Sunday, May 29, 2011
Morning Strut (Shigeto Remix)- Mux Mool
I havnt been collaging because I'm waiting to move. But I have been drawing. I'll be putting up some of my doodles and sketches most likely today. They are in the style of my collages and I'll most likely end up using them as direct reference for future collages. I'll be having my BFA show this upcoming Fall semester so I'll need as many collages as I can muster up.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Music thats rocking now.
Teebs-Wind Loop
Teebs-While You Doooo
2Pac- Ambitionz Az a Ridah
Forgot about 2pac for a very long time. Forgot about this track for a very long time. My brother had this album long ago when I was a wee lad and this was the first track on one of the discs. This was the track I heard the most. Its a good one. I'm usually not a rap guy but after listening to 2pac again a few days ago, flying lotus and all those guys make a lot more sense. I've been trying to listen to more rap recently just to put some of my other favorite artists in perspective. People like, Gza, Rza, Wutang Clan in general, Talib Kweli, etc.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Residential Advisor Training and other happenings.
So for the past 2 weeks I've been training to become a residential advisor in my school's dorm buildings over the summer. I'll be overseeing the Early College Program kids and being the go-to person for them on their floor. I'll live on a floor and be available to them most of the time.
The other students on staff are awesome. I couldnt have asked for better staff members.
I'm pretty pumped about finally getting to meet my residents and helping them with their SAIC experience. I'm also really excited to see what kind of art work they're making and what they're interested in.
But yeah, since I've been training everyday and am in the process of moving from one dorm to another I havnt really had the time to make any collages. I'll be back soon though!
The other students on staff are awesome. I couldnt have asked for better staff members.
I'm pretty pumped about finally getting to meet my residents and helping them with their SAIC experience. I'm also really excited to see what kind of art work they're making and what they're interested in.
But yeah, since I've been training everyday and am in the process of moving from one dorm to another I havnt really had the time to make any collages. I'll be back soon though!
Friend's Blog.
My buddy just started a blog today. He does collages from photographs and is a photo student at my school. He's a boss and I'm sure he'll keep up with his blog. Check him out here.
He's into fossils and bugs and extended drawing techniques. Take a looksee.
He's into fossils and bugs and extended drawing techniques. Take a looksee.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
My Collages and What They Mean to Me: A reflection of my concepts and views on materialism.
-------------------------------------------
People moved out of my dorm building and had to throw a bunch of stuff away in order to minimize shipping costs, excess stuff, etc when they went home or wherever they were going; I found a bunch of magazines and random stuff lying around in the designated trash rooms in the building.
I have so many magazines, I dont know what to do with them. I wont have to buy another fashion magazine for the rest of college most likely. However, that takes the fun out of it b/c most of the magazines I found were from recent months. New magazines will come out every month and have new ads and such.
It makes me feel kinda stupid considering my opinion about advertisements and how I despise them yelling at me all the time. I now find myself looking in store windows and at advertisements, but not in the way they want me to. I dont look at the product, I look at the reflections on the product, or the shape of that overexposed area of that person's skin, or something seemingly arbitrary.
It does make me feel guilty. It makes me feel like I'm consuming things around me. I feel like a glutton doing it, which is weird to say because its just information, but I feel like its kinda like McDonald's; its there, but I dont eat it because its bad for me. Advertisements are there, but they're bad for me because they impose this "ideal" image of people that I disagree with. I used to not consume them, but now that I'm using them so often in my work I have no choice.
In my life, I have to create that space for myself to confidently exist without the influence of "the perfect male image" that magazines and tv projects into people's brains. I believe that my collages are the same process done visually. Taking all those scary ideas of self-image and creating a space with them in which I can happily and contently exist.
I've been hesitant to discuss the conceptual aspect of my work on my blog because I like to let it marinate in my brain a little bit before I explain it. But I thought it was about time to bring it up. I enjoy this way of working so much that I think my intuitive reaction to my content is extremely important, especially as my content changes. If I'm going to continue using this process, its important to know my initial response to the content I'm using now so that when I change it, I can have some groundwork in which to understand why I might be using certain imagery in certain ways.
It is definitely still a learning process. Its a self-discovery process that is really exciting to participate in. I tend to lean more on the side that collage is still a sort of subconscious thing. I started with surrealist collage and learned a lot about how I think about certain ideas. For example, I rely on animals as pure things more than people. Now that I know this about myself, I can use it in my practice more purposefully. It is the same with this new imagery I'm using.
I am taking objects and giving them a new purpose. I'm taking objects I dont normally use, perfume, high heels, nice clothing, models, advertisements in general and putting them in a place where I can interact with them comfortably. It's not an escape from the objects, but a coping with the objects that I am forced to live among. A respect for their importance, but refusal of their input. An admittance to their influence, but denial of submission to that influence. I am not a slave to these objects, they exist to serve me, the artist, the human.
I would be really interested to see what would happen if I used medical magazines, outdoors magazines, hunting magazines, etc. Even magazines like technology and gaming magazines, things that I'm interested in. I think in the beginning I'd try to keep my ideas within the realm I've already created for the imagery I'm using now, just to have purpose and meaning already in the work, but I know that the meaning would evolve over time with the imagery. I know for a fact, even though I like technology and gaming, the reason I dont look at sites like kotaku or gizmodo or get magazines for these things is that, even though they're about things I'm interested in they are still advertising to me. They still "pitch" an idea to me through some stupid headline or through editing in the articles and I dont appreciate that. Dont withhold information from me just because you think I wont be interested. Tell me the whole story up front or dont say anything at all. Leaving out details is lying by omission, and it is unappreciated.
All magazines pitch ideas, they all are big advertisements. Even if I were to change my imagery to only using hunting rifles, the idea that they are still objects that are sold and marketed to me while I'm cutting them out of the magazine would linger in my brain more than what the hunting rifle does and why people use them. Which is really too bad. Tools are interesting objects. If this is the case that I cannot escape the marketed object, I may have to create my own images in order to give them the breathing room necessary for their narrative nature to come through as themselves and not sold objects.
No matter what object or person I cut out of any magazine, the fact that it is in a magazine and being pitched to me destroys any trust I might have in the object. I almost never trust anything I see in advertisements. Why should I? Because it's telling me to? Because theres a cute girl in the picture? Well, I know that if I were taking that photograph of that girl, I'd have my client's interests in mind and I'd be telling her what kind of person she is, what objects she'd use, and what kind of music to listen to; not to mention how sexy to look in order to make low-lifes buy the product she's holding. Its not actually her presenting the objects, its some preconceived, prepackaged, processed idea that is not genuine.
I know for a fact that this outlook comes from having a commercial photographer, cinematographer as a father. I wouldnt change it for the world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Short Update:
Working on a few new collages. Trying to challenge my image making a little bit, so some of them are total flops. I'll upload them anyway. I'm also starting to see repeating shapes and patterns in how I deal with the space.
School got out, and I've been kinda vegging a little bit in the idea that I dont have much to do until today.
Track I'm bumping:
People moved out of my dorm building and had to throw a bunch of stuff away in order to minimize shipping costs, excess stuff, etc when they went home or wherever they were going; I found a bunch of magazines and random stuff lying around in the designated trash rooms in the building.
I have so many magazines, I dont know what to do with them. I wont have to buy another fashion magazine for the rest of college most likely. However, that takes the fun out of it b/c most of the magazines I found were from recent months. New magazines will come out every month and have new ads and such.
It makes me feel kinda stupid considering my opinion about advertisements and how I despise them yelling at me all the time. I now find myself looking in store windows and at advertisements, but not in the way they want me to. I dont look at the product, I look at the reflections on the product, or the shape of that overexposed area of that person's skin, or something seemingly arbitrary.
It does make me feel guilty. It makes me feel like I'm consuming things around me. I feel like a glutton doing it, which is weird to say because its just information, but I feel like its kinda like McDonald's; its there, but I dont eat it because its bad for me. Advertisements are there, but they're bad for me because they impose this "ideal" image of people that I disagree with. I used to not consume them, but now that I'm using them so often in my work I have no choice.
In my life, I have to create that space for myself to confidently exist without the influence of "the perfect male image" that magazines and tv projects into people's brains. I believe that my collages are the same process done visually. Taking all those scary ideas of self-image and creating a space with them in which I can happily and contently exist.
I've been hesitant to discuss the conceptual aspect of my work on my blog because I like to let it marinate in my brain a little bit before I explain it. But I thought it was about time to bring it up. I enjoy this way of working so much that I think my intuitive reaction to my content is extremely important, especially as my content changes. If I'm going to continue using this process, its important to know my initial response to the content I'm using now so that when I change it, I can have some groundwork in which to understand why I might be using certain imagery in certain ways.
It is definitely still a learning process. Its a self-discovery process that is really exciting to participate in. I tend to lean more on the side that collage is still a sort of subconscious thing. I started with surrealist collage and learned a lot about how I think about certain ideas. For example, I rely on animals as pure things more than people. Now that I know this about myself, I can use it in my practice more purposefully. It is the same with this new imagery I'm using.
I am taking objects and giving them a new purpose. I'm taking objects I dont normally use, perfume, high heels, nice clothing, models, advertisements in general and putting them in a place where I can interact with them comfortably. It's not an escape from the objects, but a coping with the objects that I am forced to live among. A respect for their importance, but refusal of their input. An admittance to their influence, but denial of submission to that influence. I am not a slave to these objects, they exist to serve me, the artist, the human.
I would be really interested to see what would happen if I used medical magazines, outdoors magazines, hunting magazines, etc. Even magazines like technology and gaming magazines, things that I'm interested in. I think in the beginning I'd try to keep my ideas within the realm I've already created for the imagery I'm using now, just to have purpose and meaning already in the work, but I know that the meaning would evolve over time with the imagery. I know for a fact, even though I like technology and gaming, the reason I dont look at sites like kotaku or gizmodo or get magazines for these things is that, even though they're about things I'm interested in they are still advertising to me. They still "pitch" an idea to me through some stupid headline or through editing in the articles and I dont appreciate that. Dont withhold information from me just because you think I wont be interested. Tell me the whole story up front or dont say anything at all. Leaving out details is lying by omission, and it is unappreciated.
All magazines pitch ideas, they all are big advertisements. Even if I were to change my imagery to only using hunting rifles, the idea that they are still objects that are sold and marketed to me while I'm cutting them out of the magazine would linger in my brain more than what the hunting rifle does and why people use them. Which is really too bad. Tools are interesting objects. If this is the case that I cannot escape the marketed object, I may have to create my own images in order to give them the breathing room necessary for their narrative nature to come through as themselves and not sold objects.
No matter what object or person I cut out of any magazine, the fact that it is in a magazine and being pitched to me destroys any trust I might have in the object. I almost never trust anything I see in advertisements. Why should I? Because it's telling me to? Because theres a cute girl in the picture? Well, I know that if I were taking that photograph of that girl, I'd have my client's interests in mind and I'd be telling her what kind of person she is, what objects she'd use, and what kind of music to listen to; not to mention how sexy to look in order to make low-lifes buy the product she's holding. Its not actually her presenting the objects, its some preconceived, prepackaged, processed idea that is not genuine.
I know for a fact that this outlook comes from having a commercial photographer, cinematographer as a father. I wouldnt change it for the world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Short Update:
Working on a few new collages. Trying to challenge my image making a little bit, so some of them are total flops. I'll upload them anyway. I'm also starting to see repeating shapes and patterns in how I deal with the space.
School got out, and I've been kinda vegging a little bit in the idea that I dont have much to do until today.
Track I'm bumping:
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Neosignal Podcast, VOLUME 3!
Neosignal Podcast Volume 003 by NEOSIGNAL
Love these mixes. They're always so well put together. Hope you enjoy. Free download!
Tracklist:
1.Misanthrop - Amboss (Neosignal Dub)
2.Phace and Rockwell - NO! (Neosignal Dub)
3.Phace and Noisia - MPD (Dub)
4.Misanthrop - Latitude (Neosignal 007)
5.Phace and Noisia - Close Second (Neosignal Dub)
6.Phace and Spot - out of focus (Neosignal Dub)
7.Kung - Formula (Dub)
8.Phace and Noisia - Program (Vision Dub)
9.Mefjus - Far Too Close (Neosignal Dub)
10.Phace - Basic Memory (Neosignal 008)
11.Misanthrop - Y (Neosignal 008)
12.Misanthrop - Hammerfaust (Neosignal Dub)
13.Phace - Teufelswerk (Neosignal Dub)
Love these mixes. They're always so well put together. Hope you enjoy. Free download!
Tracklist:
1.Misanthrop - Amboss (Neosignal Dub)
2.Phace and Rockwell - NO! (Neosignal Dub)
3.Phace and Noisia - MPD (Dub)
4.Misanthrop - Latitude (Neosignal 007)
5.Phace and Noisia - Close Second (Neosignal Dub)
6.Phace and Spot - out of focus (Neosignal Dub)
7.Kung - Formula (Dub)
8.Phace and Noisia - Program (Vision Dub)
9.Mefjus - Far Too Close (Neosignal Dub)
10.Phace - Basic Memory (Neosignal 008)
11.Misanthrop - Y (Neosignal 008)
12.Misanthrop - Hammerfaust (Neosignal Dub)
13.Phace - Teufelswerk (Neosignal Dub)
Monday, May 16, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Thanks Blogger, for letting me post again.
I mean to post all this stuff yesterday, but blogger decided to shut down for maintenance. So here are some doodles done in classes and at airports. All the ones with frames were done 5-11-11
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
New Studies.
The inspiration for these were Steve Reich's "Its Gonna Rain" pieces. Using the same image over and over "in and out of phase" to further the meaning of the image, as Reich would put it. See if you can figure out what the image is. Now keep in mind that its backwards from what it originally was.
I was actually really hesitant about doing them. But I think my initial two are much more successful than my third one. In the collages previously done, I rely heavily on value and color to create the space, but I've always been fascinated with how lines create space (any of Miro's drawings, Kandinsky, El Lissitzky, etc). I think these pieces are a good exercise in how to blend both of these ideas together.
Right from the beginning, the space in these collages is not as deep as the ones in which I rely on value and color. But I think with practice I'll be able to use lines to further expand a space created with my other methods.
I'm pretty upset with how the third one came out. Only because the paper was a bit thicker and I am inexperienced with that kind of paper. The values did not come out as I wanted them to be. But hey, now I know that the thicker paper gives me problems. Something to figure out.
I'm really excited about these and what is to come for my work.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
New Ideas Coming.
Tonight I'm working with some new parameters. Limiting myself to only lines and slowly adding values. Its a good challenge and I'm pretty happy with whats coming out of it. Finished studies are coming in a bit.
Wow!
Quick update:
I really appreciate everybody that stopped by to look at my collages recently. I think my pageviews tripled once I posted those last few collages, so I'm really happy about that. I love that people are interested to look at my work and are responding so positively to it.
My collage class critique happened yesterday (Monday) and went really well. Things I need to work on are physical presentation and marketing! I think I can pretty much push myself to learn more technical things like composition and working processes. Although I'm so interested in those things already that it wont be a problem making myself study those things.
I'm sad now because I probably wont be collaging today or tomorrow at all. I have a paper to write today and class pretty much all day tomorrow.
Again, thank you everybody for stopping by and seeing my work. Please feel free to comment. It helps me more than you think.
I really appreciate everybody that stopped by to look at my collages recently. I think my pageviews tripled once I posted those last few collages, so I'm really happy about that. I love that people are interested to look at my work and are responding so positively to it.
My collage class critique happened yesterday (Monday) and went really well. Things I need to work on are physical presentation and marketing! I think I can pretty much push myself to learn more technical things like composition and working processes. Although I'm so interested in those things already that it wont be a problem making myself study those things.
I'm sad now because I probably wont be collaging today or tomorrow at all. I have a paper to write today and class pretty much all day tomorrow.
Again, thank you everybody for stopping by and seeing my work. Please feel free to comment. It helps me more than you think.
Monday, May 9, 2011
New Collages 5-8-11
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| Filling up space. |
 |
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| Most Recent Collage. Based off earlier collage using more negative space. |
I found a new car catalog today in potbelly's. I'm excited to start using that. Plenty of gradients to go around.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Rant. #0000002!
Feel great today! Just had to feel like shit for a little bit!
I've heard that emotions are like a glass of water. If it full of bad stuff, then it cant hold any things else...so you have to get rid of it...drink it, w/e you do to it...and then fill it back up with good stuff.
I think thats true.
I've heard that emotions are like a glass of water. If it full of bad stuff, then it cant hold any things else...so you have to get rid of it...drink it, w/e you do to it...and then fill it back up with good stuff.
I think thats true.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Rant. #0000001
idk why I'm feeling so shitty right now. I think I'm lonely. I've been in my room working for the past few days not seeing any of my friends. I also dont think said friends fully appreciate me as a person. Which makes me question myself big time.
It just sucks working really hard and nobody being there to say "good job" on the other side. Sure I can tell myself that, but its nice to have people around.
I wish I could go hang out with somebody but also be in a shitty mood at the same time. I feel like people expect me to be in a certain mood and when I'm not showing behaviors associated with that mood, they get all weird.
But I also feel like nobody wants to hang out with me unless they're entertained. Lets face it, I dont have the best jokes, I'm not the group member thats funny and contributing all the time. I listen to people and speak when I feel its necessary. I assess information and I dont speak until I feel that I have enough information. People dont care that I do that. This has nothing to do with what I'm upset about. But I guess I feel like people dont respect me. Which sucks. I'm there when they need me or want me to be there, and thats it. Then they just leave when they dont need me anymore. That doesnt feel good.
Whatever. Just not feeling good tonight.
It just sucks working really hard and nobody being there to say "good job" on the other side. Sure I can tell myself that, but its nice to have people around.
I wish I could go hang out with somebody but also be in a shitty mood at the same time. I feel like people expect me to be in a certain mood and when I'm not showing behaviors associated with that mood, they get all weird.
But I also feel like nobody wants to hang out with me unless they're entertained. Lets face it, I dont have the best jokes, I'm not the group member thats funny and contributing all the time. I listen to people and speak when I feel its necessary. I assess information and I dont speak until I feel that I have enough information. People dont care that I do that. This has nothing to do with what I'm upset about. But I guess I feel like people dont respect me. Which sucks. I'm there when they need me or want me to be there, and thats it. Then they just leave when they dont need me anymore. That doesnt feel good.
Whatever. Just not feeling good tonight.
New, complete, collage.
This collage took me maybe a week to fully complete. Lots of compositional trouble with this one. However, this is one of my favorites yet.
Today I made 3 more collages, but I think I only really like 2 of them. I didnt upload them because they are not yet complete...I'm just not feelin it from them yet. There is a little sneak peak of them in the aftermath photo I posted earlier. I'll have them finished by the end of this weekend for sure, considering my critique is on Monday.
Well shit...
So the gouache didnt work exactly as planned. I think I need to use acrylic instead.
The gouache became wet again once I put glue over it when trying to keep collaging.
Continuing my experiments....
The gouache became wet again once I put glue over it when trying to keep collaging.
Continuing my experiments....
Work Day Today,
 |
| My workspace. And my newly acquired "Vogue" magazine. Reese Witherspoon is so hot. |
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Sick? really?
Sick today -__-. It began kinda yesterday and I didnt think anything of it, but today my head hurts and my nose is stuffy. Sinus infection I think. So! In honor of myself...for being...myself...and that I finished my big ass paper on time and with great effort applied...I'm ordering myself a pizza. banana peppers plz
 |
| Look, a pizza |
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Container or material? a useless debate of whether or not something is a container or a material. Reading comprehension people.
Gravity: material, it exists for the benefit of other containers and materials.
Good News: I've figured out that my research paper is only 1200 words instead of 10 pages like I had originally thought. So I will be able to finish it before 9am tomorrow and be able to write up my other assignments for my other classes tomorrow.
Bad News: Couldnt sleep at all last night; was up with the sunrise and then proceeded to sleep for 2 hours from 8 to 10 when I had originally wanted to be up at 8. So even though I'll have all my work done, I'll be incapable of operating tomorrow most likely.
I'm super happy with my collage practice right now. Its really nice to look over at my work desk and see little scraps of paper that have that one pink color that I want for one of my dozens of unfinished collages that are laid out. And I love not working in the school studios b/c I can just leave my workspace the way it is and not have to clean up my shit OR get settled in again every time I want to work.
I'm also learning a lot about how I solve compositional and technical problems with my available materials. Which isnt really saying that I have a lack of materials, but nor do I have an overabundance of expensive supplies. But the fact that I'm learning a new technique and that I've gotten good enough at it that I'm at a place where I can productively be concerned with my lines matching up, getting my shapes right, the colors I want, etc. That means I've obviously gained a hold of the technique, at least partially and am able to command it to do what I need it to do. Im no master by any means.
Rauschenberg is the master. (Which reminds me, I need to get a book of his work from the library. Dammit I was there this morning -__-). But I have a clear enough understanding of my materials and the process I'm using to now begin adding more steps, tools, materials, etc to my process. This is really exciting. Its a lot of self discovery, but not in the self-help book kinda way. Adding more materials means that I'll be able to use spontaneity in my process while I'm working. Not saying that the resulting use of said materials will look spontaneous, but it will spice up my process and let me breathe a little every now and then. It sounds really lame, but adding gouache to this current series of collages will completely change the way I work and will, most likely, be a very important step for me in furthering my exploration of the process and my technical understanding of it. Not just gouache, White gouache. Now it sounds even more lame. I'm going to add one color with an opaque medium and it will suddenly open up so many doors.
But shit...I hate painting -__-. Even that small amount that I'll be doing by just adding white gouache. It just adds a bunch of extra, messy, unnecessary steps to the process. Its also a wet medium, which is something I'm trying to avoid. The more wet mediums I have running on one piece simultaneously increases the time in which I wont be able to work on the piece. And especially with collage, I want to be able to see something, grab it, and make it happen when I see it. I'll have to work through it though and eventually it'll become integrated into my "Build Order."
Which reminds me, I've been wanting to play starcraft so bad. Just havnt had like 2 or 3 hours free to just sit down with a friend and play for like the past two weeks. But see, the thing about it is that I have maybe an hour free randomly throughout the day, but that is definitely not enough to play starcraft. Like I need at least 2 consecutive hours to play because I'm gonna get in the zone with that game and not feel satisfied if I have to stop playing after an hour. Its like sleep. If you have 2 hours of sleep, your brain isnt able to reach that state in which it regains the most energy and is in the deepest sleep; or maybe it reaches and is then abruptly woken up. Then you're groggy and you feel like shit. Same thing with starcraft. Gotta work on my macro! My terran vs terran is so bad. I get rocked by tanks every single time.
But its way more fun to make art than it is to play starcraft. Starcraft is already finished for me; The fun is in creating something.
Jesus. Running off basically no sleep. The last half of this paper is going to be really taxing. (oh no you dont blogger, this post was started at 7pm something but it was completed at 9:25pm. just kinda left it open while doing other shit).
Good News: I've figured out that my research paper is only 1200 words instead of 10 pages like I had originally thought. So I will be able to finish it before 9am tomorrow and be able to write up my other assignments for my other classes tomorrow.
Bad News: Couldnt sleep at all last night; was up with the sunrise and then proceeded to sleep for 2 hours from 8 to 10 when I had originally wanted to be up at 8. So even though I'll have all my work done, I'll be incapable of operating tomorrow most likely.
I'm super happy with my collage practice right now. Its really nice to look over at my work desk and see little scraps of paper that have that one pink color that I want for one of my dozens of unfinished collages that are laid out. And I love not working in the school studios b/c I can just leave my workspace the way it is and not have to clean up my shit OR get settled in again every time I want to work.
I'm also learning a lot about how I solve compositional and technical problems with my available materials. Which isnt really saying that I have a lack of materials, but nor do I have an overabundance of expensive supplies. But the fact that I'm learning a new technique and that I've gotten good enough at it that I'm at a place where I can productively be concerned with my lines matching up, getting my shapes right, the colors I want, etc. That means I've obviously gained a hold of the technique, at least partially and am able to command it to do what I need it to do. Im no master by any means.
Rauschenberg is the master. (Which reminds me, I need to get a book of his work from the library. Dammit I was there this morning -__-). But I have a clear enough understanding of my materials and the process I'm using to now begin adding more steps, tools, materials, etc to my process. This is really exciting. Its a lot of self discovery, but not in the self-help book kinda way. Adding more materials means that I'll be able to use spontaneity in my process while I'm working. Not saying that the resulting use of said materials will look spontaneous, but it will spice up my process and let me breathe a little every now and then. It sounds really lame, but adding gouache to this current series of collages will completely change the way I work and will, most likely, be a very important step for me in furthering my exploration of the process and my technical understanding of it. Not just gouache, White gouache. Now it sounds even more lame. I'm going to add one color with an opaque medium and it will suddenly open up so many doors.
But shit...I hate painting -__-. Even that small amount that I'll be doing by just adding white gouache. It just adds a bunch of extra, messy, unnecessary steps to the process. Its also a wet medium, which is something I'm trying to avoid. The more wet mediums I have running on one piece simultaneously increases the time in which I wont be able to work on the piece. And especially with collage, I want to be able to see something, grab it, and make it happen when I see it. I'll have to work through it though and eventually it'll become integrated into my "Build Order."
Which reminds me, I've been wanting to play starcraft so bad. Just havnt had like 2 or 3 hours free to just sit down with a friend and play for like the past two weeks. But see, the thing about it is that I have maybe an hour free randomly throughout the day, but that is definitely not enough to play starcraft. Like I need at least 2 consecutive hours to play because I'm gonna get in the zone with that game and not feel satisfied if I have to stop playing after an hour. Its like sleep. If you have 2 hours of sleep, your brain isnt able to reach that state in which it regains the most energy and is in the deepest sleep; or maybe it reaches and is then abruptly woken up. Then you're groggy and you feel like shit. Same thing with starcraft. Gotta work on my macro! My terran vs terran is so bad. I get rocked by tanks every single time.
But its way more fun to make art than it is to play starcraft. Starcraft is already finished for me; The fun is in creating something.
Jesus. Running off basically no sleep. The last half of this paper is going to be really taxing. (oh no you dont blogger, this post was started at 7pm something but it was completed at 9:25pm. just kinda left it open while doing other shit).
Totally boss.
Self-Titled Mag presents "Needle Exchange #43" by Thunderballdc
Writing about subculture and listening to the groovy sounds of Thunderball. Free download of this on Soundcloud for those of you who's fancies are struck.
Writing about subculture and listening to the groovy sounds of Thunderball. Free download of this on Soundcloud for those of you who's fancies are struck.
A quote from Clarke's 1st response to Leibniz
"Suppose a king had a kingdom in which everything continually went on without his regulation or interference—without his attending to and ordering what is done in his realm—it would be a ‘kingdom’ only in name, not in reality, and this ‘king’ wouldn’t deserve that title. ·Well, there’s no smoke without a fire·! If someone claims that in an earthly government things can go on perfectly well without the king’s ordering or dealing with anything, we can reasonably suspect him of wanting to get rid of the king altogether. Similarly, anyone who maintains that the world can continue to run its course without the continual direction of God the supreme governor has a doctrine that does have the effect of excluding God from the world."
This made me lul. Not to say that I believe God is the one governing, but theres gotta be something else going on in the universe. Makes me think of "Anarchist" punk teenagers
The Evolution of Useful Things - Henry Petroski
Working on my paper about containers. This may come in handy
Monday, May 2, 2011
Datsik - Game Over
Heard this in some mixtape a while back and never knew what it was. Finally found it. Always a good feeling.
A letter to the mom.
Actually the next day, my tooth stopped hurting! If it happens again I'll definitely find somebody asap. Dr. Brady's office told me to ask the school's clinic/health services, which is what I expected pretty much.
The boat tour was awesome! On the groupon we got, it included a free drink from the bar and I went to get them and the line was so long I missed the beginning of the tour, but it was an hour long tour! I did meet some nice people from Milwaukee in the line though. Probably the best free drink I've ever gotten from a place...well didnt taste the best but it had so much gin in it. There were people on the boat that were drunk which was pretty obnoxious and hilarious at the same time. They were on the lower deck just yelling and taking pictures and laughing. Pretty funny to hear them while the tour guide was talking. It was a really informative tour, but there was so much information. It was really cool to be on a boat again too. I dont think I've been on a boat for a year or two. I think one of my favorite parts was going underneath bridges. The change of space was really interesting and it changed the way I felt almost instantly every time we went from having massive amounts of sky above us, to having a bridge right in our faces. Cars driving over the bridges were also really strange. But it made me think about architecture because of how foyers have low ceilings and then the building opens up, etc. Makes me wonder why I like some of the artwork I like also.
We decided to get BBQ. However the place I wanted to go to was an hour away on the blue line so we found another place. They had a huge beer selection and I found this crazy beer that doesnt taste like beer at all! Monk's Cafe beer or something. It was delicious. And I got a brisket sandwich. Just what I needed! The day was beautiful and it didnt rain! We thought it would but we were pleasantly surprised.
We went scouting around for that beer at lots of different liquor stores and finally found it at the one place we didnt think would have it. The liquor store right next to her apartment. We got it, invited some people over and played Jenga. We wrote challenges on each block so that when you pulled it out you'd have to do a challenge. I had the honor of providing a soundtrack on guitar while my friend did an imaginary striptease. It was quite an experience and he had good theatrical awareness when I was winding down my tune into a finale. Dad could probably play the tune I played, it was a "C" to "G" silly sounding tune. Dad will no doubt go into muscle memory if he tries to play it and play almost exactly what I played.
The next day we went to the Lincoln park conservatory and zoo. Wow. It was awesome. I had never been to either of them before. The conservatory was gorgeous. I wish we would've spent more time there just smelling the flowers. Whenever I think about going to the conservatory, I always forget about what it feels like to walk in a space with lots of living plants and the smells that are possible. Pictures are great, but being there is amazing. Its a very humbling experience when you see that flowers have better color theory sense than you do, even after taking a class and studying books.
The zoo was so fun. I think my favorite thing was seeing the big cats. They were inside a building that was just a big open space and the cages were in the walls. I was sad that they couldnt get as much sunlight as the other animals, but when I saw a tiger climb up a log and start roaring, I was amazed. Its roar took over the whole space. No amount of human chatter could even overshadow that animal's power. Very amazing to see and hear that.
We also saw Meerkats(sp?) which were hilarious. I think my other favorite thing to see were the behaviors of monkeys and gorillas. Gorillas were strange because they would hoard sticks from each other. It made me think of George Orwell's "1984" where razorblades were forbidden and could be used as a kind of currency in underground circles. The gorillas were very interesting and HUGE. One was very close to the glass and it put things in perspective for me that an animal that massive could easily rip me apart. Kind of nice to know that I wont live forever.
I didnt realize how inspired I'd be by those two places. But I want to go back very soon.
After the zoo, we went to ihop and feasted on breakfast that we didnt have that morning b/c some of us felt a little hung over.
I've been continuing to make collages. They're getting very specific now. I am now doing transfers of very small pieces of paper just to give shapes a slight colored edge or a small gradient in one side of a shape. I'm also learning that I can stack ink on itself to make darker shapes and create my own colors through optical mixing, similar to Seurat's pointalism in "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte". My work now, however, is looking more like Rauschenberg and is reflecting some of my older photoshop and inkblot pieces. I have a post about it on my blog called "Things to be balanced...". The title stems from lots of things in my life that I'm having to balance. The titles for most of the pieces in the post have to do with money, but also they're abstraction studies so compositional balance is a given. I'm really excited about where I'm going with them and I enjoy making them very much. I need to start subscribing to magazines just so I can have a consistent flow of material. I've been using Glamour and GQ magazines, at least, at this point they're the most effective.
I have a paper to write and some laundry to do, so I'll catch up with you soon!
Love you!
-Mark
The boat tour was awesome! On the groupon we got, it included a free drink from the bar and I went to get them and the line was so long I missed the beginning of the tour, but it was an hour long tour! I did meet some nice people from Milwaukee in the line though. Probably the best free drink I've ever gotten from a place...well didnt taste the best but it had so much gin in it. There were people on the boat that were drunk which was pretty obnoxious and hilarious at the same time. They were on the lower deck just yelling and taking pictures and laughing. Pretty funny to hear them while the tour guide was talking. It was a really informative tour, but there was so much information. It was really cool to be on a boat again too. I dont think I've been on a boat for a year or two. I think one of my favorite parts was going underneath bridges. The change of space was really interesting and it changed the way I felt almost instantly every time we went from having massive amounts of sky above us, to having a bridge right in our faces. Cars driving over the bridges were also really strange. But it made me think about architecture because of how foyers have low ceilings and then the building opens up, etc. Makes me wonder why I like some of the artwork I like also.
We decided to get BBQ. However the place I wanted to go to was an hour away on the blue line so we found another place. They had a huge beer selection and I found this crazy beer that doesnt taste like beer at all! Monk's Cafe beer or something. It was delicious. And I got a brisket sandwich. Just what I needed! The day was beautiful and it didnt rain! We thought it would but we were pleasantly surprised.
We went scouting around for that beer at lots of different liquor stores and finally found it at the one place we didnt think would have it. The liquor store right next to her apartment. We got it, invited some people over and played Jenga. We wrote challenges on each block so that when you pulled it out you'd have to do a challenge. I had the honor of providing a soundtrack on guitar while my friend did an imaginary striptease. It was quite an experience and he had good theatrical awareness when I was winding down my tune into a finale. Dad could probably play the tune I played, it was a "C" to "G" silly sounding tune. Dad will no doubt go into muscle memory if he tries to play it and play almost exactly what I played.
The next day we went to the Lincoln park conservatory and zoo. Wow. It was awesome. I had never been to either of them before. The conservatory was gorgeous. I wish we would've spent more time there just smelling the flowers. Whenever I think about going to the conservatory, I always forget about what it feels like to walk in a space with lots of living plants and the smells that are possible. Pictures are great, but being there is amazing. Its a very humbling experience when you see that flowers have better color theory sense than you do, even after taking a class and studying books.
The zoo was so fun. I think my favorite thing was seeing the big cats. They were inside a building that was just a big open space and the cages were in the walls. I was sad that they couldnt get as much sunlight as the other animals, but when I saw a tiger climb up a log and start roaring, I was amazed. Its roar took over the whole space. No amount of human chatter could even overshadow that animal's power. Very amazing to see and hear that.
We also saw Meerkats(sp?) which were hilarious. I think my other favorite thing to see were the behaviors of monkeys and gorillas. Gorillas were strange because they would hoard sticks from each other. It made me think of George Orwell's "1984" where razorblades were forbidden and could be used as a kind of currency in underground circles. The gorillas were very interesting and HUGE. One was very close to the glass and it put things in perspective for me that an animal that massive could easily rip me apart. Kind of nice to know that I wont live forever.
I didnt realize how inspired I'd be by those two places. But I want to go back very soon.
After the zoo, we went to ihop and feasted on breakfast that we didnt have that morning b/c some of us felt a little hung over.
I've been continuing to make collages. They're getting very specific now. I am now doing transfers of very small pieces of paper just to give shapes a slight colored edge or a small gradient in one side of a shape. I'm also learning that I can stack ink on itself to make darker shapes and create my own colors through optical mixing, similar to Seurat's pointalism in "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte". My work now, however, is looking more like Rauschenberg and is reflecting some of my older photoshop and inkblot pieces. I have a post about it on my blog called "Things to be balanced...". The title stems from lots of things in my life that I'm having to balance. The titles for most of the pieces in the post have to do with money, but also they're abstraction studies so compositional balance is a given. I'm really excited about where I'm going with them and I enjoy making them very much. I need to start subscribing to magazines just so I can have a consistent flow of material. I've been using Glamour and GQ magazines, at least, at this point they're the most effective.
I have a paper to write and some laundry to do, so I'll catch up with you soon!
Love you!
-Mark
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Peninsula
This music is so hilarious. It reminds me how awesome music can be. Everybody nowadays is so serious about their music and what it sounds like and how its more "badass" than everybody's music. I say no! listen to what makes you happy! This definitely makes me happy
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