Paolo’s Semester Experience Blog (This is the journal assignment)

            It’s nearing the end of the semester and I need to reflect over what I have experienced and taken in so far.  Although this is the second semester in the block program I honestly feel that I still need to improve on my work ethic.  Procrastination and motivation has been my largest flaws as a student here and I wish I could have done a lot more in my project.  But staying here is not a complete waste because I was able to learn many things from awesome professors that are unmatched in any other department.

            First thing to get out of the way are the five field trips us juniors followed Mr. Politzer to.  In no particular order, number one there was the first trip to Frank White’s Studio in Diverse Works.  One of the two most art relevant trips this semester.  The lesson that was stressed in the trip was the workings of an artist in the public industry and in the Fine Arts world.  It was interesting to learn the technical aspects with dealing with clients, galleries, and the advertising industry.  In addition to that, specific tips on how to show your work to the world.  However, I rarely learned anything conceptual from him.  His concepts and meaning behind his works are relatively simple asides from his god like photo technical skills.  Anything ran over by a fork lift did not really go by me to well.  So imagine how I felt when I had to sit there and wait as he performed his “Lord of the Rings Return of the King” ending scene.  It took him forever to finish showing work I rarely found interest in.  Don’t get me wrong I like his work but it’s just not my style bro.

            The second art relevant trip was Trenton Doyle Hancock’s studio.  Google map freaking lied to me so I spent one hour looking for this damn place.   I came late so I probably missed many important things.  Though his studio looks like a tornado went through it as compared to the clean, orderly studio of Frank White, I learned more things I found interesting from this guy than Frank White.  He kind of looked like what my dad would look like if he were black.  But I loved the way this man thinks.  His strange and bizarre paintings come straight from his mind.  Bizarre and frightening characters both captivate me.  Another reason I feel inspired by this man is because I create my artwork the same way he does.  I love to jump into imaginary worlds and become a creator.  That joy I feel in playing god and birthing universes; a task that no other organism on earth can duplicate.   He worked similarly making his imagination run amok.   I learned how to get inspired by the things around you and to take in concepts and issues and express it in your own.  All that junk in that studio was actually useful and not forgotten all of them had a role to play.   I loved his work I get a better learning experience by listening about concepts and ideas than technical aspects.  Oh also, when he said he was an otaku, I wanted to Bro Fist him.

Reliant Photos
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.841798447376.2411261.37527355 

            The rest of the field trips were non-art related but another role of a photographer is also to explore and capture many other things around them even those not related to art.  Reliant stadium was the first of these we visited.  This was my first back stage experience I have had in such a large public facility.  I got a thrill in exploring areas that most people do not see.  It’s like work but not as fun.  There were so many things the public take for granted that I did not know about.  How many people it takes to create our entertainment.  It felt like we were treading holy ground by going into the players’ locker room, stadium areas and VIP party rooms.  Also, monster trucks are awesome.  One thing I was glad to see was the bar my father designed for the first time.  It’s almost surreal because I only saw it in photos and in the carpet samples I use as a doormat in my house.  Over all it was a learning experience that was epic.  The history and areas I learned and explored were cool.

            Next was my class’ least favorite trip to the water treatment plant (which as euphemism for sewage facility).  At first I thought the tour wasn’t that bad but as we got deeper in the shit, literally, some of us almost puked and cried.  It’s a disgusting and sometimes scary place.  The unholy marriage between sewage and the pounding and roaring sounds of heavy machinery is probably the least likely place to find artists (many but not all) looking for beauty.  The smell was not the poop smell I expected but something just as worse.  The stench of purifying chemicals and bleach are strong enough to give headaches.  Also, some pipes leaked water and if you got some on you, you become paranoid as hell.  Then there was the filter area with the wrappers and used condoms getting stuck in there, which was an unhappy sight.  The learning experience of another public facility was great and educational, just physically disgusting.

            Last of the non-art related fieldtrip was to Bush International Airport.  A place I am not unfamiliar with at all.  I have to pick up my mom from there almost every month.  But the coolest thing was I get to see AIRPLANES!  Though I hated the machinery in Poop Town USA, the aesthetic of mechanical designs and of military and modern equipment has always fascinated me since childhood.  All the other places to me were insignificant until I get to see the guts of an aircraft.  I loved how things work together and function into one unit.  I get lost in all the detail and small nooks and crannies of the engines, the computers of the aircraft and everything.  It’s so chaotic but all play a part in such a beautiful machine.   My mind goes into this state of endless wondering.  It’s a feeling I can’t describe.  Sitting in the cockpit was exhilarating.  I imagined I was an Air Force pilot on a mission in Afghanistan.   Watching the planes take off was amazing, such large behemoths taking to the skies.  Most of us take how much we’ve come along in technology for granted.  It has become part of us.  For example, I know the Internet was around after I was born but I don’t remember the first time it came into my life.   It felt like it has been there forever.

            These field trips enriched me as an art student.  A conclusion I came to recently be that my job as an artist is to explore and take in the world and express our perception of it.  Many people believe we should find ourselves by separating ourselves from being products of society.  I disagree because humans are creatures that build up their character by using their life experiences as building blocks.  We are not like animals that know how to do things the moment they are born; we have the gift to learn and to pick and choose what we want to take on to ourselves.  There is no primitive “true self” devoid of our surroundings.   The source of our soul is not inside, but out there in the world.  The artist expresses their perception of the universe from the collage they had made from bits and pieces from the outside.  I want to explore, I want to add more to my sculpture of the self.  Then show it off to the world.

Creative Camera quote...because someone had to write about it...

· “The photograph alone among art forms can convincingly appear to portray the world legitimately…and at the same time, evoke associations and meanings which dispel any particulars of time, place or object…This photographic belief system holds that the world is studded with potential symbols; the artist needs skill to render or capture experiences, but he must also perceive the symbolic associations. This is a question of insight and vision and dreams.” – Lois Fishman, Creative Camera, 1977.

Face value: a rose is going to have particular connotations no matter what, and it's gonna take more than just your word to convince the random viewer that roses represent the unconditional love of your dog Skippy, and only the unconditional love of your dog Skippy.

But if we're going to proceed as imagemakers assuming that every little thing on this planet means something, and that every item means the same thing to every single person ever, I think we're denying ourselves as artists the possibility to expand on those possible symbolic associations. Sure, there are certain items that are so cliched they probably shouldn't even be touched. It doesn't mean we can't try to subvert them to represent something else, or use these symbols to create an alternate truth (or at least mock the cliche). So yes, everything can potentially represent something, but we can invent what a lot of these things mean. So while a work about your ferocious Rottweiler Skippy chewing up roses will most likely represent LOSS OF INNOCENCE OMG* because roses and Rottweilers have very familiar connotations, there's opportunity there with a little creativity and imagination to add other, more interesting details and symbols to make it about something completely different...or you can throw in a teddy bear and a bunch of soft pastel color and drive the cliche home.

That's what I took away from visiting Trenton's studio: as an artist, you have the freedom to make up your own language. As artists, we should exploit this right as much as possible.

*all caps because this is one of the most cliched themes ever

Deborah Stratman lecture

I was reluctant to go to her lecture at first. The video work of hers that we've seen in class didn't particularly interest me at all, I'm afraid to admit..."The BLVD" just rambled on and on and on...and there was a car wreck, and more rambling.

So why we couldn't have talked about her sound experiments in class? Sonic Warfare in particular looks really cool. I really want to see that work in person, though I believe that all the sounds would overwhelm me pretty quickly. (That toddler seemed like he was having a ball, though.) And the hollowed out horses in Marfa...the concept itself fascinates me. I'm still in disbelief that the installation was based on an actual spy technique (Wikipedia says it actually happened, so it must be true!). I really want to hang out in one of those fake horses for a while...plus the idea of a hollow horse broadcasting polka music makes me smile.

I especially love the concept of the horse picking up border control radio signals. Having a spy horse set up to overhear where border police are and what they're up to (and, theorecticaly, warn potential illegal immigrants) is conceptually brilliant.

Stratman talks giddyly about EVERYTHING-she discussed everything in her lecture with a slight hint of excitement. This may be why "The BLVD" didn't really do anything for me: the car wreck near the end was just as interesting as that one guy's bad jokes, and the filmmaking reflects that.

One last thing: apparently Dario Robleto was part of the same Marfa project Stratman was in (it's an ongoing series of installation pieces). Can we have a mass field trip to Marfa next year? Please? :D

Produced by the Topps Trading Company, originally released in 1985 and designed to parody the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls created by Xavier Roberts and was originally created by Art Spiegelman and Topps executives under the original name wacky packages later changed.

with all the popularity of the cards they were always shrouded in controversy they were banned in schools and they were being sued for copy right infringement by the makers of Cabbage Patch Kids.

Megan Rath - The Driller Killer by Abel Ferrara

So, The Driller Killer is an independent film about a "starving artist" struggling to make his work and pay the bills. He eventually snaps and starts to go insane (sounds like us during midterms and finals right?) and he starts randomly staking out people and killing them with a power drill. David, you must have known this was right up my alley lol. If anyone has seen American Psycho or Terror Firmer, I am somewhat reminded of those films. We should all watch this when we get stressed for critique.

Robert Crumb

Robert Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded as its most prominent figure. Though one of the most celebrated of comic book artists, Crumb's entire career has unfolded outside the mainstream comic book publishing industry. One of his most recognized works is the "Keep on Truckin'" comic, which became a widely distributed fixture of pop culture in the 1970s. Others are the characters Devil Girl, Fritz the Cat, and Mr. Natural.
n 2009, he published his illustrated graphic novel version of the Book of Genesis.^[8][9][10] The book includes annotations explaining his reactions to Biblical stories. It was reported onNPR in October 2009, that it was a four-year effort and does not rewrite any part of the text. Crumb did extensive research in the earlier language versions of the text to support the interpretations. It contains all 50 chapters of Genesis and comes with a warning on its cover: "Adult Supervision Recommended for Minors."
He was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1991.
He has a unique style that one critic has described as "not knowing if he was old drawing young, or young drawing old." Another thing I found interested was that he cited LSD use as a contributing factor to his style. He is hailed as a genius by some comic book talents. He also collaborates with his wife at times.
His use of biblical stories and his interpretation reminded me of Trenton Doyle Hancock's mythical method of storytelling .

(Sources: Robert Crumb official website, Wikipedia, and arttattler.com)

James Ensor

James Ensor was a late 19th early 20th century painter and print maker. His paintings were originally deemed scandalous, yet he continued to exhibit his work and eventually became accepted by the community. He has been a heavy influence on expressionism and surrealism.

His paintings often feature skeletons, which he painted from life. He would set up the skeletons in his studio and dress them up in masks similar to the ones his mother sold for carnivals. He was particularly interested in the masks' forms, colors, and psychological impact which allowed him a true freedom to paint whatever came to mind.

Fun tidbits: in 1929 he was named a Baron by King Albert. He was also the subject of the Belgian composure Flor Alpaerts's "James Ensor Suite."

The last image, titled Christ's Entry Into Brussels, which was exhibited in 1889 was particularly scandalous and caused quite an uproar throughout the community.

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His work reminds me of Trenton Doyle Hancock's, or rather the other way around. The line work, distorted figures, and even subject matter (especially the skeletons and mask-like faces) particularly remind me of one another. The first two images, I feel, show the strongest influence or parallels to Trenton's work, with their fast and slightly sloppy sketch-like quality, as well as the decision to add color to only a few key areas.

*All of the facts were retrieved from wikipedia.