Artist Statement

 My life is not what most people would call normal or picture perfect. I don't have a mom and a dad, and I don't live with my sister. My mother was an artist; she studied at the Rhode Island School of Design. Some of her work was really great; unfortunately she made some bad choices and passed away a few years ago. My dad went to jail before I was born. My older sister moved to Amsterdam with her dad when she was younger, where she is now in college. Although these things may be unfavorable circumstances, I strongly believe that they have made me the artist I am today. My mom was a very creative person; she liked to use a variety of ideas and mediums in her work. I've always enjoyed creating art, in elementary school I kept a portfolio of all of my drawings that ranged from sketches of super heroes that I had come up with in my head, to detailed pictures of my perception of Jesus. When I look at my mom's work it doesn't make me want me to keep making art, because I've always enjoyed that and always will. Rather it inspires me to be as good as she was someday. I want to follow in her footsteps, I want to pick up where she left off, because I believe strongly that if she had gotten her life back together, and kept making art that her work could be hanging in a gallery today, most likely somewhere quiet by the ocean because that's what she would have wanted.
 
 When I make my own art, I like to look at my surroundings until something catches my eye. Then I start to think. I think about the journey that "thing" has taken, why it is where it is now, and why exactly did that certain thing catch my eye on that day? I don't necessarily start to think of ways that I can put that specific thing into a piece of art. I try to take all the ideas that I thought of when I was thinking about it, combine all those thoughts together and put that into some form of art. My work doesn't have any guidelines or limits. It changes day to day depending on the way that I'm feeling. To me art is the highest form of expression, and if I don't have art then how else will I express myself? As long as I keep feeling different, then I'll keep making art.

paint sprayed on paper

Portrait of Tupac

Process Reflection #1.

  I think that this week I accomplished a lot. I got about 4 pieces done. All of them were made with spray paint. I've never really worked with spray paint much before, but I decided to go out on a limb and try it. So far I have really enjoyed experimenting with different uses. I think that the biggest challenge I've faced with my independent project so far is really understanding where I'm going with all of this work. Also when I start a piece I don't like to stop but sometimes I have to back off and realize that it might have enough already.  I'm not sure what my next steps are, I'll probably just keep coming up with ideas and keep making them.

Art 21: Barry Mcgee and Kerry James Marshall

 I did not choose Kerry James Marshall because I enjoyed his art. I chose to write about him because I liked his thought process. I liked how he talked about when he was in Kindergarten his teacher used to tell him to be good and his reward was looking at a scrap book full of art. When he read it, it brought tears to eyes. Then after that his dream was to make people view art the same way he viewed that scrap book. I've don't usually take the time to think about how other people would view my art. I usually just come up with an idea that I think would look good, I don't tend to think about what other people will think of it. He seems like a very wise and experienced artist.

  On the other hand I really enjoyed Barry Mcgee's art a lot. I enjoyed how he liked doing his work on walls. I also like his view on spray paint. Since I've been working with spray paint for my independent project, it gave me a different view on the material I was working with. I also liked his personality, I liked that he was quiet and refined, but also a bit rebellious at the same time. I also liked his studio, I'm not sure what it was about it exactly but I did like it.

Initial Reflection

 I think that I have grown a lot over the course of this art class. I've really learned to appreciate artistic talent. I think that my greatest strength as an artist is probably getting an idea. I don't really need to do much brainstorming usually, I like to just jump into things as soon as I hear the project. Technically I think that my ability to make art with different mediums is a pretty good strength, also my drawing as well. I think that my biggest challenge when I'm making art is sometimes I can try to be a perfectionist, and I can get upset when something does not go the way I wanted it too. I also think that clay is a challenge for me, I do not have the patience for it at all. I think that this class has impacted me tremendously, I never thought that I could enjoy art so much. This year in art has been a great outlet of emotions for me. I'm leaving this class with a new perspective on what I can do, before this class I never thought that I might actually want to go somewhere with art, and now I'm thinking I might want to take art in college.

Art 21: Jeff Koons and Florian Maier-Aichen

After watching an hours worth of art documentaries, I realized that Jeff Koons was by far my favorite.I like that Jeff has had such major shows in big cities, but he makes it seem like it's no big deal. When Jeff creates his art, he is thinking about different stories in his life, life lessons or he's just trying to make a statement. Most of his work seems almost perfect. He has a team of artists that are all good at different things, even though he's not working on them by himself he has the ideas, and "the job of the artist is to have an idea." I enjoy his work a lot, I like how he takes real life scenarios, or objects and places them in his work. I'm not sure if I can really relate to his art right now, but I would like to someday. 

 I also Really enjoyed Florian's work. When he takes pictures, he wants the person viewing the photo to imagine what it would be like to be in that place. I enjoy his work because when he takes pictures he doesn't leave them the way they are, but he alters them a lot of times to make them look better or seem more interesting. I like how he imagines different ways to view his photos. When I look at his art I can somewhat relate to the different pictures, I imagine what it would be like to be in one of his photos and have the world suddenly change around you as he alters it.