What is Black and White all Over?

Jennifer Ramos is a designer from L.A.

Michael Jon Watt is inspired by typography, vintage signs, and bus scrolls.

On his Etsy site he creates custom-made scrolls, which can be used to commemorate events like weddings or record your favorite places, people, or things.

These two posters resonate with me because there is a seamless marriage between the concept and the aesthetics. Conceptually, both pieces examine a singular idea (the word "hello" and a wedding day) and offer several variations that further explain the idea (such as different ways to say hello and the various destinations associated with a wedding)

The vertical list format, the simple sans serif font, and the black and white color palette remove all unnecessary visual elements, which makes the the viewer focus on the message of the piece. The design is neat, clean, simple, modern, yet powerful.

I think it is interesting how this is a common trend in the design world, after all two separate artists are making very similar choices about font, color, and composition. This push towards minimalism is a re-occuring theme in modern and contemporary art and design. Several artists use font in a similar manner. For example, the painter Ed Rusha works with the viscersal associations that are connected to specific words and the contemporary installation and conceptual artist Jenny Holzer uses short text phrases ("truisms") as a way to communicate a specific message.

Ed Rushca, Noise, 1963, oil on canvas, 72 x67 inches.

Jenny Holzer, A Survival sorozatbol, Times Square, NY. 1985-86.

Blast from the past...

Back to high school.

Accordion Book. 4"x4" when folded.

Watercolor, pen. 11"x14".

Inspiring Video on the Importance of Arts Education

I thought this video was interesting because many faculty and students in the Art Ed. department have similar beliefs about our current system of education. In their view (and in my view as well), it stifles certain ways of thinking because conformity and standardization are valued.  For example the speaker, Sir Ken Robinson, questions the advent of standardized testing, the separation between academic and vocational pursuits, and the set-up of the traditional public school in which classes are separated by age.

Sir Ken Robinson relates the current unpopularity of arts education somewhat obviously to the rise of standardized testing. More interestingly, he believes there is simultaneously a connection between these two phenomenon and the number of prescriptions for ADHD given to children and the ever increasing amount of "distractions" like computers, iphones, and advertising.

While this video raises many questions, it does not offer concrete solutions. I know it is the belief of the Art Ed. department to treat visual arts education as a transformative medium that can directly effect the lives of students. For example, it can used to coach students in a variety of life skills (such as those in Lois' Eight Studio Habits of Mind)  and inspire curiosity, discovery, creativity, spontaneity, and joy (through crazy and fun lesson plans).

I'm Back!

Last weekend I saw the comedian Patton Oswalt speak about his new book Zombie Spaceship Wasteland at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. He was hilarious as usual. Patton talked about his hodgepodge of show business jobs like dubbing the voice of the rat in Ratatouille, being a celebrity guest commentator on VH1's Best Week Ever, starring as lead man in the movie "Big Fan"...

After reading excerpts from his book, Patton did a little Q&A session with the audience. One woman asked if he had any advice for an aspiring comedian. He simply said "Go out every night". Every night go out to comedy clubs to put your stuff out there so people can hear it. No matter what, go out. Also, he said in this day and age there is no reason for a talented comedian not to "make it". We are living in the age of social media. There's YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Etsy, Tumblr... If you are talented and show your work, you will have a fan base

Ning Social Network

http://thelostandfound.ning.com/

Body as Landscape

There are a lot of artists who portray the human body as a landscape or an object in their work.

Denise Marika is a video artist who "use(s) the emotional of the landscape of the body to explore person and place, giving expression to the vulnerability, pain, and compassion that mark humanity" (Aspect).


Bisected II. 2002

Bisected II is part of a three piece video installation. All three pieces consist of videos of an unclothed woman projected on to a sheet of steel mounted on to a matted piece of fur. In each piece, the woman is in a different pose and is seen from a new angle. She struggles to lift her head over a table's edge, laboring against its weight. In one video, she struggles to hold her head up by pulling her hair then releases her head so that it bounces off the ground.


Leg. 2005.

"A leg is stretched along the length of exposed tree root. The downed tree trunk and leg are both coated in grey clay, matched in shape, color and form. Slowly the leg moves along the trunk caressing its length."


Arno Rafael Minkkinen is a photographer who for the past thirty years has taken abstracted pictures of his unclothed body in different environments around the world. In the photos, he manipulates his body so that it echoes or seems to become a part of the landscape. In a retrospective of Minkkinen's work, the curator A.D. Coleman wrote Minkkinen’s “…images comprise an account of an epic journey—both a physical adventure in the natural and urban world and a psychological voyage of the lone human spirit".


Narragansett - Rhode Island. 1988



Man Ray

Le violin de Ingres. 1924.

Sergio's project

I really enjoyed Sergio's altered gas container. I thought he did a great job creating his own label that was still believable. There are a bunch on generative topics that can be related to his work, such as the power of advertisements and the negative impact of many products. A lot of artists like Shepard Fairey and Barbara Kruger work with similar ideas about consumerism and mass media. When I was looking at lesson plans, I found one from Art 21 about art and advertising.