Artist Entry # 22/ Sculptor #14 C.Oldenburg & C. Van Bruggen

Artist Entry #22/Sculptor #14 Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen

I decide to uses their work because it is different, they have been labeled as creating pop art because of the images they create. The idea of using everyday ordinary objects and making them gigantic is size is kind of interesting I guess. Most of their work is displayed out in fields or large parks. It appears that each piece is site specific, ie: Monument to the Last Horse(horse shoe). it seems so appropriate that you'd see a huge horse shoe at a ranch in Texas. To give you an idea of how big there work can be Claes built a gigantic clothes pin that was 45' tall.

I think they work is pretty cool, there ideas are very original. I'm not sure if the they have any intended meanings behind their work but it is still visually appealing. In a way they kind of share the same way of thinking as Jeff Koons but they create the work themselves.

Artist Entry# 21/ Sculptor#13 Ron Mueck

Artist Entry #21/ Sculptor#13 Ron Mueck

I decided to pick Ron Mueck because his work is truly amazing. Ron is known for his hyper realism in his sculptures. The way he can make silicone look so realistic is crazy. In all of his work the sculptures look so life like, if you didn't have a reference to it's size you'd think they were actual people. Ron likes to play with the scale of the sculptures, some are massive in size like the Charles Manson looking feller. The women leaning against the chair shows how big it really is. He does do smaller pieces (none shown), but they are just as detailed and realistic.

I like his work because conceptually it's so out there. It's genius that he is taking regular looking people and adjusts the scale and puts the sculptures in these awkward positions. I think with work of this size it would make people very uncomfortable or intimidated. Could you imagine seeing the Charles Manson looking piece looking at you with that weird facial expression; I'd be nervous as hell.

Final Project Proposal

I decided to do my Proposal on guilty pleasures. I did this because all of us have one and if you say you don't have one then you're lying to yourself. Everybody has got one, whether they want to admit it or not. Here's one of mine, GARTH BROOKS. My buddy Jake who's is a country boy through and through go me started on him. How it happened is we would have a bunch of cocktails and he would crank up Garth and try to sing his drunk @$$ off. Well after months of doing this night in and night out; one fatal night I caught myself liking it and singing it too. Garth had grabbed a hold of me like heroin and wasn't about to let go. People might say this isn't a guilty pleasure because we live in Idaho, but if you knew my musical taste you'd understand. I'm the kind of person who listens to Pantera, Black Label Society and Slipknot, the list could go on forever. I'm all about the heavy $h!t and to admit I like Garth is the equilivent to me admitting that I like clubbing baby seals. Damn you Garth, I've tried to get away from you, but somehow you track me down. Not sure if I'll ever kick the Garth habit, but I guess I might as well enjoy the ride.

Display;

What I want to do is to get everyones guilty pleasure in class and put up an 8"x10" photo of it and also have a picture of everyone in class and have the viewer put the photo of the person underneath who they think the guilty pleasure belongs to.

Artist Entry # Viente(20)/Sculptor numero 12 Marc Quinn

Artist Entry #20/Sculptor #12 Marc Quinn

Marc is a British sculptor who works with interesting and unusual subjects for his works. He works with various media like sculpting, painting, photography and drawing. He is famous for his self portrait where he made a mold of his head and and filled it with nothing but his own blood and froze it(not pictured) and displayed it.

I think his work is interesting because the ideas are so different. The image up top is of a real person named Alison Lapper, she was born w/out any arms and shortened legs. I find this appealing because most of the time when you think of a marble sculptures you think of the ideal body type or the perfection of a body, like Michelangelo's "David". You wouldn't think to use a person with a deformed body. I guess this takes marble sculpting to another weird dimension. His work of the skeleton praying is killer, the sculpture is of an actual 22 month old fetus skeleton that was bronzed and painted white. Who thinks of this, I know I would have never thought of this. His works is really odd and that's why I'm drawn to it.

Inspired Once Again!

In my Art 108 class we are doing a project where people anonymously submitted there guilty pleasures and we're going to put them up and students on campus can guess who guilty pleasure belongs to. Well this made me think long and hard about my guilty pleasures. I admitted one of mine to the class as an example, it was Garth Brooks. After really thinking about it I found my true guilty pleasure, Hogging (YEAH FRICKIN RIGHT). No explanation is needed to what this is, just refer to the picture above. This usually happens after a hard night of drinking, you would think that embarrassing pictures like this would make someone go to A.A. but not me I'm not a quitter. This happened to me many years ago (not even close to being that big either) and there still isn't enough whiskey in the world to erase that memory, trust me I've tried.

Here is a picture of me (not really) and Not-So Little Debbie, this is what happens when your friends say, "hey man drink this shot, it's good." This is why I quit taking shots, especially Horse and rabbits(Wild Turkey w/ a splash of Ruppelmintz). I strongly recommend you avoid this shot like the plague, unless you want to be in this scenario. If had a nickel for every time this happened......well, I'd have one buffalo nickel. What's worse is waking up the next morning and staring reality right in the face. I just have one question, where were this dude's friends? Whenever you go out drinking w/ your buddies you need to have a spotter to avoid situations like this. BAD FRIENDS, don't worry karma will get you later.

Artist Entry #19/ Sculptor # once'(11) Bernini

Artist Entry #19/ Sculptor numero 11 Gian Lorenzo Bernini

I will refer to him as Berni is this artist entry, I don't think he would care. Berni was an Italian artist who was popular in the Baroque period. He was an all around artist, he was a sculptor, an architect, a painter, did metal work and even wrote plays. Berni was a master sculptor, he was able to transform marble into these immaculate pieces. The pieces seem so naturalistic, the hair flows and looks natural, it doesn't looks like a helmet of hair like some sculptors created. The garments also had the "wet t-shirt" effect where it just draped over their body and and seems to flow with the motion of the body. The poses on the statues are very natural, some statues have the rigid stance, with his work the body's muscle tension looks like it's reacting to movement.

Berni was so renowed as an architect the he was contracted to create the piazza in front of St. Peter's Bascilica in Vatican City, Rome(top Pic). This work is truely amazing, it is still a popular tourist destination. The piazza symbolizes the welcome the Roman Catholic Church gave it's members during the counter reformation.

I'm going to thanks my Art History 101 class for this post, apparently I did learn something in this class. If not for this class I would have been screwed on this post.

Artist Entry #18/Sculptor #10 Helena Bangert

Artist Entry #18/ Sculptor #10 Helena Bangert

I'm gonna be completely honest and say I ripped off this artist from someon else's blog. Its crunch time and I'm not very found of a lot of artist. Helena is a world renowned sculptor, she works with ice and sand. Obviously she it really good, I would like to know how she did the Roman inspired relief sculptures on the pediment(last picture).

She does some killer work, I can't imagine how hard it is to work with sand or ice. Sand is very temperamental, one bad step or stumble and you might as well say bye bye project. I would also think that trying to transform it would be difficult because eventually the sand would start to dry and come apart. I also think working with ice would be a pain in the @$$. I don't think you can wear gloves with it, so you hands are constantly freezing and how can an artist do precise work when they hands are shaking and they are cold.

Beer and My Body Are They Really Friends?

This weekend I hit it a little(understated) hard on the cervesas, I didn't have any responsibilities so why not. Home work can wait. Friday night led me out to Wingers to meet one of my friends because I don't know any other SAFE places in Nampa to drink. I emphasize SAFE because I really didn't feel like getting stabbed or shot that night. So me and the old man head there early and had quite few rounds and by 9'ish I was feeling pretty good. Finally my long time worthless friend finally decided to show up and partake in the festivities and we eventually closed that place down. The next morning I woke feeling 70% ok, I wasn't feeling great but not bad. I was still functional, but the brain was a little foggy.
Well Saturday night my other buddy got the night off from his old lady and his son so we decided to go downtown. I wasn't too sure about this because throughout that day the night before was catching up with me; but I put on my big boy pants and sucked it and tied one on again. It's amazing how quick 4 a.m. can come. I woke up this morning feeling like garbage again. I hate that feeling when your woken up first thing in the morning by your body telling you "HEY A$$#0LE, I THINK WE NEED TO VOMIT". All you can do at this point is try to chew it back and go back to bed. Luckily I was able to go back to bed and not vomit HOORAY.
I write this because I'm 26 and I know I'm not that old, but man I don't bounce back from a hard night of drinking like I used to. When I was 19 I could drink an entire 18 pack to myself each night and do it for 2-3 week runners at a time. Now my recovery time for one night of good drinking is 2-3 days as opposed to 1/2 a day. I guess I can't handle the hooch like I used to. I guess I'm getting to old for this $#!t.

Downtown

I went downtown last night with a few buddies and I was amazed how many random acts of Douchebagery I saw. I don't go downtown very often or to go pick up chicks, I do it to people watch......and to have a few too many cocktails. I shouldn't be surprised anymore by the constant douche bag violations I saw but I still was. For starters, drunk fat people riding a mechanical bull is never a good idea(I have no problem w/ fat people but there are certain activities you just shouldn't partake in). If you can get on the bull by yourself and require 2 other guys and the mechanical bull operator just to get on it, then you should probably reevaluate your decision. Secondly this is for you Affliction wearing T-shirt guy. Just because you're wearing an Affliction shirt that is 2 sizes too small doesn't mean you're a UFC fighter. Trying to pick a fight because you get off doing it, doesn't mean you should; people are trying to have a good time and don't care to hear what workout you did today or the supplements you're taking. Hey WOOOOOO girls(girls who yell woo after everything), I think that ship has sailed. Yelling WOOOOO at the top of your lungs is some strangers ear is not very kosher. Some might find that noise annoying after 20 times, so please do me a favor and keep your G.D. woo to yourself.

Artist Entry #17 Todd McFarlane

Artist entry #17 Todd McFarlane

As a kid I was never a comic book fan; the reason being, it required reading and I hated to read.

But when I first saw the Spawn comic book I was blown away by the artwork and the concept of a comic book hero from hell. Todd McFarland is probably one of the most recognizable comic book illustrators out there, you can look at an image and tell that it's Todd's work. Todd created the Spawn comic book series and he is also credited for doing some illustrations for the Batman and Spiderman comic book series. Todd received his B.F.A. in graphic design from the university of Eastern Washington, his media, is pencil and other graphic design tools. Todd eventually went on to create his own comic book company and action figure company.

I really like his works because like my other favorite artist his work is very freaking dark and eerie. His use of shading is incredible, it looks so dark and you get the feeling that something evil might come out of this shadows. His action figure line that he created is also amazing, he gets so detailed and realistic with the figures. Todd has hasn't limited himself just creating comic book figures, he's also created rock star figures, NFL figures and movie figures like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. His work is truly awesome and I hope one day I could have the illustration abilities he has.

Artist entry #16/ Sculptor #9 Henry Moore

Artist Entry #16/Sculptor #9 Henry Moore

Henry Moore is a well known English sculptor, he mainly worked with bronze and marble. His work was very large in scale statues that were usually was intended for a public viewing. The constant theme of his work focuses on the female form in the reclining form, occasionally though he would incorporate a child or even a male figure. At the beginning of his career his work was not widely accepted because the idea of abstract art was still a new concept.

I think his work is very interesting because he shows the female body in a not idealized form. Creating works of art of this scale cannot be easy and I like that he always works in large scale because as an artist you have to make sure that part is perfect. With pieces this large, flaws in the piece are very noticeable. I also like how all the lines in his work are curvilinear and flow perfectly and seem so natural.

Art journal Grievance

To Whom it may concern (A.C.),

I have been doing this damn blog what seems like forever. I'll admit I've had some fun with it, but the 30 required artist entries is reallllly starting to become a BIG PAIN IN THE ASS!! I think this requirement should be reduced to at least 20. A.C. if you read this maybe you should mention that to Laurie. With the quality post I put in I think my efforts are at least worth an solid B. Humor does go a long way and it can completely change someones day.This blog has been known to stop wars, create world peace and cure cancer. The blog is fun to do but it sometimes is just a hassle to do. Like other great artist I myself have to be motivated by something, you can not force these awesome post that I do. Would you dare consider telling Michaelangelo to hurry his ass up when he was painting the Sistine Chapel? NO. The same is with me, I need to develop my ideas and let them brew. If I don't then I end up putting posts like this out there and I know nobody wants that. So let's just say I do 20 and I will continue to put amazing humor filled posts up because I know the other journals you read are boring and repetitive and are not half as good as this, I know I've seen them. I am cocky? Well maybe a little, but it like you said "it is quality over quantity". I'm just trying to make your job easier and provide some kind of entertainment value; what can I say, I'm a giver.

Brian has a F*ING Panic Attack, Hilarity Does Not Ensue

The other day I was at home and I wasn't feeling to hot. I knew it was nerves, because a lot of not fun $hit has been going down lately in my life. I was feeling sick to my stomach like I wanted to vomit and no I hadn't been drinking! So all of a sudden a big wave this overwhelming feeling of emotion hit me like a ton of bricks, it was an intense ride I couldn't get off of. It kind of reminded me of a certain fungal psychedelic drug, right before it starts to fully kick in. This would continue for 20 minutes, all of a sudden I could feel my head tingle and I instantly knew what the hell was happening, I was having a F*ING panic. I knew the symptoms because my wife/baby mama had these on a regular basis for 6 months until she got medication for it. When eventually it passed, so I thought until I had to go into Best Buy. While I was in Best buy I could feel that feeling wanting to come back and hit me even harder. So here I am in Best Buy trying to fight off this feeling and keep it together before I have a full blown attack in the store also knowing that I am headed to class. Pretty much the drive on the connector to class was a great F*ING time, trying to keep my sanity and trying not to cause an accident. Finally the $hit passed, but I still had the jitters so between class I had to self medicate. They say Adivan(anti-anxiety medication) is the equivalent to 2 beers, so I had to down 3 beers just to make sure it didn't come back, luckily they haven't. I never had one of these damn things before and let me tell you it is no bueno. Thanks to booze once again for helping me out in a tough time.

Artist Entry #15/sculptor #8 Martin Puryear

Artist Entry #15/sculptor #8 Martin Puryear

Martin Puryear is a minimalist sculptor artist, his work looks very simple but is very complex. He creates organic shapes that you would never see anywhere else. Martin received his B.A. from The Catholic University of America and also received a B.F.A. from Yale University, at a young age he learned how to build guitars and furniture and learned very early how to manipulate materials like wood. He works with a variety of mediums like wood, metal, wires and even tar.

His piece "Horsefly"(image with metal frame and transparent black skin) was very interesting to me, it reminded me of our armature with a skin project. The image is so abstract, but I can see why he called it Horsefly; when you look at it from the front the round opening looks like an eye of a fly and the black skin emphasizes that even more. He does go back and forth with geometric and abstract forms. His work is pretty consistent with the use of an armature.

I think his work is interesting because we learned about creating an armature and it shows where it can lead and what kind of work you can create with the armature.

Artist Entry #14 Lari Pittman

Artist Entry #14 Lari Pittman

Larry Pittman is a painter who loves to juxtapose two completely different ideas, he says he draws his inspiration from folk art and advertising. He got his B.F.A. and his M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts.If you look at his work close enough you can see the contradicting ideas. His works seems pretty monochromatic. Lari's work is filled with various meanings, it seems likes it's layered on top of each other.

Looking at his "Existential and Needy"(piece with the owl) I can see the folk art influence, the whole piece is pretty simplistic and monochromatic; I can also see the advertising juxtaposition. The #69 is obviously a reference to a sexual act and the owl is wearing jewelry and underwear like he is a person modeling them like it is showing this standard we need to live up to and is another sex reference. Also the also the arrows pointing down are leading the viewer to look down at the owl crotch, suggesting sex like advertisers do.

I think his work is very interesting because I like how he contrast opposing ideas together and the subject matter gets dark and I'm like a moth to the flame when it come to art like this.

Artist entry#13/Sculptor #7 Louise Bourgeois

Artist Entry #13/sculptor #7 Louise Bourgeois

I picked Louise because her work is very interesting, she seems like the sweet old lady you'd help with her groceries; she'd be the last person you'd expect to create sexually fueled art. She creates art that takes on the sensitive issue of sex and also creates objects found in nature as well, like her famous "Maman" piece, which is of a gigantic 30' bronze cast spider(not pictured, because I F'ing hate spiders). She is a french born artist that has worked with a variety of mediums like wood, bronze, stone and rubber.

She says she drew her inspiration for sexually motivated images from her childhood; kind of a weird place to get inspired from. From what I read her father had fidelity issues and that is where all this sexual inspiration came from. I like that she creates art work that is sexually driven just because sex is such a taboo topic and she is the last person you would think that would create this type of work.

I really like her piece the "Arch of Hysteria"(top image) it is very original, it looks like a human body being contorted into a ring and it makes you wonder why the subject is headless. The natural flowing curve detail on the body and the muscle reaction to the position of the body is done real well. This piece was inspired by Neurologist Jean Martin Charcot wanted to show hysteria by documenting his female patients. The hysterical arch is an intense muscular tension and leaves the person immobile and their limbs paralyzed. It is definitely a very different approach to creating art and I like that.

Artist Entry #12 Josiah McElheny

Artist Entry #12 Josiah Mc Elheny

Josiah is a world renowned glass blower, he received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. He works with a few different type of media he works with glass art, sculpture and photography.

His work is truly amazing, each piece seems flawless and is elaborate. The photography is perfect, it seems like there is not a bad reflection in the room, which would be hard with his work since it's glass. It's amazing the reflective qualities his work has, it almost seems like your in another world. His pieces that he creates are very organic and are even influenced by renaissance paintings and other historical objects.

Spring Break post number 2

Here is another picture of me enjoying my spring break. I decided to include some of my favorite things in this picture, for starters my 2nd favorite speedo(the first speedo was in a tragic Mexican food accident; that speedo will be greatly missed), Video Games and guns. First I love Guitar Hero and Rock Band, I AM THE BEST that I know of. I can score a billion points in one song with my killer guitar skills, my good friends call me Jimi Hendrix because I shred so much on it. The chicks totally dig me, my 10 year old neighbor sally wants me, but I'm like whatever. I know how Bon Jovi felt with all the ladies after him. I get sooo many chicks I have to have my own security guard Marty. (Side note: I think I need to shave, I got a wicked 5 o'clock shadow going on ALL OVER. Also is it me or does it look like I'm holding my dong hostage at gun point.) My other love in life....GUNS. Guns are the sweetest because I can shoot stuff, I can totally put a hole in a old stove or beer can if I wanted too. I have so many guns and bullets I might start a war with Bin Laden, I could probably win too. I've been watching a lot of Sylvester Stallone and Steven Segal movies so I know how to totally win a war by myself. I'm a one man army that sleeps on a killer baby blue bed. I think I might put this picture on my Facebook profile but I think all the ladies will want me to be their friends, but it would just mean more work for Marty. I can't do that to him he works hard enough as it is keeping the ladies back. Thanks a lot MARTY, Rooster Blocker!!!

Artist entry #11/ Sculptor #6 Do-Hu Suh

Paratrooper

Paratrooper up close

Artist Entry #10/Sculptor #5 Do-Ho Suh

Suh is a sculpture artist who grew up in South Korea, he received his BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and received his MFA in sculpture from Yale; he no resides in the United States. He is a very established artist, with his exhibits being shown all over the world, he works with a variety of media, he is like Tim Hawkison and has limited himself to an specific media and is not afraid to create art out of anything.

His work is very detailed and usually large in scale and usually includes some kind of politically motivated statement. The image at the top expresses this, the piece is called "someone" from afar it looks like a large metal cloak that span across a room, but when you get up close the the cloak is made of a hundred thousands of name stamped military dog tags. This piece acts as a tribute to all the fallen soldiers in our military who died for this country; the cloak represents the single a man of power.

The other piece "Parartrooper I" is an example of his attention to detail, standing back from the piece it looks like a small stainless steel paratrooper statue trying to pull in his parachute that appears to be attached to the wall. When you look closer at the parachute, the parachute line are sewn in to the fabric that spell out random names. I couldn't image how difficult this was to create this piece; the fine details with the thousands of lines coming off the parachute perfectly is just amazing. Like Tim Hawkison, Do-Hu Suh is another artist that drives me to become more creative with my art and to not be afraid to try new medias.

Artist Entry number 10/sculptor #5 Tim Hawkison

Artist Entry #10/sculptor #5 Tim Hawkison

Tim Hawkison is a true artist, he works with sculpture as his main media and he creates his work from completely random products, he's not afraid to use anything to create work, even if it's cardboard, rocks, plastic bags or even fingernail clippings. Tim received his MFA from UCLA, his work ranges from simple to elaborate and fully functional. His work is simply amazing, I wish I could come up with the concepts and the ideas he does.

The first picture, his piece called "Pentecost" looks like a basic tree, but it's more than just a tree; the trunk and branches are made of cardboard tubes that are tuned and the life size figures which are self-portraits of Tim Hawkison are programmed to drum out hymns on the branches.

Tim has a true passion for music because his another famous piece of his in the 2nd picture called "Uberogran". This piece is massive in size, it is a stadium sized, fully functional bagpipe made with plastic sheeting, electrical components and tubing. The "Uberorgan" actually plays it's self and has 6 gigantic balloons with 12 horns on each balloon with each horn tuned to play at a different octave. That idea is just a ridiculous, this is why he is a true innovative artist. Who would have ever came up with the idea of a stadium sized working plastic bagpipe? He has so many other amazing works they are definitely worth checking out.

It's artists like this who make me want to create and expand my artistic abilities, they challenge the limits of what you can create art with. Tim is an artist who takes art to a whole other level and that's why I like his work so much.