P1 Time Layer Assignment

P1 App Design

P1 Scale Observation

These selections illustrate the use of scale in art. The first scene uses scale to assist the images expansive feel. The next two portraits are made up of smaller individual pieces that can be broken down and viewed separately as a whole.

P1 Transparency Observation

These observations for transparency come from an angel watercolor which explores the possibility for transparency as medium, and a art exhibition that uses transparency to add to an ethereal, nostalgic feeling.

P1 Time Observation

The light artwork of Bill Bell deals with his light rod invention. This light rod plays with the different frequencies of light and how the eye captures them. The art work only exists in the split second the viewer looks away. A basic image will appear in your peripheral.

A link to his website with some great example of time based art.

http://www.subliminaryartworks.com/

P1 Hierarchy/Scale assignment

This project I choose the 14th amendment to express my opinion on the article. I thought that it was overly wordy and repetitive like most legal documents. I decided to concentrate the hierarchy on summarizing this lengthy amendment. In my hierarchy I wanted the xiv to be seen first so the viewer can identify the amendment, next the summary in bold blue, then the italicized smart-ass comments I found imbedded in the body text. The rest of the body type is distorted to the point of illegibility.

P1 Texture Assignment

The texture I choice to illustrate through type was guacamole. This texture proved difficult because of the extremely organic and irregular nature of the surface. To help with this problem I choose to use the typeface Giddy-up because of it's soft curves an random counter sizes. The final effect is a gestural representation of the original image. The energy and fluidity does seem to be to similar to water but the overall organic and irregular feeling of from the image certainly does come through.

P1 Message Assignment

The concept was pushed in this project. The object was to find a corner and take three pictures of it from different angles. I choose to take a conceptual corner, the corner of the mouth. The three different angles becomes the different emotions expressed. The corner of the mouth acts as a pointer, tying in the concept with the topography of the face. 

P1 Diagram and Texture Observation

The examples I found of diagrams came from the book America (the Book): A citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by Jon Stewarts. This book is a satire on the democratic system and the diagrams use humor very effectively.

This diagram shows the balance between fun and danger in a fun travel guide way.

This image shows third party political parties that didn't last, with a funny description for the tombstone's epigraph. 

This diagram explains how Australian national character as a byproduct of their perpetual drunkenness.

South American economic cycle.

A example of texture from nature. A large variety of textures can be viewed in this photograph. 

P1 Composition Observation

This composition effectively illustrates the subject matter of the book by the choice of image to be represented. The painting depicts conquistadors capturing a Aztec ruler. The king is depicted like a child grabbing onto his litter, while the other Aztecs are groveling and crawling on the ground. This is contrasted by the white conquistadors standing over the "savages." The light source of the image emanates from the cross that the missionary is holding to the left of the king, giving the soldiers action a higher cause. This book talks about why and how certain civilizations thrive to conquer of civilizations, by many different ways.

P1 Reading Report 1

Sol Lewitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective

This field trip didn't start as smoothly as I would have hoped. Fresh off a morning fight, hangover, and somewhat unprepared for the day's driving, I wasn't quite in the right mood for a MassMOCA trip. Though seeing how I was being counted on I decided that I better go (and I was glad I did.)

The day was quintessential New England, crisp, cool and sunny. The leaves where changing color and the drive itself was rememberable, though long. Following route 2's winding roads we came upon the small, sleepy hamlet in the middle of the forest called North Adams. The first thing that greeted us was the strange juxtaposition of two old factory buildings pressing the road, foreshadowing the surprises that would be found in MassMOCA.

Within the museum, the first piece that stopped me in my tracks was the enormous insulation piece by Orly Gengur, called Big Boss. This work had an active, destructive quality, ripping and violently and flooding the entire room. The red lava flow (made out of painted, braided ropes) was heaping and pressing on the room's support columns, you could visually feel the kinetic push against them. This work intrigued me because this torrent simultaneously contained the feeling of unbound energy and movement while possessing enormous weight.

Once in the Sol Lewitt retrospective I found I had a hard time getting into the artworks. The work I have seen before by other artist were very lush with details and forms, but the stark controlled forms and compositions were to different and it took me a while to figure out how to approach them.

I started viewing on the second floor (mid-career work.) At first I circled around most of the floor with my eye resisting entrance to the artworks, until I rounded a corner and came across the Wall Drawing 552D. This drawing was a large painting of a "cube" using 4 colors. I use quotation marks around the term cube because once recognized as a three sided rhombus it quickly receded to a negative space. This illusion was hard to undo, i found because of the complementary colors of blue and orange were expertly controlled. The composition at first seemed very straight forward (centered horizontally) but the subtle differences eventually emerged. With my eyes adjusting to the subtlety I continued on with the show.

I eventually came across a very large drawing of a layers of wavy, horizontal, striped colors, called Wall Drawing 793B. At first the scale was a little overwhelming but I was determined to overcome it, especially after my new found love for Wall Drawing 552D. After some time I found that the seeming random undulation of the waves actually had an order. In the middle to the painting the colors where (again subtlety squeezed) exposing two newly introduced colors peeking into the picture plane. With this new found information, I understood that to really appreciate a Sol Lewitt drawing you have to spend some time with it. The more time you spend with one the more it will expose itself to you, of course on its own time.

With this new understanding of how the look at a Lewitt, I  couldn't help but notice how quickly most of the tourist with their cameras and maps run through the exhibit. Glancing at the images will not give you anything but a cheap impression of the works. Lewitt carefully measured and proportioned every single line of the art work, the least we could do is at least stop walking and give it a couple of seconds.

So giving the painting hundreds (or possibly thousands) of seconds, it provided me with some more insight to Lewitt's work. I started to discover that he placed only three sets of complementary colors near each other. I started to see the importance of this. The lines between the complementary colors started to pull away from the others, and I quickly realized that imbedded deep into the colors is the real point of the piece. The colors started to become secondary because they were only a vehicle to create the hierarchy for the lines. The lines spatially spread out before me giving the painting an unexpected depth.

Next I went up to the third floor and was instantly repelled by what I saw. The vibrant ringing colors hurt my eyes and I quickly escaped these works searching for somewhere to rest. Sailing through this level trying not to abuse my eyes I found Wall Drawing 1112. Looking at this piece of found it struggling with itself. The piece was made up of fully saturated primary colors arranged in a series of rectangles emanating from the center of the picture plane. The colors naturally repel each other, violently trying to escape and push away from one another. But the strict geometric arrangement of the colors held the colors in a forced harmony with each other. In retaliation the colors in return destroyed the geometric lines making it seem wavy and organic. It was like a visual cage match worthy of HBO.

The bottom floor housed his early work. These work were amazing. The tones and colors were built up with horizontal, vertical, and diagonal colored pencil lines. On the wall near these works is a diagram (which I refused to look at) explaining the pattern and sowing his thought process. I found the work had a very interested pull when you engaged in figuring out the pattern. The works were delicate and demanding at the same time. You could almost walk by them because your periphery wouldn't pick up the subtle. I was glad I ended with this floor, it left me with a calming, satisfied feeling.

Through the work of Sol Lewitt my mood was improved by the active space he created. The subtle had to be investigated giving my mind something to do. I didn't find them especially emotional drawing but I did fid them very cerebral and planned. I enjoyed the trip very much.

P1 Craft Assignment

This composition is composed of different line weights and feel. The shallow depth of the photograph changes the physical properties of the lines from a positive solid shape to a gaseous one.

The light and silhouette of the paper gives this photograph a oasis feeling. I read it as looking up a large dune and seeing a structure of some kind. Has a grandiose quality to the object.

P1 F/G, Grid, Message, Craft Observation

The book cover for "The Black Swan" is a great example of figure/ground relationship. The duality of the origami swans unite the black and white, and provide a visual bridge throughout the composition.

The dvd "Burn after reading" is a good example of grid. The grid is obviously still intact but pushed to create a interesting, chaotic relationship between the characters.

A classic example of message in a composition is the dvd cover design for "Me, Myself and Irene." The split personality is easily discernible from the composition.

This dvd cover design is for the "The Evil Dead" trilogy. The cover is a soft highly textured replica of a tome from the movie.

P1 Composition Assignment

Composition is the backbone, the structure of everything. It is usually not noticed upon casual glance. A good composition is usually taken for granted by most people. A bad composition will be noticed by everyone. In my own work I find myself jumping into details to quick and leaving an incomplete composition sometimes. the original composition assignment took the actual physical creation out of my hands so I could only concentrate on the composition. I think I also over think things and when my work succeeds I work intuitively and quickly, I am going to try and push this during the duration of this semester.

The horizontal composition reinvestigates the problems of illustrating the emotion. I reused the idea of un-sustainablity by destroying the of the regular, modular words. This time the white spaces above and below provide a tension and pressure to the letterforms.

P1 Color Assignment

The most frustrating thing about this project was the use of colored pencils. The medium didn't allow for any careless strokes. Using the complementary colors of purple and yellow proved difficult as well because of the enormous value difference between the two hues. Other complementaries don't quite have this problem. As a result the purple had to be extremely tinted to create a 0 value color contrast. One rewarding thing about this project was the satisfaction of having the colors vibrate against one another.

P1 Color Observation

This assignment really made me look hard at my immediate surroundings. Color and color combinations were every where. I didn't have to leave my house to get these images.

It seemed that most of the complementary color combinations were red/green. I didn't find many examples of orange/blue. The desaturated purple with the yellow  gray walls I feel is the most intriguing of the group.

The analogous color combinations where more prevalent because I feel the it is human nature to bunch like colors together. People I think shy away from using other color schemes because they feel it is to daunting of a task.