Dripping Art

Dave White

Starry Night

Being Van Gogh when he painted Starry Night.

Kyoto 2011

Home Sweet Home II

Trying on amazing kimonos for my Seijinshiki.

Seijinshiki blog coming soon.

成人式の振り袖着物を買いました！

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The man who sells the kimonos also collects antique and vintage silverware.

The cups and plates were GORGEOUS.

AND he let us drink tea from them... I felt like a goddess.

お弁当

Veggie Faces a la Japonais

Veggie Man

Carl Kleiner with his adorable food-creatures!

Reminds me of the Japanese Bentos ^.^

Next blog idea... mmmmm.

Elle and Dakota

Photography by Mario Sorrenti

When did they get so old?
Time flies so quickly, if you don't stop and look around in a while.. You might miss it.

Through the Window

Project 2C: Peep Hole

Going back to a more generalist concept; my last project is a look into the world with lens of fantasy. 

We have a woman in a gown with a spiral of leaves surrounding her. She is connected to vines crawling behind her and around her. She produces an aura of blue and yellow as she stares at the city. (In this case; Tokyo). The project is quite self explanatory. The woman represents nature and purity, and she is distressed at the sight of the walkway of skyscrapers, office buildings and shopping structures. She brings with her her "security blanket"; her bits of nature. They surround her and she tries to fix the world with the vines. The "window" is created to give the audience more perspective. To make it seem like we are peeking into her subconscious. The color and texture is supposed to represent cement -- she is held in. The cement is still lightly dripping across the scene, signifying that she is trapped and that change isn't near.

Eerie Dance

BALLET DEVIARE presents DISCONSOLATE, 

a nine minute experimental dance film directed by ADAM WALTNER. 

DISCONSOLATE is a powerful, soul-entrancing depiction which illustrates the depths of human suffering. 

Set to "Waldlander im Herbst" from the Funeral Doom phenomenon CELESTIIAL (Tanner Anderson), the piece evokes a feeling and mood that is as hypnotic as it is effecting. Prepare yourself for a bold and unforgettable experience. 

DISCONSOLATE's staging and patterning were influenced by the ballet La Bayadere, Act II: The Kingdom of the Shades. DISCONSOLATE was BALLET DEVIARE's recognition of its ballet foundation, while simultaneously redefining its classical roots.

City Skyline

Project 2A: Crystal Ball

For my first project I decided to try to convey a message through my artwork about how our society is obsessed with building new structures, and is thus destroying the environment. I had a couple of ideas in mind, but settled with a spherical shape. The sphere represents a crystal ball (like the ones oracles and fortune tellers use) which can tell the future and the past of a scenario. In this case, the scenario is a city skyline at night with a reflection in the water. The reflection in the water has been transformed into trees - reminding the population of the potential forest that could have been growing there in place of the skyscrapers. I used various colors to change the trees overall look so as to make it look like a real reflection from the buildings. The entire ball is set in a black abyss, signifying the lack of change we are presenting to the situation. It's a free-floating problem, with hardly any steps to changing it for the better.

Desertification Disintegrates Animals

WWF

In an effort to educate the mass public about desertification, the degradation of land in drylands, Mardid-based agency Contrapunto BBDO created this series of eye-catching ads for the World Wildlife Fund. An elephant, leopard and parrot are seen deteriorating into clouds of dust, reminiscent of the dried up floors in the eroded landscapes.

According to WWF and Wikipedia, desertification destroys 6.000 species every year and is caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities, desertification is one of the most significant global environmental problems.

                I really like these ads for WWF.  Amazing combination of fantastic photography and talented Photoshop skills.  I love that WWF usually makes a series for their advertisements - a handful of posters revolving around the same theme, using the same techniques.  Another thing I love is the use of light in each of these pieces.  The rays of light seem to be burning and even hurting the animals.  The dust looks realistic and powerful.   The designer also did a great job in slowly fading into the dust instead of having a harsh change between animal to dust.  It slowly crumbles away... 

PINA

Magnificent, breathtaking, mysterious. A tribute to choreographer Pina Bausch.

A cinematic eulogy.

"Pina" is also Germany's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 84th Academy Awards 2012.

Directed by: Wim Wenders

Starring: Pina Bausch, Regina Advento, Malou Airaudo, Ruth Amarante, Rainer Behr

Yes.

What number are you?

Part one of my final project for my

SCRIPPS ART 141: Digital Imaging Class

Project 2A: Static Identity
This project is going in a slightly different direction - more towards personal and individual issues rather than societal and environmental problems.  The quote taken from the prompt is pinpointing my main point.  People have several identities in the world now.  Their physical, emotional, and cyber ones are just a few examples.  You can be whomever you want to be online, and that creates an alternate personality for many people.  There are people who live a second life through an avatar on online sites.  On top of this, once you've created an avatar or a social networking site, you are completely vulnerable to being hacked.  People can steal identities and create havoc amongst people's lives.  The TV at the back signifies the static of the cyberspace we live in.  It is not stable, it is hard to understand, and it's all blurred into one big bunch.  I used children for the face because they are the new generation.  Children are growing up on video games and technology, hardly writing and reading.  They will grow up to have multiple personalities as well.  Hopefully none of us, or them, will lose sight of who we are, and what number we are in the world. 

The Islands

The xx in video purgatory.
Directed by Saam.

Watch it till the very end.

Via Ion Fukazawa, then reminded by Naomi Sundberg.

Check out their blogs!

Still Hapenning at Pomona...

 Part 2: Helene Winer at Pomona

                        Part 2 of "It Happened at Pomona..." was definitely a disappointment after part 1, but that was to be expected.  Still it had its ups and downs.  My main problem was simply the level of abstractness the exhibition had to offer.  When it comes to art, I appreciate literal pieces, and if not so then the abstract concepts have to be explained or at the very least aesthetically pleasing.  So in this exhibition, my favorites were the aesthetically pleasing ones, or the "interesting to think about" ones.  You first walk into the room and I immediately smelled wood.  (Photo above)  Jack Goldstein's sculptures of 9 ft tall blocks of wood with no apparent stabilizing structures around it.  I had the hugest urge to push it over - but obviously I contained that.   It was just powerful.  Strong.  Solid.  I'm not sure what the meaning behind it was, but it was definitely capturing.  In the same room were videos of random acts (people lifting weights, dead geese doing calligraphy, a naked man lying on a floor... I don't even... anyway) and I couldn't take my eyes off these sculptures.

                               Then I saw this canvas (Photo above) and was immediately absorbed.  The photo does not do it justice.  It was a huge canvas that covered the entire wall, but it seemed to be made out of plastic.  The light shined on the particles used to "paint" on it, and gave it a shimmer.  Again I have no idea what it was representing -- even after reading the blurb -- but it was still cool to look at.  And also again, I had the hugest urge to touch it -- but I abstained.  It was just a spectacle.  Something amazing and large-scale to enjoy.  It was fantastic to be honest.

                        I walk into the further room (RIP blue glowing room) and see the set - the patio - and immediately shake my head.  Again.  I just don't understand.  I read the blurb, it was ... interesting.  And very specific.  Just strange.  Then I finally noticed the tiny TV by the wall.  It was a video of the artist in distress, shedding tears and showing sadness on camera.  The piece was entitled "I'm to Sad to Tell you."  Just the title alone hit my heart.  Watching someone let go of all their guards and being vulnerable on film is truly a magnificent thing.  He was so raw, so intense -- yet silent.  Having the film silent was such a crucial part to the piece.  I was captivated so much that I sat there and watched it replay 2 or 3 times.  I feel that everyone could relate to the artist in the video at some point in their life.  So he successfully managed to grab deep into everyone's heart by letting himself be vulnerable.  I read the blurb on the artist and was shocked to see that he went on an expedition for his last art piece and got lost at sea -- they declared him dead.  Then looking back to the video was even harder.   It makes you want to know what he's thinking about.  Why he would do this.  And what you can possibly do to help. 

 

Urban Bush Women

Promo video for

Urban Bush Women/ Compagnie JANT-BI

March 6-8, 2008

at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago

http://www.colum.edu/dance_center/

We just learned about the Urban Bush Women in my Modern Class on Monday.

The video that was shown was absolutely breath-taking.

Incredibly emotional and powerful...

This video isn't as good, (still amazing though) but try searching for them!

www.urbanbushwomen.org

Until then... Enjoy some photos :)

In the Works 2011

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Starting tonight!