My partner and I chose the artists Hans Holbein and Robert Lazzarini for our "exhibit". Holbein is a 16th century oil painter, most famous for his painting "The Ambassadors". Lazzarini is a modern artist who uses technology to create his sculptures. Holbein's "The Ambassadors" and Lazzarini's skull sculpture were the two pieces that brought our attention to the commonalities between these artists. In Holbein's painting, there is a skewed skull placed at the feet of two men. One must approach the painting from a certain angle in order for this skull to appear in correct perspective. Lazzarini used modern technology to create a 3-Dimensional skull that appears to be falling from a 3-D form to a 2-D form. When looking at Lazzarini's and Holbein's works next to eachother, there is an undeniable similarity. In fact, they are almost identical, the only difference being the method in which each was made: one done in a very traditional style of oil painting, and one done using modern technologies. However, they both seem to convey the same message of momento mori , a Latin phrase meaning "reminder of death". Therefore, the works of these artists prove that some themes can carry through many centuries.

For my final project,the artist book, I decided to make a series of postcards using my own images (drawings, photographs, and digital images). The finished product is like a postcard collection, able to be flipped through like a book, but bound with a single keyring.

I chose ten images and edited each one differently in Photoshop. I used various filters, image adjustments, text, and cropping. I printed the images and mounted them to look like real postcards. Then, I punched a small hole in the top left corner of each postcard and attached them all to a keyring so that they could be easily flipped through, and also because it gave the overall piece some aspect of being a book.

I like the idea of artworks that are a collection of things, such as my postcards. Viewers are invited to examine each part of the piece individually in order to take it all in. This type of art has a more interactive quality with its audience. Also, I like the communicative potential of postcards. People often connect the image on the front to the message they are sending, usually to their family, friends, etc. If I was to continue with this project, I would like to give the postcards to my friends and have them right me a message on the back, then collect them again and keep them as a sort of postcard scrapbook.

The 2 images below are my double self-portrait project. The eye image was done in Photoshop using the smudge tool, blur tool, paint brush, and various tools under image adjustments. I would consider this to be an abstract self portrait because, while I did use a picture of my own eye, the image is more about expressive color. The second image was also done in photoshop except for the skeleton, which was traced in Illustrator. I wanted to use text in one of my two self-portraits because I enjoy incorporating words into my art in a way that makes them more of an aesthetic as opposed to readable text.

Second of the two midterm images, finally got it to upload.

Rolling Stones logo traced in Illustrator and re-colored.

The class trip last Wednesday was my first time going to the Whitney. It was a different experience for me because I've never been to such a large exhibition of modern art. I am used to seeing more pre-modern, classical pieces in museums. However, I definitely enjoyed the variety of works at the Whitney, and I found a few artists I particularly liked, including: Roland Flexner, Trenton Doyle Hancock, and Charles Ray. Flexner's "Thirty Sumi Ink on Paper" were absolutely my favorite pieces in the whole museum. From what I understand, he uses a Japanese technique of placing paper on top on ink floating on water or gelatin, but then he adds his own twist by blowing, blotting, and tilting the ink. From afar, his ink pieces look like photographs of some odd, dark landscape or caves; but upon closer examination, you can see there are no definitive, recognizable forms in the image at all. I think they are mysterious and beautiful.

Both of my midterm Photoshop images were inspired by a music video for the song “Gone with the Sin”, written and performed by my favorite band H.I.M. The video features the band’s lead singer, Ville Valo, walking through a cemetery that has been edited with neon colors. I was also inspired by a beautiful old cemetery I sometimes visit when I go home. Over spring break, I took photographs in this cemetery while thinking of the “Gone with the Sin” video. If you go on Youtube and search this video, you can clearly see its correlation to my midterm images.
My first image, a mausoleum with a rainbow, was partially a tribute to St. Patrick’s Day as well as the music video. I brainstormed images that typically put me in the Irish spirit: rainbows, pot of gold, leprechaun, four leaf clovers, and lots of greenery. As I looked through my photographs from the cemetery, this shot of the mausoleum caught my attention. I started changing the color effects in Photoshop, turning dull colors into vibrant, neon greens, blues, and purples. I probably spent a total of 2 hours doing this until I was satisfied with the total picture. Then, I searched an image of a rainbow on Google and used the lasso tool to select it and paste it in front of the mausoleum. I had to use the eraser tool on low opacity to make the rainbow seem see-through.
My second image, a close-up of a headstone with a ghostly figure in the background, is a clear reference to the H.I.M. video. In fact, that ghostly figure is Ville Valo, the band’s lead singer. This image took me a long time to complete because I could not find an image of Valo that showed his whole body standing. I actually had to edit two photos together, an upper body and a lower body shot, to get the look I wanted. Then I inserted the image of the flowers into his hands to tie in Valo with the image of the headstone and the roses in front of it. Again with this photo, I spent a lot of time adjusting the colors to get the neon look I wanted.

This is a "rough draft" of the first image for the midterm assignment.

These are 3 images I am considering working with for the composite project. I might use these actual images or I may just use them as ideas when taking more photographs.

This is my second composite assignment. I used 3 original photos: the image of the tree and 2 pictures of each of my friends.

Comments about Crewsdon, Hocks, Wall, and Sherman

I enjoyed the works of all four artists, and I can't say I have a favorite. I enjoyed Sherman's simple black and white photos, but I also appreciated the complexity of Wall's works. Both of these artists, however, had more realistic photographs, whereas I saw a more surreal aspect to both Crewsdon and Hock's pieces. Crewsdon's photographs had a mysterious quality to them. They were so beautiful and well done, yet they left me wondering and asking many questions about the events surrounding the single moment he captured. Many of Hock's photographs, on the other hand, reminded me of surrealist pieces by Dali, one of my favorite artists.

The chair, table, and railing are from a photo taken in the Bahamas outside an ice-cream store. The view in the background is from a photo I took in Wildwood, NJ.

I did this photoshop drawing as a mock album cover for my favorite bad H.I.M., specifically their newest album Screamworks.

I chose this photo because of the variety of lines, planes and shapes, and also because it shows off the beautiful architecture and style of TCNJ.

Reaction to the Inherited Traits Exhibit

My favorite piece in this exhibit is Genealogy of the Supermarket by Nina Katchadourian, because it represents this year's theme of family with a very different approach. By taking these supermarket icons away from the product they advertise and by placing them in this family tree backed by a homey looking wallpaper, I almost feel sentimental towards the fictional people in each frame. Their images are ingrained in my mind as a part of both my childhood and my present life, much the way the faces of my extended family are. This unique approach to the idea of family is seen in every piece in the Inherited Traits Exhibit. Both Nina Katchadourian and Heidi Kumao have expanded our school's theme to something more than the expected.