Albright Knox

I.  One of the pieces that made an impact on me was Roberto Matta, Card Players  Oil on canvas 1957. Because it seemed so chaotic compared to the art pieces surrounding it.

The other artwork that left an impression on me was Nudes by Thomas Ruff, 2001 Laserchrome print on Diasec face. Because it just did.

II.  I felt a connection with Nancy Dwyers' Kill Yourself 1989, Vinyl paint on canvas. For personal reasons and because freshman year I visited the gallery to do a similar project and took of a picture of it then as well. I just love it. Its so blunt. And wicked.

The second piece I made a connection with was Joan Linders Where Death Delights in Helping the Living 2010, Ink on paper, because it reminds me of my busy life. Post it notes with constant reminders of what needs to be done. Its literally my school life on a wall at the Albright Knox Art Gallery.

III. I would like to learn more about Gustave Courbet La Source de la Loue 1864, oil canvas, because I found it incredibly intriguing. Its just a dark hole, why? Where does it lead? I need answers to these questions.

I would also like to learn more about Salvador Dali's The Transparent Simulacrum of the Feigned Image  1938 Oil on canvas, because I love the work of Salvador Dali, surrealism is one of my favorite types of art. I'd love to learn more about any of his pieces.

My Logo

I. I had fun creating my logo, made me really think of what I'd use to represent myself. Although I had a hard time in the beginning I feel my end result was pretty awesome.

II. When coming up with ideas I made a list of things I was into and decided what I wanted to use, which represented me the best. The most significant part of my logo are the boxing gloves. I've been boxing for 13 years and it is a major part of who I am. On my boxing gloves I've incorporated two more symbols that represent me well. For instance there are four flags on the gloves which represent my ethnicity. My mother being Puerto Rican and Italian and my father being Dominican and Brazilian describes a lot about my cultures. I also used the Wonder Woman symbol because I am all about "Girl Power", being a feminist is a big part of who I am as well so therefore it made perfect sense to use that symbol as a representation of my feminism. To be a feminist using boxing gloves to represent myself was a big part of my creative skills.

III. The most important discovery I made is I learned a lot about myself. There could have been a ton of other things I couldve used to represent me but the final choices said a lot about how I feel about myself. I also realized that I am more creative than I thought I would be and not such a bad artist.

IV. The most important thing that I've learned is what goes into a logo and the process of what it takes to create a company logo. The process of brainstorming and putting ideas on a piece of paper that sum up the business and how to make it appealing to the public. While doing my logo I took the same steps.

Value & Color

1. Creating the value scale was more complex than the color wheel. Mainly because its easy to create incredibly similar shades. They were both somewhat easy to create so I didn't mind it much.
2. I enjoyed creating the color wheel more than the value scale just because the colors were more appealing than the graphite and painting is always fun when not having to create something too complex.
3. The most important discovery in creating these had to be that magenta, cyan and yellow are indeed primary colors that create the universal understanding of primary colors being red, blue and green.
4. Most important info from the videos were the real primary colors and how to shade and add or subtract value on the value scale. Holding the pencil in a specific way at an angle makes a lot of the difference in how the shading will come out.

Elements and Principles of Design

For my project  I attended Buffalo's Music is Art Festival this Saturday. I figured what better place to draw inspiration from than an actual art festival. Some photos taken were actually from my walk to the festival, so I drew inspiration from nature as well. For some of the photos I had to take the photo from an angle or zoom in to capture the essence of it. I also included extra pictures of the festival because I figured why not share my entire experience with you guys! The festival was amazing and I can't wait to do something like this again.

Here is the link to my photo's of the festival since I am having difficulty embedding it, enjoy!

http://s1169.photobucket.com/albums/r519/doseofdop3ness/?albumview=slideshow

Colors, Feelings, Emotions Oh My!

Color is defined in many different way, however my preferred definition of color is the visual attribute of things and this is a result of the light that is emitted. Studies show that color affects  a range of psychological and physiological responses. I remember asking my mother for permission to paint my room red, however, she refused to allow eto paint it red because she said it wasn't a "peaceful" color and that it reflects anger. Needless to say I was forced to paint my room lavender -__- not a color of my choice. Im not sure where she got that information but it was an interesting comment. In the book, however, I read that the color red is believed to increase appetite and therefore restaurants commonly use it. The other option for my room suggested by my mom was the color blue. She believed it created a feeling of peace and serenity. In our readings the color blue is known to lower blood pressure, which makes sense that my mother suggested blue because her and I have high blood pressure. 

A theoretical  aspect of color that most intrigued me was the connection between color and emotion. The way some colors such as red can increase hunger or anger but the color blue can give you a calmer feeling. I feel we also not knowingly wear colors that reflect our moods. You can definitely tell when I am feeling down because I usually paint my nails black or navy blue however when I feel happy and super energetic I always wear bright warm colors usually like infrareds, coral, orange, peach, summer like colors.

The biggest impact on me from the color video in regards to color and its effects on emotion was when Junaw was in London painting what she saw in Venice, a lot of the colors she used were warm colors such as oranges and red that brought me back to my mothers theory of red inflicting that emotion of anger or violence and I continued to watch the video Junaw mentioned something in relation to that.

The greatest impact on me in the Feelings video was from the painter Goya. Although the art pieces may have been disturbing for certain people, it was fascinating to me. The dark colors and dark vibe that the pieces gave off wear almost innate to me. His work is just so interesting and savage like that it makes for great art. The heavy use of darker shades and limited use of light really gives the pieces its emotional effect. Looking at his art work doesn't make you feel warm and fuzzy inside and thats how you can tell that color can effect feeling and emotion.

Aesthetics & Art

In Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts, the main concept i grasped was the meaning of aesthetics and  art and the different views and reflections of past philosophers regarding the topic. Aesthetics, defined by the video, is the philosophical study of beauty and art. Theories from great philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Frances Hutcheson and more were shared and their vast views on aesthetics and art was rather interesting. Plato possessed the idea that art works are just replications of an original piece, Aristotle analyzed tragedy in art form, order and symmetry, and Immanuel Kant's aesthetic experience makes possible the reconciliation of natures determination with human moral freedom.
In the second video, Carta: Evolutionary origin of art and aesthetics, French speaker Changeux and Indian speaker Ramachandran discuss their scientific views on aesthetics and how our brains work when we see art. They discuss how seeing art effects our emotions.

I could not pick just one philosophers theory that I felt most important because I agreed with multiple aspects of a few of the philosophers. Plato's, of the 4th Century B.C, idea that most art possess no true originality settled with me due to my beliefs that most things in art such as paintings, fashion, music and dance are all recycled and redone. The manifestation of something beautiful attracts someone who sees it, a statement I greatly agree with. Plato contributed to the aesthetic theory immensely being one the first to take his opinions in a different direction than most people during his time.

As for Changeux and Ramachandran their views on aesthetics and art are very interesting. Changeux's 4 points on art were was most interesting to me. Especially the 3rd and 4th ones which state the aesthetic efficiency of art that have staggering effects on reasons and emotion also how art is in constant evolution. I found his slide on the brain imaging of surprise most intriguing, he is incredibly scientific in his studies.  Its most interesting how in depth Ramachandran is about art when initially he had no interest in art at all, until he took an art class. He says that the place where art and science meet is in the human brain.

The videos support alot of the reading material. I found it best to read before having watched the videos, that way i have a foundation and it is much easier to understand the videos if I already have previous knowledge of the key concepts and vocabulary.

The films overall were very educational, however, incredibly tedious in certain aspects, especially due to the length of the videos and depth of information. The first video was easy to follow, the one with Changeux was difficult because although his accent was pretty awesome it was so difficult to understand! I had to replay his speech a few times to grasp what he was trying to say. Ramachandran on the other had was very alive, clear and humorous, so it was a good balance to have him speak after Changeux. The videos add depth to the topic in our readings because it added imagery to the concepts, and imagery always provides and easier way of learning.

Art Related

 Art Stuff : )

Where to begin...

1. The process of setting up my account was rather easy because I already have 2 gmail accounts so I decided to use one of them. Setting up the blog was a little confusing because I've never blogged before and may have been thinking about it too hard.

2. My first expectation for this class is to learn how to blog : ) and also just to get the most out of this class as possible, to learn to understand and appreciate art more.

3. As far as taking an online course I am a little iffy because its easy to miss a step especially when there's so much going on at once. So, we'll see how it goes! Hopefully it isn't too brutal : /