A Little Late, My Blunder

So influence numero uno:... my biggest influence artist-wise has been a self-taught painter based out of San Francisco named Charmaine Olivia. She paints portraits, typically of women, that at a first glance have the typical Hollywood-esque glamour, but when you take a closer look, she includes a degree of surrealism with roots in dreams, nature, and the supernatural. Each portrait has subtle and, at other times, not so subtle little features that give each portrait an individuality that draws the viewer such as multiple eyes, antlers, or intricate tattooes that provide some clues into what the underlying concept is. It is just a style that has fascinated me lately.

www.charmaineolivia.com

Big ol' influence #2: I've been drawn to all things nautical lately. I think that the ocean is one the few parts of the world that still have some remaining mystery and excitement to them. There is just so many sources of inspiration in the ocean, whether it be in sailors' lore, the scale of it, or the oddities that exist in coral reefs and deep sea.

3rd one's the charm: I frequently find influence from music, but oddly enough, my taste in music changes about once a week. Usually, when somebody asks who my favorite musician is, the simplest answer I can give is whoever suits my mood for the moment. Lately, I have been gaining some inspiration from an Icelandic band, Sigur Ros. Their music just has an ethereal, epic (not in the hipster context, but the literal sense) that is just inspiring. They have a knack for playing music that can, despite not being in English, create a rush of thoughts and emotion that at times, can give you chills.

That is all. Have a nice night.

Masaccio; traveling; ancient civilizations

This may be a strange influential artist to begin blogging about, but Masaccio created my favorite masterpiece, which I feel directly influences almost all of my personal work. I find Masaccio's Holy Trinity to be the most inspirational artwork I have ever viewed. Over the summer I traveled to Florence and viewed the work first hand; standing before it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. Although depictions of Christ throughout history are extremely overabundant, I feel this one is exceptional for Masaccio's development of perspective.

Discussing Florence brings me to my next interest; traveling. I have studied abroad in the Bahamas and Scotland, and over the summer I backpacked England, France, Switzerland, and Italy with two friends. I love seeing new places and meeting new people; not only is it exciting to experience new things, but being in a foreign place also causes me to appreciate my home. For my next big trip I plan on traveling across the U.S.

Another interest of mine is studying ancient civilizations. Ancient history is mysterious and fundamental as well as critical to understanding the world today. I enjoy drawing comparisons between the present and the past as well as being in the presence of ancient objects. For example, it was overwhelming to walk through Pompeii, where everything surrounding me was so old and full of history; divots are still visible in the cobblestone from the wheels of horse drawn carts. It was thrilling to imagine what daily life would have been like for a culture such as this.

Parents, A. Conway Hubbard, Lil' Corn

Well, I figured I would include something from the beginning, middle and end (present) of my inspirational endeavors. To start, my parents...I know, lame right? Well, I think they're just fine. They always wondered where my interest in the arts came from. Looking at them now it's easy to see where it all came from. My mom and my dad are so freaking crafty. They don't believe what they make is art, but regardless their little projects and tinkerings are pretty imaginative. My mom is like the Martha Stewart of the post-hippie, modern yoga doing, chain smoking women. Using the flea market as a resource she shapes countless garden objects and interior decorations out of everything and anything weird or old. My dad on the other hand would have a field day in the sculpture studio. He fabricated a new floor for his jeep out of sheet metal, using cardboard stencils as mocks. If it's broke, he fixes it, or makes it into something else. They might not see it, but all in all my parents inspire me with their crazy, crafty, zany ideas. Never an idle moment, always working with their hands.

Now that that's out of the way, I'll take you to the middle. A. Conway Hubbard. Son of the Father of Scientology. Pretty much a recluse, he emerged from hiding in 2009 with a show titled "Blood & Ink." Painstakingly done, photorealistic drypoint of female nudes hung from the walls, the ink a dull rust color. As it turns out, Hubbard had created his own ink using his own blood. Although I'd like to find the recipe for that, the Internet search has failed me. I enjoy the ingenuity of using blood, specifically one's own, in the context of art making. The juxtaposition of photorealism and inks made with blood, makes A. Conway Hubbard a-ok in my book. There is something appealing about using an undesirable medium to create such painstaking images. Although his website is currently under construction you can check out "Blood & Ink" exhibition below.

http://brask-art-blog.blogspot.com/2009/08/blood-ink-september-exhibition-hosted.html

http://issuu.com/povevolving/docs/a_conway_hubbard

Last but not least....Lil' Corn! Lil' Corn is my cat. I acquired him at the beginning of the summer and promptly became a cat lady. I show people pictures of him at the bar and talk about him way too often. I'll spare you the monologue of how great he is, and all the cute things he does. I will say this: He's orange, cute, psycho, and pretty great entertainment. He's also given me plenty of new ideas for future works. Since I am rapidly becoming a cat lady, I might as well bring it into my art. I'm thinking portraits of squished up cat faces. Like when you squeeze their head? It looks pretty amusing. What'd you think?

John Baizley, Defeater, Tekkonkinkreet

Well to start off, an artist whose work I find truly inspiring would be John Baizley. If anybody knows who this is, it happens to be the singer for the band Baroness. He does all of the band's artwork as well as work for countless others. But his work isn't simply about the commercial aspect. He made it very clear in an interview that his work is very personal and all contains meaning. It was personal enough that he didn't want to talk about. He uses amazing color, fantastic figures and incredible detail. I hope to bring something from him into my work.

Next would be the band Defeater. I've basically been listening to them on loop lately so they are most definitely feeding me something. They have an individual sound that not many hardcore bands have. All of their songs are so full of emotion and depth. Reading the lyrics and hearing the band talk about their songs makes you realize how personal they are as well. They songs relate to each other and touch back on parts of other songs, including ones from other albums. The song Quiet the Longing is on of my favorites from the newest CD. Here are the last few lines to give you an idea if you don't want to listen to the song in the link:

“You coward - this is your fault
Our family has lost everything”
Look down at your hands and your lit cigarette
Put it to your lips and breathe it in
Everything starts to fade and your body is numb
And when you wake in the morning - you’re in the house all alone

Lastly I'm going with the movie TekkonKinkreet. It's an anime movie because I'm a huge nerd and I've watched about a million times. But it doesn't get old. The animation itself is gorgeous (don't let the ridiculous design throw you off) and it has such an amazing style. The story is about these two brothers that complete each other even though they are alone. And when they get seperated it's devastating. No need to explain the whole things but understand that the movie in itself is a beautiful piece of artwork that gets me everytime. watch it.

figuring it out

This is my first blog so be a little forgiving, it might be kind of short. I would have to say two of my biggest influences are Sylvia Ji and Alphonse Mucha. Both usually deal with the female form, but also with design detail and complexity. Ji's work has more of a seductive undertone in the pieces, which I would like to integrate into my work. I also love her use of colors which are very vivid. I am also highly interested in the art nouveau and art deco periods, which might be why I'm so interested in Mucha. Another artist whose work I am fond of is Jay Ryan. He normally does silkscreen imagery, often humorous. His line work and color use amaze me, mostly because I can't imagine how many runs he has to do for one print with all the colors he selects.

I have a copy of this book by Joe Fig that I like to thumb through when I'm stuck. He has published a collection of interviews and photographs of artists he has interviewed in their studio, "-from a 2003 interview with Dana Schultz to the one with the eighty-four year old veteran Philip Pearlstein." I like to look through it because I get sucked in instantly to part of an interview with someone, and when I realized I've finished the interview, I get the feeling that I just received a painting pep talk. I also like to look at their spaces, to see how they arrange items in their studios and to be reassured about my own disaster area.

The summer before this past one, I attended the a summer painting program Tyler and there was a girl there named Baylee who was making ptgs about chemically manipulating acrylic paint. She would make puddles with water and add salt, ink, rubbing alcohol, etc to the paint and they would push and pull against each other and crystalize and bead up differently on the types of paper she'd use... I'm thinking about this because it reminds me of my experiments in watercolor monoprints and dyeing paper with food dye in the last print class I took, and I think I'd like to try to expand on them.

Also last summer, my Daddy and I were working on my car, and trying to fix some minor problems with found objects - it was a complete bust, in case your curious. At any rate, he was telling me how during the Depression, my Grandad needed a two car garage, but could only afford a one car garage. "So he bought the one car garage, cut it in half, walked the two halves away from each other until he had a footprint for a two car garage, and put a roof over the space in between." That pretty much blew me away. I've always admired my Daddy for being able to build and fix and problem solve and invent his way out of problems, but I remember he made the joke, "What would Grandad do?" to say that this is where he gets his inspiration.

Julie Mehretu, oil and Girl Talk.

Julie Mehretu is one of my inspirations. She is incredible. I have loved Julie Mehretu since I first saw her work in the 2004-05 Carnegie International. I walked into a room and there hung 3 huge colorful canvases. I was amazed and instantly tried to replicate her work. Years later, I am still inspired by her energy, lines and bursts of color she uses so brilliantly in her work.

A trigger to create would have to be the smell oil paint and/or oil sticks. I'm pretty sure this comes from when I took a summer pre-college program at RISD in 2004. While I was in this pre-college program I used oil sticks and only drew on paper. The entire experience was amazing and really cemented my love for art and my intentions to make a career of it. Every time I have been away from the studio for a while, when I come back I am greeted by the smell of oils and that urge to create is instantly sparked inside of me.

Another inspiration/trigger right now is Girl Talk. Girl Talk is a DJ who mixes clips of music together to form hour long sets. This guy is incredible! His talent and ability to create such elaborate, cared for music pushes me. Slipping on my head phones and scrolling down to Girl Talk on my i-pod always makes for an amazing time in the studio. I turn the music up loud and I can't help but dance around while I'm working. It helps me to loosen up and really put my body into what I'm creating.

Well, I did warn you...

1) Chickens - cockerels, capons, chicks, chooks - are commonly kept for consumption as food. However, the domesticated bird has also held roles as oracle, prophet, and even as a stand-in for the recently deceased in certain ceremonies. The Bible, the Talmud, Ancient Greek texts, and even Aesop's Fables treat the bird with a sense of supernatural anthropomorphic reverence. Perhaps it is the remarkably human-like scaffolding of their social structure that is responsible for the connection that we have experienced over time and across cultures. A flock of chickens is highly organized into a patriarchal "pecking order" that especially reminds me of the manifesto of...

2) Marx. The philosophy of Karl Marx was introduced to me formally in college, but I had first become aware of his ideas in popular culture references. Marxism, which holds that all societies progress through the dialectic of class struggle, may be illustrated in regards to the development of the flock. Just as capitalism produces internal tensions that may lead to destruction, the unchecked power of an overly-dominant rooster or challenger causes disruption among the flock. A rooster who obeys the rules of the flock by signalling his mates, sharing food, and asking permission to procreate, might fit more readily into the "ideal" society of socialism. However, chickens, like humans, tend to fight the idea of a "classless society" of pure communism in favor of individual identity. For chickens, distinct personalities and individualist behavior has a range as differentiated as their feathers. This is good news for...

3) Kate MccGwire, who uses the feathers of chickens and other common birds in absolutely unbelievable ways. Her modern sculptures draw on these materials as a channel for dichotomous experience, visceral reaction, and an intellectual characterization of our views on the world. Though I have not seen Marxist-chicken-theory-related criticism of her artwork (yet), it seems entirely applicable. Repetition, pattern, and the conforming of individual pieces to the form of the whole relate to the way she displays the incredible works. Seriously, look at these things and tell me that there is not some sense of (slightly terrifying) power in those discarded bird-pieces. Wow.

Even if You're Broke, Buy a Coke

I am mostly inspired and influenced by my Media Criticism classes during my undergrad at The University of Pittsburgh. We were challenged to question popular Television, movies, even advertisements to understand hidden messages and corrupt corporations. One subject dealt with the idea that companies attempt to market toward teenagers because they have the most expendable money and they are pressured by their peers to have the latest trends. If companies can create a brand identity with these young consumers, there is a possibility to keep them loyal to their products for life. Think about it, if you were obsessed with The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when you were a kid, wouldn't you be more inclined to buy a t-shirt later in your life as a nostalgic pleasure?

Another influence for me is the way companies create new and interesting ways to advertise and appeal to audiences. It seems that companies keep coming up with new and ridiculous ways to market their products. Have you recently seen advertisements pop up for shows or products while you were still watching a television program? It is said that we are exposed to thousands of ads every day. I am interested in which ones are most effective and which others are most extreme and invasive. Lately I have noticed television commercials before previews of movies, intertwined with the trailers. I want to know how these businesses are becoming monopoles through their use of advertisements.

My third influence would be Andy Warhol. Though, I am not using his "anything-can-be-art" approach. I appreciate that he has something to say about popular products and the way they can be available to anyone. He explained that there is something interesting about how something simple like a can of Coca Cola will be the same for someone who is poor and someone famous. It will taste the same no matter who buys it. He was controversial and knowledgeable. He originated as a commercial illustrator and left that to expose the industry. There is nothing like a Pittsburgh artist.

MIXED MEDIA: Patrick Lee, Modesto!, and tangents..

I hope I'm doing this right...

My first entry will include two visual artists that are inspiring me currently, and two tangents. I know there are only supposed to be three, but I am equally excited about both. They cover two areas I'm very concerned with: the first area being craft/skill. Previous instructors have labeled me as a "traditionalist, old school," and so on. I know this is condemned among art majors and instructors today, but it's very important to me. I believe that skill comes before concept. I also believe that skill will make one's work more powerful, because it is easier for the viewer to tolerate. That being said, here is a professor of mine who pushed me into understanding how important skill is. I can't tell you how many canvases I scraped down to start over under his instruction. His passion for drawing and painting served as fuel for my passion for printmaking and drawing. His name is Patrick Lee. Here is his website. Please go through some of his old posts, his figure drawing is incredible:

http://patrickleefineart.blogspot.com/

Modesto! is a friend of mine who does printmaking in Pittsburgh. His artwork is incredible. He is actually my boyfriend's (also a printmaker) boss, and we had the opportunity to display some work with him in a show. Lately he's been making a lot of collage centered around childhood, but in a lighthearted way. His design, subject matter, and use of colors cause me to want to make prints, even when I feel burned out.

http://www.modestoprints.com/

Right now I'm studying Biblical Hebrew. Language in general is an inspiration for me, and hopefully I will find ways to incorporate it into my work. The Hebrew alphabet is the "original" alphabet for all languages except Korean. My professor shows us how it developed into Greek, and so on. It completely amazes me, though I'm not sure why. I often feel dissatisfied with the English language. The origins and development of language is intriguing, and I find myself thinking about it more than I should. Just for fun, here's a link for a youtube video explaining the Hebrew alphabet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz_m118Yheg&feature=related

Another topic I find myself thinking about is parental love, or lack thereof, and how we define it as Americans. So, the book Mother Love by Rita Dove inspires me. I would highly suggest reading it-but if you do, make sure you read it a few times and slowly. She describes well the amount of suffering we can inflict on one another as humans, through the lenses of American culture, using Persephone, Demeter, and Hades as her narrators:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393314448/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=10203432945&ref=pd_sl_k69vulcwr_b

I hope that made sense.

Orozco, Buddhism and Manholes...Oh my!

For our first week of posts, I chose to comment on my most recent obsessions. If I had to pick one artist who currently influences my work the most, I would choose Gabriel Orozco. When I was researching his work for one of my summer courses, I came across a great video that the Tate put together in conjunction with his retrospective:

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gabrielorozco/

Although his work can be characterized as playful, Orozco's work is deceptively complex. He speaks of the importance of being aware of his surroundings, especially when walking through the urban landscape. Like Orozco, I am also inspired by the urban environment and these "untraditional studios".

I have also begun to reference Buddhist philosophy in my work. Although I am not a Buddhist, I can identify with and try to impliment aspects of Buddhism in my own life. I am specifically interested in Buddhist ideas of impermanence and meditation.

Finally, manhole covers are popping up everywhere in my work. I am especially excited to explore them in relationship to printmaking because, like prints, manhole covers are all based on the same function and visual design, but are all unique.