Special Edition Blog- AIC

One pic of me @ AIC

  

One pic of Nate @ Art Institute Chicago

 

1. "Public Notice 3" by Jitish Kallat

Craft: He used rubber, plastic, LED lamps, & wire. He used the main stairs inside of the AIC to display the art, and he used the words of a speech by Swami Vivekananda given at the AI in 1893. he purposely used the colors red, orange, yellow, blue and green.

Concept: This piece is representative of historical and political unrest that has existed, and that recreates itself in different forms. He is connecting Sept 11, 2001 with Sept 11, 1893-- a speech meant to advocate for ending bigotry, and the event that will define my generation with the fall of the twin towers, and the problems that we are facing now which are very similar to those experienced 100 years earlier. He states that the colors used represent Homeland Security warning colors/ "threat conditions". highest threat to lowest threat the order is red, orange, yellow, blue, green.

Composition: He uses the entire speech by Vivekananda which shows how important his message is to Kallat. The large scale of the message is also a big part of the piece. He wants to she how important it is to see the solutions that have been placed to modern problems in past experiences, specifically with the prejudices associated with 9/11. he makes some words certain colors to show urgency. though many of the words are different colors, a few strings of words are colored together, and I believe these words are most significant to Kallat. 

couldn't get this guy rotated

2. "The Captive Slave" by John Philip Simpson

Craft: oil on canvas. it's a two-tone painting, there are the browns and grats in the background and his skin, and then the reddish outfit. the figure is sitting with the light coming form the top right.

Concept: this was painted in the early-mid 1800s when slavery was still very present. it predates the English abolition of slavery. It shows the man looking despairingly for a sign of hope, he seems to be captive by more than just a physical prison.

Composition: I notice that unlike most white figures, he does not appear to be displayed as muscular, but he's actually kind of skinny with his bones sticking out, while still in a manly position, and again at the same time looks submissive. he is an awkward in between of a lot of things, like this painting was where public perception meets legitimate placement of the then modern black man at a halfway point. The artist purposely keeps the background dark to keep the mood unhappy and he plays with shadows. There are a lot of shadow detail particularly in the folds of his outfit. 

ditto

3. "In The Magic Mirror" by Paul Klee

craft: oil on canvas, on board. he uses a harsh, what looks kind of like a dry brush for the background and the coloring of the portrait, but then uses distinct bold lines to make her entire face, and the little heart in the bottom right corner. 

Concept: I think this is his visual representation of beauty. rosie cheeks, fair skin, small features, longer hair. It is probably not a real person, but a made up vision.  if she is real, she is probably a mean person with a black heart.

   

composition: amorphous shapes, lines, and then the heart that doesn't quite belong because of it's contrasting colors and being symmetrical. It is also not even close to being life-size, and since it is so dark, it kind of draws my eye to it early. I see her hair, then the heart, then her mouth--the line of her face, and then her eyes. I think you are supposed to see the heart first to perhaps make a bad association with her!

Week 10- Box

Made a box for my misfit toy! pshyeah!
        

How'd I do that? (Craft)

I used several layers to make the box. First, a rectangle using the eliptical tool. Then, another rectangle the same way and before clicking out of it I pressed delete to make a hole in the first rectangle. Then I made the top and side view of the box by making more rectangle shapes, and then used transform > distort to make them the correct angles. I then Made yet another rectangle to use as the background of the box. then I made a rectangle and applied a gradient effect to it to make the plastic on the box. I used the circle eliptical tool to put a hole through the plastic layer. To get the part of the box that slightly overlaps, I used the lasso tool to draw a connecting shape. To make the phallic shaped cutout, I used the round eliptical tool on the front rectangle layer. That's all folks!

Why'd I want it to look like this? (Composition)

Box: I decided to make the box red because it is a very bright primary color, and it has the potential to appeal both girls and boys, though my main target is little boys. The only other color present is yellow, also a primary color. Both of these colors coordinate with the toy's actual colors as well. I put a child in the corner of the box grabbing at the penis, and a big finger on the opposite side pointing to the penis for your child to try touching the penis. In the upper left below the name of the toy, it says the phrase "you can touch me everywhere!". This is the catch phrase and the attraction of the toy. Most of the fonts used are very easy to read for toddlers just learning those skills. In the upper right corner below the company name, it says "step 2" so that parents know what age is appropriate for this toy. 

what's the point?(Concept)

I want you to buy 

Lots-O-Touchin' Beaver! "You can touch me EVERYWHERE!"

Week 9- Misfit Toy First Draft

Craft: I used the text (i'll look up what the text is called), select/eliptical tool, the lasso, & the eraser tools to cut out the toy and arm,  and make the words. The arm has been had it's saturation hue and value varied to brighten it to fit the picture a little better. I used the image of the chest and phallic from here: http://patelladengkul.student.umm.ac.id/2010/02/09/hello-world/ 

Concept: Lots-O-Touchin' Beaver! You can touch it anywhere! (more connotations than a bear, and it's kind of an androgynous being). 

Composition: I fused the body parts over the toy to make it seem drawn on. I took off the tag of the toy's head and gave him a little "skin graft". I placed the hand reaching inappropriately at the crotch to more than suggest the toy's purpose and I put bright text above the toy's head. I would like to make a more 3-D crotch and possibly boobs for next week and actually have an image of a child instead of the creepy hand.

inspiration: http://www.forbrideandbaby.com/baby-toddler/soft-cuddly-stuffed-animal-gifts/

Week 8- Misfit Toy Proposal

Craft: I drew out this plan of action and have taken some inspirational photos of possible items to be used.

Concept: The Lots-O-touchin Bear: You can touch him everywhere!

Composition: I plan to set it up like an AD, with a child touching the bear and a parent approving of the child in the background. I may add a child that is freaked out by the bear as well. The oddity being expressed is pedophilia/ acceptance of invading the space bubble.

Week 7-Gamer Concentration

Craft:
The craft of these artworks includes using photoshop. For the first image, I used the magnetic lasso and the eraser tools to cut out the individual images. The backgrounds use filters (extrude) and variations of color, saturation(it's very saturated), and hue. The floating balls I desaturated and then added a monochrome color scale to, then changed the saturation. 3 of the orbs have a dissolve filtered background shadow which i made by just copying the image and placing the filtered image behind it.  I copied and pasted the image of the gamer and her glow from the second image.(see below for description)

For the second Image, On the gamer to make her very vivid I simply toyed with the adjustments saturation, hue, and her vibrance. To get the glow behind the gamer, I made a copy of her and then added a glow effect to it, and then changed the opacity of the image. The background has the render effect here as well, but the background was desaturated and then color changed. The orbs were copy pasted from an earlier image where the lasso tool and eraser tool was used to cut the single image of a ball lantern out and then copied and pasted using the transform tool to make them different sizes. then once in this image, they were desaturated before I picked different colors to change them each to. They also have 3 with the dissolve effect background.

The third image is most like the original because it is least saturated and has more of the original color. The orbs, though originally were a yellowish color, have been enhanced which smoothes out the edges with it's intensity. I used the above aforementioned lasso and eraser tools to put the gamer, her glow and the orbs there. I did slightly desaturate the background and adjusted the light levels to make sure that the gamer and the orbs pop more than the colors on the ground. The original filter on the gamer I don't remember but I believe it was a strokes filter. The other elements have already been discussed above.

Concept: My concept is now Gamer Concentration.
The person is trying to avoid glowing orbs. She clearly is focused on achieving her task! The orbs are floating and Rhonda is rapidly being moved toward them. It's most comparable to a game of snake, you have to redirect her position to keep her alive in the game. I think that it looks like something I would want to go over and pick up controls for. 

Composition: The ground is supposed to feel like it is moving Rhonda forward, and she is being forced into the orbs. The photo that stands alone below, an extra edit that I compiled this week, combines the qualities that work best from the other three photos. It is probably the most balanced. She most looks like she is in a virtual reality.