art with psychology, so I created this survey about hemispheric thinking processes. If you wouldn’t mind clicking on the link to fill it out, I would really appreciate it (it's completely anonymous). More surveys = more data. :) Where it asks you to give a subject ID number, just put 9999 (it’s also stated on the survey).
I wanted to post this earlier, but I haven't had the chance. It's a comic strip from the Fusco Brothers (you might need to click on it). I like its creepiness...
ok, for all u ACRYLIC PAINT users out there...like in oil painting can you glaze with acrylics? Do I just use water or is there a certain medium I have to use?
Heres pic of the piece ive been working on, slowly...
I think there needs to be more of a connect between them, so im thinking of doing more in the middle to tie the two works together better. Im not finished, (the squid and other parts need more detailed work) but i just wanted to let you guys know what was happening.
On another note, here is an updated version of the koi mural on my door. Im going to adjust his face a bit and finnish the water around him. Then i'll work on the body details more. Any suggestions on how to make the fish really pop? Ive really been struggling with ideas.
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